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On August 31 2012 05:44 Blazinghand wrote:
Part of the reason for bad teacher is the low compensation rate for teachers. I know some people who are great, intelligent, kind people who became teachers despite the poor wages for a job of that education level, and I also know people who are great, intelligent kind people who would have become teachers but would rather be able to make a middle-class living here in the bay area. I'm sure there are other factors but this is one of them.
A friend of mine became a high school teacher. (Science, if I recall correctly.) She lasted exactly one year. Her main reasons for quitting?
1) The parents.
2) The administration.
3) The parents.
4) The kids.
5) The parents.
6) Pay sucked.
7) The parents.
The parents and students alternated for about the next 10 reasons.
It takes a very special kind of person to be a teacher these days - especially in the 10-18 age range. I have a lot of respect for the people that do it, minus the hopefully few people that are mostly just babysitting. Part of my job involves training adults, and that is enough to make me eye a bottle of rum from time to time. Kids can be a joy and a trial at the same time, I understand, although I don't have any and probably never will.
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I really wish critical thinking, creativity, and initiative would be taught more in American public schools. Unfortunately I know this won't happen because the American education system is an incredibly massive machine designed to teach tens of millions of children at once. In order to accomplish this feat, all standards and materials must be standardized, all students taught to conform, sit down, shut up, and follow the teachers rules. If students were to question, to experiment, or to do tasks on their own this great machine would break down. Unfortunately in today's economy we don't need more workers who conform, who sit in meetings quietly and just quietly do what they're told. Corporations are drowning in college graduates who followed the rules and the "get a college degree" plan to the point where they don't even need to pay these workers in order to get them to fill entry level positions.
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I read this Memoration technique book couple of years ago, and I so wish I learnt it as early as possible in school.
So much more fun learning and remembering facts. Quite simple actually
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The most turbulent and eventfull time of your life
And it´s at that time you are supposed to mercilessly produce good grades
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+ 1 for Lies my Teacher Told Me. Although it's specifically written about the flaws in the US education system / textbooks, I took it as a good lesson for double checking the information you use to support your views in life. More people need to be self-aware as a rule, because progress only comes with those who dare to change the system, not fear change because it's different from what they're used to.
Great read, OP, you make a lot of points I agree with.
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Great blog. The section you wrote on history is something I have been thinking about for a while.
In just about anything, we are presented a series of facts, but the facts almost never tell the whole story. The way to make sense of facts is to give it a narrative, a story that connects the facts and gives them sense and significance.
It is up to us, though, to discern when we are being given facts and when we are being given a narrative. In history, as you pointed out, many times we are given a series of facts and then force fed the state approved narrative of those facts. The classic example in my mind is Christopher Columbus. Amazing how a narrative can become bigger than the truth about a person.
I see this happening with current events too. Most people aren't into cycling like I am, but (imo) the exact same thing is happening with Lance Armstrong. We were given a narrative about his story of overcoming cancer and winning all those bike races, and the narrative was strong enough to blind us searching out the truth. If you dig even just a little, he presents a very different image than the one we were originally given.
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On September 01 2012 17:41 ThePhan2m wrote:
I read this Memoration technique book couple of years ago, and I so wish I learnt it as early as possible in school.
So much more fun learning and remembering facts. Quite simple actually
HOW HOW HOW HOW
How?
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On September 02 2012 04:07 JieXian wrote:Show nested quote +On September 01 2012 17:41 ThePhan2m wrote:
I read this Memoration technique book couple of years ago, and I so wish I learnt it as early as possible in school.
So much more fun learning and remembering facts. Quite simple actually HOW HOW HOW HOW How?
I second this. I long for my 10 year old brain who could memorize anything, anytime.
I see that many of us see ourselves in this blog - travelling, putting things into perspective, questioning your thoughts. I have myself been obsessed for quite a while with the fallacious ways of the highly imperfect machine that is our brain. And find that what helps me question my own ideas the most is someone else agreeing with me.
School in my experience was quite fulfilling, as it is the case for most "gifted" students. I wish, however, that someone would have presented me with more discipline or challenges that would've helped me gain an autonomy that I lack today. Critical thinking was also mostly absent from the schools I attended, but I find that the most important point was a caring, devoted attitude among teachers. Kids tend to open their eyes when they feel loved and respected.
However, while I do agree that history was quite biaised, this bias comes from the republican ideal. It is a way for society to "generate" citizens that will support the state's action in a couple of years. Quoting a book I forgot about, "society doesn't only produce artifact things (industrialization), it produces artifact people (public education)".
Wether that is a good or a bad thing I do not know. We can always imagine the best and the worse outcomes in relation to our own opinions.
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I learned that "I might be wrong" when I found out what a quantum improbability is.
Which I found out from Hitchhiker's Guide, actually.
:D
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Thanks for this! And yea, the biggest one (I think) is just the "I might be wrong" - the ability to analyse and assess your own positions and arguments etc is hugely important and vital for any semblance of open mindedness. It's just super important for not making stupid decisions etc too
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I wish I had learned earlier(or I will someday learn):
How to cook.
How the state's apparatus work.
First aid.
Basic body functions.(in a practical way so you know wtf is going on with yourself)
Critical thinking. (impressively I was thought about this in school, none of my older sisters were)
Not everything is sucess.
Proper art classes(not history of art, I'm talking about taking children to a beautiful landscape and let them feel nature resonate through their small bodies while they draw whatever the fuck they want, it's astounding how people just don't ever feel like creating something when they get to later stages of their lifes simply because they are afraid to use a skill they never used before)
Critical thinking again.
Histories of asia and africa(we only get europe, usa and south america here).
Not to be an ass to minorities.
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On September 02 2012 04:49 Kukaracha wrote:Show nested quote +On September 02 2012 04:07 JieXian wrote:On September 01 2012 17:41 ThePhan2m wrote:
I read this Memoration technique book couple of years ago, and I so wish I learnt it as early as possible in school.
So much more fun learning and remembering facts. Quite simple actually HOW HOW HOW HOW How? I second this. I long for my 10 year old brain who could memorize anything, anytime. I see that many of us see ourselves in this blog - travelling, putting things into perspective, questioning your thoughts. I have myself been obsessed for quite a while with the fallacious ways of the highly imperfect machine that is our brain. And find that what helps me question my own ideas the most is someone else agreeing with me. School in my experience was quite fulfilling, as it is the case for most "gifted" students. I wish, however, that someone would have presented me with more discipline or challenges that would've helped me gain an autonomy that I lack today. Critical thinking was also mostly absent from the schools I attended, but I find that the most important point was a caring, devoted attitude among teachers. Kids tend to open their eyes when they feel loved and respected. However, while I do agree that history was quite biaised, this bias comes from the republican ideal. It is a way for society to "generate" citizens that will support the state's action in a couple of years. Quoting a book I forgot about, "society doesn't only produce artifact things (industrialization), it produces artifact people (public education)". Wether that is a good or a bad thing I do not know. We can always imagine the best and the worse outcomes in relation to our own opinions.
Read MoonWalking with Einstein- it's about a reporter who decides to study memory competitions and eventually gets really good at it.
Basically, since humans have really good spatial and picture memory, you do something like imagine your house with what you want to remember in it and then just kinda go through it. It sounds stupid, but do it with something like a grocery list, and place your items on some easy route around where you live (can be anywhere, like a school or friends house. I'm sure you already have a couple dozen of buildings that you are pretty familiar with). I can still remember placing a jar of pickles near the street sign by my house from when I read the book around 6 months ago.
If you want to remember numbers or something abstract, just make a system that makes sense to you, like using colors or elements or something. Use word play, lots of really weird things like winston churchhill in a tutu or something, and sexual things (we are really good at remembering those last two) and you should get really good. I personally just memorize "normally" because it's easier and it makes me feel like I have a better grasp of what I'm learning, but this system is certainly good for history, biology, and languages that you just want to learn vocab for.
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I wish they had taught martial arts at school.
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This is certainly an interesting read as someone who's finishing high school in 9 weeks.
I entirely agree with the part about teachers and it has made me realize just how lucky I have been. That said, an important part of my subject selection was making sure I chose classes with teachers that I knew I wasn't just going to fail with.
Interestingly, I did a special course called the International Baccalaureate which offers a class called Theory of knowledge where the how do you know question is asked.
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EPT
