The eduction in high school

dragon1613

Hey, I'm really bored so I just feel like ranting about something that has frustrated me greatly over the years. I was looking at the IQ test thread on this forum and it reminded me of something. Of how high school and the education system ( not sure about how it is in the rest of the world) but in North America anyways, rewards people that are the most like sponges.

Yes sponges, this comes to my attention because the way our education system is set up is trying to jam in the most information possible in a set limit of time. Afterwords, you are given a test to make sure you have absorbed the information that you have be taught. Then, right after, you forget all the information and make way for the newer information comming. This happens until exam time when you cram all the information learnt in a semestre for a globalisation of the required subject. The probleme with this method is, they are grading and rewarding students by their level of "Aborbance" that they have. But, in the "Real world" this isn't the case. People judge your preformence over your reaction to things. For exemple. an event that you have not had training occurs, what shall you do? I find that highschool is way too much "hold your hand" type deal and does not in any way prepare you for the cruel world out there.

This brings me to the subject of intelligence. What is it? Well by wikipedias definition:

Intelligence (also called intellect) is an umbrella termused to describe a property of the mind that encompasses many related abilities, such as the capacities to reason, to plan, to solve problems, to think abstractly, to comprehend ideas, to use language, and to learn. There are several ways to define intelligence. In some cases, intelligence may include traits such as creativity, personality, character, knowledge, or wisdom. However, some psychologists prefer not to include these traits in the definition of intelligence.

I really don't see any " ability to absorb information" on this definition. So are we completely missing the mark in highschool? I am an inteligent person, I'm not thinking highly of myself or being cocky, I just have common sence and have those qualitys up there in that definition. I am also told by many people that I am extremely inteligent. But only in some subjects, I find that curious. In math, I am very good, (100% on most tests). Yet in french/english/biology I am only adequate. I believe it is because in math, you can't study for it, you are given a problem and you figure it out, there is only one answer to it, no matter what way you get to it, if you get the answer right you are right. (Well you could study formulas but if you understand math, you don't need to since the formulas do have meaning.) But in the languages or biology it is more retaining information. I honestly never study for anything and hate memorising.

I am against it since I find it does not show your real inteligence, if anything I see it as cheating in a way,( you are cheating only yourself though since you get rewarded in school for doing this.) so maybe I should just cave in? Well so I did, I studyed my ass off for a bio exam, and guess what? I got 98% on it. Yay for me? I am now considered inteligent because I retained a bunch of usless shit. Guess what, I don't remember a thing about that exam because now I deemed that information non-important so it is erased from my brain. But on the other hand, I remember how to do my math, since I understand how to get to the answer instead of just knowing the answer.

I like this analogy: " Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man how to fish, he eats for life."

High school does not represent this analogy.

Again sorry for my bad spelling, english is not my native language (even though one day it probably will be..) and feel free to ask for clarification. And please comment and post your oppinions on this.

 

Thanks for your time

 

 

dragon1613

Just noticed the typo in the title...won't get much responses now >.> urgh ah well.

Wolfenpride

Yeah thats probably the best way to describe education. I don't care for it really, but at the same time im far to lazy to do anything harder than it is now. ;p

So long as I can remember whats on each test/etc *or if I can cheat keke* im quite happy. The info is then forgotten to make space in my mind for the next subject  ;p

My parents arent impressed either, but not much one can do about it.

CleffyII

Actually the way I describe Public Education today is baby-sitting for 7 hours a day until the time someone turns 18 and gets a real education.  There are many problems in the education system that politicians and officials continue to fail to address.  They seem to only care about scoring high on aptitude tests so they get more funding.

Like you I also believe the concept of tedious memorization does not serve our youth later in life.  What I think should be done is more on the practical hands on experience.  In biology you shouldn't be memorizing latin names, but experimenting with Botany.  In english you shouldn't be reading a grammer book, but writing and reading stories.  These types of activities are usually best addressed by the arts which have been dwindling from our schools in rescent years.  The high school I went to before I just rushed out the last 2 years in 6 months offered only band and sports.  Auto-shop was closed down, the art classes dwindled to basic drawing and pottery.  There was no metal shop, and I would be surprised if anyone who went there knew how to use a blow torch.

Whats worse is our schools have also been breaking down the barrier to learning rates and treating everyone who goes through them as the same dimwit with needs to repeat the same material for 4 years before they learn it.  Actually pushing the faster students to achieve has dropped, instead replaced with hoping the slowest student scores a D.  I also think we should mirror our education system more intune with schools from other nations.  They're is just a practicality to some of the practices.  Seperating students as they head into high school into more specialized institutions, and also morning excercise is just plain wise.

Waterlily

Hi, I really wanted to answer to this because in Europe we also get a lot more diverse subjects for a longer time.

 

The problem with a diverse system is that it goes beyond what people will remember when they leave high school or college.

You need a basic understanding of every subject imo, but you could definatly argue that "cramming" a lot of info for that exam only registers in your short term memory and does not benefit you at all.

You could also argue that every subject needs to be touched in order to find out which persons are good at what.

 

But the system is very very flawed, I agree.

 

The best example I can give you was when I went to college and we got really heavy maths and mechanics. The people who graduated from the high schools that had a much better reputation (like me) actually on average did WORSE than the people who came from less established high schools.

The reason for this seemed to be that the less established high schools concentrated more on the main courses like mechanics and math and less on topics that would not benefit them in college, while we had a lot of overall knowledge that didn't benefit so much in college compared to the main courses.

CactusmanX

My school was heavy into football, but they did still offer quite a large variety of classes.

I had four years of architectural drafting, I did band, creative writting, programming, and pratical computer applications.

But they also had classes for horniculture, cooking, carpentry (which was pretty cool cause every year architecture would design a small house and carpentry would build it), art, dance and choir.

Wolfenpride

I will say i enjoy my V.O. tech school I go to every other day. Last year I took computer systems and before then, i barely knew what a hard drive was or anything inside a computer for that matter. Im not exactly a pro with computers yet probably but id say I learned alot of useful skills in that class. I like the way VO tech schools are hands on and usually teach you things you'll be able to use later. I hated having that 1 class for the entire day though, which was like 5 hours i think -_-

Next year ill be taking welding at that school to see if i have any career interest in construction welding and such.

Enigma

The US public school system is horrible. Thats all I got to say about that lol

dragon1613

Originally posted by CleffyII


Actually the way I describe Public Education today is baby-sitting for 7 hours a day until the time someone turns 18 and gets a real education.  There are many problems in the education system that politicians and officials continue to fail to address.  They seem to only care about scoring high on aptitude tests so they get more funding.
Like you I also believe the concept of tedious memorization does not serve our youth later in life.  What I think should be done is more on the practical hands on experience.  In biology you shouldn't be memorizing latin names, but experimenting with Botany.  In english you shouldn't be reading a grammer book, but writing and reading stories.  These types of activities are usually best addressed by the arts which have been dwindling from our schools in rescent years.  The high school I went to before I just rushed out the last 2 years in 6 months offered only band and sports.  Auto-shop was closed down, the art classes dwindled to basic drawing and pottery.  There was no metal shop, and I would be surprised if anyone who went there knew how to use a blow torch.
Whats worse is our schools have also been breaking down the barrier to learning rates and treating everyone who goes through them as the same dimwit with needs to repeat the same material for 4 years before they learn it.  Actually pushing the faster students to achieve has dropped, instead replaced with hoping the slowest student scores a D.  I also think we should mirror our education system more intune with schools from other nations.  They're is just a practicality to some of the practices.  Seperating students as they head into high school into more specialized institutions, and also morning excercise is just plain wise.

 

I agree entirely. Lucky for me at my high school we have advanced classes. I was offered to join in a full year biology research class that focuses on autonomy (sp?) and more complicated subjectmatter. I accepted and glad I did since it will be hard work but I will finnally get some REAL experience to prepare myself for University. Also I like these type of classes since you can only get in if you are asked. Our class is only 8 students wich gives alot of time to work on your projects and not get slowed down by others. Instead you are surrounded by people who have the same goals and interests as you. This should be implemented as a bonus for working hard. 

bluberryhaze

 us conservatives believe 'Big Governement' is dumbing down our children to make them more easily to control. enter-global warming.

the flip side is liberals believe Big Corporation like pharmaceuticals are purposefully making us sick to increase their bottom lines.

as a conservative i believe both to be true to a degree.

joshuametcalfe

I wouldn't say that this is the problem of modern education. As for me school education just implies students being open for new knowledge, interested in everything teachers will tell them, and eager to learn as mush as possible. Basically, as you said: to be sponges. I can't blame schools for an aim to give more and more info but for the requirement to memorize all that info within a short time period. At the end of the day students feel like squeezed out sponges.

do my homework

Barrikor

bluberryhaze said:

 us conservatives believe 'Big Governement' is dumbing down our children to make them more easily to control. enter-global warming.

the flip side is liberals believe Big Corporation like pharmaceuticals are purposefully making us sick to increase their bottom lines.

as a conservative i believe both to be true to a degree.

It was the Whig Party in the 1830s, 1840s that ruined education in the US. (Hardly anyone knows that though, because the schools don't teach the history of education itself.)

Putrefee

"Any path will get you there if you don't know where you are going." - Cheshire Cat

What do you want to do? Make money? You don't have to be a genius, or well educated, to make money. You don't need a school to tell you what to learn. 

Academics is like a career itself. It trains researches, teachers and career students. If you want to work at CERN, find out what they look for, use some internet resources to find contacts at CERN and politely express your desire and ask for some guidance on how to make it possible.

If you want to test your ability to critical think, take the menca entrance exam, or solve difficult logic problems, math challenges, puzzles or engineering challenges in whatever domain interests you. 

Honestly, I really don't know what I am talking about, I dropped out of school when I was 16 to work full time. But I learned a skill that made me valuable to others and that afforded me time to pursue what I enjoy, MMOs.