[guard-of-terra]

You are wrong. "Some kids really do want, and thrive in, extremely structured, rote learning environments" < here

Some kids do want structured, rote enviroments, but there is no meaning in such environments. There's no use of structured, rote math. There's no problems to solve with structured, rote physics. This kind of education is worthless.

Now, you are saying to us, "Some students only excel at pointless activity. Therefore we should teach pointless activity". But what's the value of such education? Better no education at all, which would free the time to something marginally productive.

[fatbird]

The name of the fallacy you demonstrate for us all is "straw man".

New Jersey's Youth Challenge Academies have been remarkably successful at graduating children from at-risk environments, who go on to college and successful careers. They are NOT a general model for education, but for the children who get into them, they are a tremendously effective and advantageous educational experience that helps them overcome a background in poverty and gives them the opportunity to do much more meaningful things with their lives.

[guard-of-terra]

I don't understand how does it relate to the point that I made.

[fatbird]

You said that I was wrong about some students wanting and needing a strict environment full of rote learning. I provided an example of one such environment that has been remarkably successful for a certain group of students. You said such an environment was worthless. I observed that the students coming out of such an environment were escaping poverty and finding new opportunities they didn't have before, which would suggest that it wasn't worthless.

[guard-of-terra]

I don't think the facility you described is different from the ordinary schools when it comes to how sciences are taught and how tests are performed.

And that's where the useless rote lives, not in the "strictness" of the environment. As well a liberal, private school will have the same problems. It's not about the where we teach. It's about how we teach.