- On thinking critically:
No, the real problem is that we don't teach our children how to think critically. We have a generation of young people who think they can find all of the answers to life's problems by grabbing the top Google hit but who have no idea how to critically evaluate the information they find. We have an entire culture based around the idea that expressing an opinion automatically makes that opinion valid but who have no idea how to defend their position. This is beneficial to the elite because it means that you can convince your average American that taking that $500K ARM with a $40K income makes perfect sense.
~ "Mentat"
- Science's role:
Consider the role science now plays in education. Scientific "facts" are taught at a very early age and in the very same manner in which religious "facts" were taught only a century ago. There is no attempt to waken the critical abilities of the pupil so that he may be able to see things in perspective. At the universities the situation is even worse, for indoctrination is here carried out in a much more systematic manner. Criticism is not entirely absent. Society, for example, and its institutions, are criticized most severely and often most unfairly and this already at the elementary school level. But science is excepted from the criticism. In society at large the judgment of the scientist is received with the same reverence as the judgment of bishops and cardinals was accepted not too long ago. The move towards "demythologization," for example, is largely motivated by the wish to avoid any clash between Christianity and scientific ideas. If such a clash occurs, then science is certainly right and Christianity wrong. Pursue this investigation further and you will see that science has now become as oppressive as the ideologies it had once to fight. Do not be misled by the fact that today hardly anyone gets killed for joining a scientific heresy. This has nothing to do with science. It has something to do with the general quality of our civilization. Heretics in science are still made to suffer from the most severe sanctions this relatively tolerant civilization has to offer.
~ Paul Feyerabend
- A conversation on teaching reading early:
The point being is that teachers teach what they think is important...not what is important. Hence you will have lots of people using old data, old methods, etc. There is nothing in the U.S. that demands,"THIS MUST BE TAUGHT."
With two children in a very good elementary school, my experience is that science and math are de-emphasized for reading at the early elementary grade levels. Study after study shows that kids who read better and earlier are far more successful in all fields as high schoolers, college students, and professionals. Which makes sense, as reading is a knowledge acquisition tool, where math and science are sheer knowledge. Math and science can be easily acquired (even self-taught) if one has language skills.
Math is certainly taught, to be sure, and kids do little science projects. It's just that while a lot of effort goes into getting my daughter into reading at higher and higher levels (she was already reading when she entered kindergarten), there is no pressure to get her to "level up" in math. And I don't know how one "levels up" in science at that age.
Is that a bad thing? I'm not 100% sure, but I'd certainly prefer that she be learning good language skills than doing rote math at her age. Does that mean she'll test worse on math than another 7 year old from Korea? Probably. Does that mean that she'll always test worse than that other kid? Definitely not.
~Fark.com
"No, Your Honor. My dog wouldn't do that [jump up on guests]. You see, my dog is a stoner dog."
- A plantiff on the Judge Joe Brown t.v. show
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