posted on Dec, 15 2011 @ 06:34 PM
reply to post by havok
That's a good idea. One thing I know for sure is, in the old days, we were taught to think more. The current educational system in America focuses
on getting kids to regurgitate answers to pass state tests so the schools can continue to get funding.
Even so, the funding is way below what it should be. Most teachers these days have to buy their own classroom supplies, and the kid's families have
to buy things we used to get for free: Pencils, crayons, construction paper, glue, etc.
I don't think they even teach much in the way of geography anymore. Neither of my kids knew how to use a globe when I bought one. I remember seeing
a show where there was a chalk drawing on a sidewalk of all the states in the union, and a commentator stopped random people to see how many states
they could name. It was shocking...some high school kids couldn't even find the state they lived in. When I was 8 years old, I could find every
state in the union and name them by shape, thanks to a Milton Bradley wooden puzzle I got where you had to put all the states where they belong. I
still love maps to this day.
My mother-in-law was a teacher from 1961 until 1990. I'll have to sit with her and ask her opinion of what has changed.
Thanks for the idea!!