I wrote this after being so inspired by a debate recently over public education being moved entirely onto the internet. The issue was perceived that there would be some sort of declination of human social interaction. I take the issue of public education in America to heart, and push this issue further. There will be no TL;DR version, but I feel like anyone who has been through public school can connect with what I have to say.
In the past the way we were taught was through oral speakers—much like the classrooms we have today—but this sort of communication of knowledge is increasingly becoming obsolete. The wise ones would pass on the teachings and the history of their generation, to ensure that the next had the tools necessary to survive into the future.
This task could take days or months or years or even be impossible to complete. The reason why is because everyone learns a little differently than the next person. The only way a concept can truly be explained to someone is if they discover the knowledge within themselves through their past experiences allowing them to grasp the concept’s innermost functions and why it exists the way it does. This is why a master and apprentice relationship works so well; the two have the time to get to know one another and how they think about the world around them, allowing for the communication of knowledge.
In America today education has been mass produced and distributed thanks to the wonderful institution of government and American corporatism. These two fundamental machines of American life force and choke us all down to a less-than-informed level of “equality” over education. We are told we must go to school from the ages of 5 – 18. It is the LAW. After that if there is any hope in having a happy comfortable life, we have to go to college, and if you do not go to college, well you should just join the bums out on the street or else you will be forced into a life of slavery that only people going to college should endure. During this time we are subject to all kinds of brainwashing.
However, it seems the term “brainwashing” has you all brainwashed. For now, you are probably thinking it is bad that we are subject to that, and we must put a stop to it. Really what I mean is that children are impressionable. We take the things we see and interact with every day during childhood to heart and mind, and manifest our personalities in this.
When we are just a baby we learn how to function and survive. As we get a little older, our parents begin to teach us how to share and not throw things. Thus we begin to realize our emotions, and how we respond to those emotions.
Then we know exactly what we want, when we want it. We will demand of our parents to give us what we want, because with this we feel pure ecstasy, and when we are denied this we feel pure depression.
When we become depressed conflict arises inside us, and we do every manipulative thing in our power to rectify the situation and return to ecstasy. If our parents are due diligent teachers, then they will deny us this ecstasy and we will eventually learn to live beyond the physical realm and deal with our problems in a non destructive internal manner.
This is the most basic life lesson and set of steps that every human child must go through in some form or another at the beginning of their lives. What boggles my mind is that the vast majority of parents think it best that they stop teaching their child here (if they even do that). Any sort of teaching they give requires the least amount of effort, and it is up to the public schools to finish the job.
Public education can do amazing things for human social development. We are able to interact with other people our own age. Teachers hand down a set of rules that everyone must abide by. This inevitably will cause conflict somewhere. It usually involves nothing more than when nap time is, or who gave who cooties, but this sort of interaction and development can help us learn how to work out issues together. This can be controlled to a point that we instill moral value and teamwork into every child. There would not even be a need to have a law against murder. No one in their right mind would wish harm upon another, because we all feel the same things, we are all human.
This may be the most important role of a public school. Of course, basic things like how to read and write and do simple math can easily be passed along to children in this stage of education. Most of us at this age have a hunger for knowledge. We want to learn as much as we can about those subjects that interest us.
Around the time that we go on to middle school and we start to go through puberty, we experience a shift in consciousness. Our hunger for knowledge begins to shut down when it is overloaded with general information from every aspect of life that public schools today feel is necessary to teach. There is no sense of responsibility. If you do not complete your assigned homework, the worst you will endure is a stern talking to. Slowly how much we care about furthering our knowledge in public school diminishes. During this time we are asked, “You can be anything you want, but, what do you want to be when you grow up?”
The answer may come easily and it also may change radically over the rest of our education. Certainly we are far enough along by now to know what we like to spend our time doing. This is the time that I personally believe we should start getting that part time job and experiencing a different flavor of life. Work is very different from school. If the tasks assigned to you are not completed, the business suffers, and you lose your job. From interacting with our co-workers, our manager, and our customers, we learn more about the world and how to deal with the issues that inevitably arise between people.
After some time working around different areas of business, we quickly can discover we do not want that life of servitude to the public sector. This instills in us a need for higher education and to further our career. It is here, that colleges in their current form would do best in our society. However this is not the case of public education we have today.
Why are there so many college drop outs today? College is an over-glorified version of high school that you have to pay for. You are forced to take general education classes for the first two years, and any classes pertaining to your major are not available until your junior or senior year. These general education classes are exactly what they try and teach during middle and high school, just held to a higher standard. Unfortunately they are forced because the schools in general fail to teach anything at all. The slightly higher degree of courses offered in college is too much for people who are going to these institutions, especially right out of high school. They will look around bewildered, and refuse to sign on to another two years of crap that is costing them or their parent’s money.
Our education never really stops though. As important as how to deal with all the issues of daily life is to learn, especially when dealing with those issues in other people, to think that the only way this can happen is by constantly going to classes offered for free by the government is absolutely silly. We do not even need a sort of “high school” course offered through the internet.
With the internet all the knowledge and education is out there just waiting for us to discover it on our own. It is a place where masters and apprentices from all over the world can talk and share and discuss things that they all share common interest in. Although, the internet is vast and knowing exactly where to look for the information you are seeking (and making sure the source is credible); it is no easy task. This skill, along with proper etiquette when it comes to interacting with other humans via the internet, should be all that is required of public education institutions curriculum; beyond the basic knowledge aforementioned.
With the advent of the personal computer and the internet that connects them, society has taken a gigantic leap ahead of the way our world currently performs. We are still bound by old traditions like the Bible, and our own constitutions. These things have served us well, but now is the time to transcend to a global consciousness as one specie. No longer do we have a need for things like money and country, for we are human.
Your idealism does you credit, but, from the perspective of a teacher who has worked with students who can not afford ideals, I have to say that you talk like someone who comes from a white, bourgeoisie background.
After that if there is any hope in having a happy comfortable life, we have to go to college, and if you do not go to college, well you should just join the bums out on the street or else you will be forced into a life of slavery that only people going to college should endure. During this time we are subject to all kinds of brainwashing.
Its quite true, the stigmatization of "not going to college" is quite a harmful thing to society. Keep in mind that student loan debt is the one thing not resolvable through bankruptcy (at least in America).
Electrician expertise, for example, is far more in demand than some silly "______ Studies" BA.
Another thing I've noticed is that the first two years of humanities curricula seem anything but intellectually demanding. There's no sense of 'weed-out' courses that the organic chemistry sequence seems to serve for med school prospectives (I'm sure for other professional-type tracks there are analogous courses), which diminishes the value of the degree credential.
Your idealism does you credit, but, from the perspective of a teacher who has worked with students who can not afford ideals, I have to say that you talk like someone who comes from a white, bourgeoisie background.
Thanks for your contribution!
Just kidding.
"You are white and bourgeoisie, therefore you are wrong!"
On April 30 2011 09:12 homeless_guy wrote: Your idealism does you credit, but, from the perspective of a teacher who has worked with students who can not afford ideals, I have to say that you talk like someone who comes from a white, bourgeoisie background.
And you sound like you didn't read his essay at all. It merely states the advantages of using the internet in public education. Income issues aren't even in the ballpark. And lastly, you don't need to be racist.
Electrician expertise, for example, is far more in demand than some silly "______ Studies" BA.
I would argue that depending on what the "______" was in front of "studies" it can be just as in demand as technical expertise. With our world becoming more interconnected with the internet, a cross cultural knowledge or foreign language skill set is crucial.
Hey, I am the first to agree that school goes against human nature, how we learn, and is in thrall to academic institutions and our economic system--my point simply is that some people don't have the luxury of even asking these questions, even though they have the most to gain from changing the system.
There are a lot of generalisations in this essay as well as multiple proposed factual statements that are not backed up by any sources or facts. For example,
"No one in their right mind would wish harm upon another, because we all feel the same things, we are all human."
This is actually a factual statement you make that you could be right or wrong about. I immediately see some problems you will run into on this particular point that you will somehow have to explain away.
-The existence of psychopaths. -Our current knowledge of how our brains work and how our emotions are influenced by hormone levels, which are measurable and found to be different for different people. -In countries with mostly / only public schools people still have different opinions and react differently to similar situation. -Random mutation with natural selection.
I can point out several more of these instances but your argument at this point is already dead. Moreover I actually want to point at a statement I have seen before, which I deem not only wrong but dangereous.
You seem to be under the impression that school is pretty useless and that you learn nothing at these institutions (at least nothing that you couldn't teach yourself).
The things you learn in Highschool as well as College are not simply facts, you are thought a skill set you can apply to a broad spectrum of problems, tools such as logic, efficient ways to memorize, cooperate. These skills can not be learned from the internet. It is not surprising that many high-tech companies don't really care whether you are a math / computer science / phyisics major. What they want to know is that your mind can operate at a certain level. This is not to say that there aren't things in schools / universities that can be improved upon. However deminishing these institution to places where people learn facts to come to the conclusion that we should simply dismiss education as a whole is an erroneous and dangereous conclusion indeed.
There is so much wrong with this last paragraph.
We are still bound by old traditions like the Bible, and our own constitutions. These things have served us well, but now is the time to transcend to a global consciousness as one specie. No longer do we have a need for things like money and country, for we are human.
Really? The Bible has served us well? Ever heard of the dark ages? They weren't called dark because the sun was on a holiday, or because people went to really cool dance parties that were pretty dark :|
Also I don't think you understand how important the idea of money is. But for the sake of argument, could you define a system without money? I'm fairly open minded, if you can construct a working system without money I would be interrested. The same goes for the constition, a large part of the reason you are living the comfortable life you are is because of this constitution. Without it your faith would currently be dependent on the whims of a single tyrant. Moreover, most likely you would not be allowed to write and publish what you posted here. In fact science would not be possible.
For we are human is such an empty statement. Unless you are writing a literary essay I would advice you not to include such sentences in an essay.
Finally I must say, several of my criticisms are not backed up by anything explicit in my post either. The reason for this however is that, because you don't give any arguments for anything the only thing I can do is to explaign to you why things currently are as they are. However books can be filled with this and I only have so much time. My advice for you would be to start reading these books yourself first.
On April 30 2011 10:17 DisneylandSC wrote: There are a lot of generalisations in this essay as well as multiple proposed factual statements that are not backed up by any sources or facts. For example,
"No one in their right mind would wish harm upon another, because we all feel the same things, we are all human."
This is actually a factual statement you make that you could be right or wrong about. I immediately see some problems you will run into on this particular point that you will somehow have to explain away.
-The existence of psychopaths. -Our current knowledge of how our brains work and how our emotions are influenced by hormone levels, which are measurable and found to be different for different people. -In countries with mostly / only public schools people still have different opinions and react differently to similar situation. -Random mutation with natural selection.
I can point out several more of these instances but your argument at this point is already dead. Moreover I actually want to point at a statement I have seen before, which I deem not only wrong but dangereous.
You seem to be under the impression that school is pretty useless and that you learn nothing at these institutions (at least nothing that you couldn't teach yourself).
The things you learn in Highschool as well as College are not simply facts, you are thought a skill set you can apply to a broad spectrum of problems, tools such as logic, efficient ways to memorize, cooperate. These skills can not be learned from the internet. It is not surprising that many high-tech companies don't really care whether you are a math / computer science / phyisics major. What they want to know is that your mind can operate at a certain level. This is not to say that there aren't things in schools / universities that can be improved upon. However deminishing these institution to places where people learn facts to come to the conclusion that we should simply dismiss education as a whole is an erroneous and dangereous conclusion indeed.
There is so much wrong with this last paragraph.
We are still bound by old traditions like the Bible, and our own constitutions. These things have served us well, but now is the time to transcend to a global consciousness as one specie. No longer do we have a need for things like money and country, for we are human.
Really? The Bible has served us well? Ever heard of the dark ages? They weren't called dark because the sun was on a holiday, or because people went to really cool dance parties that were pretty dark :|
Also I don't think you understand how important the idea of money is. But for the sake of argument, could you define a system without money? I'm fairly open minded, if you can construct a working system without money I would be interrested. The same goes for the constition, a large part of the reason you are living the comfortable life you are is because of this constitution. Without it your faith would currently be dependent on the whims of a single tyrant. Moreover, most likely you would not be allowed to write and publish what you posted here. In fact science would not be possible.
For we are human is such an empty statement. Unless you are writing a literary essay I would advice you not to include such sentences in an essay.
Finally I must say, several of my criticisms are not backed up by anything explicit in my post either. The reason for this however is that, because you don't give any arguments for anything the only thing I can do is to explaign to you why things currently are as they are. However books can be filled with this and I only have so much time. My advice for you would be to start reading these books yourself first.
tl;dr, stay in school.
You, sir, are awesome. Only point I have is your aversion to the bible. Yes, the dark ages happened and is one among many things the bible has done negatively to human society. But yes, it has served us well. It has helped millions of people live happy lives by believing in something that makes them emotionally happy, even if you don't agree with/follow (like me) the christian bible.
Those are some pretty substantial assumptions and accusations that you're making; e.g:
"Why are there so many college drop outs today? College is an over-glorified version of high school that you have to pay for."
" the schools in general fail to teach anything at all."
My experiences have been different from what you claim; although I'm a student in Canada, so I suppose it could be different here. It's an interesting thought though. To be honest, I think I would have to disagree with online eduction. With the decaying amount of face-to-face communication that there is in the first world, I fear this could lead to the next generations of adults lacking proper interpersonal skills.
On April 30 2011 10:39 Mepper wrote: Those are some pretty substantial assumptions and accusations that you're making; e.g:
"Why are there so many college drop outs today? College is an over-glorified version of high school that you have to pay for."
" the schools in general fail to teach anything at all."
My experiences have been different from what you claim; although I'm a student in Canada, so I suppose it could be different here. It's an interesting thought though. To be honest, I think I would have to disagree with online eduction. With the decaying amount of face-to-face communication that there is in the first world, I fear this could lead to the next generations of adults lacking proper interpersonal skills.
Possibly to match the next generation's lack of need for proper interpersonal skills. I mean this is a big issue, but I think more and more of society will be integrated digitally (as unfortunate as this is). Before you needed to meet up with friends, then you could call them, now you facebook them.
I agree that something within public education is broken, here is my anecdotal evidence ^ ^:
Early in my school career I had a tendency to ditch school and to just read books or play games instead, I feel like that behavior gave me serious edge in the future of my education. I learned very valuable things in my time of reading the fantasy books that I wanted to read as opposed to the standardized 'skill set' they wanted to give me. It's not that school subject matter was hard at all, it's really not, but it was very often dis-interesting for me. On the rare occasion I did go I would pick up what was being discussed about in class, but because of how badly i disliked the situation it just drove me away. 2 years after high started for me, I was given the opportunity to attend a charter school because my GPA was so dismal, somewhere around 0.23...(and let me tell you, it takes skill to get a GPA that low in a system that considers it against the law to avoid class the way I did.)
After my self imposed hiatus from school ended I returned to school with a surprising vigor. I was hanging out with college attending friends who were older than I was. Partially through discussions with them I found my self intensely interested in my late high school opportunities to learn about subjects like ancient history, physics and astronomy. When I took a poetry class I found myself really appreciating the idea of putting value into every word I wrote. I was blown away by stories that discussed philosophies of the Buddha. I started learning German, which was a subject I had previously forsaken after missing too many classes to actually learn it. Ich kannst nicht sprecken sie deutch sehr gut, aber Ich habe....well, I've retained some of it, sorry if my grammar is abhorrent. I was also able to start taking college classes in my high school and received almost a year for free. I passed all the math classes I needed to take in order to get most soft core college degrees (who the hell wants one of those?)...anyway
In general I disagree with many of the points of the 'essay'. Mainly the OP's perception of how people learn, I think the video posted nailed a lot of important concepts behind problems with education, but even it doesn't completely illustrate the issue. My perception of why public high schools fail is a myriad of reasons. The biggest afflictions i see in class, even in my college classes are a mixture of apathy and just not understanding subject matter. Apathy stems from disinterest in subjects just not enlightening students. Also imo some subjects are just so complex that the brains natural reaction is to just shut down to it. For example: immigration, economics and racism are just big issues that affect every aspect of an Americans life. Everyone's life honestly. Discussions about those subjects can be interesting and even heated, but when trying to teach students about some ideas behind those concepts, some people just seem to go numb.
Sometimes students just aren't brought up to the academic level to really learn and enjoy certain aspects of life. I don't think that these people are stupid, often it can be very helpful to break things down to the basics so that they feel much more comfortable and can progress. For example, I know a lot of people's brain freeze when they see fractions in a math equation. "damn, do I remember how to work these?" When I tell them that they are just getting intimidated by nothing and that the rules of fractions are really basic and show them how that's true, they just loosen up about it and are better prepared to move forward on using those basics for more complex problems.
I feel like the homeless guy is keeping it a bit more real in relation to a U.S. classroom, if not pessimistic. Still, Switch221 is completely and absolutely right that the primary goal of education really should be about learning how to utilize the infinite source of knowledge that is the internet. It's a point I want to drive home to everyone I know.
I am a christian, I feel like I have as solid a foundation for that belief that anyone can have for any belief. I consider his pot-shot at the bible a dick move. There is immense wisdom in that book, specifically in the new testament, but some of the old are good too. Job is my favorite and heavily empowered me as a young man.... heh, saying that makes me feel old when really I'm only 22, lol. So yeah...that's my rant of the day. gg
I absolutely loved that video. Thank you for sharing it.
This is my argument and true purpose of my essay in its entirety:
This skill, along with proper etiquette when it comes to interacting with other humans via the internet, should be all that is required of public education institutions curriculum; beyond the basic knowledge aforementioned.
You are absolutely correct. I come from a very wealthy white family. My parents were both in the Air Force. I moved all over the country and even lived in Europe. I was a spoiled rotten child, and even still I am.
However, I thank God and feel extremely blessed to have the two people I can call my Mother and Father. Oh and they never took me to church. As I tried to express near the beginning of my essay, your parents are your greatest teachers. Most however refuse to teach, and some of us unfortunately are without one or either.
"No one in their right mind would wish harm upon another, because we all feel the same things, we are all human."
This is actually a factual statement you make that you could be right or wrong about. I immediately see some problems you will run into on this particular point that you will somehow have to explain away.
I certainly don't claim to know anything about the brain or genetics, but if it were possible to educate humans on the proper way to respond to their emotions; then no I do not think anyone in their right mind would harm another. We have masochists, so clearly people can feel pleasure from what the vast majority feel as just physical pain. Doesn't mean masochists want to go out and hurt people because they think they like it too. Psychopaths I would agree could be a genetic norm that can never go away, but we have laws and prisons to take care of people like that.
You seem to be under the impression that school is pretty useless and that you learn nothing at these institutions (at least nothing that you couldn't teach yourself).
I can certainly see how you get this from what I wrote. Indeed, when I set out to write this essay I went in with the mentality that college/high school was absolutely useless. What I ended up discovering was that college and the way it is currently conducted is exactly the way it should be.
The problem is what we are subjected to in the public schools through middle and high school. They absolutely destroyed my own hunger for knowledge. I went from straight A student to straight D student to failing nearly every class in college. I was one of those who arrived at college bewildered and confused. And in my own experience, yes there is nothing I can not teach myself if I read enough about it and attempt my own experiments. I do not learn in a classroom setting.
However I don't think we should get rid of all public education institutions. Is what I wrote the answer to public education for everyone? Far from it--clearly it works for some people.
The things you learn in Highschool as well as College are not simply facts, you are thought a skill set you can apply to a broad spectrum of problems, tools such as logic, efficient ways to memorize
This is what is missing from my argument. This also should be included in the curriculum, but is the way they try to teach it today really the best? Do we really need to wait until we are in high school to begin learning these skills? No, we should know how to do all that by age 10.
I can easily name a system that works without money. It is called a Technocratic Resource Based Economy. In it humans are free of work and money. We have infinite leisure time. We will be able to draw or make music and party all day and all night. Anything we could ever ask for is brought and sent across the globe via technological masterpieces. If you think about it, we already are laying this sort of framework down with the internet. Of course, someone is going to have to keep this system in repair. That will be a collective task shared by everyone across the globe, but certainly we won't have enough actual jobs to go around to earn living wages on.
With the way the world currently performs, this is an impossibility. However I would say that capitalism is the key to this Technocratic RBE. Through American corporatism we are getting closer to that level of technological achievement, but I highly doubt I will live to see this day.
You can not tell me the Bible hasn't done just as much good as it has bad. As far as I know it is the first literary work EVER. The problem with the Bible is that the devout like to think it is the only answer, and force it upon everyone. This is why I say we no longer have a need for it.
When I mentioned constitution at the end of my essay, I mean the barriers that create countries. But, I feel like America in particular is blinded by this piece of paper written 200 years ago. Our Constitution has spawned the greatest society the world has ever known. We have made so many amendments to it, isn't it about time we wrote an updated version? It does not even have to change all that much, but we no longer think the same way we did. It is just like the Bible. This is why societies rise and fall like they have.
I feel like another thing that is severely holding us back is the United States Government as an entity. I'm sure if we ever get to the technocratic society, there will be some governing body of the globe, do not misunderstand. America however is the perfect social experiment. It has proved that you can't try and force laws across a nation, look at marijuana. It is going to differ city to city, town to town. People will collaborate in the towns in the places they like. We can surround ourselves with like minded thinkers in different places around the world, and there is no need for war.
On April 30 2011 10:39 Mepper wrote: Those are some pretty substantial assumptions and accusations that you're making; e.g:
"Why are there so many college drop outs today? College is an over-glorified version of high school that you have to pay for."
" the schools in general fail to teach anything at all."
My experiences have been different from what you claim; although I'm a student in Canada, so I suppose it could be different here. It's an interesting thought though. To be honest, I think I would have to disagree with online eduction. With the decaying amount of face-to-face communication that there is in the first world, I fear this could lead to the next generations of adults lacking proper interpersonal skills.
In terms of the over-glorified high school comment when speaking of college courses, I'd just like to say that as a current community college goer this is SOMETIMES true. Though I've found more often than not it isn't. To make that claim out right is an extreme over generalization.
I agree that something within public education is broken, here is my anecdotal evidence ^ ^:
Early in my school career I had a tendency to ditch school and to just read books or play games instead, I feel like that behavior gave me serious edge in the future of my education. I learned very valuable things in my time of reading the fantasy books that I wanted to read as opposed to the standardized 'skill set' they wanted to give me. It's not that school subject matter was hard at all, it's really not, but it was very often dis-interesting for me. On the rare occasion I did go I would pick up what was being discussed about in class, but because of how badly i disliked the situation it just drove me away. 2 years after high started for me, I was given the opportunity to attend a charter school because my GPA was so dismal, somewhere around 0.23...(and let me tell you, it takes skill to get a GPA that low in a system that considers it against the law to avoid class the way I did.)
After my self imposed hiatus from school ended I returned to school with a surprising vigor. I was hanging out with college attending friends who were older than I was. Partially through discussions with them I found my self intensely interested in my late high school opportunities to learn about subjects like ancient history, physics and astronomy. When I took a poetry class I found myself really appreciating the idea of putting value into every word I wrote. I was blown away by stories that discussed philosophies of the Buddha. I started learning German, which was a subject I had previously forsaken after missing too many classes to actually learn it. Ich kannst nicht sprecken sie deutch sehr gut, aber Ich habe....well, I've retained some of it, sorry if my grammar is abhorrent. I was also able to start taking college classes in my high school and received almost a year for free. I passed all the math classes I needed to take in order to get most soft core college degrees (who the hell wants one of those?)...anyway
In general I disagree with many of the points of the 'essay'. Mainly the OP's perception of how people learn, I think the video posted nailed a lot of important concepts behind problems with education, but even it doesn't completely illustrate the issue. My perception of why public high schools fail is a myriad of reasons. The biggest afflictions i see in class, even in my college classes are a mixture of apathy and just not understanding subject matter. Apathy stems from disinterest in subjects just not enlightening students. Also imo some subjects are just so complex that the brains natural reaction is to just shut down to it. For example: immigration, economics and racism are just big issues that affect every aspect of an Americans life. Everyone's life honestly. Discussions about those subjects can be interesting and even heated, but when trying to teach students about some ideas behind those concepts, some people just seem to go numb.
Sometimes students just aren't brought up to the academic level to really learn and enjoy certain aspects of life. I don't think that these people are stupid, often it can be very helpful to break things down to the basics so that they feel much more comfortable and can progress. For example, I know a lot of people's brain freeze when they see fractions in a math equation. "damn, do I remember how to work these?" When I tell them that they are just getting intimidated by nothing and that the rules of fractions are really basic and show them how that's true, they just loosen up about it and are better prepared to move forward on using those basics for more complex problems.
I feel like the homeless guy is keeping it a bit more real in relation to a U.S. classroom, if not pessimistic. Still, Switch221 is completely and absolutely right that the primary goal of education really should be about learning how to utilize the infinite source of knowledge that is the internet. It's a point I want to drive home to everyone I know.
I am a christian, I feel like I have as solid a foundation for that belief that anyone can have for any belief. I consider his pot-shot at the bible a dick move. There is immense wisdom in that book, specifically in the new testament, but some of the old are good too. Job is my favorite and heavily empowered me as a young man.... heh, saying that makes me feel old when really I'm only 22, lol. So yeah...that's my rant of the day. gg
Seriously on topic @ OP now, while your post was quite intelligently written and eye opening, I don't quite understand the point that you are trying to make. For example:
With the advent of the personal computer and the internet that connects them, society has taken a gigantic leap ahead of the way our world currently performs. We are still bound by old traditions like the Bible, and our own constitutions. These things have served us well, but now is the time to transcend to a global consciousness as one specie. No longer do we have a need for things like money and country, for we are human.
It looks right here that is you are saying is that you want us to transcend into a higher state of existence or something. Sorry dood, but I don't want to be a floating ball of ethereal energy atm man.
The only thing I really got out of your post after reading it is that you say American education system works decently enough until college, and then it falls apart. I don't need to read 18 paragraphs to understand that opinion. Perhaps you should try to be more concise and shave away at unnecessary facts and sentences so at the end of the day the reader understands the point you are trying to make?
On April 30 2011 09:12 homeless_guy wrote: Your idealism does you credit, but, from the perspective of a teacher who has worked with students who can not afford ideals, I have to say that you talk like someone who comes from a white, bourgeoisie background.
Something similar to what I may have written if homeless_guy didn't already.
With the advent of the personal computer and the internet that connects them, society has taken a gigantic leap ahead of the way our world currently performs. We are still bound by old traditions like the Bible, and our own constitutions. These things have served us well, but now is the time to transcend to a global consciousness as one specie. No longer do we have a need for things like money and country, for we are human.
I don't know if you threw this in here to get a meaningful-sounding ending to what you wrote, but I am not getting your stab at the constitution, let alone wanting to abolish monetary system and nations.
Do you really think constitution is outdated? Is it a piece of document that guarantees rights that we no longer need to worry about? How about civil rights? All the rights Constitution guarantees U.S. citizens... Will they no longer be necessary once we abolish all government? Will being connected to others through internet suddenly enlighten everyone and create a utopia?
As far as the education thing is concerned, 'learning what you feel like learning,' sounds nice, but I don't think giving a kid a laptop would suddenly give him urges to learn. Not to mention the compulsory education pushes kids to learn some of the most fundamental and necessary concepts and skills.
If there's a gap already between kids willing to learn and those that couldn't care less about learning, that gap is only going to become wider if you leave them to their own.
As for college, it depends on different institutions. What you describe sounds very much like a liberal arts curriculum, and there isn't much wrong with that. It gives the students some time to meddle with different curriculum and decide what they really want to get into while strengthening some of the core communication/writing/reasoning skills necessary for higher learning. As for the college I went to, you could jump straight into subjects that pertain to your specific interest during your freshman year.
I felt like your essay was kind of all over the place and I'm not really sure what half of it has to do with your premise and conclusion, but I'm gonna respond to the part about using the internet as an education tool:
Although the internet is a great way to get quick, simple information, I think digitization of the classroom (or learning on your own through the internet) is an awful idea. You don't get the depth of knowledge you would with a chalkboard because you don't see the train of thought involved. A lot of people use the internet for easy answers but if you ask them to apply the information they've learned they are unable to. It's because they only know how to retrieve and memorize information but don't have the reasoning capacity to put it to use. There's too much information and not enough knowledge.
Also standards have dropped greatly. I can even tell looking at old exams in preparation for my finals. The most recent exams are generally much easier, rely less on application and more on memorization and sometimes don't explore entire topics.
You can not tell me the Bible hasn't done just as much good as it has bad. As far as I know it is the first literary work EVER. The problem with the Bible is that the devout like to think it is the only answer, and force it upon everyone. This is why I say we no longer have a need for it.
What???
When I mentioned constitution at the end of my essay, I mean the barriers that create countries. But, I feel like America in particular is blinded by this piece of paper written 200 years ago. Our Constitution has spawned the greatest society the world has ever known. We have made so many amendments to it, isn't it about time we wrote an updated version? It does not even have to change all that much, but we no longer think the same way we did. It is just like the Bible. This is why societies rise and fall like they have.
You don't have a point.
You say the Constitution has been amended so many times (which it hasn't), and that's the rationale for rewriting it? An "updated" version? For what purpose? What needs fixing that can't be fixed through, surprisingly enough, another amendment?
College is an over-glorified version of high school that you have to pay for. You are forced to take general education classes for the first two years, and any classes pertaining to your major are not available until your junior or senior year.
A broad generalization that is inaccurate. I took upper division history courses my first quarter.
The problem is what we are subjected to in the public schools through middle and high school. They absolutely destroyed my own hunger for knowledge. I went from straight A student to straight D student to failing nearly every class in college. I was one of those who arrived at college bewildered and confused. And in my own experience, yes there is nothing I can not teach myself if I read enough about it and attempt my own experiments. I do not learn in a classroom setting.
That's nice, but what's your practical point?
I'm sorry, but virtually all of what you are saying is nothing but amorphous idealism with no grounds in reality.
I can easily name a system that works without money. It is called a Technocratic Resource Based Economy. In it humans are free of work and money. We have infinite leisure time. We will be able to draw or make music and party all day and all night. Anything we could ever ask for is brought and sent across the globe via technological masterpieces. If you think about it, we already are laying this sort of framework down with the internet. Of course, someone is going to have to keep this system in repair. That will be a collective task shared by everyone across the globe, but certainly we won't have enough actual jobs to go around to earn living wages on.
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I will say that this is not well written, that it lacks a concise purpose, that you are not making an argument. You say a bunch of nice sounding things (Bible, Constitution, etc) but don't explain what the reality is behind these criticisms. It's a nice sounding essay, but it's like frosting on a cake, you're not offering anything substantial behind it. To be honest, it sounds like nothing more than a list of your personal experiences and frustrations with a broad system.
These things have served us well, but now is the time to transcend to a global consciousness as one specie. No longer do we have a need for things like money and country, for we are human.
I don't want to come off too harsh, but I extremely wary of such fruity statements such as "now is the time to transcend to a global consciousness". I'd be much more inclined to take your points more seriously if you framed your concerns in a realistic framework with concrete ideas, not vague sugary-sweet phrases and overly broad generalizations based on anecdotal evidence.
While I find the current state of public education quite ridiculous for many reasons, your essay has some outstanding issues of its own that really undermine any legitimate alternative you are suggesting. Others have pointed out the sweeping generalizations, etc, etc, in your writing.
As for your suggestion for education as I can understand it-- let people learn as they will using resources available to them (particularly the internet)-- there is merit in this to a small extent, but you have not given any compelling reasoning or evidence that this would provide a strong alternative.
The most immediate and pressing issue I see with abandoning the traditional institution for the internet is an issue of access. Within the current system, it is certainly evident that there is not equal access in terms of educational quality-- but everyone is guaranteed an education of some basic necessities. Within that system, those who truly desire to learn about something can often find the resources through teachers, libraries, and scholarship opportunities. With the internet, you must find a way of providing everyone all the access they need to adequately educate themselves. This means multiple computers for families besides the internet access itself. In this way you are creating even more inequality based on monetary issues.
Suppose you were to provide internet and computers for everyone through the government as an alternative to providing public schools. Do you honestly think, given the current state of interwebz, that young people will diligently apply themselves to learning advanced mathematics, or biology, or Shakespeare, instead of reading xkcd comics, watching sc2 streams, or playing mindless flash games? Not to make a blanket statement-- of course there are many people who want to learn so they can get a good job, etc. But I suspect that without supervision, parental or otherwise, a substantial number of young people will not educate themselves to an appropriate level for a decent job. (And by decent I mean enough to afford what you need and some things you want in moderation.)
There are plenty of issues with the public education system. They should be fixed. I strongly suspect however, that abandoning those institutions for a laissez-faire independent internet education will produce any improvement, let alone equal quality of education.
The only thing I really got out of your post after reading it is that you say American education system works decently enough until college, and then it falls apart. I don't need to read 18 paragraphs to understand that opinion. Perhaps you should try to be more concise and shave away at unnecessary facts and sentences so at the end of the day the reader understands the point you are trying to make?
You sir, need to reread my essay. In fact I encourage everyone to do so. I would bet my life savings that you will read something different if you have read and understood every word I have written in this thread.
I truly revel in all this feedback. Because, this proves every point I am trying to make. My essay was written as a first draft. I did not write it the day of the debate, but two days later in one sitting encompassing 4 hours of time. It is in its original unedited version. I do read what I write ten times over and think constantly about the way it sounds. From text messages to Facebook statuses to most importantly forum posts.
While I find the current state of public education quite ridiculous for many reasons, your essay has some outstanding issues of its own that really undermine any legitimate alternative you are suggesting.
If you recall in english classes they usually tell you to have your peers edit your literary works. Since I am a recent college dropout, I have no place else to share my musings with people. Oh and I didn't need a teacher to prompt me to write my essay. I am going to take the time now to say that I love Team Liquid, and everything they have done for Starcraft. You guys are the next NFL.
You see, this is a literary work. For we are human is the exact opposite of an empty statement. It is the underlying theme of the point I am trying to make. Globalization.
I have now decided to flesh out my arguments to the extent that a college research paper should be done. My disinclination towards green paper was spawned from a research, writing, and analytical class I took last Fall semester. It is my third college course completed with a passing grade. I intend to merge this research paper with my essay.
With the decaying amount of face-to-face communication that there is in the first world, I fear this could lead to the next generations of adults lacking proper interpersonal skills.
Possibly to match the next generation's lack of need for proper interpersonal skills. I mean this is a big issue, but I think more and more of society will be integrated digitally (as unfortunate as this is). Before you needed to meet up with friends, then you could call them, now you facebook them.
I think you couldn't be more wrong.
My experience with college has gone every which way that I can not truly explain to you all. This is why I believe colleges in their own right are perfect. I took 10 classes, and failed 8 of them. I have gone to three separate colleges. From a lowly community college, to the average college the majority of my peers currently attend, and I now reside on the lovely island of Oahu thanks to Hawaii Pacific University. The two I passed were Ethics and Business 101.
This shocks me and led me to believe that there are those who can teach to a classroom. I had a teacher who had been to Harvard and had a Ph.D. He was rather aged, and one time he told us his uncle was the man who invented the laser. Yes, the original laser beam first ever created, ever. But he knew what he loved to do, teach, and he did it wonderfully.
Early in my school career I had a tendency to ditch school and to just read books or play games instead, I feel like that behavior gave me serious edge in the future of my education.
I took two classes when I passed my ethics course, the other? Basic computer knowledge. I did not have to work, I have no excuse for failing this course other than the fact that I practically grew up on the computer. I only took that course because it was required if I wanted to continue my general studies at college.
I can understand why this course is offered and even required when I look at the state of computers and the way people respond to them. Why there are even any Apple supporters is because they don't understand how to use a PC. Apple is the worst form of American greed. Because they deny any open sourcing of the content they have produced. The patent is sealed and locked away until other companies come out with their versions.
There are a lot of generalisations in this essay as well as multiple proposed factual statements that are not backed up by any sources or facts.
I do not need any sources, because I am the only source of what I wrote. My entire life experience up to this day is my source. I make such sweeping generalizations because I look around and this is what I saw happening all around me. The only tool I need to accomplish the task of fleshing my arguments out is the internet.
In terms of the over-glorified high school comment when speaking of college courses, I'd just like to say that as a current community college goer this is SOMETIMES true. Though I've found more often than not it isn't. To make that claim out right is an extreme over generalization.
I know my own personal experiences are never true for the next person. This is what I state in the beginning of my essay, that everyone learns a little differently than the next.
You call me crazy that the Bible was the first literary work ever? I have not read the Bible cover to cover (I personally got bored after Moses started creating his own society). If what I know about the Bible is true at all, then it is a compilation of 'books' written way back when no human can really say they know anymore.
As I read through the beginning this seems quite apparent. It is mostly a list of names, of who bore who after who and then who else. What else do you think would be important to remember to the humans back in that time than the names of their loved ones? This is all I took because this is all I needed from the Bible.
For example, I know a lot of people's brain freeze when they see fractions in a math equation. "damn, do I remember how to work these?"
Maybe these people should not be taught how to do math? Why do we have to generalize it all? Like I already said, we are forced and choked down to a less-than-informed level of "equality" over education. I am very good at math, so much so I think I could have done amazing things had I tried. Can you put what I just said about education into a fraction?
You don't have a point. An "updated" version? For what purpose? What needs fixing that can't be fixed through, surprisingly enough, another amendment?
Apparently humans felt that we needed to keep updating the Bible. That's why it exists in its current form. It has brainwashed millions, billions, trillions, so many that it would be impossible to count. This is how I knew to only take the very beginning of the Bible to mind and soul.
We can rewrite what was already written and have what the words expressed on the paper mean exactly the same thing, in a way that people in the current time period can understand.
Am I talking about merging the Bible and the Constitution? No. And why do we need to rewrite the constitution? Because of globalization. "Country" is a fictitious thing just like money. This new-age constitution would encompass the globe, and would define the Technocratic society I mentioned. Why does it sound like icing on the cake? Because we are so far from that point in time, and I am not the person who will bring about the social change. At least not today. I certainly am not going to invent all the machines we will need for this ideal.
The most immediate and pressing issue I see with abandoning the traditional institution for the internet is an issue of access. Within the current system, it is certainly evident that there is not equal access in terms of educational quality-- but everyone is guaranteed an education of some basic necessities.
Capitalism is the key to the RBE.
Will they no longer be necessary once we abolish all government?
Do not misunderstand, the RBE must have a government of sorts. What it will look like, I hope is nothing like the Federal government.
Will being connected to others through internet suddenly enlighten everyone and create a utopia?
Stop for a moment, look around you and the media you are subject to on a daily basis, and ask yourself, is this not true?