Monday, April 16, 2018
Shocking Truth About Public Schools
This isn't exactly news but it is really cool that this guy posted such an outlandish thing ( according to most people) on YouTube. It was in a court setting and he piled heaps of evidence against public schools quoting people like Albert Einstein and Fredric J Kelly, the man that invented standardized testing. It was an amazing video and I think you all should watch it. If you want to it is right here.
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So, you're saying you want to go back to public school next year? Ha! I love these ideas, and I'm glad you're enjoying your more personalized education. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree school does need to change to fit the needs of society, but it should also be focused on creating citizens for our society. Focusing only on the strengths, and the individuality of students is not only bad, but impossible for a publicly funded education system.
ReplyDeleteIt is bad, because, to a degree, people need to conform to society, and will do better if they do so. Arithmetic is needed for an efficient day to day routine in almost every american life, and to treat arts at an equal level with core subjects is not wise. There are some things that are just more important to learn.
It's also impossible, because giving each student that much attention would cost a lot. Furthermore, paying teachers hundreds of thousands of dollars would cause taxes to rise drastically.
In the video the attorney points out how school has not changed, and how other things have. Has the door changed all that much? Not really, but we have made some slight improvements. We don't need something new, because it works. Just because something hasn't changed does not mean that it is outdated.
He also points out the rules of being in school. Raising your hand, and sitting in rows. These rules stop chaos, and keep the learning from slowing down.
I also fail to see the problem with grading how well a student does in class with the same letters they use with grading meats. Similarity in itself is not bad. Grading how well a student does is not a bad thing! It's feedback for the student, and for the student's parents.
Yes, no two brains are the same, but they can still both learn the same things. Yes, a doctor shouldn't use the same medicine for every disease, so that's why teachers teach it a few different ways.
As far as tests go, the purpose of tests are to see how much you've learned, not to see success. Schools are there to help you learn, therefore tests are necessary.
Standardized tests are in general pointless, but having a few with a low bar would be beneficial. Standardized tests do have a place in our society. The inventor of standardized testing is wrong. With some changes these tests are good.
School spirit is important! It is the connection and the community between the members of an educational institution. Which is very important for a good environment for learning.
Albert Einstein's quote(which has not been verified as coming from him) about fish does not prove it's intended point for a few reasons. There are fish that do climb trees, and even fly. Also, Einstein was a physicist, and not a primary educator.
The beauty of the school system is it's ability to teach fish to climb trees, or fly.
I have heard you say before that we need to conform to society, and I'm just curious why do you think that?
ReplyDelete(full disclosure I have seen the video but I haven't watched it in forever so this all might not make sense lol)
I think that core subjects could be taught up to a certain level and then in high school, when a student has developed interests, they could branch off more into what they are interested in. For example, math is really not needed or even useful past basic algebra and geometry in most careers. There are countries that do this, but the United States is more concerned with getting our test scores on par with Japan. Why though? Japan has a way high suicide rate and countries that allow more academic freedom have proven to be happier. Why do we value being smart more than happiness?
Taxes need to be adjusted. I believe it is in this video that he says that teachers have one of the most important jobs in the world. They are teaching our next leaders, inventors, and changers. Why do they only make $30-50 thousand a year with the importance of their jobs when our government spends so much of our money on stupid, excessive things?
As far as your door example, I think the point of this guy was that when we see something that could be changed we find a way to change it. We KNOW school needs change--look at our depression/anxiety/suicide rates and how many cases have been caused somehow by school! So why haven't we changed?
I disagree with your comment that two brains can be taught the same thing. Some people, no matter how much time and effort they put into something, simply can not learn something someone else can. It is just like our bodies. Some people will never be able to do the splits or run a four minute mile because their body is just not built that way. Our brains are the same.
You are right that some testing is good, even essential to a good learning process, but our testing needs drastic change. The emphasis on and difficulty in our testing makes teachers (and sometimes they have to) teach to the test rather than teach to the students how to effectively use techniques in their daily lives. Also you are right that the real reason we need tests is so to see progression, but in many cases test scores are learned to be a measurement of success. I think the amount of tests we have is excessive as well.
A girl I tutor works so hard and stretches her brain so hard, but she just has a harder time with certain academic subjects. She will cry sometimes when we do math together because she has a hard time grasping the concepts and she thinks she is stupid. She is a very social and artsy girl and if they treated the arts as important at all then she would not feel this stupid. Even though we should all know our core subjects, we need to embrace our differences. It will make our world a richer place.