Comments on: The Factory

By: Elsewhere, on September 19th - Once a nomad, always a nomad

Elsewhere, on September 19th - Once a nomad, always a nomad — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 18:23:30 +0000

[...] Shared The Factory at A Wanderer’s Thoughts. [...]

By: Dania DD

Dania DD — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:52:07 +0000

Again, wealth of ideas & information there Tony. I like the general gist of your proposition. Come to application, I wonder whether my 2 adolescent children would make it in such a highly competitive world.

Leave the child to his/her whim, & you’ll find that ALL the hours are spent on chatting, playstation, or the TV They still don’t know how important it is to expose themselves to a variety of activities to be selective from.

The current schooling system has many flaws. Then again, I am with the exposure to the variety of material (math, other sciences,….) This exposure enables us to discover our true passions. some schools incorporate a variety of other activities (photography, social services,…..) that mold the child besides acedemics. And that is great. still exposure to acedemic stuff is very necessary. Look at you. you have this amazing talent to write & express yourself. I bet your schooling system encouraged tis tendency. If you were left to choose what to learn, you might have not been able to build that talent.

What I am suggesting is that the variety of material children are exposed to equips them with enough knowledge to succeed in the domains they choose at the university level later on. Of course, their journey can be made more fun if ALL teachers knew the impact they have on generations. Unfortunately, it is those teachers sometimes, that make sure we hate the material & the whole schooling system. For me, educating the educators might be the first step needed, not the change in the whole schooling system

By: Sensor Ship at A Wanderer’s Thoughts

Sensor Ship at A Wanderer’s Thoughts — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:18:19 +0000

[...] The Factory [...]

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 22:00:25 +0000

@Youssef: Well it may be true that some teachers do this, however structurally the system does not allow it, every student is graded put with a certain group, where globally he has to take in everything that he did not choose, perhaps this is necessary for smaller classes since we can assume (although id rather not) that the child does not know whats best for him at a young age.
The damage here is that the child enjoy playing and doing “extracurricular” activities that interest him more than school, and goes to school because his parents wants him to, hes subconsciously coerced to go, but sometimes you see that in sign, when a holiday comes in and so on, the child is usually more happy… one could question the reason of this sudden happiness, perhaps because he/she can do whatever he/she pleases? of course some other children would praise school and like it very much that they would study happily and enjoy it. What I am discussing is that this becomes a “choice” rather than a “duty” or “culture obligation”
Well yeah things aren’t that bad in some areas, but it can be terrible to “some” and to others “good” since this is also relative to the kid hence why I am debating it becomes a “choice” and that is valid to be “choice” and not an “obligation” as it is currently perceived.

By: Youssef Chaker

Youssef Chaker — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:55:46 +0000

Sometimes I wonder if the Lebanon I grew up in is the same Lebanon other Lebanese people grew up in. This article makes me lean towards a no. Which is very unfortunate. I was lucky to have teachers (not all of course) who were mentors. By mentors I mean the type sort of mentioned in the paragraph about the Sudbury Valley School, where the person is a guide that shows you the way and let you traverse that path on your own pace. And I think have 2 or 3 of those mentors throughout the different stages of my education was enough for me. The teacher is the person that makes the difference. Of course the system can help or hamper. But with both a good or bad system, the teacher is the messenger and his delivery is what makes the difference.
And don’t think I’m disagreeing with anything that was said, in fact I’m totally for it. I just want to express that there are places in Lebanon where things aren’t so bad! (i like positivity )

By: Tony-

Tony- — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:17:06 +0000

yeah could be a “Rogerian” argument, though I just like to write, you classify the way you like it =P

As to putting camera’s in classrooms I see as a double-edged blade, I mean, the student is under control and surveillance and so is the teacher, so mostly this could seriously affect the way a teacher acts in front of the class imo. Though the whole concept is not that well made, I mean watching students, looks more like a prison with surveillance.
Let the child enjoy learning ^^ and not hate it, meh the environment affects greatly on how the child, if we treat them like in prison, they wouldn’t enjoy learning

By: Mary

Mary — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:50:33 +0000

Very well presented issue, good evidence, but mostly authority…
I see ENL 213 did you some good after all

By: Etienne

Etienne — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 08:00:08 +0000

Gr8 article , exquisite writing skills mate and very good arguments . I see it in everyday life , The “Robots” phenomenon and its really a shame :/ , hopefully the school system in lebanon will get better (it’s farfeched though :/) , for God’s sake ! My School now has camera’s installed in classrooms :S ! Talk about oppression …

By: d1ve-free

d1ve-free — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:28:05 +0000

this year just as last year, i noticed something about the education in lebanon,our french teacher just as all the teachers that passed in my life said that the educational system in lebanon sucks! it teaches kids how to become robots, like in french they teach you since u start till u finish the same things, finally it gets to the students heads and they start answering automatically to those question without thinking too hard, and our english teacher said that they treat kids as if they are in prison, you can’t stay hours in your place, focusing all ur attention on the teachers for hours… she said it would be nicer if they can give the students more freedom like let them eat or drink when they want, make them listen to some music for at least half an hour a day, give the student a chance to do a thing he/likes…
in the end just as you said, they are raising robots not humans, i never knew there was much more to know and much to more to seek, if i never had that curiosity love of knowledge, i never knew that i don’t know anything
you are so good in writing, it is all simple and objective and clear! and you always choose gr8 subjects, subjects few of us talk about

By: George

George — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:52:42 +0000

I couldn’t agree more DUDE !! Couldn’t agree more !!