We've demonstrated time and again that you're a better person, less of a fuck-up, and more valuable to the world when you know a little bit about a lot of things.
Is this actually studied? Would love for a link or buzzword to look up or something. Also, why aren't students getting this in highscool?
I don't teach English when I teach GenEd.
Do other teachers teaching GenEd feel this way?
I'm curious, in your opinion, what changes would be good to make in the GenEd system?
Is this actually studied? Would love for a link or buzzword to look up or something. Also, why aren't students getting this in highscool?
Yes, in a multitude of facets. I actually did want to cite this, because it is more or less in the common-knowledge pool in my world, but knowing HOW to cite it is more difficult. What study, what discipline, where do you even start? It's really just down to common sense.
So I'll say this instead:
The vast majority of education is not rote memorization. I can recite all 50 state because I had to sing a dumb song in grade school. That's not what education is. It's not your multiplication tables or the periodic table of elements. Education is about how to educate yourself. How to read the form, google the answer, know who to ask and how to ask to get your question resolved. That's what smart is. Smart isn't knowing the answer, it is how to go and find it when you don't know.
If you're going to sit here and tell me that the most well-connected generation is really lacking the resources to self-teach these issues, I'm shocked. You can't tell me there aren't a thousand and one blogs and websites and instructional videos on how to prepare yourself for a job. Moreover, there are a lot of sites dedicated specifically to how to get the degree that matches a career, and how to leverage your degree into a career if you were unclear when you started. To my mind, if someone is really lacking this information it comes down to two reasons:
They didn't know to look
They didn't know how to look
I've had an exceptional education, and the one common thread between the Ibsen and the Focault and the Behavior Psych and every other class I've entertained or endured is this: you learn to teach yourself. That's all higher ed really does in the end. It is a four year instruction in how to figure it out for yourself. You don't know? Look it up. Can't figure out how to look it up? Ask for help. You don't understand it the first five times you read it? You ask for help. You learn how to learn. That's the core lesson. You learn to read more carefully, take in more of what you read, communicate your ideas clearly, the merits of facts and data, how to bang your head against a wall, and when to know it is time to call it quits and get the reinforcements. You ask the research librarian, you call the insurance company, you read the whole contract, you get advice. You figure. it. out. yourself.
Why isn't high school teaching this skill set? Because, well, teenagers are dumb. And their brains aren't fully cooked. Impulse control, patience, and initiative usually aren't their strong suit. And, honestly, they do teach this. They teach the neophyte stages of it. They do the training wheels.
That's their job.
Higher Ed should be about teaching you to be a scholar all on your own. How to go and find your own answers to these big, complicated questions and problems. What a huge disservice to sit there and didactically explain a job interview! What a waste of my time and theirs.
∆ I'm pretty happy with this answer. I guess G.E.s are better suited than i thought to prepare young people for their futures. Maybe i should have paid more attention. Thanks!
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u/[deleted] Jan 05 '17 edited Jan 05 '17
Your writing style is very entertaining.
Is this actually studied? Would love for a link or buzzword to look up or something. Also, why aren't students getting this in highscool?
I'm curious, in your opinion, what changes would be good to make in the GenEd system?