Re: The joy of actual numbers, was Democracy

On Tue, 5 Nov 2024, rbowman wrote:

On Mon, 4 Nov 2024 21:41:30 +0100, D wrote:
>

Today... many are not capable today. But give it a 100 years or two, and
with the progress of psychology and the school system, I'm sure that
focus will be to equip people to live meaningful lives, instead of just
being compliant cogs.

>
I had a very brief career as a math and science teacher. The school system
used homogeneous grouping meaning the classes were broken up according to
the perceived potential of the students. A was the college bound, B
possibly would make it to college or a skilled trade, C most likely would
be unskilled labor, and D was for dummies.
>
Being the new hire I saw a lot of the D section. They were ineducable. To
put it plainly they didn't give a shit and their parents didn't give a
shit. They were marking time until they turned 16 and could get working
papers. To further clarify, there was one black kid. The rest were run of
the mill white trash. I did have to relieve the black kid of his straight
razor. The white kids knew better than to play with their toys in class.
>
The tranches were roughly equal, so that was 25% of the student body. The
C kids might have fared better but this was a mill town and the mills were
leaving.
>

But surely things have gotten much better since the early 1900s? ;) Jokes aside, yes, todays educational system is a complete mess, and can be very depressing for teachers.
I teach at the vocational level, and I try to give them a rough start to filter out the unmotivated ones. Out of the ones who remain, when I was allowed to educate as I wanted, 100% got jobs, and 100% got salaries above their industry average.
The school was very excited, yet, angry that 40% quit. They never saw the connection between the two things.
But fear not! The government is always there to make a good thing worse. ;) This year the government has changed the rules, so schools will be measured on how many students quit a program and will be punished for it. I think that new system has great potential to ruin a lot of programs for the students, since the schools won't accept teachers failing students since that means lost income for the schools and punishments from the state.