Education regurgitation

in #education7 years ago

As a first year student studying math and science for education, I had found some comfort in thinking that my math education would help me for future development in a career (sarcastic drum roll ) as a high school math teacher. What I have found thus far is that for some reason constructivism has become the major philosophy of math lecturers. It isn't even minimal guidance. It has become more like zero guidance and a repeat of mantras that this is the best way to teach math, despite evidence to the contrary . We were busy wasting hours on basic concepts and then the exams would be very different.
Now during the second semester, I have the same lecturer. He calls me disruptive for questioning the validity of his claims. Whenever I correct him and tell the class about some wrong claimed fact he says he will research it later then the next day he will not even mention it again. My science teachers are direct and straightforward. Exams, classwork and study guides give you the ability to receive great marks if you work hard. This is the beginning of my journey into a critique on constructivism. Constructivism is heavily connected to empiricism, but brought to the bases only for every individual. That means to tell a student a fact and take it by faith and even prove that fact later is considered bad. However, the method of testing common sense facts leads to many time constraints. Thus, our knowledge is neither wide nor very deep. It is however more wide than deep. Yet, because of the theory of understanding we are tested to the utmost depths. When asked, what type of question he will ask. Silence. Nothing, he does not want to tell us anything. The handbook will help with some definitions, but it also has its limits. I have grown to hate constructivism. It is proven to be inefficient and delivers worse results than direct teaching. It is also a self refuting argument, because they shove their philosophy down our throats (in a very direct manner) If they truly believed ultimate answers and knowledge would be gained from self study or investigations they would have let us study theories of education for ourselves. I see why lazy students like him so much. With little effort there is a chance of a distinction, but many people fail easy work just because of lack of guidance. Meanwhile, a friend of mine knows someone who does the same degree, but distance and at the University of South Africa. She is busy with work far beyond our level of mathematics. That same friend's roommate, an engineering student had to help her with homework. Meanwhile my friend and I may have it easy, but this just goes to show that the disconnect between degrees and the workplace is about as large as the disconnect between my math classes and the exams.