and 4) be able to get along with themselves and others.
Reading a newspaper requires a 3rd or 4th-grade reading level and probably a 6-8th grade vocabulary. The math would require
knowing how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. Those math skills are usually mastered by 5th grade. But schools do not really address the other two areas of getting and keeping a job or of getting along with themselves and others. Perhaps the reason for the limited parental participation in schools is that the schools do not realistically address what they want from the schools for their children. The schools go far beyond in some areas and ignore others. Not a single person surveyed indicated they thought algebra, quadratic equations, geometric proofs, or diagraming sentences was important.
I remember a high school history teacher who, year after year, lectured from his notes from when he began teaching about 1935. The class didn’t pay much attention to him when he taught, preferring to visit with each other either directly or by notes passed among students. Then there was the high school English teacher who, for three years, taught us to diagram sentences. I learned how to do that, but I am pretty sure I have not used that skill since. The same with algebra and geometry. There wasn’t any reason given to learn those math processes other than to pass the test, and those skills have long ago been forgotten.
The lawyers say the schools are “in loco parentis,” meaning that those at the school are responsible for the children’s welfare the same way the parents are. They also say that the school should expose itself to the least liability possible. That means, they imply, that students must stay at school, in the school building, and mostly in their classrooms. That is not where learning happens! Learning happens with
students “doing” things. Sometimes that can be in the classroom, sometimes on the playground, and sometimes completely away from the school building.
There are some instances where learning can happen in the classroom, of course. In the movie Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams got the attention of his students by jumping up on the desktop to recite Shakespeare. He excited his students by making the subject real. Then there is the volcano that we made in elementary science and the explosion we made by combining two liquids. Those were the exceptions. How could we learn about snakes from a book when there were snakes outside? And birds, and bees, and other insects, and frogs, and chickens, and cows, and horses, and, and, and. We were taught about things, I won’t even say we learned, but we never experienced them. In college we had a 700-page textbook for freshman physics, but never went to or even talked about where physics was happening: the ski slopes and the pool hall. I wonder if I would have continued as a physics major if we had experienced physics rather than just studying it. Wouldn’t the educational process be so much better if it was focused on the learning (experiencing) rather than on the teaching?
It is advertised that the purpose of the Headstart program in America is to prepare
Learning happens with students “doing” things. Sometimes that can be in the classroom, sometimes on the playground, and sometimes completely away from the school building.
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