Quote :

"Fortunately, I don't have to deal with parents at the the JC/university level, because they are a huge part of the problem. They blame teachers for everything that goes wrong, and fill their kids' heads with unhealthy expectations and place way too much pressure on them to study something "practical" or "high paying". As a result, lots of students are terrified of failing or *GASP* getting anything lower than an 'A' on an assignment. In turn, a lot of students become argumentative, defensive, and even combative when they don't get the grade they 'deserve', and instead of actually wanting to learn the material or improve their performance, they just want to know the easiest path to getting the A. And who can blame them? Things like "ratemyprofessor" have turned higher education into a yelp-style business model, where students feel entitled to good grades, and when they don't get their way, they lash out and write nasty reviews, as if taking a class is the same thing as ordering a meal in a restaurant."

It isn't only the fault of students though. Higher education in general has been so expanded and commercialized and common that it is less and less about learning and more about getting XYZ to achieve XYZ. Makes it easier and easier for companies to sort through, I guess

I don't think doing away with grades/GPA is a real solution, more like just ripping the tree out of the ground to fix the roots being weak.
I feel like in an ideal world, simply having the degree would be your goal, and getting the degree would be rigorous enough to ensure a genuine pursuit.
Of course in the real world, that is how it ends up working, you eventually get judged more so on your experience and the practical nature of your success.
but there's a gap

and yeah, kids I know a bit younger than me. some applying to 20+ colleges, all that. seems crazy, but the system is turning it that way, not them springing out of the womb with the inclination to go to harvard.

also, this is a bit different of a discussion, but I feel like the way teachers are hired needs to be changed up as well. A degree is one thing and a natural inclination to teach is another.
but that could go very bad or very good depending on who manages it

A buddy of mine loves history and I bet he could teach a history course better than most teachers I've seen. specific to history, I think the best way to teach it is not focus on facts, but to encourage critical thinking skills. essays, class discussions, hell let em reenact a battle outside
if they're passionate enough, they'll look into the dates and all that themselves

[link]https://Why is geography not taught anywhere? If we're always so ashamed when Americans flunk a survey question like "Where is Iraq?" maybe we should teach them where Iraq is.[/link]
I feel like this is something you should just pick up along the way
I don't remember ever specifically being taught geography like with a map except maybe as a 3rd grader with the states.

I'd love to teach for a year or two down the line if you could without a degree in education

Quote :

"It reminds me of high school, by which point I'd realized that the school system (and really the world in general) didn't actually reward consistent hard work. So I quit working hard. Posts on this website aside, I'm a pretty smart guy, so coasting to good grades was not difficult."

Yeah, I don't recall doing much or any work at home for most of my k-12, just asking questions in class. I think my favorite memories of education come from elementary school
My favorite teacher in the 4th grade was this awesome guy
he'd do stuff like ask us to memorize the declaration of independence or whatever and then if we did, we could pick out a book to take home from his collection. I remember taking the biggest one as a challenge, it was some fiction book from the middle of the series, no context, I read it. still have it to this day.
I still have some strange memories. one time we had a spelling test in the 2nd grade, and the teacher graded me wrong so I showed her the word again and she callously accused me of rewriting a letter in the middle that she herself missed the first time, told me I was a liar to my face and then sent me away telling me to never do such a thing again.
Between the 5th and 8th grades in particular, man I do remember having some combative experiences just because they were insecure or something and couldnt handle a kid questioning them in the slightest even if they were wrong

and apart from that, it wasn't like we were actual troublemakers in the sense of being rude or disruptive in class or anything, just a bit witty here and there. maybe messing around a bit more out of class amongst one another
but some teachers are just stuck up assholes, they try to beat it out of you (figuratively)

The one thing I'd say was good about my experience, was no real political stuff like you hear or see about nowadays. I don't ever recall having to think about a teacher or the school being expressly political in any way whatsoever
never thought about it
and when you have a good teacher that you connect with, it is the best thing ever, and you remember it forever. I'd say that I have 1 of those. maybe 2/3 but those were too long ago to count



but besides all this, about the HS/college pipeline, I think it all comes down to everything becoming less genuine.

9/16/2023 6:17:42 PM

also I saw some comments about activism

in part due to social media and that whole comment someone wrote about seeing highschool and grades and teachers as obstacles/targets rather than learning

most student activism/nonprofit work in HS in reality is bullshit made up for resumes and college, that's just how it is

I hated it so much when I was applying for college and would sometimes look online and see these crap websites and idiotic "influencers" making videos and lists on what things to put together for a resume
all a commodification, no genuine interest whatsoever

I'm glad that my school in particular didn't have a ton of this, but I've seen and heard from friends outside of it and it is downright ugly

9/16/2023 6:27:39 PM

The worst stuff is how we've tried to codify parenting and education

sure some steps are good

but when you codify and make standards for everything, you lose out on the natural regulation that takes place
read a book to do this, read this website for "best methods", try to turn parenting and education into a fkin computer program
to some extent, sure, but there's a breaking point
I read comments and hear teachers I've known, I hear students I know, I see parents of people. rules have destroyed us, having to be so sterile in our operations, to adopt a formula.
so many schools have begun functioning like corporations or the dmv, so cold
even those which are supposedly progressive, in an effort to standardize
we kill what is natural

we do this in everything to, beyond schooling. isn't this what happened with gun policy? it was largely uncontroversial and as soon as I think it was the GOP, wanting to solidify blue collar whites, it was made political, democrats responded in kind with the progressive section of society, and now it is an all or nothing spiral of controversy. except now it is education
the only solution I can see is removing it from the conversation and localizing it so that communities can handle it but you can't even trust that anymore

in short,
a rule is made to be broken, but an informal understanding persists

a critical lack of common sense is the cause.
when everything must be critically analyzed, you are on a path to failure

one thing which is kind of unrelated but I think is a good example
with parenting
a lot of times you'll have parents be unreasonable about things which aren't relevant
and so the kid rebels, right
nowadays, you see a lot of the parent critically thinking about it and saying hey, I'm being unreasonable, let the kid do it like it is some fight between two friends
I think this is bad
I think the rebelling part is essential, it is like resistance training or whatever
you need to have something to push back against
when you see these tiktok parents apply all these new age formulas, you lose out on an important dynamic that is necessary for growth
not everything needs to be so intellectual and thought about

in re-evaluating values which are bad, we've thrown the baby out with the bathwater

[Edited on September 16, 2023 at 7:04 PM. Reason : -]

9/16/2023 6:43:11 PM

Actually, scratch all that verbose sentimental crap. Time to oversimplify!

As a society, we are becoming more and more risk averse.

Less of a want to experiment, to pursue. Do x, get y.

I'd say mystery and curiousity, and subsequently purpose, are inherently tied to the modern human experience.

As we becomeore averse to risk and seek to control and manipulate it all, we lose that genuinity. Essentially overthinking on a societal scale.

This leads to disarray.

9/16/2023 7:33:10 PM

#TWWIsABlog

9/17/2023 1:56:24 AM