I was thinking the same thing. We had a good deal of choice of what classes to take. I didn't take Lit, but I did do the basic English classes, where we read some Shakespeare and the like, but not to the degree the Lit students did. I didn't do any complex math classes either, I did Algebra. But then I also did Applied Business, or whatever it was called. I did Civics with the base History classes. I did Home Economics in 9th grade, not a required class, but an elective. Woodshop was another example of an elective class. Have they removed electives from schools? If not then it's this dude's own fault for not choosing the proper electives. If they are gone and all that is taught is the core, then there may be too much core.

I got to disagree with the video's premise that Math, History and the cores aren't needed. Do you need Calculus, no but you should graduate with a strong understanding of basic Algebra. History is important to, though I'm not sure the methods used are effective, route memorization of facts and dates for tests, rather than a general understanding of history and how to avoid the same mistakes. Teaching for tests period is a problem... Lit isn't important and should remain an elective, but having read some of the "classics" is important too, even if it is just a quick Cliff Notes sort of version of it (do they still have Cliff Notes?) Actually a Cliff Notes rundown of lots of the "classics" would probably be better than what most English classes do, while encouraging students to read more modern what they want fare for reports and the like. I didn't take Biology, but basic Science understanding is important, problem is it's politicized and rather than stick with the facts, too many people want to introduce at the very least doubt about the facts if not introduce ideological ideas that contradict the facts and are based on a misunderstanding of what the facts actually say... due to a messed up literal reading (well when it's convenient to take literal, other times things are dismissed as "literary" or "poetic" be it about the Earth not moving or bats being birds and on and on) of one particular bronze age book.

Also you can't teach people who to vote for... you gain understanding of the issues in History and Civics... so...

How to move away from testing is a tricky thing. You need to prove you have an understanding of how to form an Algebraic formula and to solve one. You need to prove you understand the issue(s) of the Civil War and the basic era (I'm not convinced you need to remember exact dates, know it was the 1860s), same with the other wars. What was one's nation's involvement in the World Wars and what caused those wars in the first place, and again basic era, if you don't know the exact year of the bombing of Pearl Harbor or D-Day or the dropping of the atomic bombs, okay, but a basic close approximation of the years. For English you need to prove you can write and read, and a basic understanding of literature, not details of classic books, but narrative structure etc. There should perhaps be more time spent on critical thinking and how to vet sources. You need to have a basic enough understanding of science not to dismiss things as "just a theory" which proves you don't know what theory means in science, and don't ask ridiculous questions like "if we came from monkeys why are there still monkeys" instead you should be able to answer that. You should be able to answer properly if somebody notes that CO2 is good for plants or that compact fluorescent have mercury in them so they aren't better for the environment than older bulbs.

How does one prove these things without tests? That's the question. And it needs to be Federally standardized to a degree to ensure that you don't have lose districts teaching that the Civil War wasn't about slavery nearly at all, rather than the fact it was the primary reason, or that Evolution is "just a theory", or deny the slaughter of the Native Americans or interment of Japanese Americans. You need to insure that all students are getting the same basics, and insure they have a good range of choices for electives. It's the basics though that basically need tested for, and I personally can't figure out a way to prove a student knows say what caused the Civil War or that they know what Evolution actually is, or how to form an Algebraic formula to solve a real life problem without a test.

I thought the video made a good point, but rather different from the one I assumed it was going for before watching.

As I was finishing up my senior year of High School after 4 years of taking crap for being a nerd etc., a friend/acquaintance of mine was starting her freshman year. She got picked on also, probably worse than I had had it. She made it through 1 semester before dropping out. Then she got a part time job for a half-year, took night classes at the local community college, and got her GED.

At the time, I thought she was making a terrible decision by not sticking it out and trying to get through High School the usual way -- 4 years of hell. But then, the next year she ended up at the same University where I was, both as Uni-freshmen, and she handled the much more mature University environment just fine.

It ended up completely turning the tables for me, to the point that I thought that her path of dropping out -> GED -> Uni was actually objectively superior to my suffering through the more traditional path.

So, that's what I thought "don't stay in school" was going to refer to.


But the actual message is good as well. The best classes that I had in Middle and High School were more practical things. But oddly enough, the best examples of that for me were my math classes. I had the same teacher for Geometry, Algebra 2, Pre-Calc, and Calculus (AP, so equivalent to Calc 1 at a University). He stressed the real-life applications of advanced mathematics by doing lots of word problems, and only teaching topics that he could point to concrete, real-world applications for. And by letting us use calculators for everything as long as we could explain WHY specific operations were needed to answer the questions.


...So, long-winded response boiled down:
I like the message. More practical stuff in school is better. And feel free to drop out -- especially if doing so is just a shortcut to further education at a University, Vo-Tech, or whatever.

I don't want to take a MATH class and only learn MATH, I want to take an EVERYTHING class so I can learn EVERYTHING. /s

Feminism is about equality for all, it's just useful to be able to specify a category/focus. It's not about female superiority or 'special rights'. Being concerned with equal rights for woman does not preclude your ability to support rights for other groups. Feminists are concerned about male rights and male well being as well. The word has been under assault from right media for a long time now.

My fix if I were an adult on the school system would be to perhaps sponsor a support group-type action-awareness campaign to empower the bullied kids through a kind of humiliation campaign against the most egregious of offenders and perpetrators.

Kung Fu instruction from a 'real' kung fu master for a solid year to lay down the foundation for defense as well...Maybe some Krav Maga?? Teach em the cockpuncher defense and have a team of girls protect the smaller, less-confident boys??
I'd get real creative..

Humiliate the alpha in the herd and they tend to slink the fuck off and take their friends with em...

I dealt with douchebags by confusing the shit out of them-In the 10th grade I made great friends with the junior-varsity cheerleaders in my remedial math class, and sat at the cheerleader table at lunch, pissed some jocks off for a while until I started telling them what their GF's were talking about them....then the started coming to me for advice...Helps when you can get them weed as well

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I gots da permissions!

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lol I wasn't paying attention in a discrete math class one day and at the end there was a problem on the board for extra credit. Given a position in a series, find the number. I thought about it for about a week until I made the connection to Pascal's triangle. Wrote an equation 30 minutes before class, because it had been due the class before and as long as I got it in before the next class started it wasn't late. Just for good measure I inverted it and solved for the positon in the series given a number. Then I wrote a dumb, long rambling description of my thought process in deducing the answer. Rushed it to the professor's office and handed it to him just as he was getting ready to leave for class. I sat watching him silently reading it over until I felt compelled to apologize for the incoherent preface. He didn't answer and I excused myself and went to class feeling kind of dumb.

The professor showed up about 20 minutes late for class and explained how the assignment had been to create a simple formula to "aproximate" the position, something like, the number will be no higher than (x-1/y)(y/x-1) or some other nonsense. He hadn't ever seen an actual precise solution until that day.

Score 1 for not paying attention in class.

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How does she learn anything is she's always finding new ways of distracting herself in maths class?

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Ahh, reminds me of 1st grade math class..

If it's something a child is more likely to see, then it can't be anything too complicated. Think simple. FTR, I gave up on this one fearing it would take me an hour, but I wish I hadn't when I looked up the answer. >> ^UsesProzac:

Ugh, this is the essence of my trouble with numbers. They swim around the screen for me when I try to figure them out. It brings me right back to math classes and the damned frustration I'd feel. I consider myself intelligent, even highly in some areas, but when it comes to numbers, nothing makes me feel like an idiot faster.
Can someone explain what this all means?