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Old 08-08-2014, 04:53 AM
 
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
10,932 posts, read 11,659,426 times
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I have a technical education in economics, but before that i was a liberal arts major in college - history, philosophy, literature, political science, etc. There is no inconsistency. I use the gifts i learned in the liberal arts to think and write and i have passed this learning along to my children who followed in my path - liberal arts educations, followed by post graduate work in technical fields. Now, working only part time before i retire, i have once again become an avid reader of history, philosophy and literature. It enriches my life.
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Old 08-15-2014, 08:53 AM
 
Location: Florida
4,103 posts, read 5,392,035 times
Reputation: 10105
Quote:
Originally Posted by el_marto View Post
Ahh so what, us young'uns don't need to memorise all that old stuff now that google exists. Google has rendered entire university degrees redundant. We learn about what's relevant today and if we should happen to need a Shakespeare quote or whatever then it's only a couple of clicks away.

THIS is a huge factor in todays youth (myself being 29 included.) I cant tell you how many times my dad and I have had a political chat and he forgets the name of some politician back in the 50s and I just pull up my iPhone, look it up, and hes like "Ooohh that's right!"

Theres no point in memorizing facts these days, instead your mind is better used on ANALYSIS. My buddy for instance has a GREAT memory, but hes a horrible decision maker and lacks common sense. I have a horrible memory but great analytical skills. I think as data becomes more and more readily available, our idea of education will change from memorization, to utilization.
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Old 08-16-2014, 09:50 PM
 
425 posts, read 428,237 times
Reputation: 411
Quote:
Originally Posted by thatguydownsouth View Post
THIS is a huge factor in todays youth (myself being 29 included.) I cant tell you how many times my dad and I have had a political chat and he forgets the name of some politician back in the 50s and I just pull up my iPhone, look it up, and hes like "Ooohh that's right!"

Theres no point in memorizing facts these days, instead your mind is better used on ANALYSIS. My buddy for instance has a GREAT memory, but hes a horrible decision maker and lacks common sense. I have a horrible memory but great analytical skills. I think as data becomes more and more readily available, our idea of education will change from memorization, to utilization.
Yes, but when you say "our" idea of education, you are only speaking of one group (which happens to be a majority in this country).

Philosophers, inventors, and educational "progressives" have been saying since the dawn of man that the purpose of education should be to free and empower the mind, rather than regurgitate bits of information. Unfortunately, our mass school system and most people who support it (or fight against it, even) are firmly set in their shallow view of the purpose of education. To give credit where it is due, there has been *some* push in public and private education towards this better philosophy of education, but it is often implemented poorly, and still the exception rather than the norm.

So yes, as the general population gets more intelligent and wise, then many people will slowly shift their idea of education to the more practical and sensible one.
Who knows when it will become predominant. Could be in 5 years or 500, but probably somewhere in between.

Although many people shame the current generation of kids, I have great hope for them. They may be living in rough times and may have different priorities, but in my opinion students are just as teachable as they ever were, if not more so, due to a more expanded mind via globalization and technology. I for one cannot wait for the newer generation to replace ours. They will do a better job than us (if we don't completely screw it up for them).
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Old 08-16-2014, 11:44 PM
 
Location: Maryland's 6th District.
8,358 posts, read 25,151,111 times
Reputation: 6540
The irony is that the 10-12 year olds today are going to say the exact same thing of the younger generation once they become elderly.

No one, not one generation, owns the entitlement of knowledge. And that knowledge is completely relevant with the times, and with one's place within that time. We often hear about how much more knowledgeable someone from the 1800s was about the world about him but take that same guy from the city and stick him on a farm, do you honestly believe that he would know how to shoe a horse? Simply because it was the 1800s? People back then knew less about the world around them but talked more about what they knew. If you didn't have television or perhaps even a radio and your only source of information from the outside world was a newspaper or occasional magazine what else would you talk about? Just because someone knew about the Crimean War does not mean the knew about it. Their thoughts were influenced by the opinions in the paper and of those around them.

I personally believe that the young in's of today are more knowledgeable than those of previous generations, but also more ignorant. It is clearly evident that the more one has access to knowledge the less that person accesses that knowledge. People read up on current events back in the day because that is what they did. People today play Flappy Bird on the same device they could use to find out nearly everything about anything...and they don't. When I was kid and asked a question I was told to go to the library and look it up. Ten years ago if one posted a question on an Internet forum the response would have been to Google that ****. These days few remained others that they can research the question on their own time and perhaps even get an answer faster that way if they did. No, today even the answers are just as ignorant as if the responder can't even be bothered to research their response (evidence: nearly every post in every thread on City-Data regarding Common Core. Practically all responses are not based on actual researched answers).
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Old 08-17-2014, 02:16 AM
 
Location: Humboldt County, CA
778 posts, read 818,012 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by K-Luv View Post
People read up on current events back in the day because that is what they did. People today play Flappy Bird on the same device they could use to find out nearly everything about anything...and they don't.
However, human nature being as it is, if you handed a teenager an iPhone in 1850, I think they'd do the same thing.
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Old 08-17-2014, 05:03 PM
 
425 posts, read 428,237 times
Reputation: 411
Quote:
Originally Posted by K-Luv View Post
The irony is that the 10-12 year olds today are going to say the exact same thing of the younger generation once they become elderly.

No one, not one generation, owns the entitlement of knowledge. And that knowledge is completely relevant with the times, and with one's place within that time. We often hear about how much more knowledgeable someone from the 1800s was about the world about him but take that same guy from the city and stick him on a farm, do you honestly believe that he would know how to shoe a horse? Simply because it was the 1800s? People back then knew less about the world around them but talked more about what they knew. If you didn't have television or perhaps even a radio and your only source of information from the outside world was a newspaper or occasional magazine what else would you talk about? Just because someone knew about the Crimean War does not mean the knew about it. Their thoughts were influenced by the opinions in the paper and of those around them.

I personally believe that the young in's of today are more knowledgeable than those of previous generations, but also more ignorant. It is clearly evident that the more one has access to knowledge the less that person accesses that knowledge. People read up on current events back in the day because that is what they did. People today play Flappy Bird on the same device they could use to find out nearly everything about anything...and they don't. When I was kid and asked a question I was told to go to the library and look it up. Ten years ago if one posted a question on an Internet forum the response would have been to Google that ****. These days few remained others that they can research the question on their own time and perhaps even get an answer faster that way if they did. No, today even the answers are just as ignorant as if the responder can't even be bothered to research their response (evidence: nearly every post in every thread on City-Data regarding Common Core. Practically all responses are not based on actual researched answers).
Excellent post.

As for kids not looking up stuff with their computer: that is OUR fault. That is our schools and parents and politicians and culture's fault. NOT the kids'!

If we focused more time and effort on helping them to understand the value of learning and knowledge (rather than simply repeating the cliche over and over again), kids would spend more time educating themselves. Our schools and parents fail in teaching kids the importance of the intellect, and then we blame the kids for not realizing what we didn't explain to them well enough in the first place. Instead, our schools consist of shoving isolated bits of knowledge down their throats, without even giving a practical context or solid reasoning behind it. No wonder they rather play Angry Birds.
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Old 08-17-2014, 05:16 PM
 
1,002 posts, read 1,952,504 times
Reputation: 1716
They have to be educated enough to have questions. Then the technology can help them answer their questions. But if you never study history or classic thinkers/ philosophy you will just have the same questions (or no questions) as your parents or peer group. Questioning is a very basic element of learning. But it does not come without primary education.
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Old 08-17-2014, 09:06 PM
 
1,248 posts, read 1,375,922 times
Reputation: 639
About culture. Parents are suppose to preserve culture. That is the parents fault for not installing various attributes into their children. For me I had to harrass and drill my grand parents and milk the information out of them all. It is obvious that my parents idea of my culture is damaged. Then about all of those events like take the Chicago Fire for example; or the human fly for instance. Those are just current events. One day people are going to forget about 2001 for example. Right now we have to live with that. Right now 17 year olds do not know why the United States went to war and all they know is the lie in the textbooks. I feel your pain OP. I understand I want to know my culture and I want to have that feeling of knowing as well. Not just wear trinkets and bs.
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Old 08-17-2014, 10:17 PM
 
32,516 posts, read 36,995,479 times
Reputation: 32571
Quote:
Originally Posted by thatguydownsouth View Post
THIS is a huge factor in todays youth (myself being 29 included.) I cant tell you how many times my dad and I have had a political chat and he forgets the name of some politician back in the 50s and I just pull up my iPhone, look it up, and hes like "Ooohh that's right!"

Theres no point in memorizing facts these days, instead your mind is better used on ANALYSIS. My buddy for instance has a GREAT memory, but hes a horrible decision maker and lacks common sense. I have a horrible memory but great analytical skills. I think as data becomes more and more readily available, our idea of education will change from memorization, to utilization.
The thing is...... your dad knew that politician existed. He's simply forgotten the name of someone who was part of the political process 60 or 70 years ago.

You, on the other hand, did not. Being able to Google "Southern Dixiecrats and their affect on the vice-presidential nomination of 1948" won't do students in 2035 much good unless they know there were Dixiecrats. And that the vice-president is nominated. Or Google improves to the point it tells people what to Google.
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Old 08-18-2014, 09:01 AM
 
Location: Florida
4,103 posts, read 5,392,035 times
Reputation: 10105
Quote:
Originally Posted by DewDropInn View Post
The thing is...... your dad knew that politician existed. He's simply forgotten the name of someone who was part of the political process 60 or 70 years ago.

You, on the other hand, did not. Being able to Google "Southern Dixiecrats and their affect on the vice-presidential nomination of 1948" won't do students in 2035 much good unless they know there were Dixiecrats. And that the vice-president is nominated. Or Google improves to the point it tells people what to Google.
You also make the assumption that I don't wade through Wikipedia all the time in my free time. Having all of this information at hand digitally, where you can click on links within articles is incredible. I can start with an article on Germany and be reading about a famous actor in Portugal 30 minutes later just by following links. Also todays digital articles are much larger than they used to be in Encyclopedias due to the latters lack of space.
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