Comment by hintymad

Comment by hintymad 4 days ago

1 reply

Speaking of school, I find it disturbing that many schools switch to pure digital, i-ready and that some similar shit. The problem with pure digital is that the kids won't learn how to communicate math, like writing down step-by-step solutions to word problems in elementary schools, rigorous geometry proofs in grade 7, and algebraic derivations and proofs after grade 7. Those kind of work was natural to my generation when we grew up - it's just what our teachers trained us to do. And now it's a uphill battle to help my kids even understand the importance of doing proper maths.

A general theme, though, is that I don't get why it's so hard for Americans to stick to the traditional but good practices, like getting rigorous training in STEM, like not solely relying on multiple choices, like hiring good teachers and firing bad ones, etc and etc.

duderific 3 days ago

The school districts have all kinds of conflicting incentives and priorities. Someone is telling them "go digital, it's the future! Kids have to learn to use technology!" Now folks are telling them "but the kids don't learn well with laptops! Go back to books!" So are they going to abandon the sizable investment they made in getting every kid a Chromebook?

> like hiring good teachers and firing bad ones There are these things called unions...