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Porn Causes Brain Damage
croxis
I am the walrus
in Zocalo v2.0
[url]http://www.stats.org/record.jsp?type=news&ID=560[/url]
(This site actually points out the fallacies witht he anti-porn argument)
(This site actually points out the fallacies witht he anti-porn argument)
Comments
Personal Finance
[b]Critical Thought and Analysis[/b]
Ethics
World Religions
We are never taught to think critically about the information we are provided from third party sources, how to analyze it and how to indentify possible shortcomings.
Jake
[B]Classes that I think should be manditory for high schoolers to take before they graduate (almost none of which are taught today):
Personal Finance
[b]Critical Thought and Analysis[/b]
Ethics
World Religions
We are never taught to think critically about the information we are provided from third party sources, how to analyze it and how to indentify possible shortcomings.
Jake [/B][/QUOTE]
Well the second one *should* be covered in science class. However the content for standardized tests ends up taking precedence over HOW to think and see the world as a Scientist.
Jake
[B]Well the second one *should* be covered in science class. However the content for standardized tests ends up taking precedence over HOW to think and see the world as a Scientist. [/B][/QUOTE]
Yeah. Kind of telling that almost no one who is not a scientist quite literally does not understand what science [i]is[/i]. Most people think the scientific method is some procedure for doing experiments, assuming they've even heard of it.
And I disagree that critical thought is a form of the scientific process. It is much more than that.
Honestly, and this is from someone who graduated high school only six years ago, money does not make a good school. Academic freedom does not make a good school. Teachers do. I had far too many teachers who didn't seem to care about individual students' progress, unless they were the brown-nosing type I'm sure we all remember hating. But that's fine, as long as they give the students the opportunity to learn what they need to know. However, I had more teachers who seemed hell-bent on slanting everything towards their own personal and political viewpoints that I sometimes could not stand to even open the books they gave us.
We had computers everywhere, but nobody cared enough to really do anything with them. The result? Internet terminals. The only teachers who really seemed to enjoy their jobs, enough to actually put effort into them, were the science teachers. Sad that so few of the students really care anymore.
One of two things needs to happen, to really change American schools for the better. Either the budgets need to increase or be redistributed in order to double the average pay of the teachers, combined with a requirement that those who perform be fired, regardless of their time in the system, or there needs to be national standardised curriculum and testing thought out by somebody not beholden to the current system or anyone in it.
The good thing about standardised testing is that if you know enough to pass it, you at least know something. That would be whatever is on the test. If the test actually covers what you might consider a well rounded knowledge and understanding of the subject at hand, then I would call this a good thing.
What do the teachers want to teach that the tests don't leave them the time to cover? Are there teachers out there who are saying 'Damn, if only these kids didn't have to learn long division, I could be explaining differential calculus.' Or perhaps 'Stupid second world war. What did that ever change for anyone? I wish I had the time to spend a solid month on the lifestyle of the Pueblo Indians.'
Make it worthwhile for good, smart, driven people to teach. Fire the current crop of incompetents, any who can't cut it. Public school should just give a solid foundation of knowledge. Anything else is up to universities and the student's own motivation.
[B]You know why the public school system is subjected to so much standardized testing? Because there are so many teachers who are either stupid, or unmotivated, or strangled by a ridiculous system and management that left to them, the already mediocre (at best) product they are turning out would become a joke even in the eyes of Americans, not just the rest of the world.[/quote]
Where there is some truth, its not the only truth. My experience was full of teacheres who actually cared, but the administration really kept them from treating us like the adults we behaved (mind you I was in advanced classes and I'm talking about high school). Every department at my highschool had their good and bad and just ok teachers. I would say social studies had the worse (they were all coaches, the good ss teachers wern't) and the best were the sciences.
There is also another problem -- the best teachers will end up teaching the advanced cources while the poorer persorming students will get the pooer performing teachers.
[quote]Honestly, and this is from someone who graduated high school only six years ago, money does not make a good school. Academic freedom does not make a good school. Teachers do. I had far too many teachers who didn't seem to care about individual students' progress, unless they were the brown-nosing type I'm sure we all remember hating. But that's fine, as long as they give the students the opportunity to learn what they need to know. However, I had more teachers who seemed hell-bent on slanting everything towards their own personal and political viewpoints that I sometimes could not stand to even open the books they gave us. [/quote]
you are right, throwing money at a problem wont fix it, however Portland Public schools have some of the shortest school years in the nation because the funding just isn't there. Here is the things - people hate teachers. Just listen to the general population! Here in oregon state workers (including teachers) got a very nice retirement package - they didn't get paid alot but they did live comfertably in their old age. Recent reformes reduced retirement and some of the comments I've heard from people, I'm astounded!
[quote]We had computers everywhere, but nobody cared enough to really do anything with them. The result? Internet terminals. The only teachers who really seemed to enjoy their jobs, enough to actually put effort into them, were the science teachers. Sad that so few of the students really care anymore. [/quote]
Here there was a state mandate to put ocmputers into every classroom - so they put 3-4 computers into every classroom. The end result is that they never get used.
[quote]One of two things needs to happen, to really change American schools for the better. Either the budgets need to increase or be redistributed in order to double the average pay of the teachers, combined with a requirement that those who perform be fired, regardless of their time in the system, or there needs to be national standardised curriculum and testing thought out by somebody not beholden to the current system or anyone in it. [/quote]
All goverment budgets should be looked at for efficency. How well is the money they have being spent. If the money is indeed being spent well and effectivly and there still isn't enough, then funding would then increase.
Another problem is teacher unions are very strong, i understand why because they have saved teachers who did challenge the status quo and taught controversial subjects, but at the same time it does keep the crappy teachers in the system.
Here I need to stress the difference between standards and curriculum. Standards are what students should be able to do/identify, and they are very general. Here is a link to the oregon science standards: [url]http://www.ode.state.or.us/teachlearn/real/documents/05-06science.pdf[/url]
Curriculum is much more specific and involves more specific subjects and lesson plans. A national curriculum for a ocuntry the size of the US is VERY VERY BAD IDEA.
Here is an example as to why: In 8th grade my team (the school was divided up into teams, in short they were mini-shools in the school) and we taked the subject of the lower snake river dams which culminated in a massive paper saying if we shoudl breach them or not. This was a major interdiciplinary activity and consumed about a month and was very effective at teaching critical thinking and how to look at a subject from many points of view and how the big problems have no right or wrong answer. the problem is, how would this apply to someone in Florida? The same objectives can be taught in a one room schoolhouse to a major sub-urban school, but how to go about it must be different.
Wrong. test do two things: how well a student knows about something, and how well you can write a test question. I'll talk about science because that is the area I'm going to teach. There are two parts to science: The stuff (F=m*a, germ theory, acid vs base, etc), and the how to think like a scientist. The former can be tested, but in reality it ends up being not much better than rote memorization.
my friend who works in a grade school had students who knew the properties of the three states of matter and the example from the book, but show them something outside the classroom and they would be clueless. To FULLY assess how well a student is taught more is needed that multiple choice question: the student must be given a novel situation and see if they are able to make the connection. No national testing can do this. the student needs to be able to WRITE to illustrate that they know the material. i perform very well on multiple choice because i can eliminate bad options, but give me an essay where no final solutions are given to me and I struggle.
[quote]What do the teachers want to teach that the tests don't leave them the time to cover? Are there teachers out there who are saying 'Damn, if only these kids didn't have to learn long division, I could be explaining differential calculus.' Or perhaps 'Stupid second world war. What did that ever change for anyone? I wish I had the time to spend a solid month on the lifestyle of the Pueblo Indians.'[/quote]
see above
[quote]Make it worthwhile for good, smart, driven people to teach. Fire the current crop of incompetents, any who can't cut it. Public school should just give a solid foundation of knowledge. Anything else is up to universities and the student's own motivation. [/B][/QUOTE]
Understanding is more important than knowledge.
I think a year long formal logic class should be required in high school, it would do alot of good.
Every bit as important as the subject is [i]how[/i] it is taught. I agree some understanding of logic and form would be nice (I've met far too many people thoroughly and devotedly immune to logic), but I don't think requiring the course in schools would really come close to addressing a much deeper pathology affecting this country and human society as a whole.