[Michael Chui]

Originally Posted by Mark Lapierre

Many of the replies to this thread seem to imply that those in control of the educational system have deliberately sculpted it to mass produce average suit-wearing mindless automatons.

My personal issue with it isn't that it was deliberately sculpted--though I believe it was (based on what I think I know of the history of schooling)--but rather that, knowing that there are problems, people in a position to do something about it don't appear to be.

Originally Posted by Mark Lapierre

As for the content of education, I agree with everyone who has said that they weren't taught useful skills, including how to learn, nor was an interest in learning fostered. I remember English classes on reading and comprehension; unarguably useful skills, however they were taught in a way that bored everyone senseless.

To this, I quote something I wrote a few years ago:

Originally Posted Here: raccaldin36: Kids These Days, Draft One
People need to have / to be taught:
1) a desire to know
It doesn't really matter WHAT they want to know. The important aspect is that they desire knowledge. The reason this is necessary is because this provides the motivation for seeking knowledge.
2) the ability to find knowledge (reading, researching, reflecting)
This consists of, among whatever else becomes available, the ability to read (preferably in more than one language); the ability to find information in such places as libraries, professional journals, people, etc; the ability to take information and consider it without external assistance, as well as to make connections between data and draw conclusions from this.
3) the ability to communicate knowledge
This consists of, among whatever else becomes available, the ability to write (again, preferably in more than one language); the ability to speak clearly and confidently; the ability to construct informative devices in multiple dimensions and media for others; and the ability to filter through one's own thoughts and communicate them.
4) the freedom to utilize it
Everything becomes useless when you are not able to use them. It doesn't matter if you know the cure for cancer if you're forbidden to divulge it; equally, it is foolish to teach the freedom of speech and then require your student to shut up.
5) an understanding of self
Essentially, this facet demands that a student be capable of understanding themself. Clearly, it is simply not yet possible for a teacher to know this in full; where else would the surprise be? But a student must be provided resources with which to recognize a personal purpose and identity.
6) the ability to analyze findings
It is not the same to desire information, to have found information, and to express information as it is to be able to do something with that information. Analysis is not reflection as stated in "find knowledge", but rather having reflected and drawn some conclusion, one must be able to decide if this conclusion is worth keeping, or is the result of some mental mistake. Equally, one must be able to take what others have said and to decide what it means.

I might add to this "the ability to retain knowledge", but I'll have to think about it.