An amazing article from the ATLANTIC and how we are ruining our children in comparison to how other countries do their educating..
My son will be 5 soon.. I don’t want him ruined.
I want him to live the way Helsinki does.
Please leaders of the free world, stop ruining our kids.
Makes sense.. I call it Google muscles but I also contend that a search engine university would be a far better way of learning than the traditional university system. One day I’ll explain that theory further , especially if I get an investor ;)
I wrote this back in March of this year along with the cartoon posted of a new tree limb going into a classroom.. It’s interesting to note that originally, this cartoon implicated that there was a positive in the Axe, molding students into identical pieces of wood..
I wrote this in March:
This is a piece of art from the Internet I found.. no clue as to its origins or who created it—I’d give credit if I knew. But I just love it.. Who DIDN’T feel like this as they walked into school classrooms each morning? And for those still in school who are reading this, I felt this way too. I fear my son, only age 3, will one day be thinking the same thoughts.. so often it feels like a big PINK FLOYD song as you go through your childhood. There seems to be so many adults who are dead set on ruining a kid’s dream or stomping down imagination.. There are teachers, parents, bus drivers, and principals who become a nightmare for children.. There are moments in time when living in childhood is a prison unto itself—where bullies thrive and hopes dive. But to those who read this facing the same hell of the brain: Be strong. School will one day be out forever. And when you’re 15 years post high school graduation, the good memories may remain and the bad will shrink.. Some of them.
But I also say this, to those who are reading this right now being bullied: You don’t have to be the victim. You’re better than the bully.. you’re smarter.. you’re more intelligent. And you’re more honest with yourself. Be as strong as you can be, don’t allow the darkness of sadness creep in, it’s not worth it. And more than anything else, don’t ever lose who you are.. then a bully wins. I’ve been down paths similar.. And it’s rough. But after the storm passes you’ll see how beautiful the sun can be..
I fear future moments with my own child.. I fear what other kids—and adults—are capable of. Having a child changed everything, and continues to do so.. E V E R Y T H I N G.
I felt it was appropriate to re-blog the matter for everyone’s enjoyment, now that school is beginning all over again.. Whether it’s the indoctrination of grade school, the prison of high school, or the supposedly free minded slavery called college, keep your minds fresh, young, and immune from it all.. Learn what you can but forget what is untrue.. realize the truth is deeper than skin and goes far beyond this planet.
And though school for me is a long memory, I am watching my own son grow and soon be shuttled off on a big yellow bus—the bus I used to get sick seeing this time of year. As a matter of fact, even at the age of 33, I still get sick when I see them every morning..
Education… be molded .. but do some of the molding yourself.
Good luck students..
Eat your pudding.
Nike, Barbie, iPod and even Mug Root Beer all appeared in a recent New York Common Core standardized English test taken by more than a million students in grades three to eight.
Pretty sickening..
Thanks for the message. I know what you mean..
Everything in education seems to be just “processed” anymore, like McDonalds food. The same education everywhere.. no matter the class size or background of the student. I cannot even imagine many schools teaching local history anymore.. nothing relating to things that matter to the area a child is growing up in..
I am not an education expert—though I have debated as of late whether I should go back to school for a certificate to teach—so until then I cannot really exclaim I know the problems and errors within our system.
But I can say this.. what we are doing is not working. We are raising a generation shaky on basics, and almost absent many fundamentals that other nations have—and our collective hind end is being handed to us with a big giant bow on it..
Again.. something needs to be done to alleviate the masses of the asses, and bring the herd up to speed on what really matters.
A 21st century style of teaching … something else needs to be done in the modern era..
And maybe it already started and I missed the beginning—perhaps others out there with a subject matter expertise on such things can enlighten me and give me hope. Until then… adults in the US of A will just be plain out dumber than the rest of the world..
Just when I felt better, increased by vitamin intake, and began to exercise again, enter this scenario: My wife and I took Ayden to eat some pizza at PIZZA HUT today for lunch and we casually brought up to the younger waitress how we used to love the ‘book it program.’ She gave us a strange blank stare, smiling saying, “I never heard of that.” She seemed stunned of the knowledge we had on the past! It was like we told her we saw the ‘wheel’ get created.
She went on to tell us that her “older” manager “always talks about old days” of Pizza Hut.
I began to get stunned. And feel really old.
The waitress was only, say, ten years younger.. and I thought to myself in horror, when did “book it” end!?
I even told the server how, back in ‘the day,’ there would be a grand pizza party during the last week of school. I didn’t tell her, but I even have a newspaper clipping somewhere in my possession showing me and my friend Kevin in third grade waiting in line for pizza. Third grade for me was … the late 1980s. So the age begins to show, I suppose..
Soooo.. I did some research! AND feel a whole hell of a lot better!
BOOK IT STILL EXISTS! That’s right, server! Young punk! take your no-knowledge of anything and shove it! I have proof that YOU don’t know your own trade! ha!
I still feel old, though.
After all, perhaps BOOK IT would work better if Pizza Hut changes it to “Kindle it.” Just saying.
Interestingly enough, back last century before I myself graduated in ‘99, there were times I prayed for at least a C+…
Point: College grads can’t find jobs. Student loan debt is passing the $1 tril mark, and higher than credit card debt nationwide…
My wife and I are watching a Sunday night PBS show of two local high schools in a Jeopardy type competition.. and my wife and I in turn have never, ever felt dumber.
I have no clue.. on anything!
I’m not smarter than a 5th grader, and in no way smarter than a high schooler. I don’t even think I was smarter than a high schooler in high school..
But it also got me to thinking: When did I get this dumb? When I got a job? When I stopped my ‘learning’ experience in a classroom.. Am I the only one that feel this way?
A wise crack that wasn’t wise.
A joke that didn’t hit the mark..
And perhaps an example of the continuation of a new form of eugenics..
