From: werme@alliant.com (Ric Werme)
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa
Subject: Re: Student: Teach Thyself
Date: 18 Aug 92 21:11:47 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Alliant Computer Systems Corp.

In article <Bt6u16.6sK@world.std.com> rhs@world.std.com (Richard H Schwartz) writes:
>werme@alliant.com (Ric Werme) writes:
>>First
>>is the hard work of thinking.  Too many students get into the rut of
>>cramming for a test for the best grade and then forget everything they
>>learned until they cram for the final exam.  
>
>Schools do not teach this.  Parents who subject their children to reward
>or punishment based on their test grades and report cards do. 

I don't see how encouraging children to score well on tests encourages
students to do anything but cram for tests.  I'm not sure how I learned to
think.  Mathematical Games in Scientific American probably should get a
lot of the credit.  (I started reading it around the sixth grade during
its golden era of flexagons, polyominoes, and whatnot.)

>>If lab reports were graded by the
>>science and english teachers, then I would have covered everything,
>>assuming that the english teacher did not know the material.  It would
>>also be a real world application of english.

>Nice solution.  But it's time-intensive for the teachers. What would
>the science teacher do for the english teacher in exchange?

Hmm.  Can't think of anything good right offhand.  Mensans (et al!): any
ideas?  Ah - just remembered.  The school is into integrating various
subjects.  There's a senior seminar that involves biology and english.
It will cover enviromental literature.

>Science fiction may have a place, but I don't think a sizable one would
>be appropriate.  There's too much other literature out there.  And please
>note: not everyone, not even all Mensans, likes sci-fi.

I'm not suggesting a large percentage, but I do think > one assignment
per four years is not too much to ask.  If it can be used to encourage
students to get more interested in classical literature, that might be
a good approach.  What was Pournelle/Niven's takeoff on Dante's
Inferno?

>>History was another bane, and I think much of my trouble with it was the
>>political nature of the history taught in schools.  
>
>Could you elaborate?

Political in the sense of history of governmental bodies.  E.g., things we
typically vote about or things that governments do (like wage world wars).
There are other kinds of history I've found more interesting.  On the other
hand, the schools were teaching the sort of history they intended to.
As you say,

>I think that history, per se, was a very poorly taught subject through
>most of my schooling.  But I blame the horrible repetitiveness from 
>one year to the next, and the extraordinarily poor quality of the texts.

As I said in a response in misc.education:
There was a radio lecture series 20 years ago on WWII history.  It was
on the Pittsburgh NPR station I usually had on in my office.  I forget
who did it, he was well known at the time, but I could not ignore his
voice and it was too interesting to let me turn it off.  I generally
had to abandon work and listen to him.  Too bad he didn't teach at my
high school!  Heck - coulda replaced the teacher with a tape player!

>>I had Latin in French in that private school, and Spanish in public
>>school.  One of the reasons for studying a foreign language, according
>>to my administration, was that it helps to understand the structure of
>>English.  If that's the case, then you should study Esperanto. 
>
>It does very little, however, for your understanding of the evolution of
>language or the cultural implications of language.

I've been intrigued with the evolution of language, how it moved around, and
how letters changed over the years.  Proibably not terribly useful as a
History course to one's future, though.

>  Nor will it give you
>the opportunity to expand your literary horizons to the works of great non-
>English authors (outside of translation).  Nor will it help you find the 
>rest rooms in an airport in Mexico :-)

Nah - just look for man/woman line drawing on the doors!

>>The one course I should have taken but didn't was typing.  I imagine in
>
>If developing good handwriting weren't so important, I'd say that typing
>should be taught in elementary grades.

My target audience was the students entering the new school.  Yes, I agree
it should be in elementary schools.  (BTW, anyone know what is done these
days?)

>>If people protest that you are not learning the
>>teamwork skills often touted for the athletic program, point out that
>>other activities like Odessey of the Mind or Dungeons and Dragons teach
>>teamwork better. 
>                                              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>                                              Where's the smiley?
>                                              You must be kidding about
>                                              about this, aren't you?

No smilely.  Perhaps I'm overreaching my background, never having been
part of a football team or D&D group.  Given the contents of some of the
pep talks I've heard about before football games, I'd think D&D is okay.
Actually, I included D&D as a dig at the school's superintendent.  A
few years ago he squelched an after school D&D group because it promoted
violence and killing.

>It's
>a pity they won't set up AP classes for students who can use them, but
>I doubt it's a matter of "we know what's best for you", nearly as much
>as it is budgetary politics.

Oh no!  Go read that article in misc.education I mentioned in a previous
post.  Doing away with ability grouping is in vogue today!  The impetus is
that students in the lower ability groups tend not to rise into the higher
groups, plus educators worry about their depressed self esteem due to being
in a lower ability group.  The belief is that by mixing students of all
abilities, those students will respond to the challenge and do better.  And
educators don't even say that with a smilely!

The budget is a little tight, but they had a surplus after hiring the teachers
and used that to high a trainer for the athletic department.

At last night's school board meeting the transition team mentioned that
they were still working out how to move the three ability levels in English
into the heterogenous class they're aiming for.
-- 
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