Education & Learning

Epignosis wrote: A Person wrote: I used to get annoyed with open book tests, I prefer to plow through the test and be done with it.  The book was always an option.  If you didn't want / need it, then go for it.

Of course. And I generally didn't use it, until I was done anyway. Even then sometimes I was in the middle of a good book and decided to read that instead.

Rob, you would have been the damn coolest teacher I would have ever had.

Epignosis wrote: Equality 7-2521 wrote: Epignosis wrote: Pat, you are in Philadelphia. Perhaps you know of CEP (Community Education Partners).  That is for whom I worked. I was actually recruited by them. They're a good program from what I understand.  Amazing program for what they do, and I've seen a few.  Not like some sh*tholes. The most recent sh*thole I worked with had no discipline.  I witnessed boys assault girls, and nothing happen at an administrative level.  One student talked sex during my lesson...I sent him out of the room to where they were supposed to go according to procedure...he came back eating candy five minutes later and resumed his explicit discussion.  He should have been in jail, but that's how he repaid the leniency of the state. That'll teach 'em.

Ugh  don't remind me of the practical superiority of your degree.

NecronCommander wrote: Rob, you would have been the damn coolest teacher I would have ever had. I can't speak much about the public school system, since I have been fortunate to be in private schools all the way up to my current year (freshman in college.) However, your previous posts make me a tad worried.  The things you did for you class and your students were brilliant, and they certainly agree with all of the statements you've made about your views on the education system (which I almost completely agree with as well), but I worry that it would be very easy to see those methods in the wrong light.  I can see parents misinterpreting your techniques as tomfoolery or an "immature" approach to teaching. Just my 2 cents.  But then again, I'm still a student myself and have a very limited view of the educational system in the United States.

I can appreciate you feelings here.  Trust me...I had a couple of minor run-ins with the administration. 

I think it's all about context, really.

These students needed to live what they learned.  And learn how to live.

If they died in a stunt or gang fight (and believe me, a couple of them did), then learning Shakespeare would do nothing for them!

HOWEVER...

Shakespeare happened to be one of the authors my boys loved the most.  Julius Caesar was their favorite.  It was all about trust, honor, and revenge- things that are similar to gang life.  It also taught them how dangerous it was.

Believe me, the curriculum was rigorous, but relevant.  Jeopardy was more than a game, and they deserved it after working hard all week.


Edited by Epignosis - July 15 2010 at 22:18

Not to mention that if you can work your way through a Shakespeare play, parse the language, understand it, absorb it, you have a great ability to use that in the real world.  As then you can understand a SQL stored procedure (just a language), and eventually make a decent living, if yer so inclined.  It's all just language that follows rules and it's very easy to see where the rules are faulty.  Not saying this would work for everyone, but it worked for me, a competent English Major who has been gainfully employed in high-tech for something like 25 years, in spite of it all.  Purely educationally speaking, I have no business doing what I do for a living.  On a broader scale, parsing a John Donne poem just ain't that different from solving why some networking thing isn't working.  May not work for everyone, I dunno. 

I think they're encouraged not to by teachers. Go tell an English department that resolving computer network issues is like reading John Donne and watch the incredulous spluttering commence.

I like reality and I like horror films too  

harmonium.ro wrote: I like reality and I like horror films too

Ok but you understand my point? Death, killings, violence have become habitual...and well, as it is in a movie this help them trivialize the issue of violence

Edited by shivareemoon - August 02 2010 at 15:50

Equality 7-2521 wrote: You're making a big logical jump from kids liking horror movies to that trivializing violence.