I've seen this thing quite often. There's a famous video clip of MIT graduates, in cap and gown, who can't make a bulb light when given a battery and wire. I disagree with the blog author's interpretation that this is about the students being "stupid." I posted the comment below.
I wouldn't interpret this as "education majors are stupid." I would interpret it as, all of us, even the best of us, are stupid in certain contexts with certain topics and certain time pressures. This is partly due to how we are taught and how we learn in school. Our knowledge is inert (inaccessible in other contexts) because it is often taught without context. The technical term for this is "transfer" - our learning often doesn't transfer. An older term for this is "encoding specificity" - our learning is "locked" to the context in which it is encoded. For example the myth that if you are drunk while studying you should be drunk when you take the test.
Here is a dramatic example that had a huge influence on reforming science education. On the bottom right of this page is a video clip of MIT graduates, in cap and gown, who, given a battery, bulb, and wire, can't make the bulb light. There's also a clip of Harvard students. https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/smgphp/mosart/video_archive_2.ht...
The full videos that go into why this is happening (because of how they are taught) and how we can address it (contextualized and constructivist instruction techniques like problem-based learning, simulations, etc.) are "Minds of Our Own" and "A Private Universe", which can be viewed online here: http://www.learner.org/resources/series26.html and here: http://www.learner.org/resources/series28.html
Another brilliant example comes from comedian Father Guido Sarducci's routine on the "Five Minute University" - how he can teach in 5 minutes what you remember 5 years after college: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO8x8eoU3L4
I wouldn't interpret this as "education majors are stupid." I would interpret it as, all of us, even the best of us, are stupid in certain contexts with certain topics and certain time pressures. This is partly due to how we are taught and how we learn in school. Our knowledge is inert (inaccessible in other contexts) because it is often taught without context. The technical term for this is "transfer" - our learning often doesn't transfer. An older term for this is "encoding specificity" - our learning is "locked" to the context in which it is encoded. For example the myth that if you are drunk while studying you should be drunk when you take the test.
Here is a dramatic example that had a huge influence on reforming science education. On the bottom right of this page is a video clip of MIT graduates, in cap and gown, who, given a battery, bulb, and wire, can't make the bulb light. There's also a clip of Harvard students. https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/smgphp/mosart/video_archive_2.ht...
The full videos that go into why this is happening (because of how they are taught) and how we can address it (contextualized and constructivist instruction techniques like problem-based learning, simulations, etc.) are "Minds of Our Own" and "A Private Universe", which can be viewed online here: http://www.learner.org/resources/series26.html and here: http://www.learner.org/resources/series28.html
Another brilliant example comes from comedian Father Guido Sarducci's routine on the "Five Minute University" - how he can teach in 5 minutes what you remember 5 years after college: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO8x8eoU3L4