Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech
blog.swiftkickonline.com
Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech
1–10 of 213 posts
Re: Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech
#2It must have been very painful for her to continue on her path to being valedictorian after she came to this conclusion.
Re: Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech
#3I would have loved to have the experience to not just hear her speech in person, but to see the reactions from everyone. The faces of her fellow students as well as teachers/parents.
Re: Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech
#4I think this is something many high school seniors realize at some point or another: had we known how easy it really was to game the system, we might have started playing the game earlier and earned more points. We aren't rewarded for interests, or how we approach things, or even for helping our fellow students; we're rewarded for scoring as many points as we can to the detriment of all other things.
Re: Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech
#5original link: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/212383-V...aduation-Speech
Re: Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech
#6It is extremely validating to hear this coming from the lips of a valedictorian. I've always defended my disinterest in school by asserting that I'm way too smart for school. I struggled for my entire academic career because I naively believed that the point of school was to learn, when really, the point of school is to follow directions.
Now, when I tell people that I have no interest in college, they could dismiss my disinterest as a defense mechanism. I know that most people will never understand what I'm talking about when I claim that mass education is a tool for creating workers, but at least some intelligent people will read this brilliant speech and know what I am talking about.
I don't care anymore about arguing with the world, I just want to care for myself and my family, but I am glad this woman got a chance expose some truth to her class. I feel for her confusion and fear about missing out on self-discovery for many years of her life, but it is pretty clear that she is on the right path now and I can't wait to see what she goes on to accomplish in the future.
Re: Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech
#7I think this is something many high school seniors realize at some point or another: had we known how easy it really was to game the system, we might have started playing the game earlier and earned more points. We aren't rewarded for interests, or how we approach things, or even for helping our fellow students; we're rewarded for scoring as many points as we can to the detriment of all other things.
had we known how easy it really was to game the system, we might have started playing the game earlier and earned more points.
I think you completely missed the point the girl was trying to make.
Re: Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech
#8In other news, the sky is blue.
Srsly... Valedictory speeches are suddenly no longer about embracing our individualistic spirit anymore? Thank you for the link bait.
Re: Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech
#9All my math classes felt like that. I was simply being told to memorize formulas so that later the teacher could give me numbers and I would plug them in. Rarely was I ever told why I would want to use those formulas.
My best class was a chemistry course taught by a 60 year old man that used to test missiles at one point. The grades never really mattered and as long as you knew the vocabulary he would pass you. But where he made a difference was giving us examples of why stuff worked along with how. For the final we had to determine what an unknown substance was. There was no right method to do this, just simply a number of different tests that we had to do and be able to understand what the results were. We then had to 'think' as to what it might mean about the substance we were testing. He set us free and we passed and failed on our own accord because it was up to the students to read the book to try and find just one more test that might give a better result.
The one lasting comment that my chemistry teacher told me was that he was not concerned with how well we memorized things because he knew we would forget. There would always be time to read up on whatever we were doing on the job. He wanted us to have the core understanding so that when we did look up the boiling point or specific gravity of a compound we would know what those facts would signify as opposed to learning stats on the more common elements. Best teacher I ever had because he didn't so much as teach me as he made me think for myself.
Re: Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech
#10policy makers often look at side effects of success and, not understanding how success is achieved, seek to make the side effects more likely.
They see successful economies spend lavish sums on housing, so to have a successful economy, subsidize housing.
Intelligent people do well on tests, so raising test scores will produce intelligent people. Never mind that the obsession with test taking make it even a more mind numbing experience.
Are people truly better innovators after going through such a process? We need to study exactly this question. Actually, I would not be surprised if alternatives like the Montessori method have already been proven superior.