"This brings to mind something I have been thinking about. I think colleges (and high schools) ought to offer lots of one or two-month courses, as my prep school did. These were mostly ways of applying basic knowledge to real life. We had lots of short course options: intro to logic, public speaking, argumentation and fallacy, etymology, the Parthenon and Greek architecture, opera history, local geology, ornithology, paper-making, the math and science of sails and sailing, human anatomy, emergency first aid, typing (was required), the natural history of New England woodlands, intro to the American legal system (by a local lawyer), how doctors think and diagnose (by a local doc), the life and music of Brahms, What banks do and the math of banking, Adam Smith's life and work, ballistics and firearm design, geology of the sun, the US Constitution and the Federalist Papers, etc. etc., - along with the usual full trimester things and the required daily sports and daily chapel (which was, in effect, a 4-year Bible study). Wonderful."
One of the most useful courses I ever took in summer school was typing. Who could have known at the time that most handwriting would go obsolete, to be replaced by the printed (read typed) word?
Summer school was usually where we used to get the sort of schooling this writer is talking about.
Found here, naturally.
Very interesting concept. It could just ignite young students 'curiosity and combat boredom of long-term courses- break up the monotony that I remember from school. And allow for much more local, parental oversight.
ReplyDelete"Much more local, parental oversight," which is another key factor in educational success. Parents involved = student success.
ReplyDelete