Education

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MJ
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Post by MJ »

I believe most of what is taught in school is a bunch of useless garbage. Practical real world knowledge is not taught, but rather trivial information taught. This trivial information has little use in life, unless you plan on going on the TV show Jeopardy. However, we have been conditioned to admire the "intelligence" of those who excell in this trivial knowledge.

As a instructor I can tell you that the way school is taught is not conducive to long term memorization. In order to really remember something constant review is needed. However, our schools basically teach students info, test them on the info, and then move on the next topic. Once they move onto a new subject, old information is never revisited. For example, in school, we learned the locations of all the states in the US and the capitols. How many people can located all the states and their capitols now as adults? I can't and I bet that most people can't. Why? Because we were taught it, tested on it, and then we never went back and reviewed it ever again. Our school system prefers to pile on more and more info rather making sure you learn something and remember for the rest of your life. It's about quantity rather than quality.

I believe the #1 determining factor in a child's success in life are the parents. Too many people are concerned about "good schools" and "good teachers". In my area, a certain school is known as "#1". Do you know what differentiates #1 from #2? A 6 point average on the SAT. That's it.

I have found that parents who tend to be overly concerned about that good schools and teachers are concerned because they have the attitude that the school and teacher need to do all the work in making their kid successful. Those parents want to take responsibility off themselves and put it on the school and teachers. I hear so many people say that our educational system is broken. Graduate rates aren't high enough. Why is that? Because parenting is getting worse and worse. People complain about education to politicians, but the problem is that no politician is going to tell a parent that they are doing a sorry ass job and they need to take some responsibility.

So many people have the dillusion that sending their child to preschool is going to make them better off in school and in life. In the book "Freakamonics", it states that, statistically, a child will most likely go to college if their parents went to college. Simply put, a parent who went to college will most likely encourage their child to go to college. The book states that, statistically, going to preschool was not a factor despite so many people's beliefs.

I could go on and on, but I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this. But anyway, with all these things in mind, I don't really think I will be having my kids take the "regular" route that everyone else is doing.
Biev
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Post by Biev »

Well I think we're all here because we're interested in improving our quality of life, and providing a better one for our kids is in the same vein, so it's still appropriate... although it should probably have its own thread ;o)
MJ
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Post by MJ »

Well, this all relates to the Wai Diet in that this diet does not follow the norm. I looked at the health of everyone around me and things just seem to be getting worse and worse. Even "healthy" people are getting life threatening diseases and scientists just blame it on genetics. Blaming everything on genetics is a great cop out because it takes away responsibility of action from the individual. After looking at the world around me, I thought, "If I do what everyone else is doing then I will end up like everyone else. Therefore, if I don't want to end up like everyone else, I need to be doing something different." And that let me to the Wai Diet which led me to other lifestyle changes.

So my outlook on education is the same. I look what is happening in the real world and the problems that are occurring. I feel that if I do the same thing as what everyone else is doing then my kids have a very high chance of having the same problems as many other kids.
Christina
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Post by Christina »

The definition of insanity is sth like- if you do the same thing over and over and expect a different result.
I became a raw foodist when I was 22 for the same reasons. People around me just didn't seem to be so healthy, balanced...
If I had a kid, I would want it to grow up very different from the norm, too. But I might not have any. I have everything it would take to raise a child but our world seems like a tough place for our children, if it keeps going in the direction it's going.
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Oscar
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Post by Oscar »

MJ wrote:Blaming everything on genetics is a great cop out because it takes away responsibility of action from the individual.
I completely agree.

I also agree with that the parents (at least in this kind of society) are very important.

Have thought out the way you will go about it?
jay
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Post by jay »

I don't think that long term memorization needs to be emphasized at all, or for that matter any type of memorization. What's most important in the long run is being able to think for one's self and to use basic logical processes to solve problems.

The Wai diet does both. First, it rejects what is conventionally accepted 'wisdom' on diet, and then it uses basic logic to find out what truly is an ideal diet for the human body.
Christina
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Post by Christina »

What I have also noticed, is, that highly educated people often are out of touch with their body and emotions, primarily in their mind- which they where trained to be.
What use is a bunch of knowledge, if you cannot take care of yourself, to be healthy and have a relationship from the heart.
But of course we need to speak and write one or more languages and have basic skills in order to relate and make clear decisions. I don't know, but people seem to be sick and unhappy and running around like chicken with their head off :wink: . And what's all schooling worth, if that's what comes from it.
If I was to create a system, we'd learn languages, how to use nonviolent communication in order to form healthy relationships, define ourselfs and our boundaries and to learn respect for others. I would otherwise teach about growing fruit trees, using composting toilets, catching rainwater, solar power, building sustainable housing and otherwise to just play and love life.....
Am I extreme? yes :P and I love it.
Biev
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Post by Biev »

I do think I've learned a lot in school despite the fact that I would most likely fail any of my old tests if I had to retake them years later. Learning to communicate well is probably the main lesson, but I use math a lot more than I expected I would, and I think learning about history, chemistry, biology, politics etc. all opened my eyes a bit. I think the more you know the better, I wouldn't call any of it a waste, but at the same time it hasn't necessarily been very practical knowledge, and once I was out of school I didn't feel at all that I'd been prepared for anything that was to come. Whether it was living on my own, figuring out how to be healthy, learning to the difference between what's real and what's a marketing gimmick, managing the finances, finding a job, socializing, handling stress, relationships, taking care of the house, figuring out if I'm being exploited or not, you name it...

Ultimately I got two big things from school : degrees, and debts. The first were supposed to help me magically solve the other, but they haven't, so I feel cheated. Still, I would want my kids to have the possibility to choose to pursue any career they wanted, and that means having to do well in school.
MJ
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Post by MJ »

Learning a lot of information is a separate issue from learning useful information. We learn a lot of information in school, but the most of the content is useless in real life. It is useless because the lie we are told is that school prepares you for life. It does not. What we end up realizing is that going out and living and working in the real world is what prepares you for life. What good is all that info on biology and politics, if you can't manage your money and are struggling to survive? Not much.

You mentioned how school brought upon debt. So many people in the US are in debt. Our ecomony seems to be based upon debt. Interestingly, the #1 reason for divorce in the US is financial difficulty. Interesting trade off.

I feel another big falicy is that doing well in school and getting lots of schooling equates to success in life. First, for my children, I will never teach them that success and happiness in life is determined by how much money you make in a job. There are plenty of people out there who make a lot of money, but are miserable and are failures in every other aspect of their lives. I want to teach them that happiness is their goal and the situation that makes them happy is something they must choose for themselves. However, it is clear that being financially strained is not a happy situation.

Second, I want to teach my children that there is no one path for success. When I was growing, it was shoved down my throat that the key to success in life was going to college, then graduate school, and then working for the government or a big corporation. I went to college, but never did any of that other stuff and I am extremely happy with my life. I have also met other people who extremely successful and they never went to college. Of course I have met people who followed the path that I was told and were successful too. So I realized that more than one path existed and that the path my parents shoved down my throat was not the only way. The problem is that no one ever tells us that these other options exist.

Third, since I have met people from all walks of life who were successful, I realized the common factor with all these successful people was not their education level, but rather their determination to work hard and better themselves. I saw that the common factor of those who were not successful were those who were lazy, those whose did not have an interest or the vision to better themselves, or those who were not willing to take the chance the better themselves.
MJ
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Post by MJ »

By the way, Christina, I agree with what you said in regards to language. I believe speaking muliple languages is extremely useful because that skill can transfer to almost any occupation and situation.

My kids speak English, Chinese, and Spanish. It was my intention to have them learn 3 languages especially when they are very young. Children learn languages very easily before the age of 7. My wife speaks English to them, my parents and I speak Chinese to them, and my wife parents and our nanny speak Spanish to them. I have them go to a Chinese pre-school, not because I feel pre-school will get them ahead in life, but rather because my Chinese is not perfect and therefore I felt it was important that they interacted with people who spoke Chinese perfectly.

It's actually pretty cool to hear them switch between languages depending on who they are talking to. My kids speak those languages because my wife is Hispanic, I'm Chinese, and of course we live in the US and speak English. I knew knowing 3 languages would be useful, but I didn't really think about how useful it would be until someone said, "Do you realize by speaking those 3 languages, your kids will be able to communicate with a vast majority of the world's population?"
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Oscar
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Post by Oscar »

Very interesting. :)
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