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Originally Posted by bungalow
this is retarded. if you let a child do whatever they want, they're not going to chose to educate themselves. it takes time to mature to realize the value of your education and until then you begrudgingly endure it. some people realize the importance of education sooner than others, but does it really make sense to let a fourth grader decide what he wants to learn and when? there is a fundamental educational groundwork that has to be established and it has to be forced on kids, they aren't just going to decide to learn it.
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I don't think forcing children to learn until they learn to appreciated is the answer, it's part of the problem. I think it would be advantegeous for a child to pursue a favorite subject (of course without sacrificing other subjects). A favorite subject could be used as a life-line to keep the child interest in schooling in general.
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Originally Posted by bungalow
also this idea that public schools should be focused on teaching kids what they want to learn about is a little silly too. high school aged kids should not be tailoring their class load for a predetermined career path--very few high school aged kids have any sort of firm idea about what they want to do with their career so to tailor their education around a career path that will likely change dozens of times as they mature and head to college is ridiculous.
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I heard that a person is never so sure as what they want to do as much as once did when they were 12 y/o.
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Originally Posted by bungalow
public schools exist to provide a well balanced education to kids whether they think they want it or not. reform needs to come by way of better trained teachers, a system that is focused on fostering critical thinking and not just passing tests (which usually comes with a good teacher),
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I agree most of that except, "whether they think they want it or not." One thing has to be change is that every student is same. Why one student wants to learn and another student doesn't should be adressed. The teacher and parent have to understand why child has a motivational problem to learn, it could be LD or ADD. And if the child is coming from a disruptive household, or with parents that just don't care I think it is wrong to put the onus on the teacher for the child not learning.
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Originally Posted by bungalow
more money for school systems, etc. and not by letting kids control their own education.
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More money? Depending what part of the country a person lives in they spend about 12,000 to 27,000 dollars per child in public schools. Throwing more money into a money pit isn't going to fill it up.
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Originally Posted by bungalow
teachers need to be passionate about the subject they are teaching and hopefully pass that passion on to their students through their enthusiasm (i know i always got more out of a class when it was obvious my teacher/professor was very enthusiastic about what they were teaching) and they also need to be knowledgeable in the subjects they are teaching (sounds like a no-brainer but it's shocking how many gym teachers out there are giving our children history lessons or teaching government classes with no passion or real knowledge of the subject).
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Well yeah that's a no-brainer. Those that can't do, teach, and those that can't teach... teach gym.
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Originally Posted by bungalow
the teachers also need to be focused on making sure their children understand the material they are presenting and are able to think about it critically--not just memorizing material or having a shallow understanding so that they can pass a test.
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Well it's mostly hear-say, but one complaint I hear often from the older generation (mature citizens) is that they learn from memorization and the younger generation don't. Anyway from listening to people of different ages is that the style of teaching has gradually change, there is less and less emphasis put on memorization from one generation to another. From what I hear teacher complain about students is that they don't have a general knowledge history geography etc. multiplication tables, presidents, states, all thing that were once memorized. I'm not saying all students are like that, usually people complain about the exceptions. Analytical thinking, learning by rote, (and social interaction) should be equally emphasized.