You must obey and do as they say.
They know the job and life that is best for you!
Slavery is freedom, War is Peace
Posted on 05/14/2002 6:39:04 AM PDT by George Frm Br00klyn Park
The ability to learn new skills. It is relevent for several reasons.
One rationale given for instituting programs like "School to Work" is that extensive training is required for various menial jobs. I don't believe that is true. I think the reason why public school graduates are unwilling and unable to learn new skills (and are generally depressed) is because of "learned helplessness."
Take a look around at recent high school graduates. Do many of them have a "can-do" attitude? Or are they generally apathetic and depressed?
One reason for this is that children learn helplessness in school. The situation is very much analagous to the experiment with the dog. Children are put into a "box" (school) and held their against their wills for twelve years. They are then punished and rewarded for various behaviors, but behaviors that are not necessarily what they themselves desire. The net effect is that students are punished and rewarded for behaviors that are oftentimes further punishment, at least from their point of view.
In an analagous sense, they are like the dog that is enclosed in a box and electrocuted randomly. When the dog is placed in a box where he can escape, he no longer has the desire or ability to move. When a student enters the real world where he can use his skills in order to "reward" himself, he no longer has the ability or desire to do so.
My aren't we full of ourselves today.
The point is that professional educators, the kind that push programs like School-to-Work, will turn a self-learned skill into a jobs program. If it were up to the NEA, learning Windows would require 300 hours of training, and only training given by certified professionals.
I guess it would depend on the group of students.
My recent first hand experieces are almost opposite of what this thread generally accepts as truth.
I've attended year end sports banquets, band banquets, and other activities and seen bright, accomplished, motivated kids with parents that greatly support their kids and teachers that eveyone likes and respects. Heck, there was even prayer and preaching at one of the banquets, and sabers and rifles at another event!
The version of school to work that I've seen lays out three options that are not mandated or rigid. The road maps chart the course that will best help a student prepare for university studies, community college/voc-tech studies, or basic knowlege. A student can easily see that if they wan the best shot at university acceptance, they will need to pass certain classes and take a certain level of math, science, and English.
Those that don't have the desire or aptitude for academics don't need calculus as much at they need technical math and vocational studies.
If a student want to cross over, they can, but it will be difficult just as changing majors in college can be a problem.
But I'll agree that if a school mandates and maintains rigid tracks that there would be many problems with that system.
Hello "planned aristocracy".
A giant step backward. Sorry, Thom J.
You must obey and do as they say.
They know the job and life that is best for you!
Slavery is freedom, War is Peace
Our son was mortified by the later; these days the former seems riskier to me.
Could have been worse, I guess.
Of his two best friends, both straight-A, church-going kids like himself, one was designated as a "mortician" and the other a "future meat-cutter."
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