Is 12 years of school really necessary? - why not cut it shorter? (Sep/25/2008 )
Maybe you didnt get the PhD because you made unfounded arrogant statements in your interview like those above.
nope, it's a shame that YOU have PhD. idiot.
the life style now is much different from 50 years ago, kids are more open to media, movies, internet, etc. they learn more so they understand more.
Is it really necessary to snap at someone because of this??
Anyway you can turn your argument also against the new generation. They are so busy using their cell phones, to surf the internet, to download music and films, they seem only to be interested in outward appearance (of their own, their car, their friends, celebrities...), and so on. All these superficialities. The idiom: "Multum, non multa" is unknown to them. They never learnt to concentrate on a topic, the never learnt persistently to collect, organize and relate information, to make logic conclusions and then to draft this in a clear and concise manner. Just google, then copy and paste. I wonder how many of them really read a book (except the ones needed for school).
agree
agree again. And not even the books for school are for sure....you can get everything on CD or DVD nowadays, and the review is written on the backside of the cover
Maybe you remember: there was some German newspaper writing about a decrease of the average IQ of 16 - 20 year olds of more than 5 points (or something like that I can not remember the correct numbers, no selective photographic memory
) some time ago (Zeit or Spiegel or similar).....I think it was the same article where it was said that the average german sentence was 250 words long 100 years ago, and today its 50 words....ok you can not compare to Englisch which has a more condensed sentence structure, but I have to confess that I do not belive that only Germans are becoming more stupid......
What a bunch of self-serving nonsense. If you're a scientist, back this statement up with some data.
Nothing will make me feel old, Curtis. 28 and restarting my degree this year from a scratch.
And all of a sudden, feeling mature enough to actually understand what I am doing. Really understand, not just that I know how to add X to Y and know what is my project about. And I think it counts that you do good research, not how old you are or which paper you have. Howgh.
Too old! Bwah. Stupid people.
And from my experience, looking at some of my colleagues, school is not too long. Intellectual maturity and emotional maturity are two different things, and I would never let a 18 year old, no matter how genius, work in a lab. Big chance of him emotionally burning out or something exploding.
i think you have to define "more clever".
this generation is better at using and working with computers than any previous generations. And perhaps more attune to electronic technology that any generation before, but only because home computer as so common in the environment of this generation, than in any other.
But does this make us smarter?
I believe the older generations are probably better at craft and life skills (wood work, metal work, how to gut a fish/chicken etc) that this generation. So would that make them smarter and this generation dumber. I would be rather dumb if somebody gave me a live chicken and told me to make dinner.
So the way I see it, there is shift in skills, as the environment changed.
As for maturing... in terms of physical maturity I think it is all down to better richer food, more calories. Give any animal more abundant high quality food, and it will mature at a younger age... even whales.
Telomerase, does have a point. Emotional maturity and Intellectual maturity are two different things. They don't always mature in step. Some people do seem to fail to reach emotional maturity.
So when was the last time we even saw a live clucking chicken (let alone for gutting) except in a zoo?I completely agree that we must first set the criteria on what it means to be clever or smart before we make any conclusions if the kids nowadays are indeed so. I think that the intelligence tests have already moved from the classical verbal- reading, writing, nonverbal, mathematics etc. to a more comprehensive cognitive approach which emphasise more on problem-solving, decision-making, creativity etc. evaluation. So is the younger generation smarter? Or just smart-asses...
..seriously though, there are probably already data on this .... Hehe, perneseblue, when I was a kid, at school, there were special lessons of crafting. Basic woodcrafting, making little birdhouses, even cooking and sewing. I think it's a shame there aren't now. It was fun. Woodcrafting especially. I never liked the whole calorie-counting homework at the cooking lessons. You had to write down everything you ate for a week. Probably an idea of some crazy pedagogue.
Actually, I see live chicken every time I go to my parents house. These are normal suburbs, but one very old guy refuses to sell his house and lives there like 50 years ago, in a wooden shack, with two angry dogs, a couple of chicken and a horrible mess. Every spring he has a couple of little chicken running around. He's the epitome of a crazy old lone guy, like in all those movies. I'm maybe describing him too harsh, but he isn't nice to the neighbours. He would probably like to turn back the time and on some level, I can sympathize.
I think you can't keep children in sterile environment behind the fence. They have to go out, get dirty, on the holidays go into the forest with their parents, collect mushrooms or learn herbs depending on the tradition, catch fish and cook them. It teaches thinking, creativity, craftiness and self-reliance.
Some of my friends did 11 years of school...they (including me) skipped one year.
It is possible to cut the school year to 10 years... 5 years elementary/ primary school and 5 years high school (1 year middle school and 4 years high school).
I heard some very smart kids got into MIT at the age of 14.
Why does Cancer Research UK put an age limit on the scholarship?
Most PhD scholarship don't have age limit.