On Wednesday 24 August 2005 15:58, Synthetic Cartoonz wrote:
On Wednesday 24 August 2005 09:34, James Knott wrote:
Fergus Wilde wrote:
I think it's because very large portions of the last few generations just weren't taught any basic grammar. For reasons I can't fathom, teaching children basic parsing and correct construction seems to be seen somehow as an act of oppression that will strangle their creative urges, rather than as giving them the sharpest tools to express those urges to best advantage.
You don't need that.. Well, that's according to the folks in the know. You know, the ones that have 2 or 3 doctorate degrees in education, but haven't been in a real classroom in 20+ years.
It's not just grammar or spelling. They're also not learning basic math, history, geography and many other things. It makes one wonder what those kids are doing all day, when they're at school.
Same thing here. Ah, I've got a better way, and because I've got all this education, I know exactly what's best for kids to learn. I've got no idea what happens in a classroom, but this will work. Just to make it clear, I work in a school. I'm not a teacher, but am married to one. I see this all the time. The school set up a small shop to sell school supplies. Problems came up when the 6th graders didn't know how to make change.
themselves unemployable or unable to get into college, because they're lacking in basic education? I'll bet they'll have more than hurt feelings.
I recently read about a school that banned teachers from grading with red pens, because it was too traumatic for the kiddies. More polite and friendly colors must be used instead.
That's true. It hurts their feelings. Well, perhaps not the kid as he doesn't really care. It's mostly the parents that dislike it. Then they blame the school when the kid can't find a job after graduation. This notion of no child left behind is a good one. Help all the kids. It's a good thing. But give them something to work with. Basic skills so that they can get a job if they aren't college material. And there are those that aren't. But you can't tell them that.. Just my $.02's worth Mike -- Powered by SuSE 9.3 Kernel 2.6.11 KDE 3.4.0 Kmail 1.8 For Mondo/Mindi backup support go to http://www.mikenjane.net/~mike 4:16pm up 21:28, 3 users, load average: 2.02, 2.10, 2.21