We have a problem in academia, namely that to become a teacher you are required to go through the system and get at least a Bachelor's Degree. Why is this a problem, you ask? Simple, it means after all those years your mind is boxed into a certain way of doing things, and now those old ways are not working very well, thus, we are doomed to repeat the holding back of the human mind moving forward. Since you are the teacher, you've only learned one way of teaching, the one you experienced and now believe this to be best, which is not an impartial thought process, nor is it all that logical. Yes, let's talk because you probably disagree with my overall premise, but I ensure you, this is an intellectually based observation and it is worth more thought on your part.
We need to teach our kids to think, and to do that we must foster their sense of curiosity early and often, allow them to explore, ask questions, come up with creative solutions and original thoughts. Incidentally, have you ever met a kid who keeps asking you why, after every answer, and at the end you get down to; "because that's how fundamental particles are held together" - I always found it unfortunate that college professors couldn't answer my questions, yet felt themselves wise enough to grade my answers.
I mean if the professors don't know they subject backwards and forwards and can't answer questions as per Richard Feynman's doctrine - in simple layman's terms - then they didn't know it well enough to be teaching me. I always found in business that you have to know everything about your business better than anyone else, competitors, customers, employees, regulators, investors, etc. - because your livelihood depended on it, whereas in academia all too often that simply isn't the case. Maybe it's just the 80/20 rule or the 80/20 rule of the 20% and so on until you get down to decimal points.
Problem in academia is there isn't a lot of accountability for the finished product and forced testing just makes short-term memory cramming to the point of absurdity until no one remembers anything that was poured into their skulls siting in nice little rows bored to death. Since technology and human society is moving fast, we cannot assume that we can teach students what they will need to know in the future, we need to teach them to be adaptable, creative, and to logically solve problems.
These students should not be trained to just follow authority, yes, some of that is needed, but we must teach them to think, challenge, and that means we cannot kill their innate curiosity to ask questions, as that may be their best asset moving into the future. Please consider all this and think on it.
Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on the Future of Education. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net.
By Lance Winslow
Article Source: Why Not Teach Kids To Think Again - Well, Because The Teachers Aren't Smart Enough To Do It
We need to teach our kids to think, and to do that we must foster their sense of curiosity early and often, allow them to explore, ask questions, come up with creative solutions and original thoughts. Incidentally, have you ever met a kid who keeps asking you why, after every answer, and at the end you get down to; "because that's how fundamental particles are held together" - I always found it unfortunate that college professors couldn't answer my questions, yet felt themselves wise enough to grade my answers.
I mean if the professors don't know they subject backwards and forwards and can't answer questions as per Richard Feynman's doctrine - in simple layman's terms - then they didn't know it well enough to be teaching me. I always found in business that you have to know everything about your business better than anyone else, competitors, customers, employees, regulators, investors, etc. - because your livelihood depended on it, whereas in academia all too often that simply isn't the case. Maybe it's just the 80/20 rule or the 80/20 rule of the 20% and so on until you get down to decimal points.
Problem in academia is there isn't a lot of accountability for the finished product and forced testing just makes short-term memory cramming to the point of absurdity until no one remembers anything that was poured into their skulls siting in nice little rows bored to death. Since technology and human society is moving fast, we cannot assume that we can teach students what they will need to know in the future, we need to teach them to be adaptable, creative, and to logically solve problems.
These students should not be trained to just follow authority, yes, some of that is needed, but we must teach them to think, challenge, and that means we cannot kill their innate curiosity to ask questions, as that may be their best asset moving into the future. Please consider all this and think on it.
Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on the Future of Education. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net.
By Lance Winslow
Article Source: Why Not Teach Kids To Think Again - Well, Because The Teachers Aren't Smart Enough To Do It
