Oprah Winfrey: kids in U.S. don't appreciate value of free education - Page 6

pacific breeze · January 22nd, 2007, 01:03 AM

I could stand on my head and do cartwheels and some students would still not pay attention, blame me for their shitty marks, and complain that they were bored. Not everything in life is meant to be exciting all the time. That said, I work hard to keep my classes interesting but the idea that everything should be entertainment is an insidious idea whose time has come and gone. Some things are work, ya know? And occasionally work/effort pays off.

crackho · January 22nd, 2007, 01:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pacific breeze

I could stand on my head and do cartwheels and some students would still not pay attention, blame me for their shitty marks, and complain that they were bored. Not everything in life is meant to be exciting all the time. That said, I work hard to keep my classes interesting but the idea that everything should be entertainment is an insidious idea whose time has come and gone. Some things are work, ya know? And occasionally work/effort pays off.

A truer statement never spoken. I respected the teachers who were strict and made us do assignments or look ridiculous - and not because someone was a little slow or didn't understand, but because they were either lazy or didn't even try. I was raised in that ridiculous "open concept" time that public schools (at least in our district in the state of PA) had back in the late 60's /early 70's, in which you worked on what you wanted to work on at your own pace. I spent most of my elementary school years sitting on shag carpet squares beading necklaces while our hippie teacher would play guitar and sing Dylan songs. My parents had the good sense to realize that I wasn't leaning anything except the words to "Blowing in the Wind" and my stay-at-home mom did her very best to make sure we learned our multiplication tables, all the state capitals, long division, etc. I am grateful to this day that my mother taught me the great skill of memorization (write it down once, read it aloud twice, repeat...).

MrsMarsters · January 23rd, 2007, 07:02 AM

uh..did she forget about the innercity schools that don't even have enough books to pass around?

OCDer · April 13th, 2008, 06:57 AM

damn those kids not loving school!

Aella · April 13th, 2008, 07:36 AM

Regardless of her reasons for doing it, and whether or not she's a hypocrite, the end result is still a good thing. Hopefully that school will give those kids an opportunity for a better life.

purple rain · April 13th, 2008, 08:59 AM

I did well in public school, but overall, I found it a waste of time. The curriculum is dumbed down to the lowest common denominator. It seems we're more interested in passing kids who aren't learning than actually challenging students. I'm not shocked that we're on par with a lot of 3rd world countries when it comes to educational standards.

I don't know anybody who goes to school in the inner cities, but the impression I have is that a lot of those kids don't care. It came out recently that less than 1/2 of all kids in inner city schools are graduating high school (and in a lot of cities, the graduation rate was around 30%). That's a damning statistic. I think a lot of it must start at home. Where are these kids' parents? Why are they not preaching how important getting an education is to succeeding in life? These same kids who dropped out of school and blew off their education are going to complain about the lack of opportunities they had in life - because they grew up poor, the system was against them, etc. rather than take responsability for their own failure.

I don't blame Oprah for building a school for those who really value the opportunity they are being given over those who take it for granted and could care less.

AliceInWonderland · April 17th, 2008, 05:56 PM

they/we dont' care; americans are stupid fat lazy spoiled cows! if u ever got a problem in your life; look in the mirror to find the cause ....... and solution.

bychance · April 17th, 2008, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pacific breeze

I could stand on my head and do cartwheels and some students would still not pay attention, blame me for their shitty marks, and complain that they were bored. Not everything in life is meant to be exciting all the time. That said, I work hard to keep my classes interesting but the idea that everything should be entertainment is an insidious idea whose time has come and gone. Some things are work, ya know? And occasionally work/effort pays off.

Damn right.

I can't stand when kids say shit like "the teacher game me a ..." NO! YOU gave yourself the grade. The teacher wrote it on the paper.

Grimmlok · April 19th, 2008, 01:56 PM

i saw shakespear made into a comic book this weekend. it was dumbed down as far as you could fucking make it. All that was missing was LOLcat speak.

Truly. If that was what passes for 'teaching' teenagers, well.... god, they're all idiots.

bychance · April 19th, 2008, 09:08 PM

^You mean a graphic novel?

Trixiebelle · April 20th, 2008, 07:01 AM

Geez, I can see it now.

ROMEO ROMEO WEAR 4 R U ROMEO!?

Lolz.

candy27 · April 20th, 2008, 05:58 PM

It's great Oprah wants to helps the children in Africa. I don't think it's nice she puts down the children here. The kids here aren't all the same not caring about school. Hence, she forgets she makes her money here in America. She is insulting the children of a lot of her viewers by putting America's children down as being not interested in school. She is really generalizing, like I said before it's not every child here that is like that.

MrsMarsters · April 20th, 2008, 06:00 PM

That's insane, since these changes..seem pretty recent. I went to a good school and was lucky I did, I took AP/honor classes majority of the time, and they sure as hell did not dumb down anything, and made us work and bust our asses for everything, hell I got more work in those 2 classes than I get in college now. And I am happy that they pushed and pushed us.

I've taken regular classes in high school, and honestly I was shocked at how ignorant some of them were..I was amazed. I remember we were reading Shakespeare, and my book was completely different from my friend's book that was reading the same thing, and she wasn't taking honor courses.

Talk about being dumbed down they basically completely changed everything into modern day language, and I was like well shit, why do I need to do all this hard work?!! But I'm glad I did. I know more than most people my age, which has made so many things easier, I'd rather be the one that works hard than the idiot who can barely write.