Education Reform

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Do we need education reform? If so, what sort?

Australia should provide more of a choice for people who don't "perform" at an elite level. I've seen smart Aussies being denied nice courses at Uni because of low performance in high school.

Very general question. The answer depends on many factors---especially location.

Is Secretary DeVos has her way, the ueber rich will be the only ones that would be able to afford a sh!tty education.

I believe the education system could be improved on.

In my opinion...

1. Cursive should be done away with. Most people have horrible handwriting anyway.

2. Algebra, calculus, trigonometry, geometry and statistics should only be required for people who want to go into fields that use them. As someone who has a significant degree of formal education in mathematics, I can say that most people who take these subjects, and who don't go into a field that actually uses them, forget the information quickly. Their time would be better spent acquiring a broader scope of knowledge in mathematics and science in a qualitative sense.

3. Evolution. If someone is going to disagree with evolution, they should understand what they are disagreeing with exactly. Too many people think it means that humans came from "monkeys" and what they mean by "monkey" is "chimpanzee". Humans came from neither monkeys nor chimpanzees.
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in elementary school (5th grade), the precious lil "teacher" had the nerve to say that in middle school, teachers require cursive. only one teacher required cursive. the rest did not care. not only that, but in the days of texting, computers, and et cetera. it just does not make sense to insist on cursive. especially since manuscript is easier to read and write.

in K-12, students need to learn more practical skills. things like how to change a flat tire. how to regulate emotions. how to cook. not just auto shop or home ec. how to balance a budget. how to unclog the toilet.

They seriously don't teach how to regulate emotions.

They don't even teach how to catch a flight by yourself. (I know that sounds like a weird one but I never flew much so I don't usually know what to do in an airport).

They don't teach regulating emotions in (most) schools because that is something parents are supposed to teach. Parents are supposed to teach life skills. Learning to regulate emotions is actually something children start learning very very early in life through observation of those around them. A persons ability to master this depends on both environment and genetics and epigenetics.

I lucked out with cursive. I was out when they taught it and when my mother expressed concern about this to my teacher, she flat out told my mother it wasn't really important. It turns out, it's not really difficult to learn on one's own. The biggest difficulty in reading it stems from poor penmanship and because most people have poor cursive penmanship. Some people don't even bother to write actual letters, and some people write some cursive-printing hybrid. Whatever a person writes, the most important thing is, can everyone else read it? To that end, everyone can read my "cursive" despite my lack of formal education in it, and I can read cursive that is actually cursive and not a series of roller coaster loops.

My parents didn't teach me much of anything. They weren't very supportive.

My parents didn't teach me much of anything. They weren't very supportive.
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my precious lil "parents" did not "teach" me anything, except to be afraid of peer pressure, failure, and social rejection. my precious lil "parents" only taught me that i had to be perfect at all times. to their standards. they had the nerve to tell me how i could be "more perfect". (direct quote).

in their defense, they did not violate Child Protective Services. besides "failure to attend to special education need."

they provided room and board.

they were just a bit weird and uptight.

they tried to teach me how to cook. and when i was about 13, they made me come straight "home" from school and start dinner immediately. so i felt like a slave. and then they told me i cooked it badly.

my precious lil "parents" did not treat me like a Special Snowflake.

they blamed me when classmates physically assaulted me.

they compared me unfavorably to other Chinese daughters. they compared me to my older sister. older sister is a doctor.

No wonder the Chinese always get straight As. If I had parents like that I'd be too scared to get a B

No wonder the Chinese always get straight As. If I had parents like that I'd be too scared to get a B
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http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/ ... y#comments

some chinese parents are worse than mine. some chinese parents are better than mine.

some united states parents are worse than mine. my sister's friend's brother's mom told him that he "stole" orange juice and "lied" about it. when he was 12. and his punishment was grounded to his room, 6 weeks.

they were white. and they earned more money than my precious lil "parents". but they made their children work outside jobs since age 12. and they charged them 100 dollars a month rent.

there are plenty of Chinese in the united states. not all chinese get staight A's every time. but many do.

in high school, in AP and honors classes, got B's. in physics, got a B. in photography, got a B. everything else got an A.

in UCSD, BA. cognitive science. 2.19 gpa out of 4. did not get a single "A".

at community college. AA. accounting. 3.25 gpa. got four C's, one F. some B's and the rest A's.

There are officials in Western countries who want to extend the school day so Western students can be as educated as Asian students.

i can come at this from a US perspective.

compulsory education and the quality of education is one thing. i fully agree with chronos about her 3 points, especially numbers 2 and 3. cursive is just a small waste of time compared to all the math i've forgotten. and it's surprising how little attention is given to the space between bonobo and human in standard biology classes. i would also like to add that in my experience history classes are extraordinarily biased towards the interest of national pride. i realize it is difficult, and possibly impossible, to not be biased in the recounting of history but the level of bias in the US tiptoes the line of subversive mind control.

while i'm talking about forgetting stuff, i think more focus on knowledge and less focus on memorization would be beneficial. and it would be good if trade skills were not so separated from the rest of education because that causes there to be a divide in the types of people who are learning trades vs. "higher" learning. i was in advanced learning programs my whole life and wasn't given the opportunity to learn about any trades in school. i didn't even know i could.

the other concern of course is how education beyond 12th grade is a commodity. sure, if you *try* hard enough, if you're *intelligent* enough, or if you are *athletic* enough it's possible to get a college education without having to pay or pay much for it. but that's just how the blame for the continued failure of so many people to have an education past high school is shifted from the ridiculously high price of education. and..i'm all for offering a service in return for education. but isn't it funny how the only service which qualifies is military? hm. while i'm on the subject, i think it's also a problem that public universities don't pay property taxes if they are going to be such a blatant commodity.