Things that should be taught in schools - mandatory!

[coloumb]

Reading, Writing and [A]rithmetic is all you need to survive in the real world [hell..you don't even need to know how to read, write or solve equations for a lot of jobs].

A lot of teachers will just push students through even though they have a difficult time with the 3 basic "r's" [a lot of the material is memorization]. Perhaps they just don't have the time anymore to make kids "learn" and figure out things - they just want to make sure they can pass the state/federal tests and be able to know the correct change for a bus ride.

 

[grrl]

I'm sure there are worse languages, and yes, definitely some which are more logical.
And English doesn't do well with the Information Age.

Google for "bank."
Ok, are you looking for a place to keep money, sloping terrain by a river, or an action a plane can perform? Geez, they even consist of two nouns and a verb.

"Calculus" - it's either a field of mathematics or a deposit on your teeth.

"Ass" - the buttockular region, or a relative of a horse.


But I doubt we're to the point (yet) of assembling a new language designed for searchability. Then you have instances of silly made-up words like "buttockular."
Hell, people even get in a sentimental and chest-pounding mood over language.

Provide an example of a language in which words don't have multiple, unrelated meanings and your post might be defensible.

 

[marvdmartian]

Evolution is really still just a theory.

Fixed.



Mechanics I'd have to disagree with. Simple car care would be fine (how to change a flat tire, how to check tire pressure, how to check fluid levels, etc).

How about simple stuff, like how to balance a check book? How to prepare a budget? The difference between needs (food, clothing, shelter) and wants (games, ipods, etc)??

Even going back to basics wouldn't be bad. It's amazing how many functional illiterates there are with a diploma these days! And how many of them can answer basic questions in geography, history and science? How many of them slept through health class, and are flabbergasted when they realize that you can get an STD by not using protection, and sex causes babies!!

Maybe just teaching them what's always been expected, and not graduating them until they know it would be a good idea, huh? :hmm:

 

[Jeff7]

Provide an example of a language in which words don't have multiple, unrelated meanings and your post might be defensible.

I didn't say that there are any languages that are perfect; I was just pointing out English's shortcomings. I don't really have fluency in any others. French would be the closest, as I have some knowledge of pronunciations and of some basic vocabulary. (There's another fun language, with the feminine and masculine words. Words with associated genders...what the hell?)

It was more intended to state that our languages in general aren't good for the Information Era, at least in its current state, with computers which aren't too terribly smart or capable. Right now, we're trying to bend our computers to work around a chaotic and cryptic language system which even some human brains have trouble with. (I would of come up with some good examples of this, but their tough to think of.)

When we finally move toward a consistent language planet-wide, it'd be nice to have something new and improved. A hell of a lot of people will, over centuries, learn a new language anyway, so why not make it a good one?
(Yes, a planet-wide language. I think it's a logical progression as communication and travel become increasingly simplified.
.....sorry, tangent?)

 

[yhelothar]

I'd also go with nutrition, especially on cognitive nutrition.
Nutrition is generally covered in school, especially in elementary and middle school, but none of the healthy mental aspects of it is ever taught.
So many mental disorders is caused by an imbalanced nutrition, as imbalanced nutrition = imbalanced neurotransmitters.

 

[shortylickens]

I didn't say that there are any languages that are perfect; I was just pointing out English's shortcomings. I don't really have fluency in any others. French would be the closest, as I have some knowledge of pronunciations and of some basic vocabulary. (There's another fun language, with the feminine and masculine words. Words with associated genders...what the hell?)

It was more intended to state that our languages in general aren't good for the Information Era, at least in its current state, with computers which aren't too terribly smart or capable. Right now, we're trying to bend our computers to work around a chaotic and cryptic language system which even some human brains have trouble with. (I would of come up with some good examples of this, but their tough to think of.)

When we finally move toward a consistent language planet-wide, it'd be nice to have something new and improved. A hell of a lot of people will, over centuries, learn a new language anyway, so why not make it a good one?
(Yes, a planet-wide language. I think it's a logical progression as communication and travel become increasingly simplified.
.....sorry, tangent?)

English is the most complex language in the world. As such, it has fewer shortcomings than any other language. There is nothing you cant describe with it.
HOWEVER, the complexity also means its the most difficult to learn and frequently open to misinterpretation and reinterpretation, not to mention good old fashioned arguments like we are having right now in this thread.

 

[nageov3t]

who balances a checkbook anymore?

heck, who USES a checkbook?

 

[Jeff7]

English is the most complex language in the world. As such, it has fewer shortcomings than any other language. There is nothing you cant describe with it.
HOWEVER, the complexity also means its the most difficult to learn and frequently open to misinterpretation and reinterpretation, not to mention good old fashioned arguments like we are having right now in this thread.

But I didn't come here for an argument, I came here for abuse.

who balances a checkbook anymore?

heck, who USES a checkbook?

My rent gets paid with a check.

Since moving to this township, that's one fewer check I need to write - my old township was quite rural, and the website at the time more or less was for the purpose of saying, "See? This township is actually aware that the Internet exists!" It didn't really have much more than 1 page at the time - and no way to pay taxes online.

The township I'm in now allows for local taxes to be filed and paid electronically, so I'm now down to writing about 12 checks per year.



Who else uses checks: People who don't trust online banking because it's "insecure" and "gives computers too much power," but who at the same time have no problem using ATMs, or swiping their cards at a store, or who'll write a check and have it verified electronically.

It makes my head hurt too.



.

 

[Corporate Thug]

basic/intro constitutional law

 

[Dominato3r]

how to do personal finances. Thats real important, especially now.

 

[fleabag]

I flat out don't believe that you were taught that Venus and Jupiter are hot because of C02. The guy that mows my lawn knows more physics than that.

Venus is the size of earth, how can you possibly disagree that green house gasses are the reason why it is inhospitable. Jupiter is a gas giant with a lot of mass, if Jupiter was like mercury, all rock, I doubt it'd be very hot at all. I do not know the temperature of Jupiter on the surface (if there is one) and neither does anybody else, we can only speculate. But you're missing the point, these planets are hot because of green house gasses and the fact that you're disputing that CO2 and other gasses don't cause the atmosphere to retain heat is completely idiotic.

 

[grrl]

Venus is the size of earth, how can you possibly disagree that green house gasses are the reason why it is inhospitable. Jupiter is a gas giant with a lot of mass, if Jupiter was like mercury, all rock, I doubt it'd be very hot at all. I do not know the temperature of Jupiter on the surface (if there is one) and neither does anybody else, we can only speculate. But you're missing the point, these planets are hot because of green house gasses and the fact that you're disputing that CO2 and other gasses don't cause the atmosphere to retain heat is completely idiotic.

See my signature file. Check my earlier post while you're at it too.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

All of the suggestions for what schools should teach but, don't are subjects that in my generation were taught at home. I think it interesting that we expect schools to teach these things today. The changes in society caused by both parents needing to work to pay the bills has had many effects we are still struggling to find answers for.

 

[guyver01]

Schools need to teach something useful.

They need to teach interlac.

How else will we communicate with the aliens when they come here.

Earth is the Lousiana of the galaxy.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Venus is the size of earth, how can you possibly disagree that green house gasses are the reason why it is inhospitable. Jupiter is a gas giant with a lot of mass, if Jupiter was like mercury, all rock, I doubt it'd be very hot at all. I do not know the temperature of Jupiter on the surface (if there is one) and neither does anybody else, we can only speculate. But you're missing the point, these planets are hot because of green house gasses and the fact that you're disputing that CO2 and other gasses don't cause the atmosphere to retain heat is completely idiotic.

wow, you are a moron of epic proportions

 

[fleabag]

wow, you are a moron of epic proportions

you're the one to talk

 

[guyver01]

how can you possibly disagree that green house gasses are the reason why it is inhospitable.

This is where a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.


Venus' atmosphere is about 90x thicker than earth's.... and is primarily composed of carbon dioxide. This gives it a GREENHOUSE EFFECT of trapping heat at the surface, making it about 400 degrees on Venus' surface.


Greenhouse effect, and greenhouse gases are TWO DIFFERENT THINGS.

 

[l0cke]

How to learn.

/thread.

Seriously people aren't taught HOW to learn. They are taught thousands of interconnected facts and asked to regurgitate them on command. You have to learn on your own HOW to learn. When these kids reach university and come to the realization that they have to learn themselves some of them just say fuck it I can't do that.

I'm not just being cute. There are many techniques and underlying principals on HOW to learn things. Things like abstraction, pattern recognition, mnemonics, applying general rules to new sets of data not seen before. etc etc...

At my school my friends and I play a card game called Mao, where you have to learn the rules from observation. So many people, that have straight A's in all AP classes, totally suck at this game and never get past the first few rules. Usually they say the game sucks and they quit.

This game is proof that schools are not really teaching kids how to learn, and it is very sad.

 

[frostedflakes]

wow, you are a moron of epic proportions

Well he's right about Venus, I thought it was common knowledge that the greenhouse effect is responsible for the high temperatures on the planet. Of course it's closer to the sun and receives more solar energy, but that alone doesn't explain the higher temperature.

No idea about Jupiter, though. I thought its atmosphere was mostly lighter compounds and it didn't have a lot of greenhouse gases.

 

[inspiron]

I agree with basic mechanics... could save hundreds on that first car. Also I think they should have a better sex ed program... We had a homosexual come teach us. He had pink socks... 0_0

 

[grrl]

I agree with basic mechanics... could save hundreds on that first car. Also I think they should have a better sex ed program... We had a homosexual come teach us. He had pink socks... 0_0

A rather curious post considering your "location."

 

[ussfletcher]

Personal fiscal policy/responsibility.

 

[DrPizza]

2 per semester for 3 years = 6 math classes. Ideally, I think math should be blended with almost every class in order to make the math and the other subject material easier to understand. I remember having problems with grade 11 physics because the equations being used were based on calculus, so the only way to do it was to just remember it. How the hell does one know that distance is (1/2)*acceleration* time^2? How would anyone guess that? If you were lucky enough to take calculus before taking grade 11 physics, you would know exactly where that comes from, and it would be much easier to remember. Calculus also made geometry a lot easier. If you can remember the area of a sphere is 4*pi*r^2, you can figure out the volume is (4/3)*pi*r^3 because the volume is found by integrating the surface area with respect to the radius. Instead of needing to remember 2 equations, you only need the 1. The same thing applies to circumference vs area of a circle. The pi*r^2 area formula is found by integrating the 2*pi*r circumference. Again, that's half as many formulas to remember. If you're just memorizing them, it's easy to accidentally confuse the two formulas. If you understand it from a calculus perspective, using r^2 for a circumference makes absolutely no sense because circumference is a 1-dimensional value.

Calculus perspective not needed for either to understand or derive the formulas. It's a shame that your physics teacher didn't derive that formula for you using basic formulas that you can get from common sense.

As far as unit analysis... what the hell? Calculus needed? feet times feet is square feet? Kids can figure that out doing the area of a rectangle. Sadly, because you believe that calculus is necessary to comprehend those things, it's apparent that they were just formulas you memorized with no comprehension of until calculus. i.e. your early education failed you.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Calculus perspective not needed for either to understand or derive the formulas. It's a shame that your physics teacher didn't derive that formula for you using basic formulas that you can get from common sense.

As far as unit analysis... what the hell? Calculus needed? feet times feet is square feet? Kids can figure that out doing the area of a rectangle. Sadly, because you believe that calculus is necessary to comprehend those things, it's apparent that they were just formulas you memorized with no comprehension of until calculus. i.e. your early education failed you.

i think he meant "dimensional analysis" instead of unit analysis. if you wanted to construct a function based on certain variables, it tells you how each variable is used, what your final units are, etc. IIRC.

if i had my fracture mechanics book with me i could explain it a lot better since part of the first chapter covers "dimensional analysis"

if it is just unit analysis (ft--> ft^2 ---> m^2 or something), then i hope that's already taught. it was in my grade school.

 

[Firsttime]

I'm going to say one of the single largest lacking areas in public education is basic understanding of economic principles. So much of modern politics is related to economics, and as government consumes more and more of what used to be private life an understanding of economics becomes more and more important. People need to understand that the candidate they endorse with their vote wants to cut/raise taxes and what that might mean for the economy as a whole. Minimum wage, regulation of prices, tariffs and duties, etc. They all have a huge impact on the economy and most people have no clue what that will be.