Do you hate how kids are being taught in school these days?

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zeldapsychology
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10 Dec 2009, 5:20 pm

Sure I didn't learn more advanced stuff until later on in grade but looking back I think either WOW that's how I was taught/OMG so there's a whole different or easier way!! !! Some examples 13-14 YOU CAN'T DO THAT so put 14 above 13 so = 1 BUT If you know harder math and integers you know the answer is -1. NOT putting 14 above 13!! !! Also with division my 10 year old sister is learning remainder 3 or whatever. example 4 r3 would be 4.3 (The only decimal the kid knows is about MONEY!) So when she gets to harder division she'll be confused!! !! ! SHEESH! What are your thoughts?



EnglishInvader
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10 Dec 2009, 5:35 pm

I barely know my times tables :lol: .



Elementary_Physics
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10 Dec 2009, 6:23 pm

EnglishInvader wrote:
I barely know my times tables :lol: .


I could never memorize that thing as a kid... I remember those long, boring hours in the family bedroom, trying to memorize them.



Celtic_Frost
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10 Dec 2009, 7:45 pm

That's the way I was taught when I was in elementary school. It's so stupid! Remembering your multiplication tables helps a lot, but saying that you can't subtract a larger number from a smaller number and the thing about remainders in division is so ret*d!

I think that the school system in the USA has MUCH bigger issues, though, so... Yeah...



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12 Dec 2009, 11:52 am

Yes, I kinda hate that now..... In some parts of london, they are actually using iPhones as part of the everyday school life, WOW! But I don't really see what is useful about that to be totally honest?


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zer0netgain
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12 Dec 2009, 11:48 pm

Kids are being taught to pass tests, not to think.

My nephew was in private school for a few years, and now that he's going back into public school, he has to bring a calculator to class because it's mandatory, and he can do all the math faster in his head. :roll:

When I was in school, it was against the rules to have a calculator unless it was an advanced math class that allowed it because of the advanced calculations that needed to be done.



GeorgeM
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22 Dec 2009, 10:44 pm

zer0netgain wrote:
My nephew was in private school for a few years, and now that he's going back into public school, he has to bring a calculator to class because it's mandatory, and he can do all the math faster in his head. :roll:


When I took Algebra I in 8th grade, we were required to have a TI-84 or whatever (i.e. $120 calculator). At my high school (private school), not only do the Algebra I classes NEVER use a calculator, we don't even need a big expensive calculator until pre-calculus.


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buryuntime
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22 Dec 2009, 10:59 pm

I just think there needs to be more support, individualized.



Fisky
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23 Dec 2009, 12:28 am

Primary education is not really horrible. How they approach teaching children and teens is very ineffective. Most children and teens have trouble visualizing or planning for their futures. Their brains are not developed yet. Thus, knowledge and grades are not deemed to be entirely important. You cannot touch them or interact with them.

There was a big test on physics in high school. The physics teacher decided to pay every person who got a 100% ten dollars. The class average went from 68% to 92%. Why? Because there was something tangible to it. It totally sucks that young people think like this but it works.



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31 Dec 2009, 2:52 pm

Certainly. Each subject has its problems:
- English: Basically we are marked on how many little tricks we have used, like including a semicolon, or having correct spelling, or using short sentences to build up tension. Or at least that's what they say--I just write what I think is good without following their advice and I still get good marks. It's like they know what good writing is, but they don't know why it's good, and so give the wrong advice. It's also extremely repetitive--mostly just Shakespeare.
- Maths: Arcane, boring and useless. Students constantly ask what use it is in real life and the teachers have to dodge around the question. Incomprehensible to most students: even if they do well they are probably just memorising the tricks and procedures we are taught without getting any sense of how to solve new problems.
- History: You just look at isolated snippets of history, with no sense of any bigger picture. It's extremely ethnocentric. Of course I can understand focusing on England, but it would help enormously to have some sense of what's going on in nearby countries at the same time. It completely glosses over all the Celtic parts of our history and makes the other 3/4 of our UK seem unimportant. (P.S. I'm from England) The tests are good, they ask open questions that make you think, but the main teaching is terrible.



gina-ghettoprincess
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01 Jan 2010, 10:44 am

zer0netgain wrote:
Kids are being taught to pass tests, not to think.


Absolutely. This has always bothered me.

At my school, which class you are in is decided by how well you do in your tests, and it is no secret which is "set one", "set two", "set six", etc. This causes people to say, "What set are you in?" and then act like they're so much cleverer than you if you're in a lower set than them. I hate this system with a passion. It is social segregation and it is clearly breeding snobbery, especially among people who have absolutely no right to claim to be intellectually superior to anyone else. If you get in an argument with someone, they'll undoubtedly bring up what set you're in, and if you're in a lower set they'll use it to "prove" that you are wrong and they are right.

Maybe if the school still had some classes for high-acheivers, and classes for low-acheivers, and classes for people in the middle, it could still be a good thing if they didn't explicitly "label" each class. They could act like the classes are mixed-ability, but really still have people of a similar ability in the same classes, because that way people would be getting the right amount of help with their work, but there wouldn't be so much snobbery about it.


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01 Jan 2010, 11:25 am

Elementary_Physics wrote:
EnglishInvader wrote:
I barely know my times tables :lol: .


I could never memorize that thing as a kid... I remember those long, boring hours in the family bedroom, trying to memorize them.


I was crap at times tables, but then my mum said that I'd get a PSP when I learn them... A week later I was fairly confident :P



Captain_Kirk
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01 Jan 2010, 1:15 pm

I hate it because schools set kids up to fail. Schools today try to break the kids spirit and turn them into yet another brain-dead member of the American consumer culture. It also encourages unhealthy competition. I got an A, what did you get? F, failure. Not knowing the answer should not be associated with failure, it should be a good thing because it helps you learn. There is no time to pursure your own interests in schools. English is mandatory every year. And gym classes (at least in my school) were limited to 9th grade gym, and then it was just electives. They also don't teach kids critical thinking skills. We are taught that America is the greatest country in the world, and we have to pledge allegiance to the flag every single day, something only the Nazis can say. We aren't taught how to improve our communication skills, instead we write stupid essay after stupid essay. We aren't taught how to have a discussion without getting angry or frustrated when things don't go our way. When most kids here are told America is the greatest country in the world, they nod their heads in agreement, instead of asking "Compared to what set of standards?" So I think education today does not help the kids at all. I tried asking questions in schoo,l, but you aren't allowed to question things in school. Besides, most of my teachers were too dumb to answer my questions.



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01 Jan 2010, 1:45 pm

Captain_Kirk wrote:
I hate it because schools set kids up to fail. Schools today try to break the kids spirit and turn them into yet another brain-dead member of the American consumer culture. It also encourages unhealthy competition. I got an A, what did you get? F, failure. Not knowing the answer should not be associated with failure, it should be a good thing because it helps you learn. There is no time to pursure your own interests in schools. English is mandatory every year. And gym classes (at least in my school) were limited to 9th grade gym, and then it was just electives. They also don't teach kids critical thinking skills. We are taught that America is the greatest country in the world, and we have to pledge allegiance to the flag every single day, something only the Nazis can say. We aren't taught how to improve our communication skills, instead we write stupid essay after stupid essay. We aren't taught how to have a discussion without getting angry or frustrated when things don't go our way. When most kids here are told America is the greatest country in the world, they nod their heads in agreement, instead of asking "Compared to what set of standards?" So I think education today does not help the kids at all. I tried asking questions in schoo,l, but you aren't allowed to question things in school. Besides, most of my teachers were too dumb to answer my questions.


Aside from the America-specific stuff, I agree with all of that (as someone who lives in the UK I have no experience of it). It's part of the reason I'm so attracted to business, because I can achieve with my own thing in my own way and make as much as money as I am willing to work for, to boot. It's freedom. Freedom from stupid tests, qualifications, exams, and from being under control of others. Don't forget that the majority of seriously rich business people today failed school and many have dyslexia, Alan Sugar is a prime example of this. Shows how great schools are at showing ability, dosen't it?



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01 Jan 2010, 5:34 pm

My little nephew in is in kindergarden and is being taught to read by looking for words that "jump out" at him. They call them "popcorn words" (stupid term) and there isn't any effort at all into learning phonetical concepts. Kids with disabilities are being shoved into the basement just to be babysat because the school dosen't want to deal with them. No effort is being put into dealing with bullying or discrimation. We tell kids it's wrong to be a perfectionist but when they make a mistake we react as if they commited a murder. Kids with disabilities get taken away in handcuffs for relatating against abuse or discrimation. Kids with disabilities get arrested for doing what the other kids are doing. Kids are only being taught to pass a tast and to become robots.


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timydamonkey
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02 Jan 2010, 9:38 pm

I could never understand remainders.

I am a great "mental mathematician" but I could never figure out the remainder system. I used to just write like this:

32 + 16 = 48

as opposed to:

32
+16
-------
-------

Because I could calculate it in my head so it was pointless to try and learn some stupid way of doing it that just confused me. My teachers got mad at me once so I started writing it like that but steadfastly refusing to write remainders as I couldn't figure them out (don't see how it matters if I get to the right answer anyway except on stupid "show your workings" questions). They also got mad at me for incorrectly writing the number 8 for four years because I couldn't follow how they wanted me to write it.

I find mental arithmetic easy. I don't like that calculators are constantly used now as it was the one maths area I could actually do (contrast: in five years I didn't learn how to use a compass or protractor, it totally confounded me).