Ever think about useless information in school? (masters, geology, meteorology)
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What is always, always, ignored in these discussions is that 1/2 of the school population has a below average IQ (and yeah, I know there's "controversy" about IQ).
So many of you talk about analysis and making connections and the smart kids usually do get it. I went to a very rural school in NW PA and didn't feel "overwhelmed" by college. In fact, my GPA went up a full QP from high school. Of course, that's when college was truly reserved for the "smart" kids and before, look in the mirror, parents demanded schools prepare all their kids for college. That's where that comes from, parents and policy makers. Not classroom teachers.
The slower kids struggle to get the same answer twice in a row when adding 2+2 and spelling their names correctly. Hell, some systems have vast majorities of kids starting school in Kindergarten who don't even know their real names.
You rail against standardized tests yet look in the mirror again to see who it was that demanded those tests and that teaching and learning and, by extension, school rankings be tied to the results on those tests.
Almost all of higher education is USELESS (spoken from a person finishing their Master's degree this year). If higher ed taught me anything, it's this. It's. A. Farce.
I was just telling my wife last night that education would be much better spent teaching skills to actually contribute to society rather than a bunch of arrogant, self-important talking heads with degrees in philosophy and political science.
That is very true. The only reason that grad school exists is to provide cheap, compliant labor to do the professors' "research", that the professor can take the credit for and get paid for. I learned that the hard way.
The problem is defining "useless". Counties in a state can be important (Maryland has 23 plus Baltimore City) when discussing state issues.
Knowing that DC is not part of MD, or VA, is something an amazing number of people don't know.
I have never once since I took it in high school needed Chemistry, Bio and Physics is a different set of circumstances.
Education in the US is broad based, a little bit if everything is thrown in to cover all the bases. What's "useless" for you may be an absolute necessity for someone else.
That can be applied to everything and not just school. When I worked in the glass industry I didn't need to know what the melt point of the raw materials was or even the proportions, all I had to know, when I was on the factory floor, was what a good bottle looked like. As a Purchasing Agent (I guess that's called Supply Chain Management now) I had to know how much of what material we had on hand and when to order it (among myriad other things). But I knew the melt point anyway.
You use chemistry, biology, and physics every day.
Diagramming sentences in the 5th grade, was the most useless thing I remember from school. I refused to pay any attention to it and certainly didn't need it to understand English composition.
But in regards to the rote memorization of disconnected bits and pieces, how would people get straight A grades and be put on honor rolls, without it? They cram lists of those bits into their short-term memories, right up to the minute they take quizzes and tests and forget most of it, an hour later. They rarely do well on comprehensive achievement tests, that require understanding of how collected knowledge fits together and works.
For some of us, diagramming sentences worked wonders. It depends on what kind of thinker you are. It certainly would have improved where you place commas.
We have a lot of useless courses because, susprise, teachers want to get paid.
But it’s more crazy with what they dont cover than what they do cover.
IMO years of K-12 courses should be spent on personal finances and homeownership as these are the two most important aspects of your finances. You can take it in college but by then it’s too late, you’re already in student loan debt just to go go to college.
You use chemistry, biology, and physics every day.
Yeah, the very basics to cook some coffee, make some pancakes, take care of your pets, and not put too much clothing in your luggage. Not the advanced stuff.
Hell you use math everyday too when you’re calculating a tip, not Algebra 2 and Calculus.
Fact is a lot the stuff kids learn today is useless.
What a lot of people miss about school at all levels is they are teaching kids ways of thinking, how to think, not just pressing material into their memory. A lot of English class reading is not relevant in itself. You really do not need to know what McDuff said ever again after the test. However learning the analytical thinking skills to understand, dissect, and discuss literature is critically important.
Likewise memorizing a bunch of math formulas that you will never use again is of no prima facia value whatsoever. However learning to see the logical patterns and how to apply that logic to problems is forever important and helpful.
Many science courses are of no value for many professions and the things that are learned will never be used again. But learning how the maxims of scientific research and analysis apply across the board to all areas of science it critical. it helps people identify and understand the basic tenants of good research and experimentation to see them applied in different scenarios.
That is very true. The only reason that grad school exists is to provide cheap, compliant labor to do the professors' "research", that the professor can take the credit for and get paid for. I learned that the hard way.
In all your posts...all your posts...it is clear that you hate education. And it's not pretty.
That wasn't my experience in grad school at all. My education for my bacheolor's degree took my from the level of basic knowledge about geology, meteorology, and astronomy to the point where I actually had knowledge in depth of those content areas.
And when I went for my specialist degree in education, it was where I finally started learning anything more than superficial information about school finance, education law, federal law related to special education, and so forth.
I'm just tired of your constant negativity. It's not the educational system that failed you, it's you that failed the educational system. Ignore.
We have a lot of useless courses because, susprise, teachers want to get paid.
But it’s more crazy with what they dont cover than what they do cover.
IMO years of K-12 courses should be spent on personal finances and homeownership as these are the two most important aspects of your finances. You can take it in college but by then it’s too late, you’re already in student loan debt just to go go to college.
That's a fair criticism, and those are examples of practical learning that would be beneficial to many, many students.
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