If "Education" is the conferring of accumulated knowledge...

[Woodznutz]

...Why does every generation have to reinvent the wheel?

 

[Dekster]

...Why does every generation have to reinvent the wheel?

Because the previous one got it wrong.

 

[Woodznutz]

Because the previous one got it wrong.

Good point.

 

[Damaged Eagle]

Because if you're not fighting the man it wouldn't be a...

*****SMILE*****

 

[jwoodie]

...Why does every generation have to reinvent the wheel?

Like the rules of the road for driving, public education was worked out during the last century. Also like parallel parking, objective achievement tests have subsequently been eliminated as just too hard for students and their teachers.

 

[jwoodie]

Because the previous one got it wrong.

Delicious irony: This means that every generation (including the current one) gets it wrong.

 

[Turtlesoup]

Because the previous one got it wrong.

Or the current ones have it wrong---PEOPLE USED TO BE SMARTER THAN THEY ARE NOW.

 

[Dekster]

Or the current ones have it wrong---PEOPLE USED TO BE SMARTER THAN THEY ARE NOW.

Would those be the same people who need their grandchildren to set up their new cellphone for them?

 

[jwoodie]

Knowledge is not conferred on anyone. Rather, it is offered and may or may not result in greater understanding. Academic awards are not a substitute for understanding.

 

[Woodznutz]

Or the current ones have it wrong---PEOPLE USED TO BE SMARTER THAN THEY ARE NOW.

It's specialization.

Specialization: Learning more and more about less and less, until one knows everything about nothing.

 

[Woodznutz]

Knowledge is not conferred on anyone. Rather, it is offered and may or may not result in greater understanding. Academic awards are not a substitute for understanding.

One of the problems is that in order for knowledge to be understood it must first be taught. The knowledge that is needed most isn't in the lesson plan.

"Never argue with someone that you have to educate first."

 

[DGS49]

In 1930, only 25% of the American population managed to graduate from HS. A HS diploma was something to be proud of, and from all indications HS grads received a much broader and more extensive experience than is customary today. Latin was very commonly taught, along with a foreign language. History, the Classics, Calculus, and so on.

Unlike today, if a student was a "fuck up," he was summarily expelled. Corporal punishment was a fact of life. Parents supported teachers wholeheartedly; if a problem was reported, the parents' first reaction was to presume that the teacher was right and their child had done something to deserve the punishment. (That was still the case when I was in GS and HS in the 50's and 60's).

If a kid didn't learn the material and failed in his coursework, the presumption was that HE had some shortcomings. Didn't do the studying or was not sufficiently intelligent.

The contrast with today is stunning. The coursework has been watered down to an almost unrecognizable state. When a student fails, the teacher or school administrators are blamed. There is no discipline. Teachers are presumed to be incompetent and biased against kids who are having difficulties.

When kids don't learn the material as a general proposition, the LAST thing considered is that the kids just didn't do the work. So they try different approaches from generation to generation, especially in Math. And those who fail to learn cannot be removed from the classroom (because they hold everyone else back).

Private schools are the answer, if available. I'm no fan of home schooling. There are too many idiots out there.

 

[Unkotare]

In 1930, only 25% of the American population managed to graduate from HS. A HS diploma was something to be proud of, and from all indications HS grads received a much broader and more extensive experience than is customary today. Latin was very commonly taught, along with a foreign language. History, the Classics, Calculus, and so on.

Unlike today, if a student was a "fuck up," he was summarily expelled. ....

You remember all this from 1930? Good memory for someone over 100 years old.

 

[Unkotare]

....

The contrast with today is stunning. The coursework has been watered down to an almost unrecognizable state. When a student fails, the teacher or school administrators are blamed. There is no discipline. ....

When was the last time you were in a public school?

 

[SweetSue92]

...Why does every generation have to reinvent the wheel?

What are you even talking about?

Really

Are you saying that one generation invented the wheel but then we had to start over...and over...and then we are inventing the wheel over and over? Or the car? Or the airplane? Modern medicine? What?

 

[there4eyeM]

Looked at another way, the past has built a present that offers new possibilities.

 

[Woodznutz]

What are you even talking about?

Really

Are you saying that one generation invented the wheel but then we had to start over...and over...and then we are inventing the wheel over and over? Or the car? Or the airplane? Modern medicine? What?

It's an idiomatic expression meaning, among other things, "an exercise in futility".

Reinvent the Wheel

Meaning of Idiom 'Reinvent the Wheel' To reinvent the wheel means to do something again, or try to improve something, that is already perfected and cannot be improved; to waste time by reproducing something that already exists. [note]Heacock, Paul. Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms. Cambridge

www.idioms.online

 

[Harpy Eagle]

Also like parallel parking, objective achievement tests have subsequently been eliminated as just too hard for students and their teachers.

Or as just unnecessary and antiqued.

 

[Woodznutz]

Or as just unnecessary and antiqued.

Parallel parking is still necessary on overcrowded narrow streets, and there lots of overcrowded narrow streets in America.

 

[surada]

...Why does every generation have to reinvent the wheel?

Critical thinking is essential to education.