I'm no good at math. I never have been any good at it. My strengths lie elsewhere. People have told me I'm left-brained, which is a good thing because it makes me artistic.
I'm pretty good at other things.
I had a bad second grade teacher who was too hard.
She was mean and made me feel stupid so I decided right then I hated it and I never wanted to do math again. I guess from that point on I never really "got it."
The problem is, the math they teach is just not practical. This order of operations thing they worked on last time I tried a math class ... who really uses that?
I need things to be practical or they just don't make sense. In my daily life I never use this stuff and I get by. They should make all these rules practical and maybe I'd get it.
Also the math teachers insist on giving tests. Even when I do know it, I can't answer when they ask on a test.
I guess I'll just never learn it, but that's ok. I know lots of people who get along fine without it and a lot of people have told me that math is not important for their jobs.
That second grade teacher really did a number on me and I'll never forget that.
I'm illiterate. I just can't read. Never could read.
I had a bad second grade teacher who made me feel stupid when we were reading, and from that point to now I never really went back.
Its just the way my brain works I guess.
I'm good at other things though. Because I can't read I listen better and I have a better memory than many people, which is a good thing.
The problem is, all the basic reading books are so impractical.
I mean, who cares about Spot and Dick and Jane and the ball? This is ridiculous.
If they would just teach something practical, like filling out job applications I would be ok.
And then they are always talking about "parts of speech" and grammar. I know lots of people with jobs who say they never think about that at all.
Why do they need to throw in all that impractical stuff?
I just want to learn the basic things about reading I need and forget the rest.
I'm a practical guy.
That second grade teacher really did a number on me. He told me I HAD to learn to read, but I guess he was wrong, huh?
However my motivation for making this "joke" is not humorous. This is serious business. It is a sad and increasingly broad trend that our education system is failing our children beyond the earliest years, and the anti-intellectual views promoted or tolerated by well meaning but ignorant or politically motivated instructors and administrators in our schools must be exposed for what they are. Techniques that might work well in grades K-3 cannot work in high school or beyond, where the volume of material that must be absorbed each day is enormously greater.
We are becoming a nation that must draw on the rest of the world for our technically trained work force. Our education system is creating generations of students whose educational background and attitudes suit them only for careers in retail sales or "communications." There is nothing wrong with those career options, but they should be options and not the sole choices for most.
While our failure might be a boon for prospective immigrants from nations that have not systematically gutted their educational standards and methods, it is a tragedy for those students in our country who have no access to these fine careers and good salaries.
On a different note, it is sad that we are creating a populace that cannot possibly understand the only thing I can think of that makes our modern culture historically unique: the advance of science and the problems, power and opportunities that provides.
It is also dangerous that political power is in the hands of a populace consisting of voters who have no means whatsoever of assessing for themselves competing claims of public policy on merit when a scientific issue is involved.
The products of most of our "education" schools promote educational philosophies that have manifestly failed. These well meaning specialists have highjacked the administrations of most of our grade and high schools. "Meaning well," however, counts for nothing at all. The countries that continue to educate their citizenry use more traditional methods of instruction, including the lecture method where appropriate. High standards are enforced and skill levels are determined by regular demonstrations of student ability with success measured by individual performance. Failure is viewed as unacceptable and there are consequences for failure. Gee, it sounds just like all the other parts of life, doesn't it? I wonder why their methods work and our "touchy-feely" group work and "constructivist" methodology has proved itself (yes proved, repeatedly and over many years) to be a failure beyond grade school.
I also wonder why folks who have entered the "education administration" hierarchy after obtaining degrees at "education mills," and who often have no degrees in anything except "education," continue to promote policies that have failed.
Why do they propose that the solution to the problem is simply to do MORE of that which has already shown itself to be a failure?
I leave you to ponder that question. Hint: Apply common sense.
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