Quote:
Originally Posted by pseudoreality
Thank you for your response. Your response went into an interesting area of education, but not really what I was asking. My question was not facts versus skills, but rather on what facts make the cut. I've always wanted to know how things work and that lead me to a career as a Professional Engineer, but my non-technical friends are blissfully unaware how things work. I think its important for people to have a general understanding of the world around them works, but that doesn't seem to be a priority in the education system. Not everyone needs to be a technical expert, but I see so much waste because of things like people not understanding how their house keeps them dry and warm.
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4 Months later....
As I recall, a whole lot of what you think is missing IS actually covered in school curricula (or was, 20 years ago). That's what science classes are about, generally progressing from higher-level "scientific method" and "this is how the world works" type things at lower grades to more detailed theories at higher levels. If your peers are lacking knowledge on things that we, as engineers, see as pretty fundamental, it's possibly because (a) they aren't quite as able to extend the specific, detailed concepts from science class experiments into general concepts, or (b) because they skipped the physics and chemistry (that you probably studied as a pre-engineer) in favour of the more fun biology classes. Or perhaps they're just not as curious as you are.
It boils down to "those who want to learn will figure it out." With Google, that's true of just about anything, in or out of school.
On the other hand, the French Revolution, as an example, absolutely belongs in a Social Studies course. It helps us understand how we got to where we are in Canada today and, with luck, avoid repeating the past. I tend to think that without a course focusing on civilization, society, and history, people wouldn't even think to ask "why" a lot of things are the way they are.
I'm a pretty big wiki-surfer, and I'm often amazed at some of the important events I learn about just by chance and curiousity. I wonder why more of this world-shaping information isn't touched on in schools.