Fixing Education

[bladevalant546]

I been thinking on the topic of education in the United States (other opinions in other countries and through opinions of scientists such as Michio Kaku and Neil Degrasse Tyson. I have pondered on several obvious flaws concerning our current education I noticed at least in my perception several psychological flaws with our current system and a few in higher education financial and cultural flaws.

Psychological

1. Conformity in the sense that due to uniform policies and forced mental thinking. It appears individual thinking “within reason” is crushed throughout younger grade school levels. This is supported by the one size fits all educational approach, discouraging use of curiosity if it opposes the paradigm of either the school or teacher, the suppression of psychological preference for certain subjects over others.
2. Curiosity is often crushed in favor of maintaining syllabus. While we need reason and logic to maintain a orderly learning environment. I find the overall inability to enable exploration of individual talents suppressed. I had this happen to myself in 2nd grade when I wanted to read things on black holes and tornados over children’s books on a caterpillar that ate a lot. Michio touches on this in a youtube short on how usually curiosity in our educational system is crushed throughout high school.
3. Total lack of emotional and mental support from the education system. As we all know it is not the teachers “job” to raise the kid. With that said we can assume that they child will have a stable home, neither should we assume the individual’s neural and mental health was always up to par. There is observational evidence that suggests emotional and neural health affects the overall learning ability of an individual.

Financial

This pertains mostly to higher education, I feel the financial hurdles required to pursue higher education absurd. In my perception I considering mobility to pursue careers based on personal preference should be enabled to the point of least resistance. I am not 100% sure how to accomplish this goal, however I feel for the future of technological and social evolution it is important we resolve this issues. I find the fact one has to take on 20k-200k in debt to achieve an education or in other words a piece of paper absurd for a modern society. I know this is a politically charged topic, as this should be a social topic. I feel the financial limitations severely cripples social development.

My proposed solutions.

1. I believe order is important as younger humans (5-18) are at times irrational and require stability and a set schedule to help organize their time correctly. This however should not severely limit individuality mentally. I think psychological testing and observation can really help improve to create a customized learning program for each person or group of people (I am not an expert on psychology) tailored to maximize interest and individual talents.
2. Curiosity is a natural instinct of the human mind and should be used to the advantage of the person rather than stamped out. I feel with the above proposal is to allow, within reason, a student’s flexibility to explore and learn outside of a syllabus. This can be very rewarding as self-discovery might happen at a younger age. Possible exploit this to help an individual learn things that otherwise might be uninteresting.
3. Mental and neurological issues are now becoming more and more to be taken seriously. With that trend I feel since most of a young person’s life is in school. Emotional and neurological needs should be met. It would not only impact positively on the individuals life. It would impact the overall perception of education. It would also help shore up issues at the home and might even negate bullying to some degree as most cases are emotional outbursts due to issues in the head.

The solution I think to decrease the cost of education here in the USA, would be cut military budget by 10% (as we should only need it for national defense, it seems to work for other countries pretty well) and use that to pay for college for everyone. I am not fully educated on the back ground of our educational system, however eliminating college expenses would help out our economy, but promote innovation and new generations of scientists and other career fields.

These are my ideas in a nut shell, if in person I could elaborate better. I feel though reform of the educational system is important if not one of the most. Knowledge kills ignorance and ignorance often times is the breeding ground for a lot of social issues and emotional ones too.

[Minimalist]

here in the USA, would be cut military budget by 10% (as we should only need it for national defense, it seems to work for other countries pretty well) and use that to pay for college for everyone

I'd say 30% but that does not help the back end of your statement. What do you do with people who are simply not college material? More to the point, what about the type of degrees issued? We have plenty of psychology, business, philosophy, divinity (ugh - talk about useless!) and such but what is the job market for this.

There is no one thing which will fix the education system. It started to go down the shitter with this whole "self-esteem" crap in the 70's and has branched out into so many other little cesspools since.

[bladevalant546]

here in the USA, would be cut military budget by 10% (as we should only need it for national defense, it seems to work for other countries pretty well) and use that to pay for college for everyone

I'd say 30% but that does not help the back end of your statement. What do you do with people who are simply not college material? More to the point, what about the type of degrees issued? We have plenty of psychology, business, philosophy, divinity (ugh - talk about useless!) and such but what is the job market for this.

There is no one thing which will fix the education system. It started to go down the shitter with this whole "self-esteem" crap in the 70's and has branched out into so many other little cesspools since.

To be honest that is an interesting observation, with notion that some people are cut out for it. That could be rectified in some degree in aptitude evaluation or something to help an individual identify what they can do. There are tons of flaws so I will not pretend to know the answers I only speak from my own perception and learn as I discover new things or ideas.

Concerning degrees, that really brings up the structure of the curriculum. I would say allow it to be somewhat customizable to a degree and possible update the degree categories since they are kind of old. What would you suggest? Job market brings up an interesting model for sure, I like to entertain the coming storm of automation and machine replacing a lot of jobs in the near future as a catalyst of education reform.

I agree there is no one thing, I also know I simplified in order to make fine points. It is such a multi-faceted issue there is no one single fix. The over medication and diagnosis of ADHD and other psychological disorders are high. It does not eliminate the emotional and neurological effects on learning. Now I am not 100% sure the solution to it, however I am leaning for more understanding and knowledge into this subject as there is observable correlation to mental states and learning ability.

[Minimalist]

That could be rectified in some degree in aptitude evaluation or something to help an individual identify what they can do

I can hear FOX news screaming about "SOCIALISM" now.


True about the over medication. Another part of the problem which has nothing to do with schools, per se.

What about the burgeoning number of single-parent households? Even in 2 parent households the parents are frequently working long hours at shitty jobs just to keep a roof over their heads. Are they taking an interest in their kids education or are they simply demanding that teachers take some of the burden off of them?

I've been looking for flaws in this argument of George Carlin's since 2004.






Haven't found one yet.

[Davidthegoliath]

I think the current school system in the U.S. has been so over regulated that it has forced teachers into an almost bureaucratic role. Their Job being only to dole out papers and tell students how to fill them out. I don't think more funding would change this. What we need is a different structure for teachers so that they are in an environment where they can focus on the kids' learning abilities while they grow. I also think the diversity of teaching methods for each individual teacher is quite low, at least from my experience in school. Teachers need more peer review and assistance when they are not performing optimally. Kids also need an option to bypass high school in favor for lower education job training if they choose.

[Minimalist]

"Diversity of teaching methods" is incompatible with a bureaucracy. Not saying you are wrong but there is nothing bureaucrats love better than having everyone do the same thing. The inertia of the education system is nearly legendary.

Quick example. I've only lived in Errorzona for 8 years. Before that, I lived on Long Island, NY. There were something like 130 separate school districts in a two county area. 130 school superintendents. 130 boards of education. I'm sure you get the picture.

Almost every year like clockwork some proposal or another would surface to begin combining them in the interest of efficiency. And every year like clockwork the same reactions were made.

1- As long as you don't collapse MY school.

2- We don't want to be lumped in with THEM! ( almost always the richer white districts bitching about the poorer minority districts.)

3- The children will be on buses too long.

I should point out that the parents were just as guilty as the various administrators on these. The parents at least were paying the freight. Schools on Long Island are funded by some of the highest property taxes anywhere in the country.

[bladevalant546]

That could be rectified in some degree in aptitude evaluation or something to help an individual identify what they can do

I can hear FOX news screaming about "SOCIALISM" now.


True about the over medication. Another part of the problem which has nothing to do with schools, per se.

What about the burgeoning number of single-parent households? Even in 2 parent households the parents are frequently working long hours at shitty jobs just to keep a roof over their heads. Are they taking an interest in their kids education or are they simply demanding that teachers take some of the burden off of them?

I've been looking for flaws in this argument of George Carlin's since 2004.






Haven't found one yet.

Minus the fact i disagree with the notion it wil NEVER change. I cannot find any holes in his logic. The cruel irony of that video, as he is speaking the audience cheers on completely obvious . Have to hand it to the "owners" they played the game well....well played indeed.

[Davidthegoliath]

"Diversity of teaching methods" is incompatible with a bureaucracy. Not saying you are wrong but there is nothing bureaucrats love better than having everyone do the same thing. The inertia of the education system is nearly legendary.

I completely agree.

[Minimalist]

Minus the fact i disagree with the notion it wil NEVER change.

Well...it can get worse. I'm pretty sure that was not Carlin's point.

[bladevalant546]

Minus the fact i disagree with the notion it wil NEVER change.

Well...it can get worse. I'm pretty sure that was not Carlin's point.

Naw, which is why what i said was irrelevant. Hard to believe he was thomas the train narrator!