School, Why do we go to school?

Originally posted by Talthyr Malkaviel: Binky's right... but if it's for our own benefit, and it is there are as a help, not a restricting force on us rambunctious youths, why are teachers allowed such power over us?? And why do they keep saying we should act like grown ups, when half of the time, they are obviously wrong/mistaken, and think of us and treat us like children.... oh the strange people that are teachers (no offence to any teachers here, and I'm on about English teachers here, I wouldn't know about anywhere else), maybe all teachers in England are having a permanent mental breakdown.

Wow, if you think teachers have power over you now you should have been around 30 years ago...sheesh. As for why are children treated like children? After witnessing the apalling behavior of the kids in who attend school with my kids...Im surprised they don't allow the teachers to use their discretion in just removign some of them from society...permanently. Respect must be earned, you don't get it just because you manage to breathe. Ive found that in almost every case, if you act responsibly and in a mature manner, you will gradually earn that respect and be treated like an adult....but it takes time and work.

Originally posted by Vaskez: [QBEnglish, histroy, all forgettable and a bit pointless once you can write properly. .[/QB]

I beg to differ, History is one of the most often overlooked important classes. History is where you learn about what has been done or tried and how things worked out. By not observing the success and failure in the past you will waste valuable time rediscovering the great mistakes. Those who fail to learn form history are doomed to repeat it.

So in essecnce you are just saving yourself time by learning history..you wont waste time trying so many things that will fail.

[Azred]

Originally posted by Vaskez: If you want my advice pay close attention to what you learn in maths. Very close attention. It may seen useless at the time cos unfortunately schools aren't very good at teaching you WHY it will be useful but trust me Maths is the single most important subject and will almost always be useful. Pay moderate attention to what you learn in physics and chemistry. Biology is just facts and long names, you'll forget them anyway. English, histroy, all forgettable and a bit pointless once you can write properly. ALso, if you learn languages pay close attention. You can pretty much forget other stuff.

I must respectfully disagree with you, Vaskez. All subjects are important for study because having a well-rounded education is far more important than being an expert in only one or two fields. True, no one can have a high degree of knowledge about every subject (unless you are fortunate enough to have an eidetic memory) but, as may be learned from several philosophies, it is the striving that is the goal and not the knowledge itself (although being able to do well at game shows is nice).

On a lighter note, it does seem as if English is a subject you forgot. Also, since English is a language should others forget it or pay close attention?

[Vaskez]

Originally posted by Azred: quote: Originally posted by Vaskez: If you want my advice pay close attention to what you learn in maths. Very close attention. It may seen useless at the time cos unfortunately schools aren't very good at teaching you WHY it will be useful but trust me Maths is the single most important subject and will almost always be useful. Pay moderate attention to what you learn in physics and chemistry. Biology is just facts and long names, you'll forget them anyway. English, histroy, all forgettable and a bit pointless once you can write properly. ALso, if you learn languages pay close attention. You can pretty much forget other stuff.

I must respectfully disagree with you, Vaskez. All subjects are important for study because having a well-rounded education is far more important than being an expert in only one or two fields. True, no one can have a high degree of knowledge about every subject (unless you are fortunate enough to have an eidetic memory) but, as may be learned from several philosophies, it is the striving that is the goal and not the knowledge itself (although being able to do well at game shows is nice).

On a lighter note, it does seem as if English is a subject you forgot. Also, since English is a language should others forget it or pay close attention? [/QUOTE]I think that education is important in itself but not all subjects are of equal importance. Of course as an engineer in training I am biassed towards maths/science subjects.
Why do you say english is a subject I forgot? I can type properly if I want, I'm just too lazy and I type fast

[khazadman]

yeah,i say forget all that stuff you don't like.people like me can always use another flunky to clean up on the construction site.

[Galadria]

Originally posted by khazadman: yeah,i say forget all that stuff you don't like.people like me can always use another flunky to clean up on the construction site.

LOL @ Khazadman. That reminds me of what Rice University in Houston, a very brainy place, chants when their team loses, which is frequently:
That's all right, that's okay,
You're gonna work for us, some day!

[Sazerac]

Fascinating thread. I agree with pretty much everything that has been said about no subject being a "waste", although there are some subjects in college that I REALLY had to wonder about. (Do we really need 4 years of H&PE credits, other than to support the already over-inflated athletics department? There's one reason why I advocate getting a degree through a technical institute such as DeVry, where they train you in what you NEED rather than a lot of B.S.)

However, this line that Nanaki3 posted caught my eye:

You can easily squeeze 12 years of knowledge into 6-9 years.

Maybe 6 years is a bit too little, but nine years, I'd agree with. What's covered in twelve years could easily be covered in nine with one simple adjustment: get rid of the farcical three-month break between May and August.

We no longer live in an agrarian economy where farm lads had to be yanked out of school for three to four months of the year to help Pappy out on the family farm. Yet, the school calendar has not changed materially since the early 19th century. Much of what was learned in the previous year is forgotten over the huge summer break, and the school curricula is set up to review the prior year's material for a full 1/3 of the new session.

Most of us now live in a technological urban-based society, and even rural communities are following this pattern. There is no reason why school districts could not change their calendars to allow for 7 six-week sessions with a week off in between each one, an extra week off in the summer, and two weeks off during the Christmas holiday season. Less time would be spent reviewing and more time focusing on developing new skills and learning new concepts.

This technique is not an alien one. It has already been applied successfully in several urban areas (certain areas in Dallas, for example). It has also been shown that both G.P.A. and achievement test scores have been significantly higher for schools that follow the modified system rather than the classical "three-month-summer-break" system

The real reason I think a lot of school districts won't go to this system: it would remove nine full months of state supported child care for Mommy and Daddy who are working 50-hour-week full jobs. When the three-month break comes, whisk the kids off to camp. Meanwhile, the overall quality of education suffers, and students feel held back and frustrated by what amounts to endless review, review, review, rather than more concentrated effort toward learning new concepts.

Great post Saz [img]smile.gif[/img] And yes, while we could do away with the multi-month break, families do need some together time, so a month I think is still warranted. There is also the fact that there is a growing body of evidence that people who are age 17, 18 and 19 are not quite ready to be adults yet. Look at the accident rates and statistics, look at the divorce rates...I don't think we will be doing the children any service by shoving them out into society earlier. If you do away with the multi-cultural crap and the feel good self esteem classes and put back in the History, and the science and the math that has already been cut I think a couple more years of education would be a boon to the youths of the USA at any rate....I would dearly love to see a mandatory military style 8-12 week bootcamp for all highschool graduates as well...but that is just me dreaming [img]smile.gif[/img]

And just out of curiosity, can anyone show me evidence that too much education is bad for a person?

I do know that there have been some "pure academics" proposing laws, and policys that sound good on paper but in reality just won't work...Im assuming they come up with this stuff due to a lack of living in the "real world".

[Black Knight]

**this is the reason people come and stay here - great discussions where no one is ranting and flaming - just a good banter discussion - [img]smile.gif[/img] **

*BK steps up to the Microphone, takes off his helmet and speaks*

Why is going to school important? I had my favorite teacher in high school once say that it is not what you learn, it's how you learn it. The most important thing to learn is how to learn. Problem solving skills is what you are really learning. How to balance many different tasks at once while having a social life. Learning how to turn a HUGH problem into a bunch of little problems. How to interact with people in position of authority as well as people around you (social skills).

While having many different types of classes may, at first, seem not necessary, it is, and here is why: it points you in proper place for your future employments and enjoyments. How do you know you won't like, say, Shakespear unless you have been introduced to it. Or how would you know if you want to be an engineer if you've never had geometry. Or maybe, just maybe, politics is your choice. Those history classes may be what sparks you into being one of the great leaders of our world in the 2nd half of the 21st century. There are going to be subjects that are not your best/favorite. How you handle them shows a lot about yourself.

*BK steps off of soapbox and slowly walks away putting his helmet back on*

BK