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Mississippi Shows Us How

Education’s perennial laughing stock has figured it out.

We live in an age of falling standards, and have been for quite a while now. The fear is that once lost, these high expectations cannot be recovered… but is that true? Well, the Great State of Mississippi — education’s perennial laughing stock — has tried a radical theory: if you don’t meet the graduation standards for a particular public school grade, then YOU DO NOT GRADUATE. And, mirabile dictu, it turns out that since neither the students, teachers, administrators and politicians want a child to repeat a grade… test scores and performance standards are GOING UP!!

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16 replies on “Mississippi Shows Us How”

The most successful class I ever took was Algebra 1-2. Our teacher tried something new, (at least new in the California public school system at the time),We were allowed to learn at our own rate. No holding back those that wanted to learn faster or could learn faster as long as you got 100% on the tests, you could move on.. So my friend and I who were very competitive were constantly trying to out do one another and we covered 6 semesters of math in the first quarter, when the teacher said he did not have the time to keep up with us so he told us we both got A’s for the year and could have two lunch hours instead of one. Well we goofed off for a few weeks and then go bored and since we were high school freshmen, we could not go anywhere, We decided to go back and help him in class, (I am sure it had nothing to do with the fact that there were cute girls that need help.). Well we found out that having to explain something to someone who does not get it, forces you to look at the problem in a whole new way. My hats off to Mississippi for remembering what the job is.

“Used older kids to teach younger”. Old medical school teaching method: “observe, do, supervise.” Observe how a procedure is done, do it yourself (under supervision), supervise (also under supervision). ALWAYS a better aquatinted person overseeing everything that is done, but allowing the in-between the smartest and the slowest to help more often than not educates the educators also.

I was just telling someone about my experience as an intern in Surgery. Instead of “see one, do one, teach one”, it was “get in there and take off that (diseased lower leg). The nurses will make sure you’re OK.”

Keith – whenever I hear “See one, do one, teach one” I now think of these books.
Did you read them, they were pretty good. I never watched the TV series made from them which is surprising since I like both actresses. Though if you read the books, the main character Det Rizzoli you would not picture Angie Harmon.

  1. If every student, in every classroom, in every locality, in every type of urban/rural area, had the same learning abilities and home environment, then judging teachers by student results wouldn’t be despicable. Since they are not, it is. Merely teaching for the test, or cooking the books for standardized test results, can easily depict “improvement.”
  2. I can already hear the questions, “Well, what would YOU do, then?” The answer is, “Find a non-despicable strategy. But in the meantime, refuse to use a despicable one.”
  3. Most teachers want to do the right thing, just as most of (almost) any profession do. Since (re)education) is such a vital tool for Leftist sewer rat social engineering, they hijacked it from the top. Telling teachers who get fired for trying to do the right thing to just “learn to code” is simply disgusting.
  4. If you want to blame the techers for their union hijackers, then to be consistent, YOU are personally to blame for the sewer rats in Washington, DC. Ridiculous.

All things old become new again.
Teaching the basics is what all primary education should be about.
I recall when I was in 3rd grade, I was in a class that was 3rd and 4th grade. It was actually a class of 3rd graders that were ahead of schedule and 4th graders who were behind schedule. It took me years to understand that. The hope and outcome was that the kids who were ahead would push the kids who were behind. And it worked.
There is no reason in our system of education to keep kids together strictly by age. It is just simpler administratively.
Additionally, the definition completing HS needs to be reviewed. Especially in light of the efforts of someone like Mike Rowe highlighting the skills gap and number of jobs available in the trades.
What ability and knowledge does someone need in order to become a production member of society. Determine that and teach it. As Scott rightfully points out, reading ability and comprehension should be atop the list as that opens up all others.
If you are going to college for STEM, you need a different HS educational experience. If you are going for study studies, then you need something also different and could probably “graduate” at 14 as your emotional and mental age will be stifled at that level anyway.
The one size fits all of education is the problem. Mrs Ron taught for 33 years, she always told me that every kid learns differently and it is the teacher’s job to figure out what works best FOR EACH STUDENT!

I’m a proud product of the NYC public school system circa 1960-70. It was an excellent education.
I’m getting bored with these discussions- accurate and scary as they rightfully are. If the parents of the current schoolchildren aren’t out in the street angrily confronting their community leaders (it’s their children who are being injured) why should I be concerned?
In our rapidly deteriorating society I am more and more focused on my family and their well being.

(Please correct me if I’m wrong, Alan.) The NYC public schools are famous for being top notch primarily because of Jewish immigrants. The rag sellers in the garment district, fresh off the boat from Europe, often included brilliant teachers, some of whom wound up teaching. Then the Great Depression landed previously successful people – often Jewish as well – into the school system as teachers and, what do you know, the sons of the rag sellers are Lawyers and Doctors. For decades after, taking pride in the public schools in NYC was a thing. A big thing. You were the beneficiary.
Not every public school system has that heritage.
But your point that parents should be up in arms isn’t wrong. It is hard to have both parents working, as is often the case, and have to also be a thorn in the side of the public schools. It’s hard to convince people that indoctrination into left-wing activism is happening. After all, this is America, right? The parents in Virginia rebelled because the school system’s agenda was so ridiculously wrong that they had to. But some places it’s like the frog in water that’s slowly being heated up, it’s hard to tell until it’s too late.

[moved this comment as a reply to Keith; can’t seem to figure out how to cancel it or make it disappear?]
[comments don’t indent beyond one level now??]

George the multiple indent feature was changed more than a year ago. We had a few conversations that went to 4 or 5 levels and the comments were unreadable in any format. So I had asked Scott to try it this way and he did pending push back from other members.
It does note in the comment to whom you are replying.

” It’s hard to convince people that indoctrination into left-wing activism is happening.”
It does seem like walking through molasses to turn this around at the school board and principal/teacher level. But there are also a number of NGO’s now being funded by governmental grants and/or well off Leftist commies, to also pursue this Woke and related racial nonsense in the schools and universities. I now receive emails from Project Veritas and from Accuracy In Media showcasing the undercover investigations they have made talking to these folks in both the private and the public sectors. Scary just how misguided but convinced these people are.

If your child’s teach seems so friendly, so helpful and interested in your child’s welfare, but is in fact an indoctrinated fool, how can you learn this “for sure” and then act on it (besides pursuing private schooling or giving the parents school choice across the school district – hopefully the growing agenda).

Isn’t it obvious that the overwhelming impetus for supporting the tenets of “Black Lives Matter” is the path of least resistance? You can either work hard in school and try to gain employment through merit or you can get money and power by being a “victim”.

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