You know it's messed up when..........

[systemnt]

Teacher responded that way

yes I know. I meant did you respond to the teacher correcting her spelling.

[Mudslinger]

Failing, what is that. A kid will only be held back for 1 year in elementary now. District does not want to get too much age difference between kids. Very seldom will you see a failing grade on a report card, at least not here. Incomplete maybe but not failing.

The system is broke and you can blame TEA, NEA and TSTA and the rest of the ones in Austin that have no idea about teaching.

Sure hope this does not get me fired!

[Ætheling]

Got news for ya. Tonight we get to start on algebra. IN 3RD GRADE.

Alexis understands enough to tell me I'm wrong, but doesn't understand good enough to do it on her own. She gets good grades on classwork, but suffers on home work.

Algebra in third grade? Pretty impressive, when she gets real frustrated with all the letters starting to replace numbers just remind her it gets much much worse.

[Outlaw_6]

I am not smart enough to have a kid these days.

[dustoffer]

Doesn't surprise me one bit---spelling, punctuation, grammar, simple math, cursive writing, history--all diluted to the point that an education is no where near close to what it once was.

[BonesandArrow]

I have helped my daughter with a lot of math, algebra and geometry and have had a heck of a time. I have no idea why they have to fix something that isn't broken. When she was in 7th grade her grandad who was a teacher his entire adult life helped her on an assignment and checked all of her work. She got an 80! My daughter wasn't happy so I helped her with the next assignment and got an 85! I don't get it, if the answer is correct who cares how they figured it out.

[Pullersboy]

My wife's a teacher. She can't stand the way they're forced to teach math. I've had the same experiences with my kids when they were younger. I'd try to help them with math and teach them the same way I was taught. It doesn't work. My son is a good student, but was never required to learn his addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division tables. He can sit and solve complex mathematical equations, but counts out the simple addition and subtractiin on his danged fingers like a 3rd grader. Drives me insane. The idea is to increase the student's critical thinking skills. IMO, all he's learned is a process. If I give him a task around the house that requires him to have to think about it, you can almost guarantee that the job won't be done correctly. I'll talk to him about, and walk him through it slowly hoping the light will click on and he'll solve the problem. Most of the time, I end up giving him the answer and then get the "Oh yeah, that's a good idea" response. He's a great kid, a hard worker, and a good student, but our educational system has not done him any favors...... or any other student for that matter. His friends are mostly the same way. He does have one friend that has outstanding critical thinking skills. But, that's the kid who spends time in the evenings and on weekends studying not high school related subjects such as the stock markets. He thirsts for knowledge and seeks outside the confines of the public school systrm. And, believe me, it shows.

[91cavgt]

Common core.

[Goldeneagle]

Well, the first dip into algebra wasn't too awful bad. Alexis still had that HUH? look on her face. I've made my living with math for over 40yrs and algebra has no place in life. I use trig day in day out but algebra just sucks.

[Kodiakk]

The other issue that drives me nuts is that they don't use books any more.

Daughter: Can you help me with my math?
Me: Sure, grab your paper and book so I can remind myself what ya'll are doing.
Daughter: We don't have a book, just notes and online examples.
Me: Son of a ..............

This drives me insane as well. I'm told text books are to expensive. I'm wondering where all my tax money is going to anymore.