It looks like I’m not the only one noticing this... I can't help but wonder why a bunch of absolute lunatics are flooding a political thread about "four Americans arrested..."
It's wild how posts that aren't even offensive or off-topic seem to vanish at lightning speed. 🙄
Susan James said:Which schools are Blaze's people from Cleveland actually teaching at?🤔 From what I know, most of them are teachers from the tech-heavy programs, basically just lecturing about high-level computer science theory. 🤷
I still think a solid MIT grad can hold their own and find a great job in the market.
That whole language point is total nonsense, especially when you combine it with extra credit for things like school swim team championships (or volleyball, table tennis, or whatever sports the school happens to offer—schools that don't even provide those options to kids in other districts).
A school offering those kinds of sports doesn't actually contribute much to the outcome; typically, the kids heading to competitions are the ones already training hard at local clubs. If there happen to be enough kids in one sport to form a team, the school simply signs them up for the district tournaments. Essentially, the school hasn't invested a single ounce of effort or time into these kids' athletic achievements.
Honestly, awarding extra points for any kind of competitive achievement makes far more sense than this sudden flood of dyslexia diagnoses and similar excuses.🙄
nimblelynx7 said:We’d have a travel culture too if we had their income levels.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S21 using Reddit
Exactly. @Susan James The truth is, unless someone has a family cabin out in the mountains or a beach house waiting for them, most people wouldn't even leave their own zip code all year round simply because they lack the funds. Even when they do manage to scrape together enough for a week or two of vacation, it usually leaves them feeling pretty stretched thin financially.
There’s an extracurricular sports program available at most schools, giving kids a chance to train after class, though what’s actually "on the menu" really just depends on which coaches happen to be running the show. The reality is that most of these kids are already playing for local clubs, training five or six days a week, so when they show up for school sports, they aren't beginners—they're essentially pre-trained athletes walking through the door. In team sports, you often end up with a weird mix in one single high school squad: maybe X kids come from one local club, Y from another, and then there's a handful of casual players... it takes quite a bit of time for them to actually find their rhythm together.
One of the best things about the way school sports are structured is how evenly represented different states are at the national level—aside from places like New York or California, which usually send two representatives—so at the state championships, you get this great mix of elite prospects and just regular kids playing for fun. The kids all travel together, hanging out for a few days, and it creates some genuinely wonderful memories.
It’s a shame because you end up sidelining kids who are actually national champions in an individual sport, simply because their high school doesn't happen to field a varsity team for that specific discipline.
To me, prioritizing athletic achievement makes far more sense than obsessing over things like dyslexia trends during a pandemic🙄 or other issues sitting in that ambiguous "gray area" of educational policy. School sports are fantastic; they bring together the athletes and the student volunteers in the host cities where the competitions take place. It really is one of those rare elements within the American school system that actually functions smoothly and stays well-organized.
In this setup, every sport is scored on a team basis rather than highlighting individual winners; everyone is essentially competing to earn points for their high school athletic club take volleyball, for instance, where the entire squad walks away with three points for a first-place finish, whereas in individual sports, the scoring follows a team-based format tailored to that specific discipline
Michelle Nelson4 said:My take is that those athletic points are automatically added to the totals for all schools. I’m specifically talking about school sports here.
Actually, these state-run school competitions are incredibly well-organized, and honestly, the kids have a blast regardless of whether they walk away with points or not. 🙂 The points usually end up going to the kids who are already playing these sports through private clubs—assuming the school can actually pull a full roster together—whereas the casual, recreational players rarely stand a chance at landing in the top three.
Jason Ortiz5 said:Talking about "specialized subjects"? As someone who went through the general high school track, you might want to work on your reading comprehension. 🤷
It was actually tougher for those of us coming from liberal arts high schools because we didn't have the specific technical background required for certain university majors.
What would that look like? Maybe give us a concrete example ☕ Pure nonsense.
Jason Ortiz5 said:Honestly, I think they really messed up with this whole split between academic high schools and vocational ones. Even if the reality isn't actually that different, just the way it's labeled makes it feel like anything that isn't a traditional prep school is somehow second-rate.
Back when I was in school, you had all sorts of options—prep schools, nursing programs, business schools, trade schools for mechanics or construction... Sure, there were definitely some schools where you knew the kids weren't exactly looking to pull all-nighters studying, but everyone else was treated pretty much the same. The kids in the prep tracks weren't treated like royalty compared to the other solid vocational programs.
If anything, I remember that students from those general prep schools actually struggled more with college entrance exams because they hadn't picked up any specific, hands-on knowledge in a specialized field.
But now? It feels like you either go the prep route or you're basically a failure. I swear, I hear people pushing the prestige of those academic high schools everywhere you turn lately.
That's simply not true, period. Entrance exams for university almost never included specialized technical subjects. And honestly, speaking as someone who attended a prep academy, we actually found it easier to get into engineering colleges than our peers from the technical schools did. We had a much stronger grasp of math and physics, which was exactly what the admissions tests focused on.
Unfortunately, by implementing the Bologna process and essentially turning universities into glorified high schools 🙄, you can clearly see the decline in the quality of engineers graduating from MIT
mellowskipper said:Just scrap the whole points system entirely—bring back entrance exams and call it a day. I suppose that would probably suit elementary school teachers just fine, too. No more parents breathing down their necks or staging some kind of crusade; just pure, unadulterated knowledge.
We should probably keep some weight tied to GPA, or perhaps offer direct admission for those who sweep the podium at national competitions in core subjects. I'm not an advocate for completely erasing everything a student worked toward during their K-12 years. In my view, the old balance was much more logical—maybe a 40/60 split between grades and the entrance exam. If you weren't a straight-A student, you could still find your way into your preferred school or college as long as you showed competence in the required subjects. The current setup feels remarkably disjointed.
Jacob Sullivan91 said:Yeah, I went to school back in the old Austro-Canadian days before enrolling in college... 😬
I honestly feel like everything you guys are talking about is brand new stuff... 😬 It’s like we're moving backward here in the States. 🕺
Anyway, right at the turn of the millennium, you basically had to pick one specific track for both high school and college or you were out of luck.
Regarding the whole enrollment process for high school and university, I honestly think we should look back at how things were done in the last century and bring back entrance exams.☕ The current system—where high school placement relies solely on middle school grades combined with various accommodations for dyslexia and similar things🙄 and where college admissions hinge entirely on standardized testing—has turned out to be an absolute mess.
In my experience during college entrance exams, I saw plenty of students who had perfect GPAs but couldn't quite clear the hurdle of the actual exam.
Michelle Nelson4 said:It feels like several different things are getting tangled up here. I remember going through entrance exams for high school, college, and even university, and back then, we weren't dealing with any of this modern credit system or Bologna nonsense—it was a completely different structure entirely. 😛 And honestly, there wasn't such a thing as a standardized group exam for everyone; you just showed up wherever you wanted to test. For those in the math and physics programs at the state university, they actually offered a second attempt, but if you were studying chemistry or biology, you were pretty much out of luck after the first try. I can't quite recall if the teaching certification tracks had a third chance or not, but it’s a bit fuzzy now. 🤔
The entrance exams weren't shared across disciplines, but for instance, all the medical schools held their exams on the exact same day, so you couldn't exactly try for one in Chicago and then fly out to try for one in Boston or New York on the same weekend... Now that you've added more detail, I'm not even certain if the ETF and the FBI had their exams scheduled for the same day 🤔, I just know that you could transfer your credits over to the FBI if you managed to clear the threshold at the ETF but fell just short of the cut-off line
Jacob Sullivan91 said:They had a 100% overlap because my cousin and I took them at the same time... we even realized the exams were identical, which felt totally insane at the time. That was the first year of the new credit system. And the year before that, I'm pretty sure it was the same. Beyond that? No clue...
What kind of credit system are we talking about? 😬 I’m referring to the last millennium, back when you had to take entrance exams for both high school and university.
Sarah Hall53 said:Wait, hold on—you actually started college during those first years of the credit system... and you're seriously claiming to be the most experienced one here on this topic? 🤣
I mean, you might eventually get there—but only if you're looking at like a ten-year gap between finishing high school and actually starting college. It’s a long stretch, honestly. 🤣
Exactly 😁
silentmason4 said:I think I’ve completely lost my train of thought here. Where did Peppa say she took her high school entrance exams? And didn't Jacob Sullivan91 take hers right after college? Honestly, I can't for the life of me remember how those high school applications worked. If Jacob Sullivan91 didn't take a gap year between high school and university, then you'd usually be applying to two different high schools at once before you even finished middle school.
Both for high school—where you could apply to two places—and for college.
When was it ever possible to apply to just one school at a time? Back when I was (way back 😬) applying, I actually applied to two different universities; for one, I had to hand over my original documents, while for the other, submitting copies was perfectly fine.
Regarding entrance exams at technical universities, Civil Engineering and MIT definitely didn't schedule theirs for the same time. If I recall correctly, the entrance exams for MIT and the School of Mechanical Engineering in New York City were held simultaneously (though I'm not entirely sure about the College of Arts and Sciences) so you could potentially transfer credits from one university to another if you managed to pass the threshold. There was always plenty of room available at the School of Mechanical Engineering.🙂
rowdypanther12 said:Do you think they don't head home after practice? Like, they just go straight to school soaked in sweat? 😵
The whole shower situation take swimmers, for example—I’m not sure if this applies to every other athlete, but if they have early morning training, then head to school, and then hit the pool again in the afternoon, when exactly would they have the chance to get home between that first session and their classes?
They don't exactly walk around smelling like sweat after a workout, but they definitely carry that distinct scent of chlorine. 😁
northerntiger9 said:Man, one single shift... if only that were an option here. 😢 Joe's right about New York City being great because the transit is so solid—I honestly have no clue how my guy would manage getting to morning practice and then making it to high school in the afternoon without wasting half his life just commuting.
From what I’ve gathered, even in a place like New York City, you don't really see kids heading back home to hang out between school and their sports practices. Unless you’re looking at a schedule where training runs from, say, 7:00 to 9:00 in the morning and school doesn't kick off until 2:00 in the afternoon.
Michelle Nelson4 said:Honestly, I’ve been dragging myself out of bed at dawn for four years straight just to make it to the elementary school by 7:30 AM. It's exhausting. Ever since I was in first grade, I've always dealt with split shifts, and my kids have been on the afternoon schedule since third grade—truth be told, we actually all prefer the afternoon sessions anyway.
With sports, you have flexibility; you can train in the morning or the afternoon, and if classes are held in the afternoon, evening practices usually wrap up by 10:00 PM. Besides, who knows? Kids might decide to quit their sports eventually, and missing a practice happens, but you really can't afford to skip class.
I’m not sure what specific sport the kid is playing, but at that age, most competitive programs have kids training twice a day. So you end up with a 6:00 AM workout, then being at school by 8:00, and then heading right back out for more practice in the afternoon.
rowdypanther12 said:To be honest, as a parent, my main priority is making sure the school isn't overwhelming. I want my kid to have enough free time for hanging out with friends, sports, and just relaxing. 😁 The stories I hear about certain prep schools—where kids are basically glued to tablets just to stay calm or are studying eight hours a day—are honestly pretty terrifying to me. Of course, half of that is probably exaggerated; I know how much people blow things out of proportion, like those horror stories about elementary school curriculums being too advanced for kids to handle. Still, high school feels like such uncharted territory for me that I really need to do my homework and ask around. 😁
In those extreme cases, I’d argue that students who have to grind that hard simply aren't a good fit for that specific school environment. 🙂 It’s like when a kid pulls straight A's in elementary school but doesn't actually grasp the fundamentals... then they enroll in an elite prep academy and everything falls apart.
I hear similar complaints about middle schools too, so I can't help but wonder what's really going on. 😕
Susan James said:By the way, I caught an interview on TV last night with the superintendent from Springfield 🙏
Honestly, he’s turned that school into such a mess, so it isn't surprising that they had six applicants all vying for the top spot. The school definitely needs a formal entrance exam. Once you see how things are actually running there, it feels unfair to let kids enroll based solely on their GPA—even if those exam scores don't carry as much weight as they should right now. It would at least be a start.
He’s a genuinely great guy.👍 I think I even put up with an incredibly unbearable tone from certain people just because I respect him so much.🙄 He took a school that was essentially nothing and transformed it into one of the premier institutions in the city—maybe even the entire state. I suspect the rest of the establishment resents him simply because he serves as such a perfect example of what can actually be achieved when someone possesses both a clear vision and the sheer will to execute it.