Some blame the teachers while others blame the students or even the parents. I'm sure there is enough blame to go around. Let's stop blaming and start figuring out a way to fix this.
When I was in school (yes in the good ole' days) I had teachers that made math and reading fun. We played math games in Elementary (that were very competitive) even the most unruly wanted to get a candy bar (that was our reward). We even had math contest in middle school. Groups within a class challenged each other and sometimes classrooms challenged other classrooms. In Elementary we read books and had to act out the characters (that was fun). In middle school we had group discussion about books we read and our ideas. Ok ok enough already.
I'm not saying this is the answer to Georgia kids passing reading and math state testing but I am saying let's get the kids involved in learning. Let's allow peer pressure to work in favor of learning. Let's utilize facebook and twitter to help get them involved. Let's help lessons make sense to them before they have to take tests. Let's even suggest reading a book instead of texting or video gaming (imagine that). Let's have teachers who are passionate, nuturing and care about their students. Let's have some help for our teachers.
In this age of microwave, fast food and "give it to me now" this one can't be fixed overnight BUT it can be fixed. If you have a pre-schooler start by playing word games while driving in the car -I'm thinking of a word and it starts with the letter (?), describe the word and see if he/she can guess it. I played this game a lot with my daughter when she was little (as we walked to her school). If you have elementary school aged children maybe they can help you cook dinner or bake a dessert (yes I said cook). This will allow them to use measuring cups and spoons (and learn a little about the metric system). If you have a high schooler you can talk about sales (discounts 10%, 25%, etc) on their favorite game, clothes, etc. Get them to figure out how much they could save and what they can do with the money they saved. .
Let's start to fix this one step at a time and you and I can do our part.
also read: http://www.shortweet.com/7d2a92
