No student ought to be left behind

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/no-student-ought-to-be-left-behind/story-e6frgcjx-1225967194805

This article, from Australia talks about inclusiveness and college.  It says that instead of just throwing money at a college for them to use on technology, colleges should train the professors on the best ways to teach to everyone.

I think that this is a really good idea, because I have had conversations with other students and they tell me that their classes are rote memorization classes of facts that they will never really have to use in real life.  And this is problematic and I think that this is why many college students start but do not finish.  This is just a problematic thing, to just use rote memorization on everything that you learn doesn't make it your knowledge.  What if the professor says something like "All Native Americans are savages" and you just put it into your mental filing cabinet.  That is not acceptable to do, because then your brain thinks that all Native Americans are savages.  You need to look at every piece of information and make it yours by giving it your own words and critically thinking about it.  Granted, this takes a lot of time, but you are paying for the classes, and teacher should not require rote memorization.

I, as a teacher, will never require rote memorization on anything.  I want my students to think about what I say and then tell me whether they agree or disagree.  And if they agree or disagree, why do they agree or disagree.  This creates ownership of learning, I as a teacher can just puke out information all I want, but if their mouths are not there to receive the puke, then they aren't going to learn (Plus, they will just end up puking up the puke that I put into their mouths.).  Basically, I will have mini-lecturettes where I give a morsel of information and then they talk about it.  They talk about it and make their own, compare what I just said to their lives and what they think about what I just said.  There is no need for rote memorization in American education, it is counterproductive and foolish to keep doing so.  And yet, it still happens.