Speaking about society one thing that stands out the most to me is this, education is almost a complete failure (in my mind at least). Having recently (not most recently) gone through the american education system, and having attended a handful of lectures here in Santa Barbara, I continually ask myself this question, "Where did they go so wrong?". Now having said that some key points of failure i notice are as follows;

1.) Agriculture - Kids from the earliest age on should be learning how to develop and maintain their own gardens for food.

Why?
A.) Self sustained. The less we have to rely on society, the more beneficial it is for society.
B.) Growing and taking care of your own food supply gives you a greater appreciation for nature, and life in general.

2.) Psychology - It is taught in college. It is my personal opinion that psychology should be taught at the earliest age as well.

Why?
A.) The better we understand ourselves, the more capacity we have to learn.
B.) Less violence. People will be able to solve their problems on their own as they have a deeper understanding of the functions of the brain, and how it works.
C.) The ability to work well with others. When you understand better what other people are dealing with you are better prepared to work with them.

3.) Parenting - It seems that basic parenting skills are typically left out. By basic I don't mean changing a diaper. I mean baby psychology. It would be nice if we understood exactly the process of creating understanding for a baby. Do they even know that themselves?*

4.) Spiritual growth - I believe at a young age we should be introduced to the spiritual aspects of our lives. By spiritual I don't mean religion, I mean spiritual. An introduction to religion, and meditation. I believe meditation to be a tool for anger prevention, and aids in memory retention. I hope everyone can understand my meaning of the above statement (lol).

I do understand these subjects are covered lightly but I would not be against them dropping science and multiplication in 3rd grade to pick up psychology and agriculture. I believe most of the studies should be elective based on what the child wants to do with his/ her life. We as a society should supply the basic tools necessary and leave the rest up for option.

These are just some basic concepts I would like to touch base with, and introduce to the ATS community. I am almost positive this subject has been discussed before but I believe until we see change it is a subject we can forever debate. Hopefully some of the more intelligent members can add some light to the subject.





P.S. - Move if you need to. Never know where to put these things. Im also brushing up on my writing capability as my mind is backwards, upside down, forward, blind, and all seeing at the same time.

(* They meaning whoever chose this)

[edit on 13-10-2009 by onequestion]

Baaah.
Baaah!
Bah?

Children should be taught agriculture? L. O. L. You realize if they were to EVER do such a thing they would only teach them Industrial Agriculture, anyway? What's the use in that? Please tell me. Agriculture is not something that is all that easy to learn anyway... But you certainly can't be teaching little kids how to ride tractors or nothin' to that effect anywho. Unless you wanna start getting them to hoe down the farm and harvest the raspberries, in which these new-age parents would object "ITS SLAVERY! I WILL NOT SUBJECT MY CHILD TO ANY HARD WORK WITHOUT COMPENSATION!". and then we'll all be back to square one.

As for psychology that's non-sense. Why should we teach anyone about their brains? They're not going to understand themselves better. Kids will not absorb this information. Believe me. I

As for parenting... why's a kid gonna need to know parenting?

As for spiritual - this is not the fault of the eudcation system. spirituality can be taught to yourself or by family... it shouldn't be considered abnormal to meditate... I often only meditate if i'm alone because i fear that someone will walk in on me and see me meditating and not only mess up my meditation session but it would be almost embarassing as well.

By agriculture i mean kids should have and maintain their own garden every year. and then eat the food they produce. a kid should know parenting so they know why, and how their parents are doing the things they do. i dont mean teach a kid how to be a parent, i mean teach them how to understand what is going on around them instead of forcing math, and english down their throat. an introduction to the 4th dimension cant hurt anyone, and as you might know, the younger you are, the more connected you become. the brain works off of previous experience (ie vaccines and the immune system). they wont absorb the info? your telling me a child wont absorb the information he is taught at a young age?

Shoot. This information should be taught in high school! Not just "young kids".

Having recently graduated and living in a city, I learned zilch about agriculture. All the material seemed to be just how good you can memorize something for a test. Forget that information and start memorizing new info for the next test.

One of the biggest shortcomings I see in the education system is the lack of teaching on financial planning. I know that I had to take several classes on U.S. and world history. This was helpful for seeing how nations and people got to where they are today, but it doesn't help me figure out a budget or plan for buying my next car. You know, things I need today for my life. Why the lack of focus in this area?

Originally posted by onequestion
By agriculture i mean kids should have and maintain their own garden every year. and then eat the food they produce. a kid should know parenting so they know why, and how their parents are doing the things they do. i dont mean teach a kid how to be a parent, i mean teach them how to understand what is going on around them instead of forcing math, and english down their throat. an introduction to the 4th dimension cant hurt anyone, and as you might know, the younger you are, the more connected you become. the brain works off of previous experience (ie vaccines and the immune system). they wont absorb the info? your telling me a child wont absorb the information he is taught at a young age?

Do you remember everything you were taught when you were in the 1st grade?

You almost had me until you said you would not be against taking out math or science, and then saying we shove english and math down kids throats.

How is a kid going to understand the complexities of psychology if you take out English (COMMUNICATION, vocabulary, literature, research skills, comprehensive skills)? How are they going to understand Agriculture if you take our science? Teach them a seed goes in the ground and with enough water and proper light and weather you'll have a plant -- why? Sorry, I can't tell you that because it's science. I'm with you that not all math is necessary - I have not yet in "real life" encountered a use for binomial formulas ... however, multiplication? So we're taking out basic math that people DO use everyday, taking out communication skills, to tell a kid how a family works?

Many of the things you mentioned should be taught to a child - through the parents. We cannot expect the education system to teach something as personal as spirituality. Also, family systems - there are a tremendous amounts of "family systems" depending on what culture you look at. Could you imagine the repercussions of telling a child that a family means mommy and daddy? I'm not even speaking in the light of hetero/homosexuality, but there are some cultures that believe a father is unnecessary (on the flip-side, there are cultures that believe more than one father is necessary).

Please don't take out basic education rhetoric such as english, science and math to teach force the educational system to teach something as deep as spirituality or as complex as psychology. The system has a hard enough time handling the subjects they have.

Originally posted by dbates
One of the biggest shortcomings I see in the education system is the lack of teaching on financial planning. I know that I had to take several classes on U.S. and world history. This was helpful for seeing how nations and people got to where they are today, but it doesn't help me figure out a budget or plan for buying my next car. You know, things I need today for my life. Why the lack of focus in this area?

That hole in the educational system can be blanketed with the lack of consistency in the school system. In my high school (basic public school) everybody I know/knew (not sure if it was mandatory, but it was pushed on us) took a fundamentals of living math class. In this class we learned how to balance a checkbook, plan for employees paychecks (ie: how much of a raise could be given in our balance), how to budget, plan for payment plans, mortgages, etc.

I've never heard of another high school even so much as offering this type of class, but as I said everyone I know-knew took it. What we should really demand is consistency in education.

Psychology- i do not see why not. Maybe they do not do it, to make people just get on with it, without thinking too much.

Other than maths, science and english, not much more is useful in school, other than computers maybe.

Originally posted by dbates
One of the biggest shortcomings I see in the education system is the lack of teaching on financial planning. I know that I had to take several classes on U.S. and world history. This was helpful for seeing how nations and people got to where they are today, but it doesn't help me figure out a budget or plan for buying my next car. You know, things I need today for my life. Why the lack of focus in this area?

I agree with this statement entirely. Finances should be taught to students around the time the majority of them begin working, I guess around 16. It's required that students take one class of government and economics but those usually don't cover basic finance plans which they should.
As far as agriculture being taught, that was offered as a series of electives at my school but it was optional. Of course, I grew up in a bible belt area where farming would be offered as an elective. I think high schools should offer farming as a elective, but that it shouldn't be a requirement. If the high school is in a city perhaps they could alter it from farming to container gardening where it would apply. I don't think agriculture should be a required course because some students don't care, and if they don't they won't pay attention in the class anyway, so leave it optional.
Parenting is to an extent taught in schools already, Health class which is a requirement. As far as the psychology of babies, all babies are different. The only thing you can teach relating to the care of babies is the basics, diaper changes, ear infections, options of feeding, etc.
Spiritual stuff, besides basic religion histories, etc. cannot be taught in schools, period. I think students should be able to discuss it with each other and share their personal spiritual opinions or whatever.

Originally posted by acissej

Originally posted by dbates


That hole in the educational system can be blanketed with the lack of consistency in the school system.

I wish I read this before I just posted. Anyway, I agree with this too. I'm an education major and have to pass the Praxis 2 test before graduating. This tests me in my educational major and makes sure I know the material that I'm suppose to be teaching as well as a background of teaching and the different learning styles of students, etc. I live in SC and have to have a certain score to pass, however, every other state has a different score. So I could theoretically fail it here and pass in another state. It doesn't make any sense to me that I would be able to teach in one state and not able to teach in another, this just goes along with the consistency in teaching.