Why not teach kids something they can use?

I agree the school system needs a major overhaul. I also agree that lots of the things that are taught are not really useful in the real world, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn't be taught. Things that don't seem relevant now might be very useful or relevant in the future. Even if something isn't useful there is still value in learning it for the sake of learning and in the process you never know what you might find serendipitously I also think that some things need to be taught so that students know what has been tried or done in the past, and what mistakes not to make.

I think school should be more hands on and less dry textbook stuff because it would improve retention.

As another poster said there are no classes on life skills available like taxes, investing, money management (even something as simple as debt is bad unless its for a appreciating asset) how to balance a checkbook, how to open a business, how to buy a house etc...

I also think schools should show students more of the real world and how it works. They should show some graphic footage of some of history’s atrocities with the hope that by learning about them and seeing some of what really happens they will do everything in their power to make sure they don't happen again. As someone said kids thinks blood and violence are cool, but in my eyes that is an indication that something isn't right!

Someone posted the bumper sticker saying "it will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber." With no Air Force bombers there won't be a school or any bake sales so get a clue. I agree the schools need more money, but lack of money is not the biggest problem with schools, and throwing money at a problem is not a way to solve it as history has demonstrated. At the end of the day school is really what the student makes of it so you can have millions of dollars per student at your disposal but if the students don't want to learn they probably won't!

trouble is, if the airforce had no money, then there would be not defence, which would mean that there would be an invasion, and the schools would shut down

I don't know why First Aid is not compulsary in schools. We did some 'Emergency Aid' course which was better than nothing, but if everyone did a First Aid course then imagine how many more lives may be saved and how many more injuries may be dealt with better at the time that matters.

You can go and do a First Aid course over just 2/3 days, and I've looked at what it's supposed to cover and it seems to be quite a lot. I really don't know why everyone doesn't get that training.

Originally posted by AgentSmith
I don't know why First Aid is not compulsary in schools. We did some 'Emergency Aid' course which was better than nothing, but if everyone did a First Aid course then imagine how many more lives may be saved and how many more injuries may be dealt with better at the time that matters.

You can go and do a First Aid course over just 2/3 days, and I've looked at what it's supposed to cover and it seems to be quite a lot. I really don't know why everyone doesn't get that training.

It would certainly be a good replacement or addition to mandatory gym/PE class.

I remember I was taking a public speaking class a few years ago and they taped speeches from a previous class. The guy who was giving the speech said he was decided to take a CPR class a couple of months ago and he found out that CPR was not a mandatory training that school staff needed.

He said he was horrified. Imagine the irony. He just learns CPR himself, and he's already criticizing others because his kids are "not safe with them".

Why aren't parents teaching their children life skills, such as check-balancing, basic "how to get along with people" skills, etc?

Schools should never be expected to be replacement parents....but many of the skills mentioned in this thread do fall, to me, under the heading of "Stuff your parents should be teaching you".

something has to give though. people say "kids should learn this, kids should learn that" but at the end of the day, something has to give, and those things that we value do.

Kids are taught what they are because, depending on what path they choose in life, any of the information can be useful.

Kids aren't expected to know what they want to do when they grow up until they're in about 11th grade, where I come from, which is when they really start give you choices as to what you learn in school.

They teach us te basics of everything in school so we'll be prepared for whatever career we choose, and then some.

To prepare us for the life we will have when we are adults, that is why they teach us these things, and as you get older, i think most people come to understand and appreciate that.


Just my 2 pence, hope that helps.



--Kit.

How about life skills such as Real Estate Investment, Credit Management, Insurance,
Stocks and Bonds, Retirement Planning, Political Responsibilites and so on.

What it takes to have a secure future.

In most cases, far too many cases, our students are simply
taught to be good conforming little worker bees.

Only the Elite can afford to learn how things really work
from private colleges and universities.

your school system sounds really #ed up to tell you the truth

when i went to school, until year 10, we had a class twice a week called personal development

it had lots of stuff like things you talk of
'
only in year 7 and 8 (the first 2 years of high school)we were told what to learn

from then on you picked wat ever subject u wanted. some people did trades, some food tech, some buisness and some sceince

you could mix and match

it was also required to have regular meetings with the carees advisor, to find out exactly what u were going to do

in physical education every one lernt the basics of first aid

as i c it my school really did a very good job
it is a government school as well

What i don't understand i just got out of high school and they in math class they never toght us about dept and how the gov't takes most your money in taxes. And history don't tell your relivent ideas such as when the mayans disapeared or when atlantis had disapeared. All we do is learn nothing for 12-14 years and then start working and find out what we learned was useless and that they were only trying to kill us with the cafitary food mc donals close by and every thing else.

go to a public trade school...

but for me, i rather go to a good catholic high school and thus a good college, then get a good job...

see???

even if i wasn't able to use the stuff i learned in school, i still could get a good job that pays well...

Originally posted by blue_sky_9
trouble is, if the airforce had no money, then there would be not defence, which would mean that there would be an invasion, and the schools would shut down

I agree, with no airforce there would be no schools.

i agree that our education system needs work. having said that ive noticed that in better hoods upper middle class the schools get more funding have bigger schools things like that. ive noticed in middle class hoods ok schools ok buildings. guess what hood im in the one with the old dilapidated school, books that say one day we will go to the moon, things like that. here in the dirty south a law was going to go in effect that all money overbudgeted to school districts would be given to under budgeted school districts but ofcourse the schools with the money did not want to do that and protested. not once did i mention race or creed just hoods. to all my non jive homies hood=neighborhood homies=friends lol we cant blame everything on the goverment or schools i learned more on how to run a bussniz from my father than from school he owned 2 night clubs and only went to the 3rd grade in Mexico!! for christ's sake if he would have been born in america he would have been a ceo of walmart.

[edit on 14-9-2005 by bigworm]

I am trying to put together a comparison of what our international students pay as residents in their
own country for a 4 year university degree.

I hope to get a good cross section of average and top rated schools
from Canada, South America, EU, Middle East and Asia.

If your tuition is free or very inexpensive, what does your country use to qualify you for admisson?

If you can provide averages for other expenses that would help too.

I plan to submit this to congress asking why students in the U.S. are forced to pay so much.

All help will be greatly appreciated.

The education system is not there to educate people... it is there to indoctrinate people, in mass, to become slaves of the political institution. History is taught always from the skewed perspective of "we" are right... "they" were wrong. Language is always taught to support trade... many concepts in the religious classics of morality simply do not translate into modern languages. Mathematics is geared towards the concrete, never creativity. Science tries to make everything black and white in a colorful world.

You cannot force education upon people unless you rule over them. You cannot rule over them unless you keep them fearful and ignorant.

my children will not go to school...

Sri Oracle

Originally posted by Argytis
What i don't understand i just got out of high school and they in math class they never toght us about dept and how the gov't takes most your money in taxes. And history don't tell your relivent ideas such as when the mayans disapeared or when atlantis had disapeared.

I still think parents should be teaching their kids most of this stuff....particularly about personal development, debt management, financial responsibility, how to "survive" in the real world, etc.

And with regards to history...I'm curious as to why you think Atlantis is more relevant than say...political history or something?

(Sri - I agree for the most part, particularly about history. I was schooled in England, and the versions which we were taught of some events differs quite, quite drastically to the versions taught in the US, by all accounts...a bit of objectivity would be great, non?)

Originally posted by Sri Oracle
You cannot force education upon people unless you rule over them. You cannot rule over them unless you keep them fearful and ignorant.

my children will not go to school...

Sri Oracle

Exactly.

Originally posted by Tinkleflower
And with regards to history...I'm curious as to why you think Atlantis is more relevant than say...political history or something?

True political history is rarely ever taught. The only thing I could really relate to politics that I learned in High School was when they had "Holocaust Week".

The funny part is at the end they made this whole spiel about how we need to learn about the Holocaust to prevent it from ever happening again.

But as I look around at the country I live in now -- a country which now has the authority to hold prisoners idenfinitely, with no freedom of information act anymore, or ability to question the government... we aren't far off from where Hitler and Nazi Germany were.

Originally posted by Sri Oracle
The education system is not there to educate people... it is there to indoctrinate people, in mass, to become slaves of the political institution. History is taught always from the skewed perspective of "we" are right... "they" were wrong. Language is always taught to support trade... many concepts in the religious classics of morality simply do not translate into modern languages. Mathematics is geared towards the concrete, never creativity. Science tries to make everything black and white in a colorful world.

You cannot force education upon people unless you rule over them. You cannot rule over them unless you keep them fearful and ignorant.

my children will not go to school...

Sri Oracle

You are dead on.

I also believe that our society installs a defensive mechanism to protect this, because whenever I try to explain this to people, they label me as "psychotic" or something and avoid me, so the message I am trying to communicate just gets brushed under the rug like a pile of dust.

Humanity has fallen so far from where it started: compare us to, say, the ancient Romans. They carved out whole hillsides with just basic tools, because they were actually educated, so they could come up with ingenious ways to work things out.

The only reason we can do the same things they could is because of our more advanced machinery. But if our society were placed in that time period, we would be a primitive group of morons freezing our butts off in huts.

We are purposefully molded to be smart enough to be efficient workers, but stupid enough to not think for ourselves.

[edit on 18-9-2005 by the_individualist]

why does everyone have to bve so negative about education? we have established that there is things wrong with it, but at the end of the day, it works to a certain extent.

.02

I have always felt a big problem with the system is kids go stright from HS to college. Most kids just aren't mature enough to handle the freedom and don't even know what they want to be when they grow up yet
I have long felt that all kids should be forced take a year off and have a few choices of how to spend the time.

apprenticeship in their intended career path ( to find out if they actualy like it)
military (learn discipline, maturity)
volunteer in a charity, not for profit, community service (they can always use the help, and it would cause the kids to value an education)


I think people would make better choices of what to study, and would take it more seriously, and ultimately be better off