Quote:
Originally Posted by mr dave
last time i checked i didn't limit myself from learning about things that interested me because i had to learn about things that did not, nor have i ever met anyone that did.
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I agree with the concerns expressed in the video: children who are not given options and exposed to the vast stockpile of human knowledge will not have a chance to learn as much as they could about what interests them.
As mr dave says, people can still pursue passions even if they also learn information that isn't so interesting to them. Also, I'd like to point out that the knowledge that may not be so immediately exciting for children to learn can be useful to them later when they pursue their passions. A child may not see how learning A, B, and C will enable her to do D more easily.
However, I also feel that the U.S. public school system, as experienced by my 1st grader, is in some ways horrible: children are rewarded with candy, are told to put their heads down if they forget to bring in homework, and get in trouble if they shriek with excitement...in FIRST GRADE! The classroom atmosphere practically gives ME an ulcer.
I tell my child that I wish I could send him to the alternative public school program I attended when in elementary school, and he says he wishes he could go. The alternative program (in the public school system) exposed us to a wide variety of topics, but allowed us to learn what we wanted at our own speed, and we had lots of freedoms. Unfortunately, this successful program was killed off by those in power who preferred the more traditional school methods.
The U.S. public school system that I've seen in action sometimes places order, heirarchy (as a method of dominating children) and rote learning above creativity and freedom. I'm afraid the public school system sometimes does a very good job of killing off children's enjoyment in learning for its own sake.