Lack of education - Page 2

May 14, 2008, 9:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ARC-77

That would be because teachers are idiots and use the wrong methods. They use crap like sight reading, so kids learn to read by seeing the first and last letters of the word and GUESSING at the word, rather than being taught phonics and root words.

What on EARTH is that when it's at home O_o More to the point how the hell do they teach them to read like that

May 14, 2008, 9:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ARC-77

Well in my honest opinion, I think English and math are alot more important than being able to pinpoint Armenia on the map. Reading is essential, studying literature expands one's views and vocabulary, and math is fairly important when it comes to money matters. How many instances are you going to run into where you desperately need to find a country on the globe? Not many.

Point taken, but I think there is room for cross-over of projects. It might make learning literature more fun if some form of geog is thrown in here and there, as is usually the case with history. Teachers underestimate how much kids actually get out of their projects, and how much they might actually want some background such as where certain countries or cities which appear in the literature are on the map. Same with maths- put some colour into the problem solving. Kids might actually want to do the maths if their imagination is stirred.

Quote:

Yes, it's kind of pathetic that people are so damn ignorant in geography...but it's not something that's going to hinder your chances at getting a job, or help you do your taxes.

True that, but it does help when you're in such a conversation and don't want to look stupid

Quote:

That would be because teachers are idiots and use the wrong methods. They use crap like sight reading, so kids learn to read by seeing the first and last letters of the word and GUESSING at the word, rather than being taught phonics and root words.

Quote:

What on EARTH is that when it's at home O_o More to the point how the hell do they teach them to read like that

Absolutely. Worse still, when parents try to teach them at home in a more intelligent way, the teacher kick off. My kid just turned 3 and he already knows his alphabet, both in capital letters and small, but if he starts chanting A B C at school he'll get his ear chewed off "ZO NO YOUS DON'T DO a b c LIEK EVERYONE ELSE!!! It dumbs down bright kids if they have to be kept at everyone else's level, just for convenience of the teacher, and it sucks. Teachers just refuse to accept that their methods aren't right for every child

Quote:

This really should be in the debate section

Oh and you're wrong, Midgar is in Suriname.

NOOOOOEEES!!! *runs off to find Suriname on the map*

May 14, 2008, 9:57 AM

^ Agreed.

I was several steps ahead of other kids in primary school, as I read frequently and taught myself alot more. I became frustrated, and hated school because I felt restricted. However, putting smarter kids in better classes for the same year may make less advanced kids feel demotivated and stupid.

May 14, 2008, 10:01 AM

Suriname is a Banana Republic at the top of South America. Reading helps with geography.
Although I didn't properly know my alphabet until I was eight

May 14, 2008, 3:31 PM

*Sigh*

I.....

I'm one of the Americans who is terrible at geography.

I'm getting better, I really am, but I used to fail so hard at it. I once got a 38 on a geography quiz. I mean, I know where all the major countries are, but I have trouble pinpointing the exact locations of the more obscure ones. *Runs off weeping*

And Canada being better is a lie

May 14, 2008, 4:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Debbie Harry

My friend thought that Singapore was in Spain, and El Salvador in Africa.

Although I used to think that Carlisle was in Scotland but that's not nearly as bad, in my defence we used to drive past it all the time and I didn't think we had crossed the border yet...

To be fair, it's ten minutes in.

I used to think Johannesberg was in Sweden. I rationalised it with the fact that Johan is a Scandanavian name.

May 14, 2008, 7:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Incorrect English

Point taken, but I think there is room for cross-over of projects. It might make learning literature more fun if some form of geog is thrown in here and there, as is usually the case with history. Teachers underestimate how much kids actually get out of their projects, and how much they might actually want some background such as where certain countries or cities which appear in the literature are on the map. Same with maths- put some colour into the problem solving. Kids might actually want to do the maths if their imagination is stirred.

Aye, I'm sure there are plenty of ways to relate things. Like say, in literature or something, a teacher could pull out a map and point to the location of the story's setting. Similarly, vocabulary should be looked up too. When I was little and my mom was teaching me to read, if I came across a word I didn't know she first told me to try to figure it out from the context of the sentence. If the word was too obscure for me to do that, she'd pull out a dictionary and I'd look it up. Nobody does that today. Hell, if you told a kid to figure out the context of the sentence there's a good chance they wouldn't know what context meant

Quote:

Absolutely. Worse still, when parents try to teach them at home in a more intelligent way, the teacher kick off. My kid just turned 3 and he already knows his alphabet, both in capital letters and small, but if he starts chanting A B C at school he'll get his ear chewed off "ZO NO YOUS DON'T DO a b c LIEK EVERYONE ELSE!!! It dumbs down bright kids if they have to be kept at everyone else's level, just for convenience of the teacher, and it sucks. Teachers just refuse to accept that their methods aren't right for every child

Ah, but therein lies the beauty of the No Child Left Behind Act (you do live in America right? I don't know, but what you described sounds like NCLB). In trying to keep everyone at grade level and maintain status quo, it prevents the smarter kids from advancing like they need to, thus stunting their growth and making them stagnate in mediocrity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erythritol

*Sigh*

I.....

I'm one of the Americans who is terrible at geography.

I'm getting better, I really am, but I used to fail so hard at it. I once got a 38 on a geography quiz. I mean, I know where all the major countries are, but I have trouble pinpointing the exact locations of the more obscure ones. *Runs off weeping*

And Canada being better is a lie

YOU SUCK

What're you bawwing about a 38 for anyway? In algebra 2 in highschool, me and my friends would take bets on how low my quizzes and tests were, and my final class grade was a 45. And in second semester of college, I made a 0 on my math exam. My failure is the stuff of legends

May 14, 2008, 8:05 PM

I think what we can all take from this thread is that John needs to filter out things he's quoting and posting, from now on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ARC-77

Well in my honest opinion, I think English and math are alot more important than being able to pinpoint Armenia on the map. Reading is essential, studying literature expands one's views and vocabulary, and math is fairly important when it comes to money matters.

Just a point. School's views annoy me about these subjects. I can clearly spell and construct fully developed sentences and yet I've been forced to take English this year. Strangely, I've learned very little of my English skills from and English classroom - I learned more from my French teacher about the English language than anyone else. In English, I think the last time we had a lesson on the actual language part of English was a good five years ago.

It's all down to reading books and analysing themes and characters and shit. Real life? "Show how the writer effectively conveys the idea of ... through ..." will almost never apply to me.

As for maths, anything passed armithmatic is useless to anyone who doesn't want to me a maths teacher.

I once asked my maths teacher "why would we EVER use this?" in reference to a particular topic. She said "to pass your exams." I asked, "and then?" She said "to go to University." I asked, "to do what?" She said, "to qualify as a maths teacher."

It's a vicious cycle.

I just hope Angelus doesn't catch my post here.

May 14, 2008, 8:18 PM

I'm not very familiar with the NCLB act, but it does seem very impractical, and much like alot of the standard e