Dysfunction...

Words from the abusive parent:
I'm only doing this for your own good.
You're stupid.
Obey your parent.
Do as I say, not as I do.
Don't talk back.
Love me, or you will live in shame.
If you refuse to love me, I will punish you.

 

Words from the abusive government:
We're only doing this for the good of the people.
The smart people (us of course) will fix it.
Obey your leaders.
Do as we say, not as we do.
Don't talk back.
Love your country, or you will live in shame.
If you refuse to love your country, we will punish you.

 

 

If It's Broke, Don't Fix It... Post Script Added...

Buckminster Fuller said it was a waste of time trying to fix a broken system; he recommended we build a new system that runs parallel to the obsolete one and gradually replaces it... 

The title of the Facebook page I co-administer says it all, really - MISEDUCATION NATION... 

I think I'm kinda done with the "save public education" bit...

It's not enough to 'save" public education if all it does is continue to programme our children and perpetuate our oligarchical state...

For me, "how" we educate our children and "what" we educate them about has to change... 

Today I've come to the conclusion (many months in the gestating) that my focus now, has to be on working with others to provide more really 'alternative' education models within the public system beginning with some of the premises of unschooling etc...

It's time for learning in the real world, within the community, instead of our children being sequestered away in artificial environments, being treated like widgets in a manufacturing process...

It's time for all our children to be given the resources and opportunities to develop their own unique talents and interests... 

It's time for them to be given the space, time, resources and support to learn what they want to learn, at whatever pace and to whatever depth they choose...

A week or so ago, I came up with a new mantra for raising/educating our most precious resource - our children:

OUR KIDS - HAPPY, HEALTHY AND (W)HOLE

NOW IT'S TIME TO MAKE THAT REAL

PS:  do you really think we are doing a good thing by our children/students, programming them just to be more cogs in the machine?

It's a complicated world and it's changing every day.   "Mastering" skills in isolation is like learning to sail a boat without going out on the water.

Can you stretch your mind and beliefs just a little, and imagine what a completely personalised, child-centred education might look like? 

What if we cut the military budget by half and gave each child an Individual Education Plan, based on their strengths and interests?    Children with special needs get them; aren't all children unique and special, so shouldn't all children have an IEP?

What if we down-scaled education so that there would no longer be 'classes'?   Instead, there would be a vertical curriculum of hundreds of 'subjects' that each child could choose from, could take as long or as short a time to progress through and could go as deep or as shallow as he/she wanted?

What if we "de-normed" education and just gave each child recognition for skills/mastery developed?

What if we took a leaf out of nature's book and brought our children back into the wilds of the world and our society, instead of sequestering/corralling them away in isolated compounds, away from how the world really is/works?

What if they worked in interest groups or individually; what if they were mentored/apprenticed to teachers/members of the community or older students, while they themselves mentored their juniors?

What if we allowed them to "play" their way through their childhoods and into adulthood? 

What if we introduced them to all sorts of different aspects of being human/life, rather than just what the corporations think will make them good workers and consumers?

What if we "taught" the academic basics through art and music and drama - do you know how much math is in art and music, for example?

What if we taught pattern instead of specifics?

What if we left them outdoors for weeks on end, learning biology etc through exploration, observation and interaction with the natural world (or what's left of it)?

What if we told them they had all their lives to learn and they didnt have to reach a certain artificial "standard" by a certain age?

What if we brought the elders back into our communities and they taught our children - just by their interaction - how to live a healthy, loving, full life?

My child is not here to serve the system - the system is here to serve him.

It's time education (and all of our world really) was turned around to fit that reality...