Today our schools are full of young kids with potential. Too bad that they are not taught to be productive members of society. Iowa State wants you to enjoy your experience. After 4 years and many thousands of dollars of student (or parent) debt, I would assume that the student would question whether or not the degree is useful. How many do while flipping burgers after that graduation ceremony.
How many people are going to college to be the doctor, the lawyer, the biologist, etc.? There are plenty of statistics at Census.gov to wade through and see that the overwhelming majority of students are going for the Business degrees followed by Arts, and Social/History studies. I remember the whole deferment program that college students tried to stay with during 'Nam to make sure the draft board didn't get them. Resulted in many Phsycology degrees.
Today, mastering the English language by using words which have more than 3 letters is a real issue. You can't learn anything if you can't read. Writing the English language is a non-starter if you can't read. Math is clearly not understood if you can't read. Science, forget about it! Thus, reading and writing and arithmetic.
The following text is from Navy NAVEDTRA 134a - Navy Instructor Manual:
What is “learning?” Learning occurs when there is a change in behavior as a result of experience. This change is reflected in a person’s newly acquired perceptions or thoughts, physical behaviors, emotional reactions or attitudes.
The Laws of Learning - At the onset of the 20th century, Edward L. Thorndike, a pioneer in the field of educational psychology, suggested three laws of learning. These “laws” were deemed accurate and reflective of the whole learning process, and as such, were generally accepted as facts. They were delineated as: The Law of Readiness, The Law of Exercise, and The Law of Effect. Since that time, further research revealed the learning process to be a bit more complex. As such, an additional three laws were added to Thorndike’s originals. They are: The Law of Primacy, The Law of Intensity, and The Law of Recency.
The one thing that change my whole way of approaching information and needed skills was the education I was given about Learning. Once you learn how to learn, there is nothing to stop you from teaching yourself anything. Once you understand how do use information as knowledge and obtain skills that are useful to you and others, then you become more confident in your ability to learn.
Look at Half Price Bookstore and the shelves of information in books. What is there about higher learning that stumps people? When you visit the bookstore, you see a lot of people around the CD rack and a few people searching the cerebral shelves. A book lets you bookmark in a way that you can reference later. An ebook is also good for that. Read some, then think about it, then try to solve the problem, then refresh, then try again. Once done, move.
I strive to learn something new every day. It stimulates the brain, makes those pathways, helps with memory retention, and you become so busy with learning that you find all things around you are easy to comprehend. Learn how to conceptualize. Do you know why 2+3=5? What is the math concepts behind counting and adding numbers? We all learned that as children trying to memorize our addtion, subtraction, and multiplication tables. Many have forgotten the lessons of the past and can't think beyond their nose.
Fair winds and following seas
Chief
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Stuff That Interests Me
Throughout my life I have been very inquizative. I find engineering makes the back of my head tingle, especially when I solve a good problem. I am a computer programmer and electronics tech by career and have been involved in mechanical engineering most of my life as well. My father was an Electronics Engineer and teamed with many bright men and women at Beckman Instruments to create the first blood-gas analysis machines. That was an undertaking.
I find that complex problems can be solved by thinking through the problem and trying to solve it on paper. So much has been lost in our society through the advent of technology. We used to solve math with paper, pencil, and later with slide rules. Then came the calculators and computers. Computers brought spreadsheets that let you make you're math equations, enter data, and viola, it is solved. Now for the bright mathematicians, this spreadsheet offers a lot of possibilities and might even provide a medium for important discoveries.
For the folks who have been caught up in dumming down the society, I feel sorry that you are missing out on the brain exercises that have defined humans for eons. We think, therefore we are. Rodan's Thinker. It is what we are. Not just someone sitting on a toilet, as some might think. If we allow a machine to think for us and place the answers in our heads by having us read the answer on the screen, then we are no better than the machine.
If we succomb to group think, then we are no better than the society as a whole. By thinking for yourself and recognizing problems and analyzing the data and solving that problem, you have excercised your brain in a way that many can't do today. There are those who have been educated that can't grasp concepts and understand the paths used to solve problems. They read books, took tests, and have a paper saying that are someone educated. Thank you, pay your tution.
I needed a better holster for my pistol, so I taught myself how to work leather and make that holster. Not just any holster will do. It has to be up there with the best, I will make it so. I began on the internet by searching and reading all that I could find on the subject. I purchased tools to work leather and purchased the leather for the holster.
I made that holster after about 6 months of study and experimentation. I now feel that I can make many things from leather because I taught myself how to do this work. I also applied this self learning to metalworking, woodworking, and CNC. I built a metal lathe from parts on ebay for on specific make and model. Same with a wood lathe. I have built 2 CNC router machines by studying how they work and are built.
The point here is that the idea that we must sit in a classroom to learn is BS. If we learn how to learn, then we can teach ourselves almost anything we want. When I was in the Navy, I had the fortunate opportunity to attend Instructor Training school. They taught me how to learn and I have the textbook from which I learned this valuable lesson. Then they taught me how to teach and I still mentor and teach today.
First we learn how to think, then we learn how to analyze, then we learn how to apply, then we solve problems. More on learning how to learn in a future post. Should be fun.
Fair seas and following winds.
Chief.
I find that complex problems can be solved by thinking through the problem and trying to solve it on paper. So much has been lost in our society through the advent of technology. We used to solve math with paper, pencil, and later with slide rules. Then came the calculators and computers. Computers brought spreadsheets that let you make you're math equations, enter data, and viola, it is solved. Now for the bright mathematicians, this spreadsheet offers a lot of possibilities and might even provide a medium for important discoveries.
For the folks who have been caught up in dumming down the society, I feel sorry that you are missing out on the brain exercises that have defined humans for eons. We think, therefore we are. Rodan's Thinker. It is what we are. Not just someone sitting on a toilet, as some might think. If we allow a machine to think for us and place the answers in our heads by having us read the answer on the screen, then we are no better than the machine.
If we succomb to group think, then we are no better than the society as a whole. By thinking for yourself and recognizing problems and analyzing the data and solving that problem, you have excercised your brain in a way that many can't do today. There are those who have been educated that can't grasp concepts and understand the paths used to solve problems. They read books, took tests, and have a paper saying that are someone educated. Thank you, pay your tution.
I needed a better holster for my pistol, so I taught myself how to work leather and make that holster. Not just any holster will do. It has to be up there with the best, I will make it so. I began on the internet by searching and reading all that I could find on the subject. I purchased tools to work leather and purchased the leather for the holster.
I made that holster after about 6 months of study and experimentation. I now feel that I can make many things from leather because I taught myself how to do this work. I also applied this self learning to metalworking, woodworking, and CNC. I built a metal lathe from parts on ebay for on specific make and model. Same with a wood lathe. I have built 2 CNC router machines by studying how they work and are built.
The point here is that the idea that we must sit in a classroom to learn is BS. If we learn how to learn, then we can teach ourselves almost anything we want. When I was in the Navy, I had the fortunate opportunity to attend Instructor Training school. They taught me how to learn and I have the textbook from which I learned this valuable lesson. Then they taught me how to teach and I still mentor and teach today.
First we learn how to think, then we learn how to analyze, then we learn how to apply, then we solve problems. More on learning how to learn in a future post. Should be fun.
Fair seas and following winds.
Chief.
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