Watch the awesome here:
http://www.upworthy.com/this-is-the-most-inspiring-yet-depressing-yet-hilarious-yet-horrifying-yet-heartwarming-grad-speech
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Monday, September 23, 2013
Possible addition to research...
I recently just got not only one, but two, jobs. I'm also a part of learning community with many commitments, I'm on academic probation so I have no choice but to focus on my studies, I'm trying to figure out my gap year for next year, and I have a social life with friends who wonder why I haven't seen them in two weeks. Thats a lot going on. And although I believe I can effectively handle all this work, it's gotten me thinking about how education and student's lives outside the classroom affect each other and how institutions can work with students to better organize their busy schedules. I've noticed that a lot of my teachers in high school and college, don't seem to take student's outside lives into account much. Even if a teacher/professor acknowledges the fact that I have a job and other things going on, they continue to overload on busy work. I'm not saying that educators shouldn't give their students work to do outside the classroom, but if a student hands in homework a day late why do they get upset? Or tell me that the work I did doesn't count because it's late? I did the work...I put in the effort...it just took me a little longer. I have four classes of homework, two jobs, a social life I enjoy, community service, learning community work, and I'm a young person who is still trying to figure out who I am. I wish more of my professors would be more understanding about all that their students actually have going on in their lives. It's not easy being young these days.
This is definitely an idea I would like to incorporate into my EIP.
This is definitely an idea I would like to incorporate into my EIP.
TED talk review
We were recently asked to watch the Ted Talk by Ken Robinson-Watch Here
This was a great talk, and because of my topic for my EIP it once again completely related to the things I've been thinking about lately. I completely agree that today creative kids are ruined by being prescribed unnecessary drugs like adderall. I've known small children, 5-7, who have been on adderall. When has a child ever been able to sit still well? Never that's when. But because there is such a HUGE pressure put on education these days, that a lot of parents seem to feel like if their kid isn't top of the class in kindergarten, there is something wrong; however, in reality the kid probably just isn't responding well to the strict construction of school environments now a days. Maybe instead of putting young children on drugs, we should look into different forms of schooling that could be tailored to help the non A-type personality succeed. I definitely think everyone would benefit from looking into alternative types of education. Forcing children to learn in an environment that withholds creativity in any is bad. Children especially should be put in a creative learning environment. I wonder how that difference would have affected me...
This was a great talk, and because of my topic for my EIP it once again completely related to the things I've been thinking about lately. I completely agree that today creative kids are ruined by being prescribed unnecessary drugs like adderall. I've known small children, 5-7, who have been on adderall. When has a child ever been able to sit still well? Never that's when. But because there is such a HUGE pressure put on education these days, that a lot of parents seem to feel like if their kid isn't top of the class in kindergarten, there is something wrong; however, in reality the kid probably just isn't responding well to the strict construction of school environments now a days. Maybe instead of putting young children on drugs, we should look into different forms of schooling that could be tailored to help the non A-type personality succeed. I definitely think everyone would benefit from looking into alternative types of education. Forcing children to learn in an environment that withholds creativity in any is bad. Children especially should be put in a creative learning environment. I wonder how that difference would have affected me...
Saturday, September 7, 2013
From Degrading to De-grading
This was quite possibly was the most interesting and insightful things I've read in a long time, and once again it is related to my EIP topic!
I hated high school. I didn't do well and felt ashamed and stupid for it. There was so much pressure at my school to do well, college was a competition. Most of the times that I tried really hard, or put extra effort into school work, it wasn't for my own benefit, but for a grade. I never really thought too much about the grading system, but I knew that if I got 'good' grades I'd get into 'good' schools. I graduated from high school feeling like I learned close to nothing from my classes, or at least not remembering the things I had learned. Honestly, I can't tell you a thing I learned my freshman year of high school except how to put on make-up and kiss.
Providence Day (my high school), is such a great school filled with great teachers, but they really know how to stress a kid out with grades. Almost my entire teenage experienced revolved around the ideas of college and grades. What school do I want to go to? What kinds of grades do I need to get into that school? What are my grades right now? How can I make my grades better? All these questions were practically shoved down my throat from day one. I don't think I had a single teacher who didn't talk to me about college and my grades.
The pressure put on students, especially high school students, by grades is way too intense. After reading this article and really thinking about the grading system, I wonder how different my high school experience would have been if we hadn't had grades. Maybe I would actually remember what I learned in my classes freshman year.
I hated high school. I didn't do well and felt ashamed and stupid for it. There was so much pressure at my school to do well, college was a competition. Most of the times that I tried really hard, or put extra effort into school work, it wasn't for my own benefit, but for a grade. I never really thought too much about the grading system, but I knew that if I got 'good' grades I'd get into 'good' schools. I graduated from high school feeling like I learned close to nothing from my classes, or at least not remembering the things I had learned. Honestly, I can't tell you a thing I learned my freshman year of high school except how to put on make-up and kiss.
Providence Day (my high school), is such a great school filled with great teachers, but they really know how to stress a kid out with grades. Almost my entire teenage experienced revolved around the ideas of college and grades. What school do I want to go to? What kinds of grades do I need to get into that school? What are my grades right now? How can I make my grades better? All these questions were practically shoved down my throat from day one. I don't think I had a single teacher who didn't talk to me about college and my grades.
The pressure put on students, especially high school students, by grades is way too intense. After reading this article and really thinking about the grading system, I wonder how different my high school experience would have been if we hadn't had grades. Maybe I would actually remember what I learned in my classes freshman year.
A Vision of Students Today...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
This video is actually very pertinent to my topic for my Extended Inquiry Project, which is about declining value of the Bachelor's degree compared to the cost to get it.
While watching this video, one sign that a student was holding caught my eye in particular; it read: "My neighbor paid for class, but never comes." I found this interesting, because why would you pay so much money to go to school if you aren't even going to go to class? I've thought about this question a lot, and the answer that I've come up with is that class just isn't interesting or important enough. In college, most large classes don't really take attendance. And if it's a general education class you have to take, it probably doesn't interest you either. My question is, if I'm paying all this money for a piece of paper, why can't I learn what I want? I'm twenty years old and still taking math classes, yet I know I won't do any math in the future that can't be solved on a calculator. So why am I taking math? To make me a 'well-rounded student'? Wouldn't my time be better spent learning something pertaining to my major and inevitable career?
I felt strongly about this idea until I started to think about another: my future job could not even exist yet. If the job I'm having in the future might not exist, then it might be a job where I would need to know some Elementary Statistics...and if I need to know Elementary Statistics for my future job that doesn't even exist yet, then it's a good thing I'm taking it.
These two conflicting ideas really shook my brain up. I still believe in the idea that universities have begun to crank out more carbon-copy students that adults who actually know how to do the jobs they're applying for. I also now see how taking a variety of classes is beneficial, because you might actually end up using that Elementary Statistics in your currently non-existent future. So basically this video made me confused about my topic for my EIP, or at least it made me think about it in a different way.
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