I get far right wing spam at times, and one came in that smacked of your message, with a sad part. This man, railing against the dissoultion of America, pointed squarely at our schools as the reason we are losing our nation. And, amazingly, he said he knows personally, because HE HAS TWO KIDS IN SCHOOL (ugh!!!) Really?
This is poison, I know so, I feed it to my kids. (Pray for him)
And another thing. YOu can read John Holt, sure, do that. But you don't need to. First, it might get you terribly angry. I mean, just that quote above grips me. "Real Life". WHat is more real than a child for Pete's sake? They have REAL lives! ...that's about like when people say to my kids, "You talk like you're a real person." AAAAAARGH! OK, my point is, calming down here, Any day you choose, you can write your book. You have a book to write. (Please?)
The circular notion that schools shape society seems to be lost on a lot of folks.
Parents are supposed to shape society but that responsibility has been abdicated to the school system. Anyone intelligent would point out that we can't expect schools to be responsible for the emotional and moral education of children. That expectation would be unfair and impossible----imagine teachers trying to deeply, personally, lovingly, gently, thoughtfully, responsibly influence each of the 32 or 21 or 15 entrusted to them. Actually some do try. The task is mostly impossible. The unintended consequence of the teachers who refuse to try is even darker. But the fact is, most kids spend WAY more time in school or with friends than with families, if we discount time spent asleep.
So where does that leave kids? For most of them, most of their emotional and moral development comes from time with their peers. What is born of this? Lord Of The Flies. When kids are left to raise kids you get a society willing to let kids raise kids. You get the society we have now. Not hopeless but not exactly impressive, either.
The system we have is such a bullshit sham there are days when I can hardly sit still with it. But there is hope. Have you see this? http://www.wired.com/2013/10/free-thinkers/2/
On facebook a few years ago a senator. Jim Leutze, asked for suggestions to improve schools. It was a genuine question so I answered: Make the days shorter, require fewer subjects, make the classes the years and the length of the year shorter. He wasn't impressed with my answer! (You gotta laugh.) I should amend it to say, remove all canned curriculum. Think that would go over well? (More laughing.)
CC, you should write the book! You would do way better than me.
And, oh my god, did someone actually tell one of your precious children they were almost like real people? Almost human? Really??? Gosh, mister, THANKS! I guess that person is nearly almost human. Maybe one day they'll get full status.....if they study hard, eh?
I first read John Holt in about 1992 or 93 and it was pretty transformational. It caused some kind of deep change in how I saw the world and the educational system within it.
Also, I hadn't been homeschooling very long when I realized, yeah--we are asking teachers to do the impossible. love, Val
I get far right wing spam at times, and one came in that smacked of your message, with a sad part. This man, railing against the dissoultion of America, pointed squarely at our schools as the reason we are losing our nation. And, amazingly, he said he knows personally, because HE HAS TWO KIDS IN SCHOOL (ugh!!!) Really?
ReplyDeleteThis is poison, I know so, I feed it to my kids. (Pray for him)
dissolution
ReplyDeleteAnd another thing. YOu can read John Holt, sure, do that. But you don't need to. First, it might get you terribly angry. I mean, just that quote above grips me. "Real Life". WHat is more real than a child for Pete's sake? They have REAL lives! ...that's about like when people say to my kids, "You talk like you're a real person." AAAAAARGH! OK, my point is, calming down here, Any day you choose, you can write your book. You have a book to write. (Please?)
ReplyDeleteThe circular notion that schools shape society seems to be lost on a lot of folks.
ReplyDeleteParents are supposed to shape society but that responsibility has been abdicated to the school system. Anyone intelligent would point out that we can't expect schools to be responsible for the emotional and moral education of children. That expectation would be unfair and impossible----imagine teachers trying to deeply, personally, lovingly, gently, thoughtfully, responsibly influence each of the 32 or 21 or 15 entrusted to them. Actually some do try. The task is mostly impossible. The unintended consequence of the teachers who refuse to try is even darker. But the fact is, most kids spend WAY more time in school or with friends than with families, if we discount time spent asleep.
So where does that leave kids? For most of them, most of their emotional and moral development comes from time with their peers. What is born of this? Lord Of The Flies. When kids are left to raise kids you get a society willing to let kids raise kids. You get the society we have now. Not hopeless but not exactly impressive, either.
The system we have is such a bullshit sham there are days when I can hardly sit still with it. But there is hope. Have you see this? http://www.wired.com/2013/10/free-thinkers/2/
On facebook a few years ago a senator. Jim Leutze, asked for suggestions to improve schools. It was a genuine question so I answered: Make the days shorter, require fewer subjects, make the classes the years and the length of the year shorter. He wasn't impressed with my answer! (You gotta laugh.) I should amend it to say, remove all canned curriculum. Think that would go over well? (More laughing.)
CC, you should write the book! You would do way better than me.
And, oh my god, did someone actually tell one of your precious children they were almost like real people? Almost human? Really??? Gosh, mister, THANKS! I guess that person is nearly almost human. Maybe one day they'll get full status.....if they study hard, eh?
ReplyDeleteI first read John Holt in about 1992 or 93 and it was pretty transformational. It caused some kind of deep change in how I saw the world and the educational system within it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I hadn't been homeschooling very long when I realized, yeah--we are asking teachers to do the impossible. love, Val