Comments on: homeschooling yay

By: Mrs. du Toit

Mrs. du Toit — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 05:40:21 +0000

Yes, it matters when the Boston Tea Party occurred, but more importantly it matters what it was, why it occurred, who the men were who participated, and why they participated. It is more important to know about the men, the times in which they lived, and what they were fighting for. Being able to memorize a date without context is useless.

Unfortunately, knowing only the date (that seems to pass as being educated in the public system) is useless in the grand scheme of things.

By: Alexandra

Alexandra — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 16:18:30 +0000

Maybe it was the era, or my parents, or the fact we were in the services, but all six of us kids received home-schooling along with regular schooling. When we came home to a mother who stayed at home, by choice, we played games, did homework and learnt a great many things, never mind the number of books we were all encouraged to read. Debates at the dinner table, where dinner could last a couple of hours.

My whole childhood was one of learning. Now, I look at subsequent generations, my nieces and nephews, and wonder where all that went?

By: alice

alice — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 19:11:15 +0000

Of course, people do as you describe. Of course it is dreadful. I have seen one or two shockingly neglectful homeschooling families, and school teachers, in my time engaged in both.

However, I also think Smith’s point is not to wipe out history but to put things in perspective, with an emphasis on learning self-sufficient research skills, and the ability to stand on your own two feet as opposed to memorising facts that mean nothing to you personally.

There was a lot wrong with “old school” education. Rote learning of facts without context was one of them.

Don’t you think that’s closer to what he meant? It’s definitely what I had in mind.

(Update: what I meant by “context” was more than further pieces of knowledge about (say) history- the significance of the stuff, a sense of meaning, something that might actually affect you personally, engagement, connection, consciousness rather than being a memory-machine, which is an increasingly worthless thing to be in the modern world.)

By: staghounds

staghounds — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 18:29:00 +0000

This is unfortunately often an excuse for parents and teachers to avoid teaching. Knowing the date of the Boston tea party DOES matter, because if you don’t know it you’ll think it was in 1953, or 1255. When an event occurs is crucial if it is to be connected to those before and after. Otherwise every day is today, and the past has neither lessons nor explanations.

Knowing how to learn is useful only if one has a basic frame of knowledge. An awareness of the outlines of history, sciences, math, language and so forth is essential. Otherwise, what use is the ability to learn? What will your child learn about, except for his (or his boss’) basic needs? How will he evaluate the sources from which the information comes? Most importantly, what will your child think is interesting? What will spark his imagination?

Google is no excuse for ignorance, because information is not knowledge. P. J. as so often, says it best- “Information is Christy Turlington’s telephone number. Knowledge is Christy Turlington.”

By: Rhea

Rhea — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:14:54 +0000

You only need to know the date of the Boston Tea Party if you actually live in Boston — like I do. Ha!