tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21503568.post7996643516696694147..comments2023-11-03T06:32:28.410-04:00Comments on Staring At Empty Pages: Don’t know much geography...Barry Leibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14205294935881991457noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21503568.post-17016131324968998442007-08-29T10:40:00.000-04:002007-08-29T10:40:00.000-04:00People have varying levels of intelligence. Why a...People have varying levels of intelligence. Why are more people taking the SATs? I think that people who aren't intelligent or knowledgeable enough to go to college are taking the SATs and attempting college because they want a better life, and they believe education is the key. Colleges are accepting them, and then spending years (and taxpayer money, in the case of state schools) enrolling them in remedial courses. The majority of those students never earn a degree (not even an associate's.) I don't have statistics here, but I have read about this in the teacher's union magazine, and that is the source of my information.<BR/><BR/>Not everybody can handle college-level work. Not everybody has the basic intelligence or skills. That may not be a pleasant thought, but it's true. College is "higher" education -- more than most people can achieve.<BR/><BR/>It's unfortunate that NCLB implies that it's the teacher's fault if a child simply doesn't have the intelligence to make it all the way through high-school math, e.g. I know somebody who was told by a psychologist who tested her son that he simply would never pass the MCAS (our MA achievement test on which a high school diploma is dependent). She was very upset, obviously. And the boy gets special "MCAS" math classes during the summer and after school. But he still can't pass the MCAS for math. Maybe he just can't understand it. Maybe he will eventually, when he doesn't have other adolescent/academic pressures in his life, but he obviously can't get it right now.<BR/><BR/>That's life. 50% of the population is going to be IQ 100 or lower. Should we do the best by them that we can? Of course. But that doesn't necessarily mean college. I don't mind any of my taxpayer dollars going toward anybody who wants to attempt college, by the way, but I do view it as a luxury when there are children who are hungry and without health care.<BR/><BR/>I see the spoiled children that you see, but I also see some incredible overachievers -- kids who work really hard. My daughter is bright and so most of her friends are also bright. But I also have the "I do contribute to society, I pay taxes at the mall" girls that I see. I wonder if the ratio is any different from 50 years ago, or if it's expectations that kids need to learn and go to college that are highlighting the kids who simply can't. <BR/><BR/>I can only imagine what it would feel like, being in school and having to pass an athletic test in order to graduate. I'm in relatively good health, but I've never been coordinated. I'm simply not. Now I have to go to a school that prepares me for a professional sports team, because that's what I have to do in order to be considered successful in life. I start out in the remedial team, because I'm such a klutz. But eventually I "flunk out" and start working a desk job, because it's all I'm good at. Now I'm a failure and I'm labeled lazy and I make crappy pay.Maggiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16681883169121834569noreply@blogger.com