tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1140396545385302036.post5993483082929516034..comments2009-03-02T13:43:40.217+00:00Comments on Educational Conscription: The problem with schoolingSurreptitious Evilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393411103584747731noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1140396545385302036.post-91862392932487402632007-08-07T16:38:00.000+01:002007-08-07T16:38:00.000+01:00Thanks, we've added you to the roll.Thanks, we've added you to the roll.Fabe Tassanohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03279119414821928574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1140396545385302036.post-76534806676010541902007-08-07T15:16:00.000+01:002007-08-07T15:16:00.000+01:00Good to see someone is doing something about this!...Good to see someone is doing something about this!<BR/><BR/>I'm linking to you at: http://cynlib.blogspot.com/Scott Freemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03189076390204673741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1140396545385302036.post-22540786548415779242007-08-04T17:23:00.000+01:002007-08-04T17:23:00.000+01:00I agree there may well be a control issue as you s...I agree there may well be a control issue as you suggest.<BR/><BR/>Re the "genetic imperative", the point I was trying to make is that one needs to think realistically about what the motivations of those ostensibly providing services to individuals, but employed by and answerable to the state, actually are. Intervention is often predicated on the unexamined assumption that the motivations are no different than if the providers were remunerated directly by the customers.<BR/><BR/>I ask myself: what incentives exist within the state education sector to transmit the same skills which the private sector does? Or to (e.g.) boost the morale of pupils? Especially if they allow themselves to play around with the criteria for success (i.e. exam engineering) in order to minimise, as far as possible, the evidence that the two systems produce a dramatic difference in outcomes.<BR/><BR/>Incentives are relevant because I don't think one should have to rely on the goodwill of teachers. One wouldn't want to have to rely on the goodwill of a solicitor or an accountant, and I don't really see why different principles should apply to education or medicine.Fabe Tassanohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03279119414821928574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1140396545385302036.post-63857891060395940892007-08-04T15:06:00.000+01:002007-08-04T15:06:00.000+01:00Thanks for the feedback. Regarding the second poin...Thanks for the feedback. Regarding the second point, I am unsure that the genetic imperative works to that extent, although it is an interesting point to consider.<BR/><BR/>If it is anything other than mendacity, I would suspect that it is a control issue more than anything else: if your pupils can learn without you, then it reduces your importance. Although the desire for prestige and status is, of course, a genetic imperative.<BR/><BR/>DKDevil's Kitchenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13832949569501846730noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1140396545385302036.post-87412378720330072892007-08-04T09:53:00.000+01:002007-08-04T09:53:00.000+01:00You make two good points in particular DK:1) "I ha...You make two good points in particular DK:<BR/><BR/>1) "I have learnt more of history, economics, politics and sociology since I started blogging than I ever did at school."<BR/><BR/>I suspect it's true of a lot of people that after 16, or earlier in some cases, they learn far more when they're choosing whether and what to learn than when it is force-fed. With all that useful stuff out there these days (Wikipedia, online courses etc) people are well-placed to study in the way that suits them - provided they haven't had their enthusiasm for learning crushed out of them. Now <I>that</I> would be real individual-centred education, but the ideological preference among educational "experts" who use this concept always seems to be for some top-down version of it.<BR/><BR/>2) "What has always set me in good stead was the fact that I was always taught the underlying principles that governed the facts that we were taught."<BR/><BR/>I think this knowing-how-to-learn-more is one of those "hidden-curriculum" skills (like confidence, leadership, etc) which state schools seem incapable of transmitting. With all the waffle about teaching people life skills rather than useless facts, this point seems to get forgotten. (Perhaps because pro-state ideologues don't actually want to teach real confidence and suchlike - it's too threatening.) One can make one's own theories as to why private schools score so much higher in this area, but I think incentives are relevant here. Cynically put, why should someone want to pass on skills which provide a huge advantage in life, to people who are not genetically related to them, unless there is a clear economic incentive to do so? (I.e. parents removing the child if they think those skills aren't being taught.)Fabe Tassanohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03279119414821928574noreply@blogger.com