On education

Tonight's pics are of the twins, Basil & Charlie. They are still so kitten-like in their behavior, and that behavior is unique to watch when performed by giant, huge cats! I'm so happy that they've always been together. We are planning to take them over to Dej's to visit their mom, brother and sister. We are curious to see how they will react after not having seen each other for a year.


Last night was unusual Tuesday for us. We watched a family ‘movie’ (not really a movie, but a documentary) together. We started watching it Sunday night with my parents, watched part 2 on Monday, and parts 3 & 4 last night. Now we can pass it to my parents, so they can finish, and then on to Dej, who watched part 4 with us last night and wants to see the rest.

It’s called ‘Faces of America’, and is the second series I’ve watched by Dr. Henry Louis Gates (the first was also excellent—‘African American Lives’). We got it through Netflix. It was awesome! It’s simultaneously intriguing, educational, entertaining and extremely emotional. I don’t think L enjoyed it as much as we did or as much as I thought she would. Maybe we’ll try it again when she’s older.

The fourth part was focused on using science to understand our past, present and future, by analyzing DNA. This allows them to determine your genetic background, ethnicity, etc., via haplogroups. Since Dej already knows, I can mention that her birthday present (next month) is having her DNA mapped and analyzed. She will provide a sample of saliva, using the sterilized equipment they provide (which just arrived in today's mail!), and send it back. She will receive a detailed account of her genetic makeup. We’re all very excited to see it!

After L went to bed and Dej left, M & I watched Sherlock Holmes. This was my Father’s Day gift to M—to watch one of his crappy violent movies with him without complaining. I’m a fan of the real Sherlock Holmes books/movies, but this was not at all like those. It was about 30 minutes worth of plot, intermingled with 90 minutes of ridiculously long, dragged out fights. It seemed like a very long movie. It was late, and we went to bed when it was finished.

M, L, Dej, my parents, and I toured the Tallman House on Sunday. Admission was free for the dads, and it’s been ages since we were there. There’s no air in there, so it was quite warm. It’s gorgeous inside, as always! I love, love, love Victorian homes, furniture, decorating, etc! The girls and I agreed that we’d like to live there, except for the bathroom/kitchen situation. The outside has aged considerably and there is noticeable disrepair. There was some noticeable on the inside of the house as well. The gardens were completely non-existent. It was very sad to see the state that it’s fallen into—another victim of the bad economy.

I just finished reading “Dumbing us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling”, by John Taylor Gatto. It’s a very short book, but it contains such important information. I wish it were required reading for all adults! He identifies the problem with our schooling and completely nails it. I’ve watched one of my children’s brain and love of learning be completely destroyed in the public school, and that’s exactly why I’m homeschooling L. I realize that I have a luxury that most parents in the U.S. do not, and am still deeply committed to helping improve the public schools in any way possible. I think that while Gatto perfectly lays out the problem, his solution doesn’t seem practical or well-thought out. I’m eager to see if/how he develops his proposed solution (privatization of education) in his other books.

My main concern with privatization, other than the seeming impracticality, is the religious factor. If education were to be privatized, those fucking fundies & catlicks would be all over it, trying to destroy knowledge and education in every way possible, and probably even worse that they currently do in their schools. I am a victim of such a poor educational system, which took place within an abusive environment, full of corruption, lies, greed, and hypocrisy. I wouldn’t wish that on any child, ever, and would be loathe to do anything that would risk allowing them to expand their ignorance any further. They should absolutely not be allowed to spew their hate-filled, fear-filled vile and backwards outlook to any children. It’s flat out abuse (of both the child and the educational system) and should not be legal! The mission of these schools is NOT to educate but to create unquestioning followers who will become the next generation to fund the institution.

I teach college. The American students from both private and public schools are undereducated. Horribly undereducated—and these are the ones who graduated and made it to college. My international students are significantly better off—better educated and with an excellent educational work ethic. It’s like night and day. I’ve been teaching for over ten years, and it makes me so sad to see how our educational system has degraded in just the time I’ve been teaching. We can’t afford to ignore it, even those of us who don’t have children in school. These are the citizens and leaders of the future, and they are increasingly ill-equipped to succeed. We will be living in the world they create and run and absolutely can’t afford to let our educational system degrade any further.

Researching education and the way the brain works/learns is kind of a hobby for me. I got into it when I started teaching, and it has become a passion of mine. I found my knowledge of cognitive-neuro-psychology invaluable in my home schooling, my own learning, and my teaching, and don’t think anyone should be allowed to teach without a solid understanding it. I do have a few ideas, that I fully believe would improve education for our public school kids and are fairly low-cost and practical. They are a far cry from fixing anything, but I feel strongly that we would see a significant improvement.

1. Humane Education as a required component: Teaching compassion and understanding for others, the ways in which every single action we take impacts others, how to be educated and responsible consumers, citizens of a ‘democracy’, emotional intelligence, the importance of community service, etc. One of the brain’s most basic requirements for learning (beyond nutritional factors) is a safe environment, both physically and emotionally. Our public schools are a far cry from safe, especially emotionally, and they seem to be getting worse. Humane Education should be part of the home education since birth, but it doesn’t occur in the majority of American homes. It certainly won’t fix the problem, but it’s a cheap, easy way to realize a big improvement.

2. Brain Management as a required component: Teaching children at a young age how their brains work—how knowledge is best acquired; how neurons are formed; learning about and identifying their own personal learning style(s), strengths, and weaknesses, etc. Learning how to operate and manage their own equipment is empowering and necessary for them to truly be effective learners. Understanding how my brain works is the single-most valuable chunk of knowledge I have ever acquired! If our kids owned this information early in their educational career, think how much easier their job of learning would be, and therefore the teacher’s job as well. Those students whose brains are not well-designed for learning within a traditional school structure would understand that they are not stupid, poor students, nor incapable of learning. They would be able to find ways for their brains to succeed in an incompatible environment. I could write ten more pages, both from a student’s perspective and from a teacher’s on just how helpful and life changing this knowledge could be in the traditional classroom environment.

3. Give students the “big picture” and update it frequently. From very early on in a child’s school career, they should have an overview of where they are currently and where they are going with their education. Why is the material important to them, how and where the material fits within the big picture of the knowledge they are acquiring—this is extremely valuable to the learning process, as the human brain needs to be able to assemble the bits and pieces into a meaningful, logical whole. We give the students the bits and pieces, but don’t make it very clear to them how they fit together and how they are relevant to the student’s life and future. We need to present those bits and pieces in a way that flows naturally and logically and allows a student to place that knowledge in context, so that it can be fully understood and applied. One example of a very specific and simple application of using the contextual placement to improve flow and learning would be history. For the love of Thor, teach it in sequential order! Hopping around in non-chronological, non-geographical order isn’t easy for any brain to follow. Start with the Big Bang and go to the present. Simple, straightforward, and infinitely more effective! Because the students are able to place this knowledge in context and within the ‘big picture’ of their educational map, it’s not at all boring—History becomes exciting and so much more than a bunch of random dates to be memorized.

Gatto has a few other books out, too, and I am going to acquire and read those as soon as possible. I can’t reiterate how good this book is and how vital it is for us to understand! I plan to purchase his books, so I can loan them out to everyone! I am looking for someone to discuss the books with and bounce ideas back and forth.

Tomorrow, I will solve the economic situation and global warming. ;-D