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Bill Gates Thinks High School Sucks!!!
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02/27/05 07:47 AM EST
posted by alex email |
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For many years the United States high schools and education plans have been coming under fire. For one reason or another, no matter where you looks, both private and public high schools have been taking it on the chin when it comes to test scores, college prep, safety, cleanliness, and whatever else you can throw at it. Well, today the AP put out a story about just this topic. In the story, Bill Gates is quoted several times, and one of the lines says
"He said high schools must be redesigned to prepare every student for college, with classes that are rigorous and relevant to kids and with supportive relationships for children."
While the high schools of the USA do have a duty to prepare kids for college, I think their top priority should in fact be teaching the basics needed for life. Not everyone is made for going to college. For whatever reason, be it money, ability, drive, or desire, many will never attend college. Gearing schools to prep kids for college is simply not realistic and potentially more dangerous than have an unstable education system.
If you went, think about what you learned in college, and how little this information has effectively transferred into the "real world." Sure, you learned how to be more organized, how to juggle multiple things at once, how to be more mature, more prepared (now all of this obviously doesn't transfer to everyone), but that is all just a byproduct of going to an learning in an institution of higher learning. The basics you learned in high school were the building blocks for living your life, college is more of a specialized education, usually with a specific target in mind. If you follow Bill Gate's advice, your high school is not longer a stepping stone to the next part of your life, it is a mini college, with a specialized education in getting everyone to a place where not everyone is going.
I think there is a happy medium that can be reached. A selection of high school curriculm that will allow kids to manipulate their basic schedule much like in college. This schedule can consist of basic core classes, and then electives. Some kids can load up on more classes if they would like. Basically it begins to prep kids for college with scheduling and options, but doesn't put the kids who do not intend on going to college in a corner. Obviously this is not the only option, and may actually be a bad idea if you ask someone else. But it is a start.
Anyhow, enough of a rant. article: http://asia.news.yahoo.com/050227/ap/d88gh7do0.html |
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| I've always felt that high school should be more about learning how to be an adult than learning Geometry. As important as the 3 Rs are, there's a reason home-schooled kids are stereotyped as introverted freaks... |
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| Exactly Jer. I went to a High School that tried to specifically prepare you to go to College. You couldn't receive your diploma until you were accepted to a College that was on a prepared list (it was a huge list, just dropped places like Diploma Mills and non-accredited Colleges, and they were pretty good about adding/reviewing places not on the list), and that was nice, at least for me, becuase I wanted to go to College. But what about the kid who "graduated" a few years after me. He started an ISP (dot com days), signed a contract with several large companies in the Cleveland area, decided he had enough of school and wanted to get started in IT, so he didn't apply to College, and my school wouldn't give him a diploma. This is an isolated event, in a small private school, so it is allowable, but when happens when public High Schools start to move down this route. Since when it college mandatory? I had a great time in college, but its not for everyone. Not only that, but I used very little that I learned in High School in College, with the exception of some basics that I learned, but the social skills I learned from interacting with teachers on difficult scholastic topics helped me greatly with professors in college, that same way being in a fraternity helped me with my professional carerr with how to conduct myself in meetings (yes I wore Star Wars Stormtrooper armor to a client meeting, but it was just once). Well anyhow, I am rambling, but I agree Jerry. High School like College should be made up of experiences that help in life, with some learning while you are at it. |
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12/23/06 01:10 PM EST
posted by Max |
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"If you went, think about what you learned in college, and how little this information has effectively transferred into the "real world." Sure, you learned how to be more organized, how to juggle multiple things at once, how to be more mature, more prepared (now all of this obviously doesn't transfer to everyone), but that is all just a byproduct of going to an learning in an institution of higher learning"
sir, I sincerely think you need to boarden your knowledge about what college teaches.
suppose you are an accountant, how can you do your job if not for your college accounting classes?
suppose you are a civil engineer, how can you do your job if not for your college math/physics/engineering classes?
suppose you are a computer programmer, how can do actually program if not for your college programming classes?
I could go on and on...
The point is, many jobs simply require higher learning.
If you are a manual labor, on the other hand, college would be useless for you. In this case, however, school is useless for you in general.
If you are a skilled worked, say, electrician, you might as well have gone to a vocational school rather than high school/college.
To relate this to Bill Gates's argument, I agree that high school should be geared toward preparation for higher learning, to help the future general succeed in life.
If someone simply wants to be a manual labor / basic skilled worker, why should that person go to high school anyways?
If things like geometry and literature dont help this person, he/she might as well go to a vocational school or no school at all.
If this person wants to gain knowledge for the sake of learning, a high school that prepares him/her for college would be excellent!
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12/23/06 01:13 PM EST
posted by Max |
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| for clarification, the first paragraph of my last post is a quotation from the first post (one who started the topic) |
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