Comments on: Aggressive Schooling http://melissablogs.com/2009/04/08/aggressive-schooling/ Information Pollination Sat, 11 Feb 2012 21:50:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: WayneB http://melissablogs.com/2009/04/08/aggressive-schooling/comment-page-1/#comment-14427 WayneB Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:53:45 +0000 http://www.melissaclouthier.com/?p=13448#comment-14427 I would dispute that children are given tasks that are beyond their ability. I believe that they are not given the proper grounding in the basics so that they can do good work on the projects and tasks assigned to them. There is no drilling on the 3Rs anymore in the lower grades. I always use basic math as an example: Basic math is not repeated until it is reflexive - it is presented until the child can stumble through it on a fairly reliable basis, then is moved on, but not enough overall time is committed to it. One of my friends (a Liberal if there ever was one) always complained that when he was in grade school, he had problems with the "threes" his multiplication tables. He said he was forced to write his "threes" table 100 times, and talked about how terrible that was. I asked him, "Do you EVER have any problems with them now?". His answer was no, but he never seemed to get the point. I would dispute that children are given tasks that are beyond their ability. I believe that they are not given the proper grounding in the basics so that they can do good work on the projects and tasks assigned to them. There is no drilling on the 3Rs anymore in the lower grades. I always use basic math as an example: Basic math is not repeated until it is reflexive – it is presented until the child can stumble through it on a fairly reliable basis, then is moved on, but not enough overall time is committed to it.

One of my friends (a Liberal if there ever was one) always complained that when he was in grade school, he had problems with the “threes” his multiplication tables. He said he was forced to write his “threes” table 100 times, and talked about how terrible that was. I asked him, “Do you EVER have any problems with them now?”. His answer was no, but he never seemed to get the point.

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