Too much TV and Internet, and not enough chores & discipline.

That's the problem.

You said it right Abe.

Chores and discipline (hitting ???) do not improve math and reading ability. reading books improves reading, writing letters improves writing and similar practice improves maths. Practice not chores.

No, but what it does teach you is what is the backbone behing a sucssful life. Work ethic, and dedication. Instead of these kids growing up looking for a nice job to keep for 30 years, join a union, and whine about everytime they take away one of their many benifits, they may think outside the box. Hey I can do this, why dont I do that. The oppisit of "union scum". I say limit the tv and internet, make them chop wood and shovel the driveway.
-rightwing

These are elementary school children.

I started being astounded at the inability of a significant number of cashiers in stores not being able to make change a few decades ago. With the tills which show the change to be handed out, it makes it much easier, of course, until one hands them 7 cents for a sale which adds up to $17.57 to get back fewer coins. That sort of gesture of assistance typically blows the circuit. The all too frequent response is to look at the till display, see the value of $2.43 displayed, and a quizzical look trying to figure out how 7 cents relates to that.

No longer knowing what goes on in a classroom, I really do not know what the problem is today. My suspicion, however, is that it has a lot to do with shorter attention spans, disinterest in details, lack of presenting material in a relevant context to the learner, aversion of the education system to openly compare students to a standard.

Although maybe not at that level, but the lack of applying the concept of "writing accross the curriculum" is also often to blame. In other words, when one has spelling mistakes in a math assignment, the spelling mistakes are not identified and marks deducted. Similarly, the reverse.

Of course, there is one other factor which does not come out in such reporting which may be a bit contentious to some. In the 2001 census, 21.6% of those between the ages of 25 to 54 did not complete high school compared to 17.2% in BC.

Compare that to the Central Okanagan, (Kelowna) for instance, and we have 16.5% of the 25 to 54 year old population which is without high school completion - less than the provincial average.

The test scores in both reading and writing are better than the provincial average, with the math scores being slightly worse than the provincial average.

Here is the info source in case someone wishes to explore it.

http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/DATA/sep/rd/Rd_53.pdf

http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/DATA/sep/rd/rd_35.pdf

So, there is more to this than meets the eye. Most important to me is why this type of information is not brought up. Remember, for many more here than in other regional districts, the history of how well one did at school, in the goode olde days, is not all that different from how well the offsprings are doing at school.

Hey right wing ....

"Instead of these kids growing up looking for a nice job to keep for 30 years, join a union, and whine about everytime they take away one of their many benifits"

Sounds like members of the BCMA (BC Medical Association) .....

Of course those non-union professionals simply up their hourly rates from $150 to $175 if the government starts to increase taxes too much or removes some benefits.
;-)

One more item of interest, especially in light of rightwing's post.

While the education level of both the past generation and the present generation in elementary school is lower then the BC average and lower than the Kelowna region, the average family income is considerably higher.

PG $66,792
BC $64,821
KE $60,047

The spread is even wider when looking only at families headed by husband and wife.

PG $74,167
BC $70,033
KE $64,316

It pays to have mill jobs .... one way of getting some benefits from the resources we provide to the rest of the province. Of course, we never talk about that aspect either.

So, rightwing, do you wish to decertify the unions and send the savings to the to the south?
;-)

both my children, one in gr. 2 and one in gr.8 are above average in reading and math. They are reading at least 2 grade levels ahead of where they are supposed to be. BTW: Neither watch a lot of T.V., nor do they play a lot of video games. They have responsibilities (chores and learning how to be a part of a family/community) that they find difficult to keep up with because they are being sent home with unbelievable amounts of homework in those two subjects mentioned above. It takes an entire evening, 2-3 hours of hard work for the older one to finish. He doesn't need more homework in reading and math, he has weaknesses in other areas that need to be addressed. It seems that class curriculum is geared to the lowest common denominator rather than each individual. In several years, you will see deficits in other academic subjects and skills as they are currently being ignored.

To comment on Owl's comment about the BCMA and doctors being non-union.

I was not too many years ago that the BCMA surveyed its members to see whether it should register formally as a trade union under the labour code. They said not to, but the fact is that is functions precisely as a trade union functions, and is probably best viewed as a voluntary certification. If it looks like a duck, and it talks like a duck, and it walks like a duck.......