More on education & home schooling

Found on Jerry Pournelle's blog, Chaos Manor.....

Subject: Educating, Teaching and Learning

As a mom homeschooling a 12-year old, budding ornithologist, and a mom of a community college freshman, I thought I'd weigh in on the recent education discussions.

First, a story.....

On Monday, a group of homeschoolers went skating at the local county park. My ornithologist hobbled in on skates to announce that a hawk was flying around in the rafters. Moms, a dad with a camera, and lots of kids went into the rink to observe the bird and make some educated guesses as to what kind of hawk it might be.

The mini-ornithologist and three others said: Cooper's hawk. I was holding out for a juvenile Red Tail. While we all eventually left the rink, we went home to field guides; a couple of us emailed experts in the area, and we ultimately concluded Cooper's hawk was the correct answer. And, we made sure we notified those with power about the situation so the hawk would be safe and have food and water.

One mom observed: This is what homeschooling is about; it starts with PE and ends up with a science lesson.

I have to say that as a "professional" teacher with degrees and certification, homeschooling has been some of the best teaching and learning I have ever experienced. My world is filled with parents who eschew the public system that demands all children pass the same test, in the same year, on the same material, at a certain minimum level.

I have met a 14-year old taking a Spanish class at a local community college. I know of another homeschooling group that has just finished refitting a golf cart into a solar-powered vehicle. My child and I spent the fall volunteering with a bird bander who has 50 years of experience.

Indeed, this kind of learning and teaching is not for everyone. However, what a joy to have the world as my classroom. How exciting to be able to take my student into other disciplines using a door from the Avian world. (Did you know Martha Washington had parrots at Mount Vernon?!)

Then there is my college freshman. She is barely passing Bio 101. Why? She works hard in Lab and does well. It's the lecture and the inevitable tests that have strangled her. From all her descriptions, the Bio prof is on automatic pilot. He provides exactly what he wants the students to know and tests on that body of knowledge.

Now don't get me wrong, every discipline has core material that students need to learn. However, droning on with PowerPoints isn't going to cut it in today's world. There also seems to be a disconnect between Lecture and Lab. And, when our freshman comes home from Bio Lecture with information from class, we often discover it's about five years out of date.

Memorize and spit is one form of education that works well for a certain part of the population. I, however, agree with CP from Connecticut. Mentoring and hands-on experience produces the best kind of worker and workfoce. Allowing people to follow their abilities is a gift.

Our plumber the other day was one of the happiest guys I have met in a long time. He is in his mid-20s and LOVES his job. "I get to play with tools everyday," he told us. "I meet new people. I like what I do."

Unfortunately, he'll meet a lot of people who won't have one ounce of respect for his position or his work because he doesn't have a DEGREE. And, there are lots of kids in school now days who would love a shop class; who have limitations in one area, but excel in areas that go unsupported by the system.

And then there is this: How many people WITH DEGREES are running around this country unable to read, write or work?

Best wishes, Sue.

Jerry Pournelle responds to her comments:

There's a lot of that going around. We neglect "drill and kill" in primary school, where rote learning of the Addition and Multiplication Tables is vital, and where some drills in phonic decoding is required for about half (perhaps more) of the population including some bright kids; then in the colleges we often put the kids in the hands of either graduate students who don't want to teach but have to do it in order to get on with their graduate research, or professors who retired on salary a long time ago.

If you have not read Jacques Barzun's TEACHER IN AMERICA, I urge you to do so; and if you have, read it again. It may help.

==

For those who don't know, Sue (the writer of the comments at the top) is a bit more than just a Mom who homeschools, but then most of this readership is a bit overqualified for being "just a" anything. If nothing else, this forum allows some exchanges of ideas and encouragement.

It is exceedingly unlikely that the United States will remain a First World Country for two more generations. Our schools are not producing people who know how to maintain a First World economy, our work ethics are not inducive to that, and our teachers unions are in active opposition to any reform that might produce quality education among the people.

Our only hope is that the wealthy -- and some teachers -- know this and send their own children to private schools or teach them at home. This will help stave off the Long Night, and perhaps, just perhaps, our grandchildren, in reaction to the horrors we have made, will do something meaningful.

Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for Western Civilization as it commits suicide. Liberalism tells us we are doing the right things in our schools, although we aren't doing enough of it. More of the poison is their remedy. Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for Western Civilization as it commits suicide. I know many of you are weary of my saying this, but it must be said often enough that it gets through. Liberalism is not the answer, and more liberalism and diversity will not save us. We know how to build and maintain a First World -- i.e. Western -- civilization. We are actively destroying it, not rebuilding it; and our intellectual leaders, liberals and Jacobins, cheer as we do it.

Hang in there, Sue. You did not light the torch and you will not see the bonfire; this generation is destined to be the torchbearers for a future without our madnesses.