Education seen as the key in solving the problems of Africa

[timszon]

Pope does not give a Fuck about Africa.

[mobius1aic]

In all honesty, what this kind of discussion needs, is a format of essays or lectures much like the professor in the video you linked. It's funny, all this talk makes me think of Pythagoras and his "schools" of thought.

[mobius1aic]

In the end to create such an education system we are allowed really improve ourselves, we will need heavy amounts of societal and economic change. The thing is, in order to have a free market capitalist system, can we have such an education system? Should such an education system geared towards individualized personal development be even reliant on government funding? Questions and possible answers to be considered I guess.

[mobius1aic]

I watched that video, and besides being very good, I've come to the same conclusions. Japan is the worst example I can think of when it comes to creating students purely to be thrown into a society where education is based on professional expectations. I know about the ADHD scourge pretty well, as I knew a few people in grade school who were on Ritalin or other drugs, and I certainly see it as an improper solution.

[mobius1aic]

Education is indeed important. It will help to get kids out of gangs, and bring hope to their communities. Through education we gain understanding of each other as well as the skills to cope with our problems.

[rainzoro]

@mobius1aic yea but our current education system itself has many problems as well. it teaches kids not how to think but what to think. that makes kids afraid of being wrong. and when youre afraid of being wrong you will never come up with anything original.

98% of the kids are born as a scientist. they ask many creative questions and etc and they lose that capacity by the time they hit 15. you think this is just natural? or education takes part?

[mobius1aic]

@rainzoro I can certainly see where you are coming from. It doesn't help that there are so many distractions, ones that are more attractive to us as far as spending our time goes. I think it is natural to lose one's inquisitiveness, but I can speak for myself that I've stayed as questioning as my younger years thanks to the likes of the internet. Fortunately there are vast amounts of information to give me resolutions to my questions and to foster new questions as well.

[mobius1aic]

@mobius1aic For one thing, I would like to see (here in the USA), a move towards a longer school week, Monday through Saturday, but with shorter school days. I think a shorter summer vacation could be in order as well, and maybe a model that creates an extended school year with a week break in-between semesters, and a 4 or 6 week summer vacation as opposed to 12 weeks. I think it would be better for keeping children in school and focused by not increasing their time in the classroom but.....

[mobius1aic]

@mobius1aic .....by lengthening the time itself, not increasing the time they are being instructed. Also, school always seemed like a prison to me, not necessarily a place I wanted to go to, even if we were learning something I found interesting. It's just so closed in, cramped. I think the Asian school systems are much better modeled, with uniforms, the 6 day school week (I believe they are 6 days) as well as involvement of students with cleaning and maintenance of their classroom.

[mobius1aic]

@mobius1aic By lengthening the actual school year, I think students will "loathe" school less and it will become a more integral part of their lives, much like the home is when they have only one day off. However, like I said, I would keep the actual hours at school the same, but just spread out over a longer period. But you are correct, they way we are educated needs to be changed too, to create more minds and less drones.

[rainzoro]

@mobius1aic If someone hates dark chocolates, how is giving more dark chocolates going to work? In the same sense, if students hate school, lengthening (not even shortening) school period is going to create a disaster in my opinion. BUT BEFORE WE TALK ABOUT how long school terms should be, maybe we should first ask ourselves why do students hate school? You were speaking of Asian school systems as if it's an utopia and believe me the Asian school system is broke as hell.

[mobius1aic]

@rainzoro What I meant is that I like how students are involved with the upkeep much like a home as opposed to when it comes to Asian schools. I'm not sure if Korean students do this or not. I'm well aware with the problems in Japan of students (and their parents) pretty much over stressing their children to succeed. I don't think it's a utopia, but there are some great things to taken into consideration. What I meant on a 6 day school week was the same amount of instruction time........

[mobius1aic]

@mobius1aic .....spread out over the week. For example a 7.5 hour school day for 5 days a week (37.5 hours) could be spread to 6 days of 6 or 6.5 hours to get a similar amount of instruction time that is less compressed. Students would have shorter days at school, more time for the necessary amount of home study as well as free time at home per day. The issue with instruction is, students need some standard work as far as math and science goes. 

[mobius1aic]

@mobius1aic Yes, math and sciences should allow students to become creative and critical thinkers, but the basic instruction is still very much key and the teachers need to be involved with it. It's Philosophy, History, Literature comprehension that I think need more open teaching with less homework.

A final thing I'd like to comment about US Education is the lack of parental involvement. Parents these days grew up being babysat by a TV, and now expect schools to babysit their children.

[mobius1aic]

@mobius1aic They don't seem to care so much on average anymore about what their kid wants or about their personal development, so they gladly let their kid be babysat by the TV, computer, or videogames instead of taking them to museums, or teaching them other basic life skills like grocery shopping of all things. I work at a book store (impressive, I know -sarcasm-), and it pains me to see 20-somethings like myself and teenagers have absolutely no clue what to do when they need a book.......

[mobius1aic]

@mobius1aic .......they have no ambition to look for it themselves, and don't even try to retain the information on the a title beyond well, the title. Yes, it's something they are being forced to read, which I sympathize with (I loathed force reading), but the sheer laziness on their part is disgusting. Their parents are typically just like them, giving me the clue to who those kids model their habits off of.

Ulgh, the whole problem just makes me angry.

[rainzoro]

@mobius1aic yea i understand. But again, before we talk about how long school terms should be we should first talk about how to teach them, and I have already introduced a couple of fundamental problems we have. For example, we divide students in different grades depending on their age. I mean, is it really true the most important common thing students have is how old they are? Take a look at the clip I linked you it will broaden your perspective if ur willing to learn.

[rainzoro]

@mobius1aic I'm South Korean and students there have no freedom at all. They study math, english, and etc throughout their entire lives until they enter college. At your last comment u said "to create more minds and less drones" and the Asian school system is the perfect one for creating drones. Like I have said, the core problem of our education is that it teaches not how to think or use our brain, but what to think with a single conceptualized perception.

[rainzoro]

@mobius1aic No offense but you seem to be in a beginning stage of the whole education debate. Let me introduce you a clip to give you a glimpse of how the world is changing its attitude toward the entire conception of education.

/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

[thejonesbunch]

O que este povo tem na cabeca?