I found out a couple of days ago that my niece is having some trouble in geometry. I was quit to say count me out. Math was not and still isn’t my subject. So I did some checking and I called her this evening and I told her that one option would be to talk to my brother. He’s always been good at math. I said I don’t think he ever took geometry but take your book to him and I bet if he looks at it a few minutes he can figure it out. She said “I don’t have a book”. My brain sort of locked up and couldn’t grasp that concept. I said what do you mean you don’t have a book. She said she didn’t have very many books at all, only three. I said how do you function without a book. She said she had her notes. She said it’s been this way for several years. I remember many many hours spent flipping from the math problem back through the book to figure out how to work the problem. Now all they have are notes?
No wonder education is slipping. We are obviously not giving children today the tools they need to learn. We seem to be pushing out thousands of children who can’t function if they don’t have a cell phone or a computer. What happened to books, paper and pencils? Even now sitting here my brain still can’t seem to grasp this.
Well, Mr. Gates you said that you were worried about kid’s education these days. How about giving them some books???
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:23 am
This is what I would do: I would go to a used book store and check out the text books. For something like mathematics, I would get a book printed in the 1950s. Those books were like a collection of lesson plans. Assuming the student can read (and with today’s standards, that is an assumption), they should be able to understand the concepts.
In my fantasy world, calculators would be banned (except for physics, chemistry and the like). But then, I’m someone who was taught how to multiply and divide in Grade 1.
The brain should be considered as a muscle. If it isn’t used, it will get flabby.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:13 pm
I guess I’m starting to show my age, but what’s the heck.
I grew up (in Norway) in a environment where the written word(meaning books) was almost worshipped.
In fact, the only thing that escaped the heavy burden of 20% value tax was books, school books or litterature, whatever.
Not food, but books.
And a home were really poor if it didn’t at least have one filled bookshelf in the living room.
And the love of reading have followed me through a long life, nurtured my imagination and kept my brain sharp(most of the time).
Today kids grow up with TV and Video Games that kills braincells faster than the victims on the game consol, they grow up without the ability to use their own imagination in their own entertainment , and in their own life.
And then to be told they don’t even get school books any more.!!
As I said, I might be showing my age, but I hope I’m not the only one that think that our civilisation are going faster and faster downhill……
Or so it seems to me…..
hartan
September 4th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
thank heavens we don’t have this problem anymore here in the netherlands, our children do have books and even better, starting this year in most cases and all cases next year, they get their books for free!!! the gouvernment pays for them with our tax money…
how’s that for education???