What is our higher education system teaching the students? It seems that they are making the students people who do not think just follow what they have been told prime example. If this is a sign of our education system we are all in trouble
It's a sad thing to see college students not think, but just blindly agree with whatever is shoved in front of them.
Someone in our office had suggested that college studies should adapt the style of workshop where the hands-on session for one day gives more learning than a month of lecture. This is the style of workshops for the movie industry hence there are new directors, actors and other workers who learned the craft in a matter or months, sometimes just weeks. With college, the 4-year course can be compressed into 1 year with the new technique they are using in workshops.
Well, I'll say this........where we live, there are a lot of the younger generation with a Bachelor's Degree, making a darn good salary.
The education system is set up to make people believe what they have been taught and don’t think for yourself or we will fail you. Christopher Columbus discovers America. You are a failure if you think this was proven in the first thread.
Scary topic to me... I've seen the changes. Sometimes gradually and sometimes "smack-ya-in-the-face." Things like values and morals are no part of a curriculum. Basic things that humans need to know to survive? Nah, why bother with something like that any longer? Patriotism? HA! (We need a smiley icon with big ol' tears because I'd be using it right now.) Even scarier than what they're not teaching is sometimes what they *are.* This "core" stuff... oh my goodness, talk about scary! I am not 100% sure if the things I read on it are accurate... *but* (I feel like a gossip! ) I've heard more than once that with the "new" math classes, kids don't actually have to have an answer right to have it marked correct as long as they can explain how they reached the conclusion/answer they reached. Say what?! So if a child has a problem of of 20+20 and writes an answer of 4 and explains that zero is nothing and 2 + 2 is 4... they have it marked as correct? (Nah, those education articles must have been wrong... that's ludicrous!) If it's NOT wrong, heaven help our offspring and all future descendants! Is anyone even *doing* anything to fix this madness?
If I had children or grandchildren, I would be homeschooling. The fact that the government seems scared of homeschoolers and the movement is enough to push me in that direction. I have worked with children in school systems and also those who've been homeschooled, and the homeschooled children seem to be more curious and will seek out answers to their questions. They have been taught to question things and think for themselves, unlike many in public schools. I posted something before about common core on Facebook and a friend who happens to be a teacher tried to explain to me how much better common core is, blah blah blah. She used to be able to think for herself, before she moved up to a hotbed of progressivism and activism and became enmeshed with the public school system. It's scary to me how quickly she became radicalized, although she did attend Columbia, so perhaps it was simmering beneath the surface.
This is a good idea, I do believe that hands on is a better way to learn than to sit and have some one talk to you for hours. I learned to sew by doing, I learned to program by doing not by lectures and theory.
There is a government agency here called TESDA where they teach students vocational courses like welding, dressmaking and even computer repair. The course runs from 3 months up to 6 months that is a full hands on in style of teaching. For the finale, the graduating students are required to handle real work as in OJT - on the job - but with allowance for salaries (to inspire the students). And with the style of learning, the students are certified to know their trade upon graduation.
The first high school I attended offered an option called "BOCES." Seems kinda similar to what you mentioned. Students who wanted to participate attended BOCES in the afternoons instead of regular classes at school. If I recall correctly, kids participated throughout their junior and senior years. There were classes for auto mechanics, food service, LPN, etc. Might be ironic, but kids who took these vo-tech classes did much better in life (jobs, etc.) than students who went to college for "liberal arts" degrees!!
I also have seen some vocational students who made good with their career. The main motivating factor of vocational schools here (as against the college/university diploma) is the chance of going abroad. Take the welder for example, I know several welders who went abroad after a few months of study and training. Now they are earning good money for the families while some of the college graduates remain jobless since office job is not easy to find.
I never heard of common core. What is it? My oldest son went through something like @Janice Martin was speaking of. His academics were high, so he was offered an apprenticeship in a management position in high school. He graduated at 16, and join the Army as soon as he turned 17. He told me that the apprenticeship gave him an advantage when it came to leading other servicemen. He became an Army Ranger, and was in the service for 10 years before he passed.