Stupid finals!

Yet many fields require that or graduate levels.


Ernie Harwell never went to college; but an aspiring broadcaster today has to get a degree in journalism.


Frank Fenick the former head groundskeeper for Tiger Stadium [ I don't believe went to college or if he did, it was later in life; started as a crew member and worked his way up! But Heather Nabozny head groundskeeper at Comerica Park [ spelling] has a degree in horiculture? from MSU

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

gs78 wrote:

Is it graded on a Curve?

Typical in some college programs! I hated it in college engineering classes, we would have Arab students in the classes and in their schools, HS = our 2nd year of college! Try passing when they grade on a curve and these guys come in, mess up the class average, then leave.

The problem really isn't their schools, it is our high schools. Kids have to pass a 9th grade test to graduate 12th grade! We have the dumbing down of our education system! My parents kept complaining at the stuff they taught in the 1960's and on, that they learned the same stuff at least 3 years earlier than when I learned it. Sad thing is, my grandpa quit school after 6th grade, to work, and he had a better education than I did after 12th grade!

Every science or almost science (sociology, anthropology, psychology, etc.) is graded on a curve at UCLA. Like you say, American schooling sucks. I NEVER studied at all in K-12th grade and I just about all A's. I almost never did homework (that's what school was for) and I never touched my textbooks. Schools don't cater to the students that are doing well, they just make it incredibly easy for them which establishes bad habits that won't work at a place like UCLA. They're more concerned with getting the kids that are going to drop out at age 16 and work at McDonalds to pass their classes until they drop out.

Yeah, I agree. High schools are getting worse too. My last year of high school was the last year they offered Calculus. I don't even think they offer Pre-calculus anymore. So the highest math you can get now is Trig. I took that in 10th grade.

Also, they dropped the AP English classes. I guess students got stupider and didn't get good enough grades to get in. My class only had about 20 students, and by the time it got to 12th grade it went down to about 14.

My school wasn't getting that bad....yet.

The foreign language department was awful though. We only had French and Spanish. I took Spanish. My last year in high school I took Spanish 5. The only way to take Spanish 5 was to take Spanish 1 in 8th grade (which is no longer offered, I took it the 2nd to last year they had it....apparently not many people speak Spanish in CA?) and 4 years worth in high school.

Only 2 people in my senior class took Spanish 5 so the Spanish 5 kids sit in with the Spanish 4 class. My Spanish 4/5 class had 11 people in it and the other Spanish 4/5 class (with the other Spanish 5 student) had 12 people. It's too bad really because my Spanish 4/5 teacher (I had her both years - she was the only person capable of teaching it) was the best teacher I ever had from K-12...hell, she's better than any teacher I've had in college, too. She was highly unpopular with parents though because she refused to give people A's (unless they actually deserved them...which they usually don't!).

I got 3 B's and an A in my 4 semesters in her class and it wasn't an AP class (even though I passed TWO different AP Spanish tests) because she didn't believe in grade inflation. Despite all those B's from her I still got into all 3 schools I applied at (Berkeley, UCLA, UC Davis) so a B isn't the end of the world.

Our foreign language department sucked. You could only take Spanish and they discouraged you to take it in the 9th grade, so you had to wait until 10th grade. If you were lucky to take it in 9th grade and you made it all the way to take Spanish 4 (which were about 2-3 students a year), you had to sit in with Spanish 3 class. I only took 2 years of it. I hated it.

The problem that public schools create is, like you said cat, there is no learning true study habits in key courses! It took me 2 years of college to finally learn how to properly study! It wasn't until grad school that I had an easy time studying, and getting A's.

The high school problem is universal. The main objective is to graduate more kids, not make sure they are ready for higher learning!!! In the past, a high school education would get you an auto industry job. Not anymore. Now even a 4 year degree is laughed at.

bobrob2004 wrote:

Our foreign language department sucked. You could only take Spanish and they discouraged you to take it in the 9th grade, so you had to wait until 10th grade. If you were lucky to take it in 9th grade and you made it all the way to take Spanish 4 (which were about 2-3 students a year), you had to sit in with Spanish 3 class. I only took 2 years of it. I hated it.

I ended up we NO foreign language classes! The schools in Garden City, MI, were known as good schools, yet there was no pressure to take any. The said they were not needed in college, which I found true in the 80's and 90's. Now colleges want some foreign language studied!

kharmon wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

UPDATE:
Going into that test I had a C- going I got 55% on the final...

Spoiler:

Yeah!!!! Told you you would pass.

I told him that about 1000 times, and he said he wouldn't!

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

The problem that public schools create is, like you said cat, there is no learning true study habits in key courses! It took me 2 years of college to finally learn how to properly study! It wasn't until grad school that I had an easy time studying, and getting A's.

The high school problem is universal. The main objective is to graduate more kids, not make sure they are ready for higher learning!!! In the past, a high school education would get you an auto industry job. Not anymore. Now even a 4 year degree is laughed at.

I'm laughing at my new 4 year degree as we speak, still can't get a job!!! Lord don't get me started on education, lol. Teachers aren't even allowed to hold kids back, it's up to the parents, they just push 'em through whether they know anything or not.

Are teachers allowed to give D's and F's? I mean if you looked on the grade report printouts posted in classrooms nobody had one. Maybe it's because I wasn't taking remedial classes, but still somebody should fail, right?

I swear my master's barely got my foot in the door on some job interviews.

catbox_9 wrote:

Are teachers allowed to give D's and F's? I mean if you looked on the grade report printouts posted in classrooms nobody had one. Maybe it's because I wasn't taking remedial classes, but still somebody should fail, right?

I'm talking more about elementary school, but yeah, there should be D's and F's like you say. I think in the world today people are just afraid to do anything, I can see parents coming in to scream at teachers for giving their kids bad grades even when they didn't do the work and deserve it! I think it's the messed up world we live in today.

laprimamirala wrote:

I swear my master's barely got my foot in the door on some job interviews.

I believe it! I've been looking for jobs in MI in any field at this point and there just ain't much happenin'!!!

Things are bleak in Michigan!



I was reading the News Herald [ the voice of Downriver] yesterday and there was a job fair in Belleville last week; I think like 600 people applied for like a 150 jobs at a race track that is opening later this summer [ either in Belleville or Romulus]


A lot of those jobs are seasonal ones to boot!

I'm for ya, iluvpudge. Something's gonna turn up!

iluvpudge7 wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

Are teachers allowed to give D's and F's? I mean if you looked on the grade report printouts posted in classrooms nobody had one. Maybe it's because I wasn't taking remedial classes, but still somebody should fail, right?

I'm talking more about elementary school, but yeah, there should be D's and F's like you say. I think in the world today people are just afraid to do anything, I can see parents coming in to scream at teachers for giving their kids bad grades even when they didn't do the work and deserve it! I think it's the messed up world we live in today.

I took many a classes in high school where the grade printout said EVERYBODY in the class got an A. Mind you those were often advanced placement or honors classes so the students weren't remedial, but come on. There wasn't a single B student in there?

laprimamirala wrote:

I'm for ya, iluvpudge. Something's gonna turn up!

Thanks lap, I can use all the help I can get!