Synthesizing, Analyzing, Understanding

Exposing Students to More Challenging Subject Matter: 

A Response to Small Differences Matter

Everyday in school from the time of first grade to twelfth was spent summarizing something, comprehension skills, and the ability to regurgitate the information that had been forced down my throat the whole semester. Often times I spent nights reviewing information on a subject only to forget it a few months later. There are very few teachers who had the ability to give us a knowledge that would actually be retained, as opposed to those who just gave us knowledge without actually challenging us. And while, at that time I was thankful for my short term memory skills, I look back at some of time in school and think how wasteful it is.

I think it is important to change our school system to more effectively challenge the student in a way that will be beneficial to them and the world in the future. Like in Small Differences Matter: The DNA of Online Reading Comprehension, I think it is important to instill valuable tools in students that go beyond the seat of a high school desk and to a career. In Small Differences Matter, Mcverry mentions skills like analyzing and synthesizing and how those who have attained those skills do much better at online reading comprehension. I believe that these skills go beyond online reading comprehension and can be used in just about anywhere. Look at the recent South Park episode that pertains to ads. Most of the people can not decipher the difference between pertinent information and an ad. The ability to find information and determine its credibility is vital to success, whether you be looking for an online recipe or researching the American Revolution. Exposing the next generation of learner and doers to more challenging ideas of learning and using information allows them to be better tools in the world.