This article should have hundreds/thousands of “likes”! I detested math in school for 12yrs! History, English & geography(grade school) were my ALL “A” classes! I enjoyed art & reading as well! Spelling was a breeze! I endorse education that interests the student & frees the mind!! I endorse HOME schooling as well as long as the parents are flexible enough to guide their children!!
Molnar's quote reminded me of centuries and millennia past, when learned scholars (and artists) would often have benefactors financing their lives and endeavors. Financing these activities was seen as giving status, much as Rockefeller financed public libraries through his foundation after becoming wealthy.
Today most of these activities are subservient to capitalism and work. 'tis a shame.
I enjoyed the rest of the essay on school. You reminded me of how I was a terrible student, never doing homework and obviously rarely called to answer questions by teachers in class, except for once when I just read a chapter from our biology textbook for fun one night (I don't remember why lol) a week before we reached the topic and I still remember a few details to this day. Everything you wrote about rings true. It's a shame we burden our children with so much unnecessary junk in the name of the science of education.
It's nice to feel vindicated as to why I felt such hatred for being trapped in school. I f***ing hate - hate - haaaaaaaaated being there, with the exception of my art, shop and music classes as there were materials, tools and instruments at my disposal and I was at liberty to create what was important to me. The rest of it was prison. Did I mention that I f***ing hated school?
Just in this brief precis of the book, I see so many things that I have found in my own experiences as a teacher and a learner -- most coming so damned slowly. But, hey, here we are. I definitely agree that a teacher's job is to facilitate learning in and by the student. Another way of putting it, at least in my area of expertise, is that more learning is done than teaching.
It's also fun for me to read (often) how your experiences are so much like mine. Although I was reading prior to my twenties, it was never school books that I read because I was also obsessed with sports. School books were catastrophically boring.
I was a terrible student but always passed with flying colors -- that's how bad the system was (I know realise) -- because I was one of the "smart kids". The first test I ever failed was in a university class, English 101. I was shocked because I was so smart, you see, and I could not possibly fail. However, it seems that in an English class you should probably read something or other that is on the assigned list. Who knew?
The professor, who gave me a "zero" out of a possible "100" did me a favor (Lol, I didn't even get credit for spelling my name right). I sought him out afterward which was something I'd never done before -- because, really, why would I ever ask a teacher to explain why I got an A? But an F, that's a whole nother story. Anyway, this professor was kindly enough not to laugh in my face at how childishly and transparently terrible my essay was (ostensibly an explication and assessment of a W.B. Yeats poem) but instead went through a short, stepwise procedure that I could use whenever analysing and/or criticising a story or poem. That lecture and admonishment definitely helped me a great deal through my early university, but I eventually fell off that wagon, too. Also, 'nother story.
After reading your essay, and recalling my experience with the English prof, it now makes me wonder why he didn't go through what he outlined to me in that private meeting with the whole class in the first place, simply as a part of his tutelage? Maybe he did in the future, I suppose, after he saw my further results in his class. I'll never know.
The professor story is interesting. Imagine if he gave you a Zero today? He'd probably lose his job...LOL...I laugh, but it is so not funny.
I had a professor in college whose grading scale was 80-100 and A, 60-80 a B and so on....and it was hard to get an A. He graded on everything.....good teacher....the school fired him. Figures.
Excellent illustration!
“Only 6 or 7 hours a day"!
When I was at school, even at a very young age, I was acutely aware of wasting my time. All I wanted to do was read and draw.
And you should have been able to do that.
This article should have hundreds/thousands of “likes”! I detested math in school for 12yrs! History, English & geography(grade school) were my ALL “A” classes! I enjoyed art & reading as well! Spelling was a breeze! I endorse education that interests the student & frees the mind!! I endorse HOME schooling as well as long as the parents are flexible enough to guide their children!!
Molnar's quote reminded me of centuries and millennia past, when learned scholars (and artists) would often have benefactors financing their lives and endeavors. Financing these activities was seen as giving status, much as Rockefeller financed public libraries through his foundation after becoming wealthy.
Today most of these activities are subservient to capitalism and work. 'tis a shame.
I enjoyed the rest of the essay on school. You reminded me of how I was a terrible student, never doing homework and obviously rarely called to answer questions by teachers in class, except for once when I just read a chapter from our biology textbook for fun one night (I don't remember why lol) a week before we reached the topic and I still remember a few details to this day. Everything you wrote about rings true. It's a shame we burden our children with so much unnecessary junk in the name of the science of education.
It's nice to feel vindicated as to why I felt such hatred for being trapped in school. I f***ing hate - hate - haaaaaaaaated being there, with the exception of my art, shop and music classes as there were materials, tools and instruments at my disposal and I was at liberty to create what was important to me. The rest of it was prison. Did I mention that I f***ing hated school?
Let me get this straight...I want make sure I completely understand...if I'm reading you correctly...you f***king hated school. Have I got that right?
Yeah, me too. Everything but sports for me.
Just in this brief precis of the book, I see so many things that I have found in my own experiences as a teacher and a learner -- most coming so damned slowly. But, hey, here we are. I definitely agree that a teacher's job is to facilitate learning in and by the student. Another way of putting it, at least in my area of expertise, is that more learning is done than teaching.
It's also fun for me to read (often) how your experiences are so much like mine. Although I was reading prior to my twenties, it was never school books that I read because I was also obsessed with sports. School books were catastrophically boring.
I was a terrible student but always passed with flying colors -- that's how bad the system was (I know realise) -- because I was one of the "smart kids". The first test I ever failed was in a university class, English 101. I was shocked because I was so smart, you see, and I could not possibly fail. However, it seems that in an English class you should probably read something or other that is on the assigned list. Who knew?
The professor, who gave me a "zero" out of a possible "100" did me a favor (Lol, I didn't even get credit for spelling my name right). I sought him out afterward which was something I'd never done before -- because, really, why would I ever ask a teacher to explain why I got an A? But an F, that's a whole nother story. Anyway, this professor was kindly enough not to laugh in my face at how childishly and transparently terrible my essay was (ostensibly an explication and assessment of a W.B. Yeats poem) but instead went through a short, stepwise procedure that I could use whenever analysing and/or criticising a story or poem. That lecture and admonishment definitely helped me a great deal through my early university, but I eventually fell off that wagon, too. Also, 'nother story.
After reading your essay, and recalling my experience with the English prof, it now makes me wonder why he didn't go through what he outlined to me in that private meeting with the whole class in the first place, simply as a part of his tutelage? Maybe he did in the future, I suppose, after he saw my further results in his class. I'll never know.
But, yes, homeschool is the way!
The professor story is interesting. Imagine if he gave you a Zero today? He'd probably lose his job...LOL...I laugh, but it is so not funny.
I had a professor in college whose grading scale was 80-100 and A, 60-80 a B and so on....and it was hard to get an A. He graded on everything.....good teacher....the school fired him. Figures.
Talk about living in the Upside Down. It's taken me way too long to figure that out, but we're definitely on that ride now.
Have you heard of "The Teenage Liberation Handbook" by Grace Llewelyn?
Former teacher who quit formal education and advocated for unschooling.