"Millennials in the U.S. fall short when it comes to the skills employers want most: literacy (including the ability to follow simple instructions), practical math, and — hold on to your hat — a category called “problem-solving in technology-rich environments.” Not only do Gen Y Americans lag far behind their overseas peers by every measure, but they even score lower than other age groups of Americans. In literacy American Millennials scored lower than their counterparts in every country that participated except Spain and Italy. In numeracy, meaning the ability to apply basic math to everyday situations, Gen Yers in the U.S. ranked dead last. In technology application, America scored at the bottom of the heap, in a four-way tie for last place with the Slovak Republic, Ireland, and Poland." http://fortune.com/2015/03/10/american-millennials-are-among-the-worlds-least-skilled/
And our self-serving governor wants to scrap improved standards for Louisiana students (only South Dakota has students who achieve less). If you ask me, Millennials spent too much time playing on the internet instead of reading, working, and thinking. And their helicopter parents let them live at home until they are in their 30's. I thought the Gen-Xers were rife with slackers until the millennials hit campus.
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=4011 Year after year we've seen state legislatures take direct aim at education funding and, worse, educators. This is a consequence of it and it will continue to get worse until we decide that education is a priority for every kid, not just the wealthiest. The dismantling of the public school system has also contributed to this disaster.
Many countries make students earn their way to higher levels and more intellectual training. No social promotions. If you fall behind you go into a group that receives a slower curriculum designed to produce blue-collar workers that can fill out forms and make change. If you make the cut you can go to high schools designed to produce service and technical workers. But the fast movers get moved up quickly and are tiered by performance so that students are competing with their peers. These are the ones that get a serious college prep curriculum and are held to the highest standards. But the "No Child Left Behind" philosophy demands that all children receive an "equal" education. It results in "No Child Enabled to Excel". Education must be a priority for every kid, but one size does not fit all. Tailor curriculums along several tracks. Don't ignore the underperformers, but neither force high achievers into a boring class designed for for the slowest, nor force low achievers into accelerated classes designed for the best and brightest. Design several systems designed to prepare students for craft jobs, service jobs or knowledge jobs. Tier them by achievement. And allow them to change tracks if they are willing to do the work. Leave no child behind, but move troublemakers and those unwilling to learn into their own system designed to produce laborers who stay out of trouble. Teach them to be literate and aspire to something better, but never let them be an anchor on the students who want to learn. The US is increasingly tied to an educational system geared towards the lowest common denominator, to the detriment of producing top-performing students. It's guaranteed to produce average students at best.
No Child Left Behind or Common Core Standards are both the same from two different administrations. It is the politics of raising the minimum standards of education. It is not necessarily a bad thing except it is tied to school funding and then schools cut corners and even cheat their way to passing grades. I don't think raising minimum standards is a bad thing. Parents have to realize that the state is not going to push the top kids to excel. It is the job of the parents. It always has been. It is parental oversight that has gotten lax. The rest of the world has caught up and we have gotten lazy in education. My kid's grandparents hate it but my kids do summer sessions to keep their heads sharp. No more 3 months of playing outside from dusk till dawn is a sign of the times.
I think the bigger sign of the times is that children are not given the time to have fun, be carefree, and be kids. My kids generally don't do organized school things during the summer. My older daughter uses it for more dance class time. My younger one uses it turning every corner of my house into an art studio and making films on her iPad. We also travel 3 - 4 times a summer. During the school year, we are all hamsters on a wheel between school and dance and whatnot. Summer is a terrific time to feel more free and re-charge. As for public education, Red makes many good points. Two big problems in public education are NCLB-style, so-called "standards," which as we know are minimum standards. It fails to address how to challenge smarter students. I believe that the idea of tracking became such a four-letter word in pedagogy during the 70's and 80's that we forgot that the tracks can benefit struggling AND non-struggling students. My 8th grader has signed up for three honors courses in 9th grade, including algebra, so that she can be "tracked" with students who won't mess around in class, and thereby, mess up her learning environment. The other big problem in public education is the idea that everyone and anyone can and should go to college. That isn't true, and the increasing numbers of unemployed college graduates should point to the fact that college isn't necessary for every person and for every job. The district I am in has a good track record for public education, but I'm thinking it's an outlier more than anything else in an urban (no longer suburban) city of 300,000 where over 60% of the residents do have college degrees. And even then, not every student here needs to go to college, either--though over 95% will go (over 98% graduate, which is another outlier-type of number.)
I agree. And its not just the summertime. Helicopter parents want to be way too involved in every facet of a child's life, which I don't think is good. My generation was turned loose in the summertime. There was little league and scout camp. But the rest of the summer, I often hit the road on my bicycle with my chums after breakfast and returned at dinner, often late. My folks only wanted to have a rough idea of where I was and what I was up to, but I could do it unsupervised, as long as I stayed out of trouble. Hell, if I hung around, I got put to work! I learned how to be responsible and I took on more responsibility as I got older. Both me and my parents gained increasing confidence that I could look after myself. I got a drivers license at 15 and gained a lot of independence and learned to handle it, as my parents learned to live with it. Leaving for college was not traumatic for either of us, as we had gradually developed confidence in my ability to take care of myself. I left home at 17 and never dreamed of moving back. I have friends with 25-year-olds living at home, playing games, sponging off Mom and Dad, and less mature than I was at 14. I have a cousin who went a little crazy when her twin 18-year-olds left for college. Turns out she has some reason to feel that way. One got pregnant, married, and divorced within a year and the other became a meth head and dropped out within a year. These girls were "cling to mommy" kids growing up and their mother never once tried to teach any independence, responsibility, or confidence . . . she took care of all of that for them. Now all three are back at home with mommy, who seems to be happy about it all. Pity.
Helicoptering likely has a few causes. Newton's 3rd law or a basic pendulum swing could be in play. Depending on how we experience our childhood, as parent, we may try very hard to do the opposite. So, if a kid was left too much on their own perhaps due to a divorce or starting out with a single mom/dad, both parents working, they may come out of it deciding to be over-involved. I also see a dove-tailing of two factors. First, the inability to negotiate or problem-solve. These are a direct result of having one's face buried in electronic devices and workers connected by wire/wireless as opposed to cubicles. Gen Y's don't seem to be very adept at face-to-face interaction or using their verbal skills to gain what they want or need to do. Combine that with the mom/dad who seemingly want to either protect their child from disappointment or assist them in attaining every little thing. They don't allow their children to experience failure, loss, disappointment so they interfere with the teacher, coach, boyfriend, employer. Kids need to understand that they won't always get the girl/guy, the job, the promotion, the starting spot, their first college choice. Learning how to deal with disappointment and rising again is such an important life lesson. When kids are protected, they simply don't know how to function when they leave home and it occurs. I see it all the time in youth sports. A kid doesn't make the team, and mom becomes a nutjob writing and calling the coach, the league, the other parents. Sooo stupid and doesn't help the kid one bit. Helicoptering is a short-term gain that will result in a long-term fail. It takes time to deal with the fallout of a loss or disappointment. The quick fix doesn't really fix anything.
With all due respect, isn't it your generation that are raising this new breed? I mean, who do we really blame here? Yes there are individual results that people must take account for, but it has to start a YOUNG age to breed in a work ethic.
