Sunday, October 22, 2006

Sunday Intellectual Question: School Curriculum

The education of our children is a touchy topic, and why not, it involves our most precious treasures. We all feel strongly about what we want them to learn and the things we want them to avoid. There are those who trust the school system to do this for them, there are those who teach children at home, and a whole spectrum of parental involvement in between. Personally, I feel that most schools, depending on the teacher of course, do not encourage classical reasoning and thought. It was often my experience that in order to receive good marks I needed to parrot what the teacher said as opposed to formulating an argument and proving it reasonably. So, I would definitely add classical logic to the curriculum. That, and I would still like to take a course on grammar ....

What courses would you add to the curriculum and why?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would add reading body language to the curriculum. It would save a lot of trouble!

Cara said...

So true! It would save a lot of problems! Perhaps there would finally be peace and understanding between the sexes. Could you just imagine the high school class on body language? LOL!

Anonymous said...

Hey! I teach body language (we call it non-verbal communication because, well, we don't like anyone outside of education really knowing what we're doing). I also teach listening skills...I said, I teach listening skills....are you there? The only time I really get my male students' attention, is linking these two skills to dating. They actually sit up and take mental notes (nobody likes to write anymore). So after this lesson last year, one of my students put up his hand and seriously asked: "So if we do all this s...tuff... like, THEN do we get laid?" I told him at least his chances would be better.