Quote:So, for me, I sometimes wonder .. am I making everyone practice piano 2 hours a day just so those few who go on to become virtuosos will have received a proper start?
I despised math as a subject because it seemed inherently impractical. I'm not saying that there should not be advanced classes for kids who are talented in that area - I was not - but I agree with the gist of your comment.
What is happening is that by teaching trig and calculus you are graduating a bunch of kids who learned just enough to pass the tests and who will never ever use it again but who also can't do their own income tax return because they lack basic math skills.
The whole concept of "subject-based" education...as opposed to skills-based education seems, IMHO, to be geared more to the interests of the teachers/administration than the needs of the students.
