What public school systems and their schools are doing wrong

Many schools advertise "doing what is best" for their students, or that their school district is "one of the best" schools in their area.  They say that they are "committed to academic excellence" or announce some other benefit along that line.  What many people and students don't know is that schools are teaching students the wrong things about life and the real world.  In many ways, they are lying to their students about what life is and how it should be handled.

Classes in schools are set up in such a way as to teach students the "right" way to do things or the "correct" facts and information.  Lessons are usually taught and arranged in this order:

1. The teacher stands up in front of the class and talks about or shows how to do something and presents information and facts.
2. The students are given time in class to learn more about that subject or topic, according to how the teacher arranges it or tells the students how to do it.
3. The students are assigned homework or projects to "test" them on their knowledge, which they have not had time to explore.
4. The assignment is to be turned in the next day or within a few days.
5. Students who do not turn in assignments on time, answer a question wrong, or do not complete a project to the specifications of the teacher are given a lower grade, or points are taken off.

Students are punished for trying to do something that they have only been told how to do, but never actually tried experimenting with to see if they can understand it.  If too many of these "mistakes" or "errors" in work are made, the student may not pass the class.  

This is only teaching them that they need to get everything right and perfect so that they can "pass" important parts of their life.  This is setting students up to believe that everything must be perfect for them to be successful in later life.  To "pass" life.

Life is not arranged on a pass-or-fail basis.  What happens in life happens and cannot be reversed.  Schools point out to students that you need the skills you are learning in class to get a job and be successful.  To be successful, you have to "pass" courses, and turn in many, many assignments.  If those assignments are not "perfect", then points are docked, and grades are lowered.  The problem with this thinking is that it has been rooted in our minds for many years, making us believe that jobs and life work just like school assignments do.

Many jobs do require perfection - such as in engineering - to gain clients for their company, or just to make people happy.  To fully complete the project that has been assigned to them, engineers must complete the project to the best of their ability - and also must complete it on time.  But many is not all.  There are some jobs in which experimenting is important.  Going out on a limb and risking something may contribute to society in a positive way.  That is how inventing works.  Scientists use experimentation for many things, and science is a wide job area.  Not everything in life conforms to the "perfection" rule, and yet students learn this every day.  Every day it is ingrained more deeply into their thoughts and work.

Clearly, the way classes are taught needs to change.  Students should be allowed to try things in school - and experiment in their education - to learn in a hands-on experience.  One change that can occur is in the way topics are presented to students.  

Instead of teaching the subject, then letting students try it, teachers should allow students to experiment with the subject and try it themselves first.  They may do horribly, but at least they learned what they did wrong.  Then teachers would be able to teach them the right way and let them do it again.  This is the learning process.  Students would be able to figure things out faster if they got to try it once before and something went wrong.  They know how to fix it.

The problem many people - and school staff - may point out is that this method will take longer, and thus teachers may not be able to accomplish everything during the school year.  This is a logical problem.  Trial-and-error has been known to take longer.  But one advantage that trial-and error has is that the more options that you investigate, the faster you can eliminate the next options you have.

What is also interesting is how this connects to why some students hate school and love video games.  Video games allow people (mainly kids) to take risks and be able to start the level over or try again.
"A Game Over is an event which occurs whenever Link [the main character] is killed...Typically, the player will get the option to continue, save, or continue from a certain location such as the origin," states an entry on Zeldapedia, a video gaming information website.

Most video games follow this standard, and kids and adults like that they can always try again when they fail.  They've even learned that whatever they did that caused them to fail is not an option they should try.  When students are allowed to take risks in school and not be punished for it, they actually want to learn.  

If school is a precursor to life, then students should be allowed to figure it out and take risks to learn what not to do when they are older - when it really counts toward their personal success.  If we give students the chance to be wrong in school, then they don't have any reason to be wrong in life.  They can be more successful, knowing what the risks are and how to handle them.

This subject also applies to how students learn.  "...I said in that interview that the only way we learn is by doing-" explains Roger C. Schank, an expert in many fields and a professor at Northwester University.  "-and to do that we must practice constantly.  Schools rarely teach doing."  To learn something, you have to try it.  Trying involves risk.  Risk can lead to failure, but at least you learned something.

You have to be wrong to be right.  "If we’re inventing a new business model or writing a new piece of music or experimenting with new ways to increase the yield of an email campaign, of course we have to be willing to be wrong," says Seth Godin.  Earlier on in this writing, Godin also pointed out that in some workplaces, perfection is required, but perfection is different for everyone.  Even if employees don't get it completely perfect, that doesn't mean that they have "failed" life.  If they lose their job, they can start again at a different job.  Life is not over.

What should be taught in schools is how to get into doing things.  Taking risks and trying things out before the "real world".  If schools want to teach students the truth about life, all that is required is a reversal of the way we think about failure and risks.

-bookhouse4

To read or hear more about this, check out the following sources:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-VacaaN75o&src_vid=iG9CE55wbtY&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_814754
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86x-u-tz0MA&src_vid=iG9CE55wbtY&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_889339
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LelXa3U_I&src_vid=iG9CE55wbtY&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_148916
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEsZOnyQzxQ
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46La-hV_PLs
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX78iKhInsc
• http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/docs/stopstealingdreamsscreen.pdf
• http://zelda.wikia.com/wiki/Game_Over
• Why kids hate school - subject by subject, Roger C. Schank

Life is pass-or-fail: what today's schools are teaching their students - DRAFT

Some of the best schools in the world produce students that are eventually very successful in life, yet their school lives are plagued with the strain of getting good grades and "passing" each course.  It is stressed in schools that students must pass so many courses, or do so many things, just to be successful in life later on, as well as in school.

This grueling setup of many school systems is pushing many students to the limit, including those students in advanced classes.  Choosing to change the way that classes are run, and teaching students that taking risks helps the learning process, are ways that we can teach the next generation how to be successful.

Clearly, the way classes are taught needs to change.  As an eighth grader entering a high school that has high standards for students, I feel that I am being pressured to pass everything, and be "perfect" in order to "pass" life - being successful after my education is complete.  Life is not on a pass or fail basis, but rather on a "what happens, happens, and education may help solve some of my problems later on" basis.

Many classes require a C+ or - more often - an A or B average to pass.  This grade is hard to attain, especially because of the expectations of classes.  There are usually many assignments that must be turned in on time - else the student risk dropping a grade or two - and there is very little room for error or experimentation.  Students are getting punished for experimenting and trying something new.

School is a where students should be able to take risks and learn from their mistakes before they move out into the real world.  School is a time for experimenting and figuring out your life before the end of high school and college.  If teachers teach everything first, then tell students to try it out for themselves, students aren't really learning and can't take those risks to learn about their world.

In the schools of today, students are basically being taught that life can be "passed" or "failed" just like classes in school.  "Passing" equals success, and "failing" is not getting what you want out of life.

This kind of teaching and learning in classroom can have a negative impact on students' future lives.  Whether working for a company every day, or trying to solve the world's problems, experimenting is a large part of any job or experience in the "real world".  If students learn in school that everything has to be "perfect", their lives will be just that: careful and precise, with no big discoveries or experimentation.

This loss of experimentation at a young age can be detrimental to jobs and occupations, especially those based in science and social studies/geography.  The majority of a scientists job is to experiment and try new things, and geologists and those studying different groups must branch out and try new tactics and ideas.

I'm sure that many schools would not like to hear that they are hurting their students' education, and I can assure you that there is an easy fix to this problem.  Many classes just need to shift their teaching styles and priorities.  Instead of teaching what is, start allowing students to try it first, then show them the correct way and have them try it again.  This method may take longer, but students will do it better the second time.

If school is a precursor to the "real world" and "real life", then school should be about learning from mistakes and making yourself a better person - not showing that taking a risk is bad and all experimentation should be taught.  If schools don't want to teach that the world is all pass-or-fail, then all that is required to change is the way things are taught.

-bookhouse4

Fallacy Blog

This is my fallacy presentation:



This is our group's fallacy video:



Fallacies can make debating and presenting really hard if the people you are debating with or presenting to understand what a logical fallacy is.  It can even be hard when you, yourself, know what it is and how to properly (or improperly) use it.  

Debating can be especially hard when someone continually uses a fallacy (or fallacies) to prove themselves, when really all they are doing is entangling the argument more so that it is more difficult to understand.

I think that logical fallacies are used mainly to try and push forward an argument or idea, or break one down.  I think that this often leads to problems in the audience's reasoning, and often clouds judgement about subjects.  They may end up caught in reasoning that doesn't fit together, and make a bad decision that could affect a lot of things.

Understanding fallacies can make you a better presenter and/or debater because of their significance in debates and presentations.  If you understand when a fallacy is being used and how it affects judgement on topics, then you will be able to make clearer decisions based on fact and not on the fallacy that is swaying your point of view.  If you can point out fallacies to yourself, then you will be able to use the actual truth/falsity of the debate side or presentation to form a valid point of view on the subject, rather than relying on what the presenter or debater is doing to sway your point of view.

Learning about fallacies and how they are used has made me a better presenter and debater in many ways.  One way is that I now realize how much I need to focus on what I am saying to present my point of view, in order to allow the audience or listeners a clear view of the subject.  If they can make a decision based on the evidence I give and not on fallacies, then I have succeeded in presenting my point well, and that makes me a better presenter overall.

-bookhouse4

Promises and Trusting

When you make a promise to someone, most of the time they will hold you to it.  If you break that promise, then they can be hurt.  Breaking a promise time after time and again after again really hurts the person you promised.

Recently, I and a friend of mine were promised something, and at first we were really excited, until that promise was delayed.  Again and again we asked about the promise, but it was always "we were too busy" or "we ran out of time" or even "it was the day after break".

Every time we were denied, our trust fell lower.  When you are denied something promised, you start to doubt that promise is ever going to be fulfilled.  In some cases, you begin to hate the person who made the promise.  You start getting this angry feeling in your stomach that means that you are so angry that you just want to scream at the person, but know it wouldn't be right.  

When you finally receive that which was promised to you, you don't feel as excited or pumped up about what you were/are doing.

Sometimes, you really need to think of what you are saying when you make promises...and if you have a certain date that you have set as a promise, make sure that you write that down and keep that promise, or someone could be hurt.

To Anyone Who Has the Heart to Care About This Pressing Issue

Hi!  bookhouse4 here!  Just wanted to touch on a subject that has been bugging me for a while.  If you can answer my questions, five stars and a trophy.  Leave answers and ideas in the comments under this post.  These are hard questions.  Some make sense, others do not.

Okay.  Here we go.

Question 1

Is it possible to reach tomorrow?  To touch it and to see?  To say "I'm standing in tomorrow" and not "I want to be"?  Can you reach back into yesterday?  Is it ever even real?  Can you live sometime other than "Present", like Future, Past, or Might Be?

Think about it: are you ever truly in tomorrow?

Question 2

Why do we dream?

Come on.  I know you're wondering.  What's up with the crazy dreams you have every night?

Question 3

What is "myth"?

Have you ever considered it?  Dragons and unicorns are supposed "myth", but if dragons aren't/weren't real, then why do so many cultures claim to have seen dragons?

Question 4

Is there a certain age you have to be to publish a book?  Is there discrimination against younger people publishing?

Question 5

When is a piece of writing "good"?  When is it "bad"?  What makes a piece of writing - story, poem, whatever - "excellent"?

Why are some people good at writing and others bad?  

Ask yourself this: Do you know when writing is good or bad?  Are you good at writing or bad?  You don't have to answer these last two questions in the comments.  Just really think about them.

I'll be back with more questions soon.  Right now, I leave you to puzzle over these and maybe do some research.

-bookhouse4

A Modest Proposal: To Utilize People's Unimaginative Side to Better Our Country and, In Doing So, Better the World

It is a sad sight in many schools - to see students sitting in class, writing stories inspired by overactive imaginations, or failing math classes because of daydreaming.  Many schools suffer from a lack of focus from their students.  What is unacceptable is that many teachers encourage this in their classrooms.

What I propose is to remove these distractions from the learning environment.  These include: teachers, imaginative presentations, all elective courses, etc.  I propose everyone learn calclus (no spelling) at age 7, and every student be placed in solitude for 8 hours straight listening to an interesting computer voice that teaches you math in repeating cycles.

Example: "The square root of four is fifteen times the multiple of 3.  The square root of four is fifteen times the multiple of 3.  The square root of four is fifteen times the multiple of 3..." And so on.

This method will reduce creativity in the schools, and improve student focus on studies.  The seclusion will stop them from being distracted by their "friends", and will also break friendships so that the children will be more successful, heartless entrepreneurs who do not care about others who are in their way.  There will be more successful adults in the world, and this will improve the economy with more jobs.

Having the students in isolation will put many teachers out of jobs, but I assure you that there is an easy solution to this problem.  Those teachers that encouraged creativity will be placed in a mental institute such as the AMIP (Asylum for Mentally Insane People), or in a low-security local jail (such as the Intense Security No Escape Torture Prison in Florida) for violation of state/country standards.

Those teachers that have not encouraged creativity will be placed in an isolation chamber - much like the students - and will learn more complicated math and how to think logically.

Example: "The sky is blue because we painted it blue.  It is also light blue because we used 15 parts Lake Blue 2 and 65 parts Red 40 in the paint."

Students that have been found to be very creative from a young age would be immediately tracked down and placed in a special gray-painted isolation chamber with an extremely interesting computer voice that will teach them how to reject creativity and will also teach them higher-level math, an example of which is calculus.

This idea has been tested by many schools around the world, as seen in Kezetchistan, Agogo, Europe, and several other countries.  A good friend of mine has told me that their economy has increased tenfold with the initiation of this program in country-wide schools and districts.

The results have been spectacular: there are many monopolies starting by students who have utilized their school lessons and bought out other companies for billions of dollars; the economy has grown, due to all the money entering the system from the entrepreneurs buying out companies; many paint companies have been bombarded with orders for plain gray paint - used to paint over the bright colors which would stimulate creativity.  (The color gray has been found to lower creativity levels by 93.999% in a classroom setting.)

Those countries that have switched to an adult program are also showing results in their population.  There are less debates about silly things such as gun control or other policies because everyone is treated to equal education in the school, with the exact same answers to every question.  There are no projects, for that would encourage creativity, and that leaves time for some schools to initiate a ten to thirteen hour every day program that is more challenging, with equally interesting lessons.

An example lesson for one day is this: "Three hundred forty seven to the seven hundred and twenty-ninth power is six point one five three seven nine two six five eight times ten to the forty-fifth power.  Three hundred forty seven to the seven hundred and twenty-ninth power is six point one five three seven nine two six five eight times ten to the forty-fifth power.  Three hundred forty seven to the seven hundred and twenty-ninth power is six point one five three seven nine two six five eight times ten to the forty-fifth power..."

This proposal would also eliminate the use for drawing materials and writing paper.  Less trees will be cut down and used to make pencils and paper for drawing and writing. Everything that is to be done in this country will be taken care of by computers.  There will be no need of a President, and everyone will be equally satisfied with everything because they will all learn the same truths about what the computerized government is doing.

Because the program eliminates all need for elective courses, students will not have to worry about choosing classes other than calculus, trigonometry, and other math courses.  Their options will have been eliminated down to a manageable scale.  School day schedules would include advanced math for eight hours straight.  

The computer teachers will encourage students to go home every day and listen to more interesting information on a CD entitled "Learning @ Home: The Extended Math Course Encompassing All Aspects of the Subject, and Going as Far as to Delve Deeper into the Surprisingly Interesting Subject of Extremely Advanced Calculus".  This will improve the learning experience by covering education at home, so that students can stay on-task and ready to go to school the next day.

This is a proposal that I hope will ensure a peaceful and diligent country if put to use.  This country would not have to deal with corrupt government, because everything would be taken care of by computers, and would also expand our economy, as the math-fluent students would be able to solve many problems with math and would be attractive employees for business owners.  

In short, I hope that you consider this proposal that I have set before you, for the good of the country, so that we do not go to ruin by distracting imaginations.

-bookhouse4

Happiness and the American Dream

I remember an activity that we did in class that showed what people today believe that the American Dream is.  We created posters that showed ads the represented the American Dream today, and posted them in the sixth grade hallway.  One actually made a teacher so angry, she took it down and asked us to keep it in the room because "sixth graders should not have to see this stuff."  

Aren't they exposed to it every day?  Probably at least half of them or more look at magazines that have "inappropriate" pictures in them.  As one sixth grader in the hall said of the poster that was taken down, he thought it was hilarious, and didn't even take a second glance at the inappropriate stuff.  

Now, I agree that people and kids should not have to see that stuff, but that brings me to the question: what IS happiness?  And what is the American Dream, really?  We are the only country that guarantees the pursuit of happiness in our Declaration of Independence, but how can you guarantee happiness?  That is what I will explore in this blog.

I believe that too many people associate happiness with success or "perfection", but is it even possible to achieve perfection?  When you have high expectations for someone or something, and you want them to be perfect, you begin to seek flaws.  Like the scientist in The Birthmark.  He loves his wife, and wants her to be perfect, but she has this birthmark, this one flaw in her perfection.  

The scientist becomes obsessed with this flaw, and it disgusts him.  Eventually, his wife begins to hate it, and wants him to get rid of the birthmark.  But nature seems to refuse to be perfected, and also makes perfection a death sentence.  In the end, his wife is perfect for about five seconds, and then dies.  She understood that her husband had never before achieved perfection, but she still wants it done.  All his attempts at perfection ended in failure.  Perfection is fleeting, and it does not last.  

Perfection itself is FLAWED.  So why does this still seem to captivate people in their pursuit of happiness?  Our satisfaction and self-worth is based on others reactions to us.

So that brings us back to our search for happiness again.  This is going in a circle.  If we cannot achieve perfection, one supposed "path" to happiness, then what else is there?  People also cling to the pursuit of success for happiness.

The dictionary defines success as "the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence." if you don't know what eminence means, it means "fame or recognized superiority, especially within a particular sphere or profession."

I would beg to differ with that statement. Success is whenever you actually get to something you are reaching for. General George Patton once defined success as how far you bounce when you hit bottom. Success is the light at the end of the tunnel of work. It's the trophy at the end of a championship game. Success may also be a journey. A life well lived that ends at death. If you travel this path of success, you may end up happier than if you were searching for happiness the entire time.

Success seems to be a little more rewarding in our search for happiness than other approaches.

But what about selling happiness? Buying certain perfume, or food or other things. Like McDonalds. They sell HAPPY MEALS. They are trying to sell happiness to people. In The Euphio Question, a group of people are trying to create a machine that will give people happiness whenever they need it. Is that a good thing? The people became addicted to it, forgetting to eat or drink, and they didn't care when bad things happened. But one of them wanted to try and take control of the masses with the euphio. Can we really buy happiness? And besides, happiness is basically a drug. What are endorphins if not a drug? They are the drug that our body sends out to make us happy.

Others have different views on happiness.

'Some keep the Sabbath going to Church –
I keep it, staying at Home –
With a Bobolink for a Chorister –
And an Orchard, for a Dome –
Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice –
I, just wear my Wings –
And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church, Our little Sexton – sings.
God preaches, a noted Clergyman –
And the sermon is never long,
So instead of getting to Heaven, at last –
I’m going, all along.'

-Emily Dickenson (1830-1826)
Emily Dickenson says that she finds happiness in just being outside and observing the things around her. She doesn't need a church when she is "going to Heaven all along". That brings me to Walden by Henry David Thoreau. in it, he says that when he stays at Walden Pond, during his year of seclusion, he feels happy, even though the house he is in has holes in the roof and walls. He spends his time observing, and it makes him happy. You notice a lot more things when you just sit and listen.  

Walden makes me think of the book Listen! by Stephanie S. Tolan. In the book, the main character learns to sit and listen to nature, and really feels happy after her mothers death, instead of grieving for her mother and pitying herself about her bad leg.  

What both of them are basically saying is that you need to pay attention to the small details. If you enjoy life's small things, and find happiness in them, then you will always be happy. It even reminds me of the book The Stranger. The main character cannot really find happiness, and just kind of takes life for granted. But if you find meaning in life, like religion or something else, then you can be happy.

"I have frequently seen a poet withdraw, having enjoyed the most valuable part of a farm, while the crusty farmer supposed he had got a few wild apples only. Why, the owner does not know it for many years when a poet has put his farm in rhyme, the most admirable kind of invisible fence, has fairly impounded it, milked it, skimmed it, and got all the cream, and left the farmer only the skimmed milk."

What Thoreau is saying is that the poet is the one who sees the real happiness in the farm, and takes all the important parts of it - the things that make people happy.  he take them with him, and the farmer still believes that the poet has not gotten anything from his farm.  

Sometimes we are like that, too.  We believe that there is no happiness in something, when we really have not looked to find the happiness, as some people do.

"Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be."  -Abraham Lincoln

"It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness."  -Charles Spurgeon

"Be happy for this moment.  This moment is your life."  -Omar Khayyam

"Happiness is not something ready made.  It comes from your own actions."  -Dalai Lama

"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude."  -Denis Waitley

"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself."  -Benjamin Franklin

This is what happiness is!  It is not about having things, it is about having success in things and finding joy in them!  This has been my (very long) blog, and I hope you enjoyed or at least had the heart to read through most of this!  Thanks!

-bookhouse4