The governing philosophy in education today is that children need to do more than learn, they need to learn how to learn. Technology, the argument goes, has rendered obsolete skills like writing perfectly curved letters and figuring simple equations. The vast amount of information on the Internet has highlighted the need for students to develop their own kind of intellectual filters. Memorization and plot lines no more interesting than Dick and Jane walk the dog turn children off. Let them color outside the figurative lines, and they will come to love learning.
Calculators replace flash cards, word problems replace equations.
Students write with what is known as inventive spelling and inventive punctuation, on the theory that too many red marks will discourage them, that they can pick up the rules once they get the hang of putting ideas to paper. The motive is well intentioned, the parents say. But the theory is not working. Students end up proficient with scissors and glue, but not with numbers and words. Princeton parents were particularly horrified by a series of books that taught children in the public schools to read using hieroglyphics instead of letters to spell out words.