Those of you that have read my education blogs will have picked up my disdain for the classroom system. My claim is that online working can "increase your education productivity by 5 times". Failure at Mathematics is arely the ability of the student but usually the inability to handle the classroom system. It may seem a crazy claim, that can't easily be measured, but let me prove it by illustration.
Don't just take my word for it.
A typical student attending a typical classroom lecture at a typical brick and mortar institution is thrown each morning into a multitasking nightme. Find your way to class - argue about you seat - deal with the ADD kid in the seat next to you - watch the lecturer make announcements - write down an equation - cockblock the dreamy kid looking at you two rows down - listen to an inane question from some dumbass - write down another equation - listen to an unintelligible esoteric question from some boy genious - more from the ADD Kid- another equation - focus on holding in a pee - more home work announcements - check your cell phone messages for announcements on the next science lecture - another equation - rush to the toilet. The hyper busy environment of the classroom regime, occurs because it it a sausage factory trying to balance the needs of the teachers with the needs of the students. It is a mess.
OK so what is so bad about Multitasking? You have all heard mum brag about her multi tasking skills. Some of the most busy people at work seem to be those that are best at multitasking?
MULTI TASKING SUCKS.
You are much more efficient if you shut everything else out focus on the issue at hand. I am going to prove it to you:
Consider the multi tasking probelm of write down three symbols and increment them like this:
Arabic numeral Alphabet Roman numeral
1 A I
then write the next row
2 B II
and then
3 C III
Keep going
4 D IV
5 E V
6 F VI
.
.
.
10 J X
Thats Multi Tasking. Now put away Multi tasking and focus on one column at a time
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
and then
1 A
2 B
3 C
4 .
5 .
6 .
7
8
9
10
Can you see (even before taking on Roman Numerals) that the Column approach is much easier? The one that uses focus? We should stop calling it multi-tasking, and call it “switch-tasking.” It is 5 time less efficient when it comes to measuring up classroom against managed online learning.
That is why multi taskng is only an illusion of productivity and why the classroom system sucks.
