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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (247683)	3/20/2014 12:01:00 PM
From: Stock Puppy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 542059

What schools should teach - and some of them do - is how to think, how to learn things on your own critical thinking. But also not neglect learning facts. (and keep the kids engaged!!!) My kids went to schools where they learned critical thinking. But sometimes the schools go overboard. In elementary, they learned their basic math, what exactly are the various functions, visualization models and so on. Then in middle they had a math class, again critical thinking and all that - very useful, very important. Then the middle teacher had them solve problems sans calculator. Uh oh. Yes they were able to solve problems and all that, did all the estimations and visualizations and stuff to do their calculations, but hey all failed that test - not because they were not able to solve the problems, but they were not able to in the time allowed. She solved that pretty quick - memorize the multiplication table. Gasp. Minor uproar, but the administration was supportive and at least half the parents approved. Sometimes you need to think quickly on your feet and get the answer quickly, whether you're an underpaid worker at McDonalds or you're the overpaid head of some big multinational company. But you need to know the why as well. So both approaches to learning are important. And keep the kids interested and engaged. I remember French class - oh how I remember. The one time there was some engagement, motivation, spark, (besides class strips which did not last) was when the teacher asked the if anyone had any examples of music in French - and some kids brought them in, there was interest, the different styles, the stuff that were the same, what are they singing. It could have continued but management (principal) said that playing music in language class was not appropriate and the boredom continued and most of us squeaked through. Motivation and engagement. Understanding what's under the hood. Knowing what is. And ... doing.