The main problem with education (which is really teaching, or more
basically, training, mostly) is that the system was created to address a
very different set of needs, viz., to create a somewhat knowledgeable
yet still pliant work force to fill factory jobs and such -- jobs that
did not require a great deal of insight or creativity. The system has
not changed radically over the last several decades, yet the needs of
the economy have changed considerably away from that sort of factory
job. Before the 50s an 8th grade diploma could get you into the
factory, then it became the thing to go to high school as the demands of
the work world began to increase. Nowadays the jobs available to a
high-school-only graduate are decreasing rapidly as they have been
outsourced, and a minimum 2-year trade/technical degree of some sort is
the minimum to fill even factory jobs, as they have a lot more
technology involved with them. College is becoming more the minimum,
though a lot of the matriculating students are barely high-school (or
even 8th grade) capable to participate in that kind of "knowledge"-based
study.
I learned a lot of this a coupla weeks ago at a conference in which the
future economic development of SC was the topic. The facts being
conveyed about education and the increasing demands of a competitive
economy, based on manufacturing and knowledge sorts of endeavors, were
truly scary. The public systems now in place for "educating" children
are generally failing miserably, and a lot of that is due to a failure
of culture and society to value education, despite all the evidence that
is visible to even a casual observer. A couple of managers of some big
manufacturing operations here were lamenting that they had plenty of
jobs, but no one capable to fill them. Some of that was due to the
current economy limiting mobility (can't sell your house to go take a
job somewhere else) but a lot of it was due to a limited pool of capable
talent irrespective of that limitation. Interesting.
One statistic that was pretty scary was that in India, the top 10% of
all students outnumbers the entire population of students in the US.
And they are all hungry to have what we have here in the US or the
more-developed world. Multiply that by some factor for China...
--R
On 12/22/11 8:33 PM, Allan Streib wrote:
You all are reading past what I'm saying. I am not saying it not
possible to do a good job home schooling. I'm not endorsing public
schools either. I'm saying to do it (home schooling) well is a lot of
work. And I personally know of people who are "home schooling" their
kids and doing them a tremendous diservice both socially and
academically because they don't know what they are doing, they are not
putting in the effort that it demands, and they don't have the resources
to provide a rich educational curriculum.
Allan
G Mann<g2ma...@gmail.com> writes:
Sorry, I'm calling it out on those points.
Learning is a self guided experience once the desire for information is
awakened.
The idea that awakening can only come from a public school teacher [or a
private one] is one that has been way oversold. A parent can and easily
will guide the child to awakening and keep it energized.
It is not the duty of the state to have that job, and our present lack of
scholastic excellence demonstrates that conflict of interest between "hired
teacher on tenure" and the parent / child.
Grant...
AZ...
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