Kids urged to study less, sleep more(theage.com.au)
theage.com.au
Kids urged to study less, sleep more
http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/kids-urged-to-study-less-sleep-more-20110310-1borm.html
15 comments
I really wish that education looked more like Conrad's vision in:
Conrad Wolfram’s TED Talk: “Stop Teaching Calculating, Start Teaching Math”
From very early on, at least in my education, concepts and the reason 'why do this at all' was stripped from the curriculum. The other thing that I feel is lacking is confidence building, which to me is directly connected.
When solving a real life problem, the problem does not care about your GPA, rank, etc.
I have had well respected professors tell me about a hard problem they are working on, that I later solved with a google search...
Bringing together tools and concepts is very powerful. Solving real problems with them builds confidence and passion. Learning not to reinvent the wheel, even though you understand the concepts that would enable you to, is what allows us to cooperate and build to new heights.
Empowerment.
Conrad Wolfram’s TED Talk: “Stop Teaching Calculating, Start Teaching Math”
From very early on, at least in my education, concepts and the reason 'why do this at all' was stripped from the curriculum. The other thing that I feel is lacking is confidence building, which to me is directly connected.
When solving a real life problem, the problem does not care about your GPA, rank, etc.
I have had well respected professors tell me about a hard problem they are working on, that I later solved with a google search...
Bringing together tools and concepts is very powerful. Solving real problems with them builds confidence and passion. Learning not to reinvent the wheel, even though you understand the concepts that would enable you to, is what allows us to cooperate and build to new heights.
Empowerment.
I saw Conrad's talk a few months ago and I couldn't agree more. In fact I am attempting to put his theory in general by teaching math through programming at the moment.
I wanted to add a caveat to your confidence point though. We need to engender the right kind of confidence. A lot of kids are already confident, even arrogant. Yet it's completely unfounded since they are not actually acquiring human capital.
We need to promote the kind of confidence that comes from taking a hard problem, banging your head against it for a week, solving it, and repeating. The kind of confidence that comes from previous hard work.
I wanted to add a caveat to your confidence point though. We need to engender the right kind of confidence. A lot of kids are already confident, even arrogant. Yet it's completely unfounded since they are not actually acquiring human capital.
We need to promote the kind of confidence that comes from taking a hard problem, banging your head against it for a week, solving it, and repeating. The kind of confidence that comes from previous hard work.
Agreed. The current confidence you speak of is smoke and mirrors, the arrogance hits a brick wall and turns to depression.
In regards to math through programming, I always wondered how well it would work to have a supervised lab that students could use to write up a program verified as their own. Then, allow the student to use this in coursework. The geeks currently do it behind the scenes with their TI calculators anyway. Of course, increasing complexity of coursework would require them to revisit or rewrite their programs.
In regards to math through programming, I always wondered how well it would work to have a supervised lab that students could use to write up a program verified as their own. Then, allow the student to use this in coursework. The geeks currently do it behind the scenes with their TI calculators anyway. Of course, increasing complexity of coursework would require them to revisit or rewrite their programs.
I don't teach math the way you are thinking about it though. What I mean by math is more like the way of thinking and not specific math concepts.
I mean they learn boolean logic but really it is more of gaining comfort with defining and working with functions, domain, range, and variables.
I mean they learn boolean logic but really it is more of gaining comfort with defining and working with functions, domain, range, and variables.
While I agree that too much of a good thing is a bad thing, I disagree with the spirit of the article. Yes, children should not be adults. But let's face it, America's percentage of overbooked, stressed, kids is nothing compared to the overwhelming masses which are under-challenged and not interested in school or learning. The U.S. is so far behind in education--having school years much shorter than the top countries like Finland and Japan--that overworking our kids should be the last thing we are worrying about.
Malcolm Gladwell makes a point about [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concerted_cultivation] Concerted Cultivation in his book Outliers that I think is very appropriate to the topic at hand.
One more thought: If a child from China read this article, he would probably laugh. I say, work our kids harder! Damn punks...
Malcolm Gladwell makes a point about [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concerted_cultivation] Concerted Cultivation in his book Outliers that I think is very appropriate to the topic at hand.
One more thought: If a child from China read this article, he would probably laugh. I say, work our kids harder! Damn punks...
| The U.S. is so far behind in education
How did you develop this hypothesis? What does it mean to be ahead or behind in education? Anticipating some of your answers. Is it really meaningful to compare the test results of the US to those of Finland? What are the reasons for the differences between the test results of Finland and the US? Is a few more weeks in school really the best reason you can think of? Are you aware of the fact that if you only consider white people the US compares much more favorably to European countries, in fact score better than 30 of them in one particular test? Why do you think that would be?
Those are some of the questions that come to my mind when considering the issue. This is something I think about a lot, especially since I starting dating a elementary special ed teacher who has shared a lot of her experiences.
You can't consider these international test-score comparisons without also addressing the diversity of the US. In particular blacks in the US still score significantly lower than everybody else. Why is this and what are we going to do about it? Just declaring it to be "racism" isn't enough. If it's racism, what kind is it? What does this racism actually look like? If racism is still present in schools it is probably unconscious to those perpetrating it. I sincerely doubt it's just racism.
I don't know.
How did you develop this hypothesis? What does it mean to be ahead or behind in education? Anticipating some of your answers. Is it really meaningful to compare the test results of the US to those of Finland? What are the reasons for the differences between the test results of Finland and the US? Is a few more weeks in school really the best reason you can think of? Are you aware of the fact that if you only consider white people the US compares much more favorably to European countries, in fact score better than 30 of them in one particular test? Why do you think that would be?
Those are some of the questions that come to my mind when considering the issue. This is something I think about a lot, especially since I starting dating a elementary special ed teacher who has shared a lot of her experiences.
You can't consider these international test-score comparisons without also addressing the diversity of the US. In particular blacks in the US still score significantly lower than everybody else. Why is this and what are we going to do about it? Just declaring it to be "racism" isn't enough. If it's racism, what kind is it? What does this racism actually look like? If racism is still present in schools it is probably unconscious to those perpetrating it. I sincerely doubt it's just racism.
I don't know.
I think poverty may have a bigger effect on test scores than race. If you break down the PISA scores by state, the three lowest performing states are Mississippi, New Mexico, and West Virginia. While Mississippi has a huge black population, New Mexico is only 2% black and West Virginia is only 3%. While New Mexico is 44% hispanic, West Virginia is almost entirely white non-hispanic. One thing these three states have in common, though, is that they are all very poor.
There is definitely a correlation between a higher population of blacks and lower test scores. But there is also a strong correlation between higher rates of poverty and lower test scores, and a very large number of hispanics and blacks are poor.
Black students in Massachusetts perform much better than black students in Mississippi. Virginia, which is nearly 20% black, is one of the top-performing states, while West Virginia, which is 96% white, is near the bottom.
While the US is richer than most of Europe, our income inequality means that we have a much higher poverty rate. When you control for poverty, the U.S. outperforms every other country tested.
There is definitely a correlation between a higher population of blacks and lower test scores. But there is also a strong correlation between higher rates of poverty and lower test scores, and a very large number of hispanics and blacks are poor.
Black students in Massachusetts perform much better than black students in Mississippi. Virginia, which is nearly 20% black, is one of the top-performing states, while West Virginia, which is 96% white, is near the bottom.
While the US is richer than most of Europe, our income inequality means that we have a much higher poverty rate. When you control for poverty, the U.S. outperforms every other country tested.
if you only consider white people the US compares much more favorably to European countries
But if you compare only white people your statistic is meaningless. For example, by focusing on white people you (on average) focus on the people that are more well-off financially.
The US is so far behind on education because the US has a lot of poor people. Which is easy to explain as poor people can't focus on education as much because they have survival on their mind all the time.
I'm sure it will become easier to educate people if they no longer need to struggle and fight to survive, so it's best to start with addressing the gross inequality. With that, crime levels will go down as well.
But if you compare only white people your statistic is meaningless. For example, by focusing on white people you (on average) focus on the people that are more well-off financially.
The US is so far behind on education because the US has a lot of poor people. Which is easy to explain as poor people can't focus on education as much because they have survival on their mind all the time.
I'm sure it will become easier to educate people if they no longer need to struggle and fight to survive, so it's best to start with addressing the gross inequality. With that, crime levels will go down as well.
It's not just that more class time in the summer would--if used appropriately--lead to more learning. It is also that better-off students learn much more over the summer than their poorer counter-parts. Thus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_learning_loss
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_learning_loss
Let's not confuse schooling with education.
> I say, work our kids harder! Damn punks...
Perhaps schooling is what needs to be worked out.
> I say, work our kids harder! Damn punks...
Perhaps schooling is what needs to be worked out.
Backing up what you said, where the United States really falls behind in international comparisons is in direct comparison of students from prospering families, or comparison of students who have college-educated parents. See
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/pepg/PDF/Papers/PEPG10-19_Hanushe...
for considerably more detail. The United States has a much lower top end of achievement in its population distribution than most other OECD countries.
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/pepg/PDF/Papers/PEPG10-19_Hanushe...
for considerably more detail. The United States has a much lower top end of achievement in its population distribution than most other OECD countries.
According to a poll by the National Sleep Foundation, 53% of teens take naps to cope with insufficient sleep. This is symptomatic of the problem and it does not just stop at teens. 44% of adult take naps to cope with insufficient sleep. For more info about sleep checkout http://blog.wakemate.com/
In a life worth living, success doesn't comes from doing the same old thing a shade more quickly than the next guy. It comes from cooperation and from building a niche in which one can thrive.