2009-08-17, 11:42 PM
Your teacher is looking at things the University way I think.
"Dont want to show up to class? Dont. Dont want to read the assigned readings? Dont. Dont care? Then dont come."
What eventually happens is that those who dont give two cents about it get filtered out, and the remaining students who do care go on and learn more till they dont care anymore and join the first group, or they graduate and go onto bigger, better things.
That being said, the University is believing that the students who attend their institutions are "mature" enough to make the decisions of whether they want to do a given thing or not, and that is what separates Universities from High School; one gives their students the choice, while the other forces it onto the students.
While Im in agreement with your teacher, that forcing students to do things isnt the most effective way of learning, the alternative isnt much better: Will your typical 13 year old REALLY go and pick up Shakespeare or learn Algebra? In a perfect world, what your teacher is suggesting would work. However, in our world, it would just mean that 99.5% of the kids will not end up reading/learning whatever they'd otherwise be forced to learn and end up all just playing video games, doing drugs, chilling with friends, etc.
"Dont want to show up to class? Dont. Dont want to read the assigned readings? Dont. Dont care? Then dont come."
What eventually happens is that those who dont give two cents about it get filtered out, and the remaining students who do care go on and learn more till they dont care anymore and join the first group, or they graduate and go onto bigger, better things.
That being said, the University is believing that the students who attend their institutions are "mature" enough to make the decisions of whether they want to do a given thing or not, and that is what separates Universities from High School; one gives their students the choice, while the other forces it onto the students.
While Im in agreement with your teacher, that forcing students to do things isnt the most effective way of learning, the alternative isnt much better: Will your typical 13 year old REALLY go and pick up Shakespeare or learn Algebra? In a perfect world, what your teacher is suggesting would work. However, in our world, it would just mean that 99.5% of the kids will not end up reading/learning whatever they'd otherwise be forced to learn and end up all just playing video games, doing drugs, chilling with friends, etc.