On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 10:53:34 -0400, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:
snip
The logical problem with this kind of claim is that the people making it,
including Gunner and, perhaps, you, are all products of this "indoctrinating
educational system." Presumably you then are either a happy non-thinking
obedient worker drone, or cannon fodder.
It's clear that most people are aware of what the problems are; complaints
about education are nearly universal, so it's safe to say that nearly
everyone else recognizes the same things that you do. Maybe education hasn't
hurt them none; they can read the writing on the wall. Somehow, they've
escaped the grand conspiracy to turn them into mindless drones.
--
Ed Huntress
===========
The operational phrase here is "complaints about education are
nearly universal." These have existed as long as there has been
"education," and include such "gems" as whining about the shift
from instruction in Latin to instruction in the vernacular, the
introduction of printed texts because it interfered with the
development of the student's memory, and the elimination of Attic
Greek as a HS graduation requirement.
Before I retired, I spent the last 15 years at the post secondary
[community college] level first as an adjunct instructor, then a
full time instructor, and administrator [Registrar and Director
of Institutional Research]. In many cases, much of the [new]
"educational" money received is not used for what most people
would classify as instruction purposes, i.e. either direct
instruction or up-graded facilities, but rather to generate
increasing numbers of reports and data, which no one ever reads
or acts on.
We now have entire departments involved with data collection and
report filing, including student loans. Indeed, at my last
school, the Student Financial Aid Office [separate from
institutional accounting] had more employees and worked more
hours that the local Credit Union, that handled about 10X the
dollar volume. Note that this significant growth in
non-educational activity was not voluntary on the part of the
institution or its Board of Regents, but were imposed by funding
or other regulatory/accreditation agencies. Conversation with
colleagues in public ElHi indicates the same pattern of
significant increases in non-educational activity. FWIW -- much
of this reporting could and should be eliminated by the
imposition of a standard data format, and the transmission of
this raw but formatted data to the agency involved, so that they
can slice and dice as they desire. Other, very time consuming,
activities can and should be eliminated, such as the surveys of
graduate income. Not only is it difficult to track down
graduates from 5 and 10 years ago, many will not respond, so the
data is worthless. Given that everyone earning a wage must file
an income tax return, and social security numbers are used for
both the return and student ID, the cost effective and accurate
method would be to send a list of ssns [in machine readable
format, not a paper copy] to the IRS, but noooooo...
Unfortunately, this is the same pattern that I observed in the
60s and 70s while I was employed in manufacturing, where the
reporting and accounting demands [and staffing] increased
exponentially, followed by collapse and off-shoring in the 1980s
and 1990s, largely because of excessive overhead/burden rates.
This confusion is significantly compounded by confusion about
what "education" means. It is a noun or a verb, a process or a
product? Indeed, it appears to take on different meanings for
even the same speaker, from sentence to sentence, leading to an
endless series of "problematiques," and confusion.
Many of the "problems" with education are due to its nature as a
continuously "moving target." Think of the problems that would
ensue in the machining trade if the inch used for tolerances kept
changing/shrinking. Processes that were adequate today [CsubPK
1.33] would be out-of-control tomorrow. Exactly the same thing
occurs with the amended and "re-normed" college admissions tests
such as the SAT and ACT. These are "normed" against selected
high school graduates, generally from private prep schools, are
then "adjusted" to fail a preset fraction of these applicants,
and then these are used to evaluate the "adequacy" of a general
high-school education, not for additional academic work, but for
"life!"
Even the word "adequate" is subject to confusion, as does this
mean a minimum level of knowledge or does it mean a desired/ideal
level of knowledge, and in either case who sets the standards and
how are these measured?
One major problem is that we have allowed the "experts in the
instructional topics," to set the "educational standards."
IMNSHO, these "subject matter experts" should not be allowed to
determine what "every child must know." For example, almost all
teachers of American history feel it is vital that the student
know and "appreciate" the importance of the "Northwest
Ordinance." Yet I know of no study showing any relationship,
causal or predictive, between knowledge about or appreciation of
the "Northwest Ordnance," and social status/income, criminal
history, etc.
FYI --
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyame...nes/ordinance/
It is good to see that people are interested in education, I
suggest:
(1) Define in your own mind what you mean by education. Most
likely you will wind up with education(1), education(2), etc.
Just be sure which one you are using when discussing "education."
(2) Pay particular attention to what your local schools feel the
object and standards are for "education." [What they do is far
more important than what they say.] Are their standards a
"minimum" or an "ideal," and is the intent to get their students
ready to assume their roles as adults or preparation for yet more
"education." These need not be contradictory goals, but one must
take priority, bearing in mind that college graduates are still a
minority of HS graduates.
(3) Determine how much of your local school funding is used for
actual "educational" activities and support, how much for
mandated but non educational services/activites, how much for
"administration," and how much for generation of baffle-gas
reports.
(4) "Observation and imitation" remains the primary method of
learning, not classroom instruction. To the extent possible,
take time to include your children in the operation of your
family, for example how much money you spend on food, rent, gas,
and other car expenses. It is precisely the [lack of]
appreciation of the magnitude of these expenses v income that
cause the most problems in young adults. Credit cards are now
far more likely to cause problems than "sex."
Unka' George [George McDuffee]
-------------------------------------------
He that will not apply new remedies,
must expect new evils:
for Time is the greatest innovator: and
if Time, of course, alter things to the worse,
and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better,
what shall be the end?
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman.
Essays, "Of Innovations" (1597-1625).