Does the curriculum in the United States truly create individual-minded people? Making a list of favorite colors and things, and what one likes and dislikes, does it make any difference in people‘s perception of themselves? Is it necessary?

These are some questions I ask myself but swing back and forth on like a door.

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--- "The worst deaf is the one who doesn't want to hear." ---

--- "In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." ---

--- “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” ---
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Could you be more specific? Are you referring to public schooling? I have some ideas in mind for answers to your questions (from my viewpoint of course), but I didn't want to stick my foor in my mouth without actually understanding the question.

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"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
-John F. Kennedy

"Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company and reflection must finish him."
-John Locke

"What worries you, masters you."
-John Locke

Hell no. It encourages cattle mentality and discourages free thinking.

If you're talking about public school, you can't really expect it to cater to the individual mind when it has to instruct such a large and diverse group of people.

Individuals create themselves. I can't imagine someone needing a school to do it for them.

I don't think what I've heard about public schools, encourages kids to be anything in particular. Mostly they become overly influenced by the electronic media because their grasp of history is so paltry.

In a way it encourages individual thinking because there is no base of knowledge, no common denominator of intellectual thought, so that kids pick up bits and pieces on a catch as can basis. So everyone has some weirdo idea of how the world works based on fuck knows what.

Can really only guess because I haven't been to public schools in a long time. No doubt they have changed in ways that I can barely fathom.



Big Bro

there alot of controversies with the ways public schools are run, i remember when i was in elementary school my mom constantly took me to pta meetings because her and a group of mothers didnt like OBE(Outcome Based Education) Which is what alot of public school switched to in the 90's, I dont that much about it,im not a teacher, but this site is has some info, i dont know what its sources are but its seemd unbiased cause it states pros and cons of it, "Outcome-Based" Education: An Overview

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“In formal education, a curriculum (plural curricula) is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for racecourse referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow and mature in becoming adults.” Wikipedia

When I was in school, whenever we were expected to write it was always about shallow things, such as “did we like the story.” Even now, in college, I’ve been writing mostly my personal opinions. The last paper I had to write was “what three things in history do you believe to still be important in the modern world.”

Sometimes the best writing raises more questions then it answers. I know this, the schools are not looking for the best writing.

Do multiple choice tests reflect whatsoever on a person’s intelligence? I don’t think so.

Or, how many would pass the fifth grade if they were expected to write freely and remain intelligible? I would like to give the benefit of the doubt to many. And on creativity, music, art, craft, are they school-worthy.

One reason I ask these questions is because many kids are no longer raised in the home to much. Should schools add to the curriculum? On one hand, they try to instill individuality by asking for students opinions. On the other, is not what we create that makes us who we are? Should schools alter their curriculum with the changing of the society?

>>>>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
--- "The worst deaf is the one who doesn't want to hear." ---

--- "In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." ---

--- “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” ---
ß-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<<<<<<

I used to sell Science and Math curriculum to K-12 schools and districts nationally. We had good stuff. If any of you ever remember Science Sleuths from middle school or high school, that would have been me.

The problem is simple. Kids suck, the whole lot of entitled cell phone mooching little brats need corporal punishment. The teachers, curriculum, prayer in school, doesn't matter. It's the parents who would rather be buddies with thier kids than be the protectors and teachers that parents should be...that create headaches for teachers. When you play only the buddy role with your kids, you leave the parenting to the teachers, and that's what swiss boarding school is for.

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“I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass.”-Barry Goldwater

I completely disagree with the No Child Left Behind Act. Students are so focused on the tests that they forget about the actual learning. It puts too much presure on teachers who can't force the children to want to learn. Teachers have had to resort to becoming comedians in order to get their students attention. This act does not help anyone. The government should be giving the funding to the schools with low test scores not the other way around. Funding motivates the teachers, not the students who know nothing about the act. What were they thinking when they put this act into place? I can almost hear them saying it-This state has low test scores, so let's cut the funding and make it worse, oh, and let's blame the teachers because their only teaching those of the future of this country.

I agree with some of the things here and disagree with others, here's my view.
Education should start from day 1. When you sing to your baby and play games with your baby, it is learning. When you set a routine and clearly mark boundary lines, it is learning.
When you discipline yourself and deny yourself pleasures you don't want your child to use, such as drugs, smoking and alcohol, the child learns self-respect and self-discipline. I am only paraphrasing here, so forgive me if I am brief. I am not saying don't occasionally smoke a joint or a ciggie or have a drink but fathers getting drunk every night and slamming mother around the house are only teaching their kids that it's ok to get drunk and beat your wife. So you control your need to beat her up.
As they get older, you make them watch documentaries, play video games, yes it teaches them hand-eye co-ordination and to concentrate - wonderful for hyper-active, attention-deficit kids. You read to them encourage them to learn to read.
When they go to school know the teachers, know their curriculum, encourage research make every project just that - a project.
Then you deal with OBE and 'no child left behind'. As a prent it is up to you to supplement the learning they do at school. Discipline and excellence are your jobs, not the school's or the teachers.
Before you start beating me with a big e-stick about this, let me assure you I know what I am talking about.