U.S. public school placement issues

[Xenojjin]

In the U.S. one of our biggest problems we have been facing is the basic incompetance of the public school's system to evaluate its students properly , AKA place them in the class that is best for them .

I have witnessed multiple accounts of this and have come to realize its a much bigger problem and not just the simple error of a select few students in the U.S. just among me and my freinds the public school system has already blown it . My best freind is in 2 math classes lower then me , but he can do the work in my class just as well as I can ( pre-calculous ) seeming how I have an A in that class its clear he should be their too . I have noticed that also a lot of the kids in my pre-cal class SHOULD NOT BE THERE ... for they are dumb as a stick . We were reviewing Algebra 2 one day and some girl sitting next to me honestly asked the question "umm... what does "X" and "Y" mean again ?" On top of this their are countless misplacements I have witnessed in other class types as well . I myself am in the wrong english class . My english class is basically a english philosophy class at level 3 , and the topics discussed are so simplistic and stupidly non-creative they would probobly all be closed if I tried to post them as threads here .

So what did I do ? I went to a teacher and asked about how bad they thought school placement was in the U.S. , he surprisingly and seriously replied " Pathetic at best. " Teachers actually admit to the schools not being able to appropriatly place kids in classes . He then told me of all the things required and I found out that the loops you had to jump through to go up or down a class were absolutely ridiculous . I already knew it was possible to pass a class with a D , which is bad enough . But apperantly changes have to be approved by a multitude of peopel , many of whom have no idea whatsoever of the students capability , they simply look at the average of that students grades rather then how well they are doing in that particular class in order to decide reccomendations . Since those who actually make the final decision ( teachers make the initial decision ) about the placement have no clue about what the student even looks like its pretty clear their are more students in the wrong class then we think .

The main problem is that if a placement fails , it must be noticed within a week or else that case of misplacement is kept quite and the student is stuck in either totall boredom or totall stress for a whole year .

I am mainly starting this thread to see if anyone else out their has suffered misplacement in their school , and to see how those outside of the U.S. have experienced such things .

oy ...hey cool 500th post

[Cufflink]

Why is this a conspiracy topic? The problem is down to incompetence. We have an incompetent education system over here. But it's down to people being crap at their jobs.

Conspiracy implies deliberate actions for hidden reasons.

[Anirbas]

The sad thing is the teachers want to do something about it. At least most of them - teaching is their passion! It's what they love to do - they want to help you fufill your dreams! They are kind of the middle man.

I too suffered placement issues when I was in school! I excelled above EVERYONE in reading and failed miserably in Math.

I had a couple teachers that have profoundly impacted my life forever - that was my 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Humphreys, and my 4th grade teacher Mrs. Blair.

Mrs. Humphreys should have retired long before I ever had her for class. She was a pathetic exucse for a teacher! She continously sent me to detention - funny I'd never been a dicipline problem before - but see I had sloppy handwritting - and if she didn't like what I did in class that morning - she'd send me to detention. She pretty much ignored me anytime I had a question in class. I remember the first day I ever looked at a multiplication problem. I didn't understand it. I cried literally cried in fustration and embarassment. She came to me and asked me what was wrong and I told her I didn't understand. So she said something like well I don't know why you don't understand it's just a simple way of addition - oh I thougth addition I can do - so that is what I did on the entire worksheet......I got an F on that one. And she never did try to help me get it! I never did get it!

Not that year - not until my 4th grade year - Mrs. Blair noticed that several of us were failing miserably with it... she TRIED - but she was pretty pathetic too. She usually acted like she was addressing the problem but never got down to the core of it. She too thought I had a dicipline problem and I had many, many days of detention with her. She even made me sit beside the one girl in the entire class that I could not get along with (Kim)! She said she would make me get along with her - and we wonder why I had issues with detention - my mom really didn't like her (Mrs. Blair)! My mom had issues with Kim's mom and had even bigger issues with me sitting beside of her......But basically - she (Mrs. Blair) too passed the buck!

When I switched school systems (from one county to another) they wanted to put me in Algebra - I told the principle I didn't think I could do Algebra but he wanted me to try it. I had Mrs. Shamblin - she couldn't control the class! She couldn't teach because they wouldn't show up! To this day I can't tell you if she was a good teacher or not because I don't think she ever got the chance to teach! She was fired at the end of the term.....I didn't learn a damned thing from that class. So then I went to high school - they placed me in remedial math - still I didn't get it! In college they sent me to remedial math because my ACT score was so low. To this day I can not solve a SIMPLE algebra problem! I can't do fractions well and while I can do multiplication if someone is watching me I freeze and can't do it.

Later, in college I learned that there is a specific part of your brain that develops and you can learn math - until then you just don't get it - this part develops between the time you are 7 (2nd grade) and 11 (fourth grade) and we wonder why I've got issues.....

Thanks for lettin me rant

[Xenojjin]

That definatly sucks Anirbas , never being able to do the simple algebra problems . I always get A's in math but I can imagine what the class would be like if you were clueless since alot of the kids in my class are . Did they really not listen to you when you asked to be in a lower class ? thats another thing to add , they try to figure you out and place you and not let you try to place yourself . Apperantly some old fart can figure out what you can do better then you can .

and english dude , I put this in conspiracies because I believe the U.S. knows about this but wants to do nothing to stop it since it would require a new education system ( AKA costs money ) the conspiracy comes in when they try to pretend everythings fine and constantly convince parents the failure in schools is due to anything but a incompetant system through "public service" announcments .

[Anirbas]

Xeno - we had these classifications in the "New School" the

1's were smart smart - like gifted the

2's were a lil less smart but still smart

3's were kinda on the dumb side

okay so what group you were in also had to do with your popularity and social status in school.....I would have been in the 3's had I not taken Algebra (I later found this out) so by taking Algebra I was in the 2's which just so happened to be the majority thereby making me more well known and able to make more friends.....i still can't believe they had a system like that - how alienated some people must have felt....

[Xenojjin]

...

Holy Sh#t ! what psycho freak school did you go to ? did the students ever talk about each other by their classification number ? Thats crazy .

[Anirbas]

Yeah actually we did - someone would mention a name and i'd be like who is that and they would say oh they are a 1 or oh they are a 3 you prolly don't know them.....

[Cufflink]

and english dude ,

Right. That does it.

Xenojjin, you sad little wally, stop calling me `English dude.' My user name is Cufflink. Either use that, or don't use a name.

I won't warn you again.

[Xenojjin]

sad little wally

you come up with the best insults over their !

I wont be calling you an english dude anymore if it makes you feel that way , cufflink .