Thursday, July 15, 2010

What Happened to Studying?

I've mentioned the 2 million minutes web-site before ( www.2mminutes.com/ ) and I think it's worth mentioning again. It's an interesting grid to look at educational trends in America through. For instance: What happened to studying?

From the article, "In a 2008 survey of more than 160,000 undergraduates enrolled in the University of California system, students were asked to list what interferes most with their academic success. Some blamed family responsibilities, some blamed jobs. The second most common obstacle to success, according to the students, was that they were depressed, stressed, or upset. And then came the number one reason, agreed upon by 33 percent of students, who said they struggled with one particular problem “frequently” or “all the time”: They simply did not know how to sit down and study." Continued...

This is one of the reasons we focus on memory work and thinking skills, time lines, history and more specifically, classical education at our little school on the Prairie. It's not that my kids will know everything they need to know-far from it. It's that the goal is that our kids will understand and value the importance of study, and more to the point, know what's entailed in doing so.

1 comment:

rednanasteph's place said...

Amen, I must say that one thing Matthew thanks me for is his ability to know how to study. He has friends that do not have a clue!! My younger 2 know how, just do not.