Philip - you ask great questions!

 

for me - the educational system had little to do with a full-happy life - it had to do more with earning power and my capacity to understand the world we human's have created

 

i teach - i get great satisfaction from seeing learners reach their stated goals through education - but i believe i'd have been just as happy teaching something that did not take higher-level educational prusuits

 

thanks for asking,

m

 

what is your opinion Philip?

you make excellent points Philip - you are most wise

 

i agree with all you say - education made me a better researcher and gave me more disciplin in my life's pursuits

 

i can also see that education has helped me make better-informed choices for sure

 

i have tried to listen to the wisdoms of the ages as well - (i liked listening to old people even as a youngster) - my gran made me know working for a cigarette company (or smoking) wasn't the best choice in life

 

thanks again Philip for the opportunity to explore education

 

best,

m

What is the discussion now over?  I am a teacher!  Of course I teach Kindergarten, but at least I get the chance to mold little minds and get them fascinated with the written word and losing themselves in books and music.  Education encompasses alot of things and not just necessarily in school.  Education also comes from reading God's word and studying it, and what if a doctor only read medical texts and passed with A's?  Would he be able to operate without practice?  I think not.  You must also apply what you have learned to your environment and to the world.

Great discussion, Folks, and excellent points of view being aired. Education today is different from years gone by, this I am witnessing by observing my grandaughter's progress, which is good, excellent in most subjects, but fanned by home input. Both you Philip and Mikhail are 'old school' teachers by both age and logic. Times have changed and it is now possible for a student to leave school unable to fill out an application form for .... anything, with poor quality of understanding of even the basic 3 'r's.

 

I have been a librarian, part time in The English School of The Hague in the seventies and full time in a Grammer School (now Comprehensive) in the late 70s/80s and experienced that young minds will follow guidance willingly, but even by the early 80s, modern teaching was beginning to take it's toll by allowing pupils to learn if they wished and not, if that was their want. Children do not know the relevance of learning nor even what there is out there to be learned and opened to their minds, so the purpose of 'teaching', rather than education, is more to instill a need/want to know more and be able to access information pertaining to what direction they wish to follow in life and throughout. I carried on from school to take a Dip in Art & Design in the 60s, but Psychology was a subject which I had enjoyed more and as such, I took further education to Degree level of Cognitive Psychology during the early seventies in Edinburgh and Dip. in Social psychology whilst living in States in the early eighties. School had taught me how to open 'learning' doors and enjoy the sense of acheivement. Not the easiest of tasks with a home to run and a youngish child to mind, but I wanted to.

 

It's a great question, Philip, but does not pertain only to 'scholastic' education learned, but the awakening of the mind to self education throughout life, the ability to learn, research, logic and surmise for oneself....which is again, often either stunted or encouraged during childhood. I think this applies in both spiritual and practical living after maturity, when an individial must take charge for themself, their thinking, their behaviour and their responsibilities thereafter, Zy

I can believe that, Philip, and it is such a tragic waste. They are so full of potential when young.

 

When my grandaughter was in primary school, I went in as a teachers aid as I love being with children (year 2 and 3) teaching art and eventually teaching elemetary Dutch, as they were doing a project on Holland and had Dutch words on windows and around the class. When I saw them I mentioned to the teacher that the words were spelled incorrectly and her reply was that she had been on a visit there and had jotted down the words 'as she heard them'...great, lol, so I ended up making good the displays and teaching greetings and numbers etc...loved during that project...and the kids used to happily call out Goede Middag as they left or Goede Morgen on arrival, they learned easily. I strongly feel 'good elementary teaching' is the key to the prospects of future learning.  We are of same minds as Mikhail and Dix, it seems, Zy

I am book smart.  I was reading Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky and Hemingway when I was 10.  Began persian poets at age 12 lol.  But after college, I realized that I was not street smart.  Or life smart!  I guess that is important too or you become naive and are taken advantage of.  Someone once told me I had victim written on my forehead lol.

Me too, Dix. My mum taught me to read at around the age of two. By the age of 10, I'd read most of the classics and was about to start reading Shakespeare. I also wrote my first poem at that age, with the help of a very kind teacher. I have to say that if it wasn't for the help and guidance that I received from my teacher, I wouldn't be writing poetry today. He's one of the reasons why I started using poetry forums. He knows who I am. He logs on to "check my progress" so to speak.

 

I started reading Wilfred Owen at the age of 15. He's the only war poet that I really like.

 

I read widely, but I was never streetwise. I didn't become streetwise until my mid to late teens, when I saw some of my friends experimenting with alcohol/drugs. I understood the effects of alcohol, having seen them for myself. However, when I saw what my friends were doing, it felt as if reality had just slapped me in the face! I also had "victim" written on my forehead.

 

All education is important, whether it's books or life.

 

Poetess

xx

misses this!! one

 

Eduaction is more that just a curriculum based program of schools.

Education is I believe and initiation into the values and beliefs of the culture one lives in that facilitate a belonging to and intergration into that culture, and that enables them to function full as a member in that society.

 

The way we educate is another story

mostly we dont do it well

 

Cara

 

 

 

 

 

to create the environment to open minds, education is a lifelong occupation. Open minds allow growth, change, failure. Still learning. x ani

Great to have you join in with one of our debates, ani,

 

I think we are of similar minds, the door needs to be unlocked early

so as much can pass through it and be appreciated and learned from as is possible,  Zy