Friday, October 12, 2007
What SHOULD we learn?
If you were on the curriculum board, what content and information do you feel ALL students must learn in order to earn a public high school diploma and be successful adults? What SHOULD schools be responsible for teaching? If you were to design a course that ALL students would benefit from, what would be the basic content of that course? For example, I believe that all ninth graders should, in some way, learn about study skills that would help them be successful in high school. There should be some kind of consistent study skills program that all ninth grade teachers follow. What do you think?
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17 comments:
If i was on the curriculum board and i got to choose what students were taught, i wouldn't change anything. i feel that four years of english is mandatory. i also feel that three years of math and 2 years of a lab science is very good. i feel that it sets us up nicely for collage, and i wouldn't change anything about the content that students have to learn.
I think all students, at some point in high school should be taught about life after highschool. We hear about college life everyday but we are never told what to REALLY expect. Most of the students in my 2009 class are going to be in so much debt by the time they graduate college. It should be mandatory to learn about financing in highschool, either as a Sophomore or Junior. We need to know about how to manage our spending on neccesities.
Well today, in Latin class, we had gotten off on a discussion about what information or what we need to learn in school. The fact is that after our school years we hardly use any subjects from our high school years. Unless your going to be a teacher in one of those subjects. But ask yourself, why are you in school? To get into a better college? To get a good job? No. Jobs, when you create a resume, and on it you put that you went to Harvard, and the boss hiring will most likely let him in. False, when hiring for a job they look for substance, not just whats on the resume, because you could have gone to Harvard but doesnt mean your the smartest person out there. I know a couple people that went to Harvard, and they really havent impressed me. So what im trying to get at here, is were only in school because we are told to, but everything we learn, will be useless in about twenty years.
If i were on the curriculum board I wouldn't change too much. I would keep freshman and sophmore years the same, but allow more freedom for upperclassman. At the start of junior year everyone should think about what they would like to study in collage and do after collage. Depending on the outcome of this their should be an adjustment in classes, if somebody wants to do somthing with math they should not have to take another year of lanuage but another math class to prepair themselves for their life after high school.
I feel that in high school, courses such as english, math, science and history are mandatory. Every student should take four years of the courses i listed. But they must pay most attention and concentrate on the courses they like and courses that will help them in their future life. Most of the students in high schools should have some sort of idea of who they want to be, and the goals they want to accomplish.
I agree with patrick except for one thing. I went to the college fair over the weekend. I was looking for good architectural schools. Most of them require 4 years of math or the student has to take an aditional course over the summer before they go to college. Other than that is would not change anything in the curriculum.
If i were on the board i would try to get schools to teach kids the information they need to succeed in what they want to be. If a kid wanted to be a lawyer then he or she should take a class about law with other kids who want to be lawyers. But there are exceptions in the case of manditory subjects such as english, math, and gym.
I dont agree with the study skills program. I think that students naturally become aware of how to study and how to properly make a schedule of time. I also agree with patrick about the time students should be in english. 4 years is sufficient for highschool students and it also is enough time to learn how to read and capture reading skills. Personally i dont think that lab should be mandatory. half of the time when people show up to lab, the teacher just talks to the students about review. It is a waste of time and labs are rare with some teachers. History should be mandatory only because it is not a hard class and it is good to learn about the past so we do not make mistakes in the future. Math is good for 3 years because all you need to know are the basics in life, you will rarely use inequalities and triginometry in life. All of the changes would benefit the students and prepare them for the future. College can be tough and to understand it you need to prepare in highschool.
If i were on the curriculum board, i would want the high school to be teaching just about everything we are being taught today except for a few subjects. I believe that some of the math we learn is a waste of time because we will never use it. Along with some of the science. I believe that english class, history class, as well as spanish, and any other different languages to be taught at school. Knowing a different language will most likely boost your chance of having a better job.
I am not realy sure about what students should learn. I think that I have been learning a good ammount. If it is what i need to know is another story, that i will not know until I am older. So I believe that what we are learning at the moment is suitable and should stay as is. The people on the curriculum board were hired for a reason and they should know what we need. As a student I am just here to learn not to choose.
Felipe says: i would say students had to learn some world history, and then some history about their own country. they would have to learn algebra, and geometry, they would have to take gym class and health all the 4 years of high school, there should be more language options, i would keep the art program as it is, and english all the 4 years, because thats your language, and you should learn it. i also think that there should be one class your freshman year that all freshman should take to learn about what high school is about and what teachers expect of you as you get older, and it teaches you about study skills for high school so you can go onto sophomore, junior and senior years without worries.
All students need to learn math, science, spanish, and gym. Most schools should be responsible for teaching students about science and math. Math is involved in almost everything thing you do in your daily life in some way. Also science is in your daily life. The basic content of my course would mostly contain math and science skills that are involved in jobs. Also a study hall period that is completely dedicated to studying but without talking.
I believe that the preasent cirriculum is almost perfect. If it has been used for so long; there must not be that many flaws. On the other hand I do agree with andrew, some of the stuff we learn we will never use in real life, and it is just a waste of everyones time students have that they can be using to learn something that intrest them.
What should be taught in school? What should be taught in life? Is is important to know how to survive in the world? Is it important to know who you are and how to express yourself? When we are young schools bring us out of our cocoons and give us tools of expression. Kindergarden and pre were my most important years of education. Inovation, reasoning, abstract changes, creation, no worry, satisfaction, curiousity. All of these words were forgotten, buried in the sands of time. I say bring me back to that moment, bring me back to education allowing creativity and sleep. The school system as we get older takes our freedoms that should be valued most. I dream of schools that blend progressive aswell as ancient knowledge along with freedoms of our youth. I dearly miss days when I could get my hands messy in paint and that was enough to get you by. I realize that school will not be forever fingerpainting I just dream of a blending, a gradiant into bliss.
I think the minimum requirements i would make would be all basic fundemental stuff like english a math course a science and gym and history. But if i could make my own course that people would prosper from it would be some type of speech class that would help u learn public speaking skills and how to talk to people on a job interview because everyone will have to do some of this after or during high school.
The current education system that is applied and West Morris Mendham is a excellent program and nothing needs to be changed. I would design a course that dealt with teaching children uses for computers and applying computer technology to every day life.
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