Dallas Clayton on Empowering Kids' Minds

I agree that the culture is heading towards something dangerous, or at least very unnatural. The good thing is, that all this automatically stops when the resources is depleted

i do believe there is a big problem with childrens education today with what they are taught in schools does not prepare them in any way for today's living society it is much harder now for children when they leave school to get a well paid job that secures their future they do not try to talk about or encourage children about having an ambition or career and how important learning is it has become lazy basic education most tv programmes for children are not educational the educational system has slipped big time we are heading with new generations of more unemployment and poverty and children with less good grades it is one big circle now in the uk they are just building more super schools more pupils in a classroom with less chance of each child ever having a chance to get any one to one time with a teacher and also teachers now are becoming more pressured in their jobs in their performance in the school itself and not in the classrooms

Reading this thread through it suddenly occured to me that 'thinkers' and intelligent thinkers are a real threat to government and its potentially diabolical schemes.....or the schemes they have been 'put up to'.

Is this why PolPot killed all the teachers, doctors, lawyers and well educated people?

reply to post by starseed83


It is desperately sad the depths our educaton system has slipped to and the distractions that exist in the lives of our children these days that they no longer SEEK to KNOW because they are so distracted.

Home Education is a potential escape from this BUT these children are a minority and still face the same out and out discrimination that all young people are facing now.

We can educate our children to have enquiring minds, but we must have enquiring minds ourselves first. If they see us sat in front of the TV mindlessly, see us not engaging in challening and thought provoking discussion and simply 'accepting' then the chances are that they too will become mental cabbages.

it is up to us parents to educate and it always has been............it's just that too many parents just do NOT see the big picture or are too lazy or just as bad preoccupied to engage.

reply to post by Elliot

definitely home schooling is not the answer and i do agree with you there about parents being too lazy or preoccupied and that but we can only do so much children today are definitely easily distracted too much

Very interesting,great post

Why aren't kids / young adults taught how to make money on their own? They are only told they have to go to school then college and APPLY for a job. But never to try something and maybe fail, with failure one gains knowledge.

Kids have a desire at an early age to earn money for themselves, they often make lemonade stands (which are illegal). The regulators would rather have them stay inside, play video games and get fat.

In my opinion this is deliberately happening. The system wants a generation of part time workers. They want mindless drones. They want people protesting every 10 years for a higher minimum wage. They want people to be dependent and not INDEPENDENT.

reply to post by Notheycant


Should be careful too or the children will all be wearing pink in the years to come and prancing about singing 'The Sound Of Music' and acting like a Telly Tubby!

reply to post by Notheycant


I'm older than you and we didn't have computers in school. I had to use a fountain pen or whatever it was called, you dip your pen into an ink well on your desk. No it didn't have a feather lol I'm not THAT old. A ballpoint pen or pencil wasn't allowed. I came to Canada to finish off my schooling and thought it was odd there were ready made pens. Kinda glad though, that indigo ink got on everything.

The one thing I notice about North Americans, is they have very little knowledge of geography. It frustrates me.

I think some subjects can be made more interesting. Like history. I was bored out of my mind learning about kings and queens, battle of Hastings, William the conqueror, but once it changed to Egypt, Helen of Troy, Greek mythology, I was captivated and wanted to learn. A good teacher can make it more fun to learn.

I was also in a system where you were put into one of 4 groups according to your own level. We went to seperate classes. I started off at next to the bottom. Made friends in those classes, then some got moved to the bottom, others moved to next to the top or third. It motivated me to want to go up to the higher group. I went up to the third level. I would never have made it to the top. I think this was a good system because the slow earners could work at their own pace. The brainiacs can be in the same classes.

reply to post by Notheycant


I'm going to throw something in on this thread.

There are two issues at play in the mainstream political world right now, teachers unions, and the shape of education itself. I know an incredibly talented woman right now who works at a private school, (PhD) but is underpaid. Her pay is in the realm of what others with 2 year degrees make (and hers is an 8 year degree). But at the same time, I had a horrific time in the public education system. I ended up in special-special ed, for kids who didn't go to class but scored high on the finals anyway. A strange room for "high IQ low achievers". My pre-college education experience was a total waste of time. I see reform as essential. But in college I enjoyed myself.

We need to separate these two issues. If there is a fight against teachers union - aka high wages for teachers, we're going to end up with burger flippers educating our children to be burger flippers. But at the same time, the information age has opened the doors to incredible possibilities, we see through online phenomenon like Kahn Academy. We need reform desperately, and we need to recognize the power of IT to inform children on the basics, but we also need to recognize that true teachers are worth their weight in gold, remembering that everyone who has shaped our current society (Turing, Computers - Einstein, physics) was a college professor, a teacher. So my opinion is, lets go for the reform, and lets all agree that our children are worth it if the costs are high. If not our children, then what else is worth spending on?

Peace.

reply to post by adjensen


Borg training 101.

Nice video OP! The animation was also a nice touch and kept a focus on the imagination, which is key with children.

I'm almost 50 and had no computers until late high school. I was started in an alternative school system until the grade of 4, at which point I had to struggle to "get onboard" with a more mainstream mindset (raise hands for questions, get in line for lunch,bathroom, heavy focus on rote memorization and not content etc).
I miss my alternative school years, I went to classes that kept my interest and piqued my imagination like biology, art and geometry, but fell behind in language and math.

In my high school years my father taught at a private high school but they didn't pay him enough to send me there. This is very typical, but he was an amazing teacher who influenced his students heavily, and they are better people because of this. But is this fair? The children of the privileged are allowed to have an amazing education but the children of the teachers giving this education aren't?

It is a very touchy subject and deals with our planets most valuable resource, our children.

If your kid isn't asking you questions you might not be doing your job well. Always engage and work their imagination, it may save all our lives!

reply to post by Aliquandro


RE "But is this fair? The children of the privileged are allowed to have an amazing education but the children of the teachers giving this education aren't?"

Fair is a word used often by government to sell their social agendas. Everyone having access / being told to do the same thing doesn't equate to fair. It just means everyone (or the majority) gets mediocre (at best) services. With regards to teachers, I am sure most of them have their heart in the right places when they get into the profession. But something immoral (in my opinion) happens, they are controlled by a bureaucratic system that doesn't reward and punish like normal jobs. The system protects all teachers equally and FAIRLY without the students in mind. Simply put, we have a system in place that makes it impossible to fire a teacher and makes it impossible to reward a good teacher.

It's the same system that unintentionally makes the majority of police officers corrupt just by following protocol. The good intended people that want to become officers to help their communities are weeded out and outnumbered by the bullies. It deters truly decent people that just want to help. Same thing with politicians, just look at who runs, usually narcissistic individuals with inflated ego's.

We basically have two (maybe 3) choices when it comes to schooling. Public (which should be called Government Schools), Private and Home Schooling (but that is not a realistic choice for most families). If government would relinquish their "free" schooling monopolies then maybe people would truly have choices of where to send their kids. Bad teachers would get fired and good teachers would get rewarded. Whats great about a true free market is it creates competition of all kinds. Prices would adjust (usually go down) and options would go up. No more of a ONE SIZE FITS ALL school. Everyone has different needs.

I might have ranted but I hope I was able to get my point across.


-

Josh

Notheycant
We basically have two (maybe 3) choices when it comes to schooling. Public (which should be called Government Schools), Private and Home Schooling (but that is not a realistic choice for most families). If government would relinquish their "free" schooling monopolies then maybe people would truly have choices of where to send their kids. Bad teachers would get fired and good teachers would get rewarded. Whats great about a true free market is it creates competition of all kinds. Prices would adjust (usually go down) and options would go up. No more of a ONE SIZE FITS ALL school. Everyone has different needs.

And the people who can't get into one of the more prestigious schools, what happens to them? There's a finite number of students each school can handle. By definition some people have to end up in below average or worse schools. You have no plan to address that issue.

reply to post by Aazadan


If it was a true free market there would be a vast amount of choices and price ranges. If there is a need for something it would exist without government.

i do totally agree with that,every child should be taught about business and money in the classroom as this is an important factor of life without it you cant survive,when i left school i didnt even realize i had a credit score or what it was they dont want children to grow up and have their own ambition of success to have knowledge of what a business is,or the value of money,i think it is so sad that it is illegal to have a lemonade stand that is ridiculous if the government cant pocket on something then they will take it away or ban it

I'm all for educating the children to help save the Earth. Most of the things I've learned in US public/private schools did not help me once I got out. Most everything I've learned to help me "succeed" was self learned or from my parents.

Nowadays talking heads are espousing a sustainable way of life, with a minimal "carbon footprint" and to "go green".

Yet how many schools are actively teaching how to conserve water, how to raise a garden, or animal husbandry to raise and butcher various animals to eat? How many schools require classes on conservationism and living within your means? Why not teach the kids to eat the edible "weeds" found around the land?

How about basic tradeskills like blacksmithing, basket weaving, or building your own house?

At any rate, from my perspective.. it sounds nice on paper to be "for the planet", but living that way is going to be hard if not impossible without some basic education on living symbiotically with the planet, and quite frankly most Western regions are at war with the planet with continuous development projects always expanding

reply to post by Notheycant


Why has this been at the top of the front page for two weeks... I've read it - I'm over it. New stories please?

reply to post by DigitalJedi805

Why has this been at the top of the front page for two weeks... I've read it - I'm over it. New stories please?

Two weeks?

Are ye a time traveler? Looks to me like the OP was posted four days ago

adjensen
Two weeks?

Are ye a time traveler? Looks to me like the OP was posted four days ago

Well, when something is boring is seems to go on forever.

So what if the power of the choir has been brought into service of group learning. Just because it is strange and unfamiliar to the old does not mean it must immediately be destroyed. Has anyone looked at the results?

What if the method works?

Where are the results analysis?









What if, while you were not looking, someone actually figured out how to use computers to improve education. And not just change, but radically achieve unheard of results. Where the actual learning happens at home, or on the school computer, and class room time is purely for teacher student interaction using, and taking the new information out for a drive.











Here take a look at the counter argument.


2.6 million views
Khan is achieving 100% math literacy where his program is implemented.
The truth and the future are gaining steam.
"I think what you have seen here is the future of education". - Bill Gates






Towards the end of the video Khan explains how their system has freed the teachers, who can actually spend time with the students.


Don't be afraid of the future, just because it looks strange and unfamiliar to you.



Mike