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Dumbing us down

Books to open your eyes.

15th October 2014 by Jax Blunt 5 Comments

I think I was reading dystopian fiction before it was called that. I remember reading The Chrysalids (kindle) at school, and wishing I would suddenly discover that I was telepathic. (And the first seeds of thoughts about the rights and wrongs of judging appearances and differences were sown. )

a wrinkle in timeThere was A Wrinkle in Time, leant to me me by my cousin-by-choice (the family wasn’t really related to us, but they were still uncle Brian and aunty Mary and how I wept when he died of cancer in my teens). First totalitarian conformist society. (I loaned this to Small at Kentwell and he loved it. Tim’s just read it, so when Big reads it too, we can have a family bookclub meeting. Bonus!)

Nineteen Eighty-Four, which was in a George Orwell compendium I chose for a form prize in third year secondary.

And I don’t know when I first read The Warriors of Taan and wondered why the women of our world have never come together like that to assert their position. Anyone?

Oh, they came think and fast at university. The Gate to Women’s Country and other Sheri S Tepper books. The Handmaid’s Tale, which I’ve never liked. The Children’s Story, something I recommend all parents read, to realise the fragility and vulnerability of their children. It’s free online (caveat. I’m not sure why that’s free online. It’s been there a long time, and it’s linked from wikipedia but just in case it shouldn’t be there, I’m not going to link to it).

Oh, and Ender’s game. Which is a book I’ve recommended *so* many times.

I don’t know when I first encountered The Wave. We’ve watched it as well. The terrifying thing about that one is it isn’t fiction. Other non fiction eye openers are things like Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. Written by an award winning teacher no less.

Perhaps it’s just alternative brain washing. Starhawk’s books give me a little hope. I’m watching the progress they’re making towards a film of the fifth sacred thing and hoping so hard.

Then there was little brother (previously reviewed). You can read that free online too. Or even buy the entire book as a poster. And now there are dystopians everywhere you turn. I’ve watched Gattaca. Read and watched Hunger Games and Divergent. Oh, and Ender’s Game should be in there somewhere.

I like the Slated trilogy. And ACID. The Matched trilogy. Which I’ve never reviewed. And I’ve just read The Giver.

Is it any wonder I look at our society with a jaundiced eye. We have multiple mainstream parties with interchangeable policies and leaders. (*don’t tell me that labour will drop austerity and protect the vulnerable. I just don’t believe you. And as for their authoritarian bent! ) We have a mainstream media that dances to the tune of the political gentry and a population managed with divide and conquer strategies.

There are some alternative ideas out there, like the basic income, but it’s so hard to get anyone to consider it seriously.

Dystopia? I’m beginning to wonder why I bother reading it at all.

(If I’ve missed any must read titles out, do feel free to leave them in the comments. Will add links to free online books tomorrow when I’m at a keyboard instead of swiping on a phone. )

Realised I left out Station eleven! Although it doesn’t feel like the often bleak dystopians listed above, perhaps that’s why.

Disclosure: vast majority of book links above are to Amazon. Other book stores are available, and probably morally preferable, but tend to have fairly dire shopping and affiliate interfaces. If you’d rather shop at Hive, here’s a banner link instead ๐Ÿ™‚

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Filed Under: Book club Tagged With: Dumbing us down, dystopian fiction

School, huh, yeah, what is it good for?

16th November 2010 by Jax Blunt 25 Comments

Despite appearances to the contrary, given that we home educate, I’m not actually anti school per se. I’m just not sure I can see the point of it. And I think that there are an awful lot of ppl with similar sneaky suspicions out there, who are using school and just wondering if…

So let’s break it down. School was designed on a factory model, in an industrial age. It took children in to keep them out of dangerous working conditions and equip them with basic skills, mainly so that they would be more productive factory workers.

The ppl who were destined to be the factory owners never went to those schools. Home education, I believe, is in some ways a by product of that exclusion – the clause was left in the law to allow the rich and powerful to continue educating their children as they saw fit with tutors and round the world trips.

So, you have a factory line model – take all the children in at one age, feed them all the same information, chuck them out at the other end. And no amount of tweaking, or individual progress plans, or special educational plans is going to get around the fact that this model just doesn’t work. Not for lots of children.

I’ve had conversations on twitter with ppl wondering how to help their gifted children who are bored in the school environment. They are going to be bored. It’s the way it is. Even if your school is the most flexible school in the world, the teaching model is still the basic sit down and listen to what I have to say, and with the greatest of respect for teachers, many of whom really do believe in what they are doing, sit down and listen isn’t a good style of learning.

Gifted children need to be able to follow their interests, and stretch their minds. Your gifted child could well be more gifted than the teacher they are faced with, and pushing at that teacher’s boundaries. My gifted child at home is doing that to me – but when it comes down to it, I find him the tools and step back. And it works, it really works.

I’ve had other conversations with ppl worrying about their children with special needs. School is equally bad at coping with those children. Those children need family environments, to learn from their parents and siblings, because that is how children are set up to learn. And time off for the parents is a different issue, one that society should be handling differently, not by expecting parents to shove their children in to school.

I saw a tweet yesterday that said something like I get really annoyed with ppl who say homeschooling(sic) is the answer to all problems, it isn’t for everyone. And I thought about that for a while. Home education as we call it in this country does present a lot of practical difficulties, not least the fact that one parent has to be at home and therefore not holding down a traditional 9 – 5 job. Makes it tough. But it can be done. And, again with the greatest respect, let’s turn it around.

What does school add to society? I keep being told children have to go to school to socialise, but that’s a complete red herring. Where else do you spend your day with just ppl the same age as yourself, from the same social background and living area? Nowhere, basically. So what transferable social skills are children learning from that? Um, none.

Is it important to be able to listen and follow instructions? Yes, sometimes, but it’s way more important to be able to figure things out for yourself. A varied education does that for you.

I think that the problem is our style of school tbh. I think there are other models that would work better, but it would require a brave, brave society who would make the change. You can’t just tweak it a little and hope it would work.

Montessori has a lot going for it, with truly child-led education, and mixed age learning groups. The directress doesn’t teach, she demonstrates, and it doesn’t depend on her own educational background for success, as long as she is following the methods correctly. That’s the flaw in Montessori tbh, it’s easy for it to fall down, if ppl don’t just follow the method.

So what I’d really like to see is schools as resource centres. Places equipped with books, computers, labs, gyms and with a list of experts that you could book time with. Not teachers, as you wouldn’t need teachers. I’d like them to be open to ppl of all ages who actually want to learn, and open pretty much round the clock to make them as flexible as society needs to be.

Think about it – as an adult, has there been anything you’ve needed to learn? Did it take you very long? I’m a programmer – my first computer language took me a year to learn at university. (Discounting the stuff I taught myself way back when, I was never expert then.) Once I got into the world of work, we were given training courses that lasted a week, and took us a lot further into the language. University was no more efficient than school. When you want/ need to learn something, you do it fast.

I’d like to see community resource centres that offered ppl the stuff they want and need. I’d like to see families clubbing together to look after children and offer education, like I see with the historyetc and latinetc days my home educating friends put on. I’d like to see skill shares going on more commonly, and communities actually working together.

School is often held up as being a centre of the community – I don’t see that. It’s very exclusive – Big has noticed that children at her guides/swimming/whatever tend to stick just with the children from their own school. So if you don’t go to one of those, you get left out. Great social skills being learnt there then ๐Ÿ™ Have you *ever* popped in to a school fayre for a school that no one in your family used? Thought not. Really bringing the community together there then.

I’ve lots more I could say on this topic, and I probably will. But before I ramble on, I’d like to know what you think. Step out of your comfort zone, just for a second, and imagine if it schools could be different. Could be better. What would they look like? And what would society look like as a result?

If you want to read more about this sort of thing, I’d recommend starting with Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling for more about what school is really up to and some John Holt for alternatives that really do work.

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Filed Under: It's where it is, Montessori minded, political stuff, ranting or raving Tagged With: Dumbing us down, gifted children, home education, John Holt, Montessori, resource centres, special needs

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