75% of Oklahoma high school students can't name first president

[DiveCon]

This is public education in the hands of the government. Now our health?

i remnember when i first moved to the DFW area and they had polled high school seniors and asked a series of what i thought were rather simple questions
some were on this one as well, but some were even more simple
like name 5 countries on the continent of Africa
when one could look at just the front page of any newspaper and see a story from at least 5 countries in africa
and only about 25% could
then i started asking some of the just out of high school people i worked with those question and the most usual response i got was "i dont care whats in africa, i live here"
so then i asked them to name 5 countries on the continent of North America
NONE of them could i kid you not

 

[Article 15]

If the average IQ is 100 then half the country is rockin' an IQ score of 100 or less.

THAT'S scary.

 

[JakeStarkey]

OK is one of the most evangelical, red neck states in the country. Therein rests the problem. They 'believe' rather than 'learn' there.

 

[chanel]

I think you could find similar stats in any state in the country. I could name a thousand and one reasons why these scores are so pathetic, but I don't have the time. The bottom line is that very few kids today believe that any of this "stuff" is important. That starts at home.

And now some moonbats want to take the pledge out of schools. Despicable.

25% of our district is now "classified" special education. Hold on to your pocketbooks folks.

 

[bodecea]

BTW...here is an example of the FIFTH grade framework for Oklahoma:

http://www.tulsaschools.org/employees/tr/xl_files/Gr5Qtr2IntegCurr0506.pdf

That framework is actually pretty good - though I have my doubts as to how much of it is actually taught, and to what degree.

And the sad part is, this information should be revisited in earnest at the high school level when a student's maturity is far more capable to grasp the concepts contained within the framework of the nation's founding history...

That's just the first one that popped up, I'm sure if people looked, they'd find the HS framework...tho History and what kind of History may be an option in HS depending on whether you are college prep or not.

 

[bodecea]

Here's a question.

Who's to blame if George Washington is taught in Elementary School, Middle School, and High School and yet, 75% of the students don't know who he is?

 

[Contessa_Sharra]

This is public education in the hands of the government. Now our health?

i remnember when i first moved to the DFW area and they had polled high school seniors and asked a series of what i thought were rather simple questions
some were on this one as well, but some were even more simple
like name 5 countries on the continent of Africa
when one could look at just the front page of any newspaper and see a story from at least 5 countries in africa
and only about 25% could
then i started asking some of the just out of high school people i worked with those question and the most usual response i got was "i dont care whats in africa, i live here"
so then i asked them to name 5 countries on the continent of North America
NONE of them could i kid you not

Hey, you could have really stumped them and asked them to name the five countries on the North Coast of Africa, LOL.....

Face it, DC, Boobi americani are all ignorami!

Did you ask them to name five states west of the Mississippi? The capitals of the five states that are closest to where they live?

But ask them to name five brands of clothing, shoes, or five players on survivor, or five "top" rappers, or movie stars. or kinds of mixed drinks, or styles of underwear.... That shit they KNOW, LOL....

 

[Contessa_Sharra]

And now some moonbats want to take the pledge out of schools. Despicable.

The U.S. Pledge of Allegiance​

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Background material[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Overview:[/FONT]​

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Between 1924 and 1954, the Pledge of Allegiance was worded:

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands; one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
​

[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]In 1954, during the McCarthy era and communism scare, Congress passed a bill, which was signed into law, to add the words "under God." The current Pledge reads:

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands; one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
​

[/FONT]

​

[FONT=arial, helvetica]The Pledge is recited, on average, tens of millions of times a day -- largely by students in schools across America.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]On 2002-JUN-26, a three judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2 to 1 to declare the Pledge unconstitutional because of the addition of the phrase "under God." This decision only affects the states of AK, AZ, CA, HI, ID, MT, NV, OR and WA. However, the ruling will only take effect if it is upheld on appeal. The decision may be appealed to the entire 9th U.S. Circuit Court, or to the U.S. Supreme Court.[/FONT]​

[FONT=arial, helvetica]It is interesting to note that this decision happened to occur one day after the 40th anniversary of the Engel v. Vitale decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which declared unconstitutional the inclusion of state-sponsored school prayer as a part of instruction in public schools. The Texas Justice Foundation had declared that anniversary a day of mourning. 1,2[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]

[/FONT]​

[FONT=arial, helvetica]History of the Pledge of Allegiance:[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]The Pledge was originally written in 1892-AUG by Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931). He was an American, a Baptist minister, and an active Socialist. He included some of the concepts of his first cousin, Edward Bellamy, who wrote a number of socialist utopian novels, such as Looking Backward (1888) and Equality(1897). In its original form, it read:

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
​

[/FONT]

​

[FONT=arial, helvetica]It was first published in a children's magazine Youth's Companion, in 1892 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the Americas. 4 The word "to" was added before "the Republic" in 1892-OCT. He considered including the word "equality" in the pledge, but decided against it because he knew that many Americans at the time were opposed to equality for women and African-Americans. Opposition to equality continues today; a sizeable minority of American adults remain opposed to equal rights for women, gays and lesbians, and transsexuals.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]By 1924, the "National Flag Conference, under the leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, changed the Pledge's words, 'my Flag,' to 'the Flag of the United States of America.' Francis Bellamy disliked this change, but his protest was ignored." 3[/FONT]​

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Most Jehovah's Witness children refuse to acknowledge the flag. In 1940, the U.S. Supreme Court denied children the right of freedom of speech. The court ruled that school boards could compel their students to recite the Pledge. The court reversed itself three years later. 4[/FONT]​

[FONT=arial, helvetica]In 1953, the Roman Catholic men's group, the Knights of Columbus mounted a campaign to add the words "under God" to the Pledge. The nation was suffering through the height of the cold war, and the McCarthy communist witch hunt. Partly in reaction to these factors, a reported 15 resolutions were initiated in Congress to change the pledge. They got nowhere until Rev. George Docherty (1911 - 2008) preached a sermon that was attended by President Eisenhower and the national press corps on 1954-FEB-7. His sermon said in part:

"Apart from the mention of the phrase 'the United States of America,' it could be the pledge of any republic. In fact, I could hear little Muscovites repeat a similar pledge to their hammer-and-sickle flag in Moscow."
​

After the service, President Eisenhower said that he agreed with the sermon. In the following weeks, the news spread, and public opinion grew. Three days later, Senator Homer Ferguson, (R-MI), sponsored a bill to add God to the Pledge. It was approved as a joint resolution 1954-JUN-8. It was signed into law on Flag Day, JUN-14. President Eisenhower said at the time:

"From this day forward, the millions of our schoolchildren will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty." 4 (Is this the day the USA became a theocracy, contrary to what the founders intended?)
​

With the addition of "under God" to the Pledge, it became both "a patriotic oath and a public prayer...Bellamy's granddaughter said he also would have resented this second change." 3 ​

The change was partly motivated by a desire to differentiate between communism, which promotes Atheism, and Western capitalistic democracies, which were at least nominally Christian. The phrase "Atheistic Communists" has been repeated so many times that the public has linked Atheism with communism; the two are often considered synonymous. Many consider Atheism as unpatriotic and "un-American" as communism.​

Most communists, worldwide, are Atheists. But, in North America, the reverse is not true; most Atheists are non-communists. Although there are probably many Atheist and Humanist legislators at the federal and state levels, few if any are willing to reveal their beliefs, because of the intense prejudice against persons holding these belief systems.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review this change to the Pledge. The Court has commented in passing on the motto saying that:

"[o]ur previous opinions have considered in dicta the motto and the pledge [of allegiance], characterizing them as consistent with the proposition that government may not communicate an endorsement of religious belief." [Allegheny, 492 U.S.]

​

Pledge of Allegiance and its "under God" phrase

And we are ONLY NOMINALLY Christian. What that means is talking the talk, but not walking the walk.​

[/FONT]

 

[Si modo]

Here's a question.

Who's to blame if George Washington is taught in Elementary School, Middle School, and High School and yet, 75% of the students don't know who he is?

The system, which is government funded and a failure.

 

[Missourian]

The system, which is government funded and a failure.

Exactly...the public school system is a failure.

Everyone knows it...especially the citizens of Oklahoma.

The group that commissioned the study in the OP...the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs...also preformed a survey of citizens in favor of alternatives to public school.

The survey of 1,200 likely Oklahoma voters shows that, if parents could select any type of school they wanted, more than 40 percent would send their kids to private school, while less than 20 percent would opt for regular public schools - a sharp contrast to the actual numbers.

"Ninety-two percent of students here in the state attend regular public schools," said Paul DiPerna with the Friedman Foundation. "Compare that to what we found in the poll indicating that only 17 percent would send their children to a regular public school. There's a disconnect."

Oklahomans want education alternatives - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |​

 

[Wry Catcher]

Here's a question.

Who's to blame if George Washington is taught in Elementary School, Middle School, and High School and yet, 75% of the students don't know who he is?

The system, which is government funded and a failure.

I agree "The System" fails many students. But what is the soluton to free (tax supported)public eduation for all?

 

[EriktheRed]

75% of Oklahoma high school students can't name first president

Not surprising it's from the state that sent Tom Coburn and his batshit Chief of Staff to Washington...


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8tQwtuzqpc&feature=player_embedded]YouTube - Michael Schwartz on pornography[/ame]

 

[PubliusInfinitum]

Unbelievable!


75 per cent of Oklahoma students can't name first US President

Huh...

So roughly 25% of Oklahoma kids are homeschooled? Cool...

As an employer... I see the failure of the Leftist Education System everyday.

US Schools are NOT serving education... they're little more than Leftist Indoctrination Centers.

Ask those same kids about rising sea levels... or greedy corporations; the need to 'hep da po'' and they will rattle off a litanny of empty cliches and bumper stickers.

But they have very few critical thinking skills... and no sense of nation or its history... and Oklahoma is hardly a shining example of the worst of it.

Find a kid that's come out of an Urbanistan... they're worthless.

 

[RodISHI]

A part of the failure is where the schools are getting their educational materials from. School books are a big money operation.

A good book to read on the subject.."The Harsh Truth About Public Schools"

Samuel L. Blumenfel
Elsewhere in his book, Shortt delves into such topics as grade inflation with the concurrent trend of dumbing down the curriculum, and how education officials across the country have used creative accounting on their states' test results to continue receiving federal money.

The central problem is not any particular government policy, Shortt writes, but rather "the error of transferring responsibility for education from parents and church to the government." And that is the crux of the whole matter: education will never improve until parents take back full responsibility for their children's education.d says:

"Bruce Shortt has produced a devastating indictment of our public school system, which he believes is not only destroying the intelligence of our children, but is wreaking havoc with our moral and spiritual future. The book is a veritable encyclopedia of educational failure, corruption, and malfeasance...

 

[bodecea]

Here's a question.

Who's to blame if George Washington is taught in Elementary School, Middle School, and High School and yet, 75% of the students don't know who he is?

The system, which is government funded and a failure.

Why, if they've been taught it at least 3 times?

 

[mascale]

Probably everybody got the answer wrong. The first President of the United States is "Federal Reserve Note," "One Dollar."

It's on the money!

"Crow, James Crow: Shaken, Not Stirred!"
(Not everything ever gets counted completely: Like in the Constitutional Census data, pre-Amendments 13 and 14. For a really bogus bill, there is the stock value of a share in a government-backed mortgage insitution. Just one way or another, not everything gets counted completely--or something!)

 

[Chris]

Here's a question.

Who's to blame if George Washington is taught in Elementary School, Middle School, and High School and yet, 75% of the students don't know who he is?

The makers of XBox?

 

[elvis]

Here's a question.

Who's to blame if George Washington is taught in Elementary School, Middle School, and High School and yet, 75% of the students don't know who he is?

The makers of XBox?

NO, shitstain, the asshole parents that don't give the kid any discipline.

 

[blu]

parent's are the issue, doesn't matter what the schools are teaching or not. the parent's who think kids get all the education they need from the classroom (especially at public schools) should be sterilized.

 

[chanel]

Hey blu - are you a teacher too?

I've been teaching for 12 years. 24 Parent/Teacher conferences and 12 Back to School Nights. I've met approx. 12 parents in 12 years. Some years I've met none.

When I call home and say "Johnny hasn't done any homework" the usual response is "I know. Johnny doesn't like homework".

We do the best we can with what got to work with. It's like banging your head against the wall sometimes.

Foreign students cannot believe how many of these students take their education for granted. I wish we could instill that in our American kids.