The Untold History of School

I spent an hour or so walking with my little girl today in the woods and I bet she learned more than a kid in 1st grade did in a month.

"What's this?" Over and over again. Awesome! She learned all about aspens: how they lose their leaves, how they come back in the spring, how their roots make more aspens. Bears: how that might be a good place for a den, stay away, how they wake up in the spring and are hungry. On and on. Curious and wanting to learn EVERYTHING. Not just how to sit at a desk and be quite, stand in line and be quiet, do what you're told and be quiet, and and be a good worker for the rest of your life. And be quiet.

Those that are against anything but government schools.....man, deprogram yourself.

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Originally Posted by GilpinGuy

I spent an hour or so walking with my little girl today in the woods and I bet she learned more than a kid in 1st grade did in a month.

"What's this?" Over and over again. Awesome! She learned all about aspens: how they lose their leaves, how they come back in the spring, how their roots make more aspens. Bears: how that might be a good place for a den, stay away, how they wake up in the spring and are hungry. On and on. Curious and wanting to learn EVERYTHING. Not just how to sit at a desk and be quite, stand in line and be quiet, do what you're told and be quiet, and and be a good worker for the rest of your life. And be quiet.

Those that are against anything but government schools.....man, deprogram yourself.

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Wow. That is a great perspective.
Nature walks are one of my favorite things to do with my kids and I feel the same way about how much it offers for learning. Actually, anything an adult is doing throughout their day works the same for them, and it is even more fantastic when they have a neighbor, grand parent, uncle etc to follow around. Many of these people do lots of things I don't and have been great assets to my kids.

I want to listen to these when I get a chance, but alas, in the mornings I post on here between study breaks and in the evenings I have other things to do. I know Delfuego's interpretation is wrong, and is a buffet of logical fallacies, but I need to hear exactly what the presenters say to counter him (lest I Leroy Jenkins it).

Gilpinguy, you're describing the process of "poetic knowledge" acquisition as described by Dr. James S. Taylor and Dr. John Senior.

http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/w...etic-knowledge
https://www.amazon.com/Poetic-Knowle...e+james+taylor

Dr. Taylor was a student of Dr. Senior in the Integrated Humanities Program at KU.

That program's motto was "Nascantur in Admiratione" (Let them be born in wonder).

http://www.ncregister.com/site/artic...ed_catholicity

As I understand it, the modern education system was championed by the Rockefellers, Carnegie, etc., not because they were actually interested in the true, well-rounded education of people, but because they wanted to form the education so that it benefitted them with more workers. A nascent iteration of Common Core, essentially (there is nothing new under the sun. ;) ).

Does it strike no one as odd that when education "evolved", it devolved? And in turn, highly literate letters from 8th graders became, to the present day, a messy waste of paper and screen? How a young man would enter college at 14 in the middle ages, suddenly did so at 18, maybe? That college became an end rather than a means, and inflated the market with so many useless degrees? Is it any wonder that the champions of pre-ww2 eugenics and population control would champion a system in which it's almost impossible for a lower to middle class man be the sole provider -- and this necessitates his wife working, which necessitates "school" (education camp/babysitting) instead of home education, which furthers the cycle? How the literacy of the nation declined more as such a duty as education of the young was placed in the hands of the state? How a boy suited for maybe 4 hours of school (which is all that's really needed if not messing around) is suddenly stuck in a desk for 8 hours and then told he has something wrong with him (ADHD): because he's simply a boy being a boy -- meant to run and jump and kill imaginary enemies, fish, hunt, ponder his lessons while elsewhere -- instead of an automaton sitting still and regurgitating facts for 8 hours?

As a nation, if these things are all an improvement, we should be seeing an intellectual takeover of the entire world. Instead we are slipping more and more. Throwing money and special programs and "tech" at it is not going to solve the problem. I fail to believe the architects of failure can suddenly build a Shangri-La. I fail to believe that we should finance continued failure.

When I took Constitutional Law, public schooling was cited as an example of "public interest" -- the increase in public schooling came because it was in the best interests of the public at large that future citizens be educated on the basics necessary to function as a citizen of the republic. I actually think that was at the heart of Carnegie's support for public education because he had always rued the lack of education available to him as a youngster. You can argue about why the "robber barons" of industry generally felt compelled to set up endowments and charities or support "public good" causes but it wasn't always about bolstering their industries.

As far as the degradation in schooling today, I think a lot of it stems from taking schooling for granted because it's publicly funded. When kids or parents couldn't get something (like education) because they lacked the resources, they valued it more. In many cases, kids and parents don't really value public education and view it as a chore or onerous task. Asian children in Hawaii used to do quite well even in public schools because they were taught culturally to value education. They might have gotten even more by attending private schools but they made the most of what they were given. I don't think that's a common attitude today, even in Hawaii. The government and NEA/AFT certainly deserve their share of the blame for the degradation in education but a great deal of blame should also go to the parents and society that enabled that malarkey.

Kudos to all of you who take your childrens' education seriously regardless of which option you choose. One way or another, they are our future.

Well, I listened to the first one today since I was just loitering around at the laundry mat anyway. I think they make interesting points about intellectuals feeling that they need to structure other people's lives for them, and what is the purpose of education anyway? Also, I had never thought of an education system as being a tool for assimilation of immigrants. I have to say that is an interesting thought but I don't see it working effectively under the current system.

Found this article today. I always like to hear from people once they are finished with their school experience. I can't say I have exactly "unschooled" but I am at least open to the idea.
https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/...lers-turn-out/