| This is a great reading. I didn't read it all so far (but I will), but I think if people were taught mathematics in a more explanatory way there would be a lot more of them interested in it, and therefore interested in areas related to it, or at least we wouldn't have a society so afraid of it. It's amazing how many people don't know the very basics of it like, for instance, how multiplication is just a compact way of expressing a repetitive sum. And things like that happen because they were trying to remember numbers and formulas instead of understanding the concept. It's just hard to forget about a concept, which gives the basis to understanding more complex things. I think maths teaching would be more productive if we spent more time elaborating on why things are done in some way (or how to come up with a concept just by reasoning about it, without doing calculations and writing symbols on paper) than trying to teach more complex concepts for someone who doesn't understand the basics, and therefore won't grasp the complex ones. There's clearly something wrong about teaching maths, and very likely other subjects too, or maybe something wrong about teaching (anything). |
English class is essentially potpourri. Random order of books + Shakespeare. No teaching as to what makes writing a joy to read. Only emphasis on the relevant social issues.
History class is horrible, no explanations needed. It stinks because History has so much potential. If you have a good teacher, the sort that teaches you shades of grey, then it's amazing. But that's not the curriculum. Also, there's no emphasis on what MATTERS, which is current events. Rarely do you learn anything 80s onward. That means that most high school graduates are functionally retarded in terms of modern politics and news.
The science classes vary between schools, but it's making certain types of science MANDATORY that just lack logic. Bio and chem? I get physics, but even there: most people just don't need to know, and NOBODY learns in a way that makes them like it.
Electives are universally horrid. Teachers regularly have the attitude of "I didn't specialize in it, so standards don't matter."
...and there's math, which is explained properly here.
I've speculated before on what I think a logical school would be like, and it would be something like the following:
-Math and physics form the core learning at a younger age, because with them you can do anything.
-English courses focus not on movements, not even necessarily on "we think these guys are great," but emphasize different attitudes on how to write. Aesthetic, deconstructionist... teaching students to actually look at how writing works. Also, pop literature needs to be examined as well. Not teaching it ignores a field of literature that never gets brought up.
-Philosophy would be a great starter high school course.
-What we call "health/fitness" would focus less on STDs in 7th grade and focus MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more on understanding other people. It took me until about sixteen to learn that people aren't solely irrational beings, and the fact that it took me that long is that school is heavy on mysticism (like, assuming that older ALWAYS means better). That should be fixed.
-Emphasis on current affairs and technologies. Learning about the past should be focused on events rather than sweeping ideologies, and more comprehensive on a few key areas.
-All classes should emphasize writing and conveying ideas clearly. But that means no grading things based on length, either: people good at writing short should.
-No grading at all, actually. Grading has done nobody any good, least of all colleges that assume a high GPA necessarily means a working mind.