Austrians at it again:

[Xanathos]

Molotov, I would tend to share Amazeroth's view on the issue.

[GreekIdiot]

Can you guys reveal your nation's educational budgets? I'm still shocked by that 40%...

In Greece we students like get....well.....em........around...........................3.5%....

[Sam]

Texas has around 25% iirc.

[TPD]

It's an experiment but maybe it could work. We're already living in a digitalised world. And from my own observations I can tell that kids are incredibly bored with regular books. So maybe it's the new generation. I don't believe a digitalised version can replace the advantages of a regular book but we have to keep up with progress. I'm just asking myself where those times are when we had simple textbooks with a few pictures in them and it was really about learning only and no distracting elements.

I am also utterly shocked at the 40% of state budget. Wow.

[Molotov]

Molotov, I would tend to share Amazeroth's view on the issue.

Hmm?

I meant to say, Amazeroth: Ignore Captain-Socialist, he's being silly. You know, when CS was trying to suggest that the name Österreich somehow made the country sound sinister because the Nazis used 'Third Reich'.

I'm just asking myself where those times are when we had simple textbooks with a few pictures in them and it was really about learning only and no distracting elements.

Quite right, TPD. Children are bored by books, because they've been taught from an early age that everything should be entertaining. The last thing they need is online learning, which is full of distractions. It's not like you can monitor computer usage easily in a classroom, we used to get away with murder in IT lessons and never did any work. In my opinion, computers in education have had a negative impact, or at least, made no great positive impact (as it is constantly claimed they do/should.)

We should definitely stop trying to make learning 'fun'. If anything, kids have to learn to separate serious activities from play. As much as play is unconscious learning through experience, not everything can be learned from play and much of the time they just need to sit down, be bored and get on with it. Obviously that's not to say you should make the material boring, but it should interest them on its own merits not because they learn about it in some kind of game. If a kid finds the stuff he studies in physics boring (excepting the maths, of course) he shouldn't be in school at all, he should be out working in some field

[Opakidabar]

We should definitely stop trying to make learning 'fun'. If anything, kids have to learn to separate serious activities from play. As much as play is unconscious learning through experience, not everything can be learned from play and much of the time they just need to sit down, be bored and get on with it. Obviously that's not to say you should make the material boring, but it should interest them on its own merits not because they learn about it in some kind of game. If a kid finds the stuff he studies in physics boring (excepting the maths, of course) he shouldn't be in school at all, he should be out working in some field

If my grandmother shared the same view, my family's mathematical talents would never open up so bright. And my kid shall have interesting way to learn maths as well - but I agree, rest of population can go on working some fields. Someone has to do that!

[Molotov]

To be fair, I except maths from the 'learning should be boring' thing. You have to make maths interesting, but in order to make it interesting, you must make it relevant. Not ask questions like, a train leaving Liverpool is travelling at x speed, blah blah. Have the maths children learn apply to real, practical things, actual activities (like building a go-cart that they might do in their own time, but do the maths in class).

I learned to spell with my grandmother, a chalkboard and we'd compete. Obviously she was much better than me and was probably getting it wrong on purpose sometimes but I was too young to realise, we'd challenge each other to spell a word and we'd have points as if it was a competition (1 point for a right answer), and we just did that for hours and now I can spell Maybe it's just more important to engage children than to make it 'fun' as such. I also think really small classes are essential. The most important thing is human interaction, though, at the very least when they are young.

[TPD]

The last thing they need is online learning, which is full of distractions. It's not like you can monitor computer usage easily in a classroom, we used to get away with murder in IT lessons and never did any work. In my opinion, computers in education have had a negative impact, or at least, made no great positive impact (as it is constantly claimed they do/should.)

We should definitely stop trying to make learning 'fun'. If anything, kids have to learn to separate serious activities from play. As much as play is unconscious learning through experience, not everything can be learned from play and much of the time they just need to sit down, be bored and get on with it. Obviously that's not to say you should make the material boring, but it should interest them on its own merits not because they learn about it in some kind of game. If a kid finds the stuff he studies in physics boring (excepting the maths, of course) he shouldn't be in school at all, he should be out working in some field

Yes, but technically that problem could be solved. I know that nowadays a lot companies do not have access to quite a number of websites and only restricted internet usage, which could be done at schools also. Another thing they could do is make the kids work with the digitalised textbooks at home only.

I think you need competitive games in a way, as long as you don't overdo it. Even adults appreciate them occasionally. It becomes a problem though when it's more about the game than the learning. Nothing is boring, it's just a matter of how you present it. And really, things not having a practical application in real life are useless. I remember we had a lot of encyclopedia-like theoretical knowledge in my school days and I can't remember any of it.

I learned to spell with my grandmother, a chalkboard and we'd compete. Obviously she was much better than me and was probably getting it wrong on purpose sometimes but I was too young to realise, we'd challenge each other to spell a word and we'd have points as if it was a competition (1 point for a right answer), and we just did that for hours and now I can spell Maybe it's just more important to engage children than to make it 'fun' as such. I also think really small classes are essential. The most important thing is human interaction, though, at the very least when they are young.

Heh, that's both cute and effective.

[JuliaAJA]

Can you guys reveal your nation's educational budgets? I'm still shocked by that 40%...

In Greece we students like get....well.....em........around...........................3.5%....

George, Nevada gets 2.3% for Education, cheer up. We are 49/51, I think 51 because it's counting the District of Columbia. Yankee's should be ashamed, 51/51 for DC.

http://www.statemaster.com/red/state/NV ... tion&all=1

Edit:
Malefic isn't too bad, Kentucky = 32/51
tdurden21 can be happy, Georgia = 24/51
Rumbold90 can be happier, Pennsylvania = 20/51
Zongxian can be happiest, Maryland = 19/51

[GreekIdiot]

To be fair, I except maths from the 'learning should be boring' thing. You have to make maths interesting, but in order to make it interesting, you must make it relevant. Not ask questions like, a train leaving Liverpool is travelling at x speed, blah blah. Have the maths children learn apply to real, practical things, actual activities (like building a go-cart that they might do in their own time, but do the maths in class).

Agreed Molotov. I also find myself loving maths as a science, usefulness, concept, whatever the term, and also hating it when being taught it in school. We only learn types, forms and all that kind of shit and miss the real essence of maths. When I regain the first kind of approach towards maths, it's always too late and I've already fucked up in exams.

I also think really small classes are essential. The most important thing is human interaction, though, at the very least when they are young.

Indeed, I've been very lucky in my life to experience that example. My class is practically consisted of four students, including myself. It's a music school, so there are more benefits to this. I'm also of the opinion that human interaction is indeed necessary, but when you study in such state schools like mine, you'd certainly appreciate some access to technology and the advantages of the internet and online projects.