|
|
|
 |
| Blackboard Class Discussion |
 |
status of education.
 The cartoon is used for educational purposes by Dr. Nilsson, South Texas College, scanned, from The Monitor, McAllen.
|
|
|
 We are on the brink of destroying our planet by global climate change caused by greedy, materialistic, self-indulgent, and "anything goes" human behavior, and I claim that the main reason for this behavior is an ever-increasing poorly educated superstitious faith based human mindset -- not understanding how the real world works -- allowed to rule and control interaction with the planet. Dr. Jan A. Nilsson
|
In today's world if you are going to do something considered dumb or uneducated, you better not do it in front of a camera -- or it will reach a worldwide audience via the Internet very quickly! Miss Teen USA 2007 from South Carolina (below) is the product of the U.S. Educational system. Sure she was nervous!? Judge by yourself. The first video is without subtitles -- good luck trying to understand what Miss Carolina is saying. The second video is with subtitles. In the third video Jimmy Kimmel is trying to translate. The fourth and final video is a satire of Miss Carolina's "parents" listening to her answer. 
Sure, she was nervous, but as Jimmy Kimmel said (below), students should "study hard and learn" in school! Education is in trouble in the U.S. That is what this class discussion is about... Isn't it interesting that the question was about geography?
 Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question Miss Teen USA 2007 - Ms. South Carolina answers a question why Americans cannot locate the USA on a world map. View the videos below. Mandatory viewing for all students. First video (1:38 min.). Second video (0:51 min.). Third video (3:53 min.). Fourth video (1:09 min.). It is best if you have fast Internet connection. Sometimes these YouTube links disappear. Please let the instructor know if this happens.) Enjoy!Uhhh...what did she just say?? Miss Teen South Carolina 2007 Fishbone4u Miss Teen USA South Carolina 2007 with Subtitles. POPobscuraJimmy Kimmel Explains what Miss Teen said. smdfjqioqe Parents of Miss Teen South Carolina. QuietLibrary |
|
The better side of Miss Teen South Carolina For balance here is another "better side" of Miss Teen South Carolina. View the video below. Not mandatory viewing. (5:09 min. It is best if you have fast Internet connection. Sometimes these YouTube links disappear. Please let the instructor know if this happens.) Uploaded by mutualfunmanager. Enjoy! What happened to the video? Well, all these videos are housed on YouTube, and when the link goes down we can no longer see it. Lucky for us this video was originally incorrectly marked with purple bullet. It is now marked with the correct green bullet because as the frame indicates with the green color it is NOT mandatory. This is the nature of -- a great resource, but videos or at least the sound is removed now and then. Thanks to the two students who reported the loss of sound (first) and the complete disappearance (later). I will remove the link eventually, but I will let it remain for everyone to learn about what may happen with . Who knows, maybe it will show up again... 
|
|
Blueprint for Change: Health Care (President Barack Obama's pre-election Health Care speech) View the video below. Mandatory viewing for all students. (2:09 min. It is best if you have fast Internet connection. Sometimes these YouTube links disappear. Please let the instructor know if this happens.) Uploaded by RSm9697. Enjoy! |
|
Cartoon used for educational purposes © Wiley Miller
|
Critical Thinking about the Status of Education |
|
in the United States |
Introduction This page is the introduction to, Educational Readings, a reading assignment students do as part of their fulfillment of the course requirements in classes as taught by Dr. Nilsson, South Texas College (STC) Biology Department, to help them or force them (select the appropriate term) to take their college education seriously. Read the statement below, click on some of the links, and then click on the "Articles" link above to get to the articles. One of the articles you must read, written by a professor at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Dr. Kurt Wiesenfeld, is posted here. Post your critical thinking opinion about the subject on the Blackboard bulletin board for the subject. Education in trouble? Here is a link to an interesting article in the Monitor (February, 2006). As you probably have heard already, education is in trouble in this country, and the Rio Grande Valley is no exception. Not all students have received a poor quality education, but many students don't think learning is important, and they have the misconception that after going through a mediocre and non-challenging high school education, a college education also is going to be mediocre and non-challenging (read easy). As you can see if you read the article mentioned, a college education is not mediocre and not non-challenging, "50 percent of community college students nationwide often do not return for a second year of classes", and it isn't because they think their classes are too easy. The article informs, "nearly 80 percent of Hidalgo and Starr county students are unprepared to handle college work". This means that "jobs meant for present and future Valley workers could go overseas, to e.g., India and China, if more college and work-ready students" are not available. Companies owned by Americans do not want to hire poorly educated goof balls, so they "outsource" looking for better-educated workers in these countries, where the salary levels also are lower!
|
When addressing the problem with poor quality education, Norman Mailer, author of the book "The Big Empty" states that 52 percent of the American people are uneducated and stupid, and that "the Bush administration holds great faith in the stupidity of the American people" so that they can push their agenda and worldview...
|
In another article (February, 2006), Chris Ardis, local teacher and columnist in the Monitor, states that it "is obvious that there is much work to be done" to better the quality of education in the United States. Lack of education is a serious problem in many aspects; one is because the quality of education is better in other countries. If nothing is done, the status of the United States as a democracy and as a leading country of the world is at stake. Dr. Reed, president of STC, states (see Ardis article) that if "we in the Rio Grande Valley as well as the rest of the nation are to retain our competitive edge in the global economy, graduation from high school must truly mean ready for college" and we must "address the challenges before us and in ways we have never done before". Many of the rich in this country don't care -- many share the agenda of the Bush administration, as mentioned by Norman Mailer, and are responsible for outsourcing of jobs. As long as the percentage of uneducated Americans remains high, nothing will change except the rich will get even richer. The world in trouble?
As the world's population keeps growing (including in the Rio Grande Valley), the pressures increase to educate the growing masses to improve peoples knowledge about how world works (how the REAL world functions biologically and geologically), in order to be able do something about the escalating environmental problems caused by increasing pressure on the natural environment.
Knowledge about the real world? Hmmm!!!??? As the poster of the video below said: "Great minds that have fought to bring wisdom to the people, and their descendants still live in ignorance." To continue the Miss Teen USA thread, below is a YouTube video from a French version of "Who wants to be a millionaire".
|
Who wants to be Miss South Carolina? (alternative title "La Lune") "Is Miss South Carolina smarter than 'Who wants to be a millionaire' contestant? On the "Who wants to be a millionaire" question, "What revolves around The Earth", 56% of the French audience answered "The Sun". This contestant wasn't sure at first, and he almost used second lifeline to that, fifty-fifty. IMHO, he should have called Miss South Carolina, she would probably know that. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) was the first to discover that the earth rotated on its axis once daily and traveled around the sun once yearly. For that statemant, his follower Giordano Bruno was faced the Roman Inquisition trial court, and burned alive on 1600 in Campo de' Fiori. Great minds that have fought to bring wisdom to the people, and their descendants still live in ignorance." View the video below. Mandatory viewing for all students. (5:09 min. It is best if you have fast Internet connection. Sometimes these YouTube links disappear. Please let the instructor know if this happens.) Uploaded by zorangrbic. Enjoy! |
Education is extremely important! And yet, we know from some of the reading assignment for this education class discussion, that education is in a downward spiral towards less, and less quality. Part of this is pressure on teachers from STUDENTS and PARENTS and SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS to not maintain academic quality, as could be seen in the article quote below (posted yesterday) about not teaching evolution. There is an increasing pressure from PARENTS to make their "cutipie" look good, even if they have the knowledge of third graders when the are ready to leave high school. And since the SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS want the school to LOOK good they often give in to parental pressure -- and order teachers to lower their standards. This creates a facade of quality but continues the downward spiral towards less, and less quality often referred to as the "dumbing down of America".
Spelling correctly is part of a good education If you cannot or will not spell correctly -- unless you have a writing disability -- you are POORLY EDUCATED. Not being able to write correctly, or having the ATTITUDE that you don't have to write correctly, is an opinion of someone that is poorly educated. (Click on the article below to read Chris Ardis' opinion.)
|
Funny spelling bee "Sardoodledom is a pretty funny word. A kid is asked to spell that word at a spelling bee and he can not stop laughing. " View the video below. Mandatory viewing for all students. (5:09 min. It is best if you have fast Internet connection. Sometimes these YouTube links disappear. Please let the instructor know if this happens.) Uploaded by candiixcorn221. Enjoy! |
STC statistics As evidence of mediocre and non-challenging high school education, Dr. Reed, president of STC, presented the following statistics during faculty convocation (August, 2005). These are the statistics for Rio Grande Valley high school students enrolled at STC (the statistics need to be updated, but the trend is similar today): 
STC Graduation rates:
Students with letter grades A, B, or C:
Recent High School Graduates passing THEA:
Transfer to UTPA: 96%
Employment after graduation: 96% As can be seen from the statistics, there is a positive trend -- it is getting better. Also encouraging, of the students who graduate and look for jobs after graduation, 96% will find employment! That is good news. However, if only about 10% graduate, then there will not be enough skilled, educated workers in the Valley to attract new companies or to retain the present companies. As stated in the Ardis article by a business owner who paid taxes in the Valley -- which in part pay for the education of local students: "You don't mind paying taxes but you want return on your investment." Students not taking their education serious are not a good investment. If Valley schools do not provide a skilled and educated workforce, the jobs will go to other countries. Dr. Reed's minimum requirement list for college students If you are one of those students who think college should be easy (high school was?), think it is too hard to do class projects requiring you read instructions (the instructor should explain everything in twenty seconds?), think handwriting isn't important (no one will read what you write anyway?), think it is not important to be able to place Texas on a map of the United States (or India and China on a world map?) -- you need to rethink what you are doing. Otherwise you might be one of the around 90% who will not graduate. 
College for all?
Perhaps you have heard the expression "college for all". Some people have misunderstood and think that means college should be easy so that "all" can get a degree. Incorrect! It means that "all" should have a chance to "earn" a degree, not just the rich and privileged. It also means quality; teachers must challenge students, and educate the students (and sometimes parents) to understand what it means to be educated. Whining parents, complaining about the grades "given" to their kids are often the reason why grades are inflated and academic standards diminished. Both parents and students may need a reminder that grades are not given, but earned by the students.|
From an Environmental Biology student in a class where most students aspire to become elementary teachers: Although, I am not a teacher yet, I have had many experiences with peers who do NOT listen and also disturb others who want to listen. I would like to confide in you that what worries me more is that in this class there "may" be future teachers and that is a concern for me, since, I have a 3 year old who one day might be my peers' student. |
Lack of geography knowledge is lack of knowledge of the real world Lack of geography knowledge is a special problem, which is addressed in THIS class with geography drills, reading assignments, and funny YouTube videos. Read more about it here, and watch the YouTube video below.|
Miss Teen South Carolina video "lack of edcation" frenzy View the videos below. Mandatory viewing for all students. First video (1:39 min). Second video (0:57 min). (It is best if you have fast Internet connection. Sometimes these YouTube links disappear. Please let the instructor know if this happens.) Uploaded by scrooged123. Enjoy! Re: Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question scrooged123 Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina Answers A Question (Animated Interpretation)
mugflub
|
Again, as the girl in the left video mentions, DO YOU HAVE A MAP AT HOME? To illustrate how serious the problem with diminishing academic standards is: While in college, party a lot, become a cheer leader, make sure you drive drunk and get caught doing so, then later become president of the country. Only in the United States, isn't it wonderful? (I actually was trying to be sarcastic...)
For some it may be time to wake up and smell the coffee... Now read some of the provided educational articles. The link to the articles is just below the Barack Obama YouTube video. 
reactions to the statement by Miss South Carolina.
|
Miss Teen South Carolina video "lack of edcation" frenzy continues It is a new word we live in. You do a mistake in front of a camera -- it goes world wide! View the video below. First video Miss Teen South Carolina: A South African Responds (1:56 min.). Second video Leave MIss South Carolina Alone! Miss Teen USA 2007 (1:22 min.). Third video A Three-Year-Old Answers Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina (1:10 min.). It is best if you have fast Internet connection. Sometimes these YouTube links disappear. Please let the instructor know if this happens.) Enjoy! Miss Teen South Carolina: A South African Responds. khayav Leave MIss South Carolina Alone! Miss Teen USA 2007 vs. My 4 Year Old Daughter honestcourtesan
A Three-Year-Old Answers Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina kurtlimejello |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|
Copyright 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, Jan A. Nilsson. Web page layout and design © and intellectual property Jan A. Nilsson. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited. Page created 10.V.2003, last updated 15.I.2009, most likely during the wee hours of the morning on a G3 PowerBook owned by Jan A. Nilsson.
-- Disclaimer: "Dr. Nilsson's CyberOffice", at the time of writing located as a file under the South Texas Community College's (STCC) web server with the general URL http://stcc.cc.tx.us/, is the intellectual property of Dr. Jan A. Nilsson, member of STCC biology faculty. The content of Dr. Nilsson's CyberOffice does not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of the STCC faculty, staff, administration, and Board of Trustees.
|
|