I believe that the education I got before I gots to adulthood was quite satisfactory.
I learned that when it comes to work, men suffer the most injuries, while women just copy them (but don't get injured). I learned that trains are never on time.. no matter where or when they left the station (and that each boxcar is neatly labeled, "AND", "BUT", and "OR"). I learned that jumping jacks in PE became a lot more "interesting" once you got to high school (ay caramba!!!)
Yes, I managed to get triple A's in every subject....I know that cuz I managed to work out how to mark my own exam results.... i even gave myself top maks for ingenuity....I came top of my class for dat :)
No. There were no advanced classes. In grade school my teachers did not to know what to do with me and a handful of my classmates. There were no advanced classes for us. Same in HS. I had a friend who was a genius and never went anywhere in his life. Not even college or the military. He had no guidance.
I have learned more about life and survival outside of school. Yeah, I graduated, but to me school is just a break for parents. My chosen professions didn't call for much of anything school had to offer. I will say that I respected my 7th grade History teacher. He didn't feed us full of the BS in text books. One example would be the battle at the Alamo. Many of the volunteers surrendered and were executed rather than the fight-to-the-death rendition.
I'm the product of the old-fashioned public education system which actually taught us things. I took a commercial course in a high school which had one of the best courses in the City and did very well in my commercial subjects. It put me onto my first job at a law firm and I've worked in law firms for the past 56 years earning a more than adequate salary. My steno teacher was a bitch, but if not for her, I wouldn't have succeeded as well as I did. She and I kept in touch after I graduated up until the time she passed away about 15 years ago.
This post was edited by SpunkySenior at March 17, 2020 8:14 PM MDT
Yes, it was adequate for the time. I made sure my children had exceptional educations. I do not have one...not one memory of my mother ever inquiring as to whether I had homework on a given day. I checked homework every night for both of mine until they went to junior high in 7th grade. In junior high I checked their homework calendars and just made sure they did the assignments (but did not check for accuracy). In 10th grade they were responsible for getting their work done and turned in on time. They always did.
This post was edited by Thriftymaid at March 18, 2020 8:39 PM MDT
Yes. The school syllabus from 1958 - '76 in NSW Australia, was thorough in teaching the foundations of reading, writing and arithmetic, and then building on that with general knowledge.
I was lucky - born into an area where the local headmaster had very strict standards, and later boarding at a private girls school with a low student to teacher ratio and great facilities. Plus, I've always loved learning.
In Australia implementation of the curriculum varies widely from one area to another and depends on whether a school is public (state-run and free) or private (parents pay.) The private schools aren't necessarily better; poor religious schools often have far worse outcomes than the best state schools. This has changed a little recently with extra funding and resources going to schools in disadvantaged areas - but it's far from adequate. The formal teaching of grammar was dropped about 30 years ago, resulting in young people ill-equipped for university and white collar jobs. Standards have dropped by 16% since the introduction of Naplan testing 20 years ago.