Education...

[Brandon]

So verius trueous.

 

[Furious George]

Not only that, Latin has helped me immensely on various English exams and the like. But--there is one subject I have never applied to my daily life, and that is Algebra. I cannot recall a single time I've ever used Algebra, yet I've taken 3 years of it.

 

[Brandon]

I use algebra when I write simple programming scripts to manage this site. I am no programming wizard but algebra is useful.

 

[dong]

I use vectors and physics (which requires algebra) so I don't kill myself trying out a new wall-jumping route while free running. Since I'm not a pro, knowing the numbers does help me make the decision as when at the limits of my capacity with no time or room for error, I'd sure like to know that in theory I could make the jump. The one time I did a jump on the spur of the moment, I fractured my heel.

 

[Hussar]

What about Civic duties? We as Americans live in one of the greatest countries--why not teach all of our citizens how to vote, pay taxes, and abide by the law?

And scarrier words have rarely been uttered.

Teach citizens how to vote? I'm sorry, but, it's not exactly difficult. Go to the little room, punch the right button or check the right box and leave. People KNOW how to vote. People don't because they are too apathetic to bother.

I do not want the state to teach my children what it means to be a citizen of the state. In that direction, you find all sorts of fun stuff like Orwell and the Khmer Rouge. Becoming a citizen of a nation is not something you learn in Civics class. It's something that you learn each and every day as you are immersed in the culture and language of that nation.

As far as what you are learning in high school being useless, I agree wholeheartedly. It's actually not all that much different post secondary school either. You'll forget about 80% of the stuff you learned in Uni because you'll never use it in your job.

What you DO learn in high school is methodologies for problem solving and coping which is worth its weight in gold. You learn how to learn. You learn work ethics. And, along the way, you learn all sorts of useless information that will stick in your brain in your old age.

 

[dong]

Oh yeah, good spot there Hussar. The most important factor is that we're working our brains so that we can work them sufficiently well later...but it's often not so successful an endeavour with many people. It's like Edward de Bono's blue hat (or at least, I think it's the blue one..."thinking about thinking").

 

[sarah]

I have to say, High school does teach you how to learn. It definitely serves as a springboard for further education, but only for those who are ready to actually learn. I still think that if a child attends a school that is considered sub-par, they may start to believe that they actually are themselves sub-par learners. If someone goes to schools with poor test scores, they may not feel motivated to push themselves to succeed. I can’t help but to think that we need to better the schools, and that in doing that we will create better learners and more successful people.

 

[dong]

This was, after all, the idea in the first place. The ideals of a liberal axiology regarding children are that every child should have an equal opportunity to become the best equipped to maintain and develop themselves, or so I thought.

 

[sarah]

The problem lies in making the idea a reality. The facts are that not all children are in fact given an equal opportunity, sadly.

 

[Brandon]

I do not want the state to teach my children what it means to be a citizen of the state. In that direction, you find all sorts of fun stuff like Orwell and the Khmer Rouge. Becoming a citizen of a nation is not something you learn in Civics class. It's something that you learn each and every day as you are immersed in the culture and language of that nation.

Excellent point! The state will teach you how to be a citizen in THEIR eyes. All your individuality will be stripped away and the only thing left will be a government conformist. Just look at the uber-patriots. They will fight for ideas they don't even support. All because it is coming from the government.

 

[lizakollman]

I think a lot of the eduction system has been turned into a way to corrall kids and keep them out of the parents way while the parents work. I almost was a teacher, but decided to do other things instead. what i saw was a lot of stuff that didn't need to be there - a lot of the time parents want their kids to be somewhere safe and supervised, so that is what school becomes.

 

[Furious George]

I think a lot of the eduction system has been turned into a way to corrall kids and keep them out of the parents way while the parents work. I almost was a teacher, but decided to do other things instead. what i saw was a lot of stuff that didn't need to be there - a lot of the time parents want their kids to be somewhere safe and supervised, so that is what school becomes.

That is also VERY true. Good point.

 

[All5Horizons]

education- from Latin educere- to lead forth
seduction- from Latin seducere- to lead astray
inculcation- from Latin inculcare- to stamp in with the heel

I'm feeling that the latter two represent school much more than the former.

 

[dong]

All5Horizons: Do go on. I'd like to see in particular how schools tend to lead astray rather than lead forth, as it could be an interesting discussion.