2 replies to this topic

[Ash]

These three videos link to talks by Sir Ken Robinson, on the state of the current education system. He argues that, essentially, the education system as it currently stands is focused either to manufacture persons of a standardised skill set to enable them to function as the automatons of the workplace, or that it exists to create the next college professors. In neither eventuality is any thought given to what might fascinate people or make them tick, but instead is more inclined to beat that out of you than instil it.

While I agree with what the man says, my real pondering comes from how one could go about changing it and, assuming one did, what the future for the child would look like. F'rinstance, not everyone could be an author, or an actor, or a dancer.

They try to tell us that the education system is there to equip us with the skills to make it in the adult world. Does it really, though? I don't think it does. Sure, learning to read and write and add up are essential and without them pretty much no other learning could take place. But in a school system that teaches you to regurgitate memorised factoids rather than promoting understanding of those factoids, as well as impressing upon you that you are nothing if you don't go further up the academic ladder (which, lets face it, devalues itself with every year that passes due to more and more people with the same qualification level), is it really the case that you are being prepared for anything at all, except the end-of-year exam?

Surely it would be better to be taught skills that will actually benefit you in some way (like how to function as an ordinary human being, and the things you have to do such as tax returns, legal processes, etc?) rather than to pass an exam by rote? Or alternately as Robinson suggests, something you could actually give a shit about?

[duke_Qa]

I think Ken is on to something, we are living in a time of educational and labor turmoil. Nobody can guarantee you a job just from having a degree anymore.

I've partially given up on "public" education for now. At the very least I've decided I won't be writing another paper on anything, waste of a good year that could have been spent mastering a relevant skill. Private/practical school or extra education on the job is what gives you most for your money methinks. And most of the stuff I work with these days are based upon personal mastery and not points handed out by old men with no clue.

One of the main problems with school today might be that it doesn't manage to tell you about the potential fun shit you can do with a given education. If they were better at letting students master something or try something that forced them to find knowledge on their own, things would move in a positive direction.

[Pasidon]

Teaching people how to learn is something I've always said just now but thought of constantly without a decent conversation to say it in. But really... if you drop a kid into a generic school and just start expecting them to super sayian knowledge like it's nothing... you're essentially gambling. You don't know if your kid can learn easily... dropping them off in special ed isn't always the best solution. Kids need to understand proper memorization techniques, mindsets towards education, and even early career focuses. Schools? They don't no do none dat'. And the teachers / curriculums these days... oh man... let me tell you. I have a much more advanced education and testing system in mind that would force the arena-like environment out of the class room. Most kids act like they're competing against others or just the system in general and the stress of that bums people out if they're not trained to deal with such things.