Educationists Are The Morons
Educationists are the morons, not our children.
A note from the Opinion.Telegraph in merry old England.
Educationists are the morons, not our childrenA Cambridge don told me a few years back that even those lucky enough to get into our top university were so incapable of learning once there that he wanted to start a sandwich course for them. Of course, it is not our young people who are thick; it is the "educationists" who deem what they are taught. For decades basic grammar has been spurned as elitist, so even those with four A-levels are illiterate. Basic numeracy was discouraged once the electronic calculator was invented.
And general knowledge - indeed, any form of reading outside the curriculum, or spirit of independent inquiry, curiosity and thought - was squashed by schools focusing on what does well for the league tables. Add to that parents being dissuaded from having an intellectual life with their children - not that many need much dissuasion - and you have a nation of morons in the making. What have our children, many of whom could be very clever, done to deserve this treatment?
A fine rant, and a scathing indictment of public education.
For a bit more balanced look at what a teacher encounters- stuck between educationists and students the Right Wing Nation blog takes a shot at the final result of the avoidance of absolutes, even in math studies.
Myself I rather favor what C. F. Bastiat had to say:
" We cannot but be astonished at the ease with which men resign themselves to ignorance about what is most important for them to know; and we may be certain that they are determined to remain invincibly ignorant if they once come to consider it as axiomatic that there are no absolute principles."
If you want your kids to be mindless cogs in a bureaucratic machine - leave them in public schools. Public schools are very good at their job - indoctrinating compliant future citizens and bureaucracy employees.
Separate school and state.
Your kids will have more and better options in carefully selected private schools or with home schooling.
That and when they grow up you can have interesting conversations with your kiddos.
If you went to public schools - maybe you can get a home schooled kid to teach you how to converse.
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posted by BFU Rector at 11:46 PM
4 Comments:
Allan, have to take some issue with you here. I think you paint with too broad of a brush-- many public schools are doing precisely what you describe, but not all of them.
In general, the worst public schools are in the urban areas because nobody wants to work there. There is too much ideological conformity amongst teachers, true, but my kids (5 and 7) are being challenged to stretch their minds in reading, math, and science.
I believe they will emerge from public school well-versed, well-read, and capable of making well-reasoned judgements. As did I.
That said, the growing tendency in America is heading in the direction you decry-- a legitimate worry. I guess all I'm trying to say is that while your point may be well-taken, it is somewhat lost beneath the stridency with which you make it.
Nick,
Thank you for such a well reasoned response.
You have obviously considered alternatives and made your choice.
Most of those that teach enter with with proper motives and a desire to educate kids - many are quite talented.
The public school system crushes many of the best and dilutes the rest. The bureaucracy and weak curriculum limits their effectiveness.
I'm sure your kids will be fine due to your involvement, I do believe most children are not that lucky. Be sure to read their required books yourself. You can help your children balance and overcome the limitations.
My own opinion is there is not much that can be done about a structured industrial age classroom that stresses compliance above creativity. However, graduates of such a system do make good cubical farm employees.
I believe a child that is taught to love reading will then discover broader and more useful information for themselves. My kids have done well in spite of me - mainly because they learned to love learning.
A love of learning is a wonderful lifelong companion.
You would have to be selective with private schools also, but overall they get much better results for less money.
enjoy life
I read where one man with a very high IQ refused to send his chilldren to public school because " I want them to love to learn".The public school takes that love of learning and crushes it.
John,
Thanks for the extra information.
I think we are born with a need to learn - that if channeled properly - can turn into a life long love.
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