Friday, October 28, 2005

Dead Poet's Society

My math teacher is just like the teacher from DPS. We're doing story problems in class now, and he told us to open our books to the chapter, and look at the first example. "Stuipd," He said. The next, "Stupid." On and on, through four or five of them until he closed his book with a snap. "Now, if this was the Dead Poet's Society, I would tell you to take out a ruler and rip out this section, but since you probably want to sell the book back, you don't have to."
I wish this was the way all teachers thought. It's not about memorizing a string of facts and regurgitating them on a test and supposedly, you've learned something. Learning is about thinking. It's about knowing how to attack a problem, find the answer and conquer!
Now, not all teachers have to be rather cavalier and rip up books, but I do believe they ought to instruct their students in the art of thinking. Of solving things by your own brains, which most of us don't give enought credit to. I know I don't.

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