3 ms·

You can apply that same logic towards teaching kids trades or skills. Like forcibly telling kids to learn how to drive a semi because it's the backbone of our i

You can apply that same logic towards teaching kids trades or skills. Like forcibly telling kids to learn how to drive a semi because it's the backbone of our infrastructure. Doesn't mean they're gonna do it, but they should be exposed to it. What I'm talking about is that our education system teaches kids a lot of pointless things, especially in the arts for the sake of thinking it is going to achieve some "third eye" opening greater good somehow. And people like me who decry it as some utter waste of time nonsense end up getting bashed because we should do it. It's just nonsense that does not need to be taught. If a shop-class kid is forced to read Poe, are we really helping him? Forcing him to stay back a semester to write a report on Poe when he is destined to be a welder, is that really necessary? Human civilization has done it for millennia, but now all of a sudden in this modern era students need a broad understanding of the world through the sub-par education system that is in the US? I'm not buying it. If you can call the US education system "education." More like glorified taxpayer funded babysitting with some basic instructional stuff in between.

stephenhuey 5y ago
Your last line is a vast subject I'm not touching here. But as to whether a welder ought to learn certain things goes back to the priority that we teach all our students shared values along with the importance of critical thinking, and we prioritize this for students becoming welders or judges or programmers or anything else in our society. And one of my favorites for understanding history, societal values and reading between the lines is Huckleberry Finn, and I'm all for every student reading books like this and if many don't get it, that's unfortunate, but it's well worth trying. Art is often less boring than just telling someone an idea straight. I personally find good literature to be more likely to be remembered and truly internalized by the person. I'm a big believer in the lasting power of show, don't tell.

stephenhuey 5y ago

Your last line is a vast subject I'm not touching here. But as to whether a welder ought to learn certain things goes back to the priority that we teach all our students shared values along with the importance of critical thinking, and we prioritize this for students becoming welders or judges or programmers or anything else in our society. And one of my favorites for understanding history, societal values and reading between the lines is Huckleberry Finn, and I'm all for every student reading books like this and if many don't get it, that's unfortunate, but it's well worth trying. Art is often less boring than just telling someone an idea straight. I personally find good literature to be more likely to be remembered and truly internalized by the person. I'm a big believer in the lasting power of show, don't tell.