Because Alyssa asked for stuff to debate about ...

Found a link to this article on another forum. It raises interesting points nad certainly fits in with my POV but I think others here might be interested in it and have a different take.


http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060122/OPINION01/601220305/1035/archive

(can't get the img linkie thing working for some reason)

"One of the smartest men I've met is Vern Dostal of Cedar Rapids, who scored a 90 on his IQ test.

"Low normal," he jokes, "or high retarded."

The 75-year-old Dostal started working at age 11, married and raised five boys, ran a successful catering business and in retirement has plenty of friends down at the Elks Club.

I thought of him as Iowans continue their latest hyperventilation over our declining schools."

By Boxzgrl on Thursday, February 2, 2006 - 11:48 am:

Not when they are younger but I found my junior and senior year of high school VERY fun with debate/politics classes. I think they should introduce those earlier on. I loved hearing what everyone had to say.

By Groovepickle on Thursday, February 2, 2006 - 03:09 pm:

I don't think schools should have to teach too much about life. Most should be learned at home. However just because school doesn't teach a class per say, you learn a lot about the world there. Especially a lot about social interaction.

By Vicki on Thursday, February 2, 2006 - 04:18 pm:

I also agree that I don't feel it is the schools job to teach my child about "life". I will take care of that!!

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, February 2, 2006 - 05:17 pm:

Schools don't teach much about life

Interesting article. In the middle school, they teach theme things. They have subject matters that they work on in Social Studies, Language Arts and their skills class. National History Day projects have been ongoing for a few months already.

I'm sure my kids learn about life at home, though. We do enough interesting things here, too.

By Hlgmom on Thursday, February 2, 2006 - 05:53 pm:

Great article! I definetely have strong opinions on the NCLB as in it is total BS! ALso, I have a hard time swallowing all the testing as the only measure of learning! Homeschooling gets more and more appealing all the time!

By Kaye on Thursday, February 2, 2006 - 06:42 pm:

I haven't read the article. But an IQ of 90 is average. Below 70 is mentally retarded. 80% of the world have an IQ between 80-120. He is an average person.

By Cocoabutter on Thursday, February 2, 2006 - 10:21 pm:

John Stossel did a 20/20 show on public schools in America and what a total failure they are. He compared a New York school to a school in Belgium. Given a standard international test, the Belgian kids blew the NY kids away. And another important point to make is that money isn't the answer.

You can read most of it here

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=1500338

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=1532494

By Unschoolmom on Friday, February 3, 2006 - 07:19 pm:

I have to ask...If preparing kids for life isn't why they go to school, why DO they go? Certainly I've heard it's to prepare them for jobs or develop social skills, two fundamentally important things in life. If it's simply for academic reasons why do they need to give up so much of real life in terms of free time and personal interests and hobbies for those academics?

By Cocoabutter on Friday, February 3, 2006 - 07:34 pm:

My personal opinion is that it is a joint effort between parents and teachers that prepares kids for life.

However, what Mr. Dostal gained the most benefit from was practical experience, such as on the job training. Not everyone is as fortunate.

In our children's future, the job market is likely to be survival of the fittest when it comes to academics.

By Reds9298 on Friday, February 3, 2006 - 07:45 pm:

Ditto Cocoa. I think morally it is the parent's responsibility, but the school is definitely going to play a part in preparing kids for life.

I haven't read the articles you listed yet Cocoa, but I plan to when I have more time.