School Reform: Thoughts?

Michelle Nelson4 said:The education system is completely dysfunctional. If you think a regulatory audit is a nightmare, try jumping into the private sector. I’m talking about unpaid overtime, dragging yourself out of bed at 5:00 AM, and lying awake staring at the ceiling because you're dreading the sheer mountain of problems waiting for you at the office—all while playing a guessing game as to when some corporate headquarters decides profits aren't high enough and starts cutting payroll through layoffs.

But no, apparently an inspection is pure hell, yet a single email complaining about ticket prices can trigger a full-blown town hall meeting for all the first-grade parents, where everyone who doesn't work in academia gets called out just because a principal doesn't know how to hit "reply" and handle a trivial parent complaint properly.🤦

There is zero standardization in how things are done, no external performance reviews, no objective metrics, no actual methods for improvement, and absolutely no meaningful consequences for those who don't pull their weight or, even worse, exploit students. Everything just gets swept under the rug until the person involved eventually retires. Honestly, if you're unhappy with your working conditions, what is the point of having a union at all?

Did you somehow miss the addresses for the College of Arts and Sciences or Harvard University? And honestly...

Anyway, the School of Law has already implemented entrance exams. 👋 I really hope the better high schools follow suit soon. Then you can all hang those inflated straight-A reports you squeeze out of kids like they mean something. 😁 Between parental pressure and student demands, things have spiraled into total absurdity; there are so many "honor students" now that the title has lost all meaning. And through all the whining about how hard it is for underprivileged kids and how the curriculum is too heavy, we've lost any sense of distinction between a solid student and a truly exceptional one. Because at this point, everyone is supposedly perfect. 😁

wanderingbadger44 said:Did you somehow miss the addresses for the College of Arts and Sciences or Harvard University? And honestly...

Anyway, the School of Law has already implemented entrance exams. 👋 I really hope the better high schools follow suit soon. Then you can all hang those inflated straight-A reports you squeeze out of kids like they mean something. 😁 Between parental pressure and student demands, things have spiraled into total absurdity; there are so many "honor students" now that the title has lost all meaning. And through all the whining about how hard it is for underprivileged kids and how the curriculum is too heavy, we've lost any sense of distinction between a solid student and a truly exceptional one. Because at this point, everyone is supposedly perfect. 😁

Are we parents really the problem just because we push for top grades!? Honestly, I don't know how some people manage to flip the logic like that. The issue with grade inflation was caused by the school system, not the parents. The system scrapped entrance exams for high schools but failed to introduce a single objective grading standard or any meaningful oversight for teachers in elementary schools. How can someone be so detached from basic logical reasoning—stubbornly focusing on the symptoms while completely ignoring the root cause? It's the same old diagnosis: total lack of perspective.

FYI, MIT isn't some mystery location to me, far from it. But, if I had to choose, an engineering major would have been my preference. ☕

That’s exactly how it should be. Entrance exams for every single high school. Once you have those exam scores, you compare them against their middle school GPA. After you cross-reference the results with those grades...
😒

...we seriously need to start keeping a much closer eye on those schools and teachers who are showing the biggest red flags🙂

I’m honestly just terrified that if we actually tried to implement something like that, our local teacher unions would stage a full-blown revolution on us😁

And don't even get me started on getting rid of entrance exams for high school and college—that was hands down the single dumbest move they could have made

Michelle Nelson4 said:Are we parents really the problem just because we push for top grades!? Honestly, I don't know how some people manage to flip the logic like that. The issue with grade inflation was caused by the school system, not the parents. The system scrapped entrance exams for high schools but failed to introduce a single objective grading standard or any meaningful oversight for teachers in elementary schools. How can someone be so detached from basic logical reasoning—stubbornly focusing on the symptoms while completely ignoring the root cause? It's the same old diagnosis: total lack of perspective.

FYI, MIT isn't some mystery location to me, far from it. But, if I had to choose, an engineering major would have been my preference. ☕

I think they're very, very mistaken.☕
The reason entrance exams were phased out is that so many students couldn't pass them, mostly because they had spent eight years being pushed toward straight A's without much real support or substance behind those grades.

Michelle Nelson4 said:Are we parents really the problem just because we push for top grades!? Honestly, I don't know how some people manage to flip the logic like that. The issue with grade inflation was caused by the school system, not the parents. The system scrapped entrance exams for high schools but failed to introduce a single objective grading standard or any meaningful oversight for teachers in elementary schools. How can someone be so detached from basic logical reasoning—stubbornly focusing on the symptoms while completely ignoring the root cause? It's the same old diagnosis: total lack of perspective.

FYI, MIT isn't some mystery location to me, far from it. But, if I had to choose, an engineering major would have been my preference. ☕

I honestly wonder why.
I mean, who wouldn't want a career working within our current educational system?🙂

nimblelynx7 said:That’s exactly how it should be. Entrance exams for every single high school. Once you have those exam scores, you compare them against their middle school GPA. After you cross-reference the results with those grades...
😒

God willing. PLEASE, GOD WILLING:🙂

redridge13 said:...we seriously need to start keeping a much closer eye on those schools and teachers who are showing the biggest red flags🙂

I’m honestly just terrified that if we actually tried to implement something like that, our local teacher unions would stage a full-blown revolution on us😁

And don't even get me started on getting rid of entrance exams for high school and college—that was hands down the single dumbest move they could have made

So true.
And it's all just to avoid any friction, or rather, to go easy on the students—or the parents, really—since everyone basically needs to get into a good high school and eventually make it to college. 👏

urbantinker8 said:I think they're very, very mistaken.☕
The reason entrance exams were phased out is that so many students couldn't pass them, mostly because they had spent eight years being pushed toward straight A's without much real support or substance behind those grades.

I honestly wonder why.
I mean, who wouldn't want a career working within our current educational system?🙂

God willing. PLEASE, GOD WILLING:🙂

So true.
And it's all just to avoid any friction, or rather, to go easy on the students—or the parents, really—since everyone basically needs to get into a good high school and eventually make it to college. 👏

Wait, what do you mean they couldn't pass them? 😕
I’m from the generation that actually had to deal with those entrance tests—back then, everyone from middle school moved straight into high school. Nobody was left hanging just because they bombed an exam (and obviously, not everyone ended up at a fancy prep school; we had everything from academic academies to vocational trade schools).

redridge13 said:Wait, what do you mean they couldn't pass them? 😕
I’m from the generation that actually had to deal with those entrance tests—back then, everyone from middle school moved straight into high school. Nobody was left hanging just because they bombed an exam (and obviously, not everyone ended up at a fancy prep school; we had everything from academic academies to vocational trade schools).

I guess there were just way too many people aiming for those top-tier prep schools only to realize they couldn't actually pass the entrance exams, mostly because all those perfect high school GPAs didn't really mean much when it came down to the actual testing.
I suppose if they hadn't gone ahead and scrapped those entrance exams in favor of just looking at GPA, a huge chunk of these students—and by extension, their parents—might have ended up stuck in this cycle of lifelong frustration and genuine burnout, though I guess that's just how things tend to go sometimes when the system shifts.
I guess it all really started coming to a head when those petty extortion schemes and little five-dollar shakedowns just became so widespread, and now, well, I suppose we’ve finally arrived at this current mess.☕

Alright, let's settle this: who actually runs the classroom?
Is it the teacher, the student, or the parent?
And how exactly does a parent, a student, a principal, or even someone like Peter try to squeeze a grade out of a teacher?

I mean, how can any client—and don't take me too literally here, I'm just making a point—force an expert to act a certain way?
Unless, of course, that "expert" isn't really an expert at all. Like, if they don't actually care about the job and are just coasting until their next paycheck or retirement hits? Surely that's not what we're talking about, right? 😒😲

@frupy
I honestly can't say that any of my parents' generation actually breathed down our necks about getting into a specific high school.
Plus, they ended up scrapping those entrance exams just a few years later anyway.

@svasta nesto
Wait, are you seriously questioning whether our teachers and administrators actually have any professional integrity left? 🙂

The teacher in question is just holding his ground...

...but I suppose he’ll only be able to hold it for so long before some aggressive parent decides to start putting on a whole theatrical performance, all because they've convinced themselves their kid, Marko, actually knows the material better than the instructor—even if his failing grade suggests otherwise.
Then comes the inevitable onslaught where they basically steamroll the teacher, the homeroom coach, and the principal, filing formal appeals against the grades, demanding special committee exams, insisting on testing sessions where the original teacher isn't allowed to participate, and eventually calling in the state inspectors and so on...

Anyway, it’s all pretty intense and interesting to watch unfold.🍿

redridge13 said:...we seriously need to start keeping a much closer eye on those schools and teachers who are showing the biggest red flags🙂

I’m honestly just terrified that if we actually tried to implement something like that, our local teacher unions would stage a full-blown revolution on us😁

And don't even get me started on getting rid of entrance exams for high school and college—that was hands down the single dumbest move they could have made

So what, some random bureaucrat is just going to swoop in and try to grade a teacher's "magic"?

I agree, but given how things are set up, there’s no way we're going back anytime soon. It doesn't suit the system, nor does it suit its most loyal followers—the teachers themselves.

urbantinker8 said:I think they're very, very mistaken.☕
The reason entrance exams were phased out is that so many students couldn't pass them, mostly because they had spent eight years being pushed toward straight A's without much real support or substance behind those grades.

I honestly wonder why.
I mean, who wouldn't want a career working within our current educational system?🙂

God willing. PLEASE, GOD WILLING:🙂

So true.
And it's all just to avoid any friction, or rather, to go easy on the students—or the parents, really—since everyone basically needs to get into a good high school and eventually make it to college. 👏

Careful what you wish for. Be careful.

redridge13 said:@frupy
I honestly can't say that any of my parents' generation actually breathed down our necks about getting into a specific high school.
Plus, they ended up scrapping those entrance exams just a few years later anyway.

@svasta nesto
Wait, are you seriously questioning whether our teachers and administrators actually have any professional integrity left? 🙂

Never ☕ 🥱

urbantinker8 said:The teacher in question is just holding his ground...

...but I suppose he’ll only be able to hold it for so long before some aggressive parent decides to start putting on a whole theatrical performance, all because they've convinced themselves their kid, Marko, actually knows the material better than the instructor—even if his failing grade suggests otherwise.
Then comes the inevitable onslaught where they basically steamroll the teacher, the homeroom coach, and the principal, filing formal appeals against the grades, demanding special committee exams, insisting on testing sessions where the original teacher isn't allowed to participate, and eventually calling in the state inspectors and so on...

Anyway, it’s all pretty intense and interesting to watch unfold.🍿

Fine. So? I get all that, trust me... but I still don't see why the teacher won't just stand by their decision. Maybe there's something they're hiding? 😲

swiftranger16 said:Never ☕ 🥱

Fine. So? I get all that, trust me... but I still don't see why the teacher won't just stand by their decision. Maybe there's something they're hiding? 😲

It's actually pretty straightforward:
A few of us—and I suppose I might be one of those rare, slightly crazy types—always stand our ground on a grade and refuse to let anyone push us around.🥳
The rest of them, who are probably much smarter than I am, I guess, just don't want to waste their energy or deal with the stress of looking over their shoulders, so they just give in.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean when you suggest someone would have something to hide in this situation?
Do you honestly believe in those conspiracy theories where someone just sits there for forty-five minutes during an observation without saying a single word?🙄
Yeah, right.
It isn't like she'd risk getting fired a million times over—I mean, someone who's mentally unstable couldn't exactly fake being perfectly fine during a formal evaluation from the school board—but besides that, the parents would probably have her lynched.

Once things settle in this fall, you'll see how the system actually operates. You might want to give your decision some more thought.😒

urbantinker8, if you really want, I can shoot you an email with the full name of the professor who used to drag herself into our classroom for three years straight just to sit there and stare blankly at the wall for forty-five minutes at a time so go ahead and check with your old faculty buddies to see if I'm telling the truth 🙂

redridge13 said:urbantinker8, if you really want, I can shoot you an email with the full name of the professor who used to drag herself into our classroom for three years straight just to sit there and stare blankly at the wall for forty-five minutes at a time so go ahead and check with your old faculty buddies to see if I'm telling the truth 🙂

Back in the day, teachers were pretty much out of control—they’d mess with kids, hit each other's fingers, make us stand in the corner, or have us kneel on corn kernels; they’d even rip up our notebooks if they weren't "neat" enough, among other things, but I suppose that doesn't mean those kinds of methods are still being used or even tolerated today.

Go ahead and DM me her name, because I'm genuinely curious which school would actually allow stuff like that to happen nowadays.

And honestly, I’m dying to know which kids are supposedly sitting there quietly during those 45 minutes while the teacher just stays silent, without tearing the classroom apart, causing total mayhem, or screaming loud enough to be heard from space. 😁

Seriously, if such a school actually exists, point me toward it because I’d love to go work there myself. 🙂

urbantinker8 said:Back in the day, teachers were pretty much out of control—they’d mess with kids, hit each other's fingers, make us stand in the corner, or have us kneel on corn kernels; they’d even rip up our notebooks if they weren't "neat" enough, among other things, but I suppose that doesn't mean those kinds of methods are still being used or even tolerated today.

Go ahead and DM me her name, because I'm genuinely curious which school would actually allow stuff like that to happen nowadays.

sent 🙂

wanderingbadger44 said:And honestly, I’m dying to know which kids are supposedly sitting there quietly during those 45 minutes while the teacher just stays silent, without tearing the classroom apart, causing total mayhem, or screaming loud enough to be heard from space. 😁

Seriously, if such a school actually exists, point me toward it because I’d love to go work there myself. 🙂

Most people were basically just 😁
killing whatever little bit of time was left on the clock, doing homework or prepping for the next period
and some people were just scribbling away...
We even had crowds from the neighboring classrooms drifting in to hang out while they skipped their own classes or got kicked out of them...

redridge13 said:Most people were basically just 😁
killing whatever little bit of time was left on the clock, doing homework or prepping for the next period
and some people were just scribbling away...
We even had crowds from the neighboring classrooms drifting in to hang out while they skipped their own classes or got kicked out of them...

Look at that... eventually, we’re going to uncover why nobody ever thought to report someone like that. It sounds like everyone just looked the other way because things were easy, right? I bet everyone walked away with glowing report cards. That’s basically the secret formula for keeping students, parents, and teachers all perfectly happy. 👍

wanderingbadger44 said:Look at that... eventually, we’re going to uncover why nobody ever thought to report someone like that. It sounds like everyone just looked the other way because things were easy, right? I bet everyone walked away with glowing report cards. That’s basically the secret formula for keeping students, parents, and teachers all perfectly happy. 👍

Look, obviously it worked in our favor. We were just kids back then, I don't get why everyone's acting so shocked.
The woman was clearly struggling, and whether it was a fellow teacher or the principal, someone should have stepped up and done something—primarily for her sake.