General Education Thread

Singapore, to my understanding, developed a robust education system in a short time.

Well, looks like my old man said that I may have to skip the deferment made from last year since my local city in Manila has no ETA on when the vaccination can start.

Which means I have to enroll again and submit everything, which is a pain.

Edited by Ominae on Mar 10th 2021 at 12:33:02 PM

I posted this elsewhere and I thought people would like it:

My dad said that a higher education leading to a better life was part of the "lie" of college to begin with. College has NEVER been a gateway to a better life but a SIGNIFIER of a better life. Rich white men could previously count on being the only college-educated people. The Right then said that college was WHY they were better off. So people buckled down and went to college by whatever means they could manage, often making great sacrifices.

Then when they got into the real world, found themselves turned away at every turn. Why? Because college was never more than an excuse for privilege and not a means to acquire it.

The transformation of colleges from educational opportunities to businesses has never been a transformation at all. They always were just a benny.

Keep in mind the rightwing also demonizes college campuses for being too "liberal".

The main reason college degrees don't guarantee a better life is that the main competition these degree holders have for the jobs they want also have college degrees.

College degrees don't guarantee that one can get the great jobs they want. But not having one nearly guarantees that you will not get those jobs.

The thing one has to remember is that one does not exist in a vacuum. Sure, you worked your ass off in university for your degree. But guess what. A ton of other people applying for the same job did too, so what the fuck makes you so special compared to them?

That's the question you have to be able to answer to get the job.

Edited by M84 on Mar 20th 2021 at 1:57:24 AM

"The transformation of colleges from educational opportunities to businesses has never been a transformation at all. They always were just a benny."

Yeah, while there may be some basis to that, it kinda flies in the face of the experience of millions of people who did get better jobs than their parents after getting a college degree. I think the current situation is more reflective of the fact that as more and more people got college degrees, it became worth less and less as a guarantor of a good salary.

Yeah, a college/university degree is not some sort of privilege card but a chance to get a shoot at that better life if you keep going, though it's undeniable that there are more professionals now than there were before.

Charles, I think what your father is confusing with the worth of a professional degree is how that translates to an ease to acquire material wealth in the USA. Notice that I did not say money but material wealth, which can be a car, a house, electronics, games, etc.

In that aspect, the USA is a land where you can buy a lot of things at the cheap and that's why a degree will apparently not make much of a difference; outside of the United States however the difference is quite palpable to everyone so a degree, even in a country with a lot of professionals, is a worthy enough investment for the future.

It's also worth keeping in mind that while a college degree offers much less certainty than it used to degree holders are still paid significantly higher than non-degree holders. So materially a college degree is nowhere close to a bad decision automatically.

Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Mar 20th 2021 at 5:57:02 AM

Does it make up for any student debt you might incur, though?

Somehow I feel it's worth mentioning that foreign students in the US are predominantly in STEM degrees, and if you're not looking into that, you might be missing a big part of the puzzle. One of my friend's parents came from Yangzhou in China to Kansas City on his dad's a computer science scholarship, in the '80s, with barely any money to their name, and built a very well-off household on top of that.

Depends on the country, at least here in Peru there are still public universities that allow students to finish a decent career without spending too much money.

A CBC National vid on whether one can study in a university with a degree is worth the while or a waste of time.

It's from 2017, but I think it's more relevant now considering the pandemic.

Reminds me of my dad telling me to find any job while I'm in Manila even though I recently got a BA Political Science.

Edited by Ominae on Apr 18th 2021 at 9:13:52 AM

Crossposting from the coronavirus thread:

It looks like Germany is debating shifting schools outdoors in order to reduce infection risks. I remember going to a school there that had one day per week outdoors, it wasn't particularly good for my nose but it didn't result in a lot of issues. I dunno, are there any schools anywhere else that do this?

New York City Department of Education has announced the NYC Public Schools will be switching to virtual learning rather than have snow days starting with the 2021-2022 school year.

Because that TOTALLY isn't gonna piss off both parents and Kids, right?...

Well, Wikipedia has discussions about whether American schools ask for too much homework...

If You Ignore Porn, You Aren’t Teaching Sex Ed an op-ed that sex ed classes ought to discuss pornography.

The rule I've heard is "10 minutes x the grade" to determine how many minutes of homework a student should have per week. A first grader gets 10 minutes, which translates into the occassional "Ask your parent about X" question, and a 12th grader gets two hours.

As a parent of two teen-agers, I totally agree with the point about including a discussion of porn in high school sex education curriculum, with the focus being how the majority of porn promotes unhealthy stereotypes regarding standards of beauty, sexuality and gender relations.

Educating about porn does not = viewing porn, of course.

Edited by DeMarquis on Jun 15th 2021 at 9:09:42 AM

Now see, going by Wikipedia 1hour/day is already pushing into "too much" territory, given that then kids staying up until late, conflicts with parents etc. begin to become noticeable.

Some thinking: Is there an anti-correlation between homework quantity and the average duration of the school day?

Regarding that op-ed and more precisely the studies cited therein, well I notice that as usual the effect sizes appear to be relatively small and mostly relate to university students and not high school students. Not that it matters overmuch because the complaints cited in the op-ed are accusations of indoctrination or "innocence", not anything about harms. But I'll spare my rants on this topic for other threads.

Here's some links for you:

Research Trends: Why Homework Should Be Balanced

Does High School Homework Increase Academic Achievement? Answer: No

Is Homework Good for Kids? Here's What the Research Says A time magazine lay summary which arrives at no firm conclusion

Stanford research shows pitfalls of homework a 2014 study

Most policy recommendations rely on a 2006 meta-analysis (a study of many studies) that found stronger correlations between amount of homework and academic performance for high school students than for middle or elementary students. Not much additional research has been done since then. Conclusions are mixed. I haven't seen anything that addresses the possible effects of socio-economic status of the school district or family, the average academic achievement level of the student, different types or quality of the homework assignment, or other mitigating factors.

Throughout primary school I had a teacher who believes in only giving homework when there was work leftover that should have been done during the school day.

Once I went to college and then university there wasn’t so much homework as pre-class work, but the classroom time wasn’t a full day, thus the time to do the reading/write reading notes was easily available.

Also, I studied politics, so hanging around OTC was enough independent learning to enable me to blah through most lectures and seminars.

I can't believe it, but I've received the same offer from RSIS in Singapore to attend for Masters. I was apprehensive is because I wasn't sure if the people who were writing my recommendation letters would work.

Congrats to you!

Mom doesn’t know, so I’ll have to spill the news.

Shame that most of the jobs I wanted to do requires a Masters. :(

If it helps, I’m vaccinated x3. I’ll have to ask if my scholarship can guarantee a job post as a researcher.

Edited by Ominae on Apr 12th 2022 at 6:33:57 AM

Well, the next obstacle is to talk to the mom 'cause she's worried about COVID (She caught it last year).

Aside from that, it's gonna be the second time I lived by myself.

Good luck!

Looks like things worked out having a Masters in Singapore is a reality now.