tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25646979.post833076317427712571..comments2024-01-01T15:35:12.954-07:00Comments on Simple Utah Mormon Politics: What the Utah Legislature Could Learn About Math from Brigham Young UniversityFrank Stahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01822334061980912687noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25646979.post-55219527270036025512008-08-28T17:04:00.000-06:002008-08-28T17:04:00.000-06:00I think the influence of culture is overlooked whe...I think the influence of culture is overlooked when comparing Singapore's education model to American education.<BR/><BR/>In Singapore they worship education. They attend school six days per week up to 10 hours per day. As a society they value educational rigor far more than do Americans. They also are a much more ordered society that prizes individualism far less than do Americans. Changing the course material for math isn't going to change the cultural differences.<BR/><BR/>Some economists have argued that part of the reason Americans place less value on higher math and science skills is that they can make a decent living without these skills. While people with those skills can earn a good living, such skills are not required to live well. Americans tend to work in business. If they need math/science skills, they hire people that can do it, even if those people come from abroad.<BR/><BR/>In essence, these economists are saying that there are real reasons (beyond a shoddy education system) that Americans don't pursue math and science the way they do in some other countries. Maybe that doesn't fully explain the phenomenon, but it's something that ought to be considered.Scott Hinrichshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11831447472339880148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25646979.post-83872028693686184762008-08-28T09:29:00.000-06:002008-08-28T09:29:00.000-06:00If I may respectfully disagree on the relationship...If I may respectfully disagree on the relationship between education and morality...<BR/><BR/>I think there may be a relationship, but I would suspect that parents who take the time to teach morality to their children, are also engaged in their kids learning and thus children with higher morals may tend to have higher grades in schools. <BR/><BR/>I think morality is important, and should be taught at home, however I don't think it is the business of the school system to teach morality as well as skills such as math and science. In fact I would suspect that should school 'take over' this role of teaching morality as well, that parents would be alleviated of even more parental responsibility, and the problem may in fact get worse.<BR/><BR/>The difference I see between Singapore and the US, isn't morality, but rather the fact that the Singapore text books teach math, while the US textbooks are trying to market math and make it more fun, rather than focusing on the subject itself. Perhaps if math were taught as math and not as something trying to compete with TV, children could learn more. In the end the lessons which kids are being taught is that life should always be easy and fun, which results in a pretty rude awakening when they hit the real world.<BR/><BR/>As a final example of the separation of morality and education. I obtained a world class education in South Africa. I suspect it may have been one of the best places in the world to gain such an education at the time, and it has served me well. That said though the education department was run by a highly immoral apartheid government that bore a closer resemblance to Nazi Germany than anything else.Urban Kodahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01327437055164051853noreply@blogger.com