A Simple Lesson in Home Learning
American Thinker,
by
Sean M. Brooks
Original Article
Posted By: Judy W.,
8/31/2020 10:05:20 AM
Full Disclosure: I possess three degrees in Education, including a Ph.D. But it doesn’t take degrees in education, or any field for that matter, to know the difference between right and wrong. Now that I am homeschooling two elementary-school-aged family members (who are not my children) as their schools and surrounding districts have chosen to be locked down for no health-related reason, I have had a chance to see inside their Central-Ohio elementary school dynamic and watch their teachers in action, within an online environment. With just one week, I have witnessed the full-blown absence of formal instruction and the dumbing down of academic content.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
DVC 8/31/2020 10:53:27 AM (No. 526851)
Wow. An amazing account of how totally useless modern American "schools" have become.
Sounds horrible. And imagine a 4th grade student who "was unaware of anything related to geography. He didn’t know the states, the countries, or the continents, nor what those words meant. Now, after one week with me, he knows."
I tutored two young men, not my own children, in 10th, 11th and 12th grade in math and science. One had a severe sports head injury in 12th grade, could not attend school the last 5 months of the year. After 2 months of bed rest in the dark and quiet, still not attending school, he was able to work with me for two 20 minute sessions, with a rest in a quiet, dark room for about 45 minutes between, that was all for the day. By the 4th month he could focus for a full hour. He graduated on time, passed all his courses. He fully recovered and went on to the junior college and I tutored him advanced algebra and physics for a year. He learned the material well, getting B+ and A grades. He is now a computer expert in the USMC.
So, I have seen what HS level teachers were doing, and it wasn't as bad as this article, but it was not very effective teaching, these men were losing ground, and the teacher wasn't helping significantly. I shudder to think what would have happened without tutoring.
This sort of worthless teaching described in the article is criminal. They are destroying the next generation, and whether it is intentional or massive systemic incompetence no longer matters. It must stop.
Keeping children out of these government schools is the most important work a parent or grandparent, aunt or uncle can do.
24 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
stablemoney 8/31/2020 11:03:45 AM (No. 526881)
They started dumbing down academic content over 60 years ago. It was ridiculous then, but teachers could ignore more of that content then, and put higher level into their classroom presentations.
14 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
bad-hair 8/31/2020 11:07:51 AM (No. 526887)
Teach them the skills they need so that ultimately they can teach themselves. And my favorite from Thomas Sowell no less ...
“People who have time on their hands will inevitably waste the time of people who have work to do.”
20 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
columba 8/31/2020 11:14:44 AM (No. 526905)
Several years ago I applied for and received a license to teach several subjects in the California Community college system. While on the phone with the people who gave the license I was told that any classes I had had in EDUCATION would not be counted.
Yup!
The article here was written by a man with several degrees. He has also written three books on education.
Listen to him.
15 people like this.
his daily schedule sounds much like my education - only difference was that my teachers wore black habits. All seems the same including the exercise periods (called recess). They even played softball with us - just pulled the long skirt up through the legs and tucked the hem into the cord belt. One in particular played a dynamite second base. she was really good!!
Common core didn't exist 100 years ago, core subjects did. Think it through, sound it out, look it up. Learning lessons I still utilize, 100 years later...
18 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
DVC 8/31/2020 11:59:42 AM (No. 526959)
Exactly right, #3.
At the end of several years of tutoring, my one student with the head injury, commented on how much better he was learning than before. I told him "because you have learned how to learn". And he thought a few seconds and agreed that this was the big difference. I had taught him how to learn.
He has told me that the USMC classes he took were very effective, very good learning methods.
12 people like this.
Our country's children are being cheated
14 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
MickTurn 8/31/2020 1:03:08 PM (No. 527031)
We need to revoke the citizenship of ALL Leftists and send them, one way, to the Communist country of their choice. If they don't agree, round them up and send them to CHINA! Let the Commies there work it out with 'their friends'.
6 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Rather Read 8/31/2020 1:46:39 PM (No. 527065)
The way the author teaches is the way I was taught by the Sister of Charity of Nazareth. It's served me well. But alas, social emotional learning is all the rage now. The poor dears haven't learned how to control themselves at all, so we are supposed to teach them but spare their self esteem.
7 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Strike3 8/31/2020 3:12:52 PM (No. 527135)
Hmmmm, I noticed the same thing over twenty years ago and I don't have any degrees in education. I learned a lot in good, well-run, well-staffed public schools and was encouraged to read many books on my own. It's not that hard. I compared that to my childrens' education and was thoroughly disgusted. Compare their education to today's version and you find yourself in the basement.
4 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Aubreyesque 8/31/2020 3:24:18 PM (No. 527147)
As a former homeschooler (daughter in college right now) I highly recommend a return to the Classical Rhetorical form of education. The Well Trained Mind is an excellent curriculum to follow and absolutely the most fun way of learning out there.
4 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Timber Queen 8/31/2020 3:36:58 PM (No. 527155)
#5 - Reading this article stirred wonderful memories. I'm eternally grateful to the Irish Sisters of Charity, and particularly Sister Mary Germaine (4th & 7th grades). God bless her, whether she is in heaven or still on this earth. I am also immensely thankful my parents made the sacrifice to send three girls through Catholic schools. I'm concerned about of the education our three grandsons are receiving. Our son is conservative leaning and assures us they are in a good school district, an incorporated community in L.A. county close to Orange county. But with Common Core how relative is the word "good"?
The greatest societal benefit of the China virus lockdown will be parents being fully exposed to the trash that passes for education as produced by the "expert professional" class. President Trump's fight for charter schools, and parents controlling the education dollars for the children, will kill the Marxist propaganda conveyor belt of public education.
MAGA:KAG - The Best Is Yet To Come!
5 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
DVC 8/31/2020 10:32:27 PM (No. 527487)
#12, I am sure that Sister Domina is in heaven now, since she was old (maybe 60?) in the early 1960s in Key West.
But, as much as I remember a few palm slaps with a ruler, (OWW!), they were deserved and she taught well.
2 people like this.
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Comments:
I love first-person accounts like this. They tell so much that abstract writing doesn't convey as well. What he is doing with the children is very simple and very effective. I wish every parent would notice how stupid (and sometimes evil) the official school curriculum is.