tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post91317925695140836..comments2023-10-09T04:11:47.358-07:00Comments on Not A Potted Plant: Thinking About Education ReformBurt Likkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060980744675990412noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post-27531695180368089132010-10-16T04:53:27.034-07:002010-10-16T04:53:27.034-07:00As a teacher I find the video interesting and comp...As a teacher I find the video interesting and compelling, sometimes in conflict with my views of my profession and sometimes in agreement. But what it does it get to the heart of our general societal "scatter brained" expectations of teaching. Everyone is very happy to tell us what we shoud be creating as teachers, and far too many are comfortable making demands as to what those productions should look like, but then they lament what we have to do meet those goals. There is no clear concensus on the point of "an education".<br /><br />Is it to create an electorate capable of making informed votes? If so we need far more civics and law. Is it to create a workforce ready for industry? If so we need far less emphasis on 100% college attendance and far more apprenticeship and internship programs. Is it about forcing all students to "experience the basics"? If so, then we have the challenge of getting every kid to complete Algebra 2, read Chauncer, memorize the key battles of the Civil war etc etc.<br /><br />I'll go out on a limb say that I agree that somtimes ADHD is over-medicated. However the view from the trenches is not a pretty one given the objectives we've been assigned. And more and more the officers are ordering us into no man's land without so much as a compas as to tell us which way to charge.Rob Ostermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07226679027078689566noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post-23267111207099026812010-10-15T16:09:35.071-07:002010-10-15T16:09:35.071-07:00The video is naturally lacking in meaningful solut...The video is naturally lacking in meaningful solutions and yes, obviously there are always going to be standards of achievement, etc. But I think the overall critique of our system stands up pretty well nonetheless. Very good post.E.D. Kainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07883664120993134334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post-39113612232733546862010-10-15T08:58:37.010-07:002010-10-15T08:58:37.010-07:00I think you are overly harsh on the instructors he...I think you are overly harsh on the instructors here. I don't think the problem with them is generally stupidity.<br /><br />I wrote a post about the problem with teaching the humanities (ok, maybe 3-4 years ago). It's much easier for me as an instructor to justify to students why their calculation was wrong than why their essay was wrong. And that incentivizes professors to just let things slide. It's one reason I try to test objective content more than subjective kinds even when the subjective stuff is more important.<br /><br />The humanities aren't supposed to teach writing skills. It should enhance them, but humanities professors shouldn't be expected to teach students about subject-verb agreement. Yet, high schools turn out kids with these problems with reckless abandon. (Frankly, I think the SAT could add a grammar section.)bobvishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11498316988120125641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post-70212638936393595972010-10-14T23:56:29.807-07:002010-10-14T23:56:29.807-07:00Brilliantly said. Thinking my thoughts before I go...Brilliantly said. Thinking my thoughts before I got to them!<br /><br />One point that you make that bears emphasizing is that you have to be able to fail people that aren't "getting it". This is hard to do because right and wrong can be ambiguous and faked logic and deduced logic is not always easy to tell apart. You need a sort of defend-your-thesis round or something.<br /><br />This is particularly important because I believe that one of the reasons for the perception of the humanities is that it's for people who think math is too hard. And so you run into a situation where it's garbage-in, garbage-out. In some ways you have to make the humanities even harder.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com