My Kids Are Straight-A Students and They Know Nothing (2017)

WheelsAtLarge 2021-08-19 08:42:33 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Ok, so he teaches his kids how to hack school thru short term memory tricks and he's upset that they haven't learned anything. I don't think school has failed them, thought school has it's many faults, he has failed his kids. At some point he has to take responsibility to make sure his kids are educated by teaching them how to learn rather than to teach them how to get through tests with a good grade.

legerdemain 2021-08-19 01:53:14 +0000 UTC [ - ]

The author's polemic only shows that his middle-school children have no intrinsic interest in the history of the Roman Empire, and also don't memorize arbitrary durations. Quick: how many years between the Mexican-American War and the Spanish-American War? What's the air speed of an unladen swallow? Is this the author's idea of an education?

MiddleEndian 2021-08-19 02:20:03 +0000 UTC [ - ]

>Recently I tried to help my son with his seventh grade math homework. I couldn’t do it.

This is not a ringing endorsement of the author's own problem-solving skills.

browningstreet 2021-08-19 02:45:11 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Have you tried the new math? The challenge is not a matter of the math, it’s a matter of formatting components of the answer in boxes. Without exposure to it, it’s nearly impossible to decipher. Which felt like half the point when I was doing it with my son.

sircastor 2021-08-19 03:38:54 +0000 UTC [ - ]

I understand the vitriol pointed at the “new math”, but it seems to me the complaints always focus towards “I got the right answer, why was I not rewarded?”. For it’s flaws, its seems these new programs are more focused on teaching kids how to reason, and as a result ask them to follow the process instead of simply arrive at the answer.

chmod775 2021-08-19 04:12:58 +0000 UTC [ - ]

> its seems these new programs are more focused on teaching kids how to reason, and as a result ask them to follow the process instead of simply arrive at the answer

You don't teach people to reason by giving them a step-by-step guide that they can mechanically follow without thinking.

You teach them to reason - to think - by giving them a problem and having them figure out how to solve it themselves.

Math shouldn't be about rote memorization and imitating a calculator. You can fit all the basic calculation skills people will need in everyday life in grade one to three, then teach them proper mathematics - which coincidentally means learning to reason in a precise manner.

legerdemain 2021-08-19 03:07:01 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Hooray for New Math! New-hoo-hoo Math! It won't do you a bit of good to review math! It's so simple, so very simple, that only a child can do it!

avmich 2021-08-19 04:05:18 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Tom Lehrer is quite good on this :) .

Avamander 2021-08-19 09:23:24 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Have you tried Haskell? The challenge is not a matter of the programming, it’s a matter of formatting components of the answer in boxes. Without exposure to it, it’s nearly impossible to decipher. Which felt like half the point when I was doing it with my son.

Have you considered that different approaches to the same problem might indeed feel alien to you due to your lack of exposure, but aren't really that different?

vondur 2021-08-19 01:57:04 +0000 UTC [ - ]

African or European swallow?

bsder 2021-08-19 05:11:31 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Agreed. The author completely gets everything backward.

Why should his child care about how long America has existed unless it's on a test?

If you don't give someone a reason for why something is relevant, you won't get anywhere. If you don't try to make it interesting, to boot, you have no hope.

inglor_cz 2021-08-19 08:59:08 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Yeah, studying history without questions is a chore.

A good question might be: "Why did the Roman empire hold together that long and survived several serious crises, even though many other empires exploded and disintegrated in their first crisis ever, as the subjugated nations rushed for exits?"

That question has no definite answer, but boy (or girl), you learn a lot of fascinating history while trying to answer it.

rramadass 2021-08-19 04:00:20 +0000 UTC [ - ]

This is one of the most facile articles i have ever read on HN. Other than the click-baity title there is nothing in it. The author did not teach his kids to learn but taught them techniques to mug up and sort of feels good about it?

sam_dal 2021-08-19 04:50:33 +0000 UTC [ - ]

The guy can't even teach his kids (agree that it is his teacher's job but you are a parent, take him out and show the world) I wonder how he is the CEO and goes about mentoring/writing books about leading. Seems like his whole life is a hack.

rdtwo 2021-08-19 01:15:34 +0000 UTC [ - ]

I mean if your kids think that college is easy then they probably aren’t taking challenging classes. I don’t remember anyone thinking weed out Chem or physics was easy except one or 2 genius kids. Also if you take regular level classes you do indeed learn almost nothing because the curriculum is designed so median level achievers.

2021-08-19 04:04:47 +0000 UTC [ - ]

madengr 2021-08-19 03:21:56 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Approximately 206? How about approximately 200?

eucryphia 2021-08-19 01:11:16 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Your unspecified taxes pay for teachers whose students get straight A's in the tests the teachers set.

What if you paid the teacher through the school principal?

What if the invoice for your school fees were on the bottom of your kid's annual report card?

And you had to pay it, with a bank cheque, in person, to the teacher, on the Tuesday before Christmas, after waiting in the queue with all the other parents.

With your kid and the principal looking on, all minds focussed and incentives painfully exposed?

avmich 2021-08-19 03:46:13 +0000 UTC [ - ]

> I actually don’t worry about my kids’ futures at all. They will excel in whatever it is they choose to do. But it has nothing to do with their grades or schooling. I can see that they have a strong work ethic, they are kind, have high emotional intelligence, and good leadership and social skills. These are things they learned from family, church, athletics, activities and video games (yes, video games).

So, dean HNers, don't worry about STEM. No need to train engineering, look into physics, think over math - no hard subjects required to get successful in the world. Just kindness and good leadership. Onwards, Jameses Kirks... wait a minute, Kirk was able to reprogram the simulation. Never mind then.