This past week I came across two separate things that made me stop and think about the way we (we as in, American society) educate our teenagers. Before I get started, I want to be clear about something. I hate the public education system here in the United States. I have hated it since jr. high (which has been replaced by middle school in most places now). With that in mind, I must say that I love it when I come across articles/research/lectures/etc that support my feelings that public school, middle and high school in particular, is woefully inefficient and ineffective.
The first item that I came across that got me to thinking about this topic, yet again, was a video of a lecture by a high school math teacher named Dan Meyer. It’s a touch over 12 minutes long and he illustrates some major issues with math education in our nation. In short, in our attempts to take a ‘one size fits all’ approach to teaching, we end up robbing our children of some vital skills. For example, where in your adult life have you ever been given the exact information you need to solve the problem and the formula to use? But yet our kids are provided with that all the way through school. Rarely are they ever just presented with a problem and asked to find the needed information, figure out the formula to use, and then solve the problem. For a better explanation, watch the video.
The second item I came across was an article on Newsweek’s website entitled “Why Teenagers Are Growing Up So Slowly Today” which talks about a book by Dr. Joe Allen called Escaping the Endless Adolescence. Here’s part of the opening paragraphs of the article:
What if surgeons never got to work on humans, they were instead just endlessly in training, cutting up cadavers? What if the same went for all adults – we only got to practice at simulated versions of our jobs? Lawyers only got to argue mock cases, for years and years. Plumbers only got to fix fake leaks in classrooms.
….
Rather quickly, all meaning would vanish from our work. Even if we enjoyed the activity of our job, intrinsically, it would rapidly lose depth and relevance. It’d lose purpose. We’d become bored, lethargic, and disengaged.In other words, we’d turn into teenagers.
Ok, so we have Mr. Meyer, a math teacher, admitting that math is taught wrong. We have Dr. Allen saying that in our effort to protect our kids from real life we end up over insulating them from life and thus slowing their development. Now let’s add quote from one of my favorite books, “Brain Rules”:
There is no greater anti-brain environment than the classroom.
John Medina – Brain Rules
And there you have just a few of my many reasons for no liking the public school system. Now, all ranting aside, one size fits all systems do usually fit some people. Of my three school age daughters, two of them seem to function quite well in such a system. But one of my daughters has struggled for years. They say 2 out of 3 ain’t bad, but I say it’s a ‘D’ and for all the tax money that gets poured into them our schools should be doing better.
My 2¢ worth.
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. – Mark Twain
