In my perusal of the internet I came across the above picture. It reminded me of an article I read recently. The gist of it: kids today are more are sheltered from stress and strife growing-up, and are more likely to be messes once torn from their mothers' apron strings than they were in the past.
I agree. Some feedback that I have heard for labs in the engineering was that the lab should be done out completely for the benefit of the students before they have to do it. Heaven forbid they would have to interpret the written instructions for themselves, and make some kind of error.
Then of course there is the standard of education...
The leaving certificate, Irish national exams for college entry, have become steadily easier over the years. When I began 5th year, it was to courses in English, Physics and Chemistry. The curricula became smaller, and easier.
As I understand it, before I began secondary school, English grammar was specifically examined, that is no longer the case. Imagine how easy picking up a language would be if one knew how your own language was put together, instead, the Irish (I can't speak for other native English speakers) treat the genitive case as something that happens to other languages. Of course in the short term teaching and examining grammar was deemed too daunting.
Both Physics and Chemistry saw the simplification and omission of sections and the more difficult material. I am galled that I was not tested to the same standards as my predecessors.
There is a mentality in place that if the kids are finding something too difficult, make it disappear, which is all well and good, if they were going to remain kids forever. But someday they are going to get kicked out of the house, and there is the rub. They have to take arms against a sea of troubles, and with what? Certainly not the intestinal fortitude mastering difficult ditties would garner. Reality gets them from them, without so much as a reach around.
Unfortunately I am just paraphrasing stuff better composed in the article I cited at the top :(
But dammit, I felt like ranting.
Well, if it makes you feel better we didn't get taught English grammar either. Neither did any of my brothers that I know of and the exams have been getting steadily easier since at least '92.
ReplyDeleteOf course, they could also just be getting rid of useless material that nobody needs to know and is also really difficult to learn in favour of teaching a better understanding of the core subject.
Irish doesn't have grammar...ok, it does but to be fair most people just directly map English with Irish words and that's why they are bad at the language. Grammar is a lot less important than people think (IMO).
Finally - I can't speak for your labs but I know when I was in Chemistry, as a first year, if nothing was laid out for me then I hadn't the first clue what to do. Not because I'd been mollycoddled in my youth but because the "they should do it for themselves" mentality had crossed the line. You do need to tell/show people what to do, if you just think they should research it and do it themselves then why are you there?
This is an ongoing gripe I have with University ;p
http://www.rsc.org/AboutUs/News/PressReleases/2008/Number10Petition.asp
ReplyDelete