An amazing interview with Seth Godin – marketing guru:
“The 7-Lesson Schoolteacher”
This essay, by John Taylor Gatto, has inspired me to no end. I hope it will inspire you too!
The 7-Lesson Schoolteacher
by John Taylor Gatto
New Society Publishers, 1992
“Call me Mr. Gatto, please. Twenty-six years ago, having nothing
better to do at the time, I tried my hand at schoolteaching. The
license I hold certifies that I am an instructor of English language and
English literature, but that isn’t what I do at all. I don’t teach
English, I teach school — and I win awards doing it.
“Teaching means different things in different places, but seven
lessons are universally taught Harlem to Hollywood Hills. They
constitute a national curriculum you pay more for in more ways than you
can imagine, so you might as well know what it is. You are at liberty,
of course, to regard these lessons any way you like, but believe me when
I say I intend no irony in this presentation. These are the things I
teach, these are the things you pay me to teach. Make of them what you
will:
I.
“A lady named Kathy wrote this to me from Dubois, Indiana the other
day:
“”What big ideas are important to little kids? Well, the biggest
idea I think they need is that what they are learning isn’t
idiosyncratic — that this is some system to it all and it’s not just
raining down on them as they helplessly absorb. That’s the task, to
understand, to make coherent.”
“Kathy has it wrong. The first lesson I teach is confusion.
Everything I teach is out of context… I teach the unrelating of
everything. I teach disconnections. I teach too much: the orbiting of
planets, the law of large numbers, slavery, adjectives, architectural
drawing, dance, gymnasium, choral singing, assemblies, surprise guests,
fire drills, computer languages, parent’s nights, staff-development
days, pull-out programs, guidance with strangers you may never see
again, standardized tests, age-segregation unlike anything seen in the
outside world… what do any of these things have to do with each
other?
“Even in the best schools a close examination of curriculum and its
sequences turns up a lack of coherence, full of internal contradictions.
Fortunately the children have no words to define the panic and anger
they feel at constant violations of natural order and sequence fobbed
off on them as quality in education. The logic of the school-mind is
that it is better to leave school with a tool kit of superficial jargon
derived from economics, sociology, natural science and so on than to
leave with one genuine enthusiasm. But quality in education entails
learning about something in depth. Confusion is thrust upon kids by too
many strange adults, each working alone with only the thinnest
relationship with each other, pretending for the most part, to an
expertise they do not possess.
“Meaning, not disconnected facts, is what sane human beings seek,
and education is a set of codes for processing raw facts into meaning.
Behind the patchwork quilt of school sequences, and the school obsession
with facts and theories the age-old human search lies well concealed.
This is harder to see in elementary school where the hierarchy of school
experience seems to make better sense because the good-natured simple
relationship of “let’s do this” and “let’s do that now” is just assumed
to mean something and the clientele has not yet consciously discerned
how little substance is behind the play and pretense.
“Think of all the great natural sequences like learning to walk and
learning to talk, following the progression of light from sunrise to
sunset, witnessing the ancient procedures of a farm, a smithy, or a
shoemaker, watching your mother prepare a Thanksgiving feast — all of
the parts are in perfect harmony with each other, each action justifies
itself and illuminates the past and future. School sequences aren’t
like that, not inside a single class and not among the total menu of
daily classes. School sequences are crazy. There is no particular
reason for any of them, nothing that bears close scrutiny. Few teachers
would dare to teach the tools whereby dogmas of a school or a teacher
could be criticized since everything must be accepted. School subjects
are learned, if they can be learned, like children learn the catechism
or memorize the 39 articles of Anglicanism. I teach the un-relating of
everything, an infinite fragmentation the opposite of cohesion; what I
do is more related to television programming than to making a scheme of
order. In a world where home is only a ghost because both parents work
or because too many moves or too many job changes or too much ambition
or something else has left everybody too confused to stay in a family
relation I teach you how to accept confusion as your destiny. That’s
the first lesson I teach.
(more…)
Finding the Courage to Let Children Be…
“It is almost a miracle that modern teaching methods have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiousity of inquiry; for what this delicate little plant needs more than anything, besides stimulation, is freedom.” – Albert Einstein
I just love this quote. I have an interesting opportunity to compare my oldest, who is now 16, and my fifth child, Jack, who is almost 4. I was so concerned as a first time parent that my child be able to do everything. I made sure that he knew his letters by the age of 3 – he was reading by four, knew his numbers, could write his name, etc., etc. I admit it, particularly in his younger years, I pushed and pushed. Mostly because he just seemed so smart that I felt if I didn’t I was neglecting my duty as his mother.
Are You Poor?
When we moved back to Vermont in 2003, I was terrified. Without a steady job, I didn’t know exactly from where our money would come. We were always on what I believed to be the edge of poverty. But then I started to think about it. Were we truly poor?
Everywhere I look “books, radio, television” there is someone telling me how to “eliminate debt” or “build wealth.” And the majority of these programs are geared for people who have high-paying jobs, huge homes and new cars and are feeling the “burden” of too much debt. What I don”t see a lot of are books or shows dedicated to helping people live ” and live well – off $10 an hour. In order to be on a “debt diet” one needs to be able to acquire debt. I dare say that most financial experts would argue that you can”t live well off $10 an hour. Those families who make $10 an hour are impoverished and should be educated as to how to make more money. And that”s where the help ends: “Get a better job, get some debt and then I can help you.”
So what is poverty?
Is it families who try and exist on Mom’s salary of $10 an hour? Or is it not having food in the house? Or is it not having the house? Is it not having electricity? Running water? Heat? (more…)
10 Reasons to Criminalize Homeschooling
An excellent funny from Martha at Yes! They’re All Ours
“In an effort to increase the public drumbeat for criminalizing
homeschooling, a memo has been distributed containing the top 10
reasons why public schooling is better than homeschooling. Here is an
excerpt from that memo:
1. Most parents were educated in the under funded public school system,
and so are not smart enough to homeschool their own children.
2. Children who receive one-on-one homeschooling will learn more than
others, giving them an unfair advantage in the marketplace. This is
undemocratic.
3. How can children learn to defend themselves unless they have to fight
off bullies on a daily basis?
Leonardo DaVinci – thoughts on studying
“Just as eating contrary to the inclination is injurious to the health,
so study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that
it takes in.”
-Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
‘Nuff said!
-Mish
Large Families, The Duggars, Us and Environmental Responsibility
I love large families. That’s probably why I chose to have one – although my family isn’t nearly as large as the Duggars. Because I have six kids and I am considered pretty crunchy by my friends (and most everyone else), I often get harrassed questioned about the social responsibility of having a large family. I’ve wanted to have a lot of kids ever since I was about 12. I was reading a lot of books on the Kennedys back then (I thought I was one) and I remember reading a book by Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy about raising her nine children. I thought that was just amazing! Even though she had lots of paid help and sent her kids off to boarding school – I still thought it was wonderfully impressive.
Let me say first, that I am a huge fan of the Duggar family. I think they are just amazing. I wish I had had their convictions about having a large family when I was young. I made a lot of mistakes and have allowed behaviors in my children (particularly my oldest) that I wish I had “nipped in the bud” years ago. I wish I had their conviction to homeschool right from the beginning, but as you have read in my other columns, I often fall prey to that “Back to School” mentality.
Raising Unconventional Children
I was reading a post at Natural Fatherhood about positive discipline and permissive – or non-permissive parenting, and it got me thinking. He cites this quote: “The world is full of followers, but you’re not one of them.”- JL Glass
I started thinking about this quote in a different way.
We are pretty unconventional people. We homeschool. We are self-employed. We are anti-TV. We only own one car (which is actually pretty unconventional where I live!). We use cloth diapers and make our own salsa and tomato sauce out of tomatoes we grew. We don’t really care about money that much.
(more…)
Passionate Homeschooling
I am a subscriber to several homeschooling magazines – among them The Old Schoolhouse.
I was reading through their email newsletter this morning and found this from their editor, Nancy Carter:
“It’s so easy for us to see the absurdity of focusing on teaching a duck to climb instead of encouraging it to swim. But many of us are guilty of being so concerned that our kids are “keeping up” with where the other kids are that we focus more on covering our bases than allowing our children time to explore and develop their interests.”
“Homeschooling: A Family’s Journey”
Each year before the official first day of school, I have a few doubts. I wonder, yet again, if I am doing the right thing by keeping my boys home and educating them here. It’s not so much that I doubt my ability to do it – I just feel a little bad that they miss the thrill of going to school – even though I know that thrill subsides very quickly.
Anyway, this year, when that feeling came around, I was fortunate to find “Homeschooling: A Family’s Journey,” by Gregory and Martine Millman to keep me inspired.
The Millmans have six children – all of whom they have homeschooled. Three of their children, at the writing of this book, are in college.
Sitting at the “Back to School” picnic last night (something we go to because it’s a community event and my oldest daughter goes to school), I was assured once again that I did the right thing. But wondered if my children would pay the same price I have paid for choosing freedom over convention. Fortunately, they have a loving family and lots of friends who understand the choices we’ve made – where I was not always so lucky!
A Fine Mess: Humor and Help for Living Simply
g-diapers – convenient and eco-friendly!
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