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J. Clarke[_2_]

In article , says...

On Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:15:39 -0600, Swingman wrote:

I'm pretty well convinced that two factors that were in greater supply
in those days are largely responsible for the current decline ...
discipline, and the quality of the teachers.

I agree on discipline, but I don't recall there being a plethora of good
teachers back in the '50s. Maybe one out of 5 of my HS teachers
qualified as good, 3 as mediocre, and 1 as horrible. I remember only one
really excellent teacher.

I hesitate to mention this because it's not P.C., but the rules now force
the teachers to teach the unteachable. Also known as the lowest common
denominator. In my day, if you couldn't keep up after as much extra help
as the teacher could give, you were eventually ignored and given a
failing grade. They can't do that anymore, it hurts the kiddies self
esteem.

It's worse than that, it's now mandated by law. The combination of
"mainstreaming" and "no child left behind" means that the teachers have
to put strenuous efforts into educating the uneducable and let the best
and brightest fend for themselves. Everybody has to pass a standardized
test. The trouble with this is that the best and brightest aren't
expected to do more than pass the same standardized test as the worst
and dullest.