What is school for?

[Amanda]

I read an interesting blog post by Seth Godin, who some of you may know for his work in marketing, particularly as it relates to new media, web 2.0, etc. Anyway, here was his list of things school is for. I thought it might make an interesting discussion. I'm sure some of you will have some additional ideas or take exception to some of these.

I put in bold the ones I feel are especially true in how schools are run. Not necessarily how they should be run, but how I felt they were being run when I was there.


Become an informed citizen
Be able to read for pleasure
Be trained in the rudimentary skills necessary for employment
Do well on standardized tests
Homogenize society, at least a bit
Pasteurize out the dangerous ideas
Give kids something to do while parents work
Teach future citizens how to conform
Teach future consumers how to desire
Build a social fabric
Create leaders who help us compete on a world stage
Generate future scientists who will advance medicine and technology
Learn for the sake of learning
Help people become interesting and productive
Defang the proletariat
Establish a floor below which a typical person is unlikely to fall
Find and celebrate prodigies, geniuses and the gifted
Make sure kids learn to exercise, eat right and avoid common health problems
Teach future citizens to obey authority
Teach future employees to do the same
Increase appreciation for art and culture
Teach creativity and problem solving
Minimize public spelling mistakes
Increase emotional intelligence
Decrease crime by teaching civics and ethics
Increase understanding of a life well lived
Make sure the sports teams have enough players

So, what do you think?

 

[Dis]

So you've gained nothing off the list, and have gained nothing from your education? The teachers were just out to get you, and it was a place to go while your parents worked?

 

[editec]

I always assumed I was there to teach kids history and literature.

Much of the reason I don't teach now is because that is really the ONLY THING I care to do when I am teaching.

If you want a role model, or a guard, a life mentoring coach or a janitor, by all means hire those people, but I'm an history teacher and a literature teacher and that's pretty much all I will be held accountable for doing.

 

[strollingbones]

i taught history and social sciences...read a lot of sex ed....education has changed....the classics are forgotten...sorry but all schools have dumbed down.

 

[strollingbones]

what is school for? a broad question...i know my school was for old lady craven...we hated every mothering nano second we were in her english class...advanced english literature...she dragged us ..kicking and screaming into the world of shakespeare...beowulf ...and much much more....sometimes school is just that one person who flips that switch in ya....making a bunch of smart ass hooligans into literay scholars....(the others not me)

 

[AllieBaba]

I always assumed I was there to teach kids history and literature.

Will you please tell that to the other teachers?

 

[michiganFats]

Schools are farms. They produce people who can understand basic math and science(hopefully) and are also not likely to rock the boat. I think the real uber-achievers succeed in spite of our schools, not because of them.

 

[driveby]

These days, i'm afraid it's more for teaching left wing ideology in the Social Studies category........

 

[RodISHI]

I hear schools are for teaching diversified sex education these days.

In the sixties it was to learn Math, Reading, English, History, Social Studies, Science and it could include, typing, economics, foriegn langauges, etc, a bit of Art and Music was including in the mix.

When my children were in school by the time they hit highschool it was an emphasis that leaned towards how to be good socialist and accept whatever came along for them with the above mentioned basics. We would undo some of the damage done at the school when they got home by insisting they would not simply get a free lunch because they demanded it.

 

[Munin]

Schools are for brainwashing kids, so they can learn what the society wants them to learn. History lessons can be modified depending on the country you live in, religion in school teaches you what your morals should be or should not be, math learns kids how to think rationally and to estimate, ...

I think a lot of things are useful, but others can seem like brainwashing if you compare them to what is educated on schools in other nations (like religion & "subjective" history)

To me it seems like schools are sort of like factories to make a product, you put a kid in it and you have a product of your society that comes out of it.

It reminds me of a certain song:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_bvT-DGcWw[/ame]

 

[midcan5]

Your list was too slanted I left some key words from list below.

In the end education is about growing up in the world, it is one of many experiences that form us and mold us, but we take to it and from it the same as we do in all things in life. But it should be the very best regardless of the fact it has to deal with people.

informed citizen - know history
read write think reason figure
arena for socialization
advance medicine and technology
Learn for the sake of learning - yes
creativity and problem solving
emotional intelligence
civics and ethics
art music and athletics
life well lived - we hope

"I don't know what's the matter with people: they don't learn by understanding; they learn by some other way -- by rote, or something. Their knowledge is so fragile!" Richard Feynman

 

[PoliticalChic]

Nice list. This is what school is supposed to be for, but instead they read to kindergartners, Heather Has Two Mommies and teach teens how to put on a condom.

It would also be a nice thing for schools to teach accounting and personal finance because most parents aren't equipped to teach this to their children.

 

[Dis]

Nice list. This is what school is supposed to be for, but instead they read to kindergartners, Heather Has Two Mommies and teach teens how to put on a condom.

It would also be a nice thing for schools to teach accounting and personal finance because most parents aren't equipped to teach this to their children.

I actually think that's interesting.. Why aren't parents equipped to teach that to their children? They have jobs (in most cases), they pay bills off of a fixed amount of money (in most cases), they legally bind themselves to financial obligations by signing contracts, they balance a (sometimes more than one) bank account... They're held legally responsible if they blow off (or don't read and adhere to) the terms of the contract they signed...

So..why?

 

[Sky Dancer]

For some kids, school is an escape from hell and an outlet for their intelligence and interest in improving their lives.

 

[xsited1]

Public Schools? Here 'ya go:

Communist Manifesto

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.
Americans are being taxed to support what we call 'public' schools, but are actually "government force-tax-funded schools " Even private schools are government regulated. The purpose is to train the young to work for the communal debt system. We also call it the Department of Education, the NEA and Outcome Based "Education" . These are used so that all children can be indoctrinated and inculcated with the government propaganda, like "majority rules", and "pay your fair share". WHERE are the words "fair share" in the Constitution, Bill of Rights or the Internal Revenue Code (Title 26)?? NO WHERE is "fair share" even suggested !! The philosophical concept of "fair share" comes from the Communist maxim, "From each according to their ability, to each according to their need! This concept is pure socialism. ... America was made the greatest society by its private initiative WORK ETHIC ... Teaching ourselves and others how to "fish" to be self sufficient and produce plenty of EXTRA commodities to if so desired could be shared with others who might be "needy"... Americans have always voluntarily been the MOST generous and charitable society on the planet.

Communist Manifesto 10 Planks

 

[Sky Dancer]

By all means, let's ban public education in America. It's communist.

 

[PoliticalChic]

Nice list. This is what school is supposed to be for, but instead they read to kindergartners, Heather Has Two Mommies and teach teens how to put on a condom.

It would also be a nice thing for schools to teach accounting and personal finance because most parents aren't equipped to teach this to their children.

I actually think that's interesting.. Why aren't parents equipped to teach that to their children? They have jobs (in most cases), they pay bills off of a fixed amount of money (in most cases), they legally bind themselves to financial obligations by signing contracts, they balance a (sometimes more than one) bank account... They're held legally responsible if they blow off (or don't read and adhere to) the terms of the contract they signed...

So..why?

That is an interesting question. These are my thoughts on the topic:

Teachers are able to without emotion pass on information, data to their students.

On the face of it, parents who do all the above things you mentioned, should be able to easily pass on the ability to the same to their children. But they don't. I believe psychology has a lot to do with it. Some parents still think that they shouldn't share household financial information with their children. They may think sharing financial information may lower the their own status in the children's eyes. Perhaps, they may be embarrassed by the amount of debt that they have incurred on their credit card. Another possibility may be that they were never formally taught by their own parents about personal finance so they never considered it their own obligation to pass on to their children.

One of lessons that come from personal finance is delayed gratification. Postponing something pleasant into the future. To me this is such an important concept that branches out into every aspect of life, that this should be taught as early as pre-k or kindergarten. "Yes, Johnny, if you finish your meatloaf, you can have a piece of apple pie."

During the 1960's Stanford University psychology researcher, Michael Mischel did a fairly simple study using the concept of delayed gratification. He gave a choice of 1 marshmallow or 2 marshmallows later to a group of 4 year old. As expected, some chose 1 now and some chose 2 later. The same children were looked at 14 years later and they found that the children who chose 2 later (the ones who delayed gratification)," were more positive, persistent when faced with life difficulties, more self motivated and were able to delay immediate gratification in order to pursue their longer term goals."

1 marshmallow or 2? A study on the benefits of delayed gratification

 

[Munin]

By all means, let's ban public education in America. It's communist.

A pure private school system has huge consequences, you could have schools were kids are thought extremist ideas. Schools that for example only teach communist ideas or muslim extremist ideas, this is dangerous


It is as dangerous as putting the military in private hands, then you get mercenaries that kill for money and moral standards can be thrown away.

 

[Shogun]

Public Schools? Here 'ya go:

Communist Manifesto

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.
Americans are being taxed to support what we call 'public' schools, but are actually "government force-tax-funded schools " Even private schools are government regulated. The purpose is to train the young to work for the communal debt system. We also call it the Department of Education, the NEA and Outcome Based "Education" . These are used so that all children can be indoctrinated and inculcated with the government propaganda, like "majority rules", and "pay your fair share". WHERE are the words "fair share" in the Constitution, Bill of Rights or the Internal Revenue Code (Title 26)?? NO WHERE is "fair share" even suggested !! The philosophical concept of "fair share" comes from the Communist maxim, "From each according to their ability, to each according to their need! This concept is pure socialism. ... America was made the greatest society by its private initiative WORK ETHIC ... Teaching ourselves and others how to "fish" to be self sufficient and produce plenty of EXTRA commodities to if so desired could be shared with others who might be "needy"... Americans have always voluntarily been the MOST generous and charitable society on the planet.

Communist Manifesto 10 Planks

yea, i know, dude.. taking kids out of factories.. what on earth were those crazy commies thinking? Just THINK of the cheap labor!

 

[random3434]

I'll make sure to let all my first, second and third grade special needs kids that education is bad. God forbid people be for public schools. Never mind that I'm teaching them to read, even though some are way below grade level, and math, so they can someday (hopefully) move onto having their own checking account as they get older.


Yep, damn government schools. When I go back to work next Monday I'll tell them they don't need to come to school anymore, because according to some of you, the teachers are worthless, and so are the schools.