On my phone so I cannot quote but the reference to Ken Robinson was spot on. Though I'm not sure that the teachers have it wrong. Rather, the districts (state boards?) seem to think telling us the answers is the way to get us through the standardized tests. Years later you find yourself in a museum scratching your head saying, "Well, when you put it that way, it makes perfect sense."

The overwhelming majority of teachers hate the "teach to the test" system of education as well, and we DO spend time and money fighting against it. The real problem is in the legislative bodies that tell us that's what we have to do in order to somehow prove that we're doing our jobs "properly."

So, sorry snowflake, you can DIAF. Place blame where blame is due. It'snot our fault you're an overly-competitive little douche that wasted what should have been some of the best years of your life.

Her shallow and pedantic speech is a perfect example of the low level of achievement being produced by schools.

CrushedVelvetVivisection: Here's a secret: most teachers don't give a shiat about grades. We give them out because we are made to.

This is why one of my professors made it nearly impossible to fail his classes. You had to get below a 40% to fail, and most of the grade was based on a semester-long research paper, 80% of which was graded on completion.

I HATED high school, ended up ditching most of my senior year after I was transferred to an all-boys Catholic school in a Chicago ghetto in the late '80s. I also knew that I was very smart, and that as long as I could get into a junior college and build my grades up in a place that I liked, I'd be okay. I got my HS diploma, and laughed when my craptacular school would contact me for a donation, mere months after treating me like I was in a prison.

It worked out like I planned -- went to a local JC, transferred and got my BA degree from Miami of Ohio, established a pretty good career in a field that I enjoy, and made more money than probably all the nitwits at my high school. I succeeded on my own, my high school gave me NOTHING.

I think I found her FB page. (new window)

Shut up there, missy. You aren't old enough to start whining about the state of the world yet.

It's all totally farked up. When you get old you'll realize this.

lokidecat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M4tdMsg3ts

if you want to hear it instead of read it..

Blurry, but has nice legs.

fat_free: Catholic school in a Chicago ghetto in the late '80s

Mt. Carmel?

Everyone isn't special and the very idea of it is nonsense. Yes the school is training you to get a JOB. That is why you go to school, there isn't any other reason. If you are stupid enough to think that school has anything about broadening your mind or anything worthless like art then you missed the point completely. Society trains you to be another drone so it can continue, education trains you to get a job. If you really think art and poems are worth while then do it in your own time, don't waste my tax dollars.

UNC_Samurai: coco ebert: If anything a liberal arts education allows you to explore what interests you. No one's forcing you to be an overachiever (well, except maybe your parents).

And the bevy of people on Fark who think a degree that's not in chemistry, law, or business makes you a horrible waste of oxygen.

...and even more who think even those wretches are better than anyone who, shock of shocks, doesn't have a degree!

Indolent: She sounds like she's already going through a midlife crisis. And so young too. Shame.

On the plus side, some of my best sex has been with women having midlife crises.

On the down side, she sounds fat.

/saw the video, she still *sounds* fat

ignite ice: That was rather good. I enjoyed it. I agree with a lot of it actually. Fark is a haven for people who want to call everyone a snowflake and accuse them of whining

but calling someone that offers any sort of insight a snowflake is so fresh and hip .... like a Foghat concert

Thisbymaster: Yes the school is training you to get a JOB. That is why you go to school, there isn't any other reason

You're the one who has missed the point.

Ignominiousbob: Her shallow and pedantic speech is a perfect example of the low level of achievement being produced by schools.


Yes quite shallow and pedantic. Meh.

Thisbymaster: Yes the school is training you to get a JOB. That is why you go to school, there isn't any other reason. If you are stupid enough to think that school has anything about broadening your mind or anything worthless like art then you missed the point completely.

So education isn't about personal growth at all? Having had multiple friends study abroad in places like India and Tanzania, I have say that organized programs in places like that are extraordinarily beneficial on multiple levels.

/went to a liberal arts school

Really, 65+ posts and no one, and I repeat no one, focused on Coxsackie.

Coxsackie for crying out loud people, Coxsackie.

///disappointed

Barakku: And we should teach WAY more science than we do, honestly, cut out some farking math and history/lit for it. With computers math isn't very important beyond basic skills (which if you aren't retarded you'll pick up while you use those skills for other applications) and with real references in the digital age, memorizing dates is a bunch of outdated horseshiat.


Wow, where to begin...

Math is much more than arithmetic, and science is mostly applied math. There's a reason that Newton invented Calculus (part of it, anyway) - without it, he couldn't have described and modeled the basic rules of Physics. Designing the control systems required for the most basic of modern industry requires an understanding of math up through differential equations and statistics.

As for the subject of history, these people will be voting. Do you really want them not knowing how things got to be in the shape they are now? Sure, having students memorize dates beyond major milestones is mostly busy work, but there's so much more to history than that.

Personally, I think that we should go back to teaching classical logic and rhetoric skills. The degree to which modern political debate is predicated on logical fallacies terrifies me, frankly.

WhyteRaven74: fat_free: Catholic school in a Chicago ghetto in the late '80s

Mt. Carmel?

Leo. 79th & Sangamon.

How awesome would life be if all anyone did was write stories and paint painting about other people who just wrote stories and painted paintings.

/sarcasm

fat_free: Leo. 79th & Sangamon.

That was my next guess. Myself I went to a high school that was across the street from a housing project. Though it's now gone replaced by condos.

/St. Ignatius

tomo12144: How awesome would life be if all anyone did was write stories and paint painting about other people who just wrote stories and painted paintings.

Every really smart person I have ever come across or heard of is also very creative. Likewise people who make it by being very creative are also quite smart.

so much win.

Well, I think she's not being completely honest because I have discovered proof (new window) that she's exploring her creative side. IF that's her.

/She won't win a grammy, but that just makes it like millions of other youtube videos.

WhyteRaven74: fat_free: Leo. 79th & Sangamon.

That was my next guess. Myself I went to a high school that was across the street from a housing project. Though it's now gone replaced by condos.

/St. Ignatius

... and costs slightly more than U of I.

What she said made sense but it's not exactly a rip on the educational system as a whole. A large part of the problem is the moronic people that run the system (teachers, administrators, etc).

Think of the worst parts of government and politics then think of the people that don't quite make the grade to be in government and/or politics. Those are the people that run the educational system.

Where the hell was Biggles: Personally, I think that we should go back to teaching classical logic and rhetoric skills. The degree to which modern political debate is predicated on logical fallacies terrifies me, frankly.

Says you.

ShillinTheVillain: She said in the speech that while her friends were making music and pursuing hobbies...

It is what she said. It doesn't make it true.

Those aren't the sole two possibilities, or even the most likely two. Much further up on the list are getting high, being entertained electronically, social climbing, and sex. Those may qualify as "hobbies", but not the kind responders are nodding sagely to in her speech.

vodka: What she said made sense but it's not exactly a rip on the educational system as a whole. A large part of the problem is the moronic people that run the system (teachers, administrators, etc).

Think of the worst parts of government and politics then think of the people that don't quite make the grade to be in government and/or politics. Those are the people that run the educational system.

Teachers run the system? Excuse me...what planet did you say you were from?

jso2897: She made some good points, but she could use to work on acquiring the art of brevity. That was damn near as bad as John Galt's Radio Speech.

Nothing is as bad as Rand's writing.

I just wanted to point out that this blog has two writers and both of them have given themselves the title "Director". Combined with the speech, that's too much pretentiousness for one webpage.

Kevinnap: Really, 65+ posts and no one, and I repeat no one, focused on Coxsackie.

Coxsackie for crying out loud people, Coxsackie.

///disappointed

dude, 2nd post in.

I'm buildin my city on rock and roll, biatches!

Rodeodoc: Hero? So this precocious little snowflake gets up and whines that she doesn't think she learned anything and that makes her a hero? she thinks school is boring? she thinks students should just be able to "find themselves"? This isn't a hero. this is just another spoiled brat looking for her 15 minutes of fame. She thinks school is boring? Wait until she finishes fou ryears of college (that mommy and daddy will pay for) and takes her shiny new Arts degree to her data entry job.

What are you so angry at?

CrushedVelvetVivisection: She makes it sound one-sided -- that all students are yearning to be free and it is the teachers that stifle them.

I wish my students cared more about learning than grades. But they don't. They ask for homework and quizzes and tests, as long as they have the opportunity to get that A.

Here's a secret: most teachers don't give a shiat about grades. We give them out because we are made to.

I teach mainly collegiate pre-meds, so I clearly have a biased sample. Whatever the faults of the educational system, there's plenty of blame to go around.

Did you read her speech all the way to the end?

Rodeodoc: Wait until she finishes fou ryears of college (that mommy and daddy will pay for) and takes her shiny new Arts degree to her data entry job.

So nice how you're so certain of how she'll end up and don't even bother to acknowledge her actual points.

fat_free: ... and costs slightly more than U of I.

hah yeah, even in my day, I graduated in 92, it cost about as much of U of I a block away.

Magorn: Which really doesn't help narrow down your choices any and when you do find something you enjoy doing, you have to demand of yourself whether it it "important enough" of whether you are "wasting your potential"

I think that are many different kinds of value and potential but without organized education you can't build on what has gone before you and achieve true excellence. On the other hand, you can become too wedded to the box and unable to think creatively on your own. It's really up to the individual, and it has nothing to do with whether it's science or math or law or even art: you need to learn how to draw on the talents and experiences of others.

fat_free: I HATED high school, ended up ditching most of my senior year after I was transferred to an all-boys Catholic school in a Chicago ghetto in the late '80s.

On the plus side, it must have made it easier to get dates.

Ah, good, she learned a lesson that most people figure out in their 30's and 40's.

Sounds like she discovered that being accomplished is very different too different people.

Good on her.

Critical thought is a good talent, sadly it will probably hold her back in life. People do not like finding out they are wrong or being shown a different way.

Very good speech about how we only study for tests and not for knowledge.

But then she went full retard and said the entire education system is a government conspiracy to suppress citizens. Right....

SubBass49: Teachers run the system? Excuse me...what planet did you say you were from?

Ah, another product of the American education system. Good for you little buddy!

Kevinnap: Really, 65+ posts and no one, and I repeat no one, focused on Coxsackie.

Coxsackie for crying out loud people, Coxsackie.

///disappointed

Aim that disappointment somewhere other than outward. Second post.

For lots of people, the height of their achievements, popularity, and creativity ends at high school graduation.

For the rest, it's just a beginning of the next stage of learning.

vodak: SubBass49: Teachers run the system? Excuse me...what planet did you say you were from?

Ah, another product of the American education system. Good for you little buddy!

FTFY.

So she knows that college is going to be virtually identical to high school with tests and all the other BS she was railing against. What are the odds that she is going to opt out of continuing to be a slave and not go to college, 1 in a million or closer to 0 in a billion?

Congratulations sweetie you have learned the most important lesson of all, bald faced hypocrisy. The importance of denouncing something while fully participating in it and maximally benefiting from it. She has a bright future and someday she'll be a six term senator running her campaign as an outsider vowing to clean up Washington etc.

OscarTamerz: So she knows that college is going to be virtually identical to high school with tests and all the other BS she was railing against. What are the odds that she is going to opt out of continuing to be a slave and not go to college, 1 in a million or closer to 0 in a billion?

I was told there would be no math.

vodka: SubBass49: Teachers run the system? Excuse me...what planet did you say you were from?

Ah, another product of the American education system. Good for you little buddy!

Pretentious response for someone who didn't answer my question.

Since when have teachers "run the system" here in America? Hell, they still need unions to guarantee basic due-process rights. They have no power in the equation. Administrators, sure...legislators, most definitely. Teacher? Are you on drugs?