Do you think the US Education System is compliant in this, M Tree? There are a good many US students moving here these days ( I tutor maths) and I have found that many of them struggle with the conceptual approach to learning and their parents don't understand that the students are expected to think, not parrot. This is great in terms of…
Do you think the US Education System is compliant in this, M Tree? There are a good many US students moving here these days ( I tutor maths) and I have found that many of them struggle with the conceptual approach to learning and their parents don't understand that the students are expected to think, not parrot. This is great in terms of keeping me busy but disappointing to realise that (and I do know it isn't universal) the approach there is not wisdom-prone.
Callie Roth Welstead, I'm curious what country you live in and what grade level students you are tutoring?
I'm not sure if my defintion of wisdom fits in with your query, but I suppose it does play a role in the background. To me, wisdom, is that which doesn't come from ego but from the heart, from love. It springs from the truth that we are all created equal, that our divine human value is unchanging, and that each person, no matter their actions, deserves dignity. Wisdom takes intentional practice and humility of the heart. It is hard for us humans to be wise, especially in every situation and moment. And some humans rarely act from wisdom.
I do have some thoughts on education that have impacted the student learning.
*portions of curriculums have been pushed down to lower grades, so what I was taught in 5th grade is now being taught in 3rd grade, where not all students are developmentally ready for abstract concepts
*curriculums have also went far and wide, rather than deeply enough for mastery due to the time constraints of teaching far and wide
*:some school districts' administrators and their department heads follow academia theory rather than the experiential of their classroom teachers. (I suspect the administrators/dept heads are coming from ego not wisdom.)
*textbook publishers reflect all of the above
*k-12 schools, colleges training teachers, after-school tutoring programs, teacher education for best practices for teaching math, etc, teacher salaries, etc. are all underfunded and/or misguided. Republicans here have been at war with education for about 40 years. Their goal is to undermine and sabotage so citizens will become so angry and disillusioned with public education that they will support the Republicans completely killing it (as is their platform for this election - close the Dept of Educatiion at the federal level)They have slashed federal funding to k-12 and colleges. We rank at the bottom with. our peer nations for the amount of federal (national) funding.for our nation's schools.. States led by Republicans have also defunded education in their states. In addition, they have led an all out publuc attacks on teachers for decades so many parents no longer see teachers as partners but as enemies. Teachers are overworked, underpaid, and demoralized. Many veteran teachers have left. Leaving gaping holes where new, nexperienced teachers are not getting the mentors they and their students deserve.
*Are any of your students coming from charter schools?. Courts have deemed charter schools are public schools. But they are not; they are for profit schools who choose their students, not all are welcome. Even though taxpayers fund the the charter schools from the public education fund, the for profit charter schools are not required to meet the same scrutiny or standards as public schools. There is little to no oversight.
Although, my list isn't exhaustive, I hope I have given you some insight into our challenges. :-)
Hi M Tree. I live and teach in Portugal. Every student here must take a course in Philosophy in secondary school because it is thought that they need to know how to think things through and make good judgements. I teach secondary school - that's grades 6 - 12. I no longer teach in a school - I give private lessons. But I spent many years in schools here. Last year, when one of my students here prepared to take the American SAT just to see how she did, we found the maths test to be equivalent to a Grade 8-9 test here and one that mostly tested pattern recognition. When I sent my friend who teaches in the US copies of our culminating exams, she was gobsmacked. There is also the much publicised information on what small percentage of Americans can find other countries on the map. A lack of global awareness can lead to misunderstanding and distrust. I don't know how wisdom thrives in that kind of atmosphere. We also suffer here from low salaries and with the recent influx of wealthy newcomers, the cost of housing has risen out of the reach of many Portuguese - so I think we have this in common with where you are.
Callie Roth Welstead, Philosophy in high school sounds like a good idea. As your friend, I'm gobsmacked that our math are so inferior to yours. This is why global conversations are so important --- we have so much to learn from one another. I'm with you also on the importance of knowing our world. Our Republican politicians here, turn people inward-looking as they scream about globalists like one of the Dems big donors being an evil globalist. Who knew, it was bad to look or go beyond your shore?
Sorry, your people are being hurt and driven out by unaffordable housing costs too. When I was a child, several families immigrated from Portugal and settled in my small town. They integrated well into our community, the adults worked alongside our parents at local businesses and their children went to school with us. I never saw any discrimination toward them. Although, it probably did happen somewhat. They were and are good people.
Generally, the Portuguese are welcomed - there is a huge community in Quebec and also in Toronto (My family is originally from that part of the world). But I also know that they were not always highly regarded in CT (can anyone actually spell it?) in the US. As to the maths being different - this is the reason I have a waiting list of students in need of tutoring. They come here from the US and simply cannot understand why they have to reason and explain and explore and extend. And their parents are totally confused and upset because their child who previously did just fine, is doing very not fine and they assume that it's the schools' fault. I have enjoyed our conversation. This is a serious, considerate, open-minded group of people.
Callie Roth Welstead, I can understand how the parents are taken aback. The words: reason, explain, explore, and extend don't leap to my mind when it comes to math. Glad they found you. And thank you also for the good conversation.
UGG - I had such a rude awakening yesterday. I know my American friend here is not interested in politics, decided to vote Green (even though I told her Jill Stein has financial interests in Keystone) and hates ‘both’ candidates. But I keep trying to bring up the election because I promised Robert Reich I would (😂😂😂) and we were talking about DJT’s attitude towards immigrants (since she is an immigrant here) and the fact that he married two immigrants and I just happened to say, “oh and the last one got into the US on an Einstein visa”. And she looked at me and asked me what an Einstein visa was. And I was gobsmacked because that story - how Melania was granted a visa normally reserved for individuals who were outstanding in their fields - that story has been bumping around since 2016 and she had not heard it. And it was a real thump on my head. Here is an educated woman who has lived in three countries and who hates fascism who has nonetheless shut herself off instead of engaging to any extent. And she asked me if I thought DJT would die in his next term if he won, I said that yes, definitely he would die in the first year because he was already toast. And she said, “Just like Biden” and I said, “Biden isn’t running”. I like this woman so I try to tread carefully, but….. If someone like this can have these views, no wonder uneducated, mono-cultured people are so easily misled!!!! VERY frustrating and my heart goes out to people in the US who are desperately trying to break through to their friends and neighbours.
Callie Roth Welstead, I saw a photo a couple months ago of Stein seated with Putin at a dinner in Russia. It came from a reputable source. Further, it seems like Russian bots are flooding sites with pro-Stein as an alternative to Harris, if they are upset about the suffering of Palestinians. It is such an absurd, unstrategic action that it furthers my thoughts that this choice is being lifted by Russian and Maga propaganda.
Thanks for trying to point your frienc in the direction of truth. I have a Republican, not Maga, friend whom I love and respect and I try not to be to overbearing in my outrage and negativity at the GOP. She is a really good person. I sometimes ask if I can forward her a political article and she is accepting of this. She is voting for Harris.
My friend is well-educated and a world traveler, but lacks sufficient counter -narratives to expose the lies she has been strongly conditioned with in her cloistered information ecosystem. I don't hold it against her. It could easily have been me conditioned in this way.
Here, the GOP have captured the media info ecosystem: tv, radio, and social media over the past 40 years. Love has barely got out. Even NPR (National Public Radio) has increasingly bowed to oligarchs in their programming and content. But there has been a recognition of this capture in the last almost-decade and the people have created podcasts, news websites, youtube channels, and substacks like Robert Reich's. They keep us sane, deliver info the oligarch captured media won't report, and help us with talking points for conversations with our reachable fellow citizens. I'm so grateful.
The next 80-some days will test us all. May America, the people united, and democracy, prevail.
Bingo. I have been thinking over the past year about the need for some kind of philosophy courses in high school and/or middle school as a way of addressing what people often talk about: the need for critical thinking. This would be dovetailed with their science studies in particular. But much depends on particular circumstances.
Hi Steve - Students in Finland now take classes on how to discern disinformation on the Internet. This is something I feel needs to be included in your proposed philosophy course!
we don't value education as a country compared to other nations. We could start there as to why this is. Is our ratio of noise (bullshit) to signal higher than other develped nations? Not sure how one would measure that. Many of the values people profess to hold they do not. The people consequently, to the extent they are aware, feel hollow. This is always true but at times the dichotomy is very bad. I'm thinking of communism and how people experienced it in USSR late cold war before the collapse.
steve reed, that's a great point. Robert Reich has talked about the demise of our beliefs in the common good. I think people still value education, but some only value it for their children. Republican politicians today obviously feel this way.
You reminded me of a conversation I had this summer while traveling outside of the US. A couple struck up a conversation about our politics. At some point in the conversation, one mentioned how the Republicans were always talking about how they really love the military service people and asked if that were true. I told her no. It was BS. It's just a marketing strategy. They vote against funding for health services for them. It's the Democratic Party who seeks to appropriate funding and promote policies to help our military. The Dems aren't perfect but the Republicans obstruct good things for our service people all the time.
Do you think the US Education System is compliant in this, M Tree? There are a good many US students moving here these days ( I tutor maths) and I have found that many of them struggle with the conceptual approach to learning and their parents don't understand that the students are expected to think, not parrot. This is great in terms of keeping me busy but disappointing to realise that (and I do know it isn't universal) the approach there is not wisdom-prone.
Callie Roth Welstead, I'm curious what country you live in and what grade level students you are tutoring?
I'm not sure if my defintion of wisdom fits in with your query, but I suppose it does play a role in the background. To me, wisdom, is that which doesn't come from ego but from the heart, from love. It springs from the truth that we are all created equal, that our divine human value is unchanging, and that each person, no matter their actions, deserves dignity. Wisdom takes intentional practice and humility of the heart. It is hard for us humans to be wise, especially in every situation and moment. And some humans rarely act from wisdom.
I do have some thoughts on education that have impacted the student learning.
*portions of curriculums have been pushed down to lower grades, so what I was taught in 5th grade is now being taught in 3rd grade, where not all students are developmentally ready for abstract concepts
*curriculums have also went far and wide, rather than deeply enough for mastery due to the time constraints of teaching far and wide
*:some school districts' administrators and their department heads follow academia theory rather than the experiential of their classroom teachers. (I suspect the administrators/dept heads are coming from ego not wisdom.)
*textbook publishers reflect all of the above
*k-12 schools, colleges training teachers, after-school tutoring programs, teacher education for best practices for teaching math, etc, teacher salaries, etc. are all underfunded and/or misguided. Republicans here have been at war with education for about 40 years. Their goal is to undermine and sabotage so citizens will become so angry and disillusioned with public education that they will support the Republicans completely killing it (as is their platform for this election - close the Dept of Educatiion at the federal level)They have slashed federal funding to k-12 and colleges. We rank at the bottom with. our peer nations for the amount of federal (national) funding.for our nation's schools.. States led by Republicans have also defunded education in their states. In addition, they have led an all out publuc attacks on teachers for decades so many parents no longer see teachers as partners but as enemies. Teachers are overworked, underpaid, and demoralized. Many veteran teachers have left. Leaving gaping holes where new, nexperienced teachers are not getting the mentors they and their students deserve.
*Are any of your students coming from charter schools?. Courts have deemed charter schools are public schools. But they are not; they are for profit schools who choose their students, not all are welcome. Even though taxpayers fund the the charter schools from the public education fund, the for profit charter schools are not required to meet the same scrutiny or standards as public schools. There is little to no oversight.
Although, my list isn't exhaustive, I hope I have given you some insight into our challenges. :-)
Hi M Tree. I live and teach in Portugal. Every student here must take a course in Philosophy in secondary school because it is thought that they need to know how to think things through and make good judgements. I teach secondary school - that's grades 6 - 12. I no longer teach in a school - I give private lessons. But I spent many years in schools here. Last year, when one of my students here prepared to take the American SAT just to see how she did, we found the maths test to be equivalent to a Grade 8-9 test here and one that mostly tested pattern recognition. When I sent my friend who teaches in the US copies of our culminating exams, she was gobsmacked. There is also the much publicised information on what small percentage of Americans can find other countries on the map. A lack of global awareness can lead to misunderstanding and distrust. I don't know how wisdom thrives in that kind of atmosphere. We also suffer here from low salaries and with the recent influx of wealthy newcomers, the cost of housing has risen out of the reach of many Portuguese - so I think we have this in common with where you are.
Callie Roth Welstead, Philosophy in high school sounds like a good idea. As your friend, I'm gobsmacked that our math are so inferior to yours. This is why global conversations are so important --- we have so much to learn from one another. I'm with you also on the importance of knowing our world. Our Republican politicians here, turn people inward-looking as they scream about globalists like one of the Dems big donors being an evil globalist. Who knew, it was bad to look or go beyond your shore?
Sorry, your people are being hurt and driven out by unaffordable housing costs too. When I was a child, several families immigrated from Portugal and settled in my small town. They integrated well into our community, the adults worked alongside our parents at local businesses and their children went to school with us. I never saw any discrimination toward them. Although, it probably did happen somewhat. They were and are good people.
Generally, the Portuguese are welcomed - there is a huge community in Quebec and also in Toronto (My family is originally from that part of the world). But I also know that they were not always highly regarded in CT (can anyone actually spell it?) in the US. As to the maths being different - this is the reason I have a waiting list of students in need of tutoring. They come here from the US and simply cannot understand why they have to reason and explain and explore and extend. And their parents are totally confused and upset because their child who previously did just fine, is doing very not fine and they assume that it's the schools' fault. I have enjoyed our conversation. This is a serious, considerate, open-minded group of people.
Callie Roth Welstead, I can understand how the parents are taken aback. The words: reason, explain, explore, and extend don't leap to my mind when it comes to math. Glad they found you. And thank you also for the good conversation.
UGG - I had such a rude awakening yesterday. I know my American friend here is not interested in politics, decided to vote Green (even though I told her Jill Stein has financial interests in Keystone) and hates ‘both’ candidates. But I keep trying to bring up the election because I promised Robert Reich I would (😂😂😂) and we were talking about DJT’s attitude towards immigrants (since she is an immigrant here) and the fact that he married two immigrants and I just happened to say, “oh and the last one got into the US on an Einstein visa”. And she looked at me and asked me what an Einstein visa was. And I was gobsmacked because that story - how Melania was granted a visa normally reserved for individuals who were outstanding in their fields - that story has been bumping around since 2016 and she had not heard it. And it was a real thump on my head. Here is an educated woman who has lived in three countries and who hates fascism who has nonetheless shut herself off instead of engaging to any extent. And she asked me if I thought DJT would die in his next term if he won, I said that yes, definitely he would die in the first year because he was already toast. And she said, “Just like Biden” and I said, “Biden isn’t running”. I like this woman so I try to tread carefully, but….. If someone like this can have these views, no wonder uneducated, mono-cultured people are so easily misled!!!! VERY frustrating and my heart goes out to people in the US who are desperately trying to break through to their friends and neighbours.
Callie Roth Welstead, I saw a photo a couple months ago of Stein seated with Putin at a dinner in Russia. It came from a reputable source. Further, it seems like Russian bots are flooding sites with pro-Stein as an alternative to Harris, if they are upset about the suffering of Palestinians. It is such an absurd, unstrategic action that it furthers my thoughts that this choice is being lifted by Russian and Maga propaganda.
Thanks for trying to point your frienc in the direction of truth. I have a Republican, not Maga, friend whom I love and respect and I try not to be to overbearing in my outrage and negativity at the GOP. She is a really good person. I sometimes ask if I can forward her a political article and she is accepting of this. She is voting for Harris.
My friend is well-educated and a world traveler, but lacks sufficient counter -narratives to expose the lies she has been strongly conditioned with in her cloistered information ecosystem. I don't hold it against her. It could easily have been me conditioned in this way.
Here, the GOP have captured the media info ecosystem: tv, radio, and social media over the past 40 years. Love has barely got out. Even NPR (National Public Radio) has increasingly bowed to oligarchs in their programming and content. But there has been a recognition of this capture in the last almost-decade and the people have created podcasts, news websites, youtube channels, and substacks like Robert Reich's. They keep us sane, deliver info the oligarch captured media won't report, and help us with talking points for conversations with our reachable fellow citizens. I'm so grateful.
The next 80-some days will test us all. May America, the people united, and democracy, prevail.
Bingo. I have been thinking over the past year about the need for some kind of philosophy courses in high school and/or middle school as a way of addressing what people often talk about: the need for critical thinking. This would be dovetailed with their science studies in particular. But much depends on particular circumstances.
Hi Steve - Students in Finland now take classes on how to discern disinformation on the Internet. This is something I feel needs to be included in your proposed philosophy course!
we don't value education as a country compared to other nations. We could start there as to why this is. Is our ratio of noise (bullshit) to signal higher than other develped nations? Not sure how one would measure that. Many of the values people profess to hold they do not. The people consequently, to the extent they are aware, feel hollow. This is always true but at times the dichotomy is very bad. I'm thinking of communism and how people experienced it in USSR late cold war before the collapse.
steve reed, that's a great point. Robert Reich has talked about the demise of our beliefs in the common good. I think people still value education, but some only value it for their children. Republican politicians today obviously feel this way.
You reminded me of a conversation I had this summer while traveling outside of the US. A couple struck up a conversation about our politics. At some point in the conversation, one mentioned how the Republicans were always talking about how they really love the military service people and asked if that were true. I told her no. It was BS. It's just a marketing strategy. They vote against funding for health services for them. It's the Democratic Party who seeks to appropriate funding and promote policies to help our military. The Dems aren't perfect but the Republicans obstruct good things for our service people all the time.