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| St. Albert the Great (from wikipedia) |
First, I believe that we have lost a great deal of our American identity and that the loss of identity can be repaired (though not entirely) by an emergence of art in our culture. So art should be encouraged more by using a structure that will least inhibit creativity in any subject.
Second, I believe that the subject of philosophy is neglected or put off until college (and even then neglected). It is not only a loss of the study of philosophy that is lamentable in this, but an education in how to think guided by the greatest thinkers of history that will certainly prove to be of service in personal contentment as well as innovation.
Third, I believe that religion is a great part of the identity of people and we cannot truly understand one another without a respect for the various religions of the world. We cannot respect what we do not understand, if we ignore it via tolerance, the problem won’t disappear (it may, in fact, become worse). We should be taught what religion is and how it affects people, again this should be done respectfully and not done in a bigoted fashion.
Fourth, Mathematics is important. It is so important that we need to revise how it is generally taught (lifelessly though that depends on the teacher. I have thoroughly enjoyed mine). Memorization is a great tool, but not the only one. Math is an integral part of our society, reducing it to mere numbers is a crime.
Fifth, language and languages. English is an important subject, it helps us to write and read better (if taught well). Foreign languages should be available at a much younger age, elementary and middle school, because when we reach puberty there is a sharp decline in our ease of acquiring language. The difficulty only gets worse as we get older.
Sixth, the last point I want to make is the most fundamental. Education should be about our gifts, and giving us the tools to be who we should be. As a Catholic, I see that God created each every one of us to be someone in His plan. Not all of us are called to be publicly great, but all are called to be great.
Third, I believe that religion is a great part of the identity of people and we cannot truly understand one another without a respect for the various religions of the world. We cannot respect what we do not understand, if we ignore it via tolerance, the problem won’t disappear (it may, in fact, become worse). We should be taught what religion is and how it affects people, again this should be done respectfully and not done in a bigoted fashion.
Fourth, Mathematics is important. It is so important that we need to revise how it is generally taught (lifelessly though that depends on the teacher. I have thoroughly enjoyed mine). Memorization is a great tool, but not the only one. Math is an integral part of our society, reducing it to mere numbers is a crime.
Fifth, language and languages. English is an important subject, it helps us to write and read better (if taught well). Foreign languages should be available at a much younger age, elementary and middle school, because when we reach puberty there is a sharp decline in our ease of acquiring language. The difficulty only gets worse as we get older.
Sixth, the last point I want to make is the most fundamental. Education should be about our gifts, and giving us the tools to be who we should be. As a Catholic, I see that God created each every one of us to be someone in His plan. Not all of us are called to be publicly great, but all are called to be great.
Oh and one more thing, our system should help learning throughout our life. It mostly does through community colleges and libraries, but I thought that that should be a reminder to keep moving forward.
God bless,
>P<
Joshua Fahey
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