RE: Education is bad!
July 17, 2013 at 11:08 pm
(This post was last modified: July 17, 2013 at 11:19 pm by pineapplebunnybounce.)
the problem is more cultural than most people realize.
i was raised in asia. i've actually studied in 3 different countries in asia. And the key is that for us, doing well in school is what you'd call a requirement. it's not an option. there isn't another option in life, if you don't do well in school. all those options are considered undesirable. it's not just because doing well in school gets you a good job, it's also the prestige, and most of all the "honour of your family" (or, more accurately, their "faces"). so most kids in asia are brought up rather traditionally in this way, i was one of those kids, and we tend to take school deadly serious. To this day, if i get a bad score, even if it doesn't affect my overall GPA, i feel like a worthless human being.
in canada, i've been to school for a while here, and i've tutor a lot of kids for about 3 years now. the things they get away with, it's incredible. when i first started tutoring, i couldn't believe that high school kids haven't memorized their multiplication table yet. Then guess how i felt when i was told it was optional. I memorized mine when i was 8, just like everyone in my class did. i never used a calculator until i graduated high school. students here use it all the time. around here school isn't such a big deal, you do well or you don't, life is so much more than just school. being lazy in school isn't a bad thing, it's just being a teenager, and well, we all have "lives" right? i won't deny that high school kids here have much happier and relaxing time than i did, but i've also seen a lot of these kids in university, and they can't handle it. math courses in uni don't allow calculators, and kids plainly cannot finish their exam on time because they can't count fast enough. loads of them drop out of their math courses this way. Which is a prerequisite for any math and science major.
there's a balance to be struck between the two extremes. but i'm glad i was brought up "the hard way", because uni very manageable to me, and not even half as tough as my high school was.
@Psykhronic, high school physics is very understandable by just reading the text book and doing the practices. calc is a little trickier depending on your foundation in math, but yea, both are a lot more fun when you're not being tested on, XD.
i was raised in asia. i've actually studied in 3 different countries in asia. And the key is that for us, doing well in school is what you'd call a requirement. it's not an option. there isn't another option in life, if you don't do well in school. all those options are considered undesirable. it's not just because doing well in school gets you a good job, it's also the prestige, and most of all the "honour of your family" (or, more accurately, their "faces"). so most kids in asia are brought up rather traditionally in this way, i was one of those kids, and we tend to take school deadly serious. To this day, if i get a bad score, even if it doesn't affect my overall GPA, i feel like a worthless human being.
in canada, i've been to school for a while here, and i've tutor a lot of kids for about 3 years now. the things they get away with, it's incredible. when i first started tutoring, i couldn't believe that high school kids haven't memorized their multiplication table yet. Then guess how i felt when i was told it was optional. I memorized mine when i was 8, just like everyone in my class did. i never used a calculator until i graduated high school. students here use it all the time. around here school isn't such a big deal, you do well or you don't, life is so much more than just school. being lazy in school isn't a bad thing, it's just being a teenager, and well, we all have "lives" right? i won't deny that high school kids here have much happier and relaxing time than i did, but i've also seen a lot of these kids in university, and they can't handle it. math courses in uni don't allow calculators, and kids plainly cannot finish their exam on time because they can't count fast enough. loads of them drop out of their math courses this way. Which is a prerequisite for any math and science major.
there's a balance to be struck between the two extremes. but i'm glad i was brought up "the hard way", because uni very manageable to me, and not even half as tough as my high school was.
@Psykhronic, high school physics is very understandable by just reading the text book and doing the practices. calc is a little trickier depending on your foundation in math, but yea, both are a lot more fun when you're not being tested on, XD.
