Ron Johnson <ron.l.johnson@cox.net> writes:
> The point of school (as I see it as a middle-aged white guy who's
> never used Trig since University and only uses the most rudimentary
> Algebra, and has kids in grammar school) is to expand your brain,
> stretch your mind, and build a foundation of knowledge and capacity
> for the future.
As the father of four children (pre-school to middle school aged), I
agree that this is indeed the (much of the) point of school.
Still, the cynic in me sees that another thing school does is teaches
children to perform meaningless exercises on command. Which fits nicely
into a factory environment or large company where an individual is
expected to perform any given task, even if it seems to be meaningless.
One could also say that the “point” of an education is to show that one
is teachable. Many employers don't care what degree a prospect has, as
long as he has one. The degree shows he has the capacity to learn,
adapt and persevere towards a goal.
Many employers, though, would be just as happy hiring someone who has a
proven work history or can point to a string of successful projects that
are relevant to the job. Even if they haven't finished high school.
Perhaps I'm just seeing in the XKCD cartoon what I want to see, but my
experience with elementary through high school was that it did not
stretch my mind. It was dull and boring. Those weekend and summer
programming projects were a challenge and a chance to explore —
something that the schools I attended didn't offer much of – projects
that were much more valuable for my future than the busy work that fills
much of the day in the average school.
(And, no, life doesn't just revolve around work and school sometimes
introduces children to things they might not be exposed to otherwise.)
Mark.
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Received on 12/21/08
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