From: hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin)
Subject: Re: Dumb school administrators and parents
Organization: Purdue University Statistics Department
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 20:34:13 GMT

In article <C0pBLz.6M2@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca> lamoran@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (L.A. Moran) writes:

			.....................

>Both of my children are heavily into sports and music and both of
>them are very bright (grades 9 and 10). I'm certain that if they
>dropped their extra-curricular activities they could bump up their
>grades by a few percent (they are both A students already). In
>theory I could interfere with their decisions and insist that
>they devote all of their time to getting good grades but I won't
>do this for three reasons;

FORGET THE GRADES.  Unless the school is very unusual, they are getting
a garbage education.  Even somewhat bright children are being totally
shortchanged by the imbecilic curriculum now being taught.

>     1. They are old enough to start making some of their own
>        choices and as long as these are reasonable choices
>        I think that they should be allowed that freedom in
>        spite of my personal biases. They both skip some of
>        their homework or do it very quickly.

On this I agree.  There is no point in doing homework unless it
leads to learning, except in the rare cases where it is necessary
to use it for grading.  Spending time on homework just to spend
time is stupid.  

But do they have any idea of the intellectual content they are missing?
A reasonably good student is capable of learning many times what is now
being taught in the schools without working very hard.  Especially the
basic conceptual material, which is even more submerged under memorization
than in the past.

>     2. I'm not convinced that getting good grades is the same as
>        learning. It makes no difference whether a student gets
>        80% or 90% on a course at this level. In my experience
>        a bright student will learn and understand the required
>        material without difficulty - the effort required to
>        get a top grade may not be worth it.

>     3. Sports and music are fundamental parts of education. If
>        a student shows any talent at these activities they
>        should pursue them as long as other aspects of education
>        do not suffer too much (this is probably true even if they
>        don't have a "talent"). Once they leave high school they
>        will probably never again have an opportunity to enjoy
>        these activities. Let's not deprive them of that pleasure.

But they are being deprived of the pleasure of learning!  Has it already
gone to the point where they are no longer capable of the mental processes
which they could do easily as small children?  This is not facetious; the
ability to think in terms of structure, almost totally absent in the current
excuse for an educational system, and only recently "objectively" demonstrated
as being present in the very young, IS beyond the capability of the great 
bulk of present school teachers.
-- 
Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907-1399
Phone: (317)494-6054
hrubin@snap.stat.purdue.edu (Internet, bitnet)  
{purdue,pur-ee}!snap.stat!hrubin(UUCP)
Newsgroups: misc.education