general

ok according to Wikipedia(super trustworthy source), English has the most total speakers, but chinese has the most native speakers

mandarin specifically

that's probably acurate

I think it's Chinese -> Spanish -> English for 1st language

and then it's English for total

yeah thats what wikipedia shows

depends also if you count all the dialects, like India, Africa, Philipines, etc.

which are english+local

Even Russia, one of the last places you'd expect it, ~1/5 people speak English at a passible level

and that's one of the lowest globally

yeah but this sucks because this a big reason why our language learning curriculum is so awful in the states. that and education as a whole is awful here

I think the education system is very good overall, and am glad we don't dedicate significant time to learning foreign languages

it's inconsistant across the country, and I think it is underrated how important that is, but most curriculums biggest shortcomings is the innability to weed people out

I think language is the least concerning part of your (and our) education system

the slipping math conpetency is more concerning for me

so districts with extremely low-participation get fucked over because a huge portion of their student body drag their peers down

and while some states fix this with charter, feeder, or technical schools, states that don't care don't bother

wdym low participation and weeding out spooky

you can't fail school at any point K-12

what do you do in a system where the kid isn't showing up or meaningfully participating, and their parents don't care

idk

previously, you fail/expell them, now because you can't though

you end up in this weird resource drain, spent forcing students to irregularly attend class and disrupt and drag down the experience of everyone else

to a lesser extent, districts where parents take no participation in the school system, also drag down learning opprotunity

esp for younger grades

In Ontario, the've been "destreaming" grade 9 and 10 so instead of having applied and academic courses to seperate higher achievers, they are all in the same class

how does one student not showing up regularly affect the other students

Class of 30 kids, where the teachers time is spent 20-30% dealing with that bullshit

no child left behind YAAAAIMPOOR

them showing up, being disruptive, having to dicipline them, having to get the class back on topic

K-6, most of the cirriculum is not lecture based, it's hands-on

thinking 7-12, the overall expectations for the class become lower and lower, as people around you are just not trying or not participating

Efficient schooling should be the goal, and for the most part it should skew towards developing the top 10% as a priority

but if you can only field enough teachers/facilities for 2 groups

mix the general populace together, and just weed out the bad eggs

and not as like a punishment, but it's a waste of state resources to do this song and dance for no reason

if education benefits from being a state function (which I think it does) don't lose sight of the actual goals

dissolve the Department of Education and let states figure this out themselves

I mean, they're basically independent as it is

some states are lazy and fall back to using Dept. of Education curriculum because it's "free" and easy

it's a catch 22, states that have enough resources to care and segregate, end up trying for the bottom 20% anyway, so they get the tax dollars states that are too poor to care, didn't have the resources to segregate, so they get the tax dollars because the standards are so low

difference is the well-funded states/districts also produce actual educated kids as well

versus the poor ones that just don't

I think the write-off is ~10% of kids in most districts, higher in really shitty areas, maybe 20-30% there

i couldnt offer a solution but it rubs me the wrong way to just say that its best to cut off anyone who struggles with education

it's not struggling, it's non-participation

well, there's also special needs, which is its own whole other thing

but in general, anyone who wants to try should be in the general ed level classes, K-12

even if they're getting a 20% on every graded assignment

I think most states K-6, have two measures of grades, achievement and effort

as long as you're getting satisfactory effort marks, you're obeying the teacher, you're participating, etc.

you should be getting an education

my personal experience isnt exactly useful for this kind of discussion though lol

and i dont research the system

I care about education (as might come accross in my autistic sperging lol)

and I think we're pretty good at it, most of the time

but the whole underfundedness and lack of ability to give top performers the correct support is the biggest shortcoming

I think most people recieve a pretty damn good education though, if they participate

i think i find it counterintuitive that schools with low scores get less funding

because those schools need funding more

that's not most of the funding though, this is the big Republican/Democtat lie

most of the funding is local taxes, so wealthy district == better schools

which on some level *makes sense*

ok

that's like 80% of school funding

the rest are state funds, but states get a rebate from the federal government

based on test scores so low-performing schools lose the state money, which *usually* is just absorbed by the state

but if thats the case then i think my point makes more sense

the extra funding should be given to schools that actually need more resources

the problem is it's local taxes though

you elect your local school board directly (its on your ballot)

they have a budget collected via taxes, and present a plan on how to educate your kids

states regulate this and accredit curriculum etc.

right but there is still the test-scores extra funding you said its not the most funding but not that it doesnt exist

maybe i'm confused on something

so that 20%, isn't from the federal government, it's from the state government, who collect it from you via state taxes

the federal government has a program though, where they will pay the state back the tax dollars they spend on education, if people score good on standardized tests

those federal tax dollars are also paid by you btw

don't forget

but it's a way for the state government to make "extra" money, without raising taxes on you directly