Comments on: What did you learn?

By: Education's narrow PC focus « Bookworm Room

Education's narrow PC focus « Bookworm Room — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 18:17:21 +0000

[...] of Peggy Noonan’s column today reminded me that I never updated you on the (to me) infamous Mission project. A few days ago, I got to see the finished project, which included a very charming little mission [...]

By: Bookworm

Bookworm — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 13:39:12 +0000

What I was trying to stuff into one sentence, Stu, was the idea that you get kids excited by a subject. For example, you tell them the rip-roaring story of the Spanish conquest. Not in excruciating detail, but as a real story of good and evil, discovery and loss, etc. Then, you tell them to prepare a project about the Spanish conquest. You do not tell them: “build a diorama,” or “write a play,” or “prepare a 10 page report.” You do tell them your project expectations: “Explain how the Mission system developed.” “Learn about and report back on the relationship between the Spaniards and the Indians.” “Be sure to include information about the importance of gold to the Spanish conquest.” But, otherwise, you let the kid choose the way in which he or she does the report. In other words, you, as teacher, determine the substance, but the kid gets to decide upon the form.

By: Stu

Stu — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 09:21:15 +0000

“The logical thing to do, and the thing that you see in my beloved Montessori, is to focus on key issues related to any given subject, but to give kids the chance to study and express the information through the medium most natural to them.”

The sentence above doesn’t parse. How do you intend that it should read?

By: DensityDuck

DensityDuck — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 00:01:04 +0000

It’s a sad statement that everyone’s excited about kids reading Harry Potter. “Oh, well, at least they’re reading!” Right. That’s like saying that it’s okay for them to stuff their faces with McDonald’s and Hershey Bars, because at least they’re eating.

Does this mean that they shouldn’t read Harry Potter? Well, no. I’m saying that you can’t just say “oh, he read Harry Potter, that means I don’t have to get on his case about reading.”

By: CA high school student

CA high school student — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:57:22 +0000

What I’ve learned from almost twelve years of public schooling is that history and English, unless your child chooses to enroll in an AP class, are best taught at home or by the student himself in a library. Great battles, political intrigue, grand adventure – all these are left out. As I recall, the Moon Landings of the Apollo missions were given one-sixth of one page in my American History text; the Space Race overall was given about one-third of a page.

As for English? I recommend “Thank you, Ma’am,” “Wild Bird,” e.e. cummings’s poetry, perhaps some Longfellow and certainly Kipling’s “Just So Stories” for children between the ages of 6 and 12. (Younger children may have to be read to.) For a good series, “The Boxcar Children” numbers 1 through 16 are excellent.

Most youngsters whose parents are making sure they are educated should be able to deal with books such as Black Beauty, White Fang, Anne of Green Gables, the Secret Garden, and Bruce (by Terhune) when they reach middle school or a little before. Some students will have trouble with pronunciation, but that’s to be expected.

By: ymarsakar

ymarsakar — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 01:51:50 +0000

California seems to have some interesting public schools.

By: Brian Levine

Brian Levine — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 00:38:47 +0000

If you feel this way now, all I can tell you is that it gets worse.

Wait till you get to WW II and all the kids know is that we bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki and put Japanese-Americans in camps. Among other things they have never heard of are Nan King, Bataan or Okinawa.

Then there’s the day where you watch the teacher say the same thing four different ways. 1) say it for the “aural” kids, 2) write it on the board for the “literate” kids, 3) paint a picture for the “visual” kids, 4) make a lot of motions (similar to charades) for the “kinesthetic” kids. Mind-numbingly, agonizingly boring.

I have two kids who went to highly rated elemtary schools in Cardiff and Encinitas. These are upper middle class neighborhoods north of San Diego.

I am not exagerrating how bad it is.

By: Bill C

Bill C — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 05:32:35 +0000

BW,

You are not impressing me with Montessori education. I am starting to lean towards home schooling. My experience in school before my wonderful time at a Jesuit high school was hippy teachers who taught nothing (catholic school) and indifferent teachers who were warehousing us (Chicago public schools). I just know I am not as well educated as my parents and I think I could do a better job than a teacher who has all the distractions of a classroom full of children.

By: Trimegistus

Trimegistus — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 21:31:22 +0000

Homeschool.

By: Lea

Lea — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 19:11:19 +0000

Any good children’s museum would explain motors better than an arts and craft project and would make a good field trip. I used the Hirsch books, what you should know in the 1,2,3,4,5,and 6th grade to make sure that what was needed to know was known.