We Don't Need No Education

This has been a doubly fun day for academics...sorta. Not only was I a captive audience here at the golf course for two older gentlemen and their ranting about how to make sure children do well in school, but then I stumbled across this today: http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2008/08/2008080101c.htm

The old men at the golf course were railing on and on about "you have to make kids do homework" and "back in my day...." I just can't stomach much "back in my day..." posturing. Actually, I've never been able to tolerate that saying. "Your" day is gone and one has to wonder why things have changed so much if they were so good back then. I do believe that our education system coddles students too much but we don't need a return to corporal punishment and only studying the "classics." Those works do have their place in academia but to ignore any work of art created after 1900 is just lazy and elitist.

Speaking of elitist, William Pannapacker holds the party line tighter than Joseph Stalin in the above link. In my opinion the leading cause of classroom apathy is educators who believe themselves to be so superior to their classroom that they will not make an effort to help every student or refuse to embrace new technologies under the guise of real education coming from books with pages not from computers and iPods. They should ask the print media how that attitude has nearly sunk that formerly golden industry. Ultimately I cannot stand to be talked down to because I don't have an interest in War & Peace and neither does your average student.

Now, I am one who believes that education is an untapped commodity for most people (especially considering that public school is FREE). Granted if you had asked me when I was in high school I would have told you that most of what they taught us was a waste of time (and I still maintain that opinion about certain parts of it). But my attitude changed once I got to college and started getting a better look at what was being taught rather than just being expected to memorize and recite boring "facts." Plus I realized how little students are learning in twelve years of free education. I cannot tell you how many times I heard the phrase "well, we never had to learn that" in a college classroom.

Of course I also heard the phrase "I won't need any of this because I'm gonna be a famous _____." I have yet to see anyone who uttered that phrase on a red carpet.
That attitude seems to dominate our culture to the point that kids these days (I know, I'm getting old) think that they are going to be famous and therefore do not need an education. Well good luck not being hammered on pop culture blogs or The Soup for not knowing how to form a complete, coherent sentence. And yes, Math is something you are going to need in order to count your millions. Actually don't learn Math. That way it will be more entertaining for the rest of us when you file for bankruptcy after your accountant skips the country with all your money. But I digress.

What I'm getting at is that education is something that can never hurt you. Should everyone go to college? No. It's not for everyone. I know people who never set foot in a college classroom and have gone on to great success in their lives. In some cases life experience is a greater educator than a classroom. And judging by how little high school graduates really know (I went back to school a few years ago and found this out first hand) I believe it is time to upend the education system and start over. I agree that people should have a basic knowledge of language, math and the galaxy, but advanced Algebra and Chemistry should be available to students planning to be engineering majors and not forced on uninterested art students.

Ultimately education falls squarely on the students themselves. I never learned anything I didn't want to learn. Sure I memorised facts and figures to my short term memory (usually right before the test) but never thought about them again and so they escaped from my brain. Does this make me less educated than other people? In some areas, sure. But in other areas of emphasis I know more than that person. It all evens out eventually. Besides I didn't need to know Algebra, I was going to be a famous rock star.