[OT] command of English by non-native speakers

[Chris Rees]

2009/12/9 Cybe R. Wizard <cybe_r_wizard at earthlink.net>:
> On Tue, 8 Dec 2009 15:52:16 +0000
> Chris Rees <utisoft at googlemail.com> wrote:
>
>> Just how are educational standards sliding downwards?
>>
>> Chris
>
> More than anything else our educational system is failing to teach
> young people to enjoy learning.  This failure is mostly due to the
> failure to teach /how/ to learn and /how/ to think effectively,
> thereby teaching the /value/ of learning and an education.

I don't know what the situation is on your side of the Atlantic, but
here in the UK the focus is now mostly on skills for learning,
enjoyment of learning and effective learning. I don't think the
old-fashioned methods for teaching made people enjoy learning, they
were just beaten and bullied into reciting facts and figures.

The modern world is moving at such a pace that although older
generations could leave school knowing most things needed, today the
opposite is true. We can't afford to teach knowledge, because in ten
years' time a huge portion of it will become irrelevant. The main
things worth culturing in young people are _how_ to learn, so they can
do it themselves; research, experiment, search the Internet.

The problem with modern education isn't the principles, but the way
many institutions apply them.

> New graduates from high school have little background in classic
> literature, a really bad grounding in history, a sad lack of
> understanding of math or science.  They even fall down (!) in gym
> class (physical education).  OK, that was a little joke.

I think you're generalising.

> Our US kids once not so very long ago led the world in these subjects.

??

> They /do/ know Microsoft Office these days, though, and can make a mean
> Powerpoint presentation.

Which in itself is a HUGE skill; communication is THE way to open
doors in this world.


> I doubt that 3 out of 100 could figure out how to open the front door
> of their house if the lock had failed.

Could you? That's the point of locks...


> Some guys in my high school graduating class made their own car. (1969)

Irrelevant by today's safety and performance standards. You'll still
find young people who can.


> 100 % of my own eighth grade class boys could do 100 sit-ups in 15
> minutes.  They /had/ to to get out of eighth grade.  Try to get 20 in an
> hour from kids now.

Not education; that's a shift in culture.


> Don't /even/ ask them to count change back to you.  Where's the
> calculator?

You're talking of people who leave high school as soon as they can,
and use only the skills they _have_ to. Because you can now manage
with a calculator, of course some will forget mental arithmetic...

>
> And those story problems in math?  Fuggetaboutit!
>
> This was elementary stuff when I was in school.  Maybe they are getting
> some other, more modern-day-relatable skills that I am not aware of but
> i can't see them.
>
> Do you know of something I'm missing?

Hopefully you can read those above.

> Cybe R. Wizard


Don't take it personally, it's not me attacking you. What happens is
that the people you get most contact with in everyday life are the
normally ones who leave education as soon as they can.


Chris

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