Schools Stifling Our Learning

    

In one of my high school English classes there was an individual who always seemed to draw the entire class. Every day without fail various students would chuckle at what look liked obvious discontent with whatever the teacher or his fellow students was saying. One day the kind-hearted teacher who truly only wanted the student to do well caught on to what was happening by observing the amusement of the other students and told him to take notes and to please pay attention to her. The whole class looked somewhat shocked when he politely and with a straight face told the teacher that this was exactly what he was doing.  When the teacher questioned him he showed her and the rest of the class his drawings, which were just illustrated notes. Every creative detail tied in to the lecture and he recalled it almost word for word. This teacher was as kind to her students as she was open minded, and was truly intrigued with how this student’s mind worked. What is not shown in this story is how many countless other teachers would have stopped this student’s method and forced him to take notes the conventional way. I think this directly relates to Isaac’s story in the fact that schools do not do a great job in helping their students learn. Our school systems focus on generic testing and methods which reflect the schools achievement, and though this is definitely a necessary evil, I think our education should try other methods that would make students want to learn in different ways and want to focus on things that interest them. While there will and should always be an implemented core curriculum, school systems should try their bests to not stifle the learning that they are meant to encourage and support

Students of a Shrinking World

Sorry I am so late, as I did not know that Kat had a blog posted. I think that as the world continues to seem to shrink, that we as a nation need to ready ourselves for both the opportunities and trials that come with this fact of life. As Kat very thoughtfully brought up, studying abroad has many benefits. Just think of all the countries of the world that send millions and millions of students every year just to the United States and Canada. Travel and language barriers are being diminished at constant rates. We consider this along with the fact of our liberal arts education in which we are supposed to prepare ourselves for the future, but do not put enough fair emphasis on the fact that the future is going to be a global one. To be adequately prepared for these changing times, I do not think studying a language is sufficient enough, but for all of those who are able I think they should take the next step and spend a semester immersed in the very culture of the language they wish to learn. It is thought by some that at the current rate of events, that Chinese will be the next big language of the business world, and will be similar to English in the fact that many nations will learn to speak it for business purposes. Though I do not take away from the obvious benefit of learning the language, I think It would be exponentially more helpful to spend at least some time, though not necessarily a semester in the country to learn the customs behind the language, and the people you will be communicating with. It is as Students of this shrinking planet that we must prepare to not only live in it, but to thrive regardless of the country you are in.

What do we Value?

We live in an interesting society. As an advocator for a free market and a government hands off agenda, I think that what a person makes should be up to them. What I find very curious is that when you look at what people make, you also see what our society values. Doctors obviously get paid respectable amounts because they keep us healthy. Politicians get paid a decent amount because they are lying, deceiving leeches who make sure that policy favors them in such a way. Policemen and first responders make slightly upwards of $30,000 for keeping us safe and secure, all the while 23 year old kids without degrees are making fortunes playing sports.

     Like I said earlier, It is not my place to say who should make what. What I am trying to say is that according to what we pay people, we value them more than others. We are saying that as a society we value entertainment “any given Sunday” over the 24 hours and  7 days a week we expect a policeman to rush to our aide or an EMT to resuscitate if us if we go under. It is also ironic that the very celebrity athletes who are paid such high salaries are free to act according to their own wishes, but we as a people badger our own law enforcement officers as a whole for the mistakes made by a few.  So I ask you this: if we did not have these brave men and women protecting our livelihoods, enforcing the law, putting out our fires, and giving us CPR on the way to the hospital, would it still be ok if we had good sport games coming on? Maybe it is time we re-evaluate what we value to begin with…