He graduated from High School on Wednesday!

It has been bitter sweet. This has been a GRUELING year... mostly for him... but for all of us.

There is a good documentary, "The Race to No Where - The Dark Dide of America's Achievement Culture". We spent a lot of time on the dark side this year. High school students shouldn't be pulling all nighters... but he did at least one every week... and sometimes 3 in a week. He had 24 hours of homework assigned some weekends.

His English teacher would show Seinfeld DVD's in class... and assign 8 hours of homework on a Friday. While A's and B's are expected in class... the teachers didn't always teach to the California State standards and we spent $5,000 on a math tutor, this year.

As far as we can tell... about 1/3 to 1/2 of the kids that he was in 6th grade with have dropped out... or been squeezed out this year, 3-6 months away from graduation, because they couldn't compete and keep up the grind.

The valedictorian's speech at the ceremony can only be described as depressing. She basically talked about all the all nighters they had all pulled and what a sucky year this had been and how FINALLY they can stay up all night and IM and Facebook all night instead of doing stupid projects and too much homework.

So... I'm sort of bitter... Jamie doesn't show a LOT of expression much of the time... but he did look both happy and moved by the graduation ceremony... so that was sweet.

However, he DID graduate. Going to the local junior college (along with 40 other kids from his graduating class). Went over and did the placement tests there and did great.

Looking forward to next year!

And these milestones make me think of the passage of time on this board... not just school or home.

(All of the out of town family members have gone home. They were a bad influence on me... and I on them, I guess... But I'm not up too much today)

quote:

Originally posted by GoingSkiing:

The US attempts to educate EVERYBODY. If we instituted "most children left behind" and published statistics for the wealthiest 10-30% of our population... we'd be competitive with Asia. (Not saying that we SHOULD... but comparing India to the US is to compare cultural and socioeconomic apples and oranges...)

Also the US has a suicide rate of 11 per 10,000 people. Japan's is 24.4.

Ohhh, I totally agree. I also know that you have to apply to get into high school in Japan and I think China. We got a Chinese student this year who had not been in school for over a year (after he finished the equivalent of 8th grade). His parents told one of my co-workers who is from Taiwan that it was because they were waiting to come here. She said "I think it was because he didn't get in to high school."

Dawn

quote:

There is another one called "One Million Minutes", and it is basically talking about how other cultures (particular Asian students) spend SOOOO much time studying than American students do, and that that's why American students are falling behind.

I'll have to look at that when I can get on a computer that can do sound/movies.

I'm at one elementary school and about half the kids are Chinese and half are Indian (from India... not Native American).

I have an Indian student who SOBBED for an entire hour after school one week and most of an hour the second week because she "NEEDED" an A+ in math and feared that she was only getting an A. This is a 5th grader.

I think that India does an excellent job of educating a small percentage of their students... and spends NO energy on most of their students. The US attempts to educate EVERYBODY. If we instituted "most children left behind" and published statistics for the wealthiest 10-30% of our population... we'd be competitive with Asia. (Not saying that we SHOULD... but comparing India to the US is to compare cultural and socioeconomic apples and oranges...)

Also the US has a suicide rate of 11 per 10,000 people. Japan's is 24.4.

One of the top performing HS in the bay area (Gunn HS) had 4 suicides and another 6-8 aborted attempts this year.

Many schools in the Bay Area try and emulate Gunn and other high performing schools with the extensive AP and honors classes... but there is a price to be paid.

I'm getting my equilibrium back.

Jamie went to Yosemite with two friends today. Used some grad money to buy a camera and is off to take photos of Yosemite.

quote:

Originally posted by GoingSkiing:


There is a good documentary, "The Race to No Where - The Dark Dide of America's Achievement Culture". We spent a lot of time on the dark side this year. High school students shouldn't be pulling all nighters... but he did at least one every week... and sometimes 3 in a week. He had 24 hours of homework assigned some weekends.

I'd really like to see that documetary. There is another one called "One Million Minutes", and it is basically talking about how other cultures (particular Asian students) spend SOOOO much time studying than American students do, and that that's why American students are falling behind. I know the English teacher I work with shows the video in one of her classes. I'd like to see the one you are talking about and maybe she could use it as a comparison/contrast lesson.

Part of "One Million Minutes" was made at the H.S. where I work and I was talking to one of the teachers who was involved in it. He said he was really disappointed with the film because almost everything he was involved in was cut, because he was too positive about our students.

Dawn

Wow Denise, that does sound like a really rough year. I'm sorry to hear that his school year was like that, particulary his senior year.

I know the students at the high school where I work, work really, really hard, but it seems to pay off for them. I know a lot of MY students stay up until 2 and 3 am studying, and occasionally all night, but that is because English is not their first language so it takes them a lot longer to do the work than it does for an average American student.

I hope that college will be easier for him after working so much in high school.

Dawn

That is very sad but I'm happy for Jamie (and you guys) that it's over.

Congrats on graduation!

The state of our educational system is so sad. We can hope that the valedictorian's speech on front of all those parents and school administrators may get SOMEONE thinking. But I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

I'm glad it was a pleasant experience for Jamie (graduation, that is, not the school year!).