NeverarGreat said:
thejediknighthusezni said:
^Those are good points.
An advantage of rethinking education and seeing 16 as a start for vocation training while still home is that there could be more room for "false starts". Any scholarships or grants-in-aid could go towards the final choice.
We get the sort of society we subsidize. Non-vital fathers, Over-worked and isolated mothers, kids who blow tens of thousands on sheer time-wasting nonsense...
I'd rather see kids still at home until 21 instead of back in the basement at 28. They progress to 12 or 13 and then slide down until 21 anyway.
Remember that some people progress at different rates. While vocational training at sixteen or earlier may work for some, others will still prefer more esoteric and technical knowledge.
What exactly do you mean by "slide down until 21"? Do you mean that kids tend to become less focused and driven until then? Again, I wouldn't lump all kids into this category, but I think that people slide down perpetually even after this point.
I'm currently in college in America, and many people are simply there because it is expected of them. It wouldn't matter what subject was taught, or whether it directly applied to their life or not. They simply would not feel that it was important. Some of this I think has to do with the American government. We've been involved in a war in the middle east for over a decade and are engaged in a perpetual and unwinnable war on Terrorism, as well as failed wars on drugs and crime. We don't look to the stars anymore, and our political system is a sad farce. Our financial problems are worse than ever, and our health as a nation is declining. Is this the kind of future that you would want?
If we had a bright future to look forward to, then our students may become more motivated even with our flawed educational system.
Slide down? I mean all the typical teen stuff. Feeling their oats without having the first clue how to deal with it in a non-destructive way, not even understanding how completely clueless they are (though they are supposed to be clueless), emotional and self-conscious...The whole disaster. Yes there are a few exceptions here and there, but it's 21 before they even begin making up lost ground. They REQUIRE the assistance of been-there-done-that adults who care about them if they are to steer clear of very dangerous obstacles.
We had the problem of unfocused college students back in my time of the late 70s-early 80's and ever since. If it is worse now it is because of political leaders who destroy the economy by giving home loans to those who could never pay back and then foster an atmosphere of hopeless dependency on the same nit-wit sort of policies.
"...flawed educational system"? It is certainly FLAWED. I would call it HORRIFYINGLY, CATASTROPHICALLY DESTRUCTIVE. The elementary students who are utterly burnt-out on the idea of "education" before they reach age 11, The parents who are rendered unable to properly care for their offspring up to and including divorce because of the mad effort to pay for the hyper-expensive public system, the kids between 13 and 21 thrown together in big unsupervised masses becoming involved in vice, the public "teachers" who are more interested in dumbing them down to believe in everything that tears the society apart instead of all the things that make this country a great and decent and good place...
Another problem is the relic of the "Degree". It is from the dark ages when nobles and clergy and noble-clergy were called upon to be judges AND theologians and an entirely seperate enlightened elite. The Enlightenment encouraged these educated elites to believe they should be expert in everything. In a perfect world I would be all-for this conception of the "well rounded" college grad. In this world, people have the greatest difficulty maintaining a basic level of competency in just one subject. Also, I despise this impulse to regard oneself as a member of an enlightened and superior elite in morality and general intellect. It is EXTREMELY dangerous.
The very concept of "Degree" should be completely eliminated. It should be replaced with the understanding that Graduation and Licensure/Certification are one and the same thing. Everyone should clearly understand that the ablility to jump through the hoops in a particular subject in no way suggests superiority in any other sense and that these characters could just as easily be stupid rats. The "Doctor" honorific should be reserved for those who attain the highest degree of competency in an advanced field such that they could serve as advanced intructors AND they must have the moral charactaristics of humility and a strong sense of pathetic limitation.
Kids should be taught the basic Facts and Truths of what works and what, one way or another, is proven to be destructive wherever attempted. This could be done in interesting Reading Comprehension/Civics courses. They should also be strongly encouraged to pursue further reading whenever possible on their own