Thinking Skills--An education bit

I am trying to summarize what is broken about the current ed system to help my fellow Americans since I have such a hard time articulating it.

I am going to try reeeeallly hard to avoid jargon so here goes...

Students are not trained to think creatively or solve problems. They are trained to follow instructions and are evaluated on their ability to retain information. Why is than an issue? Well... the factory jobs are gonzo so kids actually need to have thinking skills, not just follow direction skills.

We live in an information age. Certain knowledge does not need to be retained because it is available at your fingertips.

Last night no one knew what year Lionel Ritchie sang All Night Long, what Karamu was, or if it was about Spanish holidays. Maybe 15 or 20 years ago memorizing such facts would have been essential for viewing pleasure, but now 3/4s of the group could simply pick up a phone. If you look at a test in a classroom which question do you think is most likely to be asked of students:

Q1: What is karamu?

a) a word with a combination of pleasing sounds for the ear, commonly used on the Delilah Show
b) Lionel Ritchie's poodle
c) An African holiday
d) A word that the recording studio was trying to make happen

Q2: What does the line "fiesta, forever?" refer to?

a) Come on and sing my song
b) Karamu
c) The Spanish equivalent of "All Night Long"
d) The Santa Barbara fiesta court

Q3: What are the implications of Lionel Ritchie's line "Karamu. Fiesta, forever"?

a) No one has heard of Karamu, confusing the listener and taking away from the musicality of the song
b) Mixing a Spanish word with an African holiday reflects cultural insensitivity therefore rendering the song inappropriate for Africans and Spanish-speakers alike
c) Lionel gets a higher "ethnic" quotient even though he grew up detached from African culture in Illinois where he majored in Econ and played on the tennis team.
d) Because the song was so long ago, people watching American Idol will largely tune out the song and assume "Karamu" is an old word for cool and therefore there are no major implications of the line for Lionel or AI

Let me clarify that most good teachers ask a combination of these items--the bigger point is the kind of thinking the teachers are regularly developing in the classroom. Are they mainly asking kids what Karamu is? Are they quizzing kids on it? Or are they delving deeper and asking them to solve problems? Would your child's teacher even KNOW the implications of using Karamu on the AI stage?

Everytime your child comes home from school you should ask them a follow up question: What does that MEAN?

Somewhat Fictional Example:

Kid: Mom! Today this lady brought in a walking stick and she had to have a permit to carry it because they are considered a threat to an ecosystem!

Mom: Aws. What does that MEAN? Why did she come in?

Kid: To talk about how certain species can affect a local economy.

Riiight. The real answer might be "Oh she was just showing us different cool animals and insects."

You can try to say to me "but she is only in second grade!!!"

This girl understands economy. She understands that if she walks in the house and tracks mud in, I have to spend more money on the carpet cleaner and she gets cheaper shoes.

Luckily my kids have teachers who develop this kind of thinking. But for many, they just want kids to check out cool animals and talk about creatures and their magical qualities.

Rethink the system people, ask your kids why. If they don't know, then ask the teacher. If the teacher doesn't know, ask the principal why they are wasting your tax dollars telling your kids something they could learn on youtube in ten seconds.