The perspective that most educational institutions emphasizes more on teaching theoretical facts than helping students acquire practical skills has sparked a heated debate among many. I strongly agree that too much importance is placed on learning facts by educators than on learning other skills.
At all levels of education, that is, from primary schools to tertiary institutions enormous amount of time is spent on teaching theories. First of all, most curriculums require the students to memorize the facts from course textbooks and lecture notes. For instance, chemistry exams in high school are designed to test the candidate’s memory of periodic table, chemical compositions, et cetera. Moreover, educational institutions inundate the students with abundant information. For example, a postgraduate course usually consists of two to three textbooks, lecture slides, journal papers and news articles that completely overwhelm a graduate student’s study time.
Most educational institutions place less emphasis on teaching practical skills. The primary reason is the wide perception that students need to master the requisite theories than gaining practical expertise. For instance, most science faculty members provide lectures on theories rather than organising/ holding concurrent laboratory sessions for live demonstrations. In addition, a large capital is required for investment in order to build the facilities for teaching practical skills. For example, chemistry labs need to be equipped with a plethora of items such as test tubes, furnaces, chemicals and so on that can increase the initial capital.
In conclusion, I firmly believe that most institutions spend an immense amount of time on teaching theories; students are required to memorize facts and are overwhelmed with abundant information. Less emphasis is placed on practical skills because of the perception of importance of learning facts and large financial investment needed to set up facilities for carrying out experiments.
The perspective that most educational institutions emphasizes more on
teaching
theoretical facts than helping
students
acquire
practical
skills
has sparked a heated debate among
many
. I
strongly
agree
that too much importance
is placed
on learning facts by educators than on learning other
skills
.
At all levels of education,
that is
, from primary schools to tertiary institutions enormous amount of time
is spent
on
teaching
theories
.
First of all
, most curriculums require the
students
to memorize the facts from course textbooks and lecture notes.
For instance
, chemistry exams in high school
are designed
to
test
the candidate’s memory of periodic table, chemical compositions,
et cetera
.
Moreover
, educational institutions inundate the
students
with abundant information.
For example
, a postgraduate course
usually
consists of two to three textbooks, lecture slides, journal papers and news articles that completely overwhelm a graduate
student’s
study time.
Most educational institutions place less emphasis on
teaching
practical
skills
. The primary reason is the wide perception that
students
need to master the requisite
theories
than gaining
practical
expertise.
For instance
, most science faculty members provide lectures on
theories
rather
than
organising
/ holding concurrent laboratory sessions for
live
demonstrations.
In addition
, a large capital
is required
for investment in order to build the facilities for
teaching
practical
skills
.
For example
, chemistry labs need to
be equipped
with a plethora of items such as
test
tubes, furnaces, chemicals and
so
on that can increase the initial capital.
In conclusion
, I
firmly
believe that most institutions spend an immense amount of time on
teaching
theories
;
students
are required
to memorize facts and
are overwhelmed
with abundant information. Less emphasis
is placed
on
practical
skills
because
of the perception of importance of learning facts and large financial investment needed to set up facilities for carrying out experiments.