Idea of the Day - A new idea each day. Some Don't Suck!

Our Latest Posts About: Education

Why Is Math Easier For Chinese Kids?

Monday, July 31, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

There's a reason why Chinese children learn math faster than Americans... it's all in the VOCABULARY!

When you see the number 15... what do you say? If you're an adult, you say "Fifteen", however a child will say "One Five", and that's where the problem starts.

Teaching written numbers to children starts off pretty easy:

1... One, 2... Two, 3... Three, 4... Four, 5... Five, 6... Six, 7... Seven, 8... Eight, 9... Nine.

Kids grasp that pretty easily, but that's where things start to get tricky, because as soon as you get to "Ten", things get pretty tricky. To a child 10 looks like "One Zero", 11 looks like "One One", 12 looks like "One Two"... etc. Our English math vocabulary keep changing through the teens, and they also need words for twenties, thirties, and everyth... [More]

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Why Don't They Teach THIS In School?

Wednesday, December 21, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Schools teach just about everything a student needs to get a job, except how to find one.

Finding the right job isn't easy, especially since most students have no idea where to start. It's not just a matter of checking newspaper listings and online job sites, because a lot of students don't even know which jobs to apply for, or how to go about it.

Finding the right job is a combination of finding the right fit for the skills you've learned, creating a well crafted resume, submitting it to the right places, and most of all, knowing how to handle the interviews and subsequent negotiations. None of these skills are taught in school.

I've seen quite a few students shift careers 4 or 5 times within the first year of school, simply because the didn't apply for the right jobs.... [More]

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Is History Accurate?

Sunday, November 27, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

If we can't agree on the events of our own time, how can we trust that the history we read is accurate?

If you picked up The New York Times and The New York Post and read a story about an event that took place yesterday, there's a pretty good chance that the two newspapers won't agree on what took place. Regardless of which side you agree with, you can't deny the fact that the they both see the event differently.

This isn't something new. People always will always see things differently, depending on their point of view. If you asked people during the days of the American Revolution what they thought about the events of the day, there would be just as many differing opinions about the war, the British, and the formation of our new government.

I'm sure the majority of tho... [More]

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Why Don't More Americans Speak a Second Language?

Wednesday, September 14, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

It seems like everyone in Europe speaks at least 2-3 languages, but most Americans only speak English. Why is that?

Like most Americans, my education included at least 6 years of foreign language studies, starting with the 6th grade, but I can barely order a burrito at Taco Bell without sounding like a tourist.

It's hard to pinpoint why my language education didn't stick, because I didn't just forget what I learned. I never really grasped the language even when I was in school, and I can say the same for just about everyone I went to school with. I think there's something fundamentally wrong with the way we teach foreign languages in the US.

Perhaps it's a lack of practice. The moment we step out of that classroom, we aren't motivated to use anything we learned. I'm n... [More]

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The REAL Purpose of Education

Saturday, July 30, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

The purpose of teaching is to make teaching unnecessary.

When you think about it, the most important part of your education took place in three basic stages. Your first stage was to learn the fundamental skills like reading, writing and arithmetic. Most of that you mastered in elementary school.

With those building blocks in place, you soon moved on to more advanced studies in a variety of subjects like history and science, and finally in your third stage, you went deeper into those subjects and started to learn specific skills that you may use in your future career.

However, there is a fourth, and more important stage. It's called "Life". It's a much longer phase, but for some people, it's often neglected. In this critical stage you are faced with NEW questions every... [More]

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The KIPP Program. A Model For EVERY School to Emulate

Saturday, June 18, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

45% of lower income students who enter the KIPP program graduate college, as compared to only 9% who don't.

Low income students have less than 10% chance of graduating college, but 45% kids from the same neighborhoods who were lucky enough to get into a KIPP charter school successfully graduate college. That's amazing!

That's an even higher graduation rate than the national average, which is only 34%. With results like this, you have to wonder why EVERY school in the country doesn't try to emulate their methods.

The key to their success is that they start off with the principle that EVERY student can graduate college. They put a heavy emphasis on character building, which translates into building confidence sp that each student believes the... [More]

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Encourage Kids to Read ANYTHING

Monday, November 30, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Don't judge what they like!

When I was in young, I didn't read many books, unless I had to. I dreaded book reports because I was often assigned books that I felt were boring. As a result, I began to think of all books as boring.

Whenever I had the freedom to pick out a book, teachers often rejected my choices, so I would end up reading something I didn't like.

I remember asking one teacher in particular if I could read some of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. He had a look on his face like somebody just fed him a rotten clam.

"Ian Fleming? Dear Lord, you can do better than that!" He promptly suggested a few other books that had nothing to do with spies, womanizing, drinking, and killing. I dreaded each and every page of his "better" substitutes.

Decades la... [More]

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Failed a Test? Repeat it Until You Pass.

Monday, January 12, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

What good is a test if we can't learn from our mistakes?

You're sitting in class as the results from yesterday's test are handed out. It's an important test, and this material is a critical to understanding the rest of the course. You just got a 55. What's next?

If you're like most students, nothing. Although you clearly didn't understand the earlier material, the class must move on. Without fully understanding the earlier material, things are going to get worse. Fast.

This scenario plays out every day in our schools and it's one of the reasons why some students struggle with new material. When a student fails a test, students and teachers rarely go back and cover the failed material. When that happens, all you've done is keep score. When a student didn't understand... [More]

Continue...Failed a Test? Repeat it Until You Pass....

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* Note: The ideas on "Idea of the Day" were posted without any formal research into existing inventions.

In some cases, patents may already exist for these ideas, in other cases, there may not be any existing patents and you are free to develop and explore the viability of developing and patenting the ideas.

The authors make no claim that any of the ideas are safe, practical, or suitable for any particular purpose. You are responsible for the results of trying, developing, patenting or using any of the ideas on this site.

For some people, our ideas are just an interesting read, but our goal is to encourage you to take action. If you see an idea that you like, do something with it... Take action.

- Joe

Idea Of The Day. A new Idea Each Day. Some Don't Suck.