Posted on 02/17/2008 7:05:31 AM PST by rellimpank
Last week, we again delved into John Taylor Gatto's invaluable text "The Underground History of American Education," citing his summary of the career of George Washington.
The point of Mr. Gatto -- a former New York city and state (government) Teacher of the Year -- when he summarizes the careers of men like Washington, Franklin, David Farragut, Thomas Edison and Andrew Carnegie, is twofold. First, the careers of these men -- by no means all child geniuses, by no means all the offspring of wealthy aristocrats -- demonstrate that literacy, fame and high character have often been achieved in America without the benefit of more than a few years' formal schooling. That is to say, the insistence of today's educrats that anyone deprived of a full 12 years locked up in their compulsory propaganda camps is doomed to a lifetime as an illiterate loser is self-promoting nonsense from those anxious to perpetuate the largest make-work "jobs" program in history.
But Mr. Gatto then goes much further. He argues careers such as those of Washington and Edison and Carnegie would not have been possible -- those great Americans would never have gained the life skills necessary -- had they been locked away in a government school for a dozen years.
In response, we heard last week from one of our local government schoolmarms. "First, let it be said I too feel George Washington was the greatest president the country ever had," the schoolmarm asserts, apparently seeking commonality. "Most notable were
(Excerpt) Read more at lvrj.com ...
bookmark thanks.
Calvin Coolidge remarked that Hoover continually pelted him with unsolicited advice, all of it bad. Once Hoover got to running the country, his more activist approach didn't really work out so well. FDR criticized Hoover when running for office, but redoubled his mistakes once in office.
How I miss Coolidge.
I’ve never heard of him before. I really enjoyed that. And, of course, every freeper should read Gatto.
ping
Well, Mr. Vin must not have paid much attention during his school years or he would not have written such a long, boring run-on sentence.
Remember - form over content!!
“...ignoring the fact that no one can ever be forced to learn anything other than subservience and toadyism, in the prison-like boredom of our increasingly violent and dysfunctional mandatory government youth propaganda camps.”
I can’t help but agree. There are somethings which there is a critical need to have access to equipment and expertise that only be found at specialized colleges but why we have become bogged down in the idea of rote education being the best method of teaching is a question that can not be evidenced by its success. We need more “open source education” with hands on apprenticeships. The effect of our government educational bureaucracy has not been to prepare a majority of students for a future but instead to prepare them for a life of mediocrity of thought with a deficit when it comes to personal responsibility and action.
We have horrible examples of this with the march towards the pied pipers of global warming regardless of the data or the complexity of the climate. We see it in the lure of simpleton solutions to Health care and social problems. We see it in the elevation of nonessential political movements like Pro Choice and gay rights. There was never a need for such movements but they took fire in the fertile coal beds of ignorance. It was the young that were duped into making such things priorities and they will continue to be duped the less they learn how to think critically. They’ve learned to say “I have a right” before they consider their personal responsibility.
Great find! Do you have a Vin Pinglist? I would like to be on it.
It is the government forced indoctrination jobs program centers that lock children away from the REAL world. Hallelujah! What are people thinking when they swallow this bilge?
It is NOT the homeschoolers who keep their children away from the real world, IT IS THOSE WHO SEND THEM TO THE “PUBLIC SCHOOL” that are locking their children away from any real learning, any real world exposure, and real life experiences.
Pretty astonishing. Our public schools need to be gotten rid of.
What's the matter. Can you only digest short simple sentences?
If you can´t parse the sentence above, good luck reading Kant or Faulkner.
This is one of his best, out of many bests.
Thanks
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The language used regarding “public” schools has changed. It has changed thanks to the Internet. We now see terrs such as “propaganda camps”, “prison-like”, “locking away”, and “penalty of law”. I sincerely hope that I have done my part to change the language regarding police enforced, compulsory education.
The following are few more ideas that I hope catch on:
1) Children in brick and mortar schools are “institutionalized” for their education.
2) Homeschooling is the most natural and healthy way to rear a child.
3) It takes more work to do good job institutionalizing your child than it does to homeschool. This is especially true if the child is in a government institutional setting.
4) The institutionalized child is more likely to be obese.
5) “Deprogramming” a child after 6 to 11 hours within the government sphere of influence ( including the school bus ride, homework, school activities, and school friend interaction) is a **LOT** more work than homeschooling.
6) Christian teachers have only two choices: Quit, or completely resist implementing the secular humanist agenda ( that means getting fired.)
7)All academically successful children are homeschooled. If the child is institutionalized in a government indoctrination camp, all the government is doing is sending home a free curriculum for the parents to follow. ( Although, I will admit that there might possibly be a few very rare exceptions.)
8) Some government institutional education settings are sooooo horrific that parents using them, and the teachers cooperating are child abusers. Children in these settings are in such pain that they would be better off out of these schools even if they received NO education whatsoever.
9) School buses are not safe. 17,000 child are admitted to emergency rooms every year due to school bus injuries. Every year a few children are dragged and crushed to death and severely injured due to school bus mishaps. There is also an enormous amount of abuse, harassment's, and injury on these buses that is never reported.
10) The academic precocity of homeschoolers is **normal**. It is the institutionalized child who is artificially retarded in his social and academic development.
11) The generation gap, and dysfunctional teen behavior is not normal. It is rarely seen in fully homeschooled youth and is caused by isolating children in same-aged packs in prison-like institutions.
One idea that has caught on that encourages me very much is:
1) Education is never religiously, culturally, or politically neutral.
I hope that the next step will be taken: Government schools, freedom of conscience, and First Amendment human rights can NOT coexist.
IT IS THOSE WHO SEND THEM TO THE “PUBLIC SCHOOL”
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These parents are “institutionalizing” their children! :-)
Nearly every self-taught or homeschooling person that I meet generally speaks well above grade level.
Its the factory and union taught kids that are unable to handle complex thought in written form.
I get to speak to both homeschools and public/private schools. While the very best in either educational setting are very good, the overall verbal ability of self-taught and homeschooled are above that of their public counterparts.
I get to speak
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What is your job? ( just curious.)
ping for later response.
-—I don’t have a pinglist, but he’s almost always in the Sunday LV R-J—
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I must agree as well. What is government institutionalization?
Answer: It trains children to be good prisoners.
Children are forced into a building that looks like a minimum security prison.
They ride buses that look like prison work gang buses.
They are marched about in same aged packs like herd animals.
They are trained to respond to a bell like one of Pavlov’s dogs.
Like prisoners, their government handlers tell them when and what they can eat, when they can use the bathroom, and when they can exercise.
Their exercise spaces look like prison exercise yards, the teachers stationed about could easily pass for prison guards.
Like prisoners, they are told when they can speak, what they publish is censored, and the people with whom they associate are chosen by the government employees. They are forbidden free expression of their religious belief.
There are some differences between prisoners and government institutionalized children:
Prisoners are not subjected to non-stop indoctrination in the government religion of Secular Humanism.
Prisoners are not segregregated by age, and their environment is far more racially, culturally, and economically integrated.
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