Sunday, June 7, 2015

Education Options

Education is under attack and has been for some time. Government schools have failed to allow Americans to maintain the literacy levels it reached in 1900, before government schools became mandatory.
Prior to 1900, students were homeschooled, hired tutors, borrowed books and learned to educate themselves based on what they wanted to learn. Children who were not capable of learning remained illiterate.
After 1900, students were able to maintain their high literacy with a solid, basic education curriculum by 8th grade. After that they went to work.  Some attended trade schools and some went on to college, but most did not.  Still they were competent and able to function successfully.
After 1930, government schools stretched education out to 12th grade and separated schools into elementary 1-8 and high school 9-12.  If the student was motivated and assumed full responsibility for learning, the students still did well.
Those students who were not capable of learning or not motivated to take responsibility to learn did poorly. They dropped out, didn’t graduate or did graduate with very low skills.  But some of these students get interested after they leave school and succeeded anyway.
Now, government schools are very expensive, costing over $10,000 a year for each student and the material covered in class fails to stress the basics.  Government mandates require schools to politically indoctrinate students with attitudes that are destructive.
Alternatives
First, the students must take responsibility for their own education. The internet allows students to access information easily enough to do this themselves. Parents need to ensure that their children are accessing the right information.
The goal of education is to help children discover their motivated abilities and do what they love. This should lead them to occupations that include these interests. All children are different.
How would we find resources to allow us to simulate the basic education we used to get in school ?  The skills we need include math and reading speed and comprehension. Practice makes perfect.  What we can read and understand is equally important.
Homeschoolers know how to do this and have multiple resources for their elementary and secondary school basic skills like math and reading speed and comprehension. They also.
Private schools are still capable of producing successful students, but government mandates are threatening these schools and many of them have already succumbed to the destructive patterns found in government schools
Public schools require that the teacher and parent make the child responsible for his or her education and keep daily track of the student.  When this happens, students can succeed.
College Optional
The cost of college is now unsustainable. In addition, colleges are totally Marxist, irrelevant and destructive. Self- learning is far superior to college.
Companies have hired smart high school grads, who have been promoted through the ranks because of their abilities and their performance.
Companies have tested their workforce to determine their skills and abilities and found in some areas that high school grads tested on par with college grads. I did this in Kansas with Schwan Foods in the 1970s. We stressed promotion from within. Our employees asked for an objective test to be used in selecting supervisors. We gave employees a 4 hour battery of tests that measured math, reading speed and comprehension, science, interests and personality. The summary sheet of this test compared their scores with successful peers in industry. We gave these employees the full test report and used it to teach them how to improve their scores. We gave this test to our current supervisors, the entire sales force and any employee applying for supervision. We learned how capable out workforce really was and they knew that we knew. Most had been good students in high school and scored just like college grads. Their summary sheet became their diploma.
Ability Testing
There are many tests available that can give students some insight into their motivated abilities. I have used most of them for decades.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

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