Education: What Is Required?
Dear Ms. Understanding: I'm a high school student. I want to be an educator. I've started a list How do we know what is educative and what is just school? · School offers an inexhaustible supply of old fish that fails to please the senses. Education teaches us to fish so we can catch our own fresh ones. · School runs on modified monologue. Students speak only by permission. Education cultivates intelligent conversation, dialogue and "polylogue." · Schoolchildren face the teacher. Educated students face each other. · Schoolchildren attend by requirement. We must choose to be educated. · School herds students into ...
Increasing Knowledge and Waistlines
Dear Ms. Understanding: I've been putting on lots of weight lately. I go to school all day. I come home. I eat. I do my homework. I go to sleep. I wake up. I get fat. What can I do? Expanding Dear Expanding: Have you ever tried walking home from school? School must start early in the morning, but that means that you have the advantage of going home before dark. Use it. For every extra mile that you walk every day, you will weigh about one pound less per month. If your walk home is not safe, take the bus. When ...
Do You Really Understand?
Dear Ms. Understanding: I train teachers. In one of my courses, I led a discussion of checking for understanding: How do we know that the light has gone on, that the student comprehends what the teacher is saying? In the midst of my discourse, a curious trainee asked, "What about long-term understandings that arrive in steps or by degrees?" I wanted to strangle that teacher-wannabe. Everyone's concentration was broken. The lesson was ruined. What should I do next time this occurs? Furious with Curious Dear Furious: Ignore the interruption, and go on. We must avoid the area of deeper understanding. If we go there, ...
Goofing Off in College: High School Fails to Prepare
Free Time Dear Ms. Understanding: I thought that high school was supposed to prepare me for college. In high school, we had two out-of-class times, morning break and lunch. During those times, we played and socialized. In college, we have hours and hours outside of class. I've continued to use those hours for recreation. My grades have gone into the tank. Did I miss something? Likes Leisure Dear Likes: Assuming that your high school was college-preparatory, it gave you all that you need to succeed in college. You simply weren't paying attention. In high school, your teachers provided ample classroom "free" time and told you to use ...
Recent Topics
Goofing Off in College: High School Fails to Prepare
Free Time Dear Ms. Understanding: I thought that high school was supposed to prepare me for college. In high school, we had two out-of-class times,...
Increasing Knowledge and Waistlines
Dear Ms. Understanding: I’ve been putting on lots of weight lately. I go to school all day. I come home. I eat. I do my homework. I go to sleep....
Education: What Is Required?
Dear Ms. Understanding: I’m a high school student. I want to be an educator. I’ve started a list How do we know what is educative and what...
High School: Preparing Teens for College
Goofing Off in College: High School Fails to Prepare
Free Time
Dear Ms. Understanding:
I thought that high school was supposed to prepare me for college. In high school, we had two out-of-class times, morning break and lunch. During those times, we played and socialized.
In college, we have hours and hours outside of class. I’ve continued to use those hours for recreation. My grades have gone into the tank. Did I miss something?
Likes Leisure
Dear Likes:
Assuming that your high school was college-preparatory, it gave you all that you need to succeed in college. You simply weren’t paying attention.
In high school, your teachers provided ample classroom “free” time and told you to use the time wisely, reviewing your text or starting your homework. Did you use that time wisely? I bet you focused on your peer group instead. Talk is cheap. Being jammed in with your friends all around you is no excuse. Tell them to be quiet!
In high school, you were kept in class all day long because you were not trusted to use outside time wisely. Your unwise use of outside time in college has certainly proven that to be a good idea. You complain that you weren’t given a chance to learn how to study outside of class. You weren’t old enough. When you’re older, you’ll understand.