🚀 go-pugleaf

In Claifornia, we have a state board of education that recommends
curriculum and then local school district committees that develop the
actual curriculum used in the classrooms. I think that it is important that
we have a body of knowledge that is commonly accepted as being important to
a civilization/culture. Although missing out on some of this material might
not create a life threatening situation for the individual, not passing it
on can be life threatening to the culture.

This is one of the questions we are dealing with now, especially in
California, although sadly, many in the ed. community aren't very aware of
it. The question is: Is there a common culture that we should be passing on
to our students? I think that there is. But there are many people who
disagree. I'm afraid that if we don't teach about our common culture, we
will see even mare "Balkanization" of our society.
Regards,
Dennis Dawson


In article <hadgraft.24.301C40DE@eng.monash.edu.au>,
hadgraft@eng.monash.edu.au (Roger Hadgraft) wrote:

>Agreed. But which 0.000000000001% of the world's knowledge do you teach? My 
>own feeling is that the number 1 factor in learning is student motivation. 
>Once you turn them on, wonderful things happen. If this means that some of the 
>"content" can't be "covered", tough. Very little is life threatening - 
>reading, writing, arithmetic, personal health - most of which is over by about 
>the age of 8.



Dennis Dawson
Burlingame,CA
dawson@best.com