While I agree with most of what you say you really can take away something from the video.
When I was growing up I always had questions about how everything I was learning had any relation with all the amazing things (sending rockets, experiments in science museums etc.) the world was doing. Needless to say I thought I would understand in higher grades and after high school I thought may be I can connect the dots in college.
It did help in college but some of the little things I still connect. I have a degree in CS and I am pursuing my masters now. It's amazing how even now I connect those little dots and get my aha moments. What is surprising is that I’ve come to realize that with a little help I could've made such simple connections even when I was 10 (when I first learnt the concept of Light) or in high school (when Bayes theorem was nothing but a magical formula) rather I was shunned by saying “you have a long way to go”.
I always wished someone saw the passion I had for solving geometric problems (i was helping higher grade students solve cirlces theorems when I was 12) and gave me a direction. Heck I bumped into Euclid’s Elements like a year ago. In fact, I remember people suggesting me to leave geometry coz it’s useless. Everything starting from computational geometry, probability to number theory I do today is aided by those geometrical figures I played with.
I really got carried away there, but coming back to the video, I think the video captures one of the essential elements of education which is to make that connection from time to time with simple examples. It all boils down to people who can do that, who has a liking to the workings of all things around them, who have open and inquisitive mind, who likes to see students realize those aha moments, who are true teachers.
Nice summary of the present education system in many places and why it needs a change. This is exactly the situation in many schools/colleges, they have turned it into a business. Students are not given much scope to expand their knowledge, they are seen as just scoring machines.
I am going a bit tangential - some colleges even employ their previous batch passed outs who couldn't get into industry due to poor performance as teachers, the reasons are obvious. Certainly we need a change.
When I was growing up I always had questions about how everything I was learning had any relation with all the amazing things (sending rockets, experiments in science museums etc.) the world was doing. Needless to say I thought I would understand in higher grades and after high school I thought may be I can connect the dots in college.
It did help in college but some of the little things I still connect. I have a degree in CS and I am pursuing my masters now. It's amazing how even now I connect those little dots and get my aha moments. What is surprising is that I’ve come to realize that with a little help I could've made such simple connections even when I was 10 (when I first learnt the concept of Light) or in high school (when Bayes theorem was nothing but a magical formula) rather I was shunned by saying “you have a long way to go”.
I always wished someone saw the passion I had for solving geometric problems (i was helping higher grade students solve cirlces theorems when I was 12) and gave me a direction. Heck I bumped into Euclid’s Elements like a year ago. In fact, I remember people suggesting me to leave geometry coz it’s useless. Everything starting from computational geometry, probability to number theory I do today is aided by those geometrical figures I played with.
I really got carried away there, but coming back to the video, I think the video captures one of the essential elements of education which is to make that connection from time to time with simple examples. It all boils down to people who can do that, who has a liking to the workings of all things around them, who have open and inquisitive mind, who likes to see students realize those aha moments, who are true teachers.