Is Our Culture Ready for the Trashcan?

[LitNetIsGreat]

I wonder if it's because they see it as a skill that the kids develop themselves?

Perhaps, but that is hardly a solid foundation to take out into a competitive world. Being able to use Facebook/My Space and all the rest of it, is hardly going to carry much weight with potential employers. Instead, actually, I just think that it's another backwards decision from the Etonians.

Oh, and to throw out another wasted anecdote (otherwise known as an empirical observation of the world which holds weight in many philosophical or political contexts but not on Lit Net) that comes back to me from the IT department and English, many of these whizz students at 13/14/15 do not know the very basic things like copy and paste, how change the font on Word etc, etc. Yes, they can manage their Facebook accounts and are brilliant with phones, but many struggle more than people might think with the basic stuff.

For me leaving IT to chance is not the way forward.

[Paulclem]

I agree with you Neely. I was just wondering what the rationale for it was back then. We get young adults who are rubbish with IT too. I bet it was the money.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Absolutely it is all about the money I suspect. But is it not a question of cutting the nose off?

[Paulclem]

Absolutely it is all about the money I suspect. But is it not a question of cutting the nose off?

Maybe. The propsals were pre-credit crunch, but it might have had lots of hardware implications even so.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I agree about not teaching IT, but what about other stuff? How about a class for teaching everything a person needs to know when they get out into the "real world." Things like buying a house (when, where, how, why? Buying versus renting) paying a mortgage (what a mortgage is, why you get one, benefits of having one, how to pay one off, etc.), paying taxes (sales tax, income tax, yearly taxes), getting a job (this is sometimes addressed, but not enough--usually it's just how to do an interview), and the numerous other things that I can't think of that one has to do to be an adult.

We teach kids plenty of things that they will never use, and neglect giving them essential knowledge which leaves most of them lost when first encountered.

[MystyrMystyry]

How about a mandatory class every morning about the importance of respecting other people so you have millions of friends - and the importance of independent reading so that you always have something to talk about, and philosophy so they see both sides of an argument, and how to spot a con - and cause and effect so they avoid doing anything ridiculous, and and and...

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

How about a mandatory class every morning about the importance of respecting other people so you have millions of friends - and the importance of independent reading so that you always have something to talk about, and philosophy so they see both sides of an argument, and how to spot a con - and cause and effect so they avoid doing anything ridiculous, and and and...

I assume you're mocking me? Or others? If so, I'm not sure to what end.

[Hurricane]

You might laugh at kids going out into the real world without any idea of how to do that stuff, but it's kind of a big issue. Hell, I can barely do my own taxes and mine are very uncomplicated. It's stuff that parents should be teaching, but a lot aren't.

Also, considering most people don't read independently or see both sides of an argument...I mean...

[MystyrMystyry]

Mutatis - not mocking anyone, just got tired of the line I've been towing for years (thus the and and and...)

Hurricane - state schools just need an internal agenda on the fundamentals of education's aims - I mean we're way past the Gradgrind stage of facts facts facts - right now with all the open thought amongst teachers would be the perfect time to try something that will stick

Discuss openly the modern media culture in forum groups involving the students and they'll soon adapt to the concept that their ideas and contributions are as valid as anyone's, if they initially don't feel like talking, they'll soon learn to when they see their mates doing it, and perhaps also discover a new element to their self-esteem, and that it's fun

[YesNo]

Hell, I can barely do my own taxes and mine are very uncomplicated.

Me, neither. And unfortunately I procrastinate.

[Paulclem]

How about a mandatory class every morning about the importance of respecting other people so you have millions of friends - and the importance of independent reading so that you always have something to talk about, and philosophy so they see both sides of an argument, and how to spot a con - and cause and effect so they avoid doing anything ridiculous, and and and...

This begins in primary school and is taken all through the school system. I'm not saying it works in every school, but they're all trying it in the UK.

How do you do a class on spotting a con? A con is a new short scam that, by it's very nature, will work until enough people are warned about it.

I also don't see how cause and effect can halt the experience of being ridiculous occaisionally. And anyway - there's no better way to learn. Humiliation is a powerful memory tool... I find...

[The Atheist]

How do you do a class on spotting a con?

By teaching simple logic - if A -> B, then C.

A few simple aphorisms like "if it's too good to be true..." might help as well.

Also, not a kid in the developed world doesn't know what spam is and most of them are scams, so there are lots of relevant examples to hand. They know that they haven't really won 89.4 Euros in a lottery.

[billl]

By teaching simple logic - if A -> B, then C.

What kind of logic is that?

[Delta40]

[QUOTE=The Atheist;1019672].

A few simple aphorisms like "if it's too good to be true..." might help as well.QUOTE]

Alot of people are guided by 'if it walks like a duck....' Some of these scams are very good. There are entire call centres dedicated to the cause. They prey on the penny wise pound foolish population (which is often the older generation!) They are very difficult to investigate.

here is one such example:

http://www.ato.gov.au/onlineservices....htm&page=6&H6

[Paulclem]

By teaching simple logic - if A -> B, then C.

A few simple aphorisms like "if it's too good to be true..." might help as well.

Also, not a kid in the developed world doesn't know what spam is and most of them are scams, so there are lots of relevant examples to hand. They know that they haven't really won 89.4 Euros in a lottery.

I agree about the internet scams etc. I was thinking - rather narrowly about the cons that people do on you face to face, where other factors can affect events like distraction, or false confidence.