Today I offer you a passage from Dumbing us Down by John Taylor Gatto. It is very important for homeschoolers to listen very carefully when someone criticizes public education. Why? Because if we don't we may end up reinventing these mistakes in our homes. True education should be an antidote to indifference. Children need to learn to meet deadlines but don't mistake that sort of skill with learning. Learning takes leisure. Isn't it almost impossible to wrap your mind around that? We are truly fighting an uphill battle.
Here is John Taylor Gatto:
"The third lesson I teach kids is indifference. I teach children
not to care about anything too much, even though they want to make it
appear that they do. How I do this is very subtle. I do it by
demanding that they become totally involved in my lessons, jumping up
and down in their seats with anticipation, competing vigorously with
each other for my favor. It's heartwarming when they do that, it
impresses everyone, even me. When I'm at my best I plan lessons very
carefully in order to produce this show of enthusiasm. But when the
bell rings I insist that they stop whatever it is that we've been
working on and proceed quickly to the next work station. They must turn
on and off like a light switch. Nothing important is ever finished in
my class, nor in any other class I know of. Students never have a
complete experience except on the installment plan.
Indeed, the lesson of the bells is that no work is worth
finishing, so why care too deeply about anything? Years of bells will
condition all but the strongest to a world that can no longer offer
important work to do. Bells are the secret logic of schooltime; their
argument is inexorable. Bells destroy the past and future, converting
every interval into a sameness, as an abstract map makes every living
mountain and river the same even though they are not. Bells inoculate
each undertaking with indifference."
9 comments:
How do we reconcile this with Charlotte Mason's idea of short lessons? If our fifteen minute lesson is up and my son is still interested or even says, "More please?" I wonder if we should continue or move on to the next thing?
Hmmmm....
Still thinking about this. I can definitely see how it can be duplicated even in a home education environment.
Cindy, that quote is exactly underlined in my copy of the book! In reading those essays, I began to grasp the nature of the education I was given as a child.
Interesting, what Sara brought up. I actually adjusted the short lessons idea this year. I found it to be wonderful with littles trying to learn something like their letters, but when it came to big ideas, I guess you could say I tried Pieper's leisurely influence on for size.
But is reading aloud really even a lesson? I think of our morning Circle Time when the kiddos are clamoring for more and more of Little Pilgrim's Progress...I do not require narration, and I usually indulge them with an extra chapter, but I wonder if Mason would have done that, too? I am tempted to think she would have.
Sara,
I have been thinking about what you said since yesterday and I think it is a great topic for conversation.
What is the difference between Charlotte's idea of short lessons and school bells moving kids from one class to the next?
Off the cuff one thought I had is that Charlotte was moving towards leisure for the child. Give them the idea and then leave them alone to absorb and 'learn' the idea.
I like what Brandi said about this also.
Yes! you folks are so good at helping me organize my thoughts on this. Thank you Brandy and Cindy.
I've been struggling with a checking-things-off-the-list mentality, and while it makes ME feel accomplished when we're "done," it's not that much fun (for lack of a better word) DURING and I'm not sure that it is the best way for true education to take place. There's a whole lotta teachin' and not so much learning. We are moving in the right direction I think - toward a more leisurely approach, but sometimes I rush just to get the toddler to behave. :)
clarification: I'm not teaching the toddler, I'm teaching his older brother, but the toddler needs a lot of attention - and I'm usually happy to give it to him. It's a hard balance, no?
I have said it before but I never did find a real solution to the question: what do you do with a toddler? I like to think about how good it is for the toddler to hear and interrupt all that good literature. The only real solution to keeping a toddler quiet is to feed them constantly :)
I do think it is important and very, very hard to deal with disobedience when it happens. One other solution is that if the older kids have books they can read on their own whenever mom isn't available unless of course, they can't read yet :) But someday they will all be able to read. Everyone will be potty trained. Really and truly this will happen.
*chuckling* I'll take your word for it. Today found me nursing the baby, reading to the nearly 5-year-old and telling the toddler to go wake up Daddy (who works nights). :) Yes, all at the same time.
what does he mean when he says he doesn't want to teach the children not to care for anything to much? CM would she agree? mmmmmmm I am uncomfortable with this.
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