The Biggest Mystery in American History

[Gretchen in NJ]

I thought this article on education had a different angle to it. I found it to be a short, but interesting read.

[H.S. Burrow]

I thought this article on education had a different angle to it. I found it to be a short, but interesting read.

 

 

Very interesting read!

[katilac]

I strongly agree with at least two points in the article:

 

The goal of creating an educated child was too often superceded by the goal of creating a cooperative child.

 

 

and

 

Don't think we can improve things by tweaking around the edges. We need an intervention. We need surgery.

 

Heck, I guess I just agree with it, because he also makes an excellent point about phonics; school systems rather casually tossed out what had been in place for hundreds of years. I'd add "memory work of any kind" as another tool that fell into sudden disgrace, after being used for thousands of years.

[4kiddies]

Great article! Thanks for posting. I will add it to my collection of articles to pull out to reinforce why I homeschool.

[Kfamily]

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!

[MomLovesClassics]

Not trying to be political here. Our president seems to think he has an answer to our education system. This answer would be longer school days, and year round school. He seems to think summer vacation is outdated, and families do not need their children home during the summer to work on the farm.

[VanessaS]

I live near DC and they're shutting down the voucher system there. Not cool, Mr. President. I'm all for "change" but not when it's about changing the things that work.

 

But the most amazing thing is when you read about how much it costs to educate a child in the public school system.

[Gretchen in NJ]

I strongly agree with at least two points in the article:

 

The goal of creating an educated child was too often superceded by the goal of creating a cooperative child.

 

 

 

and

 

Don't think we can improve things by tweaking around the edges. We need an intervention. We need surgery.

 

Heck, I guess I just agree with it, because he also makes an excellent point about phonics; school systems rather casually tossed out what had been in place for hundreds of years. I'd add "memory work of any kind" as another tool that fell into sudden disgrace, after being used for thousands of years.

:iagree: It is why I posted the article here. It seems to fit in with what Jessie and Susan write about in WTM. It is not just phonics; it is math facts as well. It is not "drill to kill," but rather "drill for skill."

[Jenny in Atl]

Not trying to be political here. Our president seems to think he has an answer to our education system. This answer would be longer school days, and year round school. He seems to think summer vacation is outdated, and families do not need their children home during the summer to work on the farm.

 

Actually, that sounds a lot like what many homeschoolers do; School year-round, have longer days or at least more productive hours (less standing in line, paperwork, etc). Most kids don't do well with two-to-three months off. Then having to spend the first six weeks reviewing all they have lost over the summer. Schooling year-round is not a new idea.

 

The whole system is outdated.. it was made to train kids to work in factories. We need a whole new system, with many choices and flexibility. But the people/teachers/system/etc don't want to have to pay or sacrifice to create this change.

[elegantlion]

 

The whole system is outdated.. it was made to train kids to work in factories. We need a whole new system, with many choices and flexibility. But the people/teachers/system/etc don't want to have to pay or sacrifice to create this change.

 

:iagree: I love that homeschooling affords us the opportunity to mold the curriculum to my child, not attempting to confirm him to someone else's standards. I'm raising and teaching a unique individual (we all are :D) whom I hope to help fulfill his educational potential.

 

I'm not sure how the system should be revamped, but I agree it needs a giant overhaul.

[Kathleen in VA]

It's not that mysterious.:) I emailed the author and told him to read The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto.

[rockermom]

Here is what stood out to me as so obvious:

 

Broadly speaking, they undermined educational success in two ways. First, they found reasons to delete and dilute the curriculum. Second, the things they did teach, they often taught in confusing, unhelpful ways.

[Gretchen in NJ]

Here is what stood out to me as so obvious:

Broadly speaking, they undermined educational success in two ways. First, they found reasons to delete and dilute the curriculum. Second, the things they did teach, they often taught in confusing, unhelpful ways.

 

This is what had hit home to me as well. My PS friends are complaining about their children being taught to add from the left when for thousands of years we have done the opposite. Why? Because, we read from left to right.:001_huh:

[Tea Time]

It's not that mysterious.:) I emailed the author and told him to read The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto.

 

:iagree:

 

Yep, nothing new in this article if you have read that book. It was like taking the red pill in the movie The Matrix. (At least, I think it was the red pill... been a while since I saw that movie.) I just read Gatto's new book, Weapons of Mass Instruction. That is a little more accessible for most people than the Underground History book. I highly recommend it.

[Paintedlady]

:iagree:

 

Yep, nothing new in this article if you have read that book. It was like taking the red pill in the movie The Matrix. (At least, I think it was the red pill... been a while since I saw that movie.) I just read Gatto's new book, Weapons of Mass Instruction. That is a little more accessible for most people than the Underground History book. I highly recommend it.

 

I'm glad to hear this review for Weapons of Mass Instruction. I read as much as I could of Underground History before I went crosseyed :tongue_smilie: and have been wanting to read Weapons. I was hoping it wasn't quite the tome that Underground was.

 

As for the article, nothing new at all if you're a Gatto fan, but I'd guess that most people don't have any idea.

[Kathleen in VA]

I just received the most kind reply to my email to the author of that article. He indulged me with quite a lengthy, thoughtful answer. He has already read Gatto's book and several others along the same lines. He has also written his own book so I thought I would suggest it here for any of you who may be interested.

 

THE EDUCATION ENIGMA--What Happened to American Education by Bruce D. Price

 

Here's part of the blurb he sent me:

Bruce Price analyzes the public schools and points to the fundamental problem: our schools are crippled by a weird array of counterproductive teaching strategies.

 

“My conclusion is simply put,†says Price. “If we want to improve education, we have to identify all the goofy ideas in American education, explain to the public why the ideas are bad and then run them out of town.â€

 

Bruce Price is the author of four previous books and the founder of Improve-Education.org. He has been writing about education for 25 years and now has more than 140 articles on the web. He collected his favorite parts into THE EDUCATION ENIGMA--What Happened to American Education. The book is fast and lively--50 short sections cover a wide array of topics, such as robots, phonics, constructivism, birds, Taoism, sophistry, the art of teaching, creativity, the plight of poetry, the war against reading, the assault on math, form follows function, Mick Jagger, and many more.

 

“I hope to induce people to read it right through,†Price says. “All parts swirl around the central mystery of why schools do a bad job. Finally, I believe this book can help save the public schools.â€

 

I don't think I can climb on to Mr. Price's bandwagon as I think the problem with public schools is not so much that the public is unaware of the flawed methods they are using, but rather that they are quite aware of their flawed methodology and don't care. I'm not sure public schooling is fixable because I believe the powers that be have no interest in creating literate individuals. Their aim is to create a society that can be easily manipulated and controlled. They are a force not easily reckoned with, even by highly informed Americans.

[LG Gone Wild]

I just received the most kind reply to my email to the author of that article. He indulged me with quite a lengthy, thoughtful answer. He has already read Gatto's book and several others along the same lines. He has also written his own book so I thought I would suggest it here for any of you who may be interested.

 

THE EDUCATION ENIGMA--What Happened to American Education by Bruce D. Price

 

Here's part of the blurb he sent me:

Bruce Price analyzes the public schools and points to the fundamental problem: our schools are crippled by a weird array of counterproductive teaching strategies.

 

“My conclusion is simply put,†says Price. “If we want to improve education, we have to identify all the goofy ideas in American education, explain to the public why the ideas are bad and then run them out of town.â€

 

Bruce Price is the author of four previous books and the founder of Improve-Education.org. He has been writing about education for 25 years and now has more than 140 articles on the web. He collected his favorite parts into THE EDUCATION ENIGMA--What Happened to American Education. The book is fast and lively--50 short sections cover a wide array of topics, such as robots, phonics, constructivism, birds, Taoism, sophistry, the art of teaching, creativity, the plight of poetry, the war against reading, the assault on math, form follows function, Mick Jagger, and many more.

 

“I hope to induce people to read it right through,†Price says. “All parts swirl around the central mystery of why schools do a bad job. Finally, I believe this book can help save the public schools.â€

 

I don't think I can climb on to Mr. Price's bandwagon as I think the problem with public schools is not so much that the public is unaware of the flawed methods they are using, but rather that they are quite aware of their flawed methodology and don't care. I'm not sure public schooling is fixable because I believe the powers that be have no interest in creating literate individuals. Their aim is to create a society that can be easily manipulated and controlled. They are a force not easily reckoned with, even by highly informed Americans.

 

He sounds funny. Good thing,too, as I wouldn't want to read a depressing topic written by a dry, depressing writer.

[mcconnellboys]

Well, it would go a long way toward fixing things if we razed all state departments of education to the ground; sent all the money funneled through those directly to the schools; let the customers vote with their feet; and banned teachers' unions. Now that's likely to happen....

[Kathleen in VA]

He sounds funny. Good thing,too, as I wouldn't want to read a depressing topic written by a dry, depressing writer.

 

I've been checking out his website and he is definitely funny. Here is a link to one article I found particularly helpful - lots of good ideas on how to teach different subjects - and I chuckled quite a bit.

 

http://improve-education.org/id47.html

 

Enjoy!

[Tea Time]

I'm glad to hear this review for Weapons of Mass Instruction. I read as much as I could of Underground History before I went crosseyed :tongue_smilie: and have been wanting to read Weapons. I was hoping it wasn't quite the tome that Underground was.

 

As for the article, nothing new at all if you're a Gatto fan, but I'd guess that most people don't have any idea.

 

Yeah, that book is overwhelming. I actually have a signed copy. :001_smile: I managed to get through it. I even put a bunch of sticky notes on pages that really rang a bell with me; however, I had the feeling all along that most people would dismiss it all as ravings or conspiracy theories. Too bad because Gatto is brilliant.

 

I was skimming through the comments and ran into an interesting website:

 

http://www.schoolandstate.org/about.htm

[lulubelle]

Very good article. I wish it was longer with even more good stuff!

[Snickerdoodle]

I've been checking out his website and he is definitely funny. Here is a link to one article I found particularly helpful - lots of good ideas on how to teach different subjects - and I chuckled quite a bit.

 

http://improve-education.org/id47.html

 

Enjoy!

 

Interesting. I have seen that website before. I stumbled across it from looking at these

.

[Gretchen in NJ]

I've been checking out his website and he is definitely funny. Here is a link to one article I found particularly helpful - lots of good ideas on how to teach different subjects - and I chuckled quite a bit.

 

http://improve-education.org/id47.html

 

Enjoy!

 

Thank you, Kathleen. I love his view on recess, exercise, and sports. You can not teach a child who can not sit still. They need to get outside and play to get the wiggles and the giggles out. Dr. Price thinks that we might have fewer children on drugs with the right amount of recess and exercise.

[mama2cntrykids]

You can not teach a child who can not sit still. They need to get outside and play to get the wiggles and the giggles out. Dr. Price thinks that we might have fewer children on drugs with the right amount of recess and exercise.

 

:iagree:I've always thought that a lot of boys (and girls) would be much, much better off being able to run and be active more than sitting still for the majority of the school day. Many kids sit still when they come home from school too. They come home, have a snack and sit and watch tv or play video games.

 

I'm not against tv or video games but after sitting the majority of the day, they aren't the most productive thing, you know?