tfilm (02/23/83)
RE: Educational Content of Current 'Educational' Books
I just read Gary's entry to 'net.books' and saw something that
makes my blood boil. The derivation of the newspaper's name
'BOSWASH TIMES' is not exactly humorous to me. It is well known
that many (not all) of the texts that most of the (public) shools
use for everything from math to social science are full of poor
grammer, poor math, etc. In particular, I discovered that no
longer do sixth graders memorize the names of the capitol cities of
the states, but rather, they invent pseudo names of pseudo
metropoli such as 'BOSNYWASH', 'SANLODIEGO', and I suppose,
'CHIWAUKEE'. I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to
decode the above.
Now, I think that such educational techniques are admirable and
interesting, but, it strikes me as strange that it is no longer
considered important that the students stimulate their minds
through such exercises as simple rote memory as has been used
successfully for so many many years. Yes, I know that in most
educational systems, the old 'progressive' techniques,
memorization, etc. are no longer taught or emphasized so that the
students can learn sophisticated name calling, largely unusable
mathematics, etc. It's in the books!
I discussed this lack of really *good* content in the many
educational texts with my sister, who works for Scott Forsman and
was told that, yes, the texts are pretty abominable, but it is
largely because three or four states' (Illinois, Indiana,
California, Texas) boards of education dictate such mediocrity.
As a parent who is vitally concerned with my children's education
(I have three), I am really disappointed with what the public
schools have to offer, and have concluded that they will not
improve for a long time. It is therefore very important that I
supplement their reading and educational background with superior
materials available through libraries, bookstores, etc.
Have others observed this? Any opinions/comments?
MEL ihuxp!tfilmmjs (02/24/83)
What I find even more alarming is that even though modern students are taught that "it's in the books," they aren't even taught how to find the book, much less the information. On the other hand, I serve as a living UNIX* manual for a group of people who were educated before these "progressive" education systems became fashionable (and after a year of this, either they've grown tired of my screaming "READ THE MANUAL," or just maybe they've caught on), so maybe there isn't much net change. Or perhaps the change is restricted to the other "worthless" information carried around. I don't know how to make a comparison involving two people with vastly different "real world" experience. Do you? Marty Shannon, Jr. BTL MH 5F120 x3199 DDD (201) 582-3199
turner (03/01/83)
#R:ihuxp:-37700:ucbesvax:13500001:000:1432
ucbesvax!turner Feb 24 07:35:00 1983
Umm...I thought this sort of thing went into net.flame?
As for "simple rote memorization", drill and practice, etc.--
this is what turned me off to mathematics initially. I was lucky
to have latent talents, but I didn't really pull ahead of the
game until late in high school. Blame it on TV, if you like, or
on good ol' New Math. To me it was boring, pointless and repetitive.
I learned math by playing, not grinding. I learned spelling
by browsing dictionaries and getting a feeling for etymology,
not by rote memorization. Learning is easy when it's fun and
exploratory. No textbook is so well written, however, that some
bumbling teacher can't use it as an instrument of intimidation.
Personally, I doubt very much that the quality of texts is
anything near the determining factor in education that you seem
to think it is. Mine were uniformly poor, if memory serves, but
I had high standards. If it was boring, I didn't read it. If it
was interesting, I went through it twice as fast.
The important thing is to encourage your children to read a
variety of things, increasingly of their own choice. Try giving
them a book allowance. I would have loved this when I was a kid.
As it was, I mowed neighbors' lawns for cash to buy my 50 cent Dell
paperbacks. (Those were the days!)
By the way: read any good books lately?
Michael Turner