My view

[Ivorytickler]

Originally Posted by LostNJax

I was just meaning that elementary aged students don't create projects using power point and excel. They use paper, glue, scissors, etc. Sure they will use it in college and maybe even in highschool (could be as low as junior high) but it doesn't seem, to me, reasonable to teach them something at such a young age they aren't going to use in the near future. They already have so much that is crammed in to the curriculum, and that's just the basic adding, subtracting, reading, and writing. I feel that if they are going to learn these programs then they should learn them in junior high.. maybe 7th or 8th grade...I think that's when I learned it.

There has been times in the past when I was teaching a child to use excel and he/she could even read a first grade level book. I feel that my time would have been more beneficial to the child had I spent it teaching him/her to read instead of excel. However, that was not the view of the administration.

Don't get me wrong I think technology is great, but I feel that it is used/pushed/enforced a little too much in the education systems.

But my whole point is that technology is IMO holding our students back in many ways. It is kind of a necessary evil, the students learn (can learn) a lot from it, however they miss out on many other learnings as well.

My daughters have used powerpoint and other software since before 5th grade instead of paper and glue. for 5th grade and later, they had to use the computer (their school issues lap tops to each student starting in 5th grade). The only down side I see is perfectionism. Because it's so easy to change things on the computer, my dd never feels it's right. She's always looking for something to make better. With paper and glue, eventually, you're done because it's too much of a pain to change.

[charolastra00]

Originally Posted by LostNJax

I was just meaning that elementary aged students don't create projects using power point and excel. They use paper, glue, scissors, etc. Sure they will use it in college and maybe even in highschool (could be as low as junior high) but it doesn't seem, to me, reasonable to teach them something at such a young age they aren't going to use in the near future. They already have so much that is crammed in to the curriculum, and that's just the basic adding, subtracting, reading, and writing. I feel that if they are going to learn these programs then they should learn them in junior high.. maybe 7th or 8th grade...I think that's when I learned it.

There has been times in the past when I was teaching a child to use excel and he/she could even read a first grade level book. I feel that my time would have been more beneficial to the child had I spent it teaching him/her to read instead of excel. However, that was not the view of the administration.

Don't get me wrong I think technology is great, but I feel that it is used/pushed/enforced a little too much in the education systems.

But my whole point is that technology is IMO holding our students back in many ways. It is kind of a necessary evil, the students learn (can learn) a lot from it, however they miss out on many other learnings as well.

Gotcha. I guess my school system worked differently than the one you grew up in- I certainly remember using PP in elementary school and learned it in our weekly computer lab time very early on. It might have been a gifted thing- we had biweekly "country reports" in 2nd and 3rd grade where we presented to the class a country we researched and one of the options was doing a powerpoint. I never had great fine motor skills so I got better grades if I did a PP than if I tried to do a poster. :P I feel like I used PP in normal ed class as well in elementary school, but my memory is fuzzy.

Excel has pretty much no use for an elementary schooler- you're right there.

[Easybreezy]

I've recently returned to college after many, many years, to establish myself in the health care professions. It's definitely an interesting experience.

So far, I've done better on all placement tests than the average student. Flew thru algebra as a self study in 6 weeks. I'm taking Biology right now. There are 12 students in my class. Because it is an evening class at a community college, there is not a lot of traditional students, more non traditional.

Some of the class whines when we don't get out early. They expect study guides, which are available online, but even there you have to do the work. The instructor does tell us what might be on a test, but there are always surprises. The biggest problem is that the class simply does seem to know how to do the work, how to take the tests.


There is way too much text messaging in the class, and this includes the middle aged instructor.

What is also interesting is that out of the 12 people, 3 people are running A averages, 3 C's, 3 D's, and 3 F's. Considering that I haven't taken a science course in many decades, it's pretty remarkable to me that I am one of the A's, and quite possibly might be at the top of the class.

It is an interesting experience for sure.

[okaydorothy]

Some of my friends also went back to school and all have graduated. They all graduated with at least a 3.9 gpa. All of these friends have children or had chilcren under 10 when they were at school. They all had jobs also and were mortgages etc.

What is wrong with all the kids who are in college that are still living at home, no repsonsibilities and still cannot make it to school on time. One kid last night said she was confident that she would pass the test next week ; but in class she is on facebook, reading twilight, shopping etc.

Thansk for the support.

d

[Ivorytickler]

Originally Posted by okaydorothy

Some of my friends also went back to school and all have graduated. They all graduated with at least a 3.9 gpa. All of these friends have children or had chilcren under 10 when they were at school. They all had jobs also and were mortgages etc.

What is wrong with all the kids who are in college that are still living at home, no repsonsibilities and still cannot make it to school on time. One kid last night said she was confident that she would pass the test next week ; but in class she is on facebook, reading twilight, shopping etc.

Thansk for the support.

d

Something I noticed when I was in school this last time was that kids these days don't seem to have any kind of realistic way of predicting how well they'll do. I used to just shake my head. These kids would swear they were going to ace the next test and then failed. They were shocked. They had no idea they didn't know the material. How can you not know you don't understand what is being taught. How they manage to graduate is beyond me. I too found it easy to pull all A's. I couldn't believe how easy it was to get A's this time around. While I never had to work hard for them when I was an undergrad, I got a few B's. Even the first time around in grad school I had about half A's and half B's. This time, all A's with two A+'s and one A- and it was a cake walk while working full time and raising two kids. Why kids today can't pull good grades is beyond me. It's easy. Show up, pay attention and do the work. Do let us know how yout twittering classmate does on the test.

The future is going to be an interesting place. What kind of workers will these kids make? Last time I looked, Twittering wasn't a paying profession and goofing off at work would get you fired. Maybe they'll grow up then.

Unfortunately, we've coddled our kids and demanded consessions for them for so long that they feel entitled to what they want. Used to be kids were born into a family. Now they transform a family when born. The family revolves around them. That is not a good thing.

I'm ready to join my right wing, fundamentalist brother. He preaches that the family comes first and the kids last. He says you take care of your marriage first, your family second and then you worry about individual kids. That it's their lot in life to learn how to adapt. He has an amazing family in spite of not doing half of what's considered the norm for his kids. He expects his kids to do for themselves and to do for the family.