Our next theme is going to be a how to.
The first essay we will write will be on how to improve LHS. To get us thinking about how to improve school, watch the video below from entrepreneur Seth Godin on how to improve education.
Please leave three observations or responses to this video. Then leave two responses to the observations of your classmates.
Also, be sure to read this for Tuesday too.
Connect the dots, not collect the dots. I think we too often in school push students to collect the dots (in the forms of grades, high test scores, and other accolades) without teaching them how they will impact them in the "real" world.
ReplyDeleteIn earning a BA, MA, and the equivalent of another MA in history, the one thing I've learned about true scholarship is that the importance lies not in the degrees but in the knowledge you gain. You only gain that knowledge by connecting it to other things you have learned.
We do a lousy job of this in high school. Mr. Froiland's mantra is "A is for mastery." Yet, how many of you have earned an A in a class and learned nothing? There you have collected something (your precious grade), yet you have connected nothing.
Open book. Open test. All the time. There is zero value in remembering anything ever again.
ReplyDeleteThis is a bit extreme, but I don't think Godin is being literal here. I mean I'm sure glad my daughter has both my cell phone number and our address memorized in case she ever gets lost. I don't think that's what Godin is talking about.
Instead, I think Godin is talking about what often passes for "learning" in public education, which is usually memorizing dates and people in order to get an A on a multiple choice test. Then never using those dates or people ever again.
Godin seems to argue that instead of memorizing we should be teaching students how to search and critically analyze information - and remember the average citizen has more information at his fingertips did now than the King of France had two centuries ago.
Today's students need to know how to search carefully, to sift through the various junk they find, to critically evaluate the information, and to make an informed decision.
How often do we offer our students that chance?
Finally, Godin's point about work vs. art is critical. If you love something and are passionate about it, it ceases to really become work.
ReplyDeleteGodin's contention seems to be that if you find what you really care about, you will be intrinsically motivated to work to master it because "working" on what you love doesn't seem like "work" at all.
Anyone who loves/cares/is excellent at what they do, is driven by a higher purpose and wants to do more of it. And that's what we need to be exposing students to, not crossword puzzles and true and false tests.
I agree where he says to connect the dots instead of collecting them. I believe schools should be teaching us how to think, instead of just spewing facts all over us, hoping some make it through. I feel I would be benefited from learning skills like problem solving and analyzation. Learning random, useless facts doesn't help in the real world, only on tests and in Knowledge Bowl.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree when he agrees with Sal Khan's philosophy on teaching. I've tried that, and it doesn't really work for me. Teaching needs to be more of a personalized experience than that, I believe. It's hard to do more than just scratch the surface of various topics, and thus we don't learn any new thinking skills.
He says that anything for memorizing is worth looking up, and that memorization is a useless skill. I completely disagree. Memorizing things, and then connecting them to what you know has been shown to strengthen pathways in the brain, connecting the dots, as he says. If I get lost, and my phone is dead, I can’t google how to survive. I need to have already memorized various processes, such as building a fire, and using a map and compass.
I agree about connecting the dots. We can have various information thrown at us, but we need to be able to connect to a way of understanding it.
DeleteI believe that you need to be able to understand the information and find away that it connect. It can't be just put in your head into a pile and except to be known without any understanding of it.
DeleteI disagree with the useless facts. I would rather not look stupid in front of someone because I don't know a "useless" fact that everyone else knows and learned. But I do agree with being taught how to think.
DeleteFacts are quite important, but I do agree that being able to properly analyse the facts is also important. Every human needs to memorize a large database of "useless" facts in order to excel in the real world. Knowing that Crispus Attucks was the first person to die at the Boston Massacre makes one a more interesting person; a conversationalist
DeleteOh my god this. I hate it when people say that memorizing things is dumb! For one thing having a society that doesn't know anything but is really good at using google would be horrendous!
DeleteBut, "connecting the dots" requires connecting all the knowledge that is random and useless by itself, in order to make something out of it. How can someone make connections when there are no dots to connect? I agree with Maxwell (above).
DeleteAnd why would that be horrendous, because quiet frankly I don't see the terrible ailment in all that. I'm not saying we remove memorization completely, but remove the needless, and tedious practices. Take for instance a class like AP History. How much do you remember now from that class, and how much can you accurately recall. If you were given a test on one of those chapters, how much would you remember. Now I'm willing to admit that I may be terribly wrong, but I'm willing to bet you would do relatively poorly. So why then did we take about half a year of our lives to memorize that stuff.
DeleteAnd another thing, memorization won't disappear from society if we stop emphasizing it in school, as it is a natural human function. If someone is truly invested in the coverage, and sociological implications of the Boston Massacre, then they are likely to remember that Crispus Attucks was the first person to die. And if they don't remember minor remember minor details of the Boston Massacre, then it's likely an issue of little interest to them, and their chances of getting in an in depth conversation are rather minimal.
I agree that most kids are trying to just learn what they have instead of trying to learn what they want. Teachers need to teach in different ways because some people learn by hands on work instead of by teaching by a book that they have to study from.
DeleteI agree that memorizing is important in moderation. I think that people need to memorize things, but some of the stuff that teachers have kids memorize is just pointless information that we forget after that test is over.
DeleteI agree completely. I would not be able to do very well on a test I took last quarter, or even a few weeks ago! We do waste too much time memorizing things that will more than likely be forgotten.
DeleteWhen he talks about the death of the "famous college" I completely agree with him because some people believe that they aren't good enough to go to a college that Is well known because of the higher standards of It, when truly like he said It has nothing to do with success or define how smart you are.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the open book, open note all the time. I think memorizing things can have value whether If It relates to school or everyday life things. We wouldn't have doctors or lawyers, or even most occupations If people just stopped memorizing things and just looked them up. We need that research to survive and to be successful In everything we do. Doctors don't pull out there phones to google all the different pressure points of the body when doing acupuncture, their job Is to memorize that stuff!
I do agree with what Godin explains as "Figuring It Out", he makes a point with this because this Is exactly what Caine's dad did and It proved to be workable.
I disagree with the statement about open books. Yes we should memorize most of the information we learn; but if we have access to all this knowledge, shouldn't we use it to the best of our advantage.
DeleteI agree that doctor's can't pull out their phones when they don't know an answer to something. Memorizing won't get you very far. You will need to know the material in order to have success.
DeleteI agree with the memorizing. How does Godin except to just have people in professional setting look up something they should have learned. Ok yes they can't memorize it all but I certainly would not trust a doctor if he googled my symptoms and made an educated guess on my problems. They should have experience and knowledge that has been memorized.
DeleteI do agree when you talk about the "famous college" that he talks about. A lot of people do worry weather or not they can go to college because by what they have heard and how it has high standards for academics.
DeleteIt would be kind of hard to get rid of the famous college idea because not only do a lot of their reputations come from being associated with successful sports teams, like he mentioned, but a ton of them are known for how good they are academically. Some may argue that that is the point. That people aren't going to care about your college education soon enough because of the generals and classes not associated with your passion and career, but more than half of your college experience is focused on classes that'll help your in your career choice, so by being in a college that extremely academically successful, it would be a lot easier to 'geek out' in your desired career or passion. Therefore implying that by graduating form that said school, you would be a great writer, mathematician, or anything for that matter than others would may have graduated from the less known school. Granted this isn't always the case.
DeleteI think his idea of colleges is wrong. Colleges should have high standards and they should be places for academia. Not everyone should go to college, it is a waste. Society does not need a million mediocre writers but we definitely do need a million garbage men. If were to lower the standard of colleges even further, we would even more people who are not fit for college join universities and waste their time.
DeleteI think that memorizing is important. He states that it isn't though and so I disagree. People need to be able to memorize things just to survive. Yes, you cannot memorize everything, but you can educate yourself on the material and memorize and learn as you go on.
DeleteI don't believe Godin was literal when he said "anything worth memorizing is worth looking up." I think he was trying to say something more along the lines of if the information is valuable to you, it is worth looking up and researching. So, if you doctor finds value in helping or saving people through medicine, that information will be valuable to him and worth learning.
DeleteI completely agree with you that people want to go to a "famous college". Some people feal like their a failure when they don't get into one of those colleges, when in reality any college will do for a better education.
DeleteI agre with the fact that people want to go to a "famous college." They want to go there because of the high standards, the sports team, just the name of it in general. I think people need to start realizing that any college can make you have a better education, and we need to stop focusing on getting into the top school. Just because you get into a top college, doesn't mean you will be happy there.
DeleteI agree with his statement of open book and open note learning. If we have access to the knowledge now, chances are we will have the same access later on when it becomes of actual use. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to memorize anything, just that it doesn't have to be about everything in a certain subject.
ReplyDeleteI think he is correct in saying grades are an illusion. We can turn in the paper, take the test, and get good grades; but how much of it do we really understand.
I also agree with what he said about work vs passion. If it is interesting, then we will always want to know more about it. If it doesn't feel like work, then learning becomes easy for the student. Thats why schools should be more personalized to the student, depending on his or her interests.
I agree with grades being an illusion too! It's ridiculous that we have to take a test and get good grades because that is all we focus on. It should be that if we aren't understanding we have a curiosity to ask questions.
DeleteI agree that grades are an illusion. Our whole school career we are told that getting good grades is the most important thins, but when you get into the real world noone really cares about that A plus you got in 10th grade Adv. Biology.
DeleteI agree with you. Grades mean absolutely nothing out of high school. Colleges don't even care once you are accepted. We are all too hung up on making the grade, when in reality it shouldn't mean anything more than a letter in the alphabet.
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ReplyDeleteI like when Godin talks about how we are taught to comply. I agree with it 100%. We aren't taught to be an individual and think independently. We are taught to look for a right answer and everything else is wrong. When we don't know something we have to figure it out in a textbook. Asking a question about something even a teacher doesn't know is wrong, you're thinking to much than. We can't just be ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the death of the famous college. Good schools are measured in rankings and people aspire to reach those high ranked college. Maybe those colleges are right for some people, but finding a college that works with and for you is a successful college to me.
When he talks about connecting dots vs collecting dots I think it can be right and wrong. You want to be connecting the dots, but what are you going to connect if you don't collect. When you have knowledge on different aspects you can think about things in different perspectives. Knowledge may be memorizing, but its also not worthless to memorize. Remembering something can eve you from looking stupid. But when you learn to connect them and make a sense of it thats the main goal.
We are not taught to be an individual or think independently at all. There is so much pressure on not having the right answer. We are so afraid to be wrong and to be different its sad.
DeleteWe are looked down upon if we ask something the teacher doesn't know. When it should inspire the teacher to go learn something new. Kids should be curious and ask questions. I think a lot of kids are scared to ask questions these days because they are afraid they will look dumb. We learn by asking questions.
DeleteI agree with if something is interesting, then we will want to know more and more about it. If it doesn't feel like school work, learning becomes fun and easy for the students. I think that students should be able to take more classes that fits their interests so they can enjoy learning.
ReplyDeleteI agree when he says grades are an illusion. We can learn the material, take a test and get good grades on it, but half the time, I don't even remember or get anything out of it. Memorizing is good at some points, but others, you will need to have that knowledge because you can't just google things all of the time.
I believe that you need to know how to put information together. Like 'connect the dots'. Material will not stay in your brain if you don't have a connection to it and know how it is being used.
Exactly with the if it doesn't feel like work comment.. personally I think schools should try more individual interests for learning. Or present the topics to students in ways that will make them interesting to learn. No more lectures!
DeleteI agree that students will learn more about the subject if they want to. This could be analyzed by the school and instead of doing pointless things like Linc where we just research careers, the school could look at the classes in which we ask more questions and use this to hep us finds the careers that we would flourish in.
DeleteI agree, we should be allowed to take more elective classes in the fields we enjoy, or we should be able to go out into the real world and learn more about what we think we would like to pursue as a career. That way, the work becomes play and those who have brilliant minds can sharpen them to a fine point in the area they choose, instead of trying to create a rounded out student.
DeleteIt's interesting that the modern school system was made for making factory workers. It really is true, the sitting at desks and the obedience (good morning boys and girls). The schools need to get out of the industrial age. It's all about training people to be a cog in the machine.
ReplyDeleteI like what he says about the textbook. I think teaching should consist of mostly hands-on. That's how I learn best. But I understand that some people learn better by reading out of those textbooks. But it is true that people don't have a passion for everything they are learning in school.
I can relate so well to the "Will this be on the test?" This seems to be what the average student is worried about. It is work, it's what do I have to study of this stuff that I am not interested in. We want to learn only what we have to.. it isn't interesting the way it is taught.
I agree when you talk about how we have to study stuff that we are not interested in at all. It was drags on everything and makes it that much more awful. We do need a more interesting way to be taught
DeleteWe need to have more discussions as a class instead of having the teacher stand in front of the class preaching at us about the book that we are supposed to be reading. If you make a class read a textbook in class you have to at least make it somewhat fun or interesting while you are teaching it in class otherwise you'll lose the attention of your students.
DeleteI agree with you in that we need to be taught in more interesting ways. Then that we do study stuff that we are not interested in at all and that we are forced to learn and memorize it.
DeleteI have with Gordin when he talks about we ned to learn to not want to fit in, we should want to stand out. Because if we stand out instead of fitting in that just tells us more about ourselves and will even probably help us find ourselves instead of us thinking there is only one right answer to a question and all the other answers are wrong.
ReplyDeleteI agree with him totally when he talks about having textbooks. Honestly no one wants to learn out of a textbook. Everyone hates when a teacher says to read 2 chapters in their textbook for home work. Some people may like reading a textbook instead, that comes back to the point that everyones ability to learn is different which also brings back the point that teaching and school should be more personalized.
One last thing that I agree with is when he talks about the "raspberry pie" device and how if we got that and were told to go build something interesting and figure something out. I bet most kids couldn't do it because we get held back on using our creative side because we are too worried about having a right answer and a right way to do things.
I agree with you on the "raspberry pie" device because there is no way we are able to do it. If we don't get the chance to then how are we suppose to know if the teachers don't let us us our creative side.
DeleteGodin has a point when he says that testing needs to be changed, but it wouldn't necessarily be effective in all subjects. One subject for example would be history. I guess you could have students do projects or write papers about how so and so could've been a more effective leader or how they could've reacted differently to an attack, but it is important to know the facts of history and by having more creativity based tests, it would be hard to cover all of the material. Otherwise, changing the style of testing would most likely be beneficial to classrooms because it is easier to remember things when you have an opinion about it or argued it than it is to just memorize them. This may also make creativity less painful to adults.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing Godin brought up was the Sal Kahn style classroom. Since I heard about schools teaching this way a couple of years ago, I thought it sounded awesome, but the more I think about it, the more I realize the flaws in this way of teaching. It would be really cool if you could get all of the students passionate enough about learning to the point where they would go home and watch a lecture online, but I'm afraid that a vast amount of students would take the easy way out and figure the teacher would help them understand it almost to the point of just reteaching it, so they wouldn't have to learn about it at home. You would also run into the kids would have troubles at home that just couldn't listen to the lectures, whether that be because they are distracted or lack of internet and space. If you could get all your students to participate in this style, it would be awesome.
The final point I want to bring up is when he says something about being ready to be criticized about your findings or something along the lines of that. This is when you would know that you have done something great/productive/useful. If you are ready to be questioned and criticized about something you have found out or something you believe, then you are in a good spot. Every student should get the opportunity to be that passionate about something.
k-12 isn't about supporting creative nor is it about inspiring children. I believe that the school system is about making proper citizens. If we were to kill the modern education system, we would also kill our civil society. If were to take out the memorization part of our curriculum we would also make millions of citizens that can not hold a conversation. If I asked a peer about the current situation in the Ukraine and he had to look up where the Ukraine was it would be pathetic. We need people to memorize facts in order to be able to transmit ideas and socialize with their peers.
ReplyDeleteI partially agree with his thoughts about the standardized test. For some subjects he does work incredibly well, history and math are prime examples. For the other subjects it begins to fail, there is no right answer for what the subliminal message in a film is.
I also agree with his thoughts about criticism. If one truly produces quality work than one may stray from the path. The only problem is that most people can not produce unique and amazing innovations. Only a few people who have ever been born are gifted enough to produce life changing pieces of technology. We need some people to go by the book to maintain the work that these giants have left behind.
But Ben, what is a "proper" citizen? We only have the idea of what a proper citizen is because of what we've been told how people are supposed to be. As society changes, shouldn't our education systems change as well? I do agree with you on the fact that there are certain things that you just need to know in order to interact with others, and to function properly in today's world . If we rely on the internet for everything people will eventually be dumbed down.
DeleteI guarantee you, if I asked the average person about the current situation in the Ukraine now, the same situation would occur. A memorized education does little more than give you facts, but give you few skills to develop an intelligent conversation around those facts. For an intelligent conversation to happen, both participants in the conversation must be critical thinkers, capable of thinking in different and multi-faceted ways. The current ways of education do little to make students critical thinkers.
DeleteWhen he made the point that everything should be open book, it made a lot of sense, if we can look anything up on Google in the real world, then why should we have to go through school largely without a real-world setting. There are however flaws to this notion. If you let kids take every test open note and open book, nothing will be retained after the class is over. Although many things do not need to be known off the top of one's head, they are also a lot of things that definitely should be committed to memory. If no one knew any facts, people would function a lot less efficiently and would be completely dependent on the internet in al situations. Rote memorization should be reduced, but not completely phased out.
ReplyDeleteGodin says that standardized tests should be eliminated. They are suppressive to creativity in education, and like Robinson states in The Element, standardized tests make schools teach certain subjects in certain ways, not allowing them to teach other meaningful things. There is a place for standardized tests in college admission because obviously M.I.T. needs to know if you can do math, but in public schools they are ineffective.
Textbooks are awful, years ago, they would have been needed to help teachers who may not have PHD level knowledge teach their students. But with the resource that the internet provides teachers, textbooks are no longer needed besides maybe in math classes where they provide problems to do. I think instead of giving reading assignments teachers could assign videos or if you're going to give reading assignments, make them shorter and have students write feedback rather than reading alone.
If anything is going to be done about our education system like Godin and Robinson propose, the department of education should be gotten rid of. Our government doesn't seem to want to make any real changes in our schools, even though they talk about it a lot. I think states and more so local school districts should be in charge of how they want to educate, unless the government is willing to make serious changes.
I so agree with making schooling controlled locally. I mean, think about it, some guy in L.A. isn't going to need to learn the same things that a person that lives in North Dakota is going to.
DeleteWhen he was talking about not memorizing things I thought he must have been joking. People in society need to memorize some things. I would prefer that my doctors have memorized human anatomy and how certain diseases work. If the aren't memorizing these facts anybody could be qualified for brain surgery with a smartphone and google!
ReplyDeleteI think that the Sal Kahn style classroom wouldn't be all that bad personally. I enjoy watching documentaries and lectures, and I'm sure a lot of people do. The problem is that a lot of other people don't. Why would little jimmy watch a boring lecture on astronomy when he could go and play video games?
His opinions on textbooks are quite one sided also. I personally learn better from reading a text. Sitting in a classroom and listening to a teacher rabble on for what seems like hours just doesn't work. Textbooks could be awesome. Instead of talking about where the general vicinity Gettysburg happened, why not talk about some of the sick things some war hero did at the battle. Maybe insert a little humor in once and a while. Current textbooks are boring, and need more pictures.
I agree that some things need to be memorized. If noone ever memorized anything all conversations would lack content and meaning, and the world would just be dull. If everyone with a 'witty' comment had to say "hold up i need to look up the refrence I`m trying to make" people would just be boring to talk to. So as far as social intraction, memorization isn`t necessarily a bad thing. However I do agree that some things, like remembering that the big mac is made of "two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions on a sesame seed bun" aren`t important enough to be memorized and should be looked up.
DeleteI agree that it is important to memorize some things. Like things that you might actually talk about in the future. Not things that you will talk about in school and just forget about when you are done with school. When he said that memorizing things has zero value, I disagreed completely.
DeleteIt never really occured to me how similar factory and school conditions are until hearing this. I found that to be both fascinating and terrifying, because it shows how important society finds comformity and how this is deterring people from being unique.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the statement about art and work, that if its work you`ll find out how to do lessand if it`s art you`ll find a way to do more. I think this really is a clear way of helping yourself determine wether your doing something because you enjoy it or doing something because you`re told to.
I was schocked to hear that schools were designed to create consumers. I really believe it is. Fitting in with your peers and keeping "in style" holds high importance while in school, and it leads you to want to keep buying more and more things that we dont really need.
I think his strongest point in his speech, was his discussion at the beginning, about how are schools are built to make us workers and not innovators. Of course, in the industrial revolution context, this was not a poor idea, we needed to have people working in those factories, if we were to advance as a society. But in a modern context, it fails to work, you need only to see out standing amongst other countries in the realm of education.
ReplyDeleteUnlike a few people here, I actually think theres some logic to his proposal that we should stop needless memorizing. His assertion that everything worth knowing can be learned via google, is of course preposterous, but also appears to be misinterpreted. I believe he was asserting we teach topics, such as history, in more exciting ways then memorizing information for the test. If the students are invested in their learning then they are more likely to remember smaller facts, and more actively discuss and use these topics in everyday conversation.
The issue of just learning towards a test, goes back "collecting or connecting the dots." Since we started having children learn a curriculum, and becoming obedient, we have stopped the fostering of critical thinking skills. To put it in another way, we've tried to convert Tolstoy into a multiple choice question. Thus, we have lost the ability to form our own opinions on subject, and have blindly subjected ourselves to tradition for traditions sake. But if tradition had not been challenged, and put to task, we never would have had the artistic revolutions that have come throughout history, and great scientific theories such as evolution, would probably not have been developed.
I think that the school should be built around the student instead of the teachers just teaching the same thing every year. Also it makes sense to do this because some students may love a certain topic and learn ti a lot faster then most other students. I also don't like the fact that most schools are cutting creative classes from their programs. If someone loves that kind of creative thinking they should find it out in high school before they go off into college.
ReplyDeleteI agree with that schools are teaching us to to be workers and not innovators. In school I do believe that we do need to memorize some stuff. But not everything because half of the stuff we do learn in school is pointless stuff that we will never need to know again. Also school is a lot about obedience and doing the same thing over and over in every class with the same routine sometimes which gets really boring.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with that no one wants to learn with a textbook. Some might but most will not. We need different activities to learn things so that it makes learning more fun. Sitting in your desk all day reading the textbook is no fun and most kids don't even read the book. Teachers are better off not having the text book and find different ways to teach.
I also agree with the work vs passion issue. In school if we already know what we kind of want to do when we get older or have an idea we are only going to be interested in certain subjects. Im not going to want to learn something that I have no interest in at all.
I agree that we need to memorize some things, but at the same time I think that we memorize pointless information just to fill up time in the school day. We do a lot of the same things over and over with the material just getting a little harder. We need a different system that goes over a students individual desires.
ReplyDeleteI also kind of agree with the standardized tests in that they work well with some subjects but with others I do not think that there is a good way to just put one basic test on a subject.
I agree with what he says about how we built a system around interchangeable systems, saying that you did not pass this test so we will hold you back until you can get it right. They teach us that we need to pass this to be "normal" so that we can get some job.
If it's work, we try to do less; If it's art, we try to do more. - Work is hard, so hard in fact just hearing the word makes most people cringe. Nobody wants to do work, but everyone has an art that they wish they could do more of. When we find the balance between work and play, amazing things will happen. Creativity and innovation will prosper, and students will be connecting the dots to real life.
ReplyDeleteWhy wouldn't we want to teach our kids to do something interesting; Why wouldn't we want to teach them how to figure it out. - I feel, as humans, we have an unquenchable need to quantify things in terms we can understand. This is our downfall. We don't want to teach our kids how to do something interesting, because we don't understand what they are capable of. We don't want to teach them to figure it out, because we don't know how to figure it out.
Your work is more important than your congruence to an answer key. - In life, there is no "right answer." There are only choices, and each come with pros and cons. If you work toward what you believe in, and are truly doing your best work, every answer will be correct.
I agree that we try to do the least amount of work possible. Just as you say, I think we need to find a happy medium between work and play so we become more creative.
DeleteI like the idea that you should connect the dots instead of collecting them. We should be learning how to think instead of worrying if you got an A on that test. We need to learn how to solve the problems that we are facing.
ReplyDeleteThe point he makes about the “famous college” is very true. People just want to go to Harvard and Yale so they can brag about it to their friends. Every single college gives you a better education. Just because you pay more doesn't make the school better.
Godin says that memorizing things is a useless skill. He says, what’s the point of memorizing something you can just look up? Memorizing things could be a way of connecting the dots; to make things easier to understand.
I agree with Gordin when he says "there is zero value in memorizing" in the education system. It has zero value because you memorize, use it, and forget about it after you have used it.
ReplyDeleteWhy do a lot of us try so hard to got into the "famous college?" We pay a lot more money to get into them because they have a good sports team or a good program. Every college is a good college, and gets you educated. It doesn't have any relevance to success or happiness.
I agree that we do more collecting the dots than connecting the dots. We don't allow kids to figure things out on their own, or encourage them to do interesting things. Instead, kids are told to be obedient and that they need to be like their peers.
I think that we need to completely redo our education system. Kids are expected to learn pointless things that they are then tested on, and then will never use again. It makes learning miserable when you are uninterested in the topic. We need to engage students and make them enjoy learning, even in subjects that they don't like that much.
ReplyDeleteStudents should learn from their mistakes, instead of looking at them so negatively. Our society has made failure seem unacceptable. We shouldn't be so worried about making the grade, but instead we should worry about actually knowing what we are learning. Tests shouldn't count as a grade, but rather a tool to see how well students are retaining information. I believe that the failure of students partly comes from the teachers inability to teach that child personally.
I don't think teachers should keep pushing the idea of everyone needs to go to college into students heads. Many successful people do not attend college. I think that if a person wanted to go to college and get a certain career, they would be passionate about that career. But, instead we have shoved the idea of going to college into everyones head and making them feel forced to go. This causes kids who later realize that college isn't right for them to waste thousands of dollars. We should encourage students to do what they believe they were meant to be; I think then, we would have more people in their Element.
Response 1: I agree with him when he talks about connecting and collecting dots. We do seem to be measured with test by how many things we can memorize, or how many dots we collect. What should be done is we should be taught how to connect those dots to other things, because in the end it could help us memorize those dots we collect. The only way we can do this is by being put into harder situations, where it would be easier to fail, like he says "Put kids into a situation where they can fail," because we can't learn how to connect dots by reading a textbook
ReplyDeleteResponse 2: I agree with the grading being an allusion also. We memorize stuff, take a test on it, get a good grade, but in the end I forget almost everything. I mean, really a lot of the time we don't actually understand the material, the reason we get good grades in a lot of classes is because we memorize things, just for that particular test.
Response 3: I don't really agree that much with the "Open book, open note all the time," situation he was talking about. He says that there is zero value in memorizing things, well I think there is value in memorizing some things, just not absolutely everything. Also just because we can google things, doesn't mean we should, I think it would be better to have that knowledge on hand already. I do agree that we don't necessarily need to be taught to memorize stuff, thats something that we could figure out on our own.