We are fed a vision of hope and positivity. If the aftermath of the positivity shatters then our dreams are destroyed. We can put up where we left off but we can’t move forward. To move ahead forward we need to acknowledge our mistakes and envision our future. This is nothing wrong with dreaming. The greatest inventions known to man were made from a dream and a direct vision. Cornel West said “there is a difference from a stare and a vision.” A stare is a long glance has no conscious thought behind it. A vision has the direct path to an idea where the blueprint is laid. The blueprint is the outline of the vision and it is the person’s challenge to make that idea come to life. We are living in a time of creative downfall. The education system doesn’t nurture creativity in the schools. Sure they are art classes and music classes but they don’t appeal to the masses.
The SAT test doesn’t have a section where you can draw or paint on it and get a score. The systems of intelligence are boxing in our intellect to fit two certain criteria : Mathematical Processing and Verbal Reasoning. What is that going to do for the auditory learner or the kinesthetic learner? I recently wrote an essay discussing my frustration with the education system. People always point to the students on why they are failing and not of the failure is directed at the teacher. The teacher needs to be criticized as well. The education system needs stricter requirements for the teachers who teach students. I think they need a lesson in the theory of multiple intelligences by Howard Gardner. Howard Gardner a Harvard psychologist in 1983, defined the concept of intelligence and that the current system doesn’t display all of the abilities humans have. This theory should be taught because of the importance that students need the best schooling possible. The international community like India are surpasses the United States in I.Q. scores. The 25% of the highest I.Q. scores in India is more than all of the United States. How is the superpower of the world and the world’s richest country falling behind in education? The answer is because the cultural background is completely different. When Asian students excel in mathematics it is because they don’t give up when the question is difficult. In the national best selling Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, he discusses why Asian students are academically better than others. It is because they know that an education is the key to success. The driven parents that gave their children the tools to succeed in school. They also have the foundation correct like no TV before all of their homework is complete. Maybe if we thought and acted differently on how to educate our children we could make dramatic progress.
My idea of a newly reformed educational system in America. The concept of a redesigned I.Q. and SAT tests to acknowledge the multiple intelligences.
April 10, 2009 | In Politics & Policy
Discuss
Samuel Sherbin on April 10, 2009, 7:39 PM
thank you very much
tim hall on April 25, 2009, 5:46 PM
There are many changes to be made. Our very best teachers want to teach in real-estate areas where parents are more educated. We need the best teachers in real-estate areas where the parents are less educated. It is always much easier to teach to a smarter group. Some students only learn by repetition. What ever the teacher teaches must be accessable at all times. The repitition learner has to here it sometimes 100 times before they can work with it. Then they need to work with it 100 times. The repitious learner does not understand what you are saying. They have to study it and here it over and over. In our institutions, we teach to the masses and leave students out, even labeling them as learning problems.
The other change that needs to come about is community. We no longer have those. To solve problems in communities, you first need communities. We have suburban sprawl. Folks running here and there fliping one another off and doing their own thing.
Testing, grading, scoring are all bad ideas. Young people are very emotional and bad scores are degrading and damaging to their learning inviroment. You cannot imbarrass a student into completing their work. They do not complete their work because they feel overwelmed. Sometimes it is lack of interest. That could be the under educated parents failure or lack of care. Or it may be just plain boring subject matter from a lazy teacher. Either way, it should not go on for any prolonged time before the community steps in. Students are not lazy. But they do give up after multible failures displayed in front of their class-mates and family. Everyone involved should know how well a student is learning without testing or they are not involved enough. For some learners, they should have a vidio CD of every lecture going home with them. It is never the childs falt. There is always a way to teach that child ways to better learn.
Sorry so long, but I was 53 years old before I got my first college degree in this system of teaching to the masses. If everyone needs to be educated then we have a lot of work cut out for us.
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