And let me add, the "boot camp" mentality is the structure that de-emphasizes creativity. You don't go to boot camp to be creative, it is to conform you into a state of discipline individually, and function as a unit and single force. The US military has world-class education abilities, but those are not boot camps. That is not the function of a boot camp.
Then you should know better as to ask why, even more so if you have any sort of training in the educational field. "Boot camp", as I understand the term, is a poor method of developing kids those age. Probably good for learning times tables, but there's more to the experience of elementary school than this. If we are copying foreign models, then I prefer those like that of, say, Finland or Germany.
That's seems like a fair point. Is it also fair to say that the point of boot camp is to prepare you for what comes next (in the military sense, combat)? I don't think school needs to be exactly like boot camp in all ways, but it seems reasonable to say it should be similar, in that it should prepare kids for what comes next?
I don't think the author ever said school should be like boot camp. But I also think that one of his points was that kids are coming out of school unprepared for life as adults. Boot camp prepares men and women for combat. School should be preparing kids for the next stages in life and, eventually, adulthood. So there's a parallel to be drawn.
Thanks. I'm obviously not completely discounting what you're saying based on these timelines, but I do think that it's worth noting that your experience is from further in the past than the more recent timeline he drawing attention to (again, last 3-5 years).
Ultimately, problem-solving is all any of us does, no matter what we do. The more complex or specialized the problem, the "harder" the job. I believe the US system itself is bad about encouraging problem-solving and critical thinking. Well, China's appears to be even worse. What good are all those quizzes and standardized tests in China for those kids, if all it is selecting for is how well you take standardized tests with definite right and wrong answers?
That makes sense, and I agree with you that problem-solving is all any of us does, no matter what we do. But at the same time, knowing the definite right and wrong answers to certain questions is basically the foundation/prerequisite for anything. Like, I'm pretty decent at problem solving (or so I've been told), but, if in order to solve a certain problem, I have to have a certain specific degree of math knowledge, or physics knowledge, or chemistry knowledge, I'm going to be capped in how far I can go in solving said problem, yes? The baseline knowledge is a necessity, as well as the problem solving skills to go along with it.
Boot camp is good for GroupThink, which is great for the military and probably Chines society. I commented on the term "boot camp" specifically and not the author's points because it's behind a pay wall. The first paragraph description of elementary was my objection. Now, I'm not 100% on the American system, either, but the description of "preparing for adulthood" is kind of a vague concept. If we're going to bog it down to large generalizations, I think secondary education should be geared towards developing critical thinking skills and how to write with considerations towards the German system regarding the options of vocational education. It should definitely be more holistic than boot camp mentality, which is geared for tapering individuals to a specific communal group goal.
Physics is a pretty heavy "baseline" of knowledge. Ultimately, the higher order thinking skills are applicable across a lot of those fields when the few people who go into them. It still matters more to know how to apply them than anything else. IP has stolen a lot of my thunder on these answers before I get to them myself, but I have a lot more complex issues with the American education system which are hard to express in a smaller forum here, but a lot of them revolve around going too far in this direction of standardized education and, specifically, testing, than not. I rarely have a day go by in which I don't have some reference or emphasis on some [dadgum] standardized test or data analysis (of those tests).
Our system currently for the last 10 and going years for my kids has been solely geared towards the test scores. My middle son is a smart kid. But he can't sit there for 3 hours making circles. Some kids are naturally good test takers and others have minds that veer off during those tests. Often, brilliant minds Doesnt make them all dumb or incapable if scores aren't there. Those same tests have run off many successful entrepreneurs, for example my friend who started Shipt and sold it to Target, and now is launching another company and app with plans to go public. He probably still cant sit thru an ACT exam and we have laughed about the train speed questions. Our system is flawed and has been. Back off on some classes and add some new ones. So much wasted time.
We now have periodic "benchmark" tests to check and see if we are progressing towards the actual end of year testing, then pour over the data for each of those tests in preparation for The Test. We also have "scope and sequence" which outlines which topics you are supposed to be on and when (Though it says they are merely to be "guides".). It's like a confluence of only autistic folks and bean counters got together to create policy. I've even been told my tests were good in my class, but they were different than what The Test is like and should change mine, as a result. It's idiotic. As my friend states "data is the only way the adults know how to talk to the other adults across the system to justify what they are doing". So, tests.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/28/world/asia/omicron-variant-name-covid.html We mustn't upset Supreme Leader.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...es-human-rights-abuses-china-here-educate-him Does "silence is violence" apply to LeBron James?
An NBA owner parroting CCP talking points shouldn't surprise or offend anyone who has been paying attention at all to the NBA recently. That league needs China's blessing. Chamath will always protect and care about his bottom line before anything else in the world. If he doesn't say what he did, his entire franchise would be barred from conducting business in China. Ask the Houston Rockets how fun it is to slight his Excellency Dear Chairmen Xi.
