Comments on: Anti-Teaching http://alex.halavais.net/anti-teaching Things that interest me. Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:26:16 +0000 hourly 1 By: Mark Cotrupe http://alex.halavais.net/anti-teaching/comment-page-1#comment-201507 Mark Cotrupe Sun, 11 May 2008 14:46:49 +0000 http://alex.halavais.net/anti-teaching/#comment-201507 The current educational system is so much about anti-teaching. I remember an old saying I saw once: "Education is what is left after a previous learning is forgotten". We are producing a nation of educated people. Teachers are teaching the prescribed curriculum as mandated by the schools they work in, and students are learning how to "work the system" to get grades and graduate. Do we have a fear of education? True education involves taking large risks and pushing beyond what is know. We do need the basic building blocks of knowledge, but we need to show relevance. What good is advanced math if it involves just a shuffling of numbers? When we use it to put someone on the moon it has relevance. We need to find a way for accountability and relevance to meet. Then educators can fulfill the requirements of the school administration and still teach the students how to think, and see relevance in the world around them. The current educational system is so much about anti-teaching. I remember an old saying I saw once: “Education is what is left after a previous learning is forgotten”. We are producing a nation of educated people. Teachers are teaching the prescribed curriculum as mandated by the schools they work in, and students are learning how to “work the system” to get grades and graduate. Do we have a fear of education? True education involves taking large risks and pushing beyond what is know. We do need the basic building blocks of knowledge, but we need to show relevance. What good is advanced math if it involves just a shuffling of numbers? When we use it to put someone on the moon it has relevance.
We need to find a way for accountability and relevance to meet. Then educators can fulfill the requirements of the school administration and still teach the students how to think, and see relevance in the world around them.

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