tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5458172893016186479.post1610985571354147729..comments2024-03-09T03:28:44.216-05:00Comments on Thoughts on Education Policy: Sunday Commentary: How Much Does Everybody Need to Know?Corey Bunje Bowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09764159604965707919noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5458172893016186479.post-74986518754736991572009-11-23T17:41:05.034-05:002009-11-23T17:41:05.034-05:00There is an unstated assumption in your argument: ...There is an unstated assumption in your argument: that when students have passed a course in a subject they have "learned" it. I do not think that is true. In fact I would bet my life that a year later, the average student can recall no more than 5% of what he supposedly learned in a course.<br /><br />That changes the question to, "how much should everybody be exposed to?" Not surprisingly, because our jobs (and our self-esteem) depend on it, we say "a lot."<br /><br />One possible justification is the old saying, "you have to kiss a lot of toads before you find your prince." You have to take a lot of courses to find the stuff that's right for you. I'm not sure how good an argument that is. Many people use none of the post-middle school subject matter knowledge they were tested on.<br /><br />Another justification is to say that what we teach in school isn't subject matter knowledge; it's skills and habits: showing up on time, doing what's expected, learning to absorb new information, use it, and then forget it when it's no longer useful. A regimen of tests and projects and homeworks works well for this.<br /><br />One could argue that high school teaches one level of skills and habits and then college teaches a higher one. High school students have a limited amount of discretion and a lot of help. To a much greater extent, college students figure things out on their own, and decide how to allocate their time and effort.<br /><br />When an employer says, "college degree required" without specifying a course of study, you can be sure she doesn't care about the particular facts the potential employee learned.Roger Sweenyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12734128265493099062noreply@blogger.com