Wednesday, July 1, 2015

The world needs ditch diggers

It's long been said the world needs ditch diggers, floor sweepers, and real estate agents.

Here's a future floor sweeper in training.

No, my dear - you may never have a need to learn the principles of a= 1+rn to the 2nd power.  Most people won't, but you'll be more concerned with getting the broom into the corners properly, I expect.

What you fail to appreciate is that school is not, by and large, about teaching vocational skills.  It's largely about teaching people how to learn, which is a skill in of itself.  Along the way it might impart a few factoids and hopefully expose you to a range of subjects that will give you an idea of what you'd like to do your serious training in after leaving.

Nor are exams about determining what you memorised.  They're designed to get you to demonstrate what you have learned, which validates your ability to learn something else later.  Your future boss will be hiring you on the basis of your ability to learn to do the job the way he wants it, correctly and quickly.  He doesn't care about theoretical algebra any more than you do, apparently - but he cares that you've got the ability to learn.  A lot.

As for how to pay your taxes, apply for a job, mortgage your house, or buy a car - I tend to think they're life skills your parents should be teaching you, you know?  Remember, school isn't about learning skills - you'll do that later at university or trade school.  Or, in your case, in the hairdresser's diploma class at TAFE you go to at nights after you're finished with the broom.

But I'm sure that like all young people, you know everything.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please be aware that all comments are moderated so if you're a scumbag spammer then I suggest not wasting your time. Your spam will not be seen by anyone.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.