Reply
Sun 11 Feb, 2007 06:21 am
Having our cake and eating it too
I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma at a time when it was not completely unexpected to see horses used to pull wagons and plows. These horses were fitted with a head harness that placed leather shields next to their eyes that prevented the horse from seeing to the side. The horse was blinded to anything but straight ahead, and thus they were not distracted by anything but doing their job; pulling the wagon or plow.
Our educational system is designed to produce graduates who are prepared to do a job. Mental blinders are set in place such that the graduates do not waste time looking to the left or to the right, but look straight ahead at doing their job. This is what industry wants and this is what graduates of schools and colleges are prepared to do. Perhaps this is necessary.
Perhaps, however, we can have our cake and eat it too. If our graduates recognize that they are not prepared, after graduation, to become critical minded independent thinking personalities they can set about immediately upon graduation to preparing them self for that role. After they have gotten their job they can devote a small amount of their time to becoming that critical minded and independent thinking personality.
I suggest that one of the important things that they might usefully do after graduation is fill in that vast area of ignorance left by our vocational institutions of education; they might usefully start reading history and studying Critical Thinking. History will give them a comprehension of how our society arrived at its present position and CT (Critical Thinking) will prepare them for learning how to think and to make good judgments.
But this would just be more time when they are building up debt and not bringing in money. College is good enough at that already.
But financial issues aside, it sounds like a good idea.
I think that if a young person has not developed critical thinking skills by college or graduate school, that he rarely will. Years ago, I had a discussion with an instructor of mine in undergrad school. We talked about the purpose of education. Did one go to school to prepare for an occupation, or was inculcating the thirst for learning more important?
IMO, the youngest students are being shortchanged. In my state, Florida, the kids are being "taught to the test", the dreaded FCAT, which determines a part of school funding. As a result, the forest is lost in search for the trees, and IMO, the kids are suffering from it.
Some years ago, in NY, I hired college graduates, mostly from fair to middling colleges, for entry level positions. I was appalled by the lack of abstract thought, and the prevalence of concrete thinking, that was the norm of most of the applicants. These young people had never learned to think, and to generalize their learning from one problem to different circumstances.
I think that at the earliest levels, children need to be taught to think, be creative with their ideas, and develop a love for learning for its own sake. Then, by the time that they get to college or grad school, they will have the mental tools to accomplish their vocational goals.
Foley wrote:But this would just be more time when they are building up debt and not bringing in money. College is good enough at that already.
But financial issues aside, it sounds like a good idea.
College teaches us to do a specific job. It does not teach us the knowledge and skills for solving our other problems. This learning must come after school days are over.
Phoenix
I am talking about adult learning. Our problem rests primarily with the fact that adults are inclined to store their brains in the attic after their school days are over.
Got to become part of the solution Phoenix. Got to become an adult learner.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace