Self determination is correct. Of my family of 6 children, I was the only one who pursued an education beyond high school, not counting job skill related schooling, which is training, not education.TimmyBoy said:I think the only way to get a true good education is to be determined yourself to learn. No system can make you learn and nobody else can, you just have to be willing to learn yourself. In a way, I don't think anybody can give you a good education nor can any system. You just have to be determined to think for yourself and to have a love of learning. Once you have this love of learning and you think for yourself, you will start getting a real education. But speaking of education, I would like to leave you with a quote:
Education is a system of imposed ignorance -Noam Chomsky
UtahBill said:Self determination is correct. Of my family of 6 children, I was the only one who pursued an education beyond high school, not counting job skill related schooling, which is training, not education.
Noam Chomsky is a collegiate, and not being fair, while not being wrong, either. Someone who spends all his time learning, teaching, etc. will likely be more informed than the rest of us. Ignorance is the opposite of knowledge, the more knowledge you have, the less ignorance you have, assuming it is correct knowledge. Imposed ignorance can be viewed the same as controlled knowledge. They teach us what they want us to know to become useful citizens, and that is not all bad. The danger lies in what they keep from us.
That is why the educationally advantaged elite in this country are at the top politically, financially, etc. Those with more knowledge can use/abuse their position to help us or hurt us, depending on their moral code. It can be as simple as the car salesman steering you to what he has in stock, instead of what you really want or need. Or worse, the financial adviser who steers you to what gets him the most income based on fees and commissions, rather than what gets you the best return on your investment dollars. And worse yet, the already rich and powerful are making the rules that suit themselves, instead of giving us a level playing field so more of us can move up the ladder a bit.
Knowledge is power, even individually. (Stupidity takes larger numbers of people to have much effect)
You can bet that the elite will never support really good public schools. They can pretend to, but they know that most of us are too cheap/selfish/lazy do our part. Even tho I have my 2 educated, both college grads, I am not above helping other people's kids with my tax dollars. We all benefit when the next generation is better prepared than the last. That is the way it should be.
Technocratic_Utilitarian said:5. The Curriculum is also a problem. There needs to be a higher focus on critical thinking instead of silly rote memorization of facts. Education should be geared not toward creating some "mythical" well-rounded person, rather a useful, rational person. Instead of these bullshit subjects like Enliglish literature, which have practical utility of a hood ornament. Come on, this patently absurd that in our country one is forced to take MORE years of learning about Shitspear(TM) than one is of math or science. We should be teaching children the Scientific Method and its applications, not Romeo and Juliet. Every child should graduate with at least Analytic Geometry or at least algebra II--sadly, you can at many schools, including Northern Burlington Regional---my old Highschool. Literature is bunk, and it actually fosters an irrational, anti-scientific mindset. It needs to be kicked along with those worthless lit teachers who keep Literature components around simply to justify their degree. We should also be teaching them how better to manipulate language through grammar and rhetoric while teaching them proper rationality with several years of pure logic courses. To follow this up, all students should take mandatory ethics courses over several years in order to make people THINK, not react--thus being better citizens.
We should kick the nonessentials to make more time for essentials. Sports? Waste of time. Highschools are neither colleges nor are they training grounds for people to bounce basket balls. Schools spend too much time and energy promoting their nonsensical pep rallies than they do education. In my school, we were actually drug from MATH to go watch cheerleaders dance around like a bunch of morons. What imbecile thought that idea up? Math---peprally---math---cheering...Is this really a hard concept for administrations to comprehend?
Excellent analysis in that post! :rockjallman said:I'll tell you exactly what is wrong with the school system...there is too much time spent on making sure each child feels good and not enough time making sure each child makes the grade. A few simple adjustments would make a world of difference.
George_Washington said:Whew, Tech! I can't even begin to say what a big dumb, ignorant sack of B.S. that all is.
Shakespere is one of the greatest writers that ever lived-he was a genius in his field. If you don't see the value and benefits of literature to our society than I seriously doubt if you will make an effective history teacher.
You're a history major-correct? I could just as easily say your degree is worthless, based on your logic, and that you should be majoring in math, engineering, or one of the sciences.
Or maybe you're just jealous of the writers, film makers, and people in the arts that make millions more per year than you'll never see as a history teacher.
I do think we should stress math more in this country but your attitude to education is just moronic.
Not everybody can do math for a living-if that was the case, our society would crumble.
Your dislike for creativity is also just as stupid, I guess you forgot that it was Einstein who said that creativity is more important than knowledge.
Uh huh, thanks. Considering you're a history major, I've probably taken more math courses at the college level than you have and even I can see the benefit of the arts.
Sports are a waste of time? Can you get anymore stupid or is this something you work on every day?
Sports teachers people to work in groups, leadership, and the value of competition.
I guess again you're just jealous of the athletes that turn professional and make millions of dollars.
Sports is a worthwhile discipline and is something that is an aspect of our democratic, free enterprise system.
Sports have been around since the ancient Romans. Professional sports create many jobs and bring in revenue for cities and communities.
If we don't have sports in highschool than we'll never produce professional athletes.
I'm sorry if you have no athletic ability and can't dribble a basketball to save your life but that doesn't mean you have to penalize those that can.
Furthermore, everyone benefits from physical exercise. Or do you want us to be a society full of obese 600 lbs. people?
Christ, we're already practically there as it is. And if you really believe physical fitness doesn't matter than fine, keep believing that when you die of a heart attack at 35.
But you're right about one thing; our school system does need improvements. The fact that they produced you is testimony to that.
Technocratic_Utilitarian said:This is irrelevant. Shakespear is ont the "greatest" writer, and he's not even one of the greatest writers. That's a subjective value statement. Literature isn't based on fact. Literature is ont based on logical analysis. Literature is not empirical. It's nonsense. It teaches inferior ways of thinking. The entirey "literary" analysis method is diametrically opposed to rational science.
You don't need an entire class on Literature; this is a disgrace. We waste 3-4 years on this bullshat subject, yet half of our population is mathematically and scientifically ignorant. THis is unacceptable.
Literature classes are a waste of time.
History isn't worth as much as engineering, math, and the sciences or logic. You're right. However, I am becomming a History teacher because it's pragmatic. History has some value in that you need to know what happened in your past; it's a lessons subject. Learn it, so you don't do it again. Memorizing every trivial detail is, quite frankly, worthless. History only has value in terms of civics and theme.
Appeal to Authority Fallacy. I could care less what Einstein's personal opinion was. He wasn't talking about Art at all, rather creative thinking/critical thinking in science and logic. There's nothing wrong with creative thinking; spending four years studying Moby Dick and the symbolism of a white sperm whale, however, is pointless.
You really must have had oxygen deprivation as a child.
They also:
A. Waste time for school and study
B. Create dangerous levels of competition
C. Siphon off time that could be better put into academics
All that "Teamwork" and "competition" nonsense you whine about can be easily accomplished without resorting to bouncing a basketball around a court untill 5 pm, when the kid belongs at home studying the scientific method.
Bullshit. Sports are unnecessary and harmful academically on a highschool level. You have schools where less than 40% of the students could pass the highschool assessments, yet most were learning very well how to prepare for cross country nonsense or "basketball." That's unacceptable. Obviously, both together do not work.
Bullshit. Colleges are the number 1 arena for sports. Most students waste their time in highschool sports; the vast majority of students will never become athletes, but they will always remain shitty scholars because of the time they wasted on sports in the vain hopes of achieving fame.
Ad Hominem Fallacy: You don't know jack-**** about me. I did archery in highschool.
Don't STrawman my post, dumbf.uck. I never said there would be no physical exercize.
George_Washington said:I'm not stawmaning your stupid post, idiot. You don't know jack squat about education and your views on sports and English literature are as moronic as your nasty little attitude.
Technocratic_Utilitarian said:3. Shakespear is not great; his work is rather trite and banal. It doesn't teach you proper English, and it's a waste of time trying to sift through archaic English no one uses. It does not teach anything of value that couldn't be duplicated, sans the confusing, in another subject. Forcing literary analysis (AKA searching for **** that doesn't exist, but pretending it does) is a waste of valuable time that should, instead, be devoted to something more practical.
The majority of English Professors regard Shakespere's work as being very unique, articulate, and meaningful. Your opinion doesn't mean crap next to theirs, sorry.
1. As for sports, it is foolish to think that Highschool students, on average, have a chance of making the "big leagues." It is a waste of time to ingrain it into a child's mind that he ought to fight hard in sports; he has little chance to make anything of himself by going and focusing on sports. He should focus on something more utilitarian in his life. Academics comes first: entertainment comes second. The percentage of students who go on to become successful athletes is absysmally miniscule, so it's a farce to treat it as more than a diversion while on the Highschool level: we aren't talking about college football here, that is a massive, interstate moneymaker. Even then, half the students don't go anywhere.
It is not a farce to want to play professional sports; if everyone thought that way, then nobody would even try.
There is a higher level of potentially dangerous "competition" than teamwork that goes on in highschool sports. This is quite evidence in the quanity of drug use that goes on in highschool and college. People are forced to believe they ought to use drugs in order to "compete" against bigger, badder athletes. After all, if they lose at football, they are obviously inferior! We live in a Jock-Dominated culture that ridicules the intellectuals and glorifies Joe. Average and the jock. That's unacceptable. The geek and the "nerd" are, potentially, more valuable than the future burger king associate who as a highschool football star.
Well, if you consider yourself a nerd you might be right...:rofl
You really seem angry at athletes. This isn't a fallacy; I am allowed to recognize anger and point it out if I so wish.
We need: Logic, Ethics, Rhetoric, History (civics), 4 years of science, 4 years of maths, PE, and language classes. There also should be one pragmatic accounting class for business math. If you have to get rid of nonsense courses like literature, art, music, home economics (let mom teach you), thetre, film etc., so be it. If you can afford it all, yet not decrease the effectiveness of the core subjects and compromise study time, allow it.
We should take 4 years of math and science, yes, but we should also have courses in literature and the arts to make students well rounded.
If people are unable to cut the curriculum, then they should not progress. If you cannot pass basic science, math, and logic courses, you don't graduate. It's quite that simply. If you fail repeatedly, you will be sent off to state vocational schools where you belong, or you can go to community college and then make the transition to a university. Not everyone belongs in college, unlike academics. Artsy types who want theatre, drama, art etc can go to specialty schools, but they too must pass the required courses.
If we should really take all this math and science then why don't you take more math and science? A history major is hardly built on math or science.
jallman said:I do believe this is the first time we have agreed on anything. :2wave:
Technocratic_Utilitarian said:This is irrelevant. Shakespear is ont the "greatest" writer, and he's not even one of the greatest writers. That's a subjective value statement. Literature isn't based on fact. Literature is ont based on logical analysis. Literature is not empirical. It's nonsense. It teaches inferior ways of thinking. The entirey "literary" analysis method is diametrically opposed to rational science.
You don't need an entire class on Literature; this is a disgrace. We waste 3-4 years on this bullshat subject, yet half of our population is mathematically and scientifically ignorant. THis is unacceptable.
Literature classes are a waste of time. They do not
Also regarding this ramble-your claim that Literature isn't as, "exact" a discipline as is somewhat inaccurate because even in math, "exactness" can be subjective, especially the higher up you go. If you do math with the real number system, you get one set of results. If you factor in imaginary numbers, you get another set. If you look at 2 dimensional objects, you get one set of answers and if you look at 3 dimensional objects and above, it's a whole different ball game. Math is logical and very precise, yes. But that doesn't mean it doesn't also contain subjective data and proofs that can be done a number of different ways and still yield the same result. If you replace our math system with a number different than 10, you get completely different results on things.
More over, engineering can also be highly subjective! Creativity can be a very useful tool in developing a new engine or any kind of new mechanical system.
So you're statement that Literature is just purely subjective and therefore is worthless is just nonesense.
So what do we do? We rely on scholars and professors in their respective fields to create a suitable curriculum for students. Most English professors think that Shakespeare was a brillant writer. You may not but that doesn't conclude that we shouldn't teach his work. We need some kind of a traditional, stable source to teach people with, we can't just pick out the latest best seller every month.
Your assertion that we shouldn't teach art or literature at all is ridiculous because art reflects humanity.
We're not just all a bunch of emotionless, mindless drones that just go around all day computing math problems. Humans experience things in their life such as love, hurt, happiness, depression, fear, anxiety, and a host of other emotions. Literature is one of the ways in which humans express themselves and the human state we are all in.
And yes, Literature is based on fact in the sense that it is built on emotions, feelings, and ideas that we all experience. You cannot look at literature the same way you do math, that is pathetically stupid.
Tech, I could see society if you were in charge. We'd all be a bunch of out of shape, mindless, scientist drones all having basically the same job, being miserable as could be.
If I were in charge, I would have students take 4 years of math, science, and also English language courses, which at least two would be a focus on English Literature. Yes, grammer is important but the artistic side of a student must be developed just as well as the roughly more analytical side.
The understanding of human emotions and art can lead to people becoming brillant psychologists, speakers, and other professionals.
And we should have at least one year of gym in order to convey to students how important physical health is. Physical health is important because when you exercise, positive endorphins are released into the brain which produces seratonim, which counteracts depression, which thereby allows students to be happier and to perform better academically.
Technocratic_Utilitarian said:Yes. Math is sometimes theoretically, but it is largely based on pure logic and proofs. Mathematics is easily applicable to reality. Literature, on the other hand, is completely and always subjective. It has no practial value other than producing more English teaches. English professors breed asexually--they inculcate their victims with their methods and their dogma and then bud off into another english major. English classes are the catalyists for this process. Some people seem mentally resistant to the literary dogmatizing, but the population is rare.
Now, I never said creativity is bad. YOu can be creative and a critical thinker without being indoctrinated by art and literature professors who are pushing their literary and artistic ideas on you. Engineering is an applied science, which means it's highly objective--it's the use of science to fix problems. Engineers can be creative without art--which is exactly why Engineers are not forced to take (in college) vast quantities of art, music, and other crap. Few engineers would say they have "benefited" from these nonsensical studies. I am firmly against this concept of 'well-rounded' education. The well rounded educaiton is a ploy used by colleges to steal more money from students. They want you to take worthless classes, not because it will actually help you, but because they are busineses and they want to maximize profit. I have yet to use sociology in math or art in every day life--i do, however, use math every day.
I agree that scholars and professors in the field should decide what to teach. I agree 100%! I don't, however, agree that it should be a studied subject at all in the first place. I see no value in literature as its own class. It can have some value in a RELIGION class or in an ETHICS class or in a HISTORY class. THere is, however, little reason to keep Lit as wasting time on it is a detriment. Of course English professors will swoon over Shakespear. They need somethign to teach, and they need to pretend to be sublime in order to keep their jobs. You think they will tell their students this works sucks, but we're gonna use it anyway?
Science and math also reflect humanity. Again, you can do art and literature on your own time. It's not hard to learn to finger paint and babble about symbolism. English essays are all bulls.**** anyway--even the teachers admit it!
Why do you think you would all be drones and scientists doing the same job and miserable? I am not banning art or anything. It simply won't be taught likeit has some semblence of academic value--it doesn't. School is not for entertainment or culture, but education. School is ment to prepare the next generations for jobs and the furthering of mankind's technology, achievement, and knowledge,
Personally, I believe the grammar and rhetoric are more important, because they are critical in forming arguments. Now, my school's grammar programme was abysmal. We did lots of literature--half of which I have blocked out of memory and have no recolection--and 1 year of grammar. Grammar is less and less important in modern education, as Literature takes it over. People wonder why students get to college and have no idea how to write fluently in essays.
Did I say that PE wasn't important? I am not against physical fitness. I am against needless suffering that results from unfair competition that is taken far too seriously. You can get exercize and physical health without competition. Being forced to play ping-pong or badmitten in gym was stupid and wasteful.
Math is always based on axioms that must be taken on faith, and the applicability of the resulting logic to the real world depends on selecting the correct axioms. You are probably familiar with Euclidean geometry, in particular the axiom that says if straight lines cross, they cross only once. The resulting geometry works well in a plane, but does not work on a curved surface. If you keep all the other axioms, and change only that one to read "if straight lines cross, they cross exactly twice" you derive an entirely different geometry (Lobechevskian geometry, after the Russian who worked it out) that works well on an ellipsoidal surface like the earth and is the basis for geodetic surveying. (There's another variation, which I have long forgotten, that produces Riemannian geometry that works well on a hyperbolic surface and is sometimes useful in describing electromagnetic fields.) It's also possible to toy endlessly with different axioms ways that leads nowhere, so pick your thesis adviser with care.Technocratic_Utilitarian said:Math is sometimes theoretically, but it is largely based on pure logic and proofs. Mathematics is easily applicable to reality.
Literature is the art of story telling, which is the way humans have always communicated their life experiences with each other. Agreed that all literature is subjective, but great literature is that which touches the souls of humans separated by thousands of years of time and thousands of miles of space. (The mythologist Joseph Campbell, who wrote the rules for story structure that most novelists now follow, argued that only two stories have ever been written: Genesis and The Odyssey; I'm not sure I buy that competely, but it's an interesting idea.) I've read fragments of poetry from 4000 years ago in Sumer and 2500 years ago in China, and (admitting that I'm at the mercy of the translator) I can understand and feel the agony of the poets over seeing their homes destroyed by warfare for which they see no reason. I've read The Odyssey (and numerous articles on the mythology behind the various adventures), Herodotus (truly, the father of history), Cervantes (great satire), Rabelais (excellent social commentary hidden under a mountain of ordure to avoid the Inquisition), Shakespeare (who surely knew more about the human condition than anyone else who has ever lived), and huge quantities of crap that make it to the top of the New York Times best seller list. IMO it would be a very sterile life for anyone who is not exposed to the breadth of human experience - but that's just my opinion. As for writing essays, one of the very few things I regret about my early education is that I didn't pay more attention to learning how to express myself properly. I really do wish I had taken them more seriously.Literature, on the other hand, is completely and always subjective. It has no practial value other than producing more English teaches.
Math is always based on axioms that must be taken on faith, and the applicability of the resulting logic to the real world depends on selecting the correct axioms. You are probably familiar with Euclidean geometry, in particular the axiom that says if straight lines cross, they cross only once. The resulting geometry works well in a plane, but does not work on a curved surface. If you keep all the other axioms, and change only that one to read "if straight lines cross, they cross exactly twice" you derive an entirely different geometry (Lobechevskian geometry, after the Russian who worked it out) that works well on an ellipsoidal surface like the earth and is the basis for geodetic surveying. (There's another variation, which I have long forgotten, that produces Riemannian geometry that works well on a hyperbolic surface and is sometimes useful in describing electromagnetic fields.) It's also possible to toy endlessly with different axioms ways that leads nowhere, so pick your thesis adviser with care.
Literature is the art of story telling, which is the way humans have always communicated their life experiences with each other. Agreed that all literature is subjective, but great literature is that which touches the souls of humans separated by thousands of years of time and thousands of miles of space. (The mythologist Joseph Campbell, who wrote the rules for story structure that most novelists now follow, argued that only two stories have ever been written: Genesis and The Odyssey; I'm not sure I buy that competely, but it's an interesting idea.) I've read fragments of poetry from 4000 years ago in Sumer and 2500 years ago in China, and (admitting that I'm at the mercy of the translator) I can understand and feel the agony of the poets over seeing their homes destroyed by warfare for which they see no reason. I've read The Odyssey (and numerous articles on the mythology behind the various adventures), Herodotus (truly, the father of history), Cervantes (great satire), Rabelais (excellent social commentary hidden under a mountain of ordure to avoid the Inquisition), Shakespeare (who surely knew more about the human condition than anyone else who has ever lived), and huge quantities of crap that make it to the top of the New York Times best seller list. IMO it would be a very sterile life for anyone who is not exposed to the breadth of human experience - but that's just my opinion. As for writing essays, one of the very few things I regret about my early education is that I didn't pay more attention to learning how to express myself properly. I really do wish I had taken them more seriously.
Literature really isn't completely subjective. It seems like you know nothing about literature, novel writing, and the like. There are concrete theories of having a solid storyline, character development, etc. You may say these theories are subjective but they are the the result of years of research on creative writing.
Yes, we use math every day but language and the ability to communicate with each other is just as valuable as math is to human society. Literature allows us to communicate better and develop a better understanding of language.
Also, studies have shown that people who learn about music have higher math schools. The one famous German Engineer, Dieter Burmester, who created the Burmester audio company, played guitar in a band. A lot of what he learned in music helped him in engineering.
Technocratic_Utilitarian said:True, math is based on axioms, but the faith you're speaking of is a different type of faith. Not all "faiths" are the same. If you look in the dictionary, faith has 3 different denotations. Math takes as much faith as believing in Logic does. Many times, they are both fully applicable to reality; sometimes they are purely mental exercizes. They, however, are concrete, whereas Literature is storytime. Math has practical value in society, quite often. Literature rarely, if ever, has lead to progressive achievements in the real world. Math has valuable application.
I have had several creative writing classes. I know the literary conventions. THey are all arbitrary. They are years of research--but they are still arbitrary projections of personal taste. Just like in art--people make up these convetions that make "good" art. THe entire concept is nonsensical. Such designs try to put an objective edge on something subjective. I can't stand dumbasses who sit around all day watching movies or visiting art galleries flinging opinions at something and getting paid for it. It's absurd how misplaced society's priorities are.
t's also unfair to artists; who the hell are those critics? They have degrees in making value-statements? Oh--that's bad because I say so! That's good because I like it! Who cares?
Of course language and communication are valuable. However, I don't believe Literature is what fufills that role. If that were true, then so many of our students wouldn't graduate nigh-illiterate, stupid. We should teach public speaking and rhetoric--two subjects that, in accordance with standard English training, I think will make a better communicator in the long run. Literature teaches more "theory" of value and entertainment than it does actual communication skills.
Also, I do not approve of the Literary Method. I have had a lot of experience in English classes, and I am not 'against' it because I am poor at it. I am not bad at it at all, because all it takes is the gift of gab. You can B.S. your way through literature courses and many liberal arts classes, but you cannot do the same though math and science, or even many of the softer sciences.
I am against it because I prefer specialization in lieu of the "renaissance-man" philosophy. The latter teaches you to know a little bit of everything (untill most is forgotten), but a master of nothing. From what I know of Pyschology, most people remember very little of what they actually learn, and much of what is thrown at you in college serves no practical purpouse for people. I don't approve of teaching "well-rounded" liberal arts style education because it diverts time away from study of what you actually need--it fills your head with tons of useless garbage. People know just enough to know nothing at all in most of the "tangental" subjects. It's hard enough for people to remember and learn what they have to learn; there's no reason to complicate it with tangental subjects.
You can get lots of sissy libby courses and throw them at people, because, on average, they are far easier than their science and math counterparts.
I would love to see these studies. That might be true, but then music is the exception, because it does involve mathematical concepts.
Diogenes said:If the school districts were able to fire bad teachers, they would be more willing to pony up the money for good teachers. Just my opinion.
The practical value of math in society is really somewhat of a subjective concept. Yes, we all use very simple math like addition and subtraction on a daily basis. But for most careers, the vast majority of math we learn is never used. Most careers do not require a person to use calculus on a daily basis. Furthermore, even engineers don't always use calculus from day to day. So you claiming that math is so much more important because we use it on a daily basis really isn't true. I do see the value is being able to think logically and analytically but I don't think we need to know geometry to be able to do that in most careers.
People who judge film and art are people that have experience in this field. Making a film, for example, isn't just an entirely subjective thing. You still have to use solid storyline building, character development, etc. I really don't agree with your flip view of calling them names like dumbasses and calling the entire process absurd. Evaluating art, film, and literature is a study just like anything else is. When you say it's all just absurd, it's like saying people that create movies aren't talented and that just isn't so. If you don't believe me then go try to create an oscar winning film and see how "easy" it is. Futhermore...
There are opinions on everything and there are just as many "opinions" in the field of engineering! For example, two engineers could critique a set of loudspeakers. One could say it has good engineering concepts and the other might say that it was poorly designed. For example there are some engineers that firmly believe that electrostatic speaker design produces a wide soundstage and there are others that are totally against this concept. If you look at the scientific aspects of those designs, it really is just opinion in what produces the best results. It is true that all engineers need to know a good amount of math and physics, yes. But once you get past all that, in actually making breakthroughs in the field, it comes down to creativity and innovation. An engineer could sit down and do every Differential Equation correct from age 22 until he's 90 years old but that's not going to make him a leader in his field.
See, you just don't understand art. They don't just walked up to a painting and say, "Oh that's bad cause I say so!" They try to use valid concepts in forming their opinions. It's not unfair to the artists, they all appreciate criticism because it helps them to develop new ideas and to get better.
Saying that you can B.S. your way through liberal arts classes is a highly subjective opinion. I've known plenty of foreign students who thought calculus was easier than English Literature. So your opinion is just based on an individual's own talents and capabilities. Look at Einstein's career! In college he got through differential equations but he never did good in English classes.
It is not true that a liberal arts degree makes you master of nothing; you still have at least 45 credit hours in your major. At least at my college you did. And like I said, a lot of employers like liberal arts degrees. You're not as limited in what you can do as if you were an engineering major. And employers greatly value them over tech degrees.
Again, it's just what the person is capable of excelling at. And I still really don't see the point of you calling liberal arts classes, "sissy classes" because you yourself are in a liberal arts major. If you really feel this way, then why don't you just major in math or science? You're just putting down your own degree.
There have been numerous studies that suggest music education can help students excel at math. I'm sure they are easy to look up.
Technocratic_Utilitarian said:Yes. The high maths are somewhat not useful in every day life, but we need engineers and scientists who do use the higher maths. Science and math are married in many aspects. Without learning the math, you wouldn't be able to do much of what goes on in physics, chemistry etc. You might be able to get a way from it in some of Biology, though.
Everyone should be well-versed in business math, which many people never learn in highschool. That's a shame. They should learn a practical form of math as well as the higher maths that prepare students for the jobs of the future that require them.
Learning math can help you learn logic, because logic = math. Mathematics is an extremely logically organized subject. It won't help you form prose or poetry, no, but it can be useful. Everyone should have business math up to algebra II. You can actually graduate highschool without Algebra II. That's sad. Math is what makes the world go round. Again...what achievements has Literature produced, other than entertainment?
The reason I am snide with "critics" is half their comments are totally offbase. Critics decry things that are fantastic, and love things that are boring as hell. I have seen critics smash good films and swoon over nonsense. For example, have you ever been to the Gugenheim Museum in New York? I went there this summer, thinking that they had actual art there: they didn't. THey hadt his neo-art crap wrapped up in a pretty package. One piece that was "so highly" acclaimed was a god-damn slinky on a stool. I paid real money to watch someone put a slinky on a stool. That was retarded. Oh, but it gets worse! Roughly 60% of the pieces on the upper levels were nearly all the same with different names. They had one version of a white, metal box being shown at different angles. That's stupid. ANything can be art, including taking a dump in a toilet and putting up for viewing. Meanwhile, all the upitty elitists are flapping their gums to one another about how fantanstic the symmetry is. Oh horsechops! It's a f.ucking box with a slinky on it.
At least those opinions are based on sound scientific and mathematical principles. That's hardly the equivalent of putting a slinky or photographing a roll of toiletpaper and calling it "art mystique!" Yes. You are right: creativity is important, but I sure as hell know they didn't learn it from literature I.
WHere from do they get these concepts? To they reflect reality at all, or is it like those people who came up with the name classifications for groups of animals? Just sitting in the park one day thinking up that a group of hippos = X name. Anyone who calls it something different is wrong.
I could create my own field of art with my own concepts--in fact--the Nazis did just that! The problem with art is that anything can be art if you twist the wording enough.
Ya know...who would have thought that a foreigner would have a hard time in English literature. That's a great observation. That would be like you going to the African Congo and trying to read their literature. I am not talking about difficulty due to language barrier. Calculus would be easier than ENGLISH if you actually knew the rules of calculus.
I am not suprised he had a hard time at English, since it wasn't his native language.
Well, I am not really a "liberal arts" major. There is actually a Lib. Arts degree/major. History is ONE of the liberal arts. I have no problem admitting that Liberal Arts is not as hard-core as science. The drop-out rate is much, much higher in science, and the coursework is generally deemed more heavy. in science as well. Fewer people graduate or pass the higher Libbies than the higher maths and sciences. This is one reason hardly anyone at my college needs tutoring in history, yet the megalabs are jam-packed with math/science students needing help. I like history, but I respect science.
Do you have any?
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