If You Had To Teach Something What Would It Be?

Whatever the curriculum called for, World, U.S., Regional, State, Boardwalks in Tombstone, whatever.
 
drifter said:
Whatever the curriculum called for, World, U.S., Regional, State, Boardwalks in Tombstone, whatever.
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Do you think history can be taught without a bias? Usually a professor has some sort of theoretical bias. If they write something they usually comment on it. Anyway, when I did research papers I recall calling out some of their faults. Or, my perception of their faults.
 

An element of history should be included in every subject - history of science, history of computing, of exploration including space exploration etc. My husband taught Engineering Science and the students had to research for themselves something from history of bridges, or bicycles etc To appreciate the present we need to know what it took to get us here.
 
Some bias is unavoidable, it's human nature. You have three hundred million people in a country, how many biases can you have? You have to have some standard, you can't teach everyone's opinion. That is, I suppose, why they say the victor gets to write the history of wars. If we didn't have a rough collective standard there would be no need to teach a subject, teach chaos instead, And I don't think we can teach the history off everything. We might throw it all in to a barrel and teach Bias to show that it colors every other facet of life. We're all different but we have to submit to some common goal.
 
Warrigal said:
An element of history should be included in every subject - history of science, history of computing, of exploration including space exploration etc. My husband taught Engineering Science and the students had to research for themselves something from history of bridges, or bicycles etc To appreciate the present we need to know what it took to get us here.
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I agree. My back ground is Sociology and medicine. With medicine it is almost all memorizing facts and procedures with a smattering of, who did it and why, kind of history. In Sociology there is a much greater emphasis on the history of various theorists and their theories. In my discipline we thought about the nature of conscious. So we might have studied the history of religion based on how religious people view and respond to the world. Or, how does the average man respond to religion. Actually, there is a Sociological text titled "The Sociology of Religion".
 
drifter said:
Some bias is unavoidable, it's human nature. You have three hundred million people in a country, how many biases can you have? You have to have some standard, you can't teach everyone's opinion. That is, I suppose, why they say the victor gets to write the history of wars. If we didn't have a rough collective standard there would be no need to teach a subject, teach chaos instead, And I don't think we can teach the history off everything. We might throw it all in to a barrel and teach Bias to show that it colors every other facet of life. We're all different but we have to submit to some common goal.
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I love to listen to talking books. One year I listened to 150 books. That is the equivalent of reading 3 books per week. During this time I listened to the history of the United States. It took about 8 hours. It was wonderful to track from the 1700's to the present. Then it was about 1990. When it came to my generation, 50's, 60's, 70's, it was like I was lifted up in a boat. My generations history was so interesting to me, and I found it to be accurate. I listened to anthropological book called, "The Tribe of Tiger". It was a history of cats and their relationship to man. A wonderful book. I listened to Steven Hawkings, "A Brief History of Time" and associated essays about 6 times. It wasn't until years later that I began to understand some of E=MC squared. History can be a wonderful subject. I think despite the bias.
 
History can be a wonderful subject. I think despite the bias.
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Me, too. By talking books, do you mean 'books on tape or CD? If so, I'm trying to adjust to that format. Thanks for the conversation.
 
drifter said:
Me, too. By talking books, do you mean 'books on tape or CD? If so, I'm trying to adjust to that format. Thanks for the conversation.
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At that time they had books mostly on tape. Now you can find a great many books on CD. There are also books available on flash drives that just plug into your computer. I am lucky in a way. Since I have become blind I get books for free. There are thousands of books I can listen to. Your local library should have a good collection of free books.
 
Again thanks for the comeback. I'm blind only in one eye but it has effected my reading, my eyes weep more my reading has slowed down, and I tire from reading more readily. but the change from reader to listener is not always an easy one unloosed forced on us. Enjoyed, take care.
 
drifter said:
Again thanks for the comeback. I'm blind only in one eye but it has effected my reading, my eyes weep more my reading has slowed down, and I tire from reading more readily. but the change from reader to listener is not always an easy one unloosed forced on us. Enjoyed, take care.
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As chance, or perhaps not chance, would have it I am blind in one eye also. If you have an eye Dr. and I presume you do, you should be eligible for talking books through the state you live in. They will send books right to you, or you can down load them on your computer. Your complaint was the same exact complaint I had. I have macular degeneration. If you have not seen a Dr., please see one. A Dr. must certify your vision loss. I love talking books because, for me, it is like listening to a movie. However, authors take a little more time to set up their characters. It can be harder to follow. Also, interruptions are a pain and I sometimes fall asleep while listening. You might listen to a book that you have seen the movie version of. You will already know what is going to happen and it will be easier to follow. In any case, welcome to the talking book club.
 
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If I could teach anything I'd teach the young what I've learned over 65 years of varied experiences. I'd pepper practical life lessons with the history of the times and critical thinking for the future. Everything would be in play, from jobs to relationships, to the metaphysical and physical universe. What I wouldn't do is waste time. I'd go right to 'my' points. Feel free to take 'em or leave 'em... just one flawed man's observations on a life lived with tips pointed out only to help.
 
I would love to teach a creative writing (poetry) class. Psychologist or not, in my heart, I think of myself as a poet first. Language continues to bring me great joy, and I would love to share that journey with others.
 
Shalimar said:
I would love to teach a creative writing (poetry) class. Psychologist or not, in my heart, I think of myself as a poet first. Language continues to bring me great joy, and I would love to share that journey with others.
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I love language for a lot of reasons. I have a BS in Sociology. I studied a rather esoteric side of sociology called phenomenological sociology or constructionist theory. In short it theorized that language was the source of social reality in every sense. For example, we really do not know what a tree is. We call it a tree, we use it like we would use a tree. We write poems about the trees. We talk about the spirit of trees. But what the tree really is remains a mystery. In addition, we take our "knowledge" of trees fore granted and forget that our knowledge is our own construction. Our job seems to be to assign meaning to the world. What kind of madness would ensue if we believed that reality was meaningless. Without a shared language we languish in a special hell.

My ultimate point is that when I write poetry or songs I allow myself to speak from the heart while knowing that I can construct any picture I want and people will assign the meaning. The poem "Jaberwocky" is an excellent example of a meaningless poem that people love to assign meaning to.

I would take a class from you because I love it.
 
I used to teach music and I thought I might like being an English teacher. But at this point, I'd want to teach financial literacy and retirement planning.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I used to teach music and I thought I might like being an English teacher. But at this point, I'd want to teach financial literacy and retirement planning.
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I needed you years ago. I taught myself how to play guitar. I should have played the piano, or another key board. I never know anything about finance except how to spend my check every week. When I retired it just happened.
 
drifter said:
Again thanks for the comeback. I'm blind only in one eye but it has effected my reading, my eyes weep more my reading has slowed down, and I tire from reading more readily. but the change from reader to listener is not always an easy one unloosed forced on us. Enjoyed, take care.
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My wife is blind in one eye. She reads between 3 and 5 library books/week. How she does it, I don't know. But, she certainly enjoys her reading... full sighted or not.
 
Grumpy Ol' Man said:
My wife is blind in one eye. She reads between 3 and 5 library books/week. How she does it, I don't know. But, she certainly enjoys her reading... full sighted or not.
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Your wife has likely become a faster reader with time. If she has the time to read she might read 500 to 800 or more pages in a day. I found I was a fast reader even with a text book. But, you must glean detail from a text and have to take notes, so even the fastest readers have to slow down. I stopped reading books because they started to bore me. When I discovered talking books the whole world changed for me. Talking books can be like a knowledge injection. You listen in 8 to 10 hours what it might have taken 2 eight hour days to read. Most people cannot devote that much time to it. You wife, if she reads her books with some retention, she is a fast reader indeed, but my hunch is that she never stops reading. So she spends two to three times the time that other people can spend on their reading. That is wonderful. I am spending a lot of time with senior forum and I try to get out of this place often as I can. You might become a fast book listener and may be able to challenge you wife to speed book contest.
 
Financial fundamentals

Reconciling a checking account, Compound interest, risk vs reward, market, economy and interest rate cycles, insurance needs, investing 101
 
I think I'd like to teach about the overlaps between fields of study. It is interesting to me how many mathematicians were also philosophers, for example. There is an overlap between philosophy and physics, between biology and chemistry, between math and everything, to name just a few. I find those overlaps to be fascinating.
 
In my time of teaching there has been only one subject that I have found is probably the most difficult of all of the known academics. I have taught Christian theology, math, reading and a multitude of other subjects but for the very life of me I have never been able to teach what one would think is a simple thing to do and moreover.....learn!
I have tried to teach by example, by reasoning, by threat and to no avail.

In a classroom setting, I have found that it is absolutely impossible to teach anyone at any age from puberty and up to keep their eyes and brain focused on what is being taught instead of on the opposite sex.
 
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