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From: ewa@sdcc3.UUCP (Eric Anderson)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: Universities, and high school education
Message-ID: <3207@sdcc3.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 18-Mar-86 02:49:05 EST
Article-I.D.: sdcc3.3207
Posted: Tue Mar 18 02:49:05 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 21-Mar-86 04:46:09 EST
References: <162@pyuxc.UUCP> <588@hoptoad.uucp> <1119@burl.UUCP> <14792@onfcanim.UUCP> <2220@jhunix.UUCP> <12426@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: ewa@sdcc3.UUCP (Eric Anderson)
Organization: U.C. San Diego, Academic Computer Center
Lines: 52
Keywords: SMPY, Johns Hopkins, gifted, educational philosophy

In article <12426@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> jablow@brahms.UUCP (Eric Robert Jablow) writes:
>                                        However, had I gone to regular
>Junior High School I would have gone mad.  I would not have survived it.
Looking back, I don't know how I did survive it. There's got to be a better
way to educate that age group.  furthermore, WHO would, of their own choice,
teach in such a place? :-)
>
>On the other hand, my parents never pushed me.  They gave me
>opportunities, and they stood up for me against the obstructive
>principal of my public school, but they never forced me to do any more
>than my regular homework.  Whatever else I studied I did on my own, and
>not under their orders.  I was lucky.

Same here. I was bored out of my mind by high school. This bothered me,
becase I knew at the time that the school (La Jolla High School) was one
of the finest public high schools in the country. I mean, more than 90% of
the graduating seniors in any year go to college. Colleges like Harvard,
Berkely, MIT, Caltech, you get the picture...

Problem was, in order to aleviate bordom (maybe 20 minutes of homework a
week left a LOT of unused time) I persued various avenues of interest. I
delivered newspapers for three years, which tought me how not to keep
records (what a mess) and then entered the programming world, where the
money was. Still having many free hours, I became intensively involved
in the theater, doing lighting design and other techincal stuff. When I
hit college, I was still trying to do all this othe stuff and couldn't 
handle the course load. All of the course material was much more boring
than my programming work or the theater, so rather than go to class I went
to work. I made lots of money but got terrible grades....
>
>1.  To educate people so that they can read, write, do arithmetic,
>think logically, and so they have the historical background so they can
>affect the society around them.
>
A worthy cause, no doubt, but how does memorization teach logical thinking?
Even at UCSD I am depressed by courses like Math, Economics, and Physics,
all of which require one merely to memorize formulas, not to have any under-
standing of how these formulas were conceived, or how to conceive new formulas.

>2.  To instill in people a love of learning and a love of craftmanship
>and a sense of honor so that they will want to find some interesting
>purpose for their lives.
>
Another worthy cause, but as far as high school goes, forget it. Any of you
over-21 types should go visit a nearby high school. Not for the weak of heart.

Anyways, that's my two cents worth. Maybe someone can propose a solution to
our educational system?


Eric Anderson, UC San Diego         {elsewhere}!ihnp4!ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdcc3!ewa
Home: (619)453-7315       Work: (619)586-1201       White House: (202)456-1414