Another blog you should read ...

... Teresa's Blog has some extremely smart suggestions for the education system:

There are a lot of problems with our school system, but no one seems to notice.

Why do we stay in school so long and retain so little? Why do we learn the same things over and over again? Why does it seem like we spend twelve years of our lives preparing for college? Why do we learn things for a test/grade and then forget? Why do we put more emphasis on details than the big picture? Why is learning a chore? Why are we given so much information and hardly remember it a year later? If we are not just learning for our career, why don't we learn about philosophy? How can any one go through high school/college/life with out knowing anything about Greek philosophy?

1. School should be shorter. Most kids learn the same things from grade school to high school. If people can't retain certain information as young children, then schools shouldn't waste time teaching it.

2. More focus should be put on large themes instead of less important details. Then, children would remember the main idea instead of having no clue what the Renaissance accomplished.

3. Learning should be enjoyable. When a child actually understands something, they enjoy it. Therefore, school should be more fun. The only way to do that is to minimize details, and make it relevant and interesting.

4. Learning isn't and shouldn't be only for career training. If it's not, then students should learn philosophy. They should learn about life and how to ask questions. It isn't enough just to tell students they can ask questions and not believe everything they hear, if they're only told who Henry VII married. How do you question something like that?

5. The study of philosophy should be a mandatory for at least one year in every high school, and perhaps more than that in college.

6. The historical study of music should be mandatory. It shouldn't be an elective. Music is so important and helpful when studying a culture. You can look at a time/place's music and tell a lot about that culture and how it evolved. Studying music teaches what was acceptable at a certain time/place and what those people thought about life and love.

The school system is good. It's better than it was for a long time, but people have gotten so used to it that they've stopped trying to improve it.

This is a blog to watch. Brilliant!