tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22678097.post1848745898520254705..comments2024-03-27T13:36:21.967-04:00Comments on .OPTIONS for a Better World: What's Happened to Basic Education?kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15122196887043345981noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22678097.post-19134652955309065842007-03-07T13:40:00.000-05:002007-03-07T13:40:00.000-05:00Being educated once mean't having the mental capac...Being educated once mean't having the mental capacity to recall information from a vast depository of deciphered and categorised knowledge that you had accumulated in your noggin.<BR/>Now kids can find an answer to almost anything in 15 seconds by googling it.<BR/>Kids who txtmsg everything don't know a grerund from an errand..they think that a dangling participle is another word for icicle...so even basic language is being modified to accomodate this situation.<BR/>I am not sure where this dumbing down will all end up..I call it VAPID TRANSIT...but it is ironic that with all of this information at their fingertips this generation will be unable to use it! <BR/>Information versus knowledgeRomeo Morningwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10826410608415260786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22678097.post-60360694420946750002007-03-02T04:53:00.000-05:002007-03-02T04:53:00.000-05:00As I feel quite dumb now reading the test I was th...As I feel quite dumb now reading the test I was thinking of how knowledge manifests in us. Do you, for example, grow up with the rules and incorporate them to a degree where your outlet is good, but the memory of the sheer rule has gone? Does knowledge become part intuition? (I can mostly tell arithmetic things by intuition whereas when I truly need to calculate I have harder times.) <BR/><BR/>I saw a cute clip of an old man (90) returning to his former school in Berlin. He visits a class of Six Graders and asks them what a circle is. They all look buffed. He then recites the definition just like a poem and everyone is stunned, including the teacher. <BR/><BR/>My Grandmother knows more poems from her school days than my father.<BR/>My father knows more poems from his school days than his daughter.<BR/><BR/>I think the amount of things we have to learn today leaves less space for the basics. Perhaps everyone is so afraid to miss the breadth that the depth is put behind. In my work last year I was amazed at all the things school kids are stimulated and entertained with and wondered if that makes them smarter or just more confused. <BR/><BR/>But then the question also is, what is Basic Education? Is it a never-changing landscape of facts and formulas? Or do we adapt the education the same way everything else develops, too. Computers at all sizes support us dealing with those things. Why would I need to press my brain if I can push the computer button? Would Basic Education be more of learning the Soft Skills these days? Or as csl says the teaching of critical thought?CRISTOSOVAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12276461139015685966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22678097.post-82791996092334011732007-03-01T04:54:00.000-05:002007-03-01T04:54:00.000-05:00I can't remember the last time I saw an exam paper...I can't remember the last time I saw an exam paper but this one is quite hard! <BR/>I think education has been watered down over the years and the emphasis on being totally correct has been replaced by a lenient acceptance of mediocrity...Creamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00264967879848688968noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22678097.post-37326815396089752202007-02-28T08:10:00.000-05:002007-02-28T08:10:00.000-05:00thanks everyone. this is a topic with alot of side...thanks everyone. this is a topic with alot of sides and undercurrents. csl said almost everything that i believe too. and ces is right about inferiority of vocational education. and one has to wonder how american schools really do measure up to their international counterparts.<BR/><BR/>menchie, sometimes i wish i better understood the basic magic of the philippines. i have learned SO much from you and ces and maria and sidney.kjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15122196887043345981noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22678097.post-33655705441841664122007-02-27T17:25:00.000-05:002007-02-27T17:25:00.000-05:00I worry that someday Charlotte and Iris will ask m...I worry that someday Charlotte and Iris will ask me to help with their homework ... and I'll be no help at all! :)Melissahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15093282449753003894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22678097.post-44831727706897886122007-02-27T11:00:00.000-05:002007-02-27T11:00:00.000-05:00I couldn't answer many of those questions and I ha...I couldn't answer many of those questions and I have a Ph.D. But it's a complicated issue (aren't they all?). Information has become increasingly specialized, science has advanced immeasurably - it's so much harder to fit in a gernalized knowledge set. I think about how facile my own kids are with computers - that wasn't even an issue when I was in school. I think education is more polarized now, with some kids learning an incrdibly rich array of information nad others simply getting passed from grade to grade to move them through the system. And then there is a political twist to all this - our current administration actively encourages a lack of respect for science - what will that do to our culture in the long run? It's troubling to be sure, but I don't think its as easy as saying that kids a century ago got a better education. In some ways, yes, in other ways lots of rote memorization. I'd like to see more teaching of critical thought - <I>that</I> would make a world of difference.CShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12136201152682543365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22678097.post-73297121465879810132007-02-27T06:42:00.000-05:002007-02-27T06:42:00.000-05:00I was wondering why a friend of mine who lives in ...I was wondering why a friend of mine who lives in New Jersey suddenly wants her kids to be educated in the Phils. And it's not just in the US. My friend from Australia also wants to go back. I still don't know the answer. I've always thought that education in the US is way better than here. <BR/><BR/>Then again, most Filipino students do very well in US high schools. My cousins who studied here then went there say school is much harder in the Philippines than in the US.Menchiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07474186474395126654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22678097.post-46936538773607266052007-02-27T04:56:00.000-05:002007-02-27T04:56:00.000-05:00Dear KJ, let me put it this way: I am worried that...Dear KJ, let me put it this way: I am worried that it is with you in the USA the same as here in the Netherlands (and in the rest of Europe I reckon). For instance the Dutch language: this is rather complicated compared to e.g. English, but when I was 12 years I did not make many mistakes while writing. It was considered very important to know your own language in the fifties/early sixties. And we had to read a lot of books and know a little about a lot. We were not supposed to talk much and my generation was not used to speak in public. But I am shocked to learn what the children really know these days. Yes, they are very handy with their mouth and apparatus and computers. They know 'Google' and how to find facts and pictures. But knowledge in the way you mean.... :-(Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22678097.post-38709707083977884072007-02-26T20:45:00.000-05:002007-02-26T20:45:00.000-05:00Oh please do not get me started! First, Si habla E...Oh please do not get me started! First, Si habla Espanol? Where is the Spanish version of these tests? We won't have them because I doubt if some of the current teachers will pass this tests. Politically correct institutionalized and legalized processes have lowered our standards all because interest groups want equal results when it should have been equal access based on skills not on quotas.<BR/><BR/>It's not just high school. What about college? Charles Murray author of the Bell curve had a great editorial in the Wall Street Journal last week entitled "What's Worng With Vocational Education". In it he stated that too much emphasis is placed on college education that students with an IQ of 100 barely scrape by. They can't even learn logic reasoning because it takes a higher IQ to process logic. So we have an overflow of college graduates who have no analystical and critical thinking skills. The gist of the editorial was actually a praise for vocational education. We no longer have specialists and tradesmen because society has placed too much emphasis on a college degree just for the sake of having one. <BR/><BR/>At any rate the "Dumbing Down of America" (Harolf Bloom) is indeed true. We are enundated by low skilled, low IQ populace.Ces Adoriohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17338000465619901229noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22678097.post-40488129041264813102007-02-26T18:49:00.000-05:002007-02-26T18:49:00.000-05:00Well, the end terms (what has to be known when fin...Well, the end terms (what has to be known when finishing school) and are they reached, is a big issue here in Flanders. To announce the results of an investigation and discussion in the newspaper, funny ads were made. I only remember this one : Who is Leonardo Da Vinci ? He is a handsome actor and he was so great in the "Titanic".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com