Are books the most important past of education, or are other modes of learning more important?

Question

is oral tradition equally important?

Answer 1

Sorry, I'm just so sickened by the previous answerer who thinks that education should be based on the bible.

Books are important and more are becoming more and more neutral. With progressive thinking and open minded teachers, one can ensure that students are offered critical ways of looking at different issues, rather than having the 'traditional' outlook shoved down their throats.

Referring to the bible as education is no better than countries that refer to the koran as education. Same crap, different god. Education is secular, not religious. There is no way we can compete in the world if everything is focused on christianity alone. One can use christian morals to guide our actions and beliefs and even views, but heralding it as the ONLY true history is condemning America's youth to be less educated than other 1st world countries and dooming our children and grandchildren.

Back to the question, other modes of learning are important as well. Without interaction in the classroom, children will have no reason to remember facts longer than the text. Without a family oral tradition or oral record, many personal accounts will be lost. There is so much more to history that that which the publishers deem to be money-making that honest oral accounts should never be dismissed. While not being technically "oral", I think that Anne Frank's diary is the perfect example of this. No textbook could come close to presenting the emotion and first hand story presented by Anne Frank.

Answer 2

If studying History, you will find that much of it is politically motivated and what an individual is learning today is different than those who were taught in the 1960's or even earlier. Oral tradition will also guide you, but it is like having 30 people in the room and one tells a person something and they each pass the information around until the last person has heard and what they remember is far from the first indivdual. If you want to understand History start with the bible. It has never changed and it was written by God. He spoke and holy men of God wrote as the Spirit led them to write and what was written thousands of years earlier has not change.

Answer 3

Other modes of learning are more important.
The books aren't so important in these days.

You can search google, yahoo, .. for any subject.

Answer 4

i found reading and talking to older folks the best education along with traveling

Answer 5

tv is going to be your best source of learning

Answer 6

All roads lead to Rome.

The point is not what is generically important. The point is to learn your own learning style and then find ways to use it to learn. We are all a mixture of these various styles. And...if you're a teacher, the point is to provide learning experiences in all of these different modes so that everyone in a classroom is accommodated.

There are different types of learning styles:
Visual learners: (learn through seeing)

Auditory Learners: (learn through listening)

Tactile/Kinesthetic Learners: (learn through touch)

There are also Multiple Intelligences:

Visual/Spatial Intelligence
ability to perceive the visual. These learners tend to think in pictures and need to create vivid mental images to retain information. Their skills include:puzzle building, reading, writing, understanding charts and graphs, a good sense of direction, sketching, painting, creating visual metaphors and analogies (perhaps through the visual arts), manipulating images, constructing, fixing, designing practical objects, interpreting visual images.

Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence: ability to use words and language. These learners have highly developed auditory skills and are generally elegant speakers. They think in words rather than pictures.Their skills include: listening, speaking, writing, story telling, explaining, teaching, using humor, understanding the syntax and meaning of words, remembering information, convincing someone of their point of view, analyzing language usage.


Logical/Mathematical Intelligence: ability to use reason, logic and numbers. These learners think conceptually in logical and numerical patterns making connections between pieces of information.Their skills include: problem solving, classifying and categorizing information, working with abstract concepts to figure out the relationship of each to the other, handling long chains of reason to make local progressions, doing controlled experiments, questioning and wondering about natural events, performing complex mathematical calculations, working with geometric shapes

Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence: ability to control body movements and handle objects skillfully. These learners express themselves through movement. They have a good sense of balance and eye-hand co-ordination. (e.g. ball play, balancing beams). Through interacting with the space around them, they are able to remember and process information.
Their skills include: dancing, physical co-ordination, sports, hands on experimentation, using body language, crafts, acting, miming, using their hands to create or build, expressing emotions through the body


Musical/Rhythmic Intelligence: ability to produce and appreciate music. These musically inclined learners think in sounds, rhythms and patterns. They immediately respond to music either appreciating or criticizing what they hear. Their skills include: singing, whistling, playing musical instruments, recognizing tonal patterns, composing music, remembering melodies, understanding the structure and rhythm of music

Interpersonal Intelligence: ability to relate and understand others. These learners try to see things from other people's point of view in order to understand how they think and feel. They often have an uncanny ability to sense feelings, intentions and motivations. They are great organizers, although they sometimes resort to manipulation. Generally they try to maintain peace in group settings and encourage co-operation.They use both verbal (e.g. speaking) and non-verbal language (e.g. eye contact, body language) to open communication channels with others. Their skills include: seeing things from other perspectives (dual-perspective), listening, using empathy, understanding other people's moods and feelings, counseling, co-operating with groups, noticing people's moods, motivations and intentions, communicating both verbally and non-verbally, building trust, peaceful conflict resolution, establishing positive relations with other people.

Intrapersonal Intelligence: ability to self-reflect and be aware of one's inner state of being. These learners try to understand their inner feelings, dreams, relationships with others, and strengths and weaknesses. Skills include: Recognizing their own strengths and weaknesses, reflecting and analyzing themselves, awareness of their inner feelings, desires and dreams, evaluating their thinking patterns, reasoning with themselves, understanding their role in relationship to others

There are learning style tests all over the internet to help you determine your learning style. If you go into education, you will probably take several of these in your college courses.