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The hypocrisy and unfairness in schooling

About flying instructors, you often get young and bright pilots who instruct for time (experience) building until they can get a “real” flying job on their way to the airlines. That’s OK because you get recently trained instructors but I don’t think they get taught to teach which is a rare skill. I’ve flown with some of those, they know what they want you to do but don’t have the communication skills to get the message across.

I prefer an instructor that is mature and doing it because that’s what they want to do even if it’s a side gig and can work with you to get the job done. They are gold.

D :cool:
Unfortunately the instructor syllabus is very out dated and totally unrealistic. When I was doing instructor ratings I had to be very specific about how to teach and how to pass the flight test.
A lot of students were there just to get hours, get a class III rating and move on. A few were in for the long haul but quite a few of those would not progress. Myself, I certainly didn't get to where I thought an instructor should be till well after getting my class II. Teaching the instructors was some of the most interesting, challenging and rewarding work I ever had the privilege to do.
The other sad part with the industry is the approach of most of the schools. That is to milk every last penny out of a student. The first chief flight instructor I worked for demanded an explanation for why your 10 hour student wasn't approaching their first solo.
All that said the curriculum for the PPL is absolutely wonderful, logical, progressive.
 
A lot of the problem with teachers is that they are supposed to “man” (woman) the assembly lines to run batches of students through and there isn’t enough time to give more personalized instruction or education advice. My mom was a teacher and she really cared.
A lot of the ladies in my wife's book club are teachers. All 45 to 65 years old. Here in Saskatchewan, teachers have an average of somewhere around 35 students per class and usually at least 10 of them will be ESL students with very little English and 3 to 6 will be special needs kids with either learning or mental or physical disabilities, or all three. Quite often one or two will have FAS which quite often brings violent tendencies with it. Teachers here are utterly and completely burnt out.
They are expected monitor the kids during lunch breaks and to help organize after school activities like sports and band and weekend track meets and field trips and tournaments all on their own time with no compensation. In the event of a contract dispute, they will withdraw from the after school activities and essentially work to rule and as a result are absolutely vilified by a lot of the parents and the government.
If teachers were actually paid for the work they are expected to do, they'd all be making 6 figures from the get go.
As a society, if we don't value teachers, then we don't value education, and if we don't value education, we are screwed.
With starting salaries as low as 16000/year, you're setting everyone up for failure.
 
If nobody minds I'd like to add a few more comments or opinions. As I said earlier I didn't do well in English classes. Never could figure out why. All sorts of red marks on papers I turned in for high school. But never the kind of feedback that would make me a better writer.

One thing that did help in University was that I was in Computer Science. When I approached doing a paper in English like writing a software program, and I got to use a word processor, my writing improved but that was way past first year English 210.

So what changed? It wasn't until after University when I started reading 'other' kinds of books that things started clicking.

One of the best was a book titled "Mind's Eye" by Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel C. Bennett. I had already seen the concept in my expository writing class in one of the papers presented by a student. Recall we had 6 weeks for a full year course. Each Friday we handed in papers and on Monday each of us got a copy of everyone's submission and we spent the week analyzing each paper. Like this forum, politeness and courtesy ruled. If we didn't have a constructive way to improve a someones paper we had to keep our mouths shut.

The long and short of one paper was there was something wrong but we couldn't figure it out. The Prof sent us out for a coffee break to think it over. We came back with no real solution. He then had one suggestion and he said it wasn't the only one that would work. He changed part of one sentence in the
first paragraph and one sentence in the last of this 1500 word essay.

Wow! The paper went from a 'C' or 'C-' to an 'A+'. He reminded us that when we write something to look at the whole thing. Not just pieces. That really stayed with me.

And that's why I brought up "Mind's Eye" which lays out the idea that if a premise presented in the first one or two paragraphs of an essay, story, article, news piece is accepted as true then the rest of the story which builds on that makes perfect sense. But change that premise at the start and the entire thing falls apart. The students essay was like that. A small change at the start and at the end and the entire thing became an amazing piece of writing.

We're not taught that in school. We're taught grammar or expected to know grammar. But tying the front to the back and to work together just isn't taught because I think the teachers who teach English aren't taught this. I was so lucky.

I think there's a lot more that could be discussed on this. I find it fascinating.
 
A lot of the problem with teachers is that they are supposed to “man” (woman) the assembly lines to run batches of students through and there isn’t enough time to give more personalized instruction or education advice. My mom was a teacher and she really cared.

I know there are very good teachers (and not so good…) out there but the system could be designed better to help students find their niche if they had the mandate and more resources but that’s hard to come by.

About flying instructors, you often get young and bright pilots who instruct for time (experience) building until they can get a “real” flying job on their way to the airlines. That’s OK because you get recently trained instructors but I don’t think they get taught to teach which is a rare skill. I’ve flown with some of those, they know what they want you to do but don’t have the communication skills to get the message across.

I prefer an instructor that is mature and doing it because that’s what they want to do even if it’s a side gig and can work with you to get the job done. They are gold.

D :cool:
I'm always fascinated by stories of child prodigies. Kids that achieved way beyond what would be expected or what is average. In every case that I have ever seen they were not public school students. They got a lot of personalized attention from their parents who either had a high level of education or were wealthy enough to be able to spend a lot of time with their kids.

There are two great books if you are interested in this sort of thing. One is called The Radioactive Boy Scout and the other is called The Boy Who Played with Fusion. They are each true stories about real kids who had a lot in common. They were both exceptionally bright and interested in nuclear physics. One became a huge success and the other a dismal failure. The reasons for the different outcomes are pretty clear when you compare their stories.
 
I'm always fascinated by stories of child prodigies. Kids that achieved way beyond what would be expected or what is average. In every case that I have ever seen they were not public school students. They got a lot of personalized attention from their parents who either had a high level of education or were wealthy enough to be able to spend a lot of time with their kids.
I know a woman that was home schooled. She far exceeded the high school requirements when she was 15, completed Engineering (straight A's ) when she was 19 and then became a patent lawyer shortly after. I don't think she was a genius, just very well taught.
 
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One became a huge success and the other a dismal failure.

I think perhaps this points to a bigger problem. What is success, and what is failure? I think these are abstracts. Some think success is a high paying job, some think it's a noble job, some think it's becoming famous, some think it's doing what you love, and the list goes on.

I remember a lawyer working across the assembly line from me when I was 18 or 19. One day I asked him why he wasn't practicing law. He told me that he did that for a while and didn't like it. His job had consumed him. He thought about his case load all day, he also thought about it driving to the office and driving home, he dreamed about it, and it consumed him 24/7. Working on the line freed him. Even while he was working he thought about what he was gunna do after work. His comments changed my perspective on success forever.

He was also the fellow who made me go back to school. He had noticed how I was always thinking about ways to improve the product and the process, and he noticed how trapped I felt working on the line.

We are all different. Success and failure for each of us is different too. My opinion is that success is liking the guy looking back at you in the mirror and being proud of who you are and what you do no matter what that is.
 
The curriculum is designed by bureaucrats and it details what and when you will teach. The teachers are somewhat confined by this. The good ones will add in some diversity when possible.
My mother taught from kindergarten to grade 10 back in the 50s. Her experience was the middle grades were the best years to teach. Earlier and you are babysitting and the later years the attitudes were fixed and thus harder to get things through. The smarter kids were usually already ahead of where the curriculum was.

Many many years ago, students would start dropping out of school by grade 8, and every year the classes would get smaller. 13 grade in Ontario was really only for the well off smart kids as the rest had usually left and went into the work force.
 
I think perhaps this points to a bigger problem. What is success, and what is failure? I think these are abstracts. Some think success is a high paying job, some think it's a noble job, some think it's becoming famous, some think it's doing what you love, and the list goes on.
Well in the case of these two life stories I think the difference between success and failure are far more clear cut than you imagine. In one case the kid turned his entire neighbourhood into a critically radioactive zone, went to jail for it, and ended up in a low level job in the military. In the other case the kid succeeded in his dream of achieving fusion in a lab, which up to that point had only been accomplished by a handful of people, and along the way discovered an effective method for detecting nuclear materials crossing the border, which made his country safer from terrorism, and for which he was widely lauded.
 
My "English" instruction , both pronunciation & delivery, was picked up in construction camps starting at a very early age and continued thru "worker" to supervisory positions....by the time I reached the supervisory stage, I was very adept at getting my points across to the intended "victim"...no teacher exams necessary.
 
The past few years has been a pretty enlightening time for me as I've really figured out a lot about myself and how my brain works (or doesn't sometimes). It's pretty clear to me (and my Dr's) at this point that I'm on the ADHD spectrum, and highly suspected Autism spectrum as well (much harder to "prove"). Possibly dyslexic too. They call them "disorders", but I've never been a big fan of labels.....Just the neurotypical population's need to apply a name/classification to something that is different to them. My brain just works different than most. I know some here wil relate to this. Personally I think it's a superpower sometimes, even though it can be kryptonite a lot of times......It's a fascinating subject though, and has really unraveled my life up until this point as I continue to learn more about it, but it's given me so much clarity and coping mechanisms to deal with the struggles moving forward. Both for me, and my Children....I know you can't change the past, but you can certainly change to future. Better late than never I guess..... I'm not a psychiatrist, but If you've ever felt you were a square peg being pounded into a round hole in many different aspects of society designed for "normies" then you owe it to yourself to do some research into the various neurodivergent spectrum "disorders". Don't get hung up on the stigma of the disorder label, there are a lot of great coping mechanisms, and medication for some if needed to help with the struggles, and help with the difficult parts. It's been life changing for me. Even just the fact of discovering that I wasn't alone, and that there are other with same/similar experiences was a huge help. I just couldn't understand why parts of my brain worked so good, but others just didn't or were seemingly "broken". This stuff just wasn't around or widley understood when I was in school, but it's much different now (that's how I started figuring it out).

I had a love hate relationship with school. I just didn't "get" the point of doing what I felt was pointless homework, and all the other stuff. I mean, I learned the subject matter, Isn't that the point? Why do I have to drill it over and over, and over just for an arbitray grading system I care very little about. A "pass" was a pass right? I've always been a quick learner. Felt my brain ran much faster (not better) than my school peers, and would always get frustrated and restless when a teacher is droning on and on for days or weeks about something that I figured out the first time it came out of their mouth, and would then get pissed they were wasting "my" time rambling on about stuff I already figured out. Then they wanted to waste more of my free time by writing out pages and pages "proving" I know it. Sounds funny, but none of that ever clicked with me, I simply just didn't understand the point of it all, I thought the point was simply to learn....I would put more effort into figureing out how little work I had to do in those subjects to get a passing grade than just doing the work itself lol. When you get the entire lesson in the first 5 minutes, and you're not interested in being a show poney for higher grades, you have the rest of the class time to crack jokes, and come up with pranks......I wasn't really malicious, but I certainly took things over the line sometimes.....Many trips to the office, which I thought was great because I got out of class :D. Thankfully the vice principal had a sense of humour and recognised I was a good apple, just growing on the wrong tree.

That worked for highschool. I got by with minimal effort in all the compulsories like english, history etc. Electives were a breeze. Teachers liked me, and gave me a nudge over the line a couple times.....But I more or less slipped through the cracks. Math I loved because it was problem solving, and I enjoy that stuff. I was good at quick math (not anymore) and would make a game of seeing if I could get it all done before class was over. I didn't mind doing science labs, or the math homework because I thought that was fun, but writing a 10 page report on some historical event? Or a book report on some drivel written by some jagoff poet? Nah, No interest, Not gonna happen. I made my grades by acing tests and exams. I'd put the effort in when I had to on big reports that made a bigger chunk of our grades, but day to day homework was a hard pass for me. I had sports to play, and buddies to hang out with....Wish I could remember any of that math though, I don't use it enough to really remember any of it, and I'm ashamed I really poor at it now.

When I got to college (Mechanical Engineering Tech), that no longer worked. I struggled. Grade structures were much different too, and the "system" I had carefully cultivated over the past 4 years fell apart pretty quick. It seemed like it was much more weighted to doing work for the sake of doing work.....Coupled with some egotistical Profs that could just make up shit on the spot whenever they wanted based on personality clashes with a hot headed young idiot, I ran into some roadblocks to put it nicely..... Looking back on it know, I can see the problems and issues and their related solutions plain as day. Wish I could go back and shake some sense into me to see the bigger picture, but I just haven't figured out the flux capacitor yet.....I also had a really good paying job at the time, Min wage was $6.85, and I was making $23 at GM and would much rather skip classes on Monday's and Fridays to work doubles on the line, and thought I could make up the difference on tests and exams. My Physics Prof took exception to that, and mid year changed the attendance weighting to be 20% of the overall grade which failed a bunch of us on the bubble because he was so incredibly boring nobody wanted to show up to class anymore. How can you make physics boring? It's the most interesting of the sciences, but he did, and it was excruciating for me. It was also on a Monday and friday right around shift change so every week I had to choose between work and class.... I failed again the 2nd atempt as I put in even less effort that time around because I was sour about the first, and we clashed many times, as he would just constantly change the grade structure to punish us.....The Dean even got involved at that point, I wanted him fired, he wanted us (there were 5-6 "delinquents") expelled....I stayed, but he backed the Prof on the rest, he was free to make up stuff as he felt. That caused a ripple effect as it was a prerequisite for other classes and that became a roadblock to graduating, so I never did get my diploma. 3rd, and 4th years (or a 2 years program lol) I basically just paid my tuition which allowed me to still work at GM as a student (4 year max), and just worked as much as I could. I grew up with not a lot of money, and this was the first time in my life I really had any. I think I still went to some fun classes 3rd year, but I never even set foot on campus the 4th year other than to pay the bill. Didn't care enough to withdraw from classes, so my transcript is a complete mess. I was past the point of no return at that point, and just didn't see the point in trying to right the ship. I still got a decent 20 year career out of that path thus far, Forrest Gumping my way through life (CAD designer/CMM, CNC Programmer, Machinist/Toolmaker, now Millwright), so it never was a huge barrier, but at this point in my life it feels like blemish I wish I could go back and repair.....I'm 4 credits shy. Physics, Stats, Communications, and the amusing one to me now, CNC programming lol. It's been too long I can't go retake them. Stupid system, I thought it was about acquiring knowledge, not jumping through hoops proving it.....:D. I should be able to simply take those classes required and apply for my Diploma.....

I never really had a problem with "learning" most things, just with the way they wanted me to learn, the way my brain worked and the way the entire system is setup contrary to that. Even though I have what they would class as learning disabilities. Somethings come very quickly, others are a bit slower to grasp, but if I can relate something new to something I already know and understand then it clicks very quickly and easily. Of course there is a snowball effect there where the more you learn and can relate, the more you can learn and relate. If I can't relate it to something, it's tough to pound it through. I've always been a very visual learner too. Text and reading came a lot slower sometimes depending on the subject matter, but if I could "picture" it the retention was much easier and quicker. My brain is almost entirely pictures and videos, 2d/3d. I can watch somebody do something, and almost imediately be able to reproduce it. As you can imagine, youtube has been an amazing invention for me, and CAD comes very naturally.....Retaining #'s/dates/formulas etc though....Kyptonite.....I remember #'s by writing them down, and taking a picture of the paper with my brain. I usually don't have to ever look at that paper again, I've stored them as a picture. It's not all jumping over tall building in a single bound, I certainly have my struggles and issues learning stuff, but if it's in my wheelhouse it comes easily.

As to the social aspect of highschool and college I certainly got my moneys worth there :D. Don't want to go back and relive any of it, but I certainly had as much fun as one could have.....A few things I would change if I had the chance for a do over, but every choice I made led me to here, and here is pretty damn good.

Sorry for the long read, AUDHD info dump......:D If you got through all that I owe you a beer. :D
 
I'll have one of these please.
"a" beer.....:D

But I love that thing though, great idea...

Interesting story & insight, Dan. I see some parallels there. Actually, some parallels w/ many of the stories on this thread. Thx for sharing.

And, I'll take you up on that beer.
Beer fridge here is always full...
 
I'll have one of these please.

Lol! Great idea and they’re already sold out. Just for the record they’re still locally owned, no furrin fine print on the bottom of the label!

Not being a big beer drinker I’m afraid that it’d be wasted on me, I’ll still raise a glass to salute the thought! :D

D :cool:
 
I'm restraining myself from getting sucked in and spending the rest of the day including my own autobiography among the fascinating others here.

But I will mention
The Selectric Typewriter was a wonderful mechanical marvel.
I'm one of those people who rewired one as a printer and wrote a driver in Z80 assembler (CPM). 1980ish, IIRC.

(I almost did put a summarized autobiography here, but the editor in me hit delete.)
 
I'm one of those people who rewired one as a printer and wrote a driver in Z80 assembler (CPM). 1980ish, IIRC.

I'll happily read anything anyone cares to write about those good old happy days. I've written my share of higher language programs, but I was happiest with assembler and a processor that made sense.
 
I'm restraining myself from getting sucked in and spending the rest of the day including my own autobiography among the fascinating others here.

But I will mention

I'm one of those people who rewired one as a printer and wrote a driver in Z80 assembler (CPM). 1980ish, IIRC.

(I almost did put a summarized autobiography here, but the editor in me hit delete.)
Impressive. My first repair was a Model 735 Selectric. Already had the computer control guts on the bottom.
Unfortunately his link to the wiring details is broken.
 
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