Comments on The engineering and economics of my experience: Long preserved thoughts about Romanian education

I agree. With "By the time the children grow up" I...

2007-06-09T13:46:00.000+03:00

I agree. With "By the time the children grow up" I meant that by the time they have enough brains to realize that they need to do something about education, it's usually too late, because they already wasted their time. But some of them could at this point contribute to the change that will affect future generations.

@smarty... no way... the change has to come from b...

2007-06-07T09:48:00.000+03:00

@smarty... no way... the change has to come from both; they both have to realize that education is a double way street, which can become a win win situation; it's been treated unilaterally for way too long, and that is perhaps one of the more fundamental evils at the core of the problem.

About the essays that we had to write: Did you eve...

2007-06-01T00:57:00.000+03:00

About the essays that we had to write: Did you ever think that the root of the problem is the teacher who is giving the assignment, and not the student? I mean, come on. We both now that teachers usually don't read those essays. They know that, and the students know that. Furthermore, the pupils get away easily by plagiarizing. So why should they waste their time when not even the teacher is interested?

The change has to come from the adults, not the students. By the time the children grow up and realize what a waste of time _some_ of their courses were, it's too late. And I emphasize _some_, because there are courses that make it all worth it, especially in high school. But a lot of them are just filling, so that the teachers can get their salary. We had teachers in my high school who were horrible (drunks, perverts, vegetables that could only read from books), but nobody fired them because "they also have to earn a living". Congratulations kid, you just got off the assembly line. Now go on and study in a sub mediocre university. Oh man, don't even get me started about universities. Some of them are great, but most are horribly managed ... it just seems they're drifting. All of this can be changed and has to be changed. It would probably take 5-10 years, but it's doable. With some money and good policies we could go a long way.