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!tfilm
mjs (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