Showing posts with label subjects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label subjects. Show all posts

A Good Move to Compulsory Maths and Science

I do not often agree with Christopher Pyne on government policy, Dare I say, I have "never" been in favor of his hair-brained ideas until now. Indeed, I would take his latest plan even further.
Australian school students in class classroom with teacher
He is attempting to make maths and science compulsory for students in years 11 and 12. These two critical subjects should be part of the core curriculum in all years of school throughout primary and secondary education. I may say "When I was a lad..." Yet on this point I believe I have a solid foundation. When I was at school maths and science were for everyone. Advanced maths and science were only for those who proved themselves capable of effectively coping with the main subject areas.

When my children were at high school there were five grades of maths in years 8 to 12. Many students, with their parents' guidance I may say, chose a level too high for them to cope with in the next year. This ruined their whole higher education. If one attempts a higher level and fails, there is no credit on the leaving certificate for that subject in that year. An individual has a blemished record for life.

The only answer to this issue is for a parent to take a possible shattering step. This I did for one of my children. I took my son out of his current school and into another local high school to repeat the two years again. Thankfully, my son achieved a strong educational record and is successful in life.
✴ Science by Ty Buchanan ✴
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Skill Gap in Western Countries

Western countries are heading for a crisis. Young people are not being taught skills that are of use in the workforce. Australia under Prime Minister Tony Abbott is moving back to the three "Rs" - reading, writing and arithmetic in schools. However, it will take at least a decade for this to take effect.

It looks unlikely that future Australian governments will keep this change going. More and more irrelevant subjects are being introduced into an already crowded curriculum. Students are studying different things. There is no uniformity in education.

Will we reach a stage where machines run the world and there are no technicians with the skills to repair them? This is a strong possibility. It is just a short step back to primitivism, back to the stone age.

Students are not applying to enter the scientific field. Scientists are an aging bunch. Much research funding is channelled to them because they have proven themselves. Bodies with funds do not have any faith in new science graduates.

The skill shortage is not only in science. It is not possible for everyone to be employed at the checkout where computerized tills do the adding up and show the exact change to give. This is now an unskilled job. When the older generation of tradees retire there will be no young eager people to do the work. The government is not listening. Funding on TAFE education has fallen dramatically.
 Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan 
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"Rote" is a Dirty Word in Education

Students from overseas are saving Australia's tertiary education system. This is particularly true for postgraduate degrees. Most Australians attend a social science postgraduate course. This is despite the fact that these pieces of paper are virtually worthless in getting a job in today's world.

Modern economies need IT, management, commerce, science, engineering, architecture and agriculture postgraduates. Doing maths and science at high school is the key but Australian students avoid these. This is due to the poor organization of subjects. Some states have no less than five grades of maths choices. There should be compulsory broad based maths despite failures along the way. Avoiding the difficult is not the way to go.

We have teachers who are only qualified in social sciences teaching maths and science because there are too few fully-educated technical teachers. This is despite the fact that there is an oversupply of teachers generally.

Foreign students are propping up the employment related postgraduate sector by paying the full cost of running the courses with some money skimmed-off by universities to fund social science degrees. Australia needs targetted
education. The curriculum is never left alone. Every government changes the prevailing system. France kept to rote teaching and they have the best scientists in the world. Many Scientists employed in Britain are French.

Why do academics now have this morbid fear of rote teaching? It was because the United States went down the road of free subject choice and the rest of the Western world followed. Just saying the word "rote' was anathema and still is. When I was at school we all said the twelve times tables aloud as a group every morning and I can still remember them now.

No, education today is carried out in the wrong way. For example, making surfing a high school subject was a stupid thing to do. The number of people who have had a successful career in surfing can be counted on your fingers. There is absolutely nothing wrong with rote teaching of the essential things in life. Teachers now expect the answers to problems to just appear in the minds of students. Mentoring is about "telling" not asking.
Education by Ty Buchanan
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