agree 100% Yet the media loves oboma thus he will be reelected oboma is a cross between used car salesman and a preacher

very good response. I wished activist protested for improvements. One of the biggest problems in the US in the 24 hour news channel era era is that it has led to making complicated issues with a lot of gray area such as nuclear power totally polorizing with the average public not know the truth . How much toxic material is produced in solar power production. Is it really clean vs. nuclear long term. what do you do with the old solar cells. Nuclear is not as bad or unsafe as activist make it seem. The worst nuclear accident in the US with ancient tech kills far fewer than coal power over the years

I agree with you. This college myth needs to be busted. Students who attend top colleges and have high GPA's make more money than those who do not go to college. For most, college is a big waste of time and money where many do not belong and do not succeed. They go because they are told they need to . I will take your idea one step further. All schools should starting in the 3rd grade test students to determine their learning styles and natural skills and abilities . Students should be guided to middle schools that match their learning styles and natural skills and abilities. Students along with parents get to make the correct decision based on the test results. If the track does not fit, changes can be made along the way. Many parents are in the dark on what there child needs. Children who do well usually have a life plan for there child. What we do now is try to put a round peg into a square hole . This approach may have a higher up front cost but will result in far more prepared students who graduate with real skills to move themselves and the country foward. Many students loose interest with school because they see no purpose to what they are doing . We need to get the motivated parents and students into programs that push them that leads them into high teach careers. We need to get the unmotivated or non college bound students into programs that address their needs. AND THE MOST IMPORTANT PART, if you do not take your studies seriously you will be dumped from the program. The current education idea wants to keep everyone in school. it is the schools fault if a student does not do well in a program. This is often not the case. Like everything in life, you often do not appreciate something until it is gone. Some students learn the boundaries to what they can get away with and hold tight to them. This creates as situation where the teacher looses power. Over time they end up falling so far behind they fail out weakening the educational opportunities. I often am glad some students are absent, the whole class learns that much more that day

"My wife, who grew up in Hong Kong, was learning algebra in elementary school. Kids are capable of learning algebra much younger than it's taught here in America. When she immigrated, she literally didn't learn any new math for four years. It's not a mistake we're ranked so poorly in the world math standings." American children are introduced to algebra in the first grade http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards/mathematics/. As a teacher for 10 plus years I can honestly say the problem with the american education system and math education is parenting, politicians and professors. Not all students are capable of higher order thinking and advanced mathematics. In the US our school system seeks to educate each child to the same level, regardless of the individuals intelligence level or health disability. We spend boatloads on children who can not learn. The rights of the incapable is put higher than the right of the capable. Would a baseball team spend 4 times as much on a 5 foot 2 inch overweight, uncoordinated person vs a 6 foot 4 flame thrower. The us education system does. Federal and state mandated require it to do so. 1) Parents. Many american parents do not value there child's education. First, They do not check there child's homework and notes. If your parent does not care you don't care. I have students in my class that show up with no homework, no notebooks and no pencils on a daily basis. Second, Parents think all learning goes on in the classroom. The students in my classrooms that struggle at algebra due to lack of real world experiences at home. Since algebra is a way to describe the world around us, if we do not know much about the world around us we have no reference point. There is not enough hours in the day for a teacher to teach every day activities. I have 7th graders that have no idea what the concept of unit price is thus struggle when the concept of calculating the unit price is introduced. 1) Professors have to published paper after paper. They do studies on a narrow population and then profess the next great solution. One such solution is heterogeneous classrooms that contain students of various intelligence levels. This holds back the mathematically gifted, the average student and the less intelligent students at the same time. Children learn at different rates. My experience has shown that mixing the students creates major problems. The quick responses of strong students ruins the confidence of the weaker. It also provides cover. If someone answers quickly, you do not have to think about it yourself. "An idle mind is the devils workshop" When a student can't keep up or is so smart he finishes at, that students talks and becomes disruptive. 2) Politicians . Politicians are more interested in doing something, anything no matter if it really makes sense or not. There has been 5 different math curriculums in nys in the past 10 years. Large schools have been closed, multiple small schools put in their place. Charter schools opened and closed etc. Strong schools have been forced to take low performing students. TOUGH STANDARDIZED TEST hold back the gifted. The passing grade is so low that unqualified students get passed on to the next level without mastering the earlier level. And the single biggest crime is that special education student get passed to the next grade based on an IEP which sets a far lower level that the student must score on the test. Many of theses students know the game and don't even try. Without a parental push they flounder year after year causing distractions to other students.