10 Things Wrong With Education

Below is a list of ten areas in education that needs improvement. I am personally against the system but have hope that if these ten areas are thoroughly address, then schools might actually be worth something.

Apathy

"Why do I need to know about..."

When students are intrinsically motivated to learn a new topic, they will absorb the information like a sponge. On the other hand if students aren't motivated to learn they have the retention capability of a brick. Most schools/teachers do not offer and valid reason for the learning that needs to take place. They much rather systematically disseminate the information without rhyme or reason.

Test

This test will determine you future success in the field of...

Tests or exams cannot measure the intelligence of an individual. The only thing a test tests is a persons ability to take the test. The SAT is supposed to be an indicator of how good the person will do in college. The first time I took the SATs I didn't score over 1,000 points, four years later I earned a full scholarship to graduate school at Georgia Tech. Go figure...

Grades

Me: What does 'F' mean?


Teacher: It means that you are a failure.

Grades do nothing but give teachers a way to label students in categories (e.g. smart, average, dumb, slow). Of course, the only way that a student can be graded is by taking tests and as I mentioned earlier, a test or exam cannot measure the intelligence of an individual. Grades are also used as a form of control. For example, have you ever heard a teacher say, "If Johnny doesn't "behave" himself he will be marked down a letter grade." In that example Johnny can't be Johnny, he can't express himself the way that he would like to. The more obedient a child is, the better grades s/he will get.

Competition

You are dumb because you didn't make the honor roll

Students compete against each other for highest grades and teachers encourage this competition by praising some condemning others. The condemned children get labeled as dumb, stupid, or slow and this label will follow them for the rest of their lives unless they conscientiously make efforts to improve there self esteem. This competition creates a few excellent students and a mass of average students. Which grow up to be the few "experts" and a mass of retards. Every child has the potential to be excellent, but if we don't let every child know this early on, they'll never know.

Bad Teachers

The rules of the class are...

Parent put their children in the hands of teachers 6 to 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 12 years hoping that the teachers will encourage the children to learn. In reality, the teachers' main priority is to enforce rules and restrictions on students to keep order in the class room. Just think of the number of times you have heard teachers say, "You can't do that", "It's not time for that now", "Your too [young, old, dumb, smart, small, big, etc] for that." I'm not saying all teachers are bad, but many of them limit a child's potential, regardless if they know it or not.

Not Enough Good Teachers

Teacher: Why aren't you finished your assignment?


Me: I was waiting for you to finish with John so I could ask you a question.


[bell rings]


Teacher: Save your question for tomorrow


Me: Um... OK.

In most public schools there is 1 teacher for every 30 students. It is extremely difficult for that teacher to tend to 30 different students effectively. The result is a lot of students getting left behind in the lessons, without the teachers ever noticing. There needs to be an increase in the amount of teachers per student. In prisons the guard to inmate ratio is on average 1:6. Why can't there be a similar ratio for schools?

The Focus

I can't wait 'till I am out of school so I could get a job.

Most educational systems make the students focus on getting a job and being dependent on that job for income. The focus of schools should be to show students how to think for themselves and ask good questions so that they can get a better understanding of the world around them.

Cost

Damn, I have to take out another loan before they kick me out

You can get your first 12 years of school for free, but higher learning will cost you and it's a gamble. The average cost for a public university is 13,000 a year and 30,000 for a private university. The average graduate spend 5.7 years in college. So the average person would spend anywhere between 74,100 and 171,000 on a college education. The average person doesn't have that type of money so the only option is to get a loan. It seems that the college system is built to either keep certain people out or keep people in debt.

Class Levels

You are too young to be in this class

As a child, being the youngest of four allowed me to observe and learn from my siblings before I even began school. I can honestly say that I learned a lot from them early on in life. It has been proven that one of the best ways to learn is to observe and then do. In schools students are separated in different class levels so younger children can't learn from the older ones. If you are in a class full of novices, the only person you have is the teacher to instruct you. The problem with that is they're too many bad teachers and not enough good ones, as I stated earlier.

Restrictions

I don't see any course I want to take in your catalog

Students are restricted to the topics that they can learn. You are rarely allowed to decide what you want to learn. Even in college, when you do choose your curriculum, you still have to take the required courses even if it has nothing to do with what your interests are. Some people say, "It's to make you well rounded" and I say that's bull. Would I be a less "round" person if I didn't know how to evaluate and integral in calculus?

Spanish Learning Software

With Spanish learning software, you can have a full course in learning to speak, read and write the Spanish language right at your fingertips. All of the lessons have sections where you listen to a native Spanish speaker using the vocabulary and you can repeat the words and phrases. You also get to see what the words and phrases look like and some programs have pictures so that you know exactly what it means in English. As you progress farther into the lessons, you will learn the specifics of using grammar correctly in your oral and written Spanish sentences.

When you start your search for software to help you learn Spanish, most of the sites offer you a tour or a preview so that you can find out exactly what you are buying. By taking a tour of the program, even if you can't speak a word of Spanish, you will be able to judge for yourself whether or not the program will be too easy or too hard for you to use. It also depends on whether you want the program to help you learn how to converse in Spanish or whether you want to become completely bilingual. There are different programs more suited to adults than children, so this is also a factor that you have to consider.

With most of the software that you can get to help you learn Spanish, you get a manual to complement the program. One brand of software, called Amigos, is designed for K – 6 students and a teacher's manual comes with it. This makes this program perfect for teachers of Spanish as a second language, but adult learners can really benefit from it as well. By using the software and the lessons, you can teach yourself how to speak Spanish in no time. You shouldn't let the fact that the program is designed for children deter you. You have to start at the beginning and with this program, this is where you will start.

Am I too Old to Learn a Second Language?

A READER'S RESPONSE:

"It has been documented that the older one gets the more difficult it becomes to learn a foreign language."

MY COMMENTS:

Actually, there is no credible evidence to show that the older one becomes the more difficult it is to learn a foreign language. This belief is almost an urban myth and is not linguistically sound.

It is an emotional issue that prevents adults from trying and succeeding to learn Spanish.

Researchers Krashen, Long, and Scarcella showed that,

"Studies comparing the rate of second language acquisition in children and adults have shown that although children may have an advantage in achieving native-like fluency in the long run, adults actually learn languages more quickly than children in the early stages. (Krashen, Long, and Scarcella, 1979)."

The conclusion this study draws is adults can develop a working ability in the target language much faster than a child can.

So just where did this hideous stereotype about adults learning foreign language originate? It came from some very old science.

There used to be a theory on "brain development" from the 1960's that taught that there was a "crucial period" an individual had before the brain lost its "plasticity," making learning a second language too difficult. (Lenneberg, 1967)

It was a belief that if you didn't get your second language learning done before puberty, your goose was pretty well cooked.

Modern studies have shown though some differences between how a child and an adult learns a second language do exist, the older learner has the distinct advantage. The adult learner of Spanish can learn the language faster because of the following:

The adult's maturely-developed brain has the superior ability to understand the relationship between semantics and grammar.

The adult's brain is more mature in its ability to absorb vocabulary, grammatical structures, and to make more "higher order" generalizations and associations.

The adult learner's better-developed brain is better at "putting together all the pieces" with a more developed long-term memory.

The biggest obstacle for the adult is the emotional factor. Adults have bought into the myth that they just cannot do it. They are also afraid of making fools of themselves. I have often thought this is the reason children seem to learn Spanish faster than adults do—they are not afraid of the embarrassment factor.

Children also seem to learn Spanish faster because of the natural method to which they resort. They approach learning a foreign language in the identical manner they did when they learned their native language. If you have children, you witnessed this event. Was there not a time when you just knew that your "yet-to-speak anything other than goo-goo and ga-ga" child understood far more than he was letting on?

A chief problem is in the phrase, "language learning." What most people do not realize is there is a difference between language acquisition and language learning. Language acquisition, the ability to engage in spoken fluency, involves a different area of the brain than does language learning.

Language learning is what happens when you learn grammar rules, syntax, and constructions. It is what someone does when he wants to learn to become an exegete of written text. Language acquisition is the development of spoken fluency and is what most of us want to do: Speak the Language!

One comes before the other. Acquisition comes before learning. Long before you knew the difference between a verb and a pronoun, you had a high degree of spoken fluency.

Think of my little friend Diego. When I met him here in Guanajuato, all he could do was say words. He could not construct a sentence. He was too young. But, he did what we all did when we learned our first language: we listened. This is how language acquisition comes about. We have an intense period of just listening. Then we try words. Soon, we experiment with sentences while continuing to listen to everyone around us until one day we can speak.

Diego, from the time he was born (and maybe even in the womb) until his fresh six years he has now, all he did was hear Spanish. Non-stop bombardment of his native tongue. Never once during his young six years did he know a part of speech. Never did anyone require him to parse a verb, write a sentence, or recite the parts of speech. He still can't read but is recognizing words. He has developed a HIGH DEGREE of spoken fluency and still cannot read or write a word of Spanish or tell you the parts of speech.

This is where we adults screw up. We take the unsound, grammar-first approach and develop an ability to interpret and translate written text. However, we can hardly string two words together in speech. We are taught incorrectly. We are, in traditional classes, taught using the wrong approach.

Just think of having the spoken fluency of a 6-year-old Mexican child! I would kill for that. And yet, what do we adults do? We pay for classes that require us to learn translation techniques and wonder why we spent all that money when we cannot speak the language?

A school in Zacatecas, Mexico, uses the Krashen, Long, and Scarcella approach. Its textbooks utilize the linguistic science I have alluded to in this article. I would recommend this school above all others since it is sound in its science and teaches language acquisition first and then language learning second.

Go to Google and type in: Fenix Language Institute.

Superstar Teaching - The Proper Uses of Homework

Online Education Graduate Degree

Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau reveal that a person who holds a graduate or master's degree can expect to earn about $55,000 per year. People holding a bachelor's degree can expect to earn around $46,000 per year. The average benefit for holding a graduate degree can raise a person's income about $225,000 over a period of 25 years. This rate of return clearly shows that it is a solid investment to pursue a online graduate degree. Online education graduate degrees enable busy adults to attain a higher education while still maintaining employment to earn a living.

Requirements to Pursue an Online Education Graduate Degree - To earn a graduate degree online, students need to be well-organized self starters who can manage their time and review course material independently. Online students also need full access to a computer with a 56 kbps modem or better, with Internet service and virus protection. Students attending school online should be able to use email and basic Internet functions to communicate with professors and take online exams. Online education graduate degree programs are delivered in a web-based format that is available 24 hours a day for the convenience of working students seeking success.

Validity of Online Education. In the 1994 study of R. Clark, and in the Pew Learning and Technology Study 'Innovations in Online Learning' by Carol Twigg in 2001, they concluded that if the online course was designed with the same rigor as one taught in a face-to-face environment, the outcome is likely to be equivalent. Further, the standards for undergraduate education are defined by the Seven Principles developed by Chickering & Gamson (1991). These seven principles were updated to show how to implement these ideals in online education (Chickering & Ehrmann; Graham, et al. 2001). In 2002, the Ohio Learning Task Force issued a report that recommended principles derived from Chickering & Gamson were to be used to design, approve, assess and review all courses, whether in person, or online, or a blend of both. The Seven Principles a) encourage contact between students and faculty; b) encourage active learning; c) encourage cooperation between students; d) give feedback promptly; e) communicates high expectations; f) emphasizes time on task; and g) respects diverse ways of learning and talents. Therefore, online education graduate degrees follow the same criteria as those earned at a physical college campus, so they are equally viable.

Cost of Online Education. Getting an online education graduate degree can be more affordable than attending a physical college campus because there are no costs for transportation or housing. In 2004, an online resource site took a sample size of 120 online master's degree programs and found that the cost for education could range from $2,760 to $110,000 for an accredited degree. However, graduate degree students can explore several options for tuition assistance, including:

Tuition Reimbursement. The National Center for Education Statistics found that almost 20 percent of all graduate students receive aid from their employers. Potential online education graduate degree students should consult with the human resources director of their company about tuition reimbursement programs and company scholarships they may qualify for.

Labor Unions. Over 60 labor unions, through 38,000 national chapters, offer $4 million dollars in educational financial aid. If a student belongs to a union, the web site at www.aflcio.org can offer leads to Union-Sponsored Scholarships and Financial Aid.

Financial Aid. There is even state and government financial aid available for certain distance learning programs. The free government aid directory at www.ed.gov/programs can help students locate resource centers in their state and offer information about financial assistance to pay for college.

Loans. There are government-backed Stafford student loans that typically carry the lowest interest rate. For example, the interest rate for a Stafford education loan in 2003 was only 3.42 percent. Students seeking Stafford loans should consult the free annual publication, the Student Guide to Financial Aid. Private student loans are also offered through finance companies such as KeyBank or Citibank, but they usually charge higher interest rates and require students to pass a credit check.

Tax benefits. There are also significant tax benefits available to online education graduate degree program students. Interest on student loans may be tax deductible during the first 60 months of the period to pay them back. Eligibility for this tax benefit can be determined by checking the IRS Publication 970: Tax Credits for Higher Education. Further, under the Lifetime Learning Credit, students may be eligible to deduct up to 20 percent of the first $10,000 of graduate tuition from federal taxes. Also, some or all tuition expenses may be deducted if an employer requires additional education to maintain the student's current professional status. Students can review IRS Publication 970 for guidelines, or consult with an accountant to see what portion of tuition for college can be deducted from their taxes.

When a potential student considers the ease of earning an online education graduate degree, along with the improved financial status as a result of attaining this degree, it is clearly a wise decision to pursue virtual learning.

SummitLearners.com is the leading website for people looking to learn online. We have resources for people looking to get an Online Education Graduate Degree