Over at No. 2 Pencil, Kimberly discusses a chaotic approach to schooling which must have come from the mind of some self-esteem schooling driven, we can't regiment our children thinking idiot. There's indepedence and then there is this idea.
Dr. Stat has a great post on how education has changed over the past two hundred years. In essence, education has not changed, but culture around it has. The era of instant gratification does not include education:
Suppose you are a student a couple of hundred years ago, and you went to school. You'd know that everything important in life requires hard work and advance preparation. You'd take if for granted that nothing important comes easy. You'd automatically be prepared to work hard at school, just like everything else.
Today, every other experience of your life tells you that the things you want can be quickly and easily obtained. There is practically no chance that you would ever have to worry about not having your basic needs fulfilled, even if you do absolutely nothing. You see advertising that tells you how all the hardest jobs can be done without breaking a sweat, leaving you plenty of time to play and enjoy yourself. Unfortunately, there haven't been any major advances in education in the last 200 years. Learning proceeds pretty much just as it always has, with lots of hard work and advance planning. But you have no analogue for this. Nothing in your life has given you a context for it. So, you scoff at your teacher's admonition that you put hard work and effort into your learning. Life just doesn't work that way, in your experience. Certainly, there must be a way that you can flip a switch, or run to the store, or pop something into an appliance, so that your educational needs are quickly fulfilled, and you can get back to playing and entertaining yourself.
The Ed Wahoo talks about the achievement gap and its causes. Great stuff.
Go check out the Carnival.
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