That's a pretty hard thing to teach to someone though. This is where the student has to take action in their own education and realize that they have to think, learn, and educate themselves if they actually want to get anything out of their education. Simply going to school and doing what they tell you to do for 12 years does absolutely nothing except waste your time. Motivation is what's really lacking in education in America.

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"It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a 'dismal science.' But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.

--Murray Rothbard

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skinny. A liberal is just a libertarian who hasn't studied economics.

When I was in high school I took some business and economics classes. The teacher talked about credit cards a lot and gave a lot of good advice on both credit cards and investing. Doesn't mean everyone's going to listen to that advice though. Best credit card advice he gave was to pay them off right away and only spend money that you actually have. I personally only have a check card (debit) from my bank. This works great because it is just like a credit card except instead of getting a bill I'm just using money that I actually have. What a crazy concept, using money that you have when you have it instead of buying things on credit and paying for them later even if you have the money.

What I don't understand is how this country got so obsessed with credit and why someone who has NEVER had to borrow money (such as myself) automatically has bad credit since no credit is considered bad credit. I should have perfect credit since I've never had to borrow money for a loan, credit card, or anything else.

Anyways, there are three types of people:
1) Those who learn it themselves/get it before the others
2) Those who have to be guided to learn it
3) Those who will never learn it
And 'it' could be anything.

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"We consider this our duty - to defend humanity against the scourge of intolerance, violence, and fanaticism." -Ahmed Shah Massoud
Ahmed Shah Massoud T-Shirt

Great question, Rah! Ask most college and university professors and they will tell you two things are missing in secondary education:

1. A good primary education

2. Critical thinking skills (you'll hear this one from (*)(*)(*)(*) near every professor)

Many, many, many of my close friends are professors in and across varied disciplines. All say the same thing. Students don't know how to teach themselves, in other words think deductively. They do not want to ferret through information and come to a conclusion by determining for themselves what is fact or proof or validation. They want it given to them. It is a very real and serious issue in America. Europe is becoming much smarter at younger ages. American kids often cannot compete with European students. In time and very soon young American adults will not be able to compete with European adults. In short, they do not know how to reason.

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You, you, and you, panic. The rest of you follow me.

Last book read: "The Gate House" ~ NelsonDeMille
Now reading: "Nam-A-Rama" ~ Phillip Jennings

I remember when I was in college a professor actually gave me a lower grade because the example I gave on the main essay of the midterm exam wasn't discussed in class. In the question we had to give an example of unconventional warfare and why it is hard for the US to defend against it. I wrote this discussion about eastern vs western fighting styles, idea-driven 4th generation warfare, how those were present in the Soviet-Afghan War, the First and Second Chechen Wars, and the Iraq War, and then gave reasons for why it was difficult for the US to combat it with the current doctrine. I actually later talked about the subject with a Naval Intelligence commander and he agreed with all of my points. However when I discussed it with the professor after I got my grade back (B) she said that she would have given me a C on the test if I hadn't made so many good points in class discussions. When I asked why she said it was because while my answer was correct, it was not something discussed in class. The answer she was looking for was 9/11.

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"We consider this our duty - to defend humanity against the scourge of intolerance, violence, and fanaticism." -Ahmed Shah Massoud
Ahmed Shah Massoud T-Shirt

Your professor should be fired.

Honestly, what was she thinking?

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__________________
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"It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a 'dismal science.' But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.

--Murray Rothbard

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skinny. A liberal is just a libertarian who hasn't studied economics.

LOL! I had a few like that in my time. Don't they just (*)(*)(*)(*) you off? In the end it's all part of the learning process but sometimes it isn't fun. Especially when you are correct and the prof won't admit it.

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You, you, and you, panic. The rest of you follow me.

Last book read: "The Gate House" ~ NelsonDeMille
Now reading: "Nam-A-Rama" ~ Phillip Jennings

Yeah it was pretty annoying. Had a professor for an International Security class who took points off of one of my tests because I said that NATO did the work during the Kosovo War while the UN just came in at the end and declared that they had made the peace because he really likes the UN.

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"We consider this our duty - to defend humanity against the scourge of intolerance, violence, and fanaticism." -Ahmed Shah Massoud
Ahmed Shah Massoud T-Shirt

Yeah, I used to go back and argue with them. I loved it. Often I was right but I was wrong a few times as well. But they made me think. They made me work to prove my position. Sometimes I had to dig and re-read and research to defend myself. Those were great days. I'm here to tell you that most professors love it as well, even the arrogant pricks. And they love the students who care enough and are involved enough to want have a go on the subject with the prof. But professors are incredibly human (LOL!) and some are educated beyond their intelligence.

I found the arguments to be more philosophical in grad school and while they were fun they weren't nearly as contentious.

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You, you, and you, panic. The rest of you follow me.

Last book read: "The Gate House" ~ NelsonDeMille
Now reading: "Nam-A-Rama" ~ Phillip Jennings

Agreed. I don't think a course that teaches basic life skills would be bad, but one of the biggest issues with education today is that people just don't care. In my opinion, High School graduation rates are more indicative of the growing apathy among youth and parents. While helpful, a course like this may be brushed aside by many because they don't care, or think they are too smart to subject themselves to a course of that nature.

Paddling.

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