A Hard Look at School – Part 2

Last post, I included excerpts from an article titled “The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher” which got pretty long. Let’s continue that discussion here with personal observations. If you have not read the article I encourage it.

http://www.ralphjordanblog.com/2010/02/a-hard-look-at-school-part-1/

I’m sure in reading the excerpts or the whole text we all could come up with examples where we can see the results of the 6 lessons. We could also dismiss the whole thing as overly paranoid. I’d like to provide a few more thoughts and examples from today for consideration but first the promised solution.

Mr. Gatto’s solution for the 6 lessons is “…At the pass we’ve come to historically, and after 26 years of teaching, I must conclude that one of the only alternatives on the horizon for most families is to teach their own children at home. Small, de- institutionalized schools are another.”

I could not agree more. The best way to avoid being indoctrinated with these 6 “values” is to avoid them – to replace them with an environment where the child is taught their inherent self worth giving them the ability to approach the world in their own way – to follow a subject to its natural end. Who better to teach that than a parent? All we have to do is look at examples like Einstein or Newton to see where this path can lead. Both were rejected by the traditional system of their day, but they persevered in following their own path.

For the record, I’m not picking on individual teachers. We know many and they are really good people trying to do a good job – this not an article against them but against a flawed system they are a part of. Keep the people, change the system, and we have something great.

Still think this is paranoid? Here are some personal examples showing that even in the best the institutional school has to offer – danger lurks.

From a personal perspective, we fell into the trap of thinking of homeschool as just another option along with the public school system. We homeschooled our oldest boys from 1^st through 6^th grade.  When they were in 5^th grade, we moved from one city to another. Our new city has a reputation for having a really good school system. They earn a number of awards to be sure and the students show a great mastery of the subjects taught (not just the 6 lessons). Being in the south, the school system has a decidedly Christian atmosphere reflecting the majority of the folks living in this area. The students are all very respectful and the environment is physically safe. Pretty much this is the ideal public school situation. It is really the best that system of education has to offer.  At this time, our daughter was entering 1^st grade. We chose to try out the system with her figuring we could pull her at anytime. (I must say her 1^st grade experience was great). The area we live in does not allow homeschool students to participate in school based sports, so when the boys hit 7^th grade age wise they wanted to attend school to play sports. As we had already finished a course of study up to most of 8^th grade, we figured we would let them play – both at sports and school – for a couple of years. The boys are in 8^th grade.

So far so good – not really. We pulled them a few weeks ago to homeschool through high school. Our daughter was pulled from 3^rd grade in the middle because she couldn’t add, subtract, or multiply due to a rocket math curriculum they have employed. She reads on the 6^th grade level so aptitude is not the issue. She also has formed some bad habits including a lost interest in learning. The timing of seeing Mr. Gatto’s article was perfect for us to express what we were seeing even in a good school.

Here are some bits of our experience based on the 6 lessons:

Lesson 1: “Stay in the class where you belong.” Our daughter entered third grade with no bad grades. Suddenly, she could not pass the speed tests and was told she was bad at math. Really? Did she suddenly became bad at math or did the school basically fail to teach her. She was to be considered for remedial classes if she didn’t improve. She was told outright that she has no aptitude for math and would be classified as a remedial student. Nope – we pulled her. In 2 months, she has learned and come up to age speed on addition, subtraction, and is progressing (as she should) with multiplication concepts. To boot, instead of just memorizing patterns, she understands why math works – pretty good for someone bad at math. She has done in 2 months what the school system had 15 months to accomplish. Refuse to accept labels. When the boys entered 7^th grade, they were given a test to see if they were gifted. My middle son loves to find ways to answer questions in unexpected manners. He prides himself in solving problems his own way. You can imagine the response. In the ultimate irony, he was considered not gifted because he didn’t answer test questions in the way that they expected a gifted child should. They actually had a grading key for the expected responses and his was not on the key. It would be funny if it were not sad.

Lesson 2: “ to turn on and off like a light switch” Our daughter had begun the habit of forgetting everything after each quiz. She would say, we’re done with that. Her classes had no connectivity. Back at home, she was studying the Red Sea as part of bible and later was writing a paragraph about Arabian horses (tied to history and geography she is learning). She came running into the kitchen excited because it dawned on her that the Arabian horse came from the same region as the Red Sea and knew where that was on the globe. This was not an explicit connection made in the books or by us but one she deduced. Wow, learning is fun again – subjects don’t end with a bell. One of the complaints the boys had is that the teachers ask questions and the entire class sits there staring out the window. To combat boredom, our sons will engage the teacher.  It is to the point that the teachers asks them not to respond, but gets no response from anyone else. The boys’ words are that their classmates have figured out that nothing in class is important to them and that no one can make them learn. They exhibit their individuality by refusing to participate unless specifically told to do something.

Lesson 3: “surrender your will to a predestined chain of command” In the middle school, they have to sit in assigned seats in class. They have to sit in assigned seats at lunch. They can’t go to the bathroom at lunch, only between classes which they have 5 minutes to make. My son came home and rushed to rest room to do number 2. He explained that all the halls are one way to preserve order. To go to the bathroom, he would have to pass up his classroom and the circle around to get to class – you can’t go up stream. There is no time. Also, bathroom passes are not given out – period. Lunch is 16 minutes long so no outside or break time. I now have to laugh when someone asks if I will hurt my kid’s socialization by homeschooling. The school actually sent home a request for money to take the kids on a field trip to a leadership reaction course to improve the kid’s interactions across classes and social boundaries. The letter was condescending to parents at best. We, being radicals, wrote back that they should be getting these lessons daily in school and no special trip should be needed, plus how can you learn such important basic lessons in one day.

Lesson 4: “only I determine what curriculum you will study.” Interestingly, when we calculated, at home we do about 15- 17 different subjects a day. At school they do 5-6 subjects a day. Wow. When the boys entered middle school, we met with the advisor. We explained that they were ahead of a 7^th grade level. We were told that the school would have to make that evaluation and they were to be placed on the Red team (they have a White and Blue team as well). Red sounded good. They would also be placed in regular classes until they could be evaluated. Fair enough. We got a call from their math teacher saying that he wanted to keep them in regular math to see how they would do. At least he called, the rest of their subject teachers didn’t. After about a quarter, he called to say he was moving them into advanced math that they were wasting their time in basic study. In an attempt to give a compliment, he said that our boys were the best educated and prepared homeschool kids he has encountered. Kind of a back hand compliment, but I understand where he comes from. He usually sees a homeschool failure not a success. We later found out the Red team is where they placed the “slow” kids. Even when they can’t profile kids, they still grouped them.

Lesson 5: “your self-respect should depend on an observer’s measure of your worth”. This one is scary. Don’t we propagate lesson 5 in work with resumes and annual evaluations. These have no bearing on getting a job or raises. They are trashed – but are expected by the company and the worker. This way we know our worth at work. Did you know only 7% of jobs are given based on receiving a resume. I was a supervisor and can tell that raises are budget based. The rating on your appraisal has nothing to do with your raise.

Lesson 6: “they are being watched.” On the wrestling team, a couple of kids ran off where they were not supposed to be during a meet. The coach, instead of punishing the “offenders”, punished the whole team because they were supposed to police themselves. What? If my kid were to confront another and harsh words ensued (much less an old fashion fist fight), I would be called to take him to counseling.  Where is the lesson of justice in mass punishment? We had planned on continuing homeschooling religion and Latin while they were in public school. The system had them going from 6:00 AM when they woke up until 10:00 PM when they finished their work. This is worse than a job.

In the previous post, I opened with a series of questions buried in business process engineering as applied to the education system. What are we producing? Is it what we want / need? I think an easy argument can be supported that we are producing factory workers and compliant citizens. In the early 1900’s, the country was growing. Business needed workers that would behave in a factory setting. The issue was capacity to produce more. This is the time frame that the school system was developed. It had the same issue – capacity (remember the baby boom). Both business and schools were organized to be able to produce a marginal product but were easy to add more capacity. Education was producing what business needed. Zip ahead to today and we see those businesses failing. Look a GM, it would be gone if not for government intervention. The workers that were produced for that business would be out of jobs. I think it is clear to see we need a different kind of business structure and a new kind of educational structure as well.

Is / was anyone you ever talked to happy about being in school or did some folks learn in spite of it? Is this what we need? I fully believe that we need folks that can think for themselves. We need people that are happy – happy with who they are, happy living, and happy to make a better place for their neighbors. People that instead of looking for a business to give them a lively hood or a government to take care of them, will go out and create new businesses, will innovate solutions to the issues facing them and their neighbors, will create opportunity for their neighbors, and be happy for doing it.  I’m encouraged because over the two decades since Mr. Gatto has written his initial article, homeschooling has blossomed from a few “odd” families into being a legitimate choice for families. Will every child that is homeschooled turn into an earth changing leader – Of course not. Still, I’m convinced our future leaders will be formed from the homeschool apprenticeships and not the public education factories.

My opinion – what’s yours?