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| "Negative learning" documented at prestigious universities |
| 2006-09-27 |
| Posted by:Anguper Hupomosing9418 |
| #10 I've personally come to believe that if we want to win our (internal) war against the LLL, this is the "precious" to winning....Education. It's all about "feelings" and "self-esteem" nowadays in schools, not the "3 R's" (and I went to school in the 80's/early 90's). I've gotta hope that some of the UPSWING of the freshmen polled was 9/11 and a will to learn about this gosh-darn country of ours. But the realist/cynic in me realizes that it probably now starts in kindergarten. Of course, it actually reflects badly on the Universities themselves, whom as we all know spew complete BS in their "Political Science" and "History" classes. The best I've heard it summed up is this....there was NO Federal Dept. of Education until the late 70's (created under Carter, I believe). Could it be (/sarcasm off/) that the "dumbing down" began (or accelerated as OP states) then? Coincidence? Nowadays (mostly because of lawsuits) you can't discipline kids, you can't make them say the Pledge, you can't even teach TRUE history, but you CAN make them feel good about themselves (and, be used by many parents as free childcare). This comes from just one poster here at RB, whose wife, mom, dad and sister were ALL teachers (mom and dad are retired now, and my wife and my sister are both doing the most important job on the planet....raising young 'uns, and teaching them at home, before they get shipped off to "gubmint" schools). |
| Posted by: BA 2006-09-27 22:04 |
| #9 Motivation is important, but still I wonder what the results of the same questionnaire would have been for a similar cohort of college students in the 1950's, at that same institutions as were polled in the cited studies. Think they would have shown "negative learning" way back then? |
| Posted by: Snuns Thromp1484 2006-09-27 21:53 |
| #8 Motivation still counts most. If you want to learn, you don't just take what you're spoon fed in class. Most do, but they aren't really motivated to learn; they're motivated to get their ticket punched. Big difference. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-09-27 20:36 |
| #7 Ditto Anon. Though God Bless my High School Gov't teacher (a Syrian born immigrant) who tried is darndest to teach me about our system of gov't. I learned more on my own as well. Also, I've learned more on the 'burg in a couple hours than I did in a whole semester of college. I love this blog. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2006-09-27 20:23 |
| #6 Motivation counts most in every field of human endeavour. Not quite, NS. Students, especially college students, expect to be presented with what they need to know. The professors and instructors are giving them pablum when they should be getting meat. I took college courses from 1964 through 1988. I experienced the "dumbing down" - some of the 300 and 400 level classes I took after about 1975 were easier than the 100 and 200 level classes I took before. Self-education works, but IT does take motiviation. I'd love to see classroom work posted for free on the internet, from grade K through early PhD work. Let those who WILL learn what they want to know. One would still have to register and take classes to graduate, but knowledge itself would be freely available (it is now, but it's difficult to weed out from all the garbage that one would get along with it). |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2006-09-27 20:05 |
| #5 Motivation counts most in every field of human endeavour. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-09-27 19:22 |
| #4 Sadly, this is all according to leftist spec...not a bug. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2006-09-27 16:07 |
| #3 I can speak for myself here - I graduated from high school and college without having a clue how a bill passed, barely knew the difference between the Senate and the House or the State government v/s Fed. Was an adult before I took it upon myself to look it up in an encyclopedia so I wouldn't be such an ignoramus anymore. Learned more in an afternoon than I ever learned in school. |
| Posted by: anon 2006-09-27 15:27 |
| #2 Seven years of college down the drain. Might as well join the fuckin Peace Corps... |
| Posted by: Bluto Blutarsky 2006-09-27 14:35 |
| #1 Your tax dollars at work. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-09-27 14:24 |