Comment From an immigrant ... (Score 1) 1382
I came here 20 years ago, enrolled in college, went to graduate school, and then stuck around.
First thing that surprised me was the number of students enrolled in "pre-college" math classes.
Then, even when I was grading senior class homeworks, I was dismayed with the prevalence of formulaetis.
When I was teaching, my students wanted everything on a silver spoon. If homeworks were not cut-and-paste from the text, they were too hard. If the exam was not cut-and-paste from past homeworks, it was not "fair", and so on.
Heck, where I grew up, homeworks and exams were almost always something that had no direct answer in the book, and required me to do some thinking. Students sometimes flunked their classes, and getting out of high school required passing a rigourous national test.
So, I am forced to conclude that by the time students get out of high school, very few have any learning skills, and most have had their learning skills and curiousity worked out of them. Look at young children, how much they want to learn, how curious they are, and how many questions they ask, and compare to the high school graduate who wants everything on a plate.
First thing that surprised me was the number of students enrolled in "pre-college" math classes.
Then, even when I was grading senior class homeworks, I was dismayed with the prevalence of formulaetis.
When I was teaching, my students wanted everything on a silver spoon. If homeworks were not cut-and-paste from the text, they were too hard. If the exam was not cut-and-paste from past homeworks, it was not "fair", and so on.
Heck, where I grew up, homeworks and exams were almost always something that had no direct answer in the book, and required me to do some thinking. Students sometimes flunked their classes, and getting out of high school required passing a rigourous national test.
So, I am forced to conclude that by the time students get out of high school, very few have any learning skills, and most have had their learning skills and curiousity worked out of them. Look at young children, how much they want to learn, how curious they are, and how many questions they ask, and compare to the high school graduate who wants everything on a plate.
