This Week in Comments: November 19th—November 26th, 2017
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Alright, let’s get busy and look at these comments.
Some Schools Are Abolishing Homework In Favor Of Reading, And That’s A Good Thing
Steve Neumann:Homework teaches kids a lot of things that have little to do with academic gains. The vast majority of what kids learn in school has zero practical application in their personal lives. What kids are learning is how to learn, and learning how to work. Homework, especially in later grades teaches kids to draw upon a previous learning experience and apply it on their own independently. The sum of your knowledge is what you can do ON YOUR OWN. If you can’t get through content without a helping hand after you have learned it, you don’t own it. Rarely is that level of mastery achieved instantly in class, but requires practice and repetition. Doing homework builds confidence in kids that they can learn and master something and this skill translates into workplace competence. Successful people are able to learn skills and then use them fluently without needing a babysitter or overseer to direct their productivity. The abandonment of homework really is the abandonment of mastery. From my vantage point, one thing I see with younger generations as a product of their schooling is an overconfidence in their knowledge set. The internet has created easy access to endless information, but it does not encourage ownership or mastery of that content. Parroting content or cutting and pasting does not mean you know those things. If you didn’t know it before you Googled it, chances are you still don’t know it after Googling it. We have embraced a superficial understanding of the world and passed it off as knowledge, and this is reflected in the growing intellectual dark ages where science is shunned in favor of pseudo-science and conspiracy theories. Greater attention should be given, perhaps, to maximize the meaning of homework, but I think there will be negative consequences long term for the effectiveness of students. Practice makes perfect applies to everything in life. Our society wants instant gratification and instant mastery that simply does not exist.
Hey Bill Nye! Can Science Eradicate Religion and Myth from Politics?
Ryan Pemberton: Religion in politics is like cancer in the body. It will kill you eventually.
4 Things You Can Do to Cheer Up, According to Neuroscience
Patrick Zyram: What’s worked for me: Workout=endorphins. Switch to a Whole foods, plant based lifestyle will eliminate inflammation caused by processed foods & animal products including in the brain which can cause depression. Avoid a**holes as much as possible. Spend time in nature.
How to Live Like Lebowski: 2 Ideas About Sneaking Up On Letting Go