{"id":5183,"date":"2015-07-27T09:00:24","date_gmt":"2015-07-27T15:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/?p=5183"},"modified":"2015-07-26T15:52:35","modified_gmt":"2015-07-26T21:52:35","slug":"why-does-formal-education-always-seem-to-think-that-anything-new-is-better-than-what-came-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/07\/27\/why-does-formal-education-always-seem-to-think-that-anything-new-is-better-than-what-came-before\/","title":{"rendered":"Why does formal education always seem to think that anything new is better than what came before?"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> &lt; 1<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute<\/span><\/span><p>Apparently learning to print and write is no longer important after grade one. the focus will be on keyboarding.<\/p>\n<p>Why? Did anyone give any serious thought to what we might lose by not teaching people how to write by hand? As it turns out, we could be losing something important.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/06\/03\/science\/whats-lost-as-handwriting-fades.html?_r=0\">What\u2019s Lost as Handwriting Fades &#8211; The New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Turns out learning to print has a different effect from learning to write, and that BOTH are important.<\/p>\n<p>Why do we keep doing this? Why do we automatically assume that anything new must be better than anything old when it comes to education. We are forever dumping existing knowledge and skills and techniques and replacing them\u00a0 whatever is new and shiny and &#8216;cool&#8217;\u00a0<em>without understanding the benefits of either.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>That doesn&#8217;t make any sense.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve tossed out the teaching of Latin. Sure, no-one speaks Latin anymore, but what do we lose when we only learn one language?<\/p>\n<p>What do we lose when we no longer memorize anything?\u00a0Is it really just as good to be able to look things up? How is our\u00a0thinking, our\u00a0creativity changed when we have long passages of prose or Shakespeare memorized in our heads?<\/p>\n<p>Did anyone bother to find out?<\/p>\n<p>We are in such a rush to embrace all things new that we too seldom look at what we are really doing. We should.<\/p>\n<div class='wp_likes' id='wp_likes_post-5183'><a class='like' href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(5183);\" title='Like' ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-likes\/images\/like.png\" alt='' border='0'\/><\/a><span class='text'>1 person likes this post.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class='like' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(5183);\">Like<\/a><\/div>\n<div class='unlike' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.unlike(5183);\">Unlike<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> &lt; 1<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute<\/span><\/span>Apparently learning to print and write is no longer important after grade one. the focus will be on keyboarding. Why? Did anyone give any serious thought to what we might lose by not teaching people how to write by hand? &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/07\/27\/why-does-formal-education-always-seem-to-think-that-anything-new-is-better-than-what-came-before\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,369,81,24],"tags":[15,393],"class_list":["post-5183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia","category-higher-education","category-information-technology","category-teaching-learning","tag-higher-education","tag-teaching-learning"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Hsb6-1lB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1551,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/08\/23\/are-undergraduates-actually-learning-anything-commentary-the-chronicle-of-higher-education\/","url_meta":{"origin":5183,"position":0},"title":"Are Undergraduates Actually Learning Anything? &#8211; Commentary &#8211; The Chronicle of Higher Education","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"August 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Cleaning out some of my backlog of drafts.... This is an older article that's been sitting in my to do list. The comments are still relevant. If anything, the situation has grown worse in the mean time. This article is about US schools, but the situation is little better in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1232,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2010\/10\/09\/why-arent-faculty-better-teachers-prompted-by-a-book-review-of-taking-stock-research-on-teaching-and-learning-in-higher-education-tony-bates\/","url_meta":{"origin":5183,"position":1},"title":"Why aren&#8217;t Faculty better teachers? Prompted by a book review of: Taking Stock: Research on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education \u00ab Tony Bates","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"October 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Book review: Taking Stock: Research on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education \u00ab Tony Bates. Sadly, I don't actually have time to read this book just now as I am writing one of my own. However, from the sounds of this review this is one that every active faculty member\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1684,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2011\/05\/20\/student-evaluations-of-teaching-dont-correlate-with-learning-gains-computing-education-blog\/","url_meta":{"origin":5183,"position":2},"title":"Student evaluations of teaching don\u2019t correlate with learning gains \u00ab Computing Education Blog","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"May 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Student evaluations of teaching don\u2019t correlate with learning gains \u00ab Computing Education Blog. Mark Guzdial comments on a post made on (LISTSERV 16.0 - AERA-L Archives.) by Richard Hake, who disagrees with the popular (especially among administrators) notion that student evaluations of teaching are valid form of evidence to measure\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6233,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2016\/05\/18\/worth-sharing-what-metrics-dont-tell-us-about-the-way-students-learn\/","url_meta":{"origin":5183,"position":3},"title":"Worth Sharing: What metrics don&#8217;t tell us about the way students learn","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"May 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"What metrics don't tell us about the way students learn Dana Ruggiero, Bath Spa University A big push is under way in higher education to measure how students are learning and how good lecturers are at teaching them. Universities can track how much time a student spent on a learning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Conversation","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/counter.theconversation.edu.au\/content\/59271\/count.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7177,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2018\/12\/16\/worth-sharing-students-arent-learning-enough-a-brewing-crisis-in-higher-education\/","url_meta":{"origin":5183,"position":4},"title":"Worth Sharing: Students aren&#8217;t learning enough &#8211; a brewing crisis in higher education","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"December 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Too many graduates are not prepared to think critically and creatively, speak and write cogently, solve problems, comprehend complex issues, accept accountability, take the perspective of others, or meet employer expectations. What are YOU doing in your classes to address that? Indeed, higher education globally continues to follow a relatively\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6265,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2016\/07\/18\/worth-sharing-teaching-by-numbers-learning-reimagined-medium\/","url_meta":{"origin":5183,"position":5},"title":"Worth Sharing: Teaching by Numbers \u2014 Learning {Re}imagined \u2014 Medium","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"July 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A curious thing has been happening in UK education and it\u2019s a trend that\u2019s occurring globally as the craft of teaching is being transformed into a \u201cscience\u201d. The Economist recently published an article titled \u201cHow to make a good teacher\u201d that proclaimed: \u201cThe premise that teaching ability is something you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5183"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5186,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5183\/revisions\/5186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}