My favorite part about the benefits of learning to solve problems rather than memorizing skills for a particular section of a book at a time:
> When they had been at school, their social class, as determined by their parents' jobs, were the same at both schools. But eight years later, the young adults from Phoenix Park were working in more highly skilled or professional jobs than the Amber Hill adults... 65 percent of the Phoenix Park adults were in jobs more professional than their parents, compared with 23 percent of Amber Hill adults. In fact, 52 percent of Amber Hill adults were in less professional jobs than their parents, compared with only 15 percent of the Phoenix Park graduates...
Students at the school that that taught problem solving rather than memorization continued math education in college because they enjoyed it, leading 65% of them to get better jobs than their parents at only 24 years old. On the other hand, the majority of students at the traditional high school avoided math in college, and chose "less professional" jobs than their parents at 24. Over their lifespans, I can only imagine the disparity increased...
> Which statement would give you more pleasure? "Because of good teaching, my child scored 79% on her last math test," or "Because of good teaching, my child has a much better job and leads a far more interesting and rewarding life than me."
The author mentions that even the best students at traditional schools had trouble on tests since they practiced the skill-of-the-day on assignments, leading me to believe they would show remarkable improvement on standardized testing in a new curriculum. Maybe the author believes that testing students after-the-fact is not as good a use of taxpayer money as providing resources and education for teachers to change the curriculum would be.
> When they had been at school, their social class, as determined by their parents' jobs, were the same at both schools. But eight years later, the young adults from Phoenix Park were working in more highly skilled or professional jobs than the Amber Hill adults... 65 percent of the Phoenix Park adults were in jobs more professional than their parents, compared with 23 percent of Amber Hill adults. In fact, 52 percent of Amber Hill adults were in less professional jobs than their parents, compared with only 15 percent of the Phoenix Park graduates...
Students at the school that that taught problem solving rather than memorization continued math education in college because they enjoyed it, leading 65% of them to get better jobs than their parents at only 24 years old. On the other hand, the majority of students at the traditional high school avoided math in college, and chose "less professional" jobs than their parents at 24. Over their lifespans, I can only imagine the disparity increased...
> Which statement would give you more pleasure? "Because of good teaching, my child scored 79% on her last math test," or "Because of good teaching, my child has a much better job and leads a far more interesting and rewarding life than me."
The author mentions that even the best students at traditional schools had trouble on tests since they practiced the skill-of-the-day on assignments, leading me to believe they would show remarkable improvement on standardized testing in a new curriculum. Maybe the author believes that testing students after-the-fact is not as good a use of taxpayer money as providing resources and education for teachers to change the curriculum would be.