"MY EDUCATION WAS INTERRUPTED BY MY SCHOOLING."
How do you feel about this statement?
Does one learn more about life and people through travel as
opposed to schools and full time jobs?
Is the basic problem of our planet lie in the fact that most
people know very little about other
culture/socities/peoples?
What stops us from learning about others?
[There are 13 posts - the latest was added on Wed 26 May, 2:23]
Use the form at the end of this page to add your own post.
Topics
| Thorn Tree
| Home
I think the biggest problem with school is that it can
inhibit individuality - there's so much stuff to conform to
and I never realised this until I got to 6th form. I think
a balance of both is required to maintain a perspective and
get the most out of your experiences. And I think the basic
problem of our planet is that too many people look out for
themselves (and I mean this more nationally rather than
individually).
Are you from Canada, Ontario to be exact.
If it wasn't for school i would never know about 'Freeze Thaw
Action'. What would i find to talk about without knowing that
eh?
100% correct. Good post.
My best teacher was Mr. Savoury - one of my English
teachers. We spent most of our lessons talking - not
necessarily about the literature we were supposed to be
reading, but about anything in general. These discussions
would get pretty heated, but I think they were always
rational. At the end of the course, we were surprised to
find out that we received better grades for the pieces of
lit that we did with Mr. S... even though we had spent less
time with his works than the others. I went back to see him
after I had left school - and brought this topic up. He
replied that the reason we spent most of our lessons just
talking was to teach us HOW to think, and not WHAT to think.
~
I'm totally indebted to him. He changed my life... and it
was nothing to do with the school curriculum.
FLASH, I read it as the method of the schooling was the
issue, not the fact that you had to go to school per se.
Could not help it..(Re: last post)
Now, guys..
This topic was created by Net Surfer
[Sat 22 May, 17:58 Tasmanian Standard Time]
Give Wilster a break. He's only being nice to everyone.
We should not slag him off for using silly words
like 'dude' or 'captain'; after all we use them
ourselves.
Wilster is a cool guy; that I know because I email with
him
regularly and he knows a lot of cool stuff on the web
and
helps me out quite a bit.
Wilster, I love ya!
[There are 11 posts - the latest was added on Sun 23 May,
16:35]
10.Gees, that's amazing. Added by: Net Surfer (the real one)
[Timestamp: Sun 23 May, 11:41 Tasmanian Standard Time]
I was sitting at the Crown Casino, having a beer and
watching the gee gee's on the big TV and voila! I seem
to
be able to post about someone called Wilster. Who the
hell
is Wilster? I have said in the past that I'm so
advanced
that I can post from ESP, but I certainly wasn't
thinking
of you sad idiots yesterday when this post went up.
You da man chief...
I have such issues with this topic! Didn't finish my formal education. I have supported myself with pottery for 14 years and that has been OK. Now I am at a point in my life where I would like to give back and teach. Without a degree I must open my own facility. I don't want the hassels of running a facility. I like the freedom of my lifestyle but even to teach evenings most places want a degree. I pursued outdoor education for awhile and ended up with a degree in law enforcement. My life has changed so much since that degree, it is virtually worthless to me. I do believe education is an on going process but unless you are in an accredited place you don't get credit for it. When I look back on my 45+ years there is not one moment I would trade for a degree. I guess I have a degree in life. I truly marvel at people who have been at the same job for many years and are content to go to Vegas on vacation. There are times I wish my life were that simple. I have heard it said; be passionate about what you do, I find what I ever I am doing I am passionate about it, at the time but tomarrow I may be excited about something else. Travel is the best education I know of. It has taught me to be flexible, tolerant of others and to think my way through situations where otherwise I might have just blasted my way through.
It's all about context. It doesn't really matter how you
acquire it, but we all need to have context. If you don't
have some "school" knowledge (e.g. what does the world look
like, how does the body work, what was WW II, what is a
laser), then if a truly profound event occurs (Hitler cloned
in Patagonia, emerges from secret underground barracks with
laser-armed Wehrmacht), you can't assess its meaning. On the
other hand, if school knowledge is all you have, you're just
an Encarta disk, and any new fact just gets catalogued
without weighing its importance.
-
The best way to appreciate education is to go out with
experts, and appreciate the world from their context. I had
the opportunity once to see Baluran Natl. Park in Java in
the company of a Ph. D. in Beetles, and while we were
stalking big game around the water holes, he never spotted a
deer or anoa, because he was spotting incredible things on
the ground. It was a different world entirely. I had similar
opportunities with other biologists on other occassions, and
each time, I felt like I had been given a telescope into
another galaxy.
-
Their specialized knowledge didn't lead me to emulate their
specialization, though, just like understanding the cultures
and nations I've travelled through hasn't made me change my
nationality. They just make me look a little more widely and
deeply than I used to, and see more interelationships.
That's context.
-
The danger of the totally unguided education is the
possbility of never discovering that there's such a thing as
a discipline, say nothing about acquiring one. For me, the
danger of an education based on academic specialization is
that you learn more and more about less and less until you
know everything about nothing. An education that is totally
random, though, means that you are living life like a person
who just walked into the middle of a movie; you don't have
any idea why any particular dialogue, actions or characters
are significant. The real issue to me is what constitutes
relevant curriculum so that school education isn't a waste.
School (as in high school and university) often provides
the most efficient way to get some of the (very) basic tools
that you need in order to further your education through
travelling etc. So, generally I would disagree.
Thanks people for the great responses. First to answer Spin
Doctor. No I'm not from Canada. I'm in the U.S.
Wilster, in your question you have raised a great issue.
Does school as an institution limit our outlooks or is it
the method of instruction? Think about that. Is one factor
more powerful than the other?
We are on the verge of discussing a highly polemic topic.
Home Schooling vs. Institutional Schooling. Let's not go
there for the moment.
My question is why we feel compelled in our school systems
to impart as little knowledge about the world as possible.
We learn mathematics, sciences and about important
phenomenon's and events. But seldome do we learn about how
others live and perceive the world. Look at that word
OTHER. From a young age that duality has been engrained in
our minds. They do things differently and so they are
OTHER? The unlying commanality of humanity is always
presented as a biological fact.
Where is the Holistic Approach to education?
The system has produced a great many thinkers and scholars
but what bothers me is that we have to look to them to
expand our horizons. By themselves I have seen very few
people who are inclined to explore their world and partake
in the dance of life.