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Stacey, you ask a good question. You want proof of a problem prior to seeking a solution. Fair enough.
1) 1955 brought “Why Johnny Can’t Read”. They thought their school system was in crisis, and many educators consider the education of that era superior to the current one.
2) Howard Gardner recounts his daughter calling him from college to tell him how much trouble she was having with physics. Although she had passed the requisite courses in high school, she stated unequivocally that she had never understood physics. In his books, Gardner cites many cases of graduates from various courses who could not apply what they had supposedly learned to simple real-world problems. One of the examples he gives is the belief that seasonal temperature changes are caused by a variation in the distance between the earth and the sun, rather than by the angle of the earth’s rotational axis relative to the direction of the sun. Students who have learned the facts in school, correctly answered the test questions, and passed the relevant courses, nevertheless tend to revert to their original idea that seasonal temperatures are produced by a difference in the earth’s solar distance. Another of Gardner’s examples is the predicted path of a ball ejected from a coil-shaped tube, a simple problem easily solved by reference to Newton’s Laws. Students who had passed physics courses often made the wrong prediction for this relatively simple, basic problem. If passing courses is disconnected from understanding, then what is the purpose of providing education?
3) My uncle, a university professor, told me in the mid ‘80s that what was then considered “A” work had been “B” work a generation earlier.
4) The results of international math proficiency tests conducted in 2003 by the Program For International Student Assessment (PISA) reveal a fundamental problem within American mathematics courses. The test, which was restricted to 15-year-olds, scored the United States below 20 of 28 other industrialized nations.
I could cite several other reasons, but suffice it to say that I have studied the subject in some depth. Our students are perpetually cramming, not learning. It’s not simply that they can’t name the Supreme Court Judges – it’s that they don’t even understand the fundamental workings of our government, or even the theory behind it.
My final proof: The products of that education system elected George Bush – twice!
Alcuin
1) 1955 brought “Why Johnny Can’t Read”. They thought their school system was in crisis, and many educators consider the education of that era superior to the current one.
2) Howard Gardner recounts his daughter calling him from college to tell him how much trouble she was having with physics. Although she had passed the requisite courses in high school, she stated unequivocally that she had never understood physics. In his books, Gardner cites many cases of graduates from various courses who could not apply what they had supposedly learned to simple real-world problems. One of the examples he gives is the belief that seasonal temperature changes are caused by a variation in the distance between the earth and the sun, rather than by the angle of the earth’s rotational axis relative to the direction of the sun. Students who have learned the facts in school, correctly answered the test questions, and passed the relevant courses, nevertheless tend to revert to their original idea that seasonal temperatures are produced by a difference in the earth’s solar distance. Another of Gardner’s examples is the predicted path of a ball ejected from a coil-shaped tube, a simple problem easily solved by reference to Newton’s Laws. Students who had passed physics courses often made the wrong prediction for this relatively simple, basic problem. If passing courses is disconnected from understanding, then what is the purpose of providing education?
3) My uncle, a university professor, told me in the mid ‘80s that what was then considered “A” work had been “B” work a generation earlier.
4) The results of international math proficiency tests conducted in 2003 by the Program For International Student Assessment (PISA) reveal a fundamental problem within American mathematics courses. The test, which was restricted to 15-year-olds, scored the United States below 20 of 28 other industrialized nations.
I could cite several other reasons, but suffice it to say that I have studied the subject in some depth. Our students are perpetually cramming, not learning. It’s not simply that they can’t name the Supreme Court Judges – it’s that they don’t even understand the fundamental workings of our government, or even the theory behind it.
My final proof: The products of that education system elected George Bush – twice!
Alcuin
by Alcuin of York on May 14 2007