Weekend: A discussion about education....

Someone left a comment on yesterday's post that really got me thinking.

Here's the comment: I dropped out when I was 15. That would have been a Bad Decision for most people, but for me it was absolutely the best thing I could have done. I can't even think about my school days anymore. If it's not PTSD, it's pretty close to it.

This makes such sense to me that I just had to write a bit more about it.

Many people, including my ex-husband, have such an inherent intelligence that they're quite capable of learning whatever they need to learn academically that there's no need to keep them forced into an environment that creates complete unhappiness.

When I look back on high school, not trying to be funny as I was yesterday, I see a mass social control movement. The majority of our experience had very little to do with academics. It had very little to do with learning. It was socialization. Cultural training.

In my own case, I think I would have needed some structure to keep me on track but the high school experience itself, I could have done without. There's no question in my mind that I would have done much better academically if I hadn't been surrounded by all the group dynamics.

Yet I thrived in college and did very well in all of my classes.

There are some people who simply don't do well in a structured environment. If anything, it completely stifles their desire to learn. Being one of them, I can't help but think there should be other alternatives, even beyond homeschooling. Home study? Self-study?

I'd just be curious to hear what others have to say.

If your child wanted to learn on his or her own, would you support that? Do you think it might have been the right choice for you? Please feel free to .. um.. say something! :)


Peace,


~Chani

Steal This Meme!

I have stolen this meme with the permission of Slouching Mom, who is the last person I can imagine "slouching". Taking a meme with permission is a variation, but still under the umbrella of the "Steal This Meme" game, during which I scour blogs all over the Internet, looking for one I can flagrantly snarf. No meme is safe!

Anyway, on with the meme.

This one is about high school. Yeek! Not what I would call my wonder years but there are some things worth remembering.

Now for the questions:


1) Who was your best friend?


Her name is Frankie... assuming she has not changed it to the more adult "Frances" by now. I liked her very much because she was, like me, an outcast by choice. She was overweight, not all that pretty and smart! Oh, that girl was so smart! And witty. She had a dark sarcastic remark for everyone and everything. She was the Queen of Adolescent Angst. Time with Frankie was destined to be time full of laughter.

She wrote a lot. Journals, articles, just-because writing. It was always rather mysterious and dark, probing into the depths of the occult, the culture, the waythingsare and her perspectives were always a bit ahead of her time.

Geez, she was a punk before her time. That's really it. If the punk movement had been in our time, Frankie would have been perfect for it.

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2. What sports did you play?


None

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3. What kind of car did you drive?


When I was 16, my parents bought me a Toyota Corolla. It was torquoise-ish. It really was a cute little car, but not quite up to the status many of the other students drove. But I didn't care. It was mine and I finally had blessed mobility, a way out of the gilded ghetto and if my parents had known some of the places I took that car (um... Imperial Highway?), they would have murdered me ~ and probably gotten away with it.

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4. On Friday night, where were you?


I was either with Frankie or my boyfriend, Ted. Ted was 22 years old. He would have gone to jail today for being with someone so young but I will report that he was a perfect gentleman all the time. Well, there was the beer ... but that's another issue. We used to go to drive-in movies on Friday night and get completely ripped on beer.

One weekend, Ted was invited over for a welcome-home party my parents threw for my cousin who came back from Viet Nam and decided to settle in California. Ted and I both got so drunk that we threw up in the rose bushes.

That was life with him. Like me, he was a budding alcoholic. :)

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5. Were you a party animal?


No way. I was just as much a social phobic then as I am today.

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6. Were you a flirt?


Absolutely not. I wouldn't have known how to flirt if someone had begged me. Seriously. Not one of my skills. Flirting made me very uncomfortable.

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7. Were you in band, orchestra or choir?


No. 'Fraid not. I had just as much of an aversion to organized activities in high school as I do today. I didn't want anyone telling me where I had to be at any certain time.

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8. Were you a nerd?


Absolutely. All the way. I was always studying, reading, writing and pursuing other such nerdly activities.

I did start an underground newspaper at the school. Well, Frankie and I did. Once the school administration discovered it, that came to a screeching and howling end.

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9. Did you get suspended/expelled?


Yes. And to many of the younger people who read here, this will sound very funny.

Jan, Frankie, another Jan and I were all suspended for.....

..... wearing pants to school.

Back in those days, girls were not allowed to wear pants to school. It must have been 1968. I believe that was the year and we mounted quite a protest about not being able to wear pants. Finally, we just did it.

We got sent home and suspended. Gee, such punishment, you know, having to lay around by the pool and read books for a week. I suffered horribly!

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10. Can you sing the fight song?


Oh, crikey! No! I'd rather swallow broken glass!


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11. Who was your favorite teacher?


Her name was Ms. Anderson. Yes, I do know her first name but if she's retired somewhere, I'd rather she not find this in a Google search. Her name was unusual.

She taught classes such as Psychology, Journalism and the like. I thought she was the smartest person I'd ever met. She also had a great appearance, the high-level hippie, bohemian look. Seriously, she was a smart woman. If I had to make a wild guess, I think she was probably gay.

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12. The school mascot?


Normans. Why do I remember that? That's probably more a sign of pathology than any other of my weird neurotic quirks.

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13. If you could go back, would you?


Absolutely not. Never. I didn't consider it a very good time in my life for a variety of reasons. It's not that the school was inherently bad. We never had Columbine-style shootings or any kind of physical danger. I just don't like dealing with large groups that way and having to fit in. I also, not surprisingly, don't care much for authority that is meant to control rather than teach.

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14. What do you remember about graduation?


Nothing. I wasn't there. Actually, I graduated two months early with special permission. I'd fulfilled my academic requirements and I got my mother to lie for me, saying we were going on an early vacation.

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15. Where were you on senior skip day?


Hanging out by the pool with Frankie and Jan.

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16. Did you have a job your senior year?


Yes. I did. I worked at a theater concession stand in the city where I lived. (Deezee, you probably know where. :) It was a fun job and I saw all the latest movies free.

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17. Where did you most often go for lunch?


Believe it or not, the cafeteria. It was quite good food and it was reasonably priced.

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18. Have you gained weight since then?


Um. Yes. When I was in high school, I was 5'3" and 96 pounds. Being perfectly blunt about it, there are two of me now.

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19. What did you do after high school?


The first summer... nothing but travel. It was a traditional graduation gift. Then I got a job and went to college.

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20. When did you graduate?


1969

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21. Who was your senior prom date?


Didn't go. If I had, I would have gone with Ted.

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22. Are you going/did you go to your 10-year reunion?


No. No interest. I'm sure they all went on to live glorious lives and the greatest concern in their lives is whether or not someone will try to invade their neighborhood with a Starbucks... but I'm truly not interested in them.

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23. Who was your homeroom teacher?


I don't recall. Homeroom was the equivalent of Siberia for teachers so it was probably whoever had gotten him- or herself into political hot water that week.

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24. Who will repost this after you?


Anyone who chooses. There is not a single person whose answers would not be of interest.

So, please.... steal this meme!


Peace,


~Chani

This is not education.....

"I'm going to encourage you to have sex and I'm going to encourage you to use drugs appropriately," panelist Joel Becker, a Los Angeles clinical psychologist, told the students. "And why I am going to take that position is because you're going to do it anyway."

This quote is from a recent event held before Boulder High School students. Dr. Becker was part of a panel from the University of Colorado's Council on World Affairs. The only caveat issues was that students should do it "responsibly and understand the consequences." Students were required to attend.

Honestly, I was somewhat outraged by this, even though I don't have children. I can't help but wonder how parents feel about having these kinds of values (or lack of values, as the case may be) taught to their children in the public school system.

One thing is for certain. If I'd had children, they would have been home-schooled. There is no way on God's green earth that I would have allowed my children to step into a public school. Wouldn't have happened on my watch, even if I'd had to teach them myself with an old blackboard and an abacus!

I remember the very first hints of what was to come when I was in college. Detached moral philosophers in the ivory towers of academia had come up with a new educational paradigm called "Values Clarification". It's basically just relativism. The students were taught there is no right or wrong, no absolutes and that morality was defined by one's own "feelings" about a subject. They were told to decide for themselves on each issue and that "the most important thing is that you do what is right for you."

It crept into the educational system at all levels. It didn't come in with a bang but gradually insinuated itself into every facet of education, not just psychology or philosophy classes. It was not presented as an alternative viewpoint. It was taught that it is the expected viewpoint.

I am ashamed to admit that this hogwash is the brainchild of people from my generation.

Freedom of choice is a wonderous thing but I believe freedom of choice is for adults. It is for adults who are emotionally and intellectually developed and understand that choice brings responsibility. It also brings a willingness to accept consequences. Moral authority is not for people who have not matured enough to handle it.

And moral education does not belong in the schools. It belongs at home.

Kids need direction. They need leaders. They need to know they can depend on adults around them to guide them well. This is about the worst example of "leadership" I can imagine.


Peace,


~Chani