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Discussion and Debate - The Philosopher's Plaza / Re: School vs. education.
« on: May 06, 2013, 11:33:50 PM »
I feel very strongly both that the videos are right and that they are wrong.
Where they are wrong; statistics. Lies, damned lies and statistics. The fact that ten famous people did not have degrees is NOT an acceptable or useful statistic on the usefulness of degrees except to prove that one does not have to have a degree to be rich (which is obvious), and furthermore does not in any way negate the value of academia. The fact remains that on average your parents and teachers are right, and that people with degrees average significantly more earnings over the course of their lifetime. Furthermore, academic learning, particularly at university level, has an innate value in the training it gives the mind and the broader, more perceptive view of reality one can get as a result; just because people aren't good at everything doesn't mean they shouldn't have to study it either. A better tailored system is needed in many areas, but simply because maths doesn't drive someone, or history isn't someone's real passion, shouldn't mean that they should leave school without having studied it. Education, in a democratic society, is not simply a right; there has to be a sense of duty there as well, and whilst the exam system is failing a lot of people I felt the view given in the videos of people just thinking "why am I studying this when I have no passion for it" is a bit simplistic.
Also as a society we need physicists, chemists, engineers, medics; we need people with degrees, and it's not simply a case of patting everyone on the head and telling them to follow their dreams. We as a society can affect what the rest of society values, and thus what those dreams are. If all we value is badly written pop music, IPhone apps, and football, and that's all people are exposed, then people won't have achievable or useful dreams, and that is collectively our fault as well. The videos partly address this, but it's not true just to see it as society VS the young; the young are part of that society, and our decisions on what we value affect what will give people drive and where people decide to look to find what they are capable of.
I'll do where they're right (basically everything else, particularly the need to educate more, focus on exams a LOT less, and most importantly of all cater better for the variety of people and vocations we have) sometime soon, just getting the critique out the way now.
Where they are wrong; statistics. Lies, damned lies and statistics. The fact that ten famous people did not have degrees is NOT an acceptable or useful statistic on the usefulness of degrees except to prove that one does not have to have a degree to be rich (which is obvious), and furthermore does not in any way negate the value of academia. The fact remains that on average your parents and teachers are right, and that people with degrees average significantly more earnings over the course of their lifetime. Furthermore, academic learning, particularly at university level, has an innate value in the training it gives the mind and the broader, more perceptive view of reality one can get as a result; just because people aren't good at everything doesn't mean they shouldn't have to study it either. A better tailored system is needed in many areas, but simply because maths doesn't drive someone, or history isn't someone's real passion, shouldn't mean that they should leave school without having studied it. Education, in a democratic society, is not simply a right; there has to be a sense of duty there as well, and whilst the exam system is failing a lot of people I felt the view given in the videos of people just thinking "why am I studying this when I have no passion for it" is a bit simplistic.
Also as a society we need physicists, chemists, engineers, medics; we need people with degrees, and it's not simply a case of patting everyone on the head and telling them to follow their dreams. We as a society can affect what the rest of society values, and thus what those dreams are. If all we value is badly written pop music, IPhone apps, and football, and that's all people are exposed, then people won't have achievable or useful dreams, and that is collectively our fault as well. The videos partly address this, but it's not true just to see it as society VS the young; the young are part of that society, and our decisions on what we value affect what will give people drive and where people decide to look to find what they are capable of.
I'll do where they're right (basically everything else, particularly the need to educate more, focus on exams a LOT less, and most importantly of all cater better for the variety of people and vocations we have) sometime soon, just getting the critique out the way now.
