The Daily Show - Reza Aslan

Devils' Advocate said:
More to the point, the kids will have the capability to see if there are flaws or not.
Click to expand...

I see this issue often with my high school students. Not only in matters of religion, but with a lot of the discussions in our geography and history courses. Students right now are being taught to know what is on a test, rather than being critical and analyzing the material they're presented with. I think that leads directly to the real problems in the world DA mentioned.
 
wil said:
financial education
Click to expand...

We had to fight to keep our consumer economics department last year because the administration and school board felt it was no longer necessary in a digital world.
 
Our consumer economics teachers help students understand the basics of balancing a check book, figuring out interest rates on loans, how credit cards work, equity in houses, savings accounts, a little bit about the stock market, mortgages, health and life insurance, buying or leasing a car, and other financial situations they may encounter in the near future.

Edited to add: learning how to create and follow a budget.
 
Sound really helpful!

EDIT: Wil, more important than the classics? No, I think not.
 
there were classes, instruction, annual refresher courses... those are what I did.. for 15 years... that and a parent...scout leader...passed the background check, raised my hand...

but in reality similar qualifications that are required to build a temple and have a congregation eh?
 
A Cup Of Tea said:
Sound really helpful!

EDIT: Wil, more important than the classics? No, I think not.
Click to expand...

Beowolfe, Mice and Men, Catch 22, Three Musketteers....vs getting hoodwinked by mortgage fraud on a 300,000 dollar home...going bankrupt due to not learning budgeting, interest rates, balancing your check book... we simply have a difference of opinion here.
 
Namaste Jesus said:
Oh ok, that's about what I figured.

Maybe, but I didn't volunteer for that one. I was drafted! :D
Click to expand...
exactly the universe asks you to fill a void...same with scout leader for a decade, soccer coach... nobody wanted to volunteer to coach the girls...my daughter wanted to play...I never played soccer in my life...and in three years they went from second to last (my first year) to first place in the third year...and they had a lot of fun doing it ( I also disliked most the coaches I had as a kid...my way or the highway led to the highway)
 
StevePame said:
Students right now are being taught to know what is on a test
Click to expand...

Don't even get me started! What a fracked up education we are giving our kids nowadays. Schools need money desperately. So we make up standardized tests, which all schools must take - those schools with the best scores get more money than those schools where their kids score badly. Does that seen Bass Ackwards to you? Don't the schools where the kids are doing the worst need the most help? Not according to our politicians.

End result, in order to get the best scores possible to get their schools the most money possible the teachers now teach their students what is likely to be on the test rather than a good overview of a subject.

Far as what is most important to teach in the 21st century this is a whole different world than even a few decades ago. Consumer economics is critical for day to day survival these days. All the items Steve mentioned absolute necessities. Back then if you were not skilled in school there were blue collar jobs that were dirty, nasty hard labor, but that paid a good salary. In the Information Age, those blue collar jobs are mostly gone.

That being said, on Tea's side of the coin, while I do not think the classics are that important, the staples of a good ol' education are. Reading, Riting, Rithmatic, these are the foundations upon which everything else is built so rather critical as well!
 
I could go on a rant about standardized tests. For starters, it's testing teachers, not students. Here they were used for teacher-hate. The government would design a harder one than the previous year, the entire province would do lousier, and the conclusion was that those _____ teachers weren't doing their job. Then they'd have the gall to bring it up at the negotiating table.
 
Devils' Advocate said:
Don't even get me started! What a fracked up education we are giving our kids nowadays.
Click to expand...

I agree.

In the Information Age we need to think outside the traditional brick and mortar school that teaches content knowledge. It's outdated and molded for the Industrial Age. Perhaps many students would do better learning content knowledge online, so I say do away with the physical school for this group--or at least consider it as an option. For example, I can study English online one-on-one with a teacher, it doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and this can be personalized according to the learner's needs. Instead of a standardized test, I can make sure Johnny understands how tests, when used appropriately, can be spaced out to improve his memory of the material. However, traditional public schools give a one-size-fits-all approach to classes with over 20 students. So Johnny is viewed as slow if he doesn't fit. I could go on and on . . .
 
I think college should move to an online format. Campuses should stop growing. They plan on infinite expansion and are always buying land, asking for more grants, making it difficult for students to get from one classroom to another. They put expensive food between classrooms that are separated by up to a mile, and many of them have no lockers for students. Look at all the state universities and how many square miles their campuses are! They've turned higher education into a refuge for scam artists, but that is nothing new. Universities have always done that. Its just so obvious though, how frequently textbooks are changed out, how ridiculous the university strategies are to increase tuition. Complexity = fraud, and that's the truth about higher education.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top