What The Left Has Done To Our Schools...

[KingsGambit]

Sorry to break it to you, but Kansas city straddles the state border and part of it is indeed in Kansas.

I've lived my entire life in the Kansas City area and I can verify this is untrue. Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri are two separately incorporated cities. The one in Kansas has a population of about 150,000 and the one in Missouri has a population of around 500,000 and is what most people refer to when they generically refer to "Kansas City". Everybody locally says "KCK" if they have the other one in mind.

[Catholicity]

Ummm....yeah I live here too. I vewwy quickly learned the difference...and history of the borders. You should try it, it'll make you smarter.

[seer]

Does "at best, half" really qualify for "largely in charge of"? Even assuming you're right, what policies has the left enacted that would result in the test results in the OP?

No, it is not just half, only 27 percent were republican. Who knows what the other 30 percent are, but if you go with the same 27/41 ratio then yes the libs are largely in charge. And you tell me, why aren't our kids learning? Why is everything get worse?

[Psychic Missile]

Considering it was Bernie Sanders that had offered up the government job for everyone idea or that schools are primarily ran by those on the left. You tell me.

Sanders wasn't talking about vice principal positions. Why wouldn't schools be primarily ran by whatever political affiliation is most represented in the district? Is there evidence otherwise?

[Psychic Missile]

No, it is not just half, only 27 percent were republican. Who knows what the other 30 percent are, but if you go with the same 27/41 ratio then yes the libs are largely in charge. And you tell me, why aren't our kids learning? Why is everything get worse?

That only works if you assume independents agree with everything liberals want, which can't be the case by definition.

These are the problems I see with the US education system (pre-collegiate):
1. control of curriculum is held by politicians with agendas instead of educators following best practices
2. education is generalized instead of specialized (specifically in high school)
3. education centers around standardized testing
4. lower standards for teachers in less competitive job markets and simultaneously low pay disincentivizing relocation from crowded markets
5. school hours not matching hours students are most conducive to learning (hamstrung by suburban travel)
6. over-reliance on homework
7. lax standards for graduation
8. support for staff dependent upon students hitting milestones instead of doing what's best for the students (for example, if teachers hold students to high standards and disallowed graduation, the teachers are penalized)
9. too many administration jobs leeching money from classrooms
10. most importantly, economic inequality

[seer]

That only works if you assume independents agree with everything liberals want, which can't be the case by definition.

These are the problems I see with the US education system (pre-collegiate):
1. control of curriculum is held by politicians with agendas instead of educators following best practices
2. education is generalized instead of specialized (specifically in high school)
3. education centers around standardized testing
4. lower standards for teachers in less competitive job markets and simultaneously low pay disincentivizing relocation from crowded markets
5. school hours not matching hours students are most conducive to learning (hamstrung by suburban travel)
6. over-reliance on homework
7. lax standards for graduation
8. support for staff dependent upon students hitting milestones instead of doing what's best for the students (for example, if teachers hold students to high standards and disallowed graduation, the teachers are penalized)
9. too many administration jobs leeching money from classrooms
10. most importantly, economic inequality

I only really see two things I agree with. To be honest most of the things and practices you complain about were in effect when I went to school in the 50s and 60s without the kind negative effects we see today.

[Psychic Missile]

I only really see two things I agree with. To be honest most of the things and practices you complain about were in effect when I went to school in the 50s and 60s without the kind negative effects we see today.

What negative effects in modern times are you comparing to the 50s and 60s?

[seer]

What negative effects in modern times are you comparing to the 50s and 60s?

Sixty-five percent of the eighth graders in American public schools in 2017 were not proficient in reading and 67 percent were not proficient in mathematics

Student Scores in Reading and Math Drop Math and reading scores for students in grades four and eight dropped.

https://www.usnews.com/news/articles...-and-math-drop

SAT Scores Are On Slight Rise, But Still Short Of 1960s Level
both math and verbal scores are well below student performance during the 1960s.

https://www.csmonitor.com/1993/0819/19033.html

[Psychic Missile]

Sixty-five percent of the eighth graders in American public schools in 2017 were not proficient in reading and 67 percent were not proficient in mathematics

Why do you think a lower average SAT score is caused by less knowledgeable students instead of, say, more people taking the test and a widening wealth gap?

[guacamole]

Sixty-five percent of the eighth graders in American public schools in 2017 were not proficient in reading and 67 percent were not proficient in mathematics

What was the percentage in the 50's and 60's?

[rogue06]

Sixty-five percent of the eighth graders in American public schools in 2017 were not proficient in reading and 67 percent were not proficient in mathematics

Interestingly American skewl kids test well when they're in Elementary skewl and again when they are in college, but in-between... Not so much.

[guacamole]

Interestingly American skewl kids test well when they're in Elementary skewl and again when they are in college, but in-between... Not so much.

College is a self-selecting group.

[Sparko]

Why do you think a lower average SAT score is caused by less knowledgeable students instead of, say, more people taking the test and a widening wealth gap?

why would more people taking the SATs lower the average if all of those people were getting the same high quality education afforded by our wonderful government paid for school system?

[rogue06]

why would more people taking the SATs lower the average if all of those people were getting the same high quality education afforded by our wonderful government paid for school system?

And lets not forget how the S.A.T.s were "re-normed" (downward) back in 1996 because scores had dropped so dramatically since the average (or norm) was established in 1941 -- and they still continue to drop.

[Psychic Missile]

why would more people taking the SATs lower the average if all of those people were getting the same high quality education afforded by our wonderful government paid for school system?

People taking the test in the beginning would be self-selecting. Then, after taking the test becomes normalized and expected, people who wouldn't take it otherwise do so because of social convention. In other words, the test becoming more popular means more average and low-achieving students take it.