Chapter 12 Post 1

For this chapter I was reading about the education portion in chapter 12 and it was very interesting reading about international education and seeing the ranking and the "Trends in Math and Science Study" or the TIMSS. Seeing that Hong Kong came first didn't surprise me and honestly seeing the United States rank number 10 wasn't surprising easier due to how our education system is run. Also seeing that these scores are not comparable because of sample selection etc, can't be kept uniform was interesting. The United States has a national standard called No Child Left Behind. It was created in 2001 and intended to increase accountability in education by requiring states to qualify from federal education funding by administering standardized tests to measure school achievement. This was found on page 339 in our textbook. Now we have adopted Common Core Standards which I believe is bogus and basically makes our kids go to school just to take a stupid test. I would rather see my son excited to go to school then see him hate school. My younger brother is a tenth grader in high school and can't pass his keystones but he is the first class that these tests count. I think between both these programs for education both were not necessarily thought out and now I have to make sure my son learns what he needs to. Common core is confusing and doesn't make a lot of sense due to how they teach the math. for a 1 step problem it turns into a 3 step problem. I don't remember doing half the stuff they are learning now in math. Its basically beginners algebra. Kids nowadays are basically going to school to take a test and I don't think kids especially kids in grade school should go to school to have fun and be able to learn at their own pace and free will not because of testing. If I could home school my son, I would because I don't like how our education system works now.