The Game of School

After reading the article Rigor Redefined by Tony Wagner, I have come to the conclusion that education is harder than I thought before reading this article. This article shows me that education is more than just teaching us content but also life skills.

            This article displayed the fact that schools are not giving us the life skills we need to succeed in the job market. This made me question how teachers are suppose to test the important life skills like critical thinking, communication skills, collaboration and leadership. Sure you can teach it in the classroom through various ways, but how do you give a test on leadership skills or collaboration. Even though you can’t test on them, the school system is still failing to teach them. Schools are so focused on cramming the “correct” curriculum that they are completely neglecting to introduce there student to what really matters in life. This situation reminds me of a quote that I have always grown up with, “give a man a fish feed him for a day but teach a man to fish feed him for a life time” (un-named). I think this applies because all the school system is doing is teaching us facts that we will eventually forget. So in a way all they are doing is giving us a fish. Once we leave school how are we supposed to get our own fish?  Let’s say that the school system teaches us how to fish instead? They could do this by teaching us life skills like questioning, critical thinking, communication skills, collaboration and leadership then once we leave the school, we can succeed. The fact is that kids are learning so much everyday that once kids test on something they have to forget most of it in order to start learning the next unit. Kids don’t forget all of  it, just most of the details are forgotten in order to prepare for the next test. School is a game that kids have to play well in order to succeed. This game that we play involves doing homework just enough to get a passing grade so that we can get started on the next assignment. This game involves remembering just long enough for the test and cramming at the last possible moment because we had homework that took up our time the other nights. This game doesn’t exactly need to stop because it allows the kids to learn facts and the truth is we don’t forget all of it. But this game needs to change so that it teaches the kids the abilities that will help them in life. Over all schools don’t need to stop what they are doing just also teach us the important life skill which we are neglected.

Actions and reactions

This U-Tube video The Machine is Making  Us/ing Us  is about how the internet is expanding the way we think, so much to the fact that could be becoming the machine. 

            This video really made me think about how much of expanding and how much change has happened in the area of technology. Since the invention of the internet and computer, life has revolved around it and all the knowledge that comes with it. But with this invention there is a reaction. This reaction is we give up privacy, the grace of distance, and most of all there are no more secrets. This video really made me realize that with all these great achievements there are reactions that are bad. Like with the invention of the telephone we gave up privacy and the ability to tell someone bad news face to face. With the invention of the cars we lost the sanctuary of distance between one another.  With all these inventions there is always a down side. And the computer is no exception. With all this knowledge at the touch of a button there is now no more secrets, and no borders of what you are suppose to know and what you shouldn’t know. It use to be if a kid didn’t know something they would ask their parents or teachers, and if it was something the kid was not suppose to know about, then they would learn it at a later time. But now with the computer the kid would just Google it and there is no age filter so if it is inappropriate the kid still learns it. After I came up with this idea I started to think about all the troubles that have started to happen since we (the population) started making machines that help us in our every life. One big thing that has started to since the inventions of technology is that nature is starting to disappear. Since we have to use our natural resources to make all this new tech. our forest are getting chopped down and the world is not at prosperous as it once was.  Nature seems to have taken a back seat to the computers and other technology. Another thing that seems to have taken a back seat to tech. is thinking. Now that the internet is up we don’t question as critical anymore. Now that we can find an answer on the internet we no longer think things through but instead just take the answer the web has told us. Overall this video has shown me that there is a negative to every positive and reaction for every action.