How hard is teaching.

While I still use cursive frequently, I have to admit that I prefer others to print and even then the handwriting is often difficult to read.

The question remains; What subjects are most important for students to learn which will help them in their lives to earn a living?

 

I'd revise that question to what subjects can a school teach that are not capable of being learned at home with an internet connection.

 

Basically, even without an Internet connection, teaching someone how to read and having access to a public library can produce wondrous results. Probably the biggest problem today is that kids don't seem to have 'time' to learn. They have so many sources of entertainment to occupy their time and the things we had to manufacture on our own when I was young can be purchased at a store today.

 

I will continue to disagree. If your logic says cursive is no longer needed, then why do we need to teach spelling, grammar, math, memorize the multiplication tables, or study history, etc.?

We have spell-checkers today. Grammar checkers today. We have calculators today. We have the Internet and can Google anything at anytime! So why do we need to teach anything?

Why learn how to drive a car when self-driving cars are in our future?

 

You really think the whole or most important point of a good education is to enable students to pull in a paycheck?

 

It all depends on what you think the goal of education is. Is it to produce good citizens or is it to produce good workers? I've got mixed feelings, but I'm pretty sure we aren't teaching all of the correct things now.

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Reading, for example, would be next to impossible to teach at home by a computer with an internet connection.

 

Not the same. Cursive is just a single method of handwriting. It's not even the primary method we teach, which is printing. Between printing and keyboarding, there is no practical use of cursive, just based on what I see around me. Still have to learn spelling, because a spell checker can't read your mind, to know which of many similar words are meant. Grammar checker even more so. The reason we need to teach multiplication tables is for estimation, but I do think that kids should be required to learn how to use calculators correctly. In terms of history and the content based subjects, we need a framework of the basics in order for the results of those internet searches to make sense, but memorizing silly history facts like years something occurred is not necessary.

Self driving cars won't be on the market for probably 30 years. What we will see first is assisted driving cars--ones that brake automatically, etc.

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That's an important question. IMHO, the purpose of a good education is to prepare a student for life as an adult. One aspect of that is to be able to pull in a paycheck. It's, of course, not the only thing education is for.

 

The goal of a public education system should be to provide a basis for learning to continue throughout ones life.

Do you really feel it should be a one or the other answer? The ideal result would be to produce law abiding citizens, who are capable of being productive members of the society in which they live. While I presume you're equating "good worker" to mean "good employee" many productive persons are self employed.

What is being taught in schools today?

Are ANY 'correct things' being taught? What are they?

What 'incorrect things' are being taught?

I have no complaints on the schooling I received which has served me well over my life and my public schooling ended over 60 years ago so what has changed?

Has the Internet replaced parenting today?

 

My words were "earn a living", or in other words, enable one to provide/produce what is needed to sustain ones life.

 

First, I'm not 100% sure what the schools should be teaching. If I did, I'd be selling that plan instead of wasting my time on an internet forum. I think the main problem is that the curriculum we are primarily forcing on kids is a college prep one, rather than a more practical one. I know that much is wrong, but I don't know what exactly needs to be taught. I just know that we are watering down the college prep curriculum, while teaching general ed kids an even more watered down version of the college prep curriculum, leaving most kids without appropriate educations. Without a doubt, we need to teach the kids computational math and basic writing, as well as things like customer service and work ethics. We are too busy forcing algebra on kids not going to college, that we aren't spending enough time knowing that they can figure out what 30% off of a price means.

In case you haven't noticed, the workplace has changed a lot in the 60 years since you graduated high school. It's changed in the 33 years since I graduated high school.

 

At least they were smart enough to finish college. Probably unlike most of our holier than though
posters here

 

I can type faster and more neatly than I ever could do cursive.

Talking to a computer is rarely a good solution. Can't do it while listening to a lecture, for instance.

To learn the why, and what is actually happening. We need to know the multiplication tables in order to understand higher mathematics.

Without a baseline of knowledge, it's impossible to google search intelligently.

Manual transmissions are also obsolete--in fact, it's almost impossible to find one anymore outside of bottom of the line cars--even sports cars have pretty much given up on manual transmissions. No need to learn that at this time either. (and yes, I can drive a stick, but the need to do so no longer exists, except as a hobby).

 

You have no idea what you're talking about with your 105 posts. I have a college degree and even a masters degree. You don't know what education level is on this forum. Things aren't always said perfect on here. it's a forum not an english class. You try to treat people like they don't count.

 

I was comparing speed between printing and cursive.

Voice recognition is the hottest technology right now.

IMO knowing the multiplication tables is for the same reason as knowing both printing and cursive.

The less we know the less productive we will be on Google but this does not mean those with lower knowledge cannot effectively use Google.

I have two cars with manual transmission and I live in a farming community so manual transmissions are not obsolete.

I'm curious, if you were to hire an employee, and one candidate could do both print and cursive, and spoke well enough for voice recognition, and knew the multiplication tables up to 12X12, and the other candidate could not, and assuming everything else equal, which one would you hire...

 

Yeah, yeah... Get off the computer, and teach your grandkids cursive yourself if it's so important to you. You're too lazy or "busy" to be bothered, so you just try to force someone else to do it.

 

Again, I don't buy that voice recognition is a viable technology for most situations, so it's not something I'd look at. You haven't explained what the other candidate could or could not do. If he/she can print and type, that's all I need for that. The multiplication tables don't really matter. What matters is that they have proved that they know higher level math.

 

I will continue to disagree. Knowing the multiplication tables is not 'necessary' anymore because we have calculators. I write cursive many times every day so it's not obsolete in my little sphere. Seems to me at the very young ages that cursive is taught that it in no way hinders other learning and I prefer students learn both styles...

 

Ever tried teaching?
Probably not, so a serious statement. Until you try it in all venues don't throw stones.

 

This would be stupid to teach a kid cursive when no other kids can read it?

I thought my wife was the only person to know how lazy I am...but yet you do?

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The question was self-explanatory:

I'm curious, if you were to hire an employee, and one candidate could do both print and cursive, and spoke well enough for voice recognition, and knew the multiplication tables up to 12X12, and the other candidate could not, and assuming everything else equal, which one would you hire...

 

FYI;

http://usat.ly/2lra2e0

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017...=iosnewsapp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=app

 

Are you asking me, or are you telling me? The sentence ends with a question mark, but it's structured as a statement.

You don't have to go to school to learn something. I don't know where you're getting this idea that if you don't teach cursive in school then nobody will ever be able to do it. You can practice it at home and learn how to do it without ever having any instructions from a teacher in school.

People who think it's important to learn cursive should take the lead in ensuring the next generation understands cursive. It's often said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." Would it not be better for an individual to take part in the process of educating our children, instead of just trying to dump more tasks on an obviously overburdened public education system?

Obviously we can't cover every single piece of knowledge humanity understands. Surely you can understand that. Obviously we need to pick and choose what's most important to cover. For me, learning cursive takes a major back seat to basically all mathematical knowledge, most scientific and historical knowledge, and critical thinking skills. Learning how to read and write, understanding basic English grammar and knowing how to use it effectively are also skills far more important than cursive.

Public education should stick with teaching the skills that will be the most useful and relevant for our current societal standard. If you want more, there's plenty of time in the evenings and weekends to sit with your kids and teach them cursive. You can teach them whatever you want. Besides, as you already pointed out, some public school districts are teaching cursive, so if you do your research, you can probably move to a town where it's being taught. Worst-case scenario: you have to enroll your child into a private school that offers cursive.

And how is it stupid to be able to do something nobody else can?

Yes.

 

You don't know what I've done. But thanks for your 125th post.

 

It seems you have not. So my statement stands.
Obviously my post bother you that you keep track.
Try walking in the other persons shoes before you criticize.

 

Olympia High is only doing what every private school does to keep their stats up, but everybody goes on and on about how great private schools are.

Besides your article's credibility should be seriously questioned. I mean the title talks about schools, you know- plural, yet only mentions one specific example. It vaguely comments on a couple other districts, but provides no details about those other districts. It is possible to send a student out of district to another school that can provide them with the resources they need to get a quality education. Just because a student has been removed from one school doesn't mean he or she can't get a good education at an alternative school.

Stay out of Tennessee if you want your kids to get a quality education, I guess.