School

This is probably going to be one of these posts that won't be up very long. But bare with me.

Back in the day when I was going to high school some thirty years plus ago, we had some subjects that were required to graduate from HS then we could go on to college. Some classes were tough and others were easy easy. You just knew which ones to stay away from. Since my GPA was nothing to shout about during most of my HS years I wasn't too worried about my grades. I was just an average student. If I didn't do well in let's say, math, it wasn't the end of the world. The main thing is that I passed with a D. I was lucky though, back then, as the math requirements weren't as strict as they now! For that matter, neither was science nor English. I got by and I did go to college. I found college a lot easier than HS. Our requirements in HS was 2 years of math; 2 years of science; 4 years of English; 2 or 3 credits of Social Studies; and the rest elective. It was an elective to take typing (which is the equivalent to keyboarding a required subject).

Now fast forward and the requirements change: 3 years of Math; 3 years of Science; 4 years of English; and 3 credits of Social Studies.

Math: In my day I could get by on General Math and Algebra.
2009: You need Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 and if you like it you can take Calc or Trig.

Science: In my day, it was a block science in my freshman year (9 weeks on Geology, Chemistry, Biology, and Physics); in my sophomore year I had to take Biology.
2009: Intro to Science; Biology; and Chemistry.
When I took Chemistry in the 9 week block it was simple. This Chemistry is equivalent to college Chemistry.

English: For me it was relatively simple and I opted to take a creative writing class to boot. In my junior year we wrote and researched on a certain topic.
2009: It's more about quizzes than actual writing and research (so far).

Social Studies: For me I had Civics in 9th grade; American History in my junior year; Government, in my senior year and I opted to take World History.
2009: Social Studies survey (required), American History (required), and Government (required). I do know of a student who opted to take Social Issues and World History as well.

Now my question is did kids in my time fare better in school than kids nowadays? We had a lot less pressure when I was going to school. Now in order to succeed the classes are way tougher and a lot of students just can't keep up with the rigorous studies of some classes. Is it the failure of the student or is it the failure of the teacher?

I would think if a student wasn't catching on at all about a certain subject then a re-teaching of such subject should be required. You simply don't give up on a student just because they aren't getting it. If it takes them several tries to master a certain test you don't say "Well! Too bad, that's an F for effort. You can't take this test again to improve. I've given up that you'll ever be good in this subject."

If you were any kind of a "teacher," you would teach this student (break it down in a way where the light would go on in their minds until they did get it).

Then, when does it become the fault of the student for not understanding the subject matter? How as parents can we help our children to suceed?

I have many questions and not a whole lot of answers regarding the education of my children.

It is amazing how different each child in the same family is different. One likes math and the other is more verbal. Are the schools nowadays geared to those who favor math as opposed to the verbal student? Is this the way of society?