Indeed, let's get to it. Being retired I have all the time in the world. You must be retired to since you also have so much time on your hands. Am I right?
The fact that you made a statement that is patently untrue, to wit, that the public schools are run by the teachers' unions, and the teachers' unions are run by hard-left ideologues. I see three possible reasons for such a motive: ignorance, malice, or emotionality bordering on hysteria. I chose ignorance as the least offensive option. If your reason was actually malice or emotion, please excuse me.
I seek confrontation with you because you are a leftist. I want to provoke you and argue with you. You will find that I won't fight set piece battles with you unless it's too my advantage to do so. I will come at you from many different directions. Again, I seek confrontation with you.
[/QUOTE]I can't speak for Canadians. I'm not Canadian.[/QUOTE]
I know now. You are an American leftist. That's why I seek confrontation with you.
For 2009, Canada had an overall score of 524, and a rank of 7th overall.
You have just admitted that Canadian students perform better than American students. That's what I was saying. Thanks.
Depends on your definition of "low." In 2009 the U.S. ranked 18th, with an overall score of 500. In math, the U.S. had a score of 497, which the OECD calls "statistically significantly below the OECD average." In science, the U.S. scored 502, which the OECD calls "not statistically significantly different from the OECD average."
http://www.oecd.org/pisa/46643496.pdf
Again you have admitted American public school inferiority. Thanks.
In California the public school system has generally failed the Latino kids. Almost half drop out and the other half go on to gangbang.
California and the U.S. Department of Education would appear to disagree with you.
Latino high school graduation rates on the rise in California[/QUOTE]
I don't accept your source. Besides graduation rates don't translate into the acquisition of proficiency in core disciplines.
So lets see what the National Education Association says which contradicts your conclusion:
"
The Crisis in the Education of Latino Students
By Patricia Gándara, Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles, University of California–Los Angeles
This article (from a forthcoming Patricia Gándara book
1 ) addresses three questions—
- Is there really a Latino education crisis, or is it just a passing phenomenon attributable to recent high immigration?
- If there is a crisis, what are its dimensions and what has caused it?
- What are some of the policies that we must consider to effectively address the crisis?
Is There Really a Latino Education Crisis?
The most urgent problem for the American education system has a Latino face. Latinos are the largest and most rapidly growing ethnic minority in the country, but, academically, they are lagging dangerously far behind their non-Hispanic peers. For example, upon entering kindergarten 42% of Latino children are found in the lowest quartile of performance on reading readiness compared to just 18% of White children.
2 By 4th grade, 16% of Latino students are proficient in reading according to the 2005 NAEP, compared to 41% of White students.
3 A similar pattern is notable at the 8th grade, where only 15% of Latinos are proficient in reading compared to 39% of Whites.
4
With respect to college completion, only 11% of Latinos 25 to 29 years of age had a BA or higher compared to 34% of Whites. Perhaps most distressing, however, is the fact that no progress has been made in the percentage of Latinos gaining college degrees over a 20-year period, while other groups have seen significant increases in degree completion.
Percentage of 25–29-Year-Olds Having Completed a BA or Higher, by Ethnicity
Ethnicity 1975 1985 1995 2000 2005 White 24 24 29 34
34.1
African American 11 12 15 18 17.5 Latino 9 11 9 10 11.2
The Latino education crisis is not simply a result of immigration. Successive generations of Latinos do tend to outperform their parents, if those parents are very undereducated.
5 In 21st-century America, however, it is not sufficient for each generation to advance from a 6th grade education to an 8th grade education and so forth. Educational progress for Latinos has for the most part stalled at high school, with virtually no progress made beyond that point.
Some scholars have noted that Americanization is bad for immigrants (as opposed to immigrants being bad for America). Based on data from over 2,400 8th- and 9th-grade immigrant students in the San Diego, California, area, Rubén Rumbaut concluded that "Americanization processes, all other things being equal...may be counterproductive for educational achievement."
6 A number of other studies have similarly found what is often referred to as "immigrant optimism" that factors into the surprisingly higher educational achievement of many immigrant students than their native-born, co-ethnic peers.
7 But the overwhelming majority of Latino students are native-born, and, in spite of the recent large increase in Latino immigration, the native-born population is still growing at a faster rate than is immigration.
8 Therefore, the low educational attainment of Latino students is not just the result of large numbers of undereducated immigrants entering the public school system. Rather, it is the result of circumstances encountered by Latino students who were born in this country.
Dimensions of the Crisis
This lack of progress in college completion augurs poorly not just for Latinos, but for the society as a whole. Almost one in five students across the country is Latino; by 2050 one in three will be.
9 In 2008, about 48% of public school students in California are Latino, about 46% in Texas, about 20% in New York. These students will form the workforce in the immediate future. The Center for Public Policy and Higher Education
10 has projected that if the state of California does not immediately begin preparing more underrepresented students for higher education, by 2020 the state will experience an 11% drop in per capita income, resulting in serious economic hardship for the people of California. Arizona, Texas, and other states with high percentages of Latinos are also projected to see declines in per capita income over the period, although none so steep as California because of its very large and undereducated Latino population. To understand the impact of such a decline in per capita earnings, it is useful to know that the present day economy of California is the result of a 30% increase in per capita income since 1980.
11 As there is no evidence of an imminent turnaround in the rate at which Latino students are either graduating from high school or obtaining college degrees, it appears that there is clearly both a regional and national catastrophe at hand.
Cause of the Crisis
It would be simplistic to attribute the cause of the Latino education crisis to any single factor. It's clearly the result of a complex web of social, economic, and educational conditions—inadequate social services, families with exceptionally low human and social capital, a polarizing economy with few entry level jobs that provide a living wage and benefits available to those without higher education or special skills, and schools that lack the resources to meet many students' most basic educational needs. Language difference is commonly perceived to be the primary educational barrier for Latino students, and, unfortunately, most attention has been placed on debates over what kind of language program to provide. This distracts educators and others from the more important questions about educational quality. While language is an issue for some Latino students, it's not the critical issue. A recent study
12 found that English Learners (primarily Latinos) received an inferior education along seven different dimensions, even when compared to other poor and low-income students.
Chief among the educational inequities suffered are teachers unprepared to address their needs...."
NEA - The Crisis in the Education of Latino Students
I disagree. I have one daughter that graduated three years ago and two that will graduate in two years and I see nothing wrong with the education they are getting. I think the problem is the older generations are judging the system on outdated parameters. I recall a few weeks back, some of the old guys at coffee row complaining that the kids today can't write. I said " They can't shoe horses either"
Do you think the US public school system is just as good as the Canadian public school system?
