When I was in Grade 7 my teacher would occasionally eat a bag of chips during class while we worked on a hand-out assignment. Usually a few crumbs hung on to his big brown beard.
But one day my sense of justice was roused. It made me hungry too so I decided if he could eat during class, why couldn't I?
I brought chips to class the next day and began to eat when he did. He came over and told me to stop eating in class- it wasn't allowed. I piped up at the injustice of it, and he apologized but it was against the rules for me to eat in class, but he could.
This really rankled. I had the idea to create a petition saying teachers shouldn't be allowed to eat during class if children couldn't either. I collected lots of signatures during recess and planned to present it to the Principle.
My teacher got wind of it and confronted me- warning me that I'd better stop immediately. He was very intimidating and he seemed very disturbed.
I relented and promised to stop the petition.
He never snacked again during class time- I know because I was watching.
Monday, December 31, 2012
I'll drink when I'm thirsty if you don't mind
The old saying "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink"
doesn't apply to compulsory schooling where children are routinely forced to take in what they may have no appetite for whatsoever.
Forced learning is harmful: it's demeaning and smacks of arrogance and authoritarianism which are built-in to the system enforced mostly unwittingly.
Growing up, I had my favorite subjects: music, art and English (I loved math in K to Grade 1). I could have stuck happily with these three throughout my entire educational career.
Instead I was overwhelmed with so many irrelevant subjects that I couldn't focus and get really good at the few that interested me.
In Grade 7 I applied to take 'home economics' to learn how to cook. No other boys had applied, and my teacher came to me during recess- I guess he was on recess duty- and coerced me to withdraw my request because I'd be the only boy and 'that would not be for the good of the class'.
Later in life I was a chef for 10 years- my second career after being a full time musician for 3 years.
Now I'm not against any individuals as much as the system as it has evolved (and has dubious beginnings*). And so many great teachers and administrators are certainly not trying to inflict any harm on the kids.
But the compulsory education system is likely beyond reform given it's premises.
The growing popularity of homeschooling and unschooling are a great boon and perhaps a hint at a growing loss of confidence in a system gone wild.
How is it gone wild? It breeds hardness of heart, boredom, segregation, classism, depression, sense of imprisonment, judgement, bullying, intolerance to uniqueness and individuality and most dangerously: unquestioning obedience to oppressive authority. Is short it provides little of the necessities of life: a sense of meaning and purpose in life beyond being penned in like animals and trained to jump through hoops hopefully without questioning what it's all for.
*(check out the writings of former teacher of the year for New York State and New York City John Taylor Gatto)
doesn't apply to compulsory schooling where children are routinely forced to take in what they may have no appetite for whatsoever.
Forced learning is harmful: it's demeaning and smacks of arrogance and authoritarianism which are built-in to the system enforced mostly unwittingly.
Growing up, I had my favorite subjects: music, art and English (I loved math in K to Grade 1). I could have stuck happily with these three throughout my entire educational career.
Instead I was overwhelmed with so many irrelevant subjects that I couldn't focus and get really good at the few that interested me.
In Grade 7 I applied to take 'home economics' to learn how to cook. No other boys had applied, and my teacher came to me during recess- I guess he was on recess duty- and coerced me to withdraw my request because I'd be the only boy and 'that would not be for the good of the class'.
Later in life I was a chef for 10 years- my second career after being a full time musician for 3 years.
Now I'm not against any individuals as much as the system as it has evolved (and has dubious beginnings*). And so many great teachers and administrators are certainly not trying to inflict any harm on the kids.
But the compulsory education system is likely beyond reform given it's premises.
The growing popularity of homeschooling and unschooling are a great boon and perhaps a hint at a growing loss of confidence in a system gone wild.
How is it gone wild? It breeds hardness of heart, boredom, segregation, classism, depression, sense of imprisonment, judgement, bullying, intolerance to uniqueness and individuality and most dangerously: unquestioning obedience to oppressive authority. Is short it provides little of the necessities of life: a sense of meaning and purpose in life beyond being penned in like animals and trained to jump through hoops hopefully without questioning what it's all for.
*(check out the writings of former teacher of the year for New York State and New York City John Taylor Gatto)
Sunday, December 30, 2012
No More Force-Fed Learning
You're probably reading this page, my blog, because you want to. That's the beauty of the internet. It makes self-learning easy- makes pursuing and discovering new interests more fluid.
What if instead you were forced to read it?
I had a friend I made in Sunday School class. We hung out together because we were both musicians. He played bass, i played guitar. He introduced me to some heavy metal music like Ozzy Osbourne.
His mom forced him to come to Sunday School. I went because i wanted to. I saw over and over how she treated him in regards to her religion. She force fed it down his throat. Low and behold after Sunday School he was gone- no interest in his parent's religion. I love it and thrive with it. There's a self-explanatory lesson there.
Force feeding is immoral. Forcing yourself to eat is also bad for you. Yet cramming for exams- gosh, I could go on and on, but the point is the compulsory school system has got it all wrong and is in itself fatally flawed because it is compulsory. It beats the natural learning inclinations out of defenceless souls.
What if instead you were forced to read it?
I had a friend I made in Sunday School class. We hung out together because we were both musicians. He played bass, i played guitar. He introduced me to some heavy metal music like Ozzy Osbourne.
His mom forced him to come to Sunday School. I went because i wanted to. I saw over and over how she treated him in regards to her religion. She force fed it down his throat. Low and behold after Sunday School he was gone- no interest in his parent's religion. I love it and thrive with it. There's a self-explanatory lesson there.
Force feeding is immoral. Forcing yourself to eat is also bad for you. Yet cramming for exams- gosh, I could go on and on, but the point is the compulsory school system has got it all wrong and is in itself fatally flawed because it is compulsory. It beats the natural learning inclinations out of defenceless souls.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Example of Spontaneous Learning- back scratch minutes
Mommy scratched Ben's back for 2 minutes at bedtime.
He asked me for a back scratch too. "OK, for 5 minutes"I said.
Ben started figuring out loud that 2 minutes plus 5 minutes would be 7 minutes. So I said I would scratch his back for 8 minutes instead. He figured out that would be a total of 10 minutes.
I did not compel him to count. It was entirely his own motivation.
Then I said I would scratch his back for 10 minutes. He erroneously concluded he was getting 11 minutes. I said it was not correct so he recalculated and got it right.
Today was the day he was given a watch which was very exciting for him. He had numbers on his mind.
Monday, December 24, 2012
Love and Fear
Love and fear can’t reside in the same space. You can’t love to learn if you fear someone’s criticism or harsh judgment.
Via http://www.divinecaroline.com/34/56331-unschooling-brilliant-lazy#ixzz2FyBvrPdQ
Via http://www.divinecaroline.com/34/56331-unschooling-brilliant-lazy#ixzz2FyBvrPdQ
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Authoritarianism
Whenever you 'tell' your child to do something with the 'because I told you so, that's why' tone, you're modelling authoritarianism.
Yes, you do have authority, legally and morally of course. But the great challenge of parenting is to maintain respect for your children as ultimately being a partner in your house.
If you help your child identify an inner motivation- to discover the love for order naturally within every child- you are teaching a principle- like the principle of orderliness, or consideration for others (Essentially all principles are based on Love if you get right down to it).
Why model the status quo for children? Because it's the easy thing to do. It takes more thought and effort to break that mold. So much of our culture is based on being a good follower or yes-persons. Kids are taught to toe the line or else they will be punished. Is this the kind of world we want to perpetuate? I sure don't!
Yes, you do have authority, legally and morally of course. But the great challenge of parenting is to maintain respect for your children as ultimately being a partner in your house.
If you help your child identify an inner motivation- to discover the love for order naturally within every child- you are teaching a principle- like the principle of orderliness, or consideration for others (Essentially all principles are based on Love if you get right down to it).
Why model the status quo for children? Because it's the easy thing to do. It takes more thought and effort to break that mold. So much of our culture is based on being a good follower or yes-persons. Kids are taught to toe the line or else they will be punished. Is this the kind of world we want to perpetuate? I sure don't!
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