Comments on: Bundle Up http://boxcarokie.com/2008/12/01/bundle-up/ The Home of BoxcarOkie.com Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:26:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: skyewriter http://boxcarokie.com/2008/12/01/bundle-up/#comment-2350 Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:26:31 +0000 http://ldsrr91.wordpress.com/?p=5950#comment-2350 As a college instructor, I am amazed at how little incoming students know how to think for themselves. They all want to be told what to think, how to think, instead of perhaps investigating why they think the way they do about certain things. (My dissertation is on this tangentially, so I’ll try to keep this brief; sorry!)

Instead of the useless banking model of education (Paolo Freire; excellent read) where kids are seen as empty vessels to be filled with info, educators need to retool the system so kids learn HOW TO LEARN; not just be able to regurgitate facts and figures devoid of context and real world application.

We need to revisit Dewey’s primary theory; people learn by doing, not by sitting and listening while someone talks at them.

I get so worked up about this, because everyone who has ever done anything has had a teacher who taught them (well, besides savants and uber geniuses).

]]> By: James W. http://boxcarokie.com/2008/12/01/bundle-up/#comment-2349 Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:35:14 +0000 http://ldsrr91.wordpress.com/?p=5950#comment-2349 Falling from the highest rate of high school graduation to 13th place in the world is another legacy of George W. Bush. His “No Child Left Behind Act” left millions behind. Why? Because it was never funded. American schools got stuck with all the requirements of the bill, but no funding to provide for the changes necessary. Students now learn how to pass the final test for graduation instead of learning facts in general.

Chalk up one more first for this administration along with a wrecked financial system, a military bogged down for years in two wars, a stock market at the same level it was 10 years ago, and real wages less by $2,000/year on average. Way to go George, and way to go for all who voted for him, especially the second time.

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