Several students will gather at Mission College today to partake in the yearly StRUT competition, demonstrating their knowledge of computers by taking an objective test (Written Test), troubleshooting 9 computers (Challenge), and tearing apart then rebuilding a computer (Build). The winners will take home one of the computers used in the Build portion of the competition.
There are a lot of math and science competitions like this. I think their success lies in the clear connection between the course content and useable skills outside of high school. Typically, there’s also strong corporate backing and that creates some buzz, along with financial possibilities.
Generally speaking, schools need to do a better job in creating that link between what’s learned in the classroom and life after school. If reading Faulkner only helps students become mini literature majors, they shouldn’t be reading Faulkner. If it does more than that, as I believe it does, we need to be clear about that with our students and do our best to mimic real-life situations to which students can apply the skills developed in class.
I believe this is the number one way to deal with so many problems, from apathy to chronic failure.