The Point of education

[alainbryden]

All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

You all need that pink floyd album. It is ungodly.
Have you seen the movie based on the album qreepy? It's freaky.

[torres1287]

I have some friends who just might have that album...I'll get a copy. No i haven't seen the movie, but i'll make it a point to find out about it.

[QreepyBORIS]

I have not seen the movie, unfortunately, but I have seen the music video.


Anyone up for some sausage?




But, I digress.

[torres1287]

too much can go wrong with a person eating sausage...*passes out celery and carrots*...two of my favorites...

[alainbryden]

ugh Qreepy, that part was from the album movie too. It's absolutely disgusting.

For those who don't know, it's a very graphic animation of students on a conveyor belt being dropped into a gigantic grinder and coming out are homogenous sausages.

[Charlotte21]

Re: The Point of education

Well as I"m sitting here racking my brains to try and finish my last take-home final, I was just wondering about the state education has become in the world. Does it really serve any asthetic purpose anymore? Do people actually learn for the sake of learning? How much has colelge merely become vocational training rather then the bastion of learning that it was meant to be, and do we blame the makeup of society or our own ambitions for this?

Part of me agrees with you that college has become a vocational training-ground for getting a job, but part of me also sees education going on there that's all-around beneficial.

I'm only in high school but I can see that I am learning things that aren't cognitive to my life in society, and I still take the time to learn them and take interest in them...

Though I think where this comes from is in High School (and maybe late middle school) we are constantly asked "What do you want to do in life?" and constantly make that a focus of further education. So, when people select college or further education they select it because they want to do a specific job. I think I can safely say that it is the set-up of the state school system that predicates how the college system reacts to it (making college a vocational training ground).

How many students would go to college if you were to tell them "Go to college just to learn more." Much less would go or care if that were the primary focus. Classes and books are expensive (and boring for a lot of people) so they don't want to pay a lot of money to sit in a boring class twice a week for half a year to learn something that won't be directly helpful to their career. And that's because they simply don't see the use for that class.

And on another level: look at the set-up of High School: the entire focus of it is to get you ready to get a job and possibly go to college. To get you ready for society. It teaches you (mainly) the things required to live.

You can be upset about this set-up and how no one learns just to learn anymore. There is no constant increasing of knowledge (though it is a good thing to have). There is a point where people stop caring about educating themselves and just want to mindlessly (bad word choice, gimme a better one) live life.

Though on the flipside there are facilities for those people who learn-just-to-learn: libraries, encyclopedias, wikipedia (I MEAN LOOK AT IT), the internet in general, etc.

Though I think you are confusing learning for purpose with learning for entertainment. School and College are learning for purpose. Anything else is learning for entertainment, and it's foolish to complain about the seperation.

<3 Charlotte

[Moogy]

RE: Re: The Point of education

I was going to post the lyrics to Another Brick in the Wall (part 2), but it seems that would be pointless now. Ah well.

[navyseal101]

Re: RE: The Point of education

[quote="jewpinthethird"][quote="GuidoHunter"][quote="jewpinthethird"][i]You want kids to stop dropping out of school? You want kids to actually look forward to going to school? Yes, I believe a well-rounded education is needed, but the requirements for the High School Exit Exams are 8th grade material...so why the f*ck should I spend 4 years of my life learning stuff I dont ever plan on using outside of school.

When am I going to need to know the structure of an Animal cell if I plan on becoming a mechanic? Why should I be forced to learn Iambic Pentameter if I am going to become a carpenter? Why should I be forced to take 2 years of PE if I plan on becoming a Writer? What good is the quadratic formula going to do me if my goal is to become a concert pianist?

You say that you believe in a well rounded education, but your complaining about being forced to take classes you don't need????

[jewpinthethird]

RE: Re: RE: The Point of education

In middle school you are taught the basics of Physics, Biology, Algebra, Geology, etc. Why should I have to take these courses again in High School if I wont use it ever again? The High School Exit Exam (for California) is at an 8th grade level, so why bother going to school after that? Many kids drop out of school because certain classes are needed to pass.

(California Graduation requirements)
4 years of English
Algebra
2 years of a Forgein Language or Art class or Band
2 years of Physical Edcuation
2 lab sciences

Now, that doesnt seem very tough, but there are some kids who find that hard to accomplish due to a lack of interest.

[DracIV]

RE: Re: RE: The Point of education

First of all, you spend the extra years because you get more cash.
The best paid jobs for someone without a highschool diploma average about $45,000 a year.
The best paid jobs for highschool graduates average about $55,000 a year.
The best paid jobs for 2 years of college average about $75,000.
The best paid jobs for PhD average about $150,000 per year.

In a non-philosophical debate, going to school wins. There is no contest there. In a purely philosophical debate, it gets a bit more complicated. More knowledge helps you develop as an intelligent being and as a personality. You learn more applicable skills- especially those ones you don't expect to help, do. You may think, "Well, knowing the difference between a toad and frog won't help me" and you may be right, but knowing biology itself will help you regularly. Specific things may not help, but humans are all about adaptability and you need to be able to adapt to new situations. Most people have atleast 4 completely different careers in their life, so you can't say, "Well I'm going to be a mechanic, so I don't need to know how to plumbing" because you will probably kick yourself later when you waste hundreds of dollars a year on plumbing fixes and you wish you could be a plumber (but dont know how).

Summary: Having Education > Not