Yeah, the football coach taught US History in my school as well.
If You Could Devise A Course ...
- Thread starter Kestra
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Yeah, the football coach taught US History in my school as well.
I would put something together on medicine and self-diagnsosis, meaning the symptom you can have that should alarm your - or not. Most young people are so dependent on Dr. mom that in adulthood they often react wrongly to something new that crops up.
For example, the first time I had an aural migraine I spent an hour wondering if I'd been zapped by a laser pointer from a passing car or ate poisonous sushi (aural migraines have a wildly predictable pattern of visual distortion that affects both eyes). The second time one occured I spent $500 or so and several hours in the ER, thinking I was about to die from some bizarre blood poisoning, to find out I had a headache (applause). The girl who billed me said that on her first aural migraine she pulled over on the side of the road and in a complete panic (she thought she was going blind) called her eye doctor.
There are a host of other symptoms you can experience that nobody warns you about, and this board is filled with people who experience all sorts of things.
Some more examples:
My downstairs housemate has tons of college-age friends. One spent a half-hour asking me "confidential" personal questions about how he no longer had regular poops, just constant and recurring watery diarrhea. I explained to him how drinking a fifth of whisky a day does that, the role of leutenizing hormones in large intestine water uptake, and how college kids have called it "the runs" at least since the 1700 hundreds. He asked what to do and I suggested drinking more water and less whisky, as nothing else is really going to return him to normal. Now he's doing fine and is sober way more often.
Another of my downstairs housemate's friends dropped out of the Univ. of South Carolina for a week because he had become terrified. He'd had a panic attack (his first one) while snorting cocaine, thinking his heart was about to explode, and as he related the horrifying symptoms I would finish his sentences for him, and elaborate on them (not that I've ever done drugs, but I am familiar with panic attacks since the age of about 30). He was amazed, thinking he must be the first person who had ever had one. I told him what was going on in his brain, reassured him that this is extremely common, and told him to discuss it with his doctor.
Over this past Memorial Day my housemate went to the lake to party. I suggested he take some road flares that I'd given him. While so drunk he doesn't actual remember the events, he used them to provide illumination as he searched for firewood. Fortunately the incendiary compounds of phosphorus and magnesium cauterized the wound, so the next day's first aid of biting off the blister and sucking on the ooze didn't result in a raging infection. But that's just a side note. He partied so hard that he was still throwing up three days later and his acid levels were through the roof. Only today did he manage to eat real food.
These symptoms are common and basic, yet none of his peer group seems capable of offering informed advice about even basic 1800's party knowledge. Worse are the housemates who didn't know that people with a family history of schizophrenia shouldn't smoke enormous amounts of weed after they've been having visual and auditory hallucinations, the one's who didn't know that an infected wound sending bright red streaks up her veins was a very bad thing, and the neighbor who didn't know that a Florida fire-ant mound was a very bad place to have sex on spring break.
I haven't even touched on diabetes, heart disease, kidney failure, dehydration, liver failure, breast cancer, epilepsy, Bell's palsy (had that), irritable bowel syndrome, and countless other maladies that many students will encounter either directly or indirectly, but in retrospect every person affected probably wonders why it took three months and a Google search to tell them what they should've been made aware of in high school.
For example, the first time I had an aural migraine I spent an hour wondering if I'd been zapped by a laser pointer from a passing car or ate poisonous sushi (aural migraines have a wildly predictable pattern of visual distortion that affects both eyes). The second time one occured I spent $500 or so and several hours in the ER, thinking I was about to die from some bizarre blood poisoning, to find out I had a headache (applause). The girl who billed me said that on her first aural migraine she pulled over on the side of the road and in a complete panic (she thought she was going blind) called her eye doctor.
There are a host of other symptoms you can experience that nobody warns you about, and this board is filled with people who experience all sorts of things.
Some more examples:
My downstairs housemate has tons of college-age friends. One spent a half-hour asking me "confidential" personal questions about how he no longer had regular poops, just constant and recurring watery diarrhea. I explained to him how drinking a fifth of whisky a day does that, the role of leutenizing hormones in large intestine water uptake, and how college kids have called it "the runs" at least since the 1700 hundreds. He asked what to do and I suggested drinking more water and less whisky, as nothing else is really going to return him to normal. Now he's doing fine and is sober way more often.
Another of my downstairs housemate's friends dropped out of the Univ. of South Carolina for a week because he had become terrified. He'd had a panic attack (his first one) while snorting cocaine, thinking his heart was about to explode, and as he related the horrifying symptoms I would finish his sentences for him, and elaborate on them (not that I've ever done drugs, but I am familiar with panic attacks since the age of about 30). He was amazed, thinking he must be the first person who had ever had one. I told him what was going on in his brain, reassured him that this is extremely common, and told him to discuss it with his doctor.
Over this past Memorial Day my housemate went to the lake to party. I suggested he take some road flares that I'd given him. While so drunk he doesn't actual remember the events, he used them to provide illumination as he searched for firewood. Fortunately the incendiary compounds of phosphorus and magnesium cauterized the wound, so the next day's first aid of biting off the blister and sucking on the ooze didn't result in a raging infection. But that's just a side note. He partied so hard that he was still throwing up three days later and his acid levels were through the roof. Only today did he manage to eat real food.
These symptoms are common and basic, yet none of his peer group seems capable of offering informed advice about even basic 1800's party knowledge. Worse are the housemates who didn't know that people with a family history of schizophrenia shouldn't smoke enormous amounts of weed after they've been having visual and auditory hallucinations, the one's who didn't know that an infected wound sending bright red streaks up her veins was a very bad thing, and the neighbor who didn't know that a Florida fire-ant mound was a very bad place to have sex on spring break.
I haven't even touched on diabetes, heart disease, kidney failure, dehydration, liver failure, breast cancer, epilepsy, Bell's palsy (had that), irritable bowel syndrome, and countless other maladies that many students will encounter either directly or indirectly, but in retrospect every person affected probably wonders why it took three months and a Google search to tell them what they should've been made aware of in high school.
All of these are excellent ideas.
100% Agreed. I just graduated a year ago this June, and my counselor was more focused on college. For those students who can't or won't go to college, they got screwed.
YES.
It's already a requirement for graduation, at least in California (and Illinois and Ohio), and I would assume it's a requirement in other states as well
^This. I was part of the WASC Committees at my high school (WASC stands for Western Alliance of Schools and Colleges. They're the people who go around and say whether or not the classes at your school can count towards graduation/college acceptance requirements). The Principal was *always* harping on raising test scores. The problem? It was one sub-group of the school's population (that's the exact term used to describe it, btw) who weren't raising their test scores by the expected amount. The scores were getting higher, but they weren't reaching the amount expected, which affected everyone else's scores.
Anyway, California got screwed out of federal funding in the "Race to the Top" program.
In California, and the West Contra Costa Unified School District in particular, one semester of US Politics and Government and one semester of Economics during the senior year are required to graduate.
My Gov/Econ teacher was incredibly boring, and only got excited when talking about banking. Not even the interesting stuff in regards to banking, either.
As for the class I'd have taught for at least a semester: Introduction to International Relations. Too many people, and especially students/young people, don't fully understand how interconnected our nation and world is, and how actions in one country can cause reactions and more in several others.
At my school (near Chicago), only health was taught (from well-prepared documents) by an athletic coach. The history and social studies department took its responsibilities very seriously, though government seemed to be the only class in the school that the average student also took seriously (possibly excepting NJROTC). Despite the school's presence on the official failed school list, its teachers were generally very hard-working and well-trained.
(We did have a slight problem in that physics was taught by an instructor whose PhD was in BioChemistry - the only person in the school legally qualified to teach it; he was quite rusty, but otherwise an excellent teacher. His chemistry courses, of course, were first-rate.)
I agree with many of the suggestions, esp financial management and basic skills.
Like Trippy, I'm an educator and one of the biggest drains on education has become the micromanagement by politicians. They have no training or understanding of the realities of the classroom. Consequently, we spend way too much time teaching to the all-important standardized test.
The latest example is a state requirement that all students pass advance math and science for a high school diploma. That includes Algebra 1 & 2, geometry, Biology 1 & 2, Chemistry and Physics. Now it is hard to argue against quality and improvement, but this is unrealistic. In a few years there is going to be a huge outcry when large numbers of students do not graduate. Of course the blame will be placed on the teachers, not those who failed to investigate the consequences of their actions before passing a law. Not every student is going to college, but the lack of the diploma will keep them out of the military, trade schools, and many jobs. It also handicaps those students whose strengths lie in the liberal and fine arts rather than the sciences.
Don't even get me started on the lack of parental support. I know schools that have told teachers not to regularly assign homework because a parental complaints. It takes up too much of the child's free time. Of course (and I bet Trippy agrees) the truth of homework is the only ones who do it are those that don't really need too. They understand and have mastered the material already. The students who need the assistance won't do it anyway.
Then you have myopic administrators.
I proposed a social science course to a principal recently about the history of propaganda on the publics perception of history. With one sided information becoming so prevalent as the news media implodes, I believe it is important that students learn to take a critical eye to claims and understand the importance of questioning what they are told.
I was told it could be to disruptive to encourage students to question authority... sigh
Like Trippy, I'm an educator and one of the biggest drains on education has become the micromanagement by politicians. They have no training or understanding of the realities of the classroom. Consequently, we spend way too much time teaching to the all-important standardized test.
The latest example is a state requirement that all students pass advance math and science for a high school diploma. That includes Algebra 1 & 2, geometry, Biology 1 & 2, Chemistry and Physics. Now it is hard to argue against quality and improvement, but this is unrealistic. In a few years there is going to be a huge outcry when large numbers of students do not graduate. Of course the blame will be placed on the teachers, not those who failed to investigate the consequences of their actions before passing a law. Not every student is going to college, but the lack of the diploma will keep them out of the military, trade schools, and many jobs. It also handicaps those students whose strengths lie in the liberal and fine arts rather than the sciences.
Don't even get me started on the lack of parental support. I know schools that have told teachers not to regularly assign homework because a parental complaints. It takes up too much of the child's free time. Of course (and I bet Trippy agrees) the truth of homework is the only ones who do it are those that don't really need too. They understand and have mastered the material already. The students who need the assistance won't do it anyway.
Then you have myopic administrators.
I proposed a social science course to a principal recently about the history of propaganda on the publics perception of history. With one sided information becoming so prevalent as the news media implodes, I believe it is important that students learn to take a critical eye to claims and understand the importance of questioning what they are told.
I was told it could be to disruptive to encourage students to question authority... sigh
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School isn't about critical thinking or analysis - it's about going to school for 7-8 hours a day, and being told information that's considered "important", as well as how to interact in social settings and groups not necessarily of your choice, as well as follow instructions.
Not that I don't think your class is great (many of my Advanced Placement teachers in English and History worked much of that into their classes) or should be taught, but it's at odds with the purpose of American schools.
I would devise a course, that is about perception....
Just going for example into a wood, everybody find him-/herself a place he/she liked and sits down or stand or whatever. And then it starts with just looking, whats there, what little details, than what do you hear, what do you smell and so on.
When people come together again they can for example be creative with what they find in the woods to express how they felt or they can use nature-colours and such.
Also there are nice little games, like you decribe certain specifics of your place...for example where I was, there was a yellow and a white flower blowing next to each other and it was a very sunny place. And the other than try to find where that place was.
People who have a high sensibility in perceiving things and finding the joy in the "small things" (again), are so more balanced and have more respect for each other and their surroundings in my experience.
Id say it would be for older children and adults alike. For very young children it would have to be a bit different done... a walk together, with TIME, not hurrying, just time to explore and observe and show the others what they found and experimenting and such. But than those should happen anyway, but I know that it often does not happen anymore...which is not only a pitty, but dangerous for the development of the little ones....and with that also to society and the future.
TerokNor
Just going for example into a wood, everybody find him-/herself a place he/she liked and sits down or stand or whatever. And then it starts with just looking, whats there, what little details, than what do you hear, what do you smell and so on.
When people come together again they can for example be creative with what they find in the woods to express how they felt or they can use nature-colours and such.
Also there are nice little games, like you decribe certain specifics of your place...for example where I was, there was a yellow and a white flower blowing next to each other and it was a very sunny place. And the other than try to find where that place was.
People who have a high sensibility in perceiving things and finding the joy in the "small things" (again), are so more balanced and have more respect for each other and their surroundings in my experience.
Id say it would be for older children and adults alike. For very young children it would have to be a bit different done... a walk together, with TIME, not hurrying, just time to explore and observe and show the others what they found and experimenting and such. But than those should happen anyway, but I know that it often does not happen anymore...which is not only a pitty, but dangerous for the development of the little ones....and with that also to society and the future.
TerokNor
A class on why privacy is important. Kids these days live on MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter, and such and post every intimate details about their lives for all to see and don't even see why it's important to keep some things to yourself.
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