Scathing resignation letter slams education
- Thread starter PoliticalNick
- Start date
No. It's like what one of my neighbors sounds like when he tries to pronounce "exactly".
Doesn't matter, I'm hungry anyway.No. It's like what one of my neighbors sounds like when he tries to pronounce "exactly".
Think I'll get me a plate of Egg Zachary.
Can I interest you in some Egg Zachary? On a Tim Horton's whole-grain bagel?
Whoops. 'Scuse me. Make that "Tim Hortons."
Yeah, no more long days and evenings poring over reference materials in the library, probably the defining feature of my education, now they can do it all from anywhere, anytime, in 10 minute time windows if they want, with a cheap laptop. That's probably an improvement on balance, but the quality of much of that vast amount of information is pretty low, when it isn't simply false. Just look at some of the BS posted here by the ignorant and ill-informed. A crucial thing the schools ought to be doing, and I know they're trying, is equipping the kids with the critical thinking skills they'll need to filter good information from bad.
Yeah. Verification of information is a pretty cool thing, but BS isn't dependent upon the form of the media. I remember pointing out errors in school texts. Electronic information is simply more prolific and easier accessed. The basics of research is still the same.
I think the kids will still use plenty of reference materials, it just might not all be on paper. I wrote my papers for the couple university classes I took, almost exclusively using the online library, and that was already 6 years ago.
Agreed, but I'm pretty sure the proportion of BS in electronic information is much higher, because any crackpot with an agenda and a modicum of computing skill can set up a site promoting any damnfool idea, with no editing or referreeing or oversight by anyone who knows something. Other people like that will do the same, and they cite each other in support of their nonsense in an endless cycle of self-referential crap that some neophyte without a good grounding in legitimate knowledge will fall for.
And yes, just in case you're wondering, I'm thinking of people like the dim rodent.
And yes, just in case you're wondering, I'm thinking of people like the dim rodent.
That's where actual library memberships can be a handy thing instead of just relying on internet sites.
Of course, the same is true of books. People can make up any kind of crap. And it gets taught as true.
We were taught in school that only Columbus understood the world was round. Later I found out that the year he sailed was also the year the first globe was published. And don't get me started on the heroes that Won the West.
And one of the functions of school these days is to teach kids how to evaluate on-line material.
Yeah, it all boils down to not swallowing everything you hear or read regardless of the quantity of it. (old, old adage). Another one that we taught our kids is to let the evidence suggest the conclusion. I've found a few educators that adopted that one.