New post #39

questions, ideas, and experiences


Questions:

Although the curriculum learned in school is often considered worthless in life, is it just used to teach us how to learn, placing more emphasis on having the ability to learn than the actual curriculum.

Will an Ivy league education prepare you better for life or is it merely the reputation the specific Ivy has in the job market?

If SAT is used to even the playing field, then what role do expensive 1 on 1 tutors play on helping to even the playing field?

Ideas:

An Idea I think would make sense would be to mix high schools with colleges. Sort of how Baruch high school and college have it. Only I would make the bond between stronger. I think the gap between middle school and high school is so big that they should be separated.

A school that strictly prepared kids for life and not college but still had the option of it. I think it would be a good solution for kids that do not aspire to go to college to get a leg up in the job market by doing internships and preparing resumes.

The idea to eliminate private schools would be interesting too. Who knows, maybe it would make the students that typically get into less prestigious schools more confident because of the students they are learning with...or they would just give up.


Experiences:

I remember way back when my parents were concerned about me because I was the only kid in first grade who was not able to tie my shoes, I had to wear Velcro shoes everyday and was embarrassed by it, it just became a matter of fitting in with the norm.

A school experience that I once was switching schools from private to public. It shocked me at first how different it was. The main difference to me was the fact that a public schools, the teacher is not going to care whether you fail or not because you really have to put in your share of work where at private school they will just push and be on your back to get your work done.

An experience that is always interesting is the first day back to school after the summer. It seems overwhelming because everyone has changed so much. Mixed emotions float through the air as everyone wears there new outfits. But you also realize how much people have changed from last summer.

B:

For the majority of the time we are in school, we are learning material that will rarely ever be used again in our lives. We learn about graphing limits and identifying parent functions when some of us aspire to be artists or own restaurants. I think Math as a subject is still critical for schools but I think it should be geared more towards preparing for life. Basic math should still be a necessity and can be taught in grade school and reviewed in the later years of high schools. Why not teach us how to do our taxes, or work out how credit cards work. Even in science we learn about moles and chemical bonding when it would be much more beneficial to learn about animals and survival of the fittest.
Most of what we learn is taught in elementary school. Learning how to read and write, understanding how to add and subtract. English and history continue in the later years to go in depth on what we learn in grade school. But still by high school many of us are unable to interpret advanced texts. Now regardless of whether a mother reads to her child at night, understanding text is taught in grade school but after that it is never really stressed. Through middle school and high school it drops off and goes down on the list of importance. Similar to proper grammar use.