Websites you really should be aware of

[frihyland]

If I was benevolent king of the world I would institute a mandatory 4 year education (no practical stuff just pure art and science), 3 years of journeyman training in your chosen field of expertise, and finally 2 years of civil service to pay for the seven previous years. Then you enter the global market as an independent entrepreneur, with no debt and an abundance of education and experience.

 

Down with the proletariat I say. Up with the middle class entrepeneurs.

[z929669]

here, here.

 

I would call this "enlightened socialism", and I am all for it. Parts of northern Europe come to mind as tending towards this "ideal"

[Bealdwine]

I know I shouldn't but I just can't help myself... I'm going to make one of those comments an educator never should (but listen for the whispers in the staff rooms).

 

What of the poor buggers who were just born to shovel ****? Their role in the world is no less important... do you plan to fast-track them to the **** shovel my Lord?

 

...and before you hate me or pour **** scorn on my head, I am only semi-serious... and anyway I have flu' and cannot be held intellectualy accountable for any statements I might make :D

[skwareballz]

It reminds me of a Louie CK joke where he was talking about technical high schools. We tell kids they can do anything they want, but at technical high school we say, you can do 8 things.

[frihyland]

I'm fairly certain if every job required 9 years of education and training and experience the amount of people opting for the full nightsoil experience would be fairly small, but I could be wrong.

 

But for those that do I think they'll also appreciate the courses in chemistry (moonshine production), music theory (banjo and fiddle playing), and the training in using equipment to turn your nightsoil into energy and/or fertilizer.

[Bealdwine]

I'm fairly certain if every job required 9 years of education and training and experience the amount of people opting for the full nightsoil experience would be fairly small' date=' but I could be wrong.But for those that do I think they'll also appreciate the courses in chemistry (moonshine production), music theory (banjo and fiddle playing), and the training in using equipment to turn your nightsoil into energy and/or fertilizer.[/quote']

 

:D

 

A little more seriously on this point - I am a great supporter of equality in access and opportunity in learning. Everyone should have the chance to improve themselves in any way, at any time.

The humbling truth however is that eventually you face the hard fact that what is missing is equality in ability to prosper from what is offered :(

Some can't, some won't. But that view is so politically incorrect I deny even having thought it.

[frihyland]

Thanks for the devil's advocate position B, gives me a chance to get a few thoughts off my chest.

 

I absolutely agree with you B on the point of the number of people that cannot prosper from our current monolithic system, some people will never get math because they were born to dance. Others will never get Art because they were born to explore the world rather than create one.

 

Our current system is a leftover training apparatus designed to get people ready for life in a factory environment.

 

All the variety of human experience and ability is crammed into a monolithic system, destroying 98% (by current measurements) of any possible value that diversity and individualism might have brought to the table.

 

The current system favors only those who have a proclivity towards reading and to a much lesser degree listening, if you don't have those talents chances are you will fail regardless of the other gifts you may possess.

 

The problem arises from forcing people to learn in ways that they are ill suited for in order to do things that are anathema to them. A free and open system that reverses this paradigm might be a good first step.

[MontyMM]

I did some teaching with the VSO, and you'd be a foolish teacher not to plan for the low-aptitude people. I caught one kid eating his text book at the back of the class (I'm not being callous - he wasn't hungry, but chewing it up to make spitballs!)

 

But though the book-eaters are a significant minority, I can say that based on my experience they are vastly outnumbered by capable students, desperate for education, but forced into a life of drudgery through poverty. When it comes to the power of education, I am a hopeless optimist(!), and I like to think that a more educated world could lead to more prosperous and civilised societies, where the less-able will also fare much better.

 

A great illustration of what these projects could achieve is William Kamkwamba. When I say that reading about these examples, and the strong growth of these projects, are some of my favourite things, I'm not kidding. Reading this stuff puts me in a good mood for the rest of the day.

 

 

Also, I think that if these schemes want to achieve the widest reach, they should look at implementations that can run well on cell phones. Cell phones have achieved tremendous penetration in the developing world , and the transceiver network is surprisingly well-developed in many places. PCs with internet connection are of course a relative rarity, but that is also improving rapidly.

[frihyland]

Another interesting article about human potential and artificial constraints.

 

I love the Kamkwamba story, I read his book and watched his ted speech, just awesome.

[MontyMM]

Our current systems, still based on a Prussian pseudo-religious model of training people to tolerate bordom and follow orders, in preparation for the workforce, needs to go the way of the Dodo as soon as possible.

[Bealdwine]

Careful Monty, Rome also trained and 'educated' it's Third World allies and those were the very Barbarian Hordes who swept it aside!

 

I do love the cyclic nature of history :D

[z929669]

I know I shouldn't but I just can't help myself... I'm going to make one of those comments an educator never should (but listen for the whispers in the staff rooms).

 

What of the poor buggers who were just born to shovel ****? Their role in the world is no less important... do you plan to fast-track them to the **** shovel my Lord?

 

...and before you hate me or pour **** scorn on my head, I am only semi-serious... and anyway I have flu' and cannot be held intellectualy accountable for any statements I might make :D

 

 

Coming in late on this, I know: These "poor buggers" might be caught at an early age and tracked to a more limited or technical service-oriented education, and provided for with all of the social "securities" offered to everyone else, I would say. I am pretty sure that the German educational system works in a similar fashion?

[Bealdwine]

I know I shouldn't but I just can't help myself... I'm going to make one of those comments an educator never should (but listen for the whispers in the staff rooms).What of the poor buggers who were just born to shovel ****? Their role in the world is no less important... do you plan to fast-track them to the **** shovel my Lord?...and before you hate me or pour **** scorn on my head' date=' I am only semi-serious... and anyway I have flu' and cannot be held intellectualy accountable for any statements I might make :D [/quote']

 

Coming in late on this' date=' I know: These "poor buggers" might be caught at an early age and tracked to a more limited or technical service-oriented education, and provided for with all of the social "securities" offered to everyone else, I would say. I am pretty sure that the German educational system works in a similar fashion?[/quote']

Oooo, now there's a can of worms opened :D Thank you zMan but I think I'll shy quietly away from that one, rofl.

[z929669]

 

I know I shouldn't but I just can't help myself... I'm going to make one of those comments an educator never should (but listen for the whispers in the staff rooms).What of the poor buggers who were just born to shovel ****? Their role in the world is no less important... do you plan to fast-track them to the **** shovel my Lord?...and before you hate me or pour **** scorn on my head' date=' I am only semi-serious... and anyway I have flu' and cannot be held intellectualy accountable for any statements I might make :D [/quote']

Coming in late on this' date=' I know: These "poor buggers" might be caught at an early age and tracked to a more limited or technical service-oriented education, and provided for with all of the social "securities" offered to everyone else, I would say. I am pretty sure that the German educational system works in a similar fashion?

[/quote']Oooo, now there's a can of worms opened :D Thank you zMan but I think I'll shy quietly away from that one, rofl.

 

Did I also forget to mention reproduction incentives ...? :P

[stoppingby4now]

Our current systems, still based on a Prussian pseudo-religious model of training people to tolerate bordom and follow orders, in preparation for the workforce, needs to go the way of the Dodo as soon as possible.

 

Here here! Just east of where I live there are a lot of families that home school, and the media downplays it from time to time. It's absolutely absurd. Home schooling is even outlawed in Sweden.