Name:Sam Country:United States State:Arkansas Birthday:3/19/1982 Gender:Male
Interests:People in general, reading, writing, music, performance, relationships, spiritual issues (Christianity), debate, philosophy and free thought Expertise:According to me; Everything:
According to friends; Somethings:
According to my enemies; ... I don't really talk to them much so I don't really know, but I would suspect... Nothing Occupation:Student Industry:Education/Research
There is something desperately wrong with the education system in America. It is amazing how little we have adjusted our teaching and policies to fit the vast amount of research that is out there. With all the things that we now know about learning styles, aptitudes, the connection between emotional health & the ability to learn & achieve, the various routes of transition from short-term to long-term memory, the various ways people access previously learned information, etc... We have so much new knowledge about how we can do a better job at making our children successful, effective, & excellent learners. And our entire system is geared towards not doing these things. Teachers have very little wiggle room to teach things in different ways to different students. The entire structure of our nation's educational policy is geared towards steering all children towards uniformity & mediocrity. It does not leave room for approaching kids on an individual level. There just isn't time or money to do it.
So, what can be done? I've been doing mental olympics with this subject all year, & I have found no easy solution to our current problem. No amount of legislation is going to change anything. No plan that I have seen put forth by any republican or democrat solves any of those problems. Our current system is simply a dying, & possibly dead, horse. No amount of kicking is going to get it going any faster. I'm afraid that the only real solution is to send our current sytem off to the glue factory & buy a brand new steed. Okay, enough with the analogy. We need to take a year off & completely redo everything about our education policies & procedures. This means everything from how we train teachers to how our classrooms are grouped & assembled. Everything from what we expect from each school achievementwise to what "successful" achievement really is. Everything from how often we test our kids to what kind of tests we use. Everything must be completely revamped & looked at from different perspectives.
I'm afraid what really needs to happen never will, & we will forever be stuck with mediocre education. So, as the presidential debates kick into gear & you listen to their various platforms, understand that anyone promising drastic changes in education results is lying to you. Others who promise to continue kicking the dead horse are at least being honest. Anyone saying what really needs to happen will be shunned & shut up because what it really would take to do things right would be far to uncomfortable for people to actually do.
10. Brown-Eyed Girl- Van Morrison 9. Smells Like Teen Spirit- Nirvana 8. Dreams- Cranberries (Shut up! You know you love it.) 7. God Only Knows- Beach Boys 6. Lose Yourself- Eminem (This song is just amazing. I know some people don't classify rap as real music. Well, it is. Just because you don't like something doesn't make it not legit. I don't like "That 70s Show" therefore, it isn't a television show. C'mon now.) 5. Dream On- Aerosmith 4. Eleanor Rigby- The Beatles 3. Wonderwall- Oasis 2. Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay- Otis Redding 1. Yesterday- The Beatles
Honorable Mention: The River of Dreams- Billy Joel, Vincent- Don McLean, Where Is My Mind- The Pixies, Under the Bridge- Red Hot Chili Peppers, Losing My Religion- REM, Bohemian Rhapsoy- Queen
