General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: While watching Nova on HS football, IMO it's time to scrap football or change it to a non contact [View all]HardTimes99
(2,049 posts)a teacher in the Los Angeles school system (without going through a formal credentialing program). Turned out to be a protracted bout of bureaucratic hoop-jumping that led nowhere but, in the process of jumping through the hoops, I 'observed' two high-school English classes. Each teacher told me after the class that he\she spent the vast majority of his or her time teaching to the various 'tests' the state now mandates. This was a sobering sentiment coming from two teachers who had conducted what to my admittedly untutored eye looked like great class sessions the days I observed.
I really feel for your daughter and for today's youth. Nothing I say will ease the sting for your daughter, but FWIW, there is life after high school and for the most part it's a vast improvement in just about every respect.
The American educational system sits atop an economic sub-structure where 1% control 40% of the wealth at the exact same time that 1 out of 5 American children experience at least one episode of hunger per month. So I don't think the solutions are going to be easy or simple and I don't think tinkering with things at the margins will really improve matters (hence my radical left-wing stance).
I did not take your final two sentences harshly but more as a wake-up call to me to get off my anti-football high horse and do some real thinking.