8th Grade education

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

Sometimes the point of education should be not to teach you "stuff" but to teach you the one thing that is currently missing - critical thinking skills. Some of the facts requested on this test are, as was pointed out, would have been very specific to the text used. But, I like the questions that required the ability to assess facts and draw conclusions. The things students need to know now will have to do with manipulating technology. Many will need to know more about the technology that controls our computers etc than we know now. Too few of our population actually know how the very things we all depend upon actually work.

 

[Q9]

I have WHAT in my yard? :

Sometimes the point of education should be not to teach you "stuff" but to teach you the one thing that is currently missing - critical thinking skills. Some of the facts requested on this test are, as was pointed out, would have been very specific to the text used. But, I like the questions that required the ability to assess facts and draw conclusions. The things students need to know now will have to do with manipulating technology. Many will need to know more about the technology that controls our computers etc than we know now. Too few of our population actually know how the very things we all depend upon actually work.

*Ahem* BINGO!!! We have a winner!​

 

[FruitChicken]

As a child, I inherited some Popular Science books that were published in the 1930's...they belonged to my grandfather, then my father, then me. I opened one up the other day and found a 1955 standards checklist for 8th grade from my father's parochial school. I was floored. I teach high school right now and I cannot imagine most of these kids being able to do this. Right now I'm dealing with "9 + 16 is 24."

 

[Moabite]

What's wrong with all you dummies? I went to school in Kansas 100 years after this test and it was even harder because they felt we had more time to study because of electric light. It was so hard I got a D+ in Lunch.

 

[kla37]

My son doesn't study orthography, but he's a math whiz. This test was probably very appropriate to the time and place, as our current tests are appropriate to our time and place. I'm teaching both my kids latin on the side, because I believe it helps a lot in learning any kind of language and esp with scientific terms. Geography is important since our world is getting smaller, I think people need to be able to place countries and cities to help understand world history and current events. I couldn't write a computer program in 8th grade, but my 7th grader can.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
How much of the stuff on that test do you think those kids ever needed to know or use in their futures? As an 8th grader I doubt you're in any position to determine it anyway. Sorry if you take this as an insult but I had kids question what I was teaching them in HS math only to come back years later and either thank me or apologize for not paying attention. Trust me, you'll use some of that "bunch of crap" and what you don't need you'll forget.

 

[FruitChicken]

Quote:
How much of the stuff on that test do you think those kids ever needed to know or use in their futures? As an 8th grader I doubt you're in any position to determine it anyway. Sorry if you take this as an insult but I had kids question what I was teaching them in HS math only to come back years later and either thank me or apologize for not paying attention. Trust me, you'll use some of that "bunch of crap" and what you don't need you'll forget.

I love when my students give me the babyface when they're caught in a lie or slacking off and go "I don't need this, this is a waste of my time." Yeah, as if 95% of teenagers have any clue what they're doing with their lives! These are the same kids that swap "spouses" as much as their fashion trends ;-)

 

[Q9]

Quote:
How much of the stuff on that test do you think those kids ever needed to know or use in their futures? As an 8th grader I doubt you're in any position to determine it anyway. Sorry if you take this as an insult but I had kids question what I was teaching them in HS math only to come back years later and either thank me or apologize for not paying attention. Trust me, you'll use some of that "bunch of crap" and what you don't need you'll forget.

I love when my students give me the babyface when they're caught in a lie or slacking off and go "I don't need this, this is a waste of my time." Yeah, as if 95% of teenagers have any clue what they're doing with their lives! These are the same kids that swap "spouses" as much as their fashion trends ;-)

I have pretty well know the direction I want to go in life, and ironically, most of my education in this area comes from my own reading.

Only time it was part of the curriculum was last year, in the US history and economics courses. Our entire Challenge group HATED those subjects, because they knew I'd either go on a rant or start a debate with the tutor.

 

[FruitChicken]

Quote:
I love when my students give me the babyface when they're caught in a lie or slacking off and go "I don't need this, this is a waste of my time." Yeah, as if 95% of teenagers have any clue what they're doing with their lives! These are the same kids that swap "spouses" as much as their fashion trends ;-)

I have pretty well know the direction I want to go in life, and ironically, most of my education in this area comes from my own reading.

Only time it was part of the curriculum was last year, in the US history and economics courses. Our entire Challenge group HATED those subjects, because they knew I'd either go on a rant or start a debate with the tutor.

You're an exception then. Most kids (including myself at that age) usually end up doing something totally different to what we intended. If you ask most adults what they wanted to do at age 6, at age 12, and 18, and then look at where they are now, maybe a few handfuls of those folks actually followed through...we change so much in our teen years. I apologize for my broad brush statement there about teenagers.

 

[pringle]

Quote:
Are you serious?We are so lucky with technology and buses and what-not.Im a freshman now and let me tell ya middle school is a lot easier then high school.