Tuesday, June 2
My hiatus...
I apologize to those who actually follow blogs regularly, I do not and thus have grown into the habit of publishing irregularly. I have vowed to myself to make that different in 2009 and it begins with this post. More to come soon...
Wednesday, November 19
Teaching for life in the 21st century?
If you live in a civilized country and you're under 50, chances are you've gone to school from grade 1 through 12 and obtained a high-school diploma.
Perhaps afterwards you've obtained a post-secondary certificate, diploma, bachelors, or greater.
Those who haven't obtained any post-secondary education are not necessarily underachievers, simpletons or even less intelligent then those who have (albeit they may also be), but they have likely somewhere down the line made a choice, that choice is the inherent problem with our "civilized society".
Now it's a well known fact that we do need people to work at the Wal-Mart's, the Burger King's, even the Second Cup's. It's a good thing that we have company's that need employees locally wherever they open stores, it seems trivial, but it's very important, but that's not to say it SHOULD be that way.
As we approach the year 2009, I ask, is this really using our humanity to our full potential? Is this better work that our civilized society could provide for those who do not have a post-secondary education? Surely, besides simple manual labour, there must be a way for us to utilize our civilized education system and resources to do better?
Now granted, it's not everyone who wishes to work using their intellect, and some people may prefer manual labour. However my problem is with those who DON'T wish to work on simple "jobs" and wish to do more, but the sad fact is that there is only so much demand for almost every career. Be it doctor of medicine, architect, psychologist/psychiatrist, chemist, lawyer, registered nurse, justice of the peace, social worker, etc
So what do we do with the people who have opted for a career training in a field that already has run out of jobs to hire for? It seems poor social and government planning to simply force those people no other option but to aim for another job which pays significantly less and is not in their choice field, not to mention often not very intellectually challenging.
It seems to me unacceptable that no one is responsible or put to blame for not providing more direction to our bright young minds and to our societal resources. After all, High School guidance councillors can only suggest so much. It's outright shameful of our education system not being able to give more options to those with enough intelligence and ambition to pursue a post-secondary education. In the 21st century, surely more could be done to accommodate and guide our pupils.
I believe it is up to us to demand change in government and in our education systems to ensure in the future, perhaps our grand children's future, everyone who wishes to have a intellectually challenging career will be able to do so. If we want to advance humanity and our own societies, we owe it to future generations, and it must begin today.
"Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of facts." -Henry Brooks Adams
Perhaps afterwards you've obtained a post-secondary certificate, diploma, bachelors, or greater.
Those who haven't obtained any post-secondary education are not necessarily underachievers, simpletons or even less intelligent then those who have (albeit they may also be), but they have likely somewhere down the line made a choice, that choice is the inherent problem with our "civilized society".
Now it's a well known fact that we do need people to work at the Wal-Mart's, the Burger King's, even the Second Cup's. It's a good thing that we have company's that need employees locally wherever they open stores, it seems trivial, but it's very important, but that's not to say it SHOULD be that way.
As we approach the year 2009, I ask, is this really using our humanity to our full potential? Is this better work that our civilized society could provide for those who do not have a post-secondary education? Surely, besides simple manual labour, there must be a way for us to utilize our civilized education system and resources to do better?
Now granted, it's not everyone who wishes to work using their intellect, and some people may prefer manual labour. However my problem is with those who DON'T wish to work on simple "jobs" and wish to do more, but the sad fact is that there is only so much demand for almost every career. Be it doctor of medicine, architect, psychologist/psychiatrist, chemist, lawyer, registered nurse, justice of the peace, social worker, etc
So what do we do with the people who have opted for a career training in a field that already has run out of jobs to hire for? It seems poor social and government planning to simply force those people no other option but to aim for another job which pays significantly less and is not in their choice field, not to mention often not very intellectually challenging.
It seems to me unacceptable that no one is responsible or put to blame for not providing more direction to our bright young minds and to our societal resources. After all, High School guidance councillors can only suggest so much. It's outright shameful of our education system not being able to give more options to those with enough intelligence and ambition to pursue a post-secondary education. In the 21st century, surely more could be done to accommodate and guide our pupils.
I believe it is up to us to demand change in government and in our education systems to ensure in the future, perhaps our grand children's future, everyone who wishes to have a intellectually challenging career will be able to do so. If we want to advance humanity and our own societies, we owe it to future generations, and it must begin today.
"Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of facts." -Henry Brooks Adams
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