I recently attended my daughter's graduation from Burlington County  
(NJ) Community College. During the class Valedictorian speech I  
stopped trying to count somewhere around 37 "...uuuummmmmm"s. I think  
the chairman of the English department was out trying to higher one  
of Tony Soprano's boy's!

I retired from teaching high school in 2003. The school I taught at  
was considered one  the best in the state; many of the kids going on  
to prestigious colleges. Though I mostly worked with low end remedial  
kids I occasionally interfaced with higher end students in AP Physics  
and Calculus. I was appalled at the atrocious grammar and composition  
of many of these students. Unless they were fortunate enough to be  
among  the  third of the seniors who had the 'dragon lady' of the  
English department. After the second month of the class would not  
accept any paper with spelling, grammar or major composition  
faults ... they had one chance to resubmit or took a zero. Many  
'grades conscious'  parents tried to have her canned or reined in  
over the years, but she is still there with 25-27 years on the job.  
Invariably the students who cursed her out most vociferously when t  
hey were there were the first ones to come back from college to thank  
her!

---
cheers ... 73 de brian  riley,  n1bq , underhill center, vermont
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On Jun 17, 2007, at 10:09 AM, Chris Smolinski wrote:

>> I don't know about the US having the worst education system in the  
>> world.  I
>> have been teaching college for some years and the students that  
>> have come to
>> me in the last decade are an embarrassment.  Most of them have not  
>> developed
>> basic reading and writing skills.  The can pronounce the words  
>> they read
>> (for the most part) but they have some difficulty in ascertaining the
>> meaning of what they have read.  The essay assignments are in  
>> general a
>> disaster.  But in every class there are a few students who are  
>> brilliant and
>> that is the redeeming value of teaching.
>
> It's the same Bell curve as always. However, as a larger percentage
> of people attend college, we dig deeper into the middle of the
> distribution.
>
> I don't doubt that teaching to standardized testing requirements has
> also had negative effects.

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