saved by29 people, first byKevin Champion on 2007-10-12, last byPru Mitchell on 2008-07-20
First off, to Templar Knight: The students are not *complaining.* If anything, they are “confessing” in a way that let’s us know that somehow some of our current educational models are not engaging them.
To the professor above who thinks technology is the problem. I do not totally disagree, but there is absolutely no chance that the whole world is just going to “turn off” the technology. This means that we need to expand the type of “literacy” we are teaching students to include all forms of media, as well as an understanding of how each media is different and not necessarily useful in certain contexts. This would give you the space to convince them of the importance of print-based arguments in certain domains. If we fail to teach them this form of literacy, we will be leaving it in the hands of the few to dominate and control our means of communication.
“> our world has become so out of control
> we no longer think it can be changed by us.
Many people think that way but this is nonsense to me.
The world was never in control of anyone.”
I don ‘t think you got it right David, but I never meant about anyone having the control of the world in his hands(even if sometimes it looks like some bush guy thinks that) like I think you understood. What I tried to say is that things happen so fast in our world today, and have such an incomprehensible background, so many things that we don’t get to know, so many interests that can not be noticed by us that we feel like we have our hands tied. And that is, at the same time understandible and unacceptable.
The first because that all that I mentioned before, associated with the standard of comfort that we have and the media keep us away from the problems of our surrounding (us as meaning the majority of the ones who live like us).
The second is because differently that we may think sometimes, the world is not getting better lately, capitalism isn’t working for everybody and if we are not being able to change our educational system, how are WE going to stop millions of children to go to sleep with their stomach empty night after night around the planet? And really, for me, knowing things are getting worse and that nobody is taking any serious action to change it, just for itself, makes me think our world is out of control.
Maybe you think that we are capable of doing something, and if you read my comment to the end you got to know I believe in it too. But you have to agree that the most of us do not think that way. And even if we believe, you have to admit that you do not make any idea how to really do the thing. Believe me, I think about it every single day, and some of my colleagues at the Medicine College here think too, but our ideas become empty when we look around and see that so many few people care or would do something for the cause. But time is not to give up, as so many people live a life of pain and horror and have not gave up.
Perhaps they persist in believing that we will do something…
We must not disappoint them!
“Today’s child is bewildered…”
It’s always wonderful when people take quotes out of context i.e. what was going on in 1967 doesn’t have much, if anything, to do with what is going on today. But, even if it does, you’re going to have to do a lot better than just give an assertion. You have to back it up.
“If students learn what they do, what are they learning sitting here?”
From the mouths of babes… with IQ’s less than that of room temperature.
Taking a class properly requires a good amount of required reading BEFORE the class in which the material is presented. Why? Because, the student is /not/ going to get everything (regardless of what they think) from a book, etc. And as such, the Prof *is* going to point out things that the students missed, misunderstood, didn’t understand, etc.
THAT is why you are sitting there. Don’t be so bloody arrogant to assume that you can learn/understand everything on your own.
“I will write 42 pages for class this semester and over 500 pages of email”
How is this comparison even relevant? Oh yah, it isn’t.
These are two very very different ways of communicating in two very very different contexts. Those pages submitted for a class are going to be researched, proof read, go through numerous drafts, in a formal style, etc, etc, etc. So, lots of time is required to produce them. Email on the other hand… not so much. Arguably, those 500 pages of email will take but a fraction of time to write than the 42 pages for your class(es).
“I get 7 hours of sleep each night!”
And? Seven hours isn’t actually that bad. But, there’s an easy solution to this: GO TO BED EARLIER. For pointers, see below.
“I spend 1 1/2 hours watching TV each night”
Work /before/ play save burn out. That will cut that one down significantly.
“I spend 3 1/2 hours a day online”
Doing what? Working, playing? Without this information this little tidbit is meaningless. But, given the above, I gather a work /before/ play could cut this down.
“I listen to music 2.5 hours a day”
Similar to the above, are you doing anything while listening, or just listening? Studies have actually shown that even if not perceived, such distraction(s) reduce efficiency. So, stop working while listening to music.
“I spend… 2 hours on my cellphone”
And all of that is about school, work, etc and not a distraction. Don’t get me wrong, I’m /not/ saying “Stop talking on your cellphone.” But, shutting it off during study time, or while doing something else that would benefit from no distractions would improve efficiency drastically. After all, does it take more time to just do a problem, or while doing that problem get interrupted several times and have to re-think where you are.
“Spend 3 hours in class”
So, an average full course load (I assume). On average, this is actually bad. In my experience, there is a significant percentage of students that can’t handle a full course load, but do so anyway because of parents, expectations, etc.
If you’re having problems with handling your course-load, don’t take so much. Extending your education one (or even two) more years, in this case, would actually be beneficial because you’ll be working within your limitations instead of reaching beyond them. There is no shame in it. But, there is shame if you fail something, or do poorer than you could have.
“2 hours eating”
May I assume that cooking isn’t in there? If I can, spend more time cooking/eating with fresh food. That’ll give you more energy and you’ll be healthier. This will also result in better efficiency and being more happy and as such, you’ll be better able to do what you need to do. If you don’t think that you can do it, just Google 30 minute (or 1/2 hour) meals.
“I work 2 hours every day”
Being a full time student is more than a full time job. That is, if you do it properly. Taking on daily work only hurts you. Find a job that will allow weekend only work, or very limited weekdays, mostly weekends. Because working these hours is basically academic suicide (please note that I’m talking about understanding, not grades - you’ll probably get to know the difference later on if you don’t know already).
“3 hours studying”
This isn’t enough. Well depending on the field. Try doing that in 3rd year math.
“That’s a total of 26.5 hours per day”
So, we’re taking averages, and adding them all up. How don’t you understand just how profoundly wrong that is?
“I am a multi-tasker”
“(I have to be)”
No you don’t. You just have to work smarter.
When I was in college, my peers always “freaked out” when they would ask me if I had completed assignment x, y, z which were due in 2 or 3 days and I told them that I hadn’t started. How did I pull this off? Because I did *not* multi-task. I sat down and did assignment x. Then I did assignment y, then z. Guess what. I always finished before they did and I had a lot less stress. Guess what. I worked only part of the day that I was at school and an afternoon on the weekend whereas they worked throughout the day into the night AND on the weekend as well.
Less stress plus focus equals efficiency. Get it?
Blogged your work here yesterday via the discovery of it via my RSS feed of 2CentsWorth, David Warlick’s blog. I try not to repost very much but I had to this time–the video brought me to tears.
The comments indicate a clear line of delineation between those who see the failures and are looking for solutions on the one hand–and those who cling to the failed models on the other.
To those latter, I would simply offer: Success in the future will not be achieved by the means with which your agrarian and elitist system of education enabled you to achieve it. The 60s are indeed in the past, but our students’ future will not be well served by our teaching with the same mindset that stifled the idealisms of youthful spirit ‘way back then. Unlike then, students now have access to powerful and ubiquitous tools for communication and collaboration. Look up from your lectern notes…
