Quote:
Originally Posted by lawcat
Principal problem of education is two-part. First, schools do not teach you how to think but what to think. Second, schools do not teach you how to study but what to study. The result of the system is the stratification of students. You are given the material and told what it is, then you are tested on the "how" of the material, all the way through the baccalaureate degree. Only in the graduate levels do they teach the cream of the crop how to do it--graduate students merely sharpen their natural skills.
In essence, there is very little teaching, which is why many feel that they are not learning much in schools that they would not learn outside of schools.
Schools are basically a competition in which your GPA, calss rank, etc., represent you natural capacity compared to the sample. There is no effective teaching.
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This sounds exactly like something I would have written after my first year at college. It disgusted me. We actually had a discussion in class one day where 50 of us (that was the sub-class taught by a Teacher's Assistant - the full class was a whopping 460 students!!!) were asked what we planned on accomplishing in college and why we had come in the first place (this was a public state school in the US). I thought it was going to be an interesting discussion. Wrong. I didn't count, but I would say that about 85% of the people stated that they came to college to get the diploma. Once they had their peice of paper, they were done. Education was merely a means to an end for a lot of my peers.
I grew even more cynical and finally decided to denounce the system and quit college. I worked my butt off for a couple years and realized that I was going to be a bottom of the barrel, struggling low class person if I didn't change. I went back to school to persue my passion, but I did it better this time. I chose a school that was unconcerned with grades and more concerned with teaching you *how to learn*. The difference was night and day and I feel like a much better person from having my experiences there.
Why am I ranting on and on about this? Good question...
It comes back to some other points made in this thread. Sometimes it is the teacher's fault, sometimes it's the student's fault, and sometimes it is the system's fault. Yet, as Turtle wisely put it, "suck it up". All you can do is to discern what is best for you and appease those that hold different (or no) values.
I think there is some truth to the statement that the best student is a teacher (or a similar manifestation that says something like "the disciple can become the teacher's teacher"...can't recall the exact wording right now). Nonetheless, the heirarchy is set. A student is subservient to a teacher and a teacher holds dominion over a student. It seems silly when presented in such a candid fashion, but it's just the way it is. It makes sense logically, or at least it should.
There are those few exceptions where the student should be the teacher and the teacher should submit to the dominance (of knowledge). This can be very frustrating for a student, particularly if that student is made subservient by the teacher for whatever reason (finds the student threatening, dislikes them for whatever reason, etc.). I've been there and it is not fun.
What has worked for me (not saying it will work for everyone) is to acquiesce. It's a strong hit to the pride (at least initially), but it has worked out well for me. I've had professors apologize to me (well, three to be exact). I'm quite sure that had I put up a fight, they would not have come to the same conclusion. It's like the difference between saying "I told you so" and a quaint smile of acknowledgment. In the end, I am quite pleased with how everything worked out.
