Slashdot Mirror
Parent Questions Mandatory High School Chemistry
Ollabelle writes "David Bernstein, a nonprofit executive who lives in Gaithersburg, Md., has two sons, ages 7 and 15. He has previously written about how schools fail students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Now he turns his attention to mandated curriculum in public schools, and argues that his sons shouldn't be forced to take any science class."
From the article: "There’s a concept in economics called 'opportunity costs,' which you may not have learned about because you were taking chemistry instead of economics. Opportunity costs are the sacrifices we make when we choose one alternative over another. ... When you force my son to take chemistry (and several other subjects, this is not only about chemistry), you are not allowing him that same time to take a public speaking course, which he could be really good at, or music, or political science, or creative writing, or HTML coding for websites."
This guy is acting like as if his son will be forced to take chemistry all his life.
He's acting as if his son is being forced to take a class for an entire year that has no benefits to anyone who is not going to be a chemist. At this phase in chemistry education, the entire year is spent doing almost nothing but memorizing facts that have no use beyond that class, and that will be immediately forgotten when the class is over. He is acting as if the entire experience is a monumental waste of his family's time and resources, when his son could be, and should be, superficially surveying a range of subjects in order to find something his son likes.
And he's right.