Hi there! You are currently browsing as a guest. Why not create an account? Then you get less ads, can thank creators, post feedback, keep a list of your favourites, and more!
Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 2nd Oct 2018 at 1:52 AM
Default Are schools really teaching kids enough?
I saw that there was a debate room on here so I decided to put this debate on here, I know this is a debate people have been talking about for a long time but I'd like to know your thoughts and opinions on this.
Advertisement
Scholar
#2 Old 2nd Oct 2018 at 5:23 PM
they don't teach they just test us

I May Be Life Dumb But I'm Sim Smart(mostly).
My Tumblr
Instructor
#3 Old 14th Oct 2018 at 6:58 AM
Things all high school graduates should know:
- How credit works
- How loans work
- How taxation works
- How to get and keep a job
- How to do basic household repairs
- How their electoral system works
- Their legal rights and responsibilities
- How statistics work, and how they can be misused (effectively, critical thinking)
- How addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and percentages work
- Basic literacy
- Public speaking

Very few of these are actually taught.

Realistically, an engineer doesn't need high literacy, a lawyer doesn't need calculus, a construction worker doesn't need phys. ed., and a firefighter doesn't need geography. If a student has no interest in a field, it will be useless to their eventual career, so there's no point in trying to force anything more than a basic understanding of the subject into them.
Mad Poster
#4 Old 14th Oct 2018 at 2:58 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 14th Oct 2018 at 3:19 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by pikeman101
Realistically, an engineer doesn't need high literacy, a lawyer doesn't need calculus, a construction worker doesn't need phys. ed., and a firefighter doesn't need geography. If a student has no interest in a field, it will be useless to their eventual career, so there's no point in trying to force anything more than a basic understanding of the subject into them.


An engineer may not need to learn about Shakespeare or that sort, but if they can't read properly I'd rather not have them do any engineer work, of fear for mistakes being done. Being able to read a 100-200 page book without stumbling too much, a user manual, web pages, instructions, etc. is quite important. Learning their own language, English, and maybe the basics of other much used languages in their own country if there are any (Spanish, or similar) should also be a priority. Reading out loud is also a skill that's much overlooked.

A lawyer should know maths. How much math? Calculus? Not sure, but depending on their area of work I'd say they need to know enough to manage in their work. Algebra (the simpler kind) is quite useful. Basic maths (+/-/division/multiplication/%, unit conversion and simple algebra is something everyone should know when they're done with school, because otherwise they'll struggle in everyday tasks.

A firefighter may not need world geography, but if he didn't know his way around the town where he works, I'd be scared. It's also nice to know some basic geography when you're out travelling, or just generally know where countries and even continents are (I've seen videos of Americans who when asked seem to believe Europe is a country...)

Phys.ed is meant to help students be active, and learn different ways to be active. In today's socieety theres a lot of butt-sitting, and a lot of kids prefer clicking away on their smartphones than moving around. A constructive worker usually does quite a lot of physical work, with heavy lifting and such. Whether they need to know how to play basketball is one thing, but maybe kids should learn from early on how to lift and move heavy things safely (very useful in a lot of different jobs, even at home) so there's less body damage, pains and aches from bad lifting going around.

I do agree with the list, though. Kids these days should learn more life skills. Basic cooking, cleaning, how to pay taxes, how a washing machine and dishwasher works, practical work skills, simple fixes around the house, first aid, etc. Maybe they don't need to learn everything at school, but they should know these things before they move out. For a while I lived in a shared house with a couple of boys where one couldn't cook anything more advanced than heating a frozen pizza when he moved in, an the other one could've nearly ruined the washing machine because he put the powder in the wrong slot. A girl I shared an apartment with for a while put so much clothes into the machine you could barely get them out again, in all kinds of colors, didn't even empty pockets so the lint box got so full it stopped the machine every so often. Poor washing machine...

One of the most important things kids should learn is critical thinking. KIds these days have a tendency to go with the flow, and that often leads to bad situations. I watched a Youtube video recently of a case in the US (I think) where two teenage girls had almost stabbed a third girl to death because they thought Slenderman would show up. That's about as far from critical thinking as you can come. Young people nowadays also seem to have more issues with economy, probably due to bad math skills and lack of skill with critical thinking, planning and prioritizing. Many also get everything they point to from their parents, instead of learning to save up money, something that'll come back and bite them later.
Instructor
#5 Old 15th Oct 2018 at 1:08 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
An engineer may not need to learn about Shakespeare or that sort, but if they can't read properly I'd rather not have them do any engineer work, of fear for mistakes being done. Being able to read a 100-200 page book without stumbling too much, a user manual, web pages, instructions, etc. is quite important. Learning their own language, English, and maybe the basics of other much used languages in their own country if there are any (Spanish, or similar) should also be a priority. Reading out loud is also a skill that's much overlooked.

Quote: Originally posted by pikeman101
- Basic literacy

Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
A lawyer should know maths. How much math? Calculus? Not sure, but depending on their area of work I'd say they need to know enough to manage in their work. Algebra (the simpler kind) is quite useful. Basic maths (+/-/division/multiplication/%, unit conversion and simple algebra is something everyone should know when they're done with school, because otherwise they'll struggle in everyday tasks.

Quote: Originally posted by pikeman101
- How addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and percentages work

Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
A firefighter may not need world geography, but if he didn't know his way around the town where he works, I'd be scared. It's also nice to know some basic geography when you're out travelling, or just generally know where countries and even continents are (I've seen videos of Americans who when asked seem to believe Europe is a country...)

That's not taught in geography classes, and too many people move when they start their careers for it to be feasible.
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
Phys.ed is meant to help students be active, and learn different ways to be active. In today's socieety theres a lot of butt-sitting, and a lot of kids prefer clicking away on their smartphones than moving around. A constructive worker usually does quite a lot of physical work, with heavy lifting and such. Whether they need to know how to play basketball is one thing, but maybe kids should learn from early on how to lift and move heavy things safely (very useful in a lot of different jobs, even at home) so there's less body damage, pains and aches from bad lifting going around.

It won't make inactive people active. Phys. ed. is a bandaid solution.
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
One of the most important things kids should learn is critical thinking. KIds these days have a tendency to go with the flow, and that often leads to bad situations. I watched a Youtube video recently of a case in the US (I think) where two teenage girls had almost stabbed a third girl to death because they thought Slenderman would show up. That's about as far from critical thinking as you can come. Young people nowadays also seem to have more issues with economy, probably due to bad math skills and lack of skill with critical thinking, planning and prioritizing. Many also get everything they point to from their parents, instead of learning to save up money, something that'll come back and bite them later.

There's also the fact that the North American economy is in the toilet compared to fifty years ago. It's more important than ever to have good financial literacy because it's presently quite hard to make a living as a young worker.
Lab Assistant
#6 Old 17th Oct 2018 at 8:58 PM
I say no they are not. Over the years of me being out of school I have looked back on school and would think "Wow that one class was actually useless." or something on those terms. I think schools first need to modernize their way of doing things, there are many who state that how schools work is still the same as back when it was still only boys allowed to attend. They are not made for the open opportunities we have now and are still working how they would where they trying to raise obedient factory workers. I think a couple things ALL schools should be teaching is Survival Classes where they teach you haw to survive where you stranded in the wild, Business Management for those who may want to become CEOs of large businesses, and Better Health Classes since I remember they did not teach us enough in Health and also certainly did not teach us everything. Another thing I would feel would be a good Class for ALL schools to be teaching is First Aid so people will know how to save themselves and others when someone is hurt or choking on something.
Lab Assistant
#7 Old 24th Oct 2018 at 12:52 AM
I mean I think everyone should receive a basic education in every subject, so that they know, which kind of career they would like to do later in life and which not.
I live in Germany and I need to have a high school graduation to study germanistic, but I need to have 11 (!) different subjects to complete my high school graduation and I'm gonna write my final exams in 4 different subjects. Additionally, I need to have a high GPA to get a university place. That means (indirectly), that I need to have a good grade in biology, to study germanistic, even though these two subjects have almost nothing in common.
I agree though, that someone, who goes to a university should really know how to study hard and effectivly.

Something, which I also noticed is that it's usually like this: A student rarely changes his attitude towards school. The majority of A students stays A students and it's the same with almost every other student. I say this as a formerly bad student, and it doesn't matter if a bad student finshes school with a bad gpa, because he will probably do something totally different than this, which wasn't teached in school anyway.
 
Back to top