Personally, i think that the required algebra/geometry/earth science/etc should be limited to a few and BASIC LIFE SKILLS-such as money and life-should be a required class for every year that you attend public school. You?
2007-03-09 06:31:21 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Teaching
I agree. Here in Texas we are going to start requiring four years of math and four years of science. I honestly don't know when most of these kids will ever need to have taken Pre-Calculus or physics.
I teach math right now, and I try to work in basic life skills into my curriculm when I can. For example, last week my Pre-Cal classes were doing exponential equations, so I had them calculate the monthly payment on a mortgage or car loan and the total amount of interest that would be paid during the life of the loan. They were really surprised to learn that they would pay almost three times the original cost of the house because of the interest. I also made them calculate how much would be in an IRA account when they retired if the contributed a certain amount each year. Hopefully that will make them think about their financial decisions and have a better chance of understanding how to plan for the future.
A couple of years ago, I taught a physics class, and I tried to relate that to real life, too. I had my class design a house with all the appliances they would need, then research how much energy each appliance used and calculate how much they would be spending on electricity to use each appliance. I also showed them how to decide which light bulbs would be the most cost-efficient.
I think if the teacher is willing to put in the extra effort to relate math and science to real life, it can work, but some teachers will just teach out of the book and kids will graduate without knowing how to get by in the real world.
2007-03-09 06:42:50 · answer #1 · answered by DLM 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I think there are far too many administrators and too few teaching positions, too few books and materials in most school districts in the US.
Life skills classes should be mandatory, I agree. But they should be short (20 minutes), concentrated, and replace study halls and the second half of the lunch period instead of important subjects like algebra, geometry, and earth science.
2007-03-09 06:44:12 · answer #2 · answered by nora22000 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why not both? Keep the math and science stuff where it is and just add the basic life skills to it. I mean you have so many electives when you graduate anyway, so why not just get rid of some of those electives and make those basic life skills classes required too? Makes sense to me!
2007-03-09 06:44:59 · answer #3 · answered by BeC 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Money is not something you can learn about in a classroom. You either know how to spend or not. I remember back in the day when they had parenting classes. And you carried an egg around. Now you should see how these people treat their kids. They knew the egg would brake but they think their children are punching bags. So it does not matter what they teach kids will not learn if they dont want to.
2007-03-09 06:37:40 · answer #4 · answered by hascht2 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree 100%
2007-03-09 06:35:12 · answer #5 · answered by shorty 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The most important thing for boys and girls is to teach them in a proper way, why they are more valuable than they may imagine. If children understand this, then by Conviction, more than by laws or threaten, they all the time will take care of themselves and avoid dangers. Please teach them the best way to respond the questions. Who we are? Where we are? Why are we here? You may find this answers in a very simple way in my book, free for you as a gift in the source below, named: "AWARENESS, The Meaning of Life" edited in NY, NY by Vantage press
2007-03-09 07:19:20 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋