Debate

[beandelphiki]

So I joined debate with the vague thought that I would kinda keep an eye on it.

Yeah...riiight.

I don't think the debate community is neccessarily the place to aquire great wisdom (problem: quality control), but if there's one thing I HAVE learned, it's how little school taught me.

I try not to comment very much in that community ("try" being the operative word), given that I don't feel like I really have anything to contribute to most of the discussions. Particularly the political ones. So I'm mostly reading.

And as I watch I am re-discovering the inadequecies of the school system I've just exited.

Example: the previously mentioned political debates. I read these things, and I KNOW that we studied all this last year in social studies. I should understand all of it, and theoretically, I should be able to contribute, (whether I actually do, or not.) For gosh sakes, I ACED that class.

...And it's just going right over my head. Whoosh.

I am by no means an exceptional student (well, grades excepted, but we all know those mean nothing), but public schools are intended to be geared for what I am/was; the average student. And if I can come away, and not even be able to remember some of the most basic concepts nine months later, that says something is very, very wrong with our education system.

And I now basically have to re-teach myself high school social studies. And who knows what other classes. Grr.

Comments

[unintentional.livejournal.com]

Who's to say that the public schools are suppose to give us all the knowledge we'll need? I feel that they're more a basis of learning how to LEARN and picking up on the basics (you couldn't do algebra without 2nd grade math...)

I think it's more the inferances that we get from our public schooling than the actual lessons that we should take into life.

And teaching oneself isn't a bad thing!!

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

No, teaching yourself isn't a bad thing neccessarily, but I have a life, too.


As for teaching us to learn, that's BS they feed you. "We're teaching you to learn!" No...you're not. See, I already KNOW how best I learn, and I spent most of my school years with teachers trying to convince me that MY way of learning was wrong.

Sorry, I'm not pissed at you or anything...I'm sorry if it comes off like that. But public school pisses me off because I really think it's pretty useless.

Of COURSE you need second grade math for algebra, but how they taught second grade math wasn't the best either. Do you see what I'm saying? Studies have proven that you can learn everything you need to know up to gr. 8 in 24 months...and 9-12th grades in another 24.

...That's not a bullshit study because a lot of homeschoolers will attest to it's truth. That's why my sister's homeschooled.

Shutting up now.