It seems as if we are in a very divided time in America, with two separate extremes at war.

It seems there is more hyper sensitive extremism, where people are looking for the offensiveness of even the most innocent situations and adjectives and demanding everybody and everything everywhere in every moment accommodate whoever wants to be accommodated

It seems there is also more hyper insensitive extrimism, where people are wearing blinders to anything but their own benefit or obstacles, and completely apathetic to the things that may be impacting on others ...

I am not sure it will not come to a boil, but I am always hopeful enough of those 'in the middle' can come together to find ways to address it before it does.

Would mandatory civic service of some type in the formidable school years help people be less on the extreme of hyper insensitivity to the plights of others? Would replacing those home economics courses with courses on coping skills help people be less on the extreme of hyper sensitivity and over reaction?

I know that we are in a culture that is mostly concerned with the dollars and cents bottom line, but how can we invest in the basic skills people need to have a 'balance' in living life?

At a time where more and more parents are expected to be separated from their kids to make money, and when kids have so much more exposure to so many more things in social media, should the community and schools step up as co sponsors of the next generations and their direction, or do we continue to leave it to media, social media, and fate?

i think the school curriculum for the past ten or fifteen years are much of the problem we see with personal rights extremism , from removing corporal punishment to not being able to fire a failed teacher . To the liberal indoctrination of our kids. So no I don't want our public schools having and manditory hold on kids for any " life learning lessons" no thanks.

raising kids is the parents responsibility.

not the community, not the school or the church.

2) P.C. culture plays a role.

3) education plays a major role today as you can see how society at american society is being affected.

Civic class cannot address these issues because today its more important to worry about kids feelings than to actually teaching them or a least put them in an environment that helps the develop critical thinking skills.

the education system at least in America is teaching kids how to be sheeple and follow the collective vs being an individual .

What about the point of view that kids grow up to be future leaders and promoters of culture, who will then affect not just parents but the community? isnt that reason for said community to invest in them AS well as the parents?

I agree that it's the parents responsibility to raise their children.
But at the same time it's the society's responsability to educate good teachers.
The both goes hand in hand to create a great pupil, that's obvious.

VonSchulten

nothing is obvious anymore, I agree society should be responsible for training good teachers but society and lets talk about American Society , the politicians and unions have done a poor job with the education system.

Prior to the federal government getting into the education business, it was the states and municipalities responsibilities for education.

And people were educated and then all of a sudden in the 1960's things changed after the LBJ great society crap and a decade later the department of education was set up and Jimmy Carter pouring billions of dollars into the department of education and look what we have now?

Each generation is dumber than the previous generation for the first time in history.

If you think Im kidding look up the PISA test and what place America is in?

Did you know in China students spend 205 days in school in America its 170 days.

and you wonder why kids in China do well on tests?

I do not disagree. In my country, even off topic, but brought forward as an example, they ask more and more from the students. It's a full time work to even attend the public schools and still they get dumber and dumber with 8 hours of forced studying.
Look at the Finnish model, which is, and has been concidered as the best in the world for a decade now, they use very little time at studies but still comes out on a considerably higher skill level.
I know the educational system in Denmark as to stressing the students more and more due to having a daughter studying the last 19 years and I must say that more hours is not always the answer to better knowledge because a mind can only hold and learn so much.
Most gets ill and drops out, others who's parents have money pay for the exames/tests, and with that system you get stupid idiots once they hit the workforce because they know nothing. Everything was payed and done for them.

There is a need for an education in civics as well as finance. That means understanding but not indoctrination. Unfortunately, our education system seems to be populated by educators with a certain political bias.

The real problem is that people and especially children are a product of their environment and experiences. When that environment and experiences are vastly different for different students, you will get this vastly different split in society. You don't know what someone else's life is like until you walk in their shoes. What we really need is "life in America" classwork to bring different life situations to students.

Wow, alot of good points and suggestions here.

My daughter is now working in one of the worlds biggest construction companies as an civil engineer and the stupidity she encounters are flappergasting to the extend that even a monkey would know better.

I will agree to that.
I do know too that here in Denmark the educational system are drained to the extend that it's children teaching children, meaning that the teachers are not even teachers but just a couple of years older and they are more interested in being popular than act as authorities. They simply doesn't have the skillset, and are to weak mentally to take on a class.
That even counts for educated teachers. Mentally weak, afraid of being made fools of by the "Ins."
It sounds ridiculous but that is what is going on.

I take you are from Denmark? by the way lots of valuable information with your post

Who pays for university the state/country or the students?

If you havn't figured it out, that basic intelligence is reflected in the income/wealth statistics of the country.

how are we defining basic intelligence, and why would it be tied to wealth?

well said and I agree.

that's correct, I'm from Denmark... The smallest country that tries hard to suck up to USA. We've been in every single war with the states the last 20 years. The states says jump, and the danes jump. The states says suck my diidlydoo and they suck.

To answer your question... The students are payed to study. How much is depending on whether they live at home or by themselves.
The distribution of grades however is a business of its own.
We have graduates setting up businesses doing the students exames.
The colleges sending out bills to the parents, as was I, and the more you pay the higher grades your kid gets.
In fact, as my daughter told me, they don't even have to open up a book due to that pay or suffer system sending out bills to the parents. It's outrageous.

Sorry if I'm misspelling on several occasions...
I hope you understand despite of that.

VonSchulten

you're kidding , wow, that is crazy.

what is your daughter taking in College/University?

no worries about the spelling Von.

Undrboss

She is already finished and now works for one of the biggest construction companies in the world. They have 90.000 workers.
She's a civil engineer. Actually she's been working on Lego's next big building projects. Lego being danish but partially American owned.
Well, stockwise Lego is probably mostly American owned today, I'm not sure.