Hopefully why stuff like this is important:What does drama teach them?
And as for music lessons - how to appreciate what music is, why we like it and to experience some of its wonders. Hopefully in the context of methods of recording and writing music.Excelling all whose sweet delight disputes
In heavenly matters of theology;
Till, swoll'n with cunning of a self conceit,
His waxen wings did mount above his reach,
And melting, heavens conspired his overthrow.
For, falling to a devilish exercise,
And glutted more with learning's golden gifts,
He surfeits upon cursèd necromancy(Prologue.18-25)[1]
From Marlowe's Dr Faustus
"No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority." Robert Heinlein
That just doesn't happen in schools does it ? It certainly didn't when I was at school. My 10 year old is currently mastering the electric guitar and AC/DC, and writing his own song - something he can't do at school.Originally Posted by Tim the Mage
I still remain unconvinced about drama;fine, read a good book or play, but don't make kids try to express anger in a dance or some other old nonsense like that.
I really, really hope school is different to what I had to endure...
Bloody typical, they've gone back to metric without telling us.
And how. It's worth remembering that Genesis contains two creation stories, not just one, and, of course, they are irreconcilable. If the creationists were true to their own teachings, they would be forced to have two murals, one depicting the more recent (Elohist) creation story, where God creates "man in his own image […] male and female created he them", and a second mural for the older (Jahwist) narrative where God makes man out of mud and then makes woman later as an afterthought.
Yes, Genisis is a hoot. It's well worth reading the bible just to see how crazy it is. Also god does come across a tad tetchy!
Why the hell would you ask a kid to read a play? That's the worst thing you can do with most of them.
My arguement is not against watching plays, but rather making the kids take part in one.
Bloody typical, they've gone back to metric without telling us.
Why shouldn't they? That is often an even better way to understand the material than watching it.
It comes down to a basic question, should an education equip a person just with economically useful skills, or should it help to expose them to many different aspects of our society?
One could even make the case that given the increased number of jobs were some amount of public speaking is required (or an advantage) that drama may be more economically useful than, say, history, or geography.
Look, I can't help it if I had some bad experiences during drama lessons at school that colour my opinion of it can I?
Bloody typical, they've gone back to metric without telling us.
I'm not sure that anything that I have said implies any fault on your behalf at all...
To my mind so much time is wasted at school that priority must be given to academic subjects over drama, music, RE, art, PE and the like. They are all secondary subjects and after the first few years, say when you're 9 or 10, they should be at least partially optional.
Either that or extend the school day so that they spend more than the 4-odd hours they actually spend in proper lessons.
Bloody typical, they've gone back to metric without telling us.
Which lessons do you deem to be academic?
Do any of the humanities count? How about English Lit?
What criteria are you using?
Given our current society an understanding of comparative religion is essential for understanding the various competing forces at work in our society. A working knowledge of comparative mythology is useful too, to perhaps the same extent as a study of English literature is useful.
Why not prioritize?
Scientific methodology - top of the list. So Physics, chemistry, Biology then others
Communication - second most important: Languages; IT
Numbers perhaps third - mathematics, economics etc; critical to support science, and very useful but less important now that computers/calculators do most of the work for us.
Next humanities - does help with understanding others, emotions and the world in general, but is that not generally achieved through living and rather poorly evidenced based - i.e. curriculum generated largely according to fashion or individual beliefs. Happy to include comparative religion here. Will also accept that history and geography are a true bridge between scientific approach and humanities.
Hopefully, there would be no time left over for indoctrination.
The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease. Voltaire
In the UK priorities are set very early - at primary school (KS1 & KS2)they are: literacy (reading and writing measured separately), numeracy and science. At KS3 (age 14) the priority is for English, Mathematics and Science but a KS4 (age 15/16) the priority is English, Maths plus three other subjects.
For me the relegation of geography is the biggest failing in all this - and its almost complete transformation to environmentalist propaganda makes this worse. I would also argue strongly for a much high profile for basic economics - and it's a proper science not something that 'computers/calculators' can do for us.
It is also notable that the very best schools focus far beyond the core requirements of the national curriculum because they know that drama, music, speech, sport and debate are ways to make young people achieve more in a world where all these things are important. Let's remember that more national media time is given to sport, music, theatre and literature than is given over to science. You may not like that but it is a reflection of what the media's consumers deem important.
Finally people need to learn practical skills - how to cook, basic d-i-y, art & design, IT and so on. What is remarkable is that the best schools do all this and help develop polite, hard-working and enthusiastic young people who are set to make a real contribution to making the world a more pleasant, happier and wealthier (in every respect) place. Many of these study drama, sociology, english literature and other terrible wastes of time. And I love and respect the few who want to study sanskrit, early medieval welsh or old norse!
Science really isn't everything. Really.
"No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority." Robert Heinlein
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