Dr. Michio Kaku: The Problem with the learning system in school.

(Small Sample portion from interview)

Client: Embedded System Design Conference: Goal was to film an interview with the great physicist, Dr. Kaku, who can be seen regularly on the science channel. The entire video will be made available online shortly.

[larshetfield]

Ending the clip at that point was painful and ridiculous.

[HamzaHGreen]

I've learned more from YouTube, than the whole course of education I had throughout my life. I thought I hated physics till I discovered YouTube and Wikipedia. Now I love physics. Our school system is useless!

[cassandrastevenson]

See this is why I want to be a science teacher. Through high school we were taught to memorize and data dump, and there was no fascination left in any of my friends. I've always been obsessed with the WHY and HOW of science, not the facts, and my teachers always got annoyed with me. I was always asking WHY snowflakes crystallize in unique formations, WHY do fractals seem to repeat themselves infinitesimally, HOW can gold and silver be theorized to be made of the same "string" material only vibrating at a different resonance? None of it makes sense to me in a text book, because there are so many unanswered questions. I want to inspire my students, not bore them to death for an hour a day. I may not be on Mr Kaku's level of intellect, but maybe one of my future students will be, and maybe they will follow the path of science, and I can have changed the course of history by pointing them in the right direction. One can dream right?

[harding]

Another bad thing about school is that they don't teach reason and logic.

[Johnf]

School? You mean, assembly line learning?

[jessimatic]

Took the words right out of my mouth! I am just now recovering from public school, 10 years after I graduated!!!!

[ShanePaulNolan]

As someone who dropped out of high school i can tell you this speaks volumes to me

[wiibot]

Exactly! Science is based on intellectual curiousity it's supposed to be exciting, a person is supposed to WANT to know and to understand. It's not supposed to be boring or feel like some sort of hard work.

Curiousity needs to remain the core element of education.

[soseboogs]

Michio Kaku has done so much in promoting science... aka... the pursuit of knowledge.

How sad it is that in our society we must 'promote' this idea which comes counter to society's value system.

We need more people like him to be a voice to a sedated generation.
It's time to wake up!

[handyrus]

Sixteen years ago, my son took a year off from college to 'regroup'. I owned a handyman business at that time, and he worked with me for that year (I paid him with room, board and beer). Several years after he finished college, he confessed to me that he learned more in that one year than he learned in his entire career. He said he learned not only carpentry, deck building, drywall, plumbing and electrical but also human relation skills, sales, accounting and responsibility. Some things are learned outside the classroom

[LDLK]

I've always interested in science, but education bored me, the way they taught me is boring and monotone and I dont feel encouraged at all. They provide and give nothing for my knowledge. Back then, I didn't have internet so I crushed my own dream and live a normal life and enter a major in university that hundred millions people are going (business). But my dream isn't that going to into business. Even so, I'm still looking up about science, and astronomy because I love them!! I can watch about quantum mechanic documentary for hours non stop even though I only understand a bit. It's interesting I wish I could born again as a scientist lol.  

[hannahotte]

-this-. I couldn't agree more. Even as a Sophomore in a private high school with a fantastic science department, this "memorization" really is making us as students become less curious about the world and adopt the "why would anyone want to become a scientist?" mentality.

[Draxis]

I think that, even cutted out like this, those were the most inteligent 1:40 minutes I've ever listened in my whole entire life.
Its like he took those words out of my lips.

[chapelofblood]

School doesn't teach you to think, it teaches you to obey.

[TheSnorlax]

I love science and I find it is a very interesting subject.  I just think that the people who teach it are very boring.  

The best teachers are the ones who can teach a difficult subject in a very simple way.  Don't use jargon or big words.  Teach a student as if they were a 5th grader, even if that student is in MIT or Harvard or college in general.  Throw out all unnecessary jargon and if jargon is used, define these words carefully.  Otherwise the student will lose understanding.

[liamdavis]

For someone that’s taking a while to finish college, this speaks volumes to me.

[DaDarthDoc]

The danger years for me are right now when I'm taking AP Chemistry, AP Biology and AP Physics C all at the same time.

Its brutal, but I'm hanging in there... Only 5 more years of this. :(

[JaviEnding]

We may have lost the genius of Steve Jobs. But we still have Michio Kaku!

[Shroomstep]

Schools teach you what to think, not how to think.

Everything I know today, I taught myself when I left school. I learnt more in the first 6 months at Art College, than I did my entire duration of "School".

[EGarrett]

I agree with this all the way. Children want to find and emulate role models, ask questions about things they don't understand...and explore the world and themselves. They WANT to learn. Making them sit still in classrooms and be forced to memorize lists of information that are of questionable value is NOT that.