[rdberg1957]

What has been removed from our education is the capacity for deep thought. Television has certainly taken attention from books. In books and lengthy magazine articles, a line of reasoning is developed. Computers and the internet allow us to gather much greater amounts of information than in past years, but we may not use it as well. Look magazine was a popular magazine in the 1950's. I had the opportunity to read a series of lengthy articles written at the time of the Arkansas desegregation controversy by the superintendent of schools. I wondered to myself if I would ever see such thoughtful writing in People magazine.

[Lighthouse]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smiley', 'T')he evolution of the smart man



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No wonder smart men are becoming scarce. What finally did them in was the print-your-own-t-shirt shops. That gave them the weapon to effectively remove themselves from the gene pool.

[Lighthouse]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rdberg1957', 'W')hat has been removed from our education is the capacity for deep thought.

[TommyJefferson]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ElijahJones', 'A')re we talking about social indoctrination (education) into the consumer culture

[holmes]

Also the lack of minerals/vitamins/enzymes in our food is inhibiting brain development. Also the mercury laced wombs. Also the chemicals in our environment and food, etc...

[BlisteredWhippet]

I had the opportunity to peruse a schoolboy's textbook from the 1900s, my great-grandfather's schoolbook. It was a compact little volume, packed with problem sets on every page. Mathematics was taught "applied". There were no "bricks" of problems, "exercises", so forth.

All the problems were story problems, framed in occupational reality. For example, how many board feet of lumber do you need to make a crate 4x8x6? If lumber is X/bd. ft, how much is the cost?

The problems were framed around real-life occupations: millworker, dressmaker, agriculturist, builder, etc. Lots of problems involving money and cash economics. How to make interest-rate calculations on loans. Daily budgeting skills.

After a course in all this, the kid could be expected to be able to conduct his own business or at least jump in and run with just about any occupation in the society.

[mercurygirl]

[mercurygirl]

Video: Do schools today kill creativity?

link

[mercurygirl]

Video: "Who controls our children?"

link

Swiped this from the "college is a waste" thread, thanks dukey. It's long and poor video quality, but great research and worth watching in full or in part if you're at all interested in education.

Basically, public education = behaviour modification. Cui bono?

[smiley]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')his may seem odd, but given the average intellect of someone with a Phd I find it hard to believe that they do not see that the university system is flooding the market for degrees. Within the system grade inflation is a horrible problem.

[dukey]

in the uk (from my observation) science and math based degrees are dying, and arts based degrees are gaining in popularity.

[smiley]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') think that tells the whole story. The society is being maintained by people with hardcore analysis skills, but the universities find it much easier to sell slushy art degrees.

[smiley]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')lso, you may not be saying this but I just thought I would mention, there is big difference between Dante and the guy who won the local art contest with a bed spring decorated with fingernails and cigarette buttes.