dya@unccvax.UUCP (York David Anthony) (07/29/88)
(I have removed followups from news.admin and soc.women) In article <24100@teknowledge-vaxc.ARPA>, wlieberm@teknowledge-vaxc.ARPA (William Lieberman) writes: > Last night on Ted Koppel (ABC Nightline TV) they discussed a dismaying > [According to the National Geographic survey] > so should we all), 75% of Americans (I'm sure they excluded children) > cannot point roughly to the Persian Gulf on an unmarked map. One woman > (on videotape) pointed to Northwest AFRICA! (Or was she trying to point > out Vietnam?!!!) 5% of Americans do NOT know that Washington, D.C. is the > capital of the the U.S. Something like 45% think that when it is summertime > in the US, it is NOT wintertime in Australia!! (other glowing examples of how graduates from a Florida teachers' college couldn't find Florida) I always wondered why the (well, I think it is the) Bellvue- Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale asked questions like "Who is the president of the United States." Barring pathology, like a nasty bad brain abcess or some congenital condition, one would think that ordinary people wouldn't get this wrong. Well, when I called Domino's last night, the person answering the phone obviously didn't pay attention to the Domino's code of service (namely, have a damn pen in your hand and listen carefully to the order.) Five times of spelling "A-n-t-h-o-n-y" and getting Zachary on the box really makes me wonder. A trip to the chain auto parts store is a crisis in idiocy. (Last week: "I'd like a temperature switch for a 1985 LTD 5.0 L Police car." What did you say? 77 Mustang? 4 cylinder? Oil pressure switch? Oh, the oil pressure switch is the same as the temperature switch (Pure bullshit).--The previous week, this numb-nut argued with my wife for 10 minutes about how the 4-way flasher and the turn signal flasher were the same on a '77 Pinto. Couldn't be. This violates FMVSS regulations...) You guys want people to name NATO member countries? Know just **one** state senator? Find Florida on an unmarked map of the US? (Actually, this unmarked map business is recommended in many neurology texts as part of a diagnostic regimen for determining spatial difficulties...I wonder if appearing before the "Nightline" cameras has a similar diagnostic effacacy?) Forget this. The nation's educational quality is the bottom of the barrel. Mr. Lieberman has a serious complaint here. Lest any of you net.people think he's whining about not having a nation of individuals who can't compile a new Unix (with a few new device drivers thrown in for spice) or discuss the significance of Schrodinger's equation, or outline the history and significant points to be considered in critical review of 18th century British literature....no, sireee, we are talking about either a massive epidemic of degenerative brain disease for which we do not know the etiology, or a totally irresponsible management of the educational system. The stimulus-response education on computer terminals isn't going to hack it either, folks. (One of the Christian media (CBN?) is advertising a chain of computer-oriented schools whose graduates test well above national average on SCAT/STEP). I'm not that bright (IQ ~115, SAT about 1140, ACT 29/36) -a B-average high school and college student- and am living proof that one need not be exposed to computerized instruction until college. I didn't write my first line of serious code until about 3 years ago (I'm 28 now), and didn't use a time-sharing system until I was 19 (and then, it was a Burroughs B6700 running Algol programs under MCP, the I/O being a Teletype KSR 33....oh, what fun!!!). So, with all this computerisation, we're raising a whole batch of terminal operators. (Last time I was in Food Lion, the cashier went beserk because the method of ringing up "Food Lion Diet Cola" is something like 18 (cans) <look up> 20, which then computes the correct price, $1.19 per six-pack. Total-flipout city here, 'cause the damn Food Lion computer crashed. Well, the cash registers still work when it crashes, but the look up function doesn't. The cashier couldn't just enter $1.19 <groc> 3 times, and instead, fumbled around for about 2 minutes looking for a hand calculator to evaluate 3 * 1.19. AAARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!) Terminal operators aren't going to do us a hell of a lot of good if some madman airbursts a nice nuclear shell, taking out all that wonderful hardware with EMP. They are also not going to make good craftspersons. At least the shovel doesn't have a microprocessor in it (yet). The problems with education, as I see it are: 1) Teaching children at way too early an age to use the computer as a S-R device, and not as a **tool** for solving problems. (Frankly, I'd hate to compute nighttime limits for all the radio stations on 1200 kHz, or solve 30 simultaneous first- order differential equations, without one. These are not computer uses I find objectionable. In both cases, though, I had to write my own software.) 2) Not teaching children, adolescents, and adults to use the LIBRARY. Even the **public** library in a small town, not to mention the University library. This results from, unfortunately, 3) Allowing a wholly inadequate literacy standard to pass as "education." As far as I am concerned, my high school diploma is a worthless document. Unless a twist of fate or notoriety qualifies you for the Morehead scholarship, or 1600 on the SAT, or valedictorian, the vast majority of us working stiffs have nothing to indicate whether or not our diploma indicates intelligence above some of the illiterate persons who pass through school doors every day. 4) Irresponsible scientific education. More irresponsibility, in other paths to problem-solving. (Life is just one big problem solving behaviour, right ( :-|)). Every student of high school should be able to at least perform a classical scientific method investigation, even if it is as brain damaged as collecting data on what beer tastes better or who makes the perfect peanut-butter sandwich. 5) Brain-dead education in the arts and humanities. Theatre, music appreciation and theory, basic systems of philosophical thought, and the " art arts " (i.e. sculpture, painting, etc.) should be taught every semester. My high school didn't provide 'em. Fortunately, my mother wasn't a cultural moron. College helped, somewhat. "Problem solving" (or critical thinking) in the arts and humanities is EQUAL IN IMPORTANCE to the scientific method, particularly if you are a career design engineer. 6) Lack of basic skills education. Basic ** survival ** skills. How does the legal system work? What is a contract? What is commercial paper? How do you buy a house? set up a checking and savings account? turn on gas and electric? keep from being ripped off? I never saw this in high school (except as a demonstration of "continuous compounding" in precalculus). 7) No spiritual focus whatsoever in the educational system. I don't mean shit like pro-life or pro-choice, prayer in the schools etc. These are symptoms of a larger problem. Perhaps I mean dealing with one's subjective self. Mabye not. It wasn't until I was 16 that fate allowed me to cut classes and experience my first winter in Virginia outside four walls and fluorescent lights (mabye it was the methanol in all that mimeograph paper that made my schooling such a fog...). Everyone has these things, which make life worth living (you think running Lotus 1-2-3 does?). Man is obstensibly a **spiritual** being, not a finite state machine. You'd never know this by looking in a classroom. You'd barely recognize this by looking in some (generic term) places of worship. 8) Not stressing enough the general importance of "learning how to learn." That's what college did for me, disguised in the forms of "linear circuit analysis" and "philosophy of mind" in easy-to-digest, 3 hour chunks. ( sarcasm mode on here. ) Folks, if we've got to have a monotonous, service oriented economy of computer operators, at least we could have the decency to educate them as children to give 'em something to do at the checkout counter in parallel with pushing buttons. I realize that every person won't get something out of the 8 points above, and there are probably points I didn't consider. Going to post-high school in Florida and not being able to point out where Florida is is *pathetic.* They should petition these persons degrees. Seriously. If this is what my yet-to-be-conceived children have to look forward to, I think I'll stay childless, thank you. York David Anthony DataSpan, Inc. PS. Ralston Purina conducted a study (last week's Observer) which revealed that the 10-12 year old bracket expected a **new** car when they came of driving age. 43 % expected a Corvette (a red one :-)). AAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.