John Stossel talked about:
- How No Child Left Behind gets no one ahead
- how American Kids Can't hold a candle to other nations
- how our public school kids spend half their time waiting in line
- how the Teachers Union wield a great deal of power and many of their motives are based on nothing more than Job security.
- About how kids who attend public schools serve as prey for pedophiles masquerading as teachers. (yes, of course this is a minority, but one instance is too many)
All I could think of was... mmmmm hmmmm! And they criticize me for homeschooling!?... Now who's stupid. I went to sleep shortly afterwards. I woke up with a true realization of WHO WAS REALLY THE STUPID ONE(S). ME... I'M STUPID!... AND PROUD OF IT.
Rewind to earlier yesterday evening: As I walked through the mall with my son last night looking at all the new technology centered around data management and storage for the home, I was astounded.
I was stupified!
The questions I asked about each and every product annoyed both my 11 year old child and the 19 year old store clerk " What is this disk, how does it hold data, pics, or music, how much does it hold, Is it compatible with my computer, is it the latest technology or trend"?
From what I learned in that short amount of time, If I really wanted, I could take the 20 storage bins in my garage and basement and store all of that data on 1 or 2 little jump discs. I am truly, truly astounded! There I was thinking I would get a storehouse of cdr's or dvr's and use 1 per month to hold my writing so If I ever lost the info on my computer or our home network, I would not lose my work. I as informed that I probably only needed 1 or 2 jump drives a year.
That is almost too much for me to comprehend!
What is even more amazing to me is that my kid has absorbed all of this information without an iota of help from me or any teacher for that matter. In fact, I started a blog for him to record his class assignments... He took it over and jazzed it up and taught himself html. I was impressed and horrified at the same time.
How presumptions of me to think that he could only learn what I or a teacher or even a state of the art learning program could teach him. All he needed to do was look for an "easy tutorial' online, and it (whatever he was interested in) was learned.
Many people ask how can an 'unqualified"or 'uneducated' parent can homeschool their own child.... Well here's your answer:
Homeschooling is not about teaching your child.... It is about giving the child a thirst for learning and then the resources and skills necessary to satisfy that thirst.
How presumptuous of we as adults to think that we can HOMESCHOOL our child out of our own outdated wealth of knowledge. How presumptuous of the teachers unions, and public school advocates! How can they think so small as to assume that only they can teach our kids!!!
Has no one read a history book? Has no one studied the advances of science? True educational success does not rely on those with knowledge to pass it on to the next generation. Instead, it relies on us passing out limited knowledge on, giving them a chance to study it, and improve upon it.
THAT is true educational success. So who's stupid now.... Here's a hint:
It's not the kids we are trying to educate!
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