Originally posted by: eLiu
Originally posted by: touchmyichi
Stop discrediting kids today. Have you even taken a new SAT recently? They aren't easy and we are studying much harder for them than any prior generation did. Almost all of my friends took prep classes and have a stack of books to assist them on the test.
I'm tired of having to listen to all of the past generations say we are lazy. AP classes are at an all time high and making college is harder than ever.
Hm well, studying harder than prior generations isn't necessarily a good sign--if we're speaking purely on intellectual terms, if person A can score a 1500 with no work, and person B studied 10 hours, then it might be plausible to say that person A is smarter than B.
I think our (I'm 18) generation takes these things way too seriously. It's just a d*mn test, not the end of the world. Honestly these days, the students' emphasis in education no longer lies in learning something useful, but rather in getting the highest grade/score/etc.
AP classes don't mean anything. AP is *not* a standard as far as the class goes. There is a set curriculum, but the quality of teaching has a huge variance--even within the same school. Just because you got an A or did well on the AP test *does not* mean you actually know anything useful. I have plenty of friends who studied their asses off for the Calc AB & BC (just an example) exam and got 5s. But now their calculus abilities are still very lacking.
Now, I don't know if the intelligence/achievement/etc level in the nation has truly fallen that much since the 70s (or earlier). It's hard to say...and even harder to quantify or qualify. It's not like we can take some idiot test results and say "ooh we're getting dumber" (or smarter for that matter). Intelligence and achievement are not numbers...they exist person to person and must be treated as such.
Maybe part of the reason we "achieve" worse now is because of a changing culture. Maybe it's because students these days have more non-school distractions than ever before. Maybe teachers are getting worse. Maybe the gap between the "smart" and the "dumb" is increasing. Who knows.
And as a last point...32% of seniors being deemed "ready" for college is hardly a bad statistic. You know, not *everyone* needs to go to college. We are not entitled to it: higher education is a matter of merit, not right. What do you expect, 100% of seniors to be "ready" for college? 75%? 50%? 40%? Even now the number of people going to college is too high. Forget about the number of seniors entering college in a ready state...how about the number of college seniors graduating in a ready state? Not everyone is going to be ready for college; not everyone is meant to go to college. Cashier or brain doctor, every job in society is at some point a necessary job...otherwise it wouldn't have a place (generally...I know that's not always the case). And there's no dishonor in working as a cashier...nor is there any special, high honor in becoming a brain surgeon.
Just my 0.02,
-Eric