It is hard not to do to your children what your parents did to you
The problems with education in the USA and its development
Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling - John Taylor Gatto
The Underground History of American Education - John Taylor Gatto
Was what was done to us, the best thing that we want to do to our children?
What were people learning and teaching before the “modern thing” in the late 19th Century?
Process must be attended to more than product
What a child is experiencing is more important than the artifacts they produce
You can’t take business lingo and apply it to children… “the proof is in the pudding”
My 11 year old needs to get into a good college… versus… what does she like? What is she good at? Etc.
Don’t become attached to the ARTIFACT of learning - it doesn’t represent well the EXPERIENCE that the child had doing it
How you learned something is more important than what you learned
Schools have disjointed courses about random things that don’t connect
Understanding is Highly Overrated
Anything worth understanding, you probably will never understand it FULLY
Doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing
It’s good to learn along with your children
All kids are different
Educational system was created to standardize all kids
Now there are “individual styles” and things, but the majority of the system is still centered on “every kid should be able to do the same things at the same age.”
Progressive (“New”) does not mean Progress
Schools have “new” things every year, but there is no Progress…
New things are provided by who? Money!
Bill Gates… more computers in schools!
John D. Rockefeller… industry/factories
There’s no money in going back… there’s only money in what is “new”
College and Career Readiness
Think about the qualities you want when hiring (or even when accepting a student into a college)
Integrity
Teachability
Honesty
Loyalty
Etc.
None of these are taught in modern schools… but these are acquired from the home and church!
Teaching is about YOU not THEM
Teaching is the overflow of the soul of the teacher into the student
Take care of yourself
If you are tired, hungry, etc. you will not be a good teacher
Educate yourself
If you are not filled intellectually, you cannot fill others
Be Diligent
Diligent from Latin “diligere” - meaning “love” - Love creates diligence
The power of a smile - if you smile at someone long enough, they WILL smile back. A smile communicates “it is good to be with you” - “I am happy to be here with you, right now.”
Emotional Gas Tank - making corrections is an emotional drain… give positive comments BEFORE giving negative. Even at a 10:1 ratio
1 Point Focus
Focus on the one point you want to fix
”Straighten your back and move your chair and turn your leg and fix your bow and that note was wrong.”
