Mr. Zohar<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The worst half hour of my summer made me think of Joseph Yang. We were visiting More importantly, Joseph\u2019s concerns made me think about what high school students The Vice President at the CPP answered first. The first surprise was that he Next came the engineer, his specialty being the use of computer engineering in Next, the med school professor. Point 1, reading, point 2 writing, point 4 oral Finally, our man from the Ivey League. His answer was the shortest, and he asked for So what are the four lessons you must master in high school? You need to always What does this mean for my classroom? I hope that I already teach communication Is Joseph ready for university? Absolutely. He works hard, has solid values, is Mr. Zohar The worst half hour of my summer made me think of Joseph Yang. We were visiting family and my father-in-law was watching Who\u2019s Smarter than a Fifth Grader. It was painful. The show confuses intelligence and education … Continue reading
\nfamily and my father-in-law was watching Who\u2019s Smarter than a Fifth Grader<\/em>. It was painful. The show confuses intelligence and education with the memorization of facts. This reminded me of Joseph\u2019s complaint, in these pages, about having to learn useless stuff, such as rhetorical devices. When Joseph returned to this topic in the most recent
\nissue, I was provoked to answer him. First of all, Joseph, your teachers don\u2019t
\ncare if you memorize the definitions, we just want you to write stylishly, and,
\nin fact, you do. Secondly, what\u2019s Obama without rhetorical devices? A senator
\nfrom Illinois. There is obviously a huge and enthusiastic audience for powerful
\nlanguage.<\/p>\n
\nmust learn in order to be successful at the next level. Since I remember being
\na teenager and realize that to a teenager the only people dumber than their
\nparents are their teachers, I consulted four experts. I focused on career paths
\nthat NT students generally associate with success and surveyed a Vice President
\nat the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the director of the Centre for
\nResearch in Healthcare Engineering at the U of T, a professor and founding
\nfaculty at the Northern Ontario School of medicine, and a professor of
\npolitical science at Harvard. To avoid bias, I asked them each the same
\nopen-ended question: what are the knowledge, skills, and values that students
\nmust master at high school to be successful at university and in the
\nprofessions.<\/p>\n
\ndiscouraged students from taking business courses. His emphasis was on English
\nand Math, communications and calculations, and he emphasized presentation
\nskills as well as writing in a variety of formats. The second surprise was an
\nemphasis on teamwork; in fact, six of his 17 points had to do with working
\nwith, listening to, and learning from others. The third surprise was an
\nemphasis on Global ed., history, and geography, that is, getting a sense of the
\nwider world around you. Not surprising was his emphasis on work habits, seven
\nof his points had to do with \u201csetting goals\u201d, focusing, and \u201cjuggling multiple
\ntasks and meeting deadlines.\u201d He insisted that students must \u201cnot ask for
\nextensions.\u201d And the final surprise: an emphasis on \u201ca strong ethical\/moral
\ncompass.\u201d It turns out that nobody wants to work with a person they can\u2019t
\ntrust.<\/p>\n
\nbusiness and medicine. He had fewer points and was not especially concerned
\nabout communications, but he certainly insisted on Math.\u00a0 The rest was very much as above. A crucial emphasis on work-habits. He spoke of the dreaded first year engineering math and said that it\u2019s actually not a difficult course. The problem comes in having to adjust to the workload expectations of university. He said that by 3rd<\/sup>
\nand 4rth year math, both much harder courses, students have improved their
\nhabits and don\u2019t experience any problems. He also surprised me with a
\ntremendous emphasis on group work and integrity. He emphasized that groups
\nshould not be formed of friends, because \u201cthat\u2019s not how it happens in the
\nworkplace\u201d and that \u201cin engineering a lack of integrity can lead to tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\ncommunications; he did not mention math, but point 3 was research and
\nscientific inquiry. Once again there was an emphasis on work habits, especially
\n\u201ccompleting assigned tasks on time,\u201d and, by now this was not a surprise, an
\nemphasis on collaboration and integrity.<\/p>\n
\nthree qualities. The \u201ccapacity to work hard,\u201d a commitment to \u201csocial justice,\u201d
\n(\u201cHarvard sees itself as a character building institution\u201d) and, most
\nimportantly, an \u201copenness to mentoring.\u201d He spoke at length about this last
\nidea, saying that it \u201csuggests humility, respect for others, and interpersonal
\nskill.\u201d He speculated that one of the reasons girls outperform boys at
\nuniversity is that boys too often feel that they already know everything,
\nwhereas girls are more welcoming of other people\u2019s ideas.<\/p>\n
\nimprove your work habits; as hard as you think you are working, you\u2019ll have to
\nwork harder at university. You need to improve your communication skills, both
\nwriting and speaking, and your math. You need to embrace group work; when it
\nseems unproductive, figure out how to make it better. And you need to improve,
\nno, let\u2019s say maintain, your integrity. All four experts had no interest in the
\nknowledge part of my question, there are few facts that have to be memorized,
\nbut skills and values are key.<\/p>\n
\nskills and demonstrate integrity, but there are three areas where I need to
\nimprove. I\u2019m far too flexible with due dates and need to push my students to
\nacquire the work habits that will help them later on. I hate group work as much
\nas anyone and need to figure out how to make it more meaningful. And, though I
\nalready assign enough oral presentations, I need to come up with a way to make
\nstudents listen to and learn from each other more effectively.<\/p>\n
\nstrong at math, and he writes like a dream. He just needs to stop whining and
\naccept instruction from those who wish him nothing but the best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"