The War On Kids

[eileenrose]

The War On Kids - 3 minute video (trailer)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Nlnwm...layer_embedded

And they are right (the people interviewed in this short trailer)...to the extreme (in my personal assessment).

When was the last time you thought about your own past school experiences? I spend quite a bit of time looking back and what I see is a prison. Plain and simple.

Now it looks like it is becoming obvious.

So the darkness is being revealed (at last).

[Ernie Nemeth]

You would not believe my days in school...or maybe you would.

No one could control us even if they tried. My parents applauded my marks on my report card - until they realized those numbers were the number of times I wasn't in class! lol

What has happened to us?

[eileenrose]

Except for a ghetto school, I couldn't have gone to a worse elementary school (myself). I never got beaten up...just threatened. But since it was run by wantabe Mexican gang leaders, (or they tried to), they didn't treat me awfully (because they treat women with a little respect...who knew).

...so I taught myself to read. I taught myself math (since education wasn't why we where there...just control).

We moved when I was 9....back to all white school neighborhoods (my religious parents gave up trying to save the catholics from themselves...reason we were there....it was an area south of Fresno, ca).
...lots of orchards/vines to pick there.

---
ps: which has made my life a living misery, for a time, since my verbal skills were non-existant (my parents hated talking to me...got me why and of course, I never learned spanish...just how to not get into a fight).

[TWINCANS]

Totally agree with the premise that schools are prisons for kids. That's why I homeschool.

If parents do choose to send their kids to school, then they better be prepared to spend a lot of time in the school themselves to protect their children from the insanity. Also ideally find a teacher that will feed them the truth about what goes on when they are not there watching. Start a movement called Taking Back The Schools.

[eileenrose]

Or move their children to a charter school (verses home school....my sister has done it both ways...depends on the child...if they can learn at home-ie. they respect the learning they need to achieve....)...as they have less students and a little more energy (and the bullies that were bothering your child won't be there.....as least that is the reason we moved my nephew 4 years ago).

Anyway...he still hates school...but he stopped coming home crying everyday.
And with a charter school I was able to come in and be an aid for a morning (they like this) and watch him and see how he coped with their structures.

It helped me see all these issues (as I had forgotten my own ....with school).

I will say the children are very angry with us (adults) about their 'supposed' education. Really...truly upset/mystified/and feeling let down. (what I picked up from them....they didn't want me to leave after the few hours I was there...I guess they never had an adult treat them like they were important before.....

....now I feel I am getting upset (all over again)..

...will go cry for a few minutes....just saddened.

[Ernie Nemeth]

I tempered my child's aweful schooling with my own educational lessons. First off, never do any homework unless marks are at stake. Do your very best on projects and assignments that do determine your grade. If you need to strudy for a test, it means you do not know or do not need to know that topic. Determine for yourself which it is. And so on. I know, it sounds crazy but...my daughter is an graduated high school with top grades and finished college (3 year course) as an honor student. She is currently a well paid employee of a large transit company.

I must have done something right - if I can claim any part of her success. She says I had a lot to do with it. I'm not so sure. She's such a determined young lady, a true individual.

Eileen, you seem to be an asset to those kids, they will never forget you. You may not ever know it but some will attribute their success to you for treating them with respect. So chin up, girl.
It's all good, sister.

hugs

[eileenrose]

Hi Ernie,
I only went to his school the one time (for that particular reason), though I have mediated on what happen since. I didn't return. I was so shaken by the experience (I had to teach them California history...and it was lies...fabrications....but I had forgotten...what they get taught). God awful place (school is).

I think we just put it out of our minds completely.

ps: But he sees me almost everyday....sort of like his second care-giver and I stick by him...no matter what he does (so he is happy...around me...or least he was till the hormones hit).

[genevieve]

I attended Catholic schools from grade 1 through 12.
I'm 62.
I never drive by ANY school without giving a prayer of thanks that
I'll never have to go to school again in this lifetime.
It was a prison then, can't imagine what it's like now.

Peace Love Joy & Harmony,
Genevieve

[geofffxdwg]

At least in a prison illiterate inmates can learn to read and write and even get a high school diploma.Where I live the students don't know how to read or write but they have diplomas.Most of the same teachers are still there that we had when I attended.They either don't care because they don't get paid enough or they are connected to the athletic department some how hired as a coach.They get hired because they were a some kind of athletic star in college and the school wants good coaches not teachers.I don't know of anyone my age that graduated from my high school that was illiterate.Most of the students that graduated from continuation were illiterate.

[the_vast_mystery]

I think the problem with our school system comes from the idea that we can't even outline a clear goal or way to measure their success in people's lives. Standardized tests and the rubrics we use now don't really correlate to job placement and until they do we can't even fall back on the excuse that it's school's only purpose to prepare youth for entering the workforce. (Which was certainly the reason public schooling was designed by Rich industrialists and their educational foundations.) So because of that we have a lot of people freaking out about varying statistics that in each case show something they don't want happen, but yet there's been a complete failure to accurately describe what they do want to happen beyond very abstract notions about what a "successful life" for their child would be.

It's quite a problem; how do we measure the usefulness of school in the life of a child? It's hard to say because sometimes subjects that other people think may be meaningless to them can inadvertently have a huge impact on their later lives even if only indirectly. (Algebra could, for example contribute to abstract problem solving when one or more variables start as unknowns, for instance.) I wish there were some way we could figure this out.

[Snowbird]

I could not agree more with the opening posted video.

Here's more insanity for you.

South Carolina Mom Arrested for Cheering at Daughter’s Graduation

By Sarah B. Weir

A Myrtle Beach teen's high school graduation on Saturday was ruined when her excited mom, Shannon Cooper, was arrested for cheering.

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/sou...172100466.html

[eileenrose]

Posted by the_vast_mystery (here)
I think the problem with our school system comes from the idea that we can't even outline a clear goal or way to measure their success in people's lives. Standardized tests and the rubrics we use now don't really correlate to job placement and until they do we can't even fall back on the excuse that it's school's only purpose to prepare youth for entering the workforce. (Which was certainly the reason public schooling was designed by Rich industrialists and their educational foundations.) So because of that we have a lot of people freaking out about varying statistics that in each case show something they don't want happen, but yet there's been a complete failure to accurately describe what they do want to happen beyond very abstract notions about what a "successful life" for their child would be.

It's quite a problem; how do we measure the usefulness of school in the life of a child? It's hard to say because sometimes subjects that other people think may be meaningless to them can inadvertently have a huge impact on their later lives even if only indirectly. (Algebra could, for example contribute to abstract problem solving when one or more variables start as unknowns, for instance.) I wish there were some way we could figure this out.

I don't think it would take that long to figure out. My mother and father were both teachers, for a living and my mother, now retired helps run a couple of various teacher organizations (for retirees). Anyway, she was just saying how upset (I believe....have to verify I heard her correctly....now) the teachers are over the way they have to run their classes....they have to follow, now, guidelines that tell them what to teach everyday and arn't allowed to come up with any creativity or originality. It isn't teaching. It is telling (shouting) someone what to do.

Not education. Just propaganda.

Real education is so simple it is ridiculously easy. Find out what the child wants to learn and provide it. Guess what? They want to learn. We are the ones that have problems (because, in one way, it is already too late for us to un-do the damage done to us...ie. we arn't imaginative....not as we can be).

...my thoughts...any how. Love to hear more (from anyone, teachers, people who like to teach).

[TWINCANS]

Posted by eileenrose (here)
Real education is so simple it is ridiculously easy. Find out what the child wants to learn and provide it. Guess what? They want to learn. We are the ones that have problems (because, in one way, it is already too late for us to un-do the damage done to us...ie. we arn't imaginative....not as we can be).

...my thoughts...any how. Love to hear more (from anyon, teachers, people who like to teach).

That's it in a nutshell, imo too. It's not so much what to teach kids, it's how best to facilitate their own inner drive to learn. That's called child-centred learning. Even the most uninterested learner is in the process of developing. All it takes is heart to connect and find out where the child is trying to go. Not a 'teaching diploma'.

Now as to subject matter, so much of it should be tossed in the trash heap it's hard to know where to start. With all the new discoveries and re-evaluations going on, none of them seem to make their way into the curriculum.

One example is the speed of light being broken at CERN. Out goes whole science courses. Newtons Laws have been more or less destroyed.

History - where to start. Columbus took a map with him, and not one church official to sancitify his new discovery. Unheard of in that day. Where did the map come from and what was his real purpose in fleeing the day after the final seizure of the Knights Templar organization, with ships full of money changers? In Canada, why did Jacques Cartier write in his journal about seeing well laid out European -style farms already lining the St Lawrence River if he was the first discoverer? etc etc.

Plus somewhere around 1985, they took analysis out of the schools. Then they introduced a debacle called The Five Paragraph Essay. Good thing Debating Societies are out of style - Wikipedia is the only point of view on a given subject these days anyways.

[Robert J. Niewiadomski]

Mostly i agree that "normal" schools barely "teach" and subdue children to give away their own power and ability to learn to "the teachers"... As eileenrose stated in her post, the core of the real education is to allow children to choose what they want to learn. And it can be done in a holistic way by mixing together "different" divisions of our knowledge base accumulated so far by humankind. Contrary to the analytical and compartmentalizing way of "normal" schools. It is possible. For example most schools in Sweden (state run!) are organized around that holistic and children centered concept. This fact is not something new. It was developed into "off-the-shelf" educational system by Maria Montessori in the beginning of the 20th century (it is 100 years old now!)... Well some could compare that quantum-leap in education to the feats of Nicola Tesla in the field of Free Energy. While Tesla's works has been suppressed, the good news is this holistic style of education is open to everybody... There is at least one Montessori kindergarten/school in every big city in so called "western world"...

Unfortunately it is not ideal, has its shortcomings and may appear somewhat "cold"... One of the shortcomings, IMHO, is accustoming children to the abundance of scarcity Montessori method is based on the specially designed set of teaching aids. And there is only one piece of every kind of teaching aid deliberately put into the "classrooms". While it may seem cruel it allows children to practice patience (child has cope to wait for her turn) and sharing with others. But it also gives an occasion to practice manipulation of other children or even aggression. But this vices children bring along from home There is spiritual aspect of Montessori education also While i applaud it greatly, regrettably it covers mainly Christian color of it I don't know how it looks in Oriental or Asian cultures... My two daughters attend Montessori kindergarten and school...

But it is mutch better than state run school we would be forced by law to send our children to. The principal of that school warned parents not to provide children with trolley style school backpacks. Reason? Trolleys make too big noise with their tiny plastcic wheels for teachers to cope with... Children in Poland have only one set of school books they need to carry from home to school and back. You ask me why? There are no school lockers! And kids have to haul approx. 3kg (6.6lb) of "luggage" every day. Elementary education is mandatory in Poland. But parents can choose different "styles" of that elementary education including home schooling...

Education is just a one frontline... Other frontlines are "toys", "children" movies and merchandise around them... All for profit... and more darkness peddling down our throats. Thankfully there is always choice... But parents have to have "guts" to make it. And if parents are dis empowered in "normal" schools, they barely have any "guts" left. Allowing for that vicious cycle to continue... Fortunately more of us realizes how insane this is and tries to create way out of it...

[geofffxdwg]

Yes I agree with you about many of your points but I think the college and even university level school still do exactly what your describing.Algebra can be very useful in computer program or software development.The mindset is the same for both.On the other hand why do we have history? We are all told at an early age that without history we would be condemned to repeat the same mistakes of the past.The way I see it thats all we do and we document it which makes our mistakes worse the next time around.I was born in Berkeley California where my father was a PHD there.He would teach English,logic and philosophy.My father earned his degrees from both Stanford and Berkeley.He was a very intelligent person.Many of his friends he went to school with went into some very interesting fields of work. Some were private defense contractors among other things.He had a mean temper when it came to education and state measures that were passed each election that chopped away at our ability to earn a good education.I was fortunate to a degree because when I was 7 years old I used to correct his students papers.Not because I could but because he made me correct them he was very lazy.The day they made the California lottery a fact of life was a day I will never forget.I don't like to sound to political but we virtually had opportunities to receive a free college education until Ronald Reagan was elected Gov. of the state.Everything went south very fast.The lottery was the last nail in educational coffin.In reality the best education in my state right now is home schooling.I believe starting with children and education is the base or core of solving many problems.Thank you for taking the time to talk to me.I am very new here and I have never belong to something like this before.

[Robert J. Niewiadomski]

By mixing different "divisions" i ment teaching geography simultaneusly with biology music or grammar. Not coincidentally but on purpose. Montessori lessons are just like that

[Fundy Gemini]

I fear school has evolved into a social-conditioning camp more tgan a learning institution. With the internet now and SO MANY public school problems, the sensible course of action would be to encourage home schooling, when instead those ideas are discouraged and considered reason to put parents on 'watch lists'

[Sidney]

Posted by TWINCANS (here)
Totally agree with the premise that schools are prisons for kids. That's why I homeschool.

If parents do choose to send their kids to school, then they better be prepared to spend a lot of time in the school themselves to protect their children from the insanity. Also ideally find a teacher that will feed them the truth about what goes on when they are not there watching. Start a movement called Taking Back The Schools.

I agree, school = prison. There was a teacher at my kids school that talked quite a bit about shadow governments and some other controversial stuff. They did not renew his contract for next year. Was it related to the "talking", we will never know.

[the_vast_mystery]

Posted by eileenrose (here)
I don't think it would take that long to figure out. My mother and father were both teachers, for a living and my mother, now retired helps run a couple of various teacher organizations (for retirees). Anyway, she was just saying how upset (I believe....have to verify I heard her correctly....now) the teachers are over the way they have to run their classes....they have to follow, now, guidelines that tell them what to teach everyday and arn't allowed to come up with any creativity or originality. It isn't teaching. It is telling (shouting) someone what to do.

Not education. Just propaganda.

Real education is so simple it is ridiculously easy. Find out what the child wants to learn and provide it. Guess what? They want to learn. We are the ones that have problems (because, in one way, it is already too late for us to un-do the damage done to us...ie. we arn't imaginative....not as we can be).

...my thoughts...any how. Love to hear more (from anyon, teachers, people who like to teach).

Your approach, while intellectually correct ignores social realities. There are a vast number of parents who having assimilated authoritarian tendencies from society have a very specific image of what they want their child to become. These people don't want their child to learn what it wants, they want their child to learn what they want, assimilate their culture, their traditions, etc. A great resistance right now to various forms of educational material such as evolution and (any brutally honest rendition of) American History comes from the demand of some parents to ensure their child grows up and loves "their culture." This creates problems when their culture finds its pride (say in patriotism) in lies or gross distortions of what our government has been doing. Similarly any science that tends to make enforcing culture harder (such as evolution challenging biblical innerency) is also fought tooth and nail.

Whether or not any one culture's views can be considered correct these parents are scared to death of the idea of their culture or their beliefs being seen as irrelevant by their children and they will in some cases literally do anything to sequester their child from the world enough to guarantee the perpetuation of their "way of life." So this puts a lot of strain on the idea of standard public educational curriculum as in a vast majority of cases facts get in the way of people who want to perpetuate their culture or their beliefs. So the question becomes, how do we reform schooling to accommodate for these sorts of parents while still doing our best to give every child every advantage? It'd be nice if we didn't have to deal with these problems, but we do, and it'd just end horribly if we tried to create an "official public school" system, with vouchers for those wishing to abstain. Because then that'd just ghettoize all of those cultures and that in turn would feed their persecution complexes and just turn into another powder keg waiting to blow up.

I can't yet see a proper answer myself. How do you include people who really don't want to be included, and if excluded will just grow bitter and blow up in your face several generations later?

[778 neighbour of some guy]

Posted by genevieve (here)
I attended Catholic schools from grade 1 through 12.
I'm 62.
I never drive by ANY school without giving a prayer of thanks that
I'll never have to go to school again in this lifetime.
It was a prison then, can't imagine what it's like now.

Peace Love Joy & Harmony,
Genevieve

Hi,

my mother went to a catholic school as well, since then she does not want to have anything to do with it, she got beaten the crap out off with knitting needles, rulers, open hand slaps in the face, just for having sweaty hands out of fear wich stained her embroidery.

Them nuns sure are experts in scaring the hell into people instead of loving it out of them, it sends chills down my spine when she talks about things said above.

regards

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