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I dislike homework because, here at least, homework has actually no variance on our levels. The subjects that i research, i already know a considerable amount (sometimes to the point of surpassing my teachers - cue mrs. Hindson my RE teacher), and it has no purpose apart from making it look like the teacher is reaching homework targets.

Coursework on the other hand, is marked. Therefore it is on the teachers desk on the designated date with all the information i can pack into it. English for example, i am doing the Merchant of Venice at the moment. I can guarantee that no-one's research into the Anti-semitism of medieval cultures (venice or otherwise) was anywhere near as competent as mine.

Then the problem is with your particular teacher's failure at differentiated instruction, not with the concept of homework.

kostmayer wrote:

Cpl Kendall wrote:

GrahamKennedy wrote:It was presented as a highly prestigious assignment in the ep where he was offered it. So much so that Remmick's heavy vetting was thought appropriate.

Remmick? Was this the first season deal with the never seen again parasites?

I thought the heavy vetting was done at the Admirals request, to make sure that Picard hadn't been compromised by the percieved conspiracy (which later turned out to be the parasite threat). I got the impression that the Admiral wanted someone he could trust close to home to help combat the threat

It was, but when Picard revealed that he'd been offered the Commandant job everyone seemed to accept that as the reason for the heavy probing. I took that to mean that such probing was within the norms for the job.

Mikey wrote:Then the problem is with your particular teacher's failure at differentiated instruction, not with the concept of homework.

Personally, I think it is all quite dependent on the student. Some are not geared toward completing work at home, some are. I'm not saying it shouldn't be given, because it's not my place to do so. But, in practice, it appears not to work.

Differentiated instruction refers more to aiming at gearing the complexity and advancement of the coursework to the individual student, or at least to a few varying levels within the classroom. The problem with assigning the actual quantity of work based on a student's proclivities is that it will invariably lead to cries of favoritism or special treatment.

that's pretty cool about your wife mikey.

I do my homework and I've found that most of the teachers in the couses I take realize the balence between repitition, and the drab of homework so the way the get the repition or assign the homework is different.

For example my Trig teacher doesn't assign all the homework for a chapter, only like 1-2 problems /section = about 20-60 probs/chapter, then if we have any problems with any particular section we're suppossed to do all the problems from that section, that way we're not drilling repeatedly over stuff we already can do in our sleep, and have time to spend on difficult problems.

The problem with my History teacher is that his style is WAY different than anything I've had before, and I got two C- and a B- in my first three tests which killed my grade. I got A/A- for the rest of the semester (including the Semester Final) but it just wasn't enough.

That's another inherent and unavoidable problem in education; teachers are people; traits, mannerisms, and styles which may or may not mesh with those of a particular student.

which is entirely understandable, doesn't stop me from being upset at myself for getting an f'n B+ in the class.

I wonder wether that would have improved in the federation. They have literally increased their knowledge thousandfold easily. how is average joe going to cope with that at school, if that still exists?

Reading is still mandatory, I gather that. But writing may have gotten obsolete, so that may no longer exist. Mathematics may be downgraded significantly due to the enormous amount of computers that seem to be around.
topography is going to be a difficult one, as countries no longer exist. Cities may be learned, but they have much less significance as they are probably much more the same by that time. Learing the planets and solar systems gets more important. Which brings about the problem of the third dimension.
Languages may be downgraded significantly as well, due to the presence of a universal translator.
Economics will have completely transformed due to the replicator.
physics an chemistry, the beta section will probably very different as well.
Education of culture is going to be difficult. While derelicts of the past are still around, and can be replicated en masse, they are sparser because they aren't needed any more, and little seems to have changed since TOS times.
History, that's a difficult one. I'd say instead of seeing the progress of how nations and states were formed, history may start at april 5th, 2063.
The rest, fill it in, guys.

idk about your math arguement.

I mean even today we have supercomputers that can handle hundreds of calculations we can't do/ heck I have a TI-84 plus that can do any math problem I'll ever get in highschool, however it's still important to know the math so I understand how and why it works.

an example of why understanding is more important than it works (though it's not math related persay)

Newton said gravity is an instantaneous force, any change as instantaneous effects on any other body affected by it.

Einsteain lather theorized that nothing can travle faster than the speed of light, which contradicted Newton's theory. The problem was we didn't understand gravity and hence when Newton's theory was "broken" we couldn't fix it...until Einstein did with General Relativity.

Applications or content may change, but I can't see the basic fora of study really changing too much. That's why they're "basic." The common forms of communication may change, but communication in some way or another must be taught. Geography and political science will be on a different scale, but will be no less improtant. There's plenty of examples of the humanities surviving in the 'Trek universe. The physical sciences will obviously be critical, and cultural sciences such as anthropology, sociology, archaeology, etc., are obviously still valued.

Reading is still mandatory, I gather that. But writing may have gotten obsolete, so that may no longer exist.

I doubt the art of writing is any more obsolete in the UFP than it is today. Technicaly, we today have no need to write; just to type. Given the UFP's sense of culture and refinement, I can see them hanging onto writing, even if it's not used much.

Mathematics may be downgraded significantly due to the enormous amount of computers that seem to be around.

I think it'll go the opposite way. IIRC, in one TNG episode we saw a ten year old learning calculus. I imagine that it'd get significantly easier as a class as calculators advance, however. I can easily see calculators storing all the required formulae, with the only necessary user input being what number goes where.

topography is going to be a difficult one, as countries no longer exist. Cities may be learned, but they have much less significance as they are probably much more the same by that time. Learing the planets and solar systems gets more important. Which brings about the problem of the third dimension.

Geography/Topography as a subject would still be around. Although Earth is one big happy family, there are still borders between states on the planet. Those will still be important to recognise, as will geographical landmarks and other info.
I can imagine that such a class in an Earth school would also give a brief rundown on major planets in the UFP, and an overview of their location in space and the locations of other races. I doubt they'd pay much attention to it, though. After all, how much importance would a US school place on learning about places in Russia?

Languages may be downgraded significantly as well, due to the presence of a universal translator.

I can easily imagine language classes dissappearing from basic schooling altogether. With the UT, there's no need for it.
I can imagine that you could learn and study other languages in college, however, similar to how you can learn ancient Greek and Latin now.

Economics will have completely transformed due to the replicator.

Aye, the class will be completely different. And if Picard's dialogue and actions in The Neutral Zone is anything to go by, it may also include a load of pro-communism propaganda villifying other types of economies.

physics an chemistry, the beta section will probably very different as well.

Doubt it. What we teach in schools now are the basics of those subjects. Unless our knowledge of basic physics and chemistry turns out to be completely wrong, that'll stay the same. It'll be the college courses that change.

Education of culture is going to be difficult. While derelicts of the past are still around, and can be replicated en masse, they are sparser because they aren't needed any more, and little seems to have changed since TOS times.

I can't say much on this one. We don't have culture classes over here. Learning about other cultures is included in the various language classes.

History, that's a difficult one. I'd say instead of seeing the progress of how nations and states were formed, history may start at april 5th, 2063.

I seriously doubt that. I can imagine each planet teaching the history of their world up to the point that they joined the UFP, then turning to a joint course on how the UFP was formed and progressed.
In our history, and presumably the histories of other cultures, there is a lot to be learned. Forgetting about such things, particularly lessons such as the Holocaust, would be highly foolish lest we make the same mistakes again.

The rest, fill it in, guys.

Biology:
I imagine the basics of this being the same, with each planet concentrating on the predominant population of the planet in question. Presumably at higher levels there'd be brief rundowns on other races.

Religion:
Not sure how the UFP would handle this. This may be transformed into sort of a general "other cultures" class, which is the direction that most religion classes are heading over here in Ireland.

Art/Music/PE/Etc:
I imagine most other classes would remain the same. Again, there would presumably be brief rundowns on how those subjects relate to other races at higher levels.

I did like the scene in Samaritan Snare, where Picard told Wesley that none of the really important things would be on his tests. Picard would have made a great tutor at the academy.

On history, if they teach Earth history in the 24th century, they sure must focus on a few selected time periods. No one knew what a television was? The most modern music they've shown anyone listen to was jazz, or lounge music (seems like everyone listens to orchestral music). Cars baffle characters on several occasions. There are a number of other examples of characters showing complete ignorance of things all of us could identify (though I can't think of the others at the moment).

I imagine they teach major events, and brief overviews of time periods, then people can choose to learn more specific details if they're inclined to. Of course, UFP history is probably extensive, and mandatory.

I agree, there's probably some generic history covering major events from the UFP, like the first warp flights, top 5 wars, ect. then additional classes on each planet, and one covering just the UFP