science

Real Education

Real Education is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Real Education rather than just read about it. In short: Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality is a 2008 book by Charles Murray. He wrote the book to challenge the "Educational romanticism [which] asks too much from students at the bottom of the intellectual pile, asks the wrong things from those in the middle, and asks too little from those at the top." Murray claims that there are "four simple truths" about education: "Ability…

Key takeaways

Real Education belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Real Education to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Real Education from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality is a 2008 book by Charles Murray. He wrote the book to challenge the "Educational romanticism [which] asks too much from students at the bottom of the intellectual pile, asks the wrong things from those in the middle, and asks too little from those at the top." Murray claims that there are "four simple truths" about education:

"Ability varies." "Half of the children are below average." "Too many people are going to college." "America's future depends on how we educate the academically gifted." Critic Michael J. Feuer, writing in Issues in Science and Technology, in addition to Murray's "four simple truths", sees "an equally simplistic proposal:... [that] privatization will fix the schools." When New York Times interviewer Deborah Solomon said, "I believe that given the opportunity, most people could do most anything," Murray responded, "You're out of touch with reality in that regard."

Times critic Charles McGrath defends the current educational system: And yet for all its sloppiness, the present arrangement seems preferable to what Mr. Murray proposes: a vast system of certification exams whereby instead of going to college and sitting through courses in the history of rock 'n' roll or the comic book, you bone up on your chosen profession—law, accounting, social work, whatever—and pass a test. This would surely give rise to a cram-school industry that would dwarf even the current SAT-prep business and that, like the SAT, would unfairly reward the well off and those savvy enough to game the system. President of St. John's College, Annapolis, Christopher B. Nelson, in what he called his "version of educational romanticism," agreed with some of Murray's premises but challenged his conclusions: Of course ability varies and half the children are below average. Indeed, we should not set the college degree as our gold standard for success in life. We should teach people how to better make a living and to respect the work of the craftsmen and technicians among us. We should not stigmatize those Mr. Murray calls the "forgotten half." But neither should we abandon our efforts to provide each of our citizens with an opportunity to have the education that is required to keep us all watchful, wakeful protectors of our personal and political freedoms.

See also Academically Adrift In the Basement of the Ivory Tower UnCollege

References

External links "Book TV: Charles Murray "Real Education"". YouTube. 2008-09-05. Retrieved 2011-05-29. Ken Seifert. "Seifert column: Not everyone needs a college degree » Education » Andover Townsman, Andover, MA". Andovertownsman.com. Retrieved 2011-05-29.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Real Education

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Real Education claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Real Education before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Real Education ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Real Education

In research: Real Education appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Real Education in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Real Education is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2008 non-fiction books, Books about education in the United States, Books by Charles Murray, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Real Education outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Real Education in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Real Education means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Real Education out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Real Education in simple terms?

Why does Real Education matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Real Education?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Real Education.