since 3rd grade, all i have learned about is american history. every fucking year. I could describe in great detail the battle of shiloh. but i can't tell you shit about world crisises, afghanistan, iraq, or any current, real, and life affecting events. Why the hell is it more important to learn the same shit 9 years in a row, and not a single thing about whats really going on?
isnt there some famous quote about how youre doomed to repeat history if you dont learn it? im not defending our shitty education system, but im just sayin
OP, I agree with you to an extrent. It's important to learn your nations history, to understand the country you live in and thus who you are as a citizen of *insert country here* That said, learning Australian history in high school was possibly one of the more boring and long winded things I was ever subjected to. Dull, deadly fucking dull, with no focus at all on colonisation, only upon Australia since federation... which, of course, is utter rubbish, we only learned half the nations history and half the story, the white mans half. Sigh... Yes, I think kids should be taught 'contemporary international affairs' or 'ethical/environmental/financial etc debates of our time' etc - it would be rather hard to teach objectively, but at least kids get to fucking KNOW about things going on. Right now, most kids couldn't give a shit, aren't filled in by their often sadly apathetic parents and are subsequently utterly clueless. My little sister believed until a month or so ago that Afghanistan was invaded to catch Saddam Hussein So yes OP, I agree with the general sentiment of your post
I agree with you guys that if you dont learn history your doomed to repeat it but what were taught in school is not our nations true unadulterated history which is where the real mistakes were made so i think were already suffering from that logic. Also our schools need to put more focus on our political system and how it works because alot of smart people decide to just stay out of politics because its too complicated and often times violent and i forgot who said it but if a smart man doesnt delve into politics he will often times be ruled by a dumb man.
Education = indoctrination. You won't even be learning the true history of your nation. Guessing you haven't learnt much about things that happened before the 17th century i.e. non-white history. Education reform is needed everywhere including here. We don't have any sort of social sciences classes, many of my friends here have no idea about the formation of Great Britain, our political process, revolutions, European history, what formed our society. Education sucks, I've taught myself more about current affairs, geopolitics and what causes societal changes etc. in the last year than I did in 13 years of compulsory education.
I didn't understand that what we are doing for the education area.We have to wake and spread the awareness among our nation that education is important so that every child can get a standard education an dis able to lead our nation.
those who forget history are bound to relive it. something along the lines of that, it was quote in my history class, and i used it in a history day interview.
I fully agree that our education system needs to be reformed. I attended public school for elementary, private school for 4th-8th, and back to public school for my high school career, and to be honest, my past 14 years of schooling has left me severely pissed off. The system in place generally is more focused with teaching kids to respect and obey their authorities no questions asked, prepare them for the corporate world, and ultimately dumb kids down, rather than teach them things that will help them with their life. We could be using the 14 years of education in the U.S. to teach people how to grow their own food, build their own houses, wire their own electric, and ultimately be self-sustaining individuals, but we would much rather teach kids about things they care nothing about. Our excuse for our bullshit education system is that "you can go to college and get a higher education!" A lot of good that does the millions of families who cant afford to send their kids off to college. But at least we give our kids a promising future in the fast food industry!
First off we need to stop blaming others for our short comings. We all can pursue knowledge, as much as you want actually. No one can "own" knowledge, it is there for anyone to grab hold of. So until we start pursuing knowledge within ourselves the external world will never change. The people in charge want us to stay as ignorant as possible. They know the more aware the public becomes the less they have control. So don't rely on them for your own growth. We can help each other grow. The internet has provided an amazing platform for this, so as long as we still have control of this "imitation-collective consciousness" we call "the internet" we have the ability to help each other expand our awareness.
But how do we fix it? Obviously, if you don't think there should be any public schools that's an option... but I rather like the idea of all citizens being educated.
You cannot directly fix the external world [we have been trying for thousands of years and it never works], because any issue in the external world is stemmed from something occurring within us. So go back to the truth of things. Talk to people. Spread "the word". The spreading of knowledge doesn't have to occur "on their turf". This is something I have been thinking about too lately. "How will I educate my children?" I think we need to start relying on ourselves and then each other, rather than waiting for the people in charge to do it. Create a movement starting from the inside-out. "The Free Spreading of Knowledge for the people, by the people."
I disagree fundamentally. I agree that in order to ultimately 'fix the world' we need to fix ourselves, but that doesn't imply we can't make the world a generally better place. I suppose it depends on your definition of 'better'... I mean, I'm an aspiring director. That's sort of my job. I want to disseminate information for the peoples. I agree, though.
We need innovation. The best thing for innovation is to further centralize and conform the school system under the hand of the Federal government. We just need to throw more money into the Dept of Education and eliminate competition. Reform the systemic flaws instead of trying a new system. Who cares that public school costs people more than private school and performs worse?
The easiest answer would be for you to open up the average textbook in public school and look at the copyright date. Chances are most school textbooks are at least 5 - 10 years old, and therefore don't include current events. That would probably better explain the how and the why. It would be rare to have a teacher deviate from the book to teach you about other current events without getting into some rather heated debates, which can be good to a point, but can turn bad pretty quickly and detract from the overall goal of teaching to the goals of the class. If you want more current events, you'll have to look to college, where they believe that a book is "outdated" when it gets more than 6 months old, and you're shelling out $150+ for the "latest" copy.
Well, when we "fix" ourselves then we "fix" any external issues. All change has to occur from with in -- "Be the change you want to see in the world" Anyways, I look forward to seeing what you can produce in the future! That is a great way to pursue a better future for all!
Ah, but by changing the external world we create environments in which those internal issues are no longer problems. That is our strength as humans, to adapt the environment to our purposes. We just can't go overboard and change everything. It's a feedback system. You change one, which changes the other, which changes the other... I find it frightening, to never really be able to grasp the totality of consequences from our actions. I hope so. If film is the people's media, then I'll find a way to philosophize through it without putting people to sleep.
