Quote:

He proposed longer class hours as part of a broader effort to improve U.S. schools that he said are falling behind foreign competitors.

"Despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in the world, we have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations outpace us," Obama said. "In 8th grade math, we've fallen to 9th place. Singapore's middle-schoolers outperform ours three to one. Just a third of our 13- and 14-year olds can read as well as they should."

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Mushmonkey said:

lengthening the school year or day will do nothing to change anything because it's not the cause of any of the problems we have with kids not learning shit.

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THC Titan said:

You don't provide any support whatsoever for your premise that "everything can be learned at home on a computer".

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THC Titan said:

School is intended to be more than just gaining an academic education, anyway.

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Which is precisely why it is obsolete.

Mushmonkey said:

lengthening the school year or day will do nothing to change anything because it's not the cause of any of the problems we have with kids not learning shit.

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luvdemshrooms said:

Mushmonkey said:

lengthening the school year or day will do nothing to change anything because it's not the cause of any of the problems we have with kids not learning shit.

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Yes, it won't eliminate the sense of entitlement the current crop has. Perhaps if they weren't so busy bitching about having to learn, they might actually *gasp* learn.

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Holy shit, human beings are all at least slightly narcissistic!

I guess the Jews' narcissistic sense of entitlement back in WWII was unwarranted.

sherm said:

I believe that the public school system in its current state is fundamentally broken. It appears to me that trying to press all these individual kids through the same mold is the cause of the problem. All kids should be given the chance to excel, and those that do not can look forward to working at walmart.

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sherm said:

When I got to ninth grade I basically quit. I barely showed up, and didn't do a single thing. I was 14 and my attendance got to the point that authorities did get involved. My attitude was that they could make me show up, but they sure as hell couldn't make me do anything. I clearly did not want to be there and was put into "home school" to avoid legal trouble. "Home school" was the equivalent of dropping out at 14. I was out of high school and enrolled in "home school" within 3 months of starting.

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I basically quit in 9th grade, too. I guess I have too much self-respect to subject myself to all the bullshit that is compulsory education.

I wish I was home schooled, I think you are lucky to have been.

sherm said:

In short, I think that longer school hours is a horrible idea that borderlines on retarded. You can not force a kid to learn. You just have to give them the chance. I was never presented with the opportunity to attend any form of alternative schooling and would probably have done much better given the chance, and the correct form of "education" for me.

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sherm said:

I think that most people want to learn.  I have no suggestion as to how this would be implemented, but those students who can succeed and get ahead should be given every opportunity to do so, and should not be held back or restricted in anyway due the inability or unwillingness of other students to keep up. Bad teachers need to be shit canned with a quickness. And students that are unable or unwilling to learn can look forward to service jobs and manual labor.

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Nobody doesn't want to learn. Even retarded children delight at receiving new knowledge.

I think everybody should just basically learn shit on their own; these days, you can learn almost anything at a local library. There's no need for shitty, mean teachers, and an oppressive administrative staff. This shit is for the farm days...

THC Titan said:

So, what was it like to learn calculus and/or physics without a teacher?

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DieCommie said:

Summer breaks FTL.  They are not needed anymore and do a disservice to students.

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THC Titan said:

Poid said:

Obviously, since everything can be learned at home on a computer, school is obsolete as a mechanism of education, right? So then, why does it still exist?


I know that some people prefer learning in a social context, and that's fine, but you have to account for those who prefer to learn independently, like myself. For me, and others like me, learning and socializing is a contridiction of terms.

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You don't provide any support whatsoever for your premise that "everything can be learned at home on a computer". School is intended to be more than just gaining an academic education, anyway. There are skills you learn in groups that cannot be learned even in focused, solitary thought.

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Prisoner#1 said:

THC Titan said:

Poid said:

Obviously, since everything can be learned at home on a computer, school is obsolete as a mechanism of education, right? So then, why does it still exist?


I know that some people prefer learning in a social context, and that's fine, but you have to account for those who prefer to learn independently, like myself. For me, and others like me, learning and socializing is a contridiction of terms.

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You don't provide any support whatsoever for your premise that "everything can be learned at home on a computer". School is intended to be more than just gaining an academic education, anyway. There are skills you learn in groups that cannot be learned even in focused, solitary thought.

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You don't provide any support whatsoever for your premise that there
are skills you learn in groups that cannot be learned even in focused,
solitary thought.

what skills would those be?

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THC Titan said:

Prisoner#1 said:

THC Titan said:

Poid said:

Obviously, since everything can be learned at home on a computer, school is obsolete as a mechanism of education, right? So then, why does it still exist?


I know that some people prefer learning in a social context, and that's fine, but you have to account for those who prefer to learn independently, like myself. For me, and others like me, learning and socializing is a contridiction of terms.

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You don't provide any support whatsoever for your premise that "everything can be learned at home on a computer". School is intended to be more than just gaining an academic education, anyway. There are skills you learn in groups that cannot be learned even in focused, solitary thought.

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You don't provide any support whatsoever for your premise that there
are skills you learn in groups that cannot be learned even in focused,
solitary thought.

what skills would those be?

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Interpersonal interaction, for starters.

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Prisoner#1 said:

DieCommie said:

Summer breaks FTL.  They are not needed anymore and do a disservice to students.

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well tell me young man, just who the fuck is going to be growing your
food in a few years

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THC Titan said:

So, what was it like to learn calculus and/or physics without a teacher?

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There are calculus and physics books for dummies. I don't see what's so hard about learning these things from text.

In any case, calculus is extremely unnecessary for people who aren't striving for a college degree.

elbisivni said:

Maybe, instead of concentrating so many resources on trying to make sure the children in over-crowded low-income public schools are efficient at calculating quantum trajectories and all that jazz, we can just teach them how to get a job, do taxes, finance loans, etc.

Maybe if we stopped trying to make all of our children out to be advanced physics majors we can teach them the every day shit that will actually help them live their lives.  You know, the shit that nobody ever taught me that would have fucking helped a lot

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JT said:

that's an interesting point.

one of the things my grandpa always talked about from his time living in taiwan was that the children there, from a very young age, have to work real jobs at school. i'm not talking about sweat shop type stuff, but it was actually part of their curriculum. the kids there go in to school early in the morning and take normal courses, then in the afternoon they go to a work class where they get real experience doing different jobs. it's long hours, and they don't usually get out before dinner, but they get to keep what they earn. i won't get into all the benefits, but it teaches the kids money management, and it keeps them out of trouble after school.

idk if things are still run like that in taiwan. that was in the late 60's.

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That system seems better than ours.

THC Titan said:

Prisoner#1 said:

THC Titan said:

Poid said:

Obviously, since everything can be learned at home on a computer, school is obsolete as a mechanism of education, right? So then, why does it still exist?


I know that some people prefer learning in a social context, and that's fine, but you have to account for those who prefer to learn independently, like myself. For me, and others like me, learning and socializing is a contradiction of terms.

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You don't provide any support whatsoever for your premise that "everything can be learned at home on a computer". School is intended to be more than just gaining an academic education, anyway. There are skills you learn in groups that cannot be learned even in focused, solitary thought.

---

You don't provide any support whatsoever for your premise that there
are skills you learn in groups that cannot be learned even in focused,
solitary thought.

what skills would those be?

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Interpersonal interaction, for starters.

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, does anybody really need to learn how to interact with others?

Poid said:

Yes, one that can be learned anywhere.

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