School are making us dumber?

Posted by andswho
Schools are

Posted by libster
The internet is making us dumber.

Posted by andswho

Posted by LibraLovesHim

Posted by andswho
Schools are

Or school is haha! Clearly never worked out for me

I'm JK!


But I noticed schools have a lot of drawing involved these days. Like draw your family draw your ideal life 5 years from now etc...


I don't remember having to draw so much in high school.

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Posted by Ssuperman
That don't make no sense

Posted by LibraLovesHim

Posted by Ssuperman
That don't make no sense

It teaches us to conform. Were we born to do so? It encourages competition, shouldnt that have died by the time we no longer needed to compete for food, liveliehood etc. Therefore people grow acting from ego. We are stuck in a phase and been here longer than any other point in our evolution. I want to see things like teaching kids how to grow their own food. The majority of people are just "big" idiots. I love wise old people. They were taught things they dont teach nowadays.

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Posted by andswho

Posted by LibraLovesHim

Posted by andswho
Schools are

Or school is haha! Clearly never worked out for me

I'm JK!


But I noticed schools have a lot of drawing involved these days. Like draw your family draw your ideal life 5 years from now etc...


I don't remember having to draw so much in high school.

click to expand

Posted by ScorpionKnight
We're supposed to be dumb....thats the way the corporatocracy wants it...make sure to keep showing up at your jobs so you can make them richer ?...

Posted by LibraLovesHim
Thoughts?

Posted by beautifulsoul74

Posted by LibraLovesHim
Thoughts?

It depends on the type(Secular vs Religious) but I'd say not only are they making us dumber but instilling a sense of "entitlement."

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Posted by Saggi212
Absolutely! Schools restrict are thought process and puts us in boxes....

Posted by seraph
It's really a shame that some folks got so little from their education. It isn't academia's responsibility to entertain or impress, but to provide the student with what they paid for: that which is in the course syllabus. This has nothing to do with "restricting thought", unless professors have some weirdly distinct political agenda they want to peddle during a Roman History lecture or a discussion about Derrida and "differance." Another possibility is that students are discouraged from deviating too far from the instructor's opinons. Which I've never encountered and would have been ludicrous to even conceive of. At least where *I* took my degree. I can't speak for anyone or anywhere else, but I suspect that the problem is between the chair and textbook, not the course or instructor.


Granted, not every instructor is a good fit for every student. But as long as the student can demonstrate at least *some* critical thinking ability (which the subject matter helps to cultivate, not to mention programs provided in-house to help with exactly that) they'll do well no matter what their position - within reason - on a subject.


In fact, post-secondary is where one is actually taught *how* to think critically - that is, clearly, coherently, and in such a way as can be expressed with a minimum of insult to the subject at hand and to scholars that have actually done work in the field.


School isn't the problem. YOU are the problem. First there was the complaint (for example) that the Humanities - the area of study that above all offers the richest opportunities for creative, abstract thought - don't lead directly to a McJob. You want that cubicle and you'll sacrifice your soul to get it. Fine. You're dying for a jerb and to carry a mortgage asap. So in answer to all the hand-wringing, funding shifted (and massively so) to tech, IT, business, "applied arts", and so on. "Real skills" (of the sort that mysteriously discourage correct use of apostrophes, I've noticed), that address "what employers are looking for", and so on. Which, incidentally, are *perfect* for creating good little consumers and obedient little employees. But you essentially demanded the removal of the H(umanities) from STEM. You got what you wanted, hope it fits. Shit, it had better, what with all the corporations and business elite (Peter Munk, et al) pouring money into schools that *look* like glorious, dignified edifices, but *feel* more like corporate training camps. Thanks for taking away half the Classics and Eastern Philosophy courses because you couldn't immediately find a job.


And NOW.... here's what's really precious: now the complaint is "conformity" and "compliance." What is to be expected, exactly? With funding cut from what feeds the mind and heart - for years now, folks can barely understand themselves and their true condition, never mind struggling to master the bare basics of grammar. You're in this shit because it's exactly what you asked for.


The reality, though, is what it's *always* been when it comes to school. It isn't really the education system that's the problem. It's the values brought to it (from outside of it.)


Those who care about it, want to succeed and put in the effort, will get the most value from it – not just as good little employees, but as well-rounded, progressively-minded individuals.


From my friend and mentor, the late T.G. Elliott and his first year course syllabus:


"Since most members of the class are first-year students, some remarks to them may not be amiss. The university is sometimes referred to as an institution of higher education, a term which is meant to exclude the education which we inflict upon children, or even upon adolescents. It is the education we offer to young (and other) adults in the hope that they will use our assistance in teaching them to think for themselves. There is no expectation that such education can simply be delivered to the student. If the student does not take an active part in his own higher education, he will not obtain it, and will find any degree conferred upon him quite useless. If you find yourself moping through one of the textbooks and sitting sullenly through the lectures, daring the instructor to interest you in the subject, I invite you to reread this paragraph."


"The university differs from other institutions of higher learning in offering courses in what used to be called the liberal (as distinct from the servile) arts. These are courses for people who want to learn to think for themselves, rather than direct their efforts immediately towards the earning of a salary, and CLA 160 is one of these courses. Those who are frightened by the thought of taking courses that are not immediately connected with a job, should understand that the facility with the written word, which is taught in liberal arts courses, is what communications depend on."

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Miss ya, Tom.