Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Sham

Options
  • 13-09-2005 7:26pm
    #1
    defiantshrimp
    Closed Accounts Posts: 241 ✭✭


    I just finished reading the book "SHAM" by Steve Salerno and I was wondering if anyone else has read it and has any thoughts on it. It is a great, humorous and thought provoking read and I highly recommend it. It got me thinking about the Self Help movement in Ireland and how it is spreading. Are we destined to go the way of the states? The most worrying aspect of the book IMO was the way education in the US has been corrupted by the idea that self-esteem is all that matters. There was a study published in Scientific American this year showing that self-esteem has no effect on academic performance and indeed that the focus on it has been hugely detrimental to academic standards.. Is Irish education heading this way? Is that one of the reasons my generation seems to be producing such horrible leaving cert math and science results? Please post your thoughts!


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,417 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    So far as I can see, and quite apart from the ongoing problems in Dover, Pennsylvania and elsewhere (even here in Ireland), Irish education doesn't really seem to be heading too much in the way of America education, with its marked emphasis on the bogus notion that nobody's a loser, and that's certainly something to be thankful for.

    Even still, though, back in my day and unlike now, we had the 18 inch leather straps, and a teacher not shy of using them, if any of us dared to spell 'mixamatosis' with a 'y'. And then there was the ten-mile hike to and from school, through the snow and piercing wind, with black paint instead of shoes and laces sewed through our feet (but I digress...)

    The only self-help book I can comment upon from firsthand experience of both author and book, is the popular, lucrative and unconscionably simplistic and embarassing Who Moved My Cheese, by Spencer Johnson. As a guy I know well said: "If you've a problem you think Spencer's is good for, then you need a much better doctor than Spencer." :o Nonetheless, the book apparently sold well over here (according to one of the front-desk staff at Hogges-Figgis on Dawson Street), but to whom, I really can't imagine. And as it's never come up in conversation here, and I've not seen it on anybody's bookshelf, I can't help but feel that its short time has come and gone.

    Conclusion -- for the moment, Ireland's safe.


  • Options
    #3
    pH
    Registered Users Posts: 4,188 ✭✭✭pH


    I guess it depends on which part of the education system you're talking about.

    It's that time of year again, Old Bawn community school have an adult education autumn program - here are the highlights :

    24. Fun & relaxation with the angels and ascended masters (level 2) (€92.00)
    53. REIKI - 1 (€112.00)
    59. Tarot cards (€87.00)
    70. Dream Interpretation (€87.00)
    71. ENNEAGRAM - what makes you tick ? (€70.00)
    73. Fun & relaxation with the angels (level 1) (€92.00)
    81. HOMEOPATHY - Introduction (€117.00) (Fee includes an 18 remedy kit)
    91. Past life regression NEW! (€132.00)


  • Options
    #4
    defiantshrimp
    Closed Accounts Posts: 241 ✭✭defiantshrimp


    pH wrote:
    I guess it depends on which part of the education system you're talking about.

    It's that time of year again, Old Bawn community school have an adult education autumn program - here are the highlights :

    24. Fun & relaxation with the angels and ascended masters (level 2) (€92.00)
    53. REIKI - 1 (€112.00)
    59. Tarot cards (€87.00)
    70. Dream Interpretation (€87.00)
    71. ENNEAGRAM - what makes you tick ? (€70.00)
    73. Fun & relaxation with the angels (level 1) (€92.00)
    81. HOMEOPATHY - Introduction (€117.00) (Fee includes an 18 remedy kit)
    91. Past life regression NEW! (€132.00)

    Yeah the community school near me has almost exactly the same thing, i find that quite worrying, do we have a sleeper class of New Agers?!


  • Options
    #5
    secret_squirrel
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,357 ✭✭✭secret_squirrel


    defiantshrimp wrote:
    Is Irish education heading this way? Is that one of the reasons my generation seems to be producing such horrible leaving cert math and science results? Please post your thoughts!

    Theres a more serious issue facing irish education than self help crap.

    My friends daughter has just started and out of a class of around 25ish, only 3 are doing science :eek: The rest have chosen 'easier' subjects. If this continues ireland will be awash with credulous know-nothings.

    How can a (lets be honest now) minority marginalised language like Irish be compulsory but not at least one science subject. It beggars belief.


Advertisement