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Having high school education last until the onset of adulthood does have a number of benefits, but to realize those benefits, Americans need to stop treating hi

by donw 10y ago

Having high school education last until the onset of adulthood does have a number of benefits, but to realize those benefits, Americans need to stop treating high school as the first step towards University. The purpose of government-provided education should be to prepare its students to become citizens. As a side benefit, those students are also employable, because the gamut of skills that you need as a citizen overlaps heavily with what you need to succeed, either as an employee, or as an entrepreneur: critical thinking, rhetoric, art, logic, practical mathematics, writing and communication, collaboration, physical fitness, maintenance of health and wellness, self-directed learning, a knowledge of history and politics, knowledge of both the sciences and how to apply the scientific method, and probably more than a few more things that I have overlooked. American high schools teach few of these. Sure, you are required to learn "science", but I don't recall my school ever forcing us to go through the process of creating a theory, designing an experiment to attempt to falsify our theory, and running through the experimental process. Same goes for critical thinking -- arguing against the teacher's viewpoint is strongly discouraged. You are only allowed to color within the lines. Physical fitness classes are largely a joke, mostly because they don't cater to things that might be interesting to people that prefer individual sports. I would have loved if my school offered Karate, climbing, or even just hiking as physical fitness courses. We should also take a page from Japan, and make students responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of their schools, under supervision, of course. I doubt any of this could be done in public schools at this stage, though -- the liabilities are too great, and there are too many special interests that make a large amount of money off of the current system.

projektir 10y ago
I don't know how productive some of this would be, really. School is too stressful, and goes too fast, to really understand an example with creating a theory and designing an experiment. It will be perceived as troublesome, most wouldn't understand or be able to keep up. Look at that list you have there. Logic, mathematics, writing, history and politics, and science. These things are huge. Schools /have/ been trying to cram these things in to the point where there was no room left for all the other things you mention. I think one of the core issues with modern education is trying to teach children complex and specific concepts in the first place. Their brains are not yet developed, their motivation is nil, and there's not enough time. It benefits those with higher base intelligence for the most part. Anything they do understand is quickly forgotten. The same concepts are so much easier to understand 10 years later, and there's a higher chance that they would be grounded in something they actually care about at that point as opposed to trying to explain to a 13 year old why Shakespeare is interesting. Of course, that would require a fundamental restructuring of society, and more push towards people learning in their 20's and 30's and beyond. But I think it's extremely silly to devote the first 1/5 of one's projected life expectancy to heavy learning, at a point where they barely understand anything, and their motivations are not their own, and then almost completely drop it for the other 4/5 where you just work, work, work. And the first 20 years are probably more important for the rest of your life than anything you do afterwards. The focus on employment is part of an issue. The problem isn't with schools producing employable people. The problem is the concept of employability itself and what it does to society. Why are we trying to make schools more aligned with something that's a bigger problem in itself? What a waste. School should focus on learning how to learn, how to discern information, where to find information, etc., and core skills that are going to be relevant to effectively everyone - such as some that you mentioned, like health and wellness, and I'd add cleaning and cooking to the list and things like being considerate towards other people.

by donw 10y ago

projektir 10y ago

I don't know how productive some of this would be, really. School is too stressful, and goes too fast, to really understand an example with creating a theory and designing an experiment. It will be perceived as troublesome, most wouldn't understand or be able to keep up. Look at that list you have there. Logic, mathematics, writing, history and politics, and science. These things are huge. Schools /have/ been trying to cram these things in to the point where there was no room left for all the other things you mention. I think one of the core issues with modern education is trying to teach children complex and specific concepts in the first place. Their brains are not yet developed, their motivation is nil, and there's not enough time. It benefits those with higher base intelligence for the most part. Anything they do understand is quickly forgotten. The same concepts are so much easier to understand 10 years later, and there's a higher chance that they would be grounded in something they actually care about at that point as opposed to trying to explain to a 13 year old why Shakespeare is interesting. Of course, that would require a fundamental restructuring of society, and more push towards people learning in their 20's and 30's and beyond. But I think it's extremely silly to devote the first 1/5 of one's projected life expectancy to heavy learning, at a point where they barely understand anything, and their motivations are not their own, and then almost completely drop it for the other 4/5 where you just work, work, work. And the first 20 years are probably more important for the rest of your life than anything you do afterwards. The focus on employment is part of an issue. The problem isn't with schools producing employable people. The problem is the concept of employability itself and what it does to society. Why are we trying to make schools more aligned with something that's a bigger problem in itself? What a waste. School should focus on learning how to learn, how to discern information, where to find information, etc., and core skills that are going to be relevant to effectively everyone - such as some that you mentioned, like health and wellness, and I'd add cleaning and cooking to the list and things like being considerate towards other people.