E-prime, maybe logic and the educational system

[Shukrata Ipekileghen]

What type of reforms and models of teaching could be implemented into our educational system?

Short of just saying, "re-evaluate the entire system," what small to major ideas could be implemented to help give the generation "behind" us a boost in the home and international front?

IE:

The introduction of Alfred Korzybski's General semantics into the schools.

[delight]

Instead of learning a lot of fantasy-history kids should get information on how learning actually works, and how to improve it, rather than getting their heads filled with government propaganda and other lies. Even the church of scientology does a better work than public schools with this.

But most importantly, Science and Sanity of course.

[Shukrata Ipekileghen]

I agree, this would also require generations of teachers to perhaps learn the same.

Since "everything" appears to be connected to "everything" the re-structuring of our educational system will have to be multi level. Hitting parents, students, teachers, local, state, national government bodies.

I think that the best bet is to first hit the most "modern" cities with alternative schools, however would these work out best a private institutions or can "we" reform the current school system?

[Rachael]

I am currently serving with Americorps in a highschool and I agree that any major changes that could be enacted are going to have to be multi level.
Aside from that, things that should be changed with just the schools, and these things are not specific because I don't think I am qualified to offer specifics, but I feel (in my school at least) that there needs to be division between kids of different ability levels, mainly for the disciplinary reasons. It is impossible to get a class of 10th graders to pay attention to their chemistry when 1/4 of the class understands it on a single repetition and 1/4 of the class will not understand it until they've had a dozen repetitions and one on one assistance, and all of them are talking to each other, being egged on by the ones who are already done, anyone who tries to work ought to be canonized because it is impossible and they are branding themselves as lame. I think the largest failing in schools is not the material, but that the kids are distracted from it. It is good stuff, it is the stuff they need to be learning (in my opinion at least, and my fields are english and science, not history or government), and it is interesting enough to hold their attention, but it has to be presented in an interesting way and they need to maintain focus.

[Shukrata Ipekileghen]

it has to be presented in an interesting way and they need to maintain focus.

That's the kicker, some teachers really know how to present a subject in a manner that makes easier to relate to and some other teachers don't.

I think with a reform curriculum, we could take a decent step forward to a better education for "our" children and ourselves.

That being said, there's the long running "conspiracy" theory that states that the government and the corporations want the public to be as dumb as possible.

CONSUME, CONSUME!!!

[Gary F. Moraco]

It's all government propaganda.So you can respond here or at my page as to what would be learned.Do you think Ecology is important?

[Carl Ballard Swanson (banzai9)]

I think some kind of agricultural extension could be privately funded to give education in permaculture and sustainable agriculture, run a farmer's market and maybe take up some slack for the long lost physical education programs. A community garden project meets Ag office deal.

[Michael]

Oh, God, the educational system.

I've long been of the opinion that when America wakes up and realizes that it is vital to know something in order to "win the game", the educational system will take care of itself. But as long as the corporatist disease makes us all think that knowledge is something you rent, there's no hope.

We've had mixed results with education. We've home schooled a lot of the time, and had some good experiences with the public schools in Bloomington. And this year the kids are in a private school here in Puerto Rico -- they'd probably do OK in a public school, too, regardless of the manifest funding problems here, but our Spanish is still in the learning-curve phase.

The problem with America's educational system is not an organizational problem, though. It is cultural. As long as know-nothing MBAs are the gods of the business world, and know-nothing celebrities are the gods of the pop-culture world, America's educational level will continue to be the embarrassment it is. Oh, sure, if education were better funded there would be incremental change. But the fundamental problem is that knowledge is not respected, and that is a problem that's getting worse, not better.

[Batty McDougall]

Language seems a tough thing. I spent a lot of time reading how write English correctly. Then Joyce happened. In particular, Finnegan's Wake happened. Now I write and talk trying to avoid aristotelian logic, and people get fed up with me with comments leaning to "You asshole, what the hell DO you know?"
I had a teacher who liked to avoid absolutes, and it helped quite a bit.
As far as instituting some kind of policies like E-Prime, I don't expect it to happen. I'd talk to the teachers. They're the ones that really change thoughts and behaviors.

[Andrew Swerlick]

I think one big reform would be just to inject a bit of flexibility in the subject material. There's no reason I should have been learning the same material that my parents learned and there's no reason my kids(when they come along) should learn the same things I do. The world is shifting so quickly these days and we need to understand that our education system should be shifting along with it. Otherwise folks are just going to end up learning things and then never applying them.

To be more specific though, here are some subjects I think we desperately need to be teaching, and what I think needs to be dropped to accommodate them.

What we need
Statistics & Numerical Analysis - Not so much of a straight up stats course, but more a course on how to critically analyze numbers. We need to be able to tell when a set of numbers is obviously bullshit and when its relevant. Think how often numerical studies are cited in the news and policy decisions, or how often statistical reports are used in crafting business plans. We need to stop treating these reports like they're black boxes, and begin to help kids understand how to analyze them critically.
Medicine - We need some kind of course that helps people to make intelligent medical decisions. We're looking at something part anatomy, part health, part physical education. People need to be able to understand their doctors at some level so they can be partners in medical decision making instead of being at the mercy of the experts.

What we Don't Need:
Calculus - Don't get me wrong, I loved calc, its a fascinating course and really neat intro into higher level mathematics. But unless you're going into the math and sciences you'll probably never use it again. I don't see any reason for this to a requirement at the high school level.

[Michael]

Eliminate the No Child Left Educated act, and you'll restore flexibility in course material.

By the way, proposing the elimination of higher mathematics does not strike me as greater flexibility in course material. Elective systems already ensure that most Americans can thankfully avoid the trials and tribulations of mathematics, but that doesn't mean they should be eliminated entirely.

But your other proposals are intriguing -- particularly ... well, both of them, actually. Ha. But I'm really fascinated by the notion of teaching the rabble medicine.

Really, all proposals for better education could just as well be addressed by making resources available online for this type of course. Education should probably be part of the open-source platform -- and like anything open-source, the materials should be there for use in whatever way you see fit. Specifically in regard to the two subjects you mention here -- there are some resources already for statistical analysis, but I don't know if there's anything available for "bullshit detection", which is really what we need to focus on.

Similarly, for medicine -- there are very fragmentary segments of medical information online. I know this very, very intimately, because both our kids have serious chronic illnesses. We know our way around online medical information, starting with basic information, moving through Medline abstracts and those few original research papers available online, and culminating in the slim online availability of curriculum information and textbooks for med schools. (I'm currently reading about immunology, by the way. It's cool.)

There are no such courses available that I know of. And yes, I agree they would be fantastic. There are lots of others. How about a course in how to understand the news? (Who to trust, how to evaluate trustworthiness of sources -- even the concept of sources!)

See, I figure that part of open-source politics is education of the public in issues. In addition to mere compendia of information, we should include easy-to-use lesson plans for teachers who want to address any given issue. Involve kids in the deliberation process! Educational for all involved -- they're damned creative at times. Sort of like 24x7 brainstorming.

[Andrew Swerlick]

I wasn't proposing necessarily eliminating higher mathetmatics from the curriculum, just removing it from the sort of core you're required to learn. For instance, I was required to take Trig in high school, but I can't see myself ever using it again once I graduate. I guess the way I see it primary and secondary level education should have a core curriculum that gives you the skills to be a very functional member of society on an economic, political, and personal level. Obviously as the times change that skill set would shift, and the core would need to shift accordingly.

If after we've got this core there's still space for electives, great. Higher level math would be great there for those who see themselves pursuing a career in the sciences. The same applies for any other sort of non-core courses.

I like your thoughts about building a central database to store user created teaching content. That could be a project all on its own, sort of like Wikipedia, but with the purpose of crafting lesson plans rather than encyclopaedia entries. A good place to start with a project like that might be a University Library system. You could tap into the librarians for help with constructing initial lesson plan frameworks and then get the community contributing.

[Michael]

Ah. You must have gone to school in a state other than Indiana, then. The required mathematics in Indiana consists of a single year of "General Mathematics," or did back in the Dark Ages when I was in high school (class of '84). I can't see that the space freed up was used to improve the level of Hoosier education in other ways, either. :-)

So I agree with you!

There are, in fact, already resources for free lesson plans. I'm not sure there's anything out there for user-contributed ones, though. Interesting notion (like anything 2.0, of course). But yes, it could most definitely be a project all its own, ha.