School?

[tamiya]

who's gunna be 1st to buy WikiBear for your kid?



he's like Siri wrapped in fur

[GoMachV]

It's like a new version of the Teddy Ruxpin! Lol

[tamiya]

It's like a new version of the Teddy Ruxpin! Lol

needs Wifi rather than a VHS VCR

Met it in real life & WikiB looks real dodgy spooky if ye askth me.
Already harbouring a SuperToy Teddy (A.I.) and a Lotso Huggins (TS3)
so not keen on anymore smartmouth furballs around my joint.

[myfordcnc]

I don't have any concrete theories of how these kids come to be this way. I have my ideas, but I think to blame tech is the wrong approach. Trust me I'm a borderline Luddite. The problem as i see it is behavioral. They don't seem to want to focus. No body ever cared for these kids. They just get pushed to the next "grade". They have to know that what they are doing is important and means something. Nobody wants to piss in to the wind. For my bit I'll not ridicule them for their lack of knowledge and i'll try and teach them what little I know. It's strange to be in this position. I never thought i had any thing to teach to any one. However the fact that that I'm teaching these kids is indicative of how screwed up things are. So those of you that have some ideas and skills get involved.

[RC104ever]

I agree with all the points already mentioned and I will add the following:

Both my kids used to come home with math homework that neither my wife or I could understand. We called my sister in law who is an elementary school teacher and asked her why they do it this way. She said point blank its so that everyone can visually learn it and understand it.

But yes, its confusing and really makes no sense.

Both kids got frustrated learning subtraction and long division.

So I gave up and taught them the 'old' way how we all learned it.

Guess what?

They caught on right away and aced all their tests! Hmmm...

My oldest son is now in high school and aced his first semster of math and is currently crusing through first year science. My youngest son is also very logical and able to excel at all his work too. Started with the basics when they were young (reading, writing, arithmetic) and now they are good to go. I made them always 'show their work' and do the steps I learned and it has served them very well.

So what's wrong with traditional methods of teaching?

As was already pointed out, we now have teachers who teach students to pass a test. It's crazy.

I agree critical thinking and problem solving are virtually non-existent today.

WHY?

Example: "My phone isn't working right." Solution - get a new one. "My PC is running slow" Solution - get a new one. "My car is making a funny sound." Solution - pay someone to fix it or get a new one.

Our society has become so disposable that we no longer try to figure out anything for ourselves anymore! When we have an issue - we call someone or we simply give up and replace it. WHY? Because we lack the intellectual capacity? No, of course not. But we do lack the critical thinking and problem solving skills to figure it out. And if we DO have those skills, we're labelled geeks.

Well yeah, we're the geeks that are going to fix your crap! lmao

[Charlie don't surf]

Example: "My phone isn't working right." Solution - get a new one. "My PC is running slow" Solution - get a new one. "My car is making a funny sound." Solution - pay someone to fix it or get a new one.

Our society has become so disposable that we no longer try to figure out anything for ourselves anymore! When we have an issue - we call someone or we simply give up and replace it. WHY? Because we lack the intellectual capacity? No, of course not. But we do lack the critical thinking and problem solving skills to figure it out. And if we DO have those skills, we're labelled geeks.

Well yeah, we're the geeks that are going to fix your crap! lmao

great remarks, as were some others.
I've been peeking at this thread in-between classes Shhhhh. I'm not a conspiracy theorist by any means, however...critical thinking skills put to work tell me that a "dumb" populace is easier to 1) market- 2) placate with distractions- 3) be dependant on someone else- 4) sell stuff to. Freedom means the personal choice to be aware. If you chose to become a sheep because its easier, or feels better that's a choice. It's just not mine. Our children are in private school, so we "sacrifice" new vehicles to pay tuition, well worth 220,000 miles-

[EvolutionRevolution]

IMHO, the rise of the calculator (the device, not the people) is a big contributor to kids not being able to count anymore ("just use your calculator and see what it says"), coupled with unintelligible calculation methods for use on paper.

I agree with your second point, but not the first. Calculators were common in our/my day (I just turned 46), but were not allowed to be used for tests. Also, I remember always having to show my work; for a long division problem, for example. Sure, a calculator would give you the final answer, but wouldn't show the teacher how you arrived at that answer. So, I don't blame calculators.

Actually, that's how it was in my time too (I will turn 33 at the end of the month), but then they changed it to "use a graphical calculator. If the calculator shows how it did it, it is good" , and they can use it for tests at school . Not so at university, so at a certain point we had to teach first year students things like how to add up two simple numbers. We used old-school methods, and the general conclusion was that those were more comprehensible than the newfangled ones (this included the students ).

So basically anyone under 25 can't do calculations at all without a calculator. A few weeks ago I had to witness a cashier that couldn't calculate 14-7. Her superior came to help her, demonstrated it using the coins (like in primary school) and she still didn't get it...

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

I guess I've become as lazy as some of the students. I notice myself getting mildly frustrated if I'm at a computer or on a site that doesn't remember my user name and password. I think "Ugh... you mean I actually have to type it all in?? ".