The problem with education now is that people no longer value the education itself, just the diploma. Who cares if you learn anything as long as you get that magical sheet of paper? It seems people have forgotten that what is really important is not the diploma but the knowledge that it represents.

My old girlfriend's sister is a high school teacher and I can't believe the stories she tells me. Not just about the students, but about the parents and system as well. She had a student who rarely came to class and did not pass a single test. When her parents came for a parent teacher conference the accused her of failing their daughter because she(the teacher) didn't like her. They said their daughter told them she came to all the classes and did great on the tests and if her teacher said otherwise, she was lying. They then demanded that their daughter get at least a B grade for the class. Bottom line is that they only cared that their daughters teacher was failing her, not why she was failing.

But it's not just the parents and students. My girlfriends sister was also told by the administration that she was grading too harshly. She showed me a paper written by one of her students that she had to give a B grade on and I couldn't believe it. When I was in high school (class of '87) it would have gotten an F, no doubt about it. But she had to give it a B. Why, because more students need to pass the class and get their diplomas. It's no wonder why over 30% of the students entering the California State University system need remedial math and English.

High school should prepare you to enter into college. To say that it is only "shit I could take in college " is ridiculous. If you're taking high school classes in college when will you take the college level classes?? That's like saying a house doesn't need a foundation because the carpeting on the floor is what really counts. Obviously the college courses will go into more depth. Duh? But just think how much more in depth they could go if they didn't need to cover the basics that should be covered in high school.