It seems to me that it is darn difficult to advocate for something that you don't have a full understanding of. When we're talking about saving the Republic, a clear understanding of the Republic's founding documents is important. So, I Googled "The Declaration of Independence". I read the entire thing, and then I went one step further. I made sure I understood what I read. When necessary, I did additional research to support an analysis. Now, I'm going to share what I am learning and what I think about it with you.
So, what is the Declaration of Independence? The last part of the first paragraph tells us very clearly what it is. "...a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation..." This isn't something our Founding Fathers took lightly. In simple terms, the Founding Fathers convened to put a stop to the long-standing tyranny, after years of attempts at redress had failed. Here, in this document, they made their case to the international community, knowing that doing so would brand them traitors to the British crown if the effort failed.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."
A couple of things stand out to me about this sentence. But first, let's be clear that we understand a few terms.
Self-evident? What is it? According to Merriam-Webster, it is "evident without proof or reasoning". Since I don't think it's very clear to define a compound word using part of that compound, let's look at evident. "Clear to the sight or mind". I'll add "obvious".
Endowed? What is it? "To freely or naturally provide (someone or something) with something."
Unalienable? What is it? "Impossible to take away or give up."
Liberty? What is it? "The state or condition of people who are able to act and speak freely" and "The power to do or choose what you want to do."
Now let's put that all together in modern language. We state that these truths are obvious, that all men are created equal, that they are given by their Creator certain rights which are both impossible to take away and impossible to give up. The rights are life, the freedom to act and speak freely, and to seek their own happiness.
What's interesting here? The idea of truth has fallen out of fashion in our modern society. Truth begs the questions: What is truth? What makes them truth? These are truths according to whom? Our Founding Fathers believed that these rights were obvious. They didn't leave the existence of these rights open for debate. These rights are self-evident. Our Founding Fathers believed in a Creator. Our Founding Fathers believed that this Creator gave each of us life and liberty, and granted us the right to pursue happiness. Note there that our Founding Fathers said absolutely nothing about achieving happiness. None of us have a right to happiness. Moreover, unalienable means that government cannot take these rights away, nor can we give them up. These rights aren't owned by anyone, including the government. They are gifts, from our Creator. That leaves us with a conclusion that seems obvious to me. Truth isn't relative. Truth isn't "of man". Truth, like the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, comes from our Creator.
What happens when we remove our Creator from the equation? We must accept that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are privileges granted to us by our government. If those things can be given by men, they can be taken by men for any reason, at any time.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
A Quickie on P-20 Data Systems
Taken directly from the Achieve Inc, website....
States must collect, coordinate, and use K-12 and postsecondary data to track and improve the readiness of graduates to succeed in college and the workplace.
Longitudinal data systems should follow individual students from grade to grade and school to school, all the way from kindergarten through postsecondary education and into the workplace. Such systems would also provide more accurate measures of dropout and graduation rates, and provide the foundation for early warning systems.
For states to evaluate and understand the impact of particular policies around graduation requirements, assessments and preparedness for postsecondary, they must follow students through K–12 into postsecondary and the workforce and establish feedback loops to the relevant stakeholders to make informed decisions that improve policies and practices around increasing student preparedness.
Take that statement apart, and see if it raises any red flags.
"Longitudinal data systems should follow individual students from grade to grade and school to school, all the way from kindergarten through postsecondary education and into the workplace."
First, do you know what the "P" stands for here? It's preschool. These people want to begin tracking your children in preschool. Postsecondary education? Yeah, that's college - undergraduate and graduate. The workplace? You're supposedly an adult then, out of the institution of public education. Why does the government need to track you then? Does that raise eyebrows for anyone else? The idea of the government tracking my children from the time they are three until they leave the work force gives me the creeps. I cannot imagine what good will come of that, and I can easily come up with dozens of ways that can be abused.
This is a massive expansion of Big Brother. Do you even know what these longitudinal data systems will contain? Digging around a little, I haven't even been able to find out what exactly the Department of Education is mandating be in those systems. In my mind, that is something that should be fully exposed, plain as day, and readily available for anyone who wants to know what information the government is acquiring.
A father in Nevada wanted to see exactly what information was being gathered about his children and was told that the price for retrieval of such records was an astonishing $10,000.
"Such systems would also provide more accurate measures of dropout and graduation rates..."
It seems like simple enrollment - did the child attend school and was the child awarded a diploma - would be more than sufficient to provide that accurate measure of dropout and graduation rates.
"...provide the foundation for early warning systems."
One question: early warning systems for what? Notice that they don't say. Historically, what has happened when the government is able to amass large databases on its citizenry? This raises a huge red flag for me.
"For states to evaluate and understand the impact of particular policies around graduation requirements, assessments and preparedness for postsecondary, they must follow students through K–12 into postsecondary and the workforce..."
Why, exactly, must students be followed into postsecondary and the workforce in order for states to evaluate and understand the impact of particular policies around graduation requirements, assessments and preparedness for postsecondary? And, what particular policies are they talking about?
"...and establish feedback loops..."
Mmm-hmm...Anyone else have any concerns about the security of these feedback loops?
"...to the relevant stakeholders..."
One simple question: who are these relevant shareholders exactly? Notice that they don't say. Anyone else concerned? Let's sweeten the pot even more...since the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act was gutted in January 2012 by a stroke of the executive branch's pen without Congressional approval, your child's personally identifiable information is no longer secure.
"...to make informed decisions that improve policies and practices around increasing student preparedness."
What kind of information do these relevant stakeholders need in order to make informed decisions? Should American citizens have the right to control and approve of whatever information about themselves may be distributed? You have no control. Your approval doesn't matter.
This is sick, sick stuff. Orwellian, for sure. Call me a barbarian, but I will not be silent.
Friday, April 18, 2014
Introducing Self-Governance and a Civics Lesson for My Daughters (and Everyone Else), Part Three
We left off in the last post with a one-or-the-other choice to make. It really is one-or-the-other. These are two fundamentally incompatible worldviews. Do you accept the one that has your dog peeing on your floor, snarling at you, and mauling your children, or do you accept the one that has your dog sitting when you say, "SIT!", and protecting your home and your family from those who might wish to do you harm? You cannot have it both ways...and even my five year old is able to figure out that she wants to be the one to tell the dog to, "SIT!" rather than sitting by and letting the dog chew up all of her toys.
The problem is that many of us have never lived with a dog we controlled. Some of you may remember the cute puppy your dog used to be. Maybe you can look back and pinpoint the exact moment that your dog assumed the Alpha position in the family, but more likely your dog issued a series of seemingly inconsequential challenges to your authority that were never met with backbone that ultimately culminated in your surrender of power and authority to your dog, possibly without you even consciously realizing it. Many of us grew up in homes where our dog had always been the boss. Getting growled at and bitten is normal.
I am trying to change that perception in my house. I don't want my children growing up in an America where they are passively accepting getting growled at and bitten by the dog. That's why I started taking the classes from the Tennessee Center For Self-Governance in the first place. I've been staring at my growling dog, aware of the complete imbalance of power going on here, but because I grew up in an America where that was normal, I don't know how to tame that beast. I just know it needs to be done. I suspect there are a lot of people just like me, people who would do something about retraining that dog if they knew what to do and how to go about doing that. I know that standing by idly and letting the dog growl at me isn't going to improve the situation; it'll actually make it worse in the long run when the dog realizes I'm not going to do anything about it. I know that complaining about the dog's behavior to my friends, none of whom have dogs that behave any better, isn't going to improve the situation, either. So what will?
This is where I believe that the classes created and offered by Mark Herr and the Tennessee Center for Self-Governance are a stroke of brilliance. What will teach our dog to heal, sit, roll over, and stop barking is, metaphorically speaking, Mrs. Powel. The Constitutional Convention in 1787 was held behind closed doors, shrouded in secrecy. Meanwhile, anxious citizens gathered out front, waiting word from the delegates. When the doors opened, a woman named Mrs. Powel approached Benjamin Franklin and asked him whether we had a republic or a monarchy. He replied, "A republic if you can keep it (emphasis mine)."
So who exactly is Mrs. Powel? We're all Mrs. Powel. You, you, you, you, you, and me. All of us. The republic will survive if we can keep it. The key to keeping the republic is keeping Mrs. Powel aware of the power and the freedom that the Constitution grants her, and the confines and limitations it places on the government. When was the last time you actually read the Declaration of Independence or the American Constitution in full? Reading those magical, historical documents isn't like trying to wade through the Affordable Care Act; our founding documents are remarkable in their brevity. It took me less than an hour to read through both of them. Do you have at least a basic understanding of your rights as defined by our Founding Fathers in the Constitution? Do you have at least a basic understanding of how our federal and state governments are supposed to work? Do you know who your state's federal Senators and Representatives are? How about your district's state Senators and Representatives? How about your city's mayor and city planner? Do you know what your elected city council is doing? If you don't know, why don't you know? These people are making decisions and enacting legislation every day that shape our society and impact your life. How do you justify not knowing to yourself? I used to tell myself that I didn't have time. I used to tell myself that it was too complicated. I used to tell myself that my efforts would be wasted anyway because I can't do anything about what's going on. Those are all excuses, though. Excuses for abdicating my responsibility. Excuses for being lazy. I am now reaping the rewards of irresponsibility and laziness. Because not enough of us know, the dog is snarling at us and mauling our children. I guess I care more about my children than I do about myself because as soon as I figured out that the dog is mauling my children, enough was enough.
Thomas Jefferson said, "I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion."
That is the mission of the Tennessee Center for Self-Governance: informing our discretion so that we can save and preserve the republic. I have taken two of the five levels of classes from the Center for Self-Governance. Worth every dime I spent in tuition, and by the way, the tuition is minimal. Worth every second I sat there in class and listened. I have more questions than answers about how this all works, but right now I am trusting the process. I already think differently about the government and my role as a citizen than I did before I took level one. My son is taking the classes with me right now. I'm sharing what I am learning with my husband and our oldest daughter. Once I have completed all five levels, I will have Erica take the series too. I'm sharing the process of having my discretion informed with all of you, in the hopes that it create ripples in the pond, or so to speak.
The problem is that many of us have never lived with a dog we controlled. Some of you may remember the cute puppy your dog used to be. Maybe you can look back and pinpoint the exact moment that your dog assumed the Alpha position in the family, but more likely your dog issued a series of seemingly inconsequential challenges to your authority that were never met with backbone that ultimately culminated in your surrender of power and authority to your dog, possibly without you even consciously realizing it. Many of us grew up in homes where our dog had always been the boss. Getting growled at and bitten is normal.
I am trying to change that perception in my house. I don't want my children growing up in an America where they are passively accepting getting growled at and bitten by the dog. That's why I started taking the classes from the Tennessee Center For Self-Governance in the first place. I've been staring at my growling dog, aware of the complete imbalance of power going on here, but because I grew up in an America where that was normal, I don't know how to tame that beast. I just know it needs to be done. I suspect there are a lot of people just like me, people who would do something about retraining that dog if they knew what to do and how to go about doing that. I know that standing by idly and letting the dog growl at me isn't going to improve the situation; it'll actually make it worse in the long run when the dog realizes I'm not going to do anything about it. I know that complaining about the dog's behavior to my friends, none of whom have dogs that behave any better, isn't going to improve the situation, either. So what will?
This is where I believe that the classes created and offered by Mark Herr and the Tennessee Center for Self-Governance are a stroke of brilliance. What will teach our dog to heal, sit, roll over, and stop barking is, metaphorically speaking, Mrs. Powel. The Constitutional Convention in 1787 was held behind closed doors, shrouded in secrecy. Meanwhile, anxious citizens gathered out front, waiting word from the delegates. When the doors opened, a woman named Mrs. Powel approached Benjamin Franklin and asked him whether we had a republic or a monarchy. He replied, "A republic if you can keep it (emphasis mine)."
So who exactly is Mrs. Powel? We're all Mrs. Powel. You, you, you, you, you, and me. All of us. The republic will survive if we can keep it. The key to keeping the republic is keeping Mrs. Powel aware of the power and the freedom that the Constitution grants her, and the confines and limitations it places on the government. When was the last time you actually read the Declaration of Independence or the American Constitution in full? Reading those magical, historical documents isn't like trying to wade through the Affordable Care Act; our founding documents are remarkable in their brevity. It took me less than an hour to read through both of them. Do you have at least a basic understanding of your rights as defined by our Founding Fathers in the Constitution? Do you have at least a basic understanding of how our federal and state governments are supposed to work? Do you know who your state's federal Senators and Representatives are? How about your district's state Senators and Representatives? How about your city's mayor and city planner? Do you know what your elected city council is doing? If you don't know, why don't you know? These people are making decisions and enacting legislation every day that shape our society and impact your life. How do you justify not knowing to yourself? I used to tell myself that I didn't have time. I used to tell myself that it was too complicated. I used to tell myself that my efforts would be wasted anyway because I can't do anything about what's going on. Those are all excuses, though. Excuses for abdicating my responsibility. Excuses for being lazy. I am now reaping the rewards of irresponsibility and laziness. Because not enough of us know, the dog is snarling at us and mauling our children. I guess I care more about my children than I do about myself because as soon as I figured out that the dog is mauling my children, enough was enough.
Thomas Jefferson said, "I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion."
That is the mission of the Tennessee Center for Self-Governance: informing our discretion so that we can save and preserve the republic. I have taken two of the five levels of classes from the Center for Self-Governance. Worth every dime I spent in tuition, and by the way, the tuition is minimal. Worth every second I sat there in class and listened. I have more questions than answers about how this all works, but right now I am trusting the process. I already think differently about the government and my role as a citizen than I did before I took level one. My son is taking the classes with me right now. I'm sharing what I am learning with my husband and our oldest daughter. Once I have completed all five levels, I will have Erica take the series too. I'm sharing the process of having my discretion informed with all of you, in the hopes that it create ripples in the pond, or so to speak.
Introducing the Idea of Self-Governance and a Civics Lesson for My Daughters (and Everyone Else), Part Two
I left off in my last post, asking my daughter (and you), "What would happen with an informed, engaged citizenry?"
Think about what the state of the union would be like if everyone were able to say, "They are one and the same" rather than giving the jaw dropping displays of ignorance everyone saw when Jimmy Kimmel asked whether they preferred Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act. Think about what the state of the union would be like if everyone were able to answer, "John Boehner" (currently) when asked who the Speaker of the House is during a Man On The Street by Leno or one of those other late night hosts. Think about what the state of the union would be like if everyone were well-versed in our founding documents and had a full understanding of the proper roles of government and We The People in running our republic.
The most powerful thing about self-governance is that it is not a partisan issue. It isn't a black, white, Native American, or Hispanic issue. It isn't a rich or poor issue. It isn't a young or old issue. It isn't a secular or religious issue. It isn't a West Coast or an East Coast issue. It isn't a North or a South issue. It isn't an urban or a rural issue. The notion of self-governance, as I understand it, as put forth by Mark Herr and the Tennessee Center For Self-Governance doesn't mean that everyone will agree on everything. Issues and candidates are secondary; the forces of centralized governance will use those to divide and conquer.
The idea of self-governance can be boiled down to two very simple questions. Who knows best how to run your life - you or the government? And, are you the master, or are you the slave?
That brings us to the metaphor that made my Jillian laugh. I'll unfold it under two different scenarios: the way things are currently and the way things are supposed to be.
Think about what the state of the union would be like if everyone were able to say, "They are one and the same" rather than giving the jaw dropping displays of ignorance everyone saw when Jimmy Kimmel asked whether they preferred Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act. Think about what the state of the union would be like if everyone were able to answer, "John Boehner" (currently) when asked who the Speaker of the House is during a Man On The Street by Leno or one of those other late night hosts. Think about what the state of the union would be like if everyone were well-versed in our founding documents and had a full understanding of the proper roles of government and We The People in running our republic.
The most powerful thing about self-governance is that it is not a partisan issue. It isn't a black, white, Native American, or Hispanic issue. It isn't a rich or poor issue. It isn't a young or old issue. It isn't a secular or religious issue. It isn't a West Coast or an East Coast issue. It isn't a North or a South issue. It isn't an urban or a rural issue. The notion of self-governance, as I understand it, as put forth by Mark Herr and the Tennessee Center For Self-Governance doesn't mean that everyone will agree on everything. Issues and candidates are secondary; the forces of centralized governance will use those to divide and conquer.
The idea of self-governance can be boiled down to two very simple questions. Who knows best how to run your life - you or the government? And, are you the master, or are you the slave?
That brings us to the metaphor that made my Jillian laugh. I'll unfold it under two different scenarios: the way things are currently and the way things are supposed to be.
The Way Things Are Currently
We The People are the spineless, wimpy owners of a very aggressive dog that has assumed the Alpha role in the house. The government? Yup, it's the dog. We The People aren't informed or engaged enough, and we've lost control of the beast. Our dog is chewing up our furniture. Our dog is peeing on our floors. Our dog is stealing food right off our plates. Our dog is terrorizing our cats. Our dog is yanking our arms right out of the sockets when it takes us for a walk. Our dog is snarling at us when we get too close. If our dog could laugh at us when we say, "SIT!", it would. Oh, and our dog is mauling our children too. And we are letting it happen. All of it. What the heck is the matter with us?!
The Way Things Are Supposed to Be
We The People enjoy our family dog. We especially like having the dog around for protection. The government? Yup, it's still the dog. The difference here is that We The People are informed and engaged enough to nip our dog's bad behavior in the bud. In fact, we've gone through obedience training with our dog - and it isn't us doing the obeying! We The People take our dog for walks, and there is slack in the leash; our arms aren't getting yanked out of sockets by our unruly dog. When We The People say, "SIT!", our dog drops its butt to the floor.
Now, which scenario sounds more appealing to you? My five year old thinks she should be the one telling the dog to sit.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Introducing the Idea of Self-Governance and a Civics Lesson for My Daughters (and Everyone Else), Part One
I made my five year old daughter laugh tonight. Hard. For some reason, when I told my girls that We The People are the masters and the government is the family dog that needs to be properly trained, it tickled Jillian's funny bone. I'm not sure how much of my explanation she actually understood, but it made sense to my 12 year old. So, let me backtrack a bit, and I'll share it with you.
We don't have a DVD player in our car. My kids don't put earbuds in the second they get buckled in and tune out, either. Sometimes we'll leave the radio on or put in a CD, but mostly, we talk. And I'm glad we've made that choice as a family, because otherwise, we'd miss out on all sorts of incredible conversations. Tonight, was one of those discussions. I was driving my eldest daughter, Erica, to Sign Language Choir, and the conversation turned to personal strengths and weaknesses. Erica has a tendency to devalue the things that come easily to her. I told her that different things come easily to different people, which brought the conversation to academic subjects and school...and Common Core.
At that point, I said something I've said frequently. I do not believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to education. (Incidentally, that is a big part of why my husband and I homeschool our children.) Human infants, toddlers, and preschoolers do not master physical, mental, emotional, or social milestones at the same time or to the same degree, nor does anyone (sane) expect them to. No one, regardless of whether they spent the last 12 years in a classroom run by standards-based education or not, arrives at adulthood with the same information and the same amount of information tucked away in their mental files. How do most adults and children (before they are shepherded into one-size-fits-all classrooms around the age of five or six) learn? They learn by recognizing a desire or a need to know something. With that need or desire in hand, they go about locating the resources to learn said material. With the resources located, they hunker down and learn it. They stick with the studying and/or practicing until they have reached a level of knowledge or a degree of mastery that is satisfying for them.
That was nothing new for either of my girls. That is how their educations have been directed their entire lives. My end goal for my children's education is threefold. One, I want to preserve my children's natural love of learning. Two, I want them to have the time, freedom, and flexibility to explore their interests as widely or as deeply as they desire. In other words, they know best what they "need" to know at any given time. Three, I want them to know how to learn so that learning is a natural extension of daily living throughout their entire lives. But, as I explained to them, that mode of education is not possible in a traditional classroom for a variety of reasons, nor does the institution of public education share my same goals.
Note there that I said the institution of public education; I have a tremendous amount of respect for most teachers in public schools. Most of them care very deeply for their students. Most of them want amazing things and have big dreams for their students. Most of them dig deep into their hearts, souls, and wallets to provide their students with the best they can offer. I have very little respect for the institution of public education, though. It long ago ceased to be about enriching the minds and lives of the children entrusted to it. I have long suspected, and what I am learning about Common Core is confirming those suspicions for me, that the institution of public education has two end goals that I am diametrically opposed to: undermining the family and indoctrinating "worker bees" whose allegiance is to the government.
The mission of centralized government, regardless of which political party is currently holding the reins, is to preserve the power it currently has and expand it from there. How does governmental power expand? It expands by swallowing the freedoms of the people it is supposed to serve. If you are seeking to control someone else, how do you do that? Can you control an informed, well-educated person who is able to evaluate things critically? Can you control someone who is able to think "outside the box" and examine issues from all sorts of perspectives? Can you control someone who fully understands how our government is supposed to work and what his or her role in that process is supposed to be? Of course not.
At that point, our conversation shifted to the idea of self-governance. I asked Erica, "What would happen with an informed, engaged citizenry?"
We don't have a DVD player in our car. My kids don't put earbuds in the second they get buckled in and tune out, either. Sometimes we'll leave the radio on or put in a CD, but mostly, we talk. And I'm glad we've made that choice as a family, because otherwise, we'd miss out on all sorts of incredible conversations. Tonight, was one of those discussions. I was driving my eldest daughter, Erica, to Sign Language Choir, and the conversation turned to personal strengths and weaknesses. Erica has a tendency to devalue the things that come easily to her. I told her that different things come easily to different people, which brought the conversation to academic subjects and school...and Common Core.
At that point, I said something I've said frequently. I do not believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to education. (Incidentally, that is a big part of why my husband and I homeschool our children.) Human infants, toddlers, and preschoolers do not master physical, mental, emotional, or social milestones at the same time or to the same degree, nor does anyone (sane) expect them to. No one, regardless of whether they spent the last 12 years in a classroom run by standards-based education or not, arrives at adulthood with the same information and the same amount of information tucked away in their mental files. How do most adults and children (before they are shepherded into one-size-fits-all classrooms around the age of five or six) learn? They learn by recognizing a desire or a need to know something. With that need or desire in hand, they go about locating the resources to learn said material. With the resources located, they hunker down and learn it. They stick with the studying and/or practicing until they have reached a level of knowledge or a degree of mastery that is satisfying for them.
That was nothing new for either of my girls. That is how their educations have been directed their entire lives. My end goal for my children's education is threefold. One, I want to preserve my children's natural love of learning. Two, I want them to have the time, freedom, and flexibility to explore their interests as widely or as deeply as they desire. In other words, they know best what they "need" to know at any given time. Three, I want them to know how to learn so that learning is a natural extension of daily living throughout their entire lives. But, as I explained to them, that mode of education is not possible in a traditional classroom for a variety of reasons, nor does the institution of public education share my same goals.
Note there that I said the institution of public education; I have a tremendous amount of respect for most teachers in public schools. Most of them care very deeply for their students. Most of them want amazing things and have big dreams for their students. Most of them dig deep into their hearts, souls, and wallets to provide their students with the best they can offer. I have very little respect for the institution of public education, though. It long ago ceased to be about enriching the minds and lives of the children entrusted to it. I have long suspected, and what I am learning about Common Core is confirming those suspicions for me, that the institution of public education has two end goals that I am diametrically opposed to: undermining the family and indoctrinating "worker bees" whose allegiance is to the government.
The mission of centralized government, regardless of which political party is currently holding the reins, is to preserve the power it currently has and expand it from there. How does governmental power expand? It expands by swallowing the freedoms of the people it is supposed to serve. If you are seeking to control someone else, how do you do that? Can you control an informed, well-educated person who is able to evaluate things critically? Can you control someone who is able to think "outside the box" and examine issues from all sorts of perspectives? Can you control someone who fully understands how our government is supposed to work and what his or her role in that process is supposed to be? Of course not.
At that point, our conversation shifted to the idea of self-governance. I asked Erica, "What would happen with an informed, engaged citizenry?"
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Faces of Common Core
This video called "Faces of Common Core" just popped up in my newsfeed on Facebook. It's only five minutes long. I watched it...and my heart broke.
Is Common Core unconstitutional? Absolutely. Is our children's privacy being violated? For sure. Neither of those are seemingly compelling enough reasons for people to get involved and put a stop to this nonsense. How about those little faces then? Does seeing a child transform right before our eyes from a child excited about school, shining from the inside out, into a child who is so burdened by frustration and failure that he or she is broken inside do anything to you?
With Common Core left in place, flash forward a decade. Have those first graders who are already overwhelmed, already frustrated, and already feel like failures magically grown into eleventh graders with a solid grasp on their educations, only experiencing the sort of frustration that normal feel feel over the course of normal daily living, and feeling successful? Go forward another decade, then two, three, and four. What do those once tiny lives look like then? Setting aside all compassion for the children right now who are feeling overwhelmed and are learning that they are stupid failures, let's look for a moment at everyone's "skin in the game", regardless of whether or not you have children in the public school system: Remember, these are the people who will be running and shaping society then.
What kind of person do you want teaching your grandchildren? What kind of person do you want tending to your sick loved ones? What kind of person do you want making policy decisions with lasting repercussions for the whole of society? What kind of person do you want flying your airplanes and driving your taxis? What kind of person do you want growing your food or preparing it? What kind of person do you want ministering to your soul? What kind of people do we need to fill all of the roles we need filled in our modern society? What kind of people do we need in order to continue making advancements in the way we live and how we live? Broken people who believe that they are failures will never embrace their God-given destinies. They will never be able to encourage someone else. They will never take the risks that are necessary for transformative growth.
We must care about people. We must care about what is happening in the daily lives of children all over the country, in places parents parents have entrusted our most precious resources. When we are confronted with evil, and in my mind evil is what is transforming those faces from joy and hope to frustration and despair, we must act. Get connected with other people who are fighting Common Core on social media. Spend an hour or two to bring yourself fully up to speed on what isn't being said about Common Core by proponents. Find out if there is any legislation against Common Core in your state legislature, and start making phone calls and writing letters. Attend your local school board meetings.
Do everything you can possibly do, so that either Common Core is scrapped and children are saved from that madness, or you can look yourself, your children, and your grandchildren in the eye and tell them honestly that you did everything you could do to spare them from it.
Is Common Core unconstitutional? Absolutely. Is our children's privacy being violated? For sure. Neither of those are seemingly compelling enough reasons for people to get involved and put a stop to this nonsense. How about those little faces then? Does seeing a child transform right before our eyes from a child excited about school, shining from the inside out, into a child who is so burdened by frustration and failure that he or she is broken inside do anything to you?
With Common Core left in place, flash forward a decade. Have those first graders who are already overwhelmed, already frustrated, and already feel like failures magically grown into eleventh graders with a solid grasp on their educations, only experiencing the sort of frustration that normal feel feel over the course of normal daily living, and feeling successful? Go forward another decade, then two, three, and four. What do those once tiny lives look like then? Setting aside all compassion for the children right now who are feeling overwhelmed and are learning that they are stupid failures, let's look for a moment at everyone's "skin in the game", regardless of whether or not you have children in the public school system: Remember, these are the people who will be running and shaping society then.
What kind of person do you want teaching your grandchildren? What kind of person do you want tending to your sick loved ones? What kind of person do you want making policy decisions with lasting repercussions for the whole of society? What kind of person do you want flying your airplanes and driving your taxis? What kind of person do you want growing your food or preparing it? What kind of person do you want ministering to your soul? What kind of people do we need to fill all of the roles we need filled in our modern society? What kind of people do we need in order to continue making advancements in the way we live and how we live? Broken people who believe that they are failures will never embrace their God-given destinies. They will never be able to encourage someone else. They will never take the risks that are necessary for transformative growth.
We must care about people. We must care about what is happening in the daily lives of children all over the country, in places parents parents have entrusted our most precious resources. When we are confronted with evil, and in my mind evil is what is transforming those faces from joy and hope to frustration and despair, we must act. Get connected with other people who are fighting Common Core on social media. Spend an hour or two to bring yourself fully up to speed on what isn't being said about Common Core by proponents. Find out if there is any legislation against Common Core in your state legislature, and start making phone calls and writing letters. Attend your local school board meetings.
Do everything you can possibly do, so that either Common Core is scrapped and children are saved from that madness, or you can look yourself, your children, and your grandchildren in the eye and tell them honestly that you did everything you could do to spare them from it.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Education In My House
Taking a break here from all of the digging and researching, the sifting and sorting to make sense of buried facts and threads that unravel in chilling directions, to post an "off-the-top-of-my-head" opinion piece about the purpose of education, why I believe that standards-based, high-stakes testing assessed education violates what should be the purpose of education, and why, therefore, my children are not and never have been in a public school.
As a disclaimer, I'd like to say a few things first. I believe that any child can get a decent education anywhere - even at the worst school in the worst school district in the worst state for education - as long as his or her parents are involved. My way isn't the right way for everyone. I realize that not everyone can homeschool, wants to homeschool, or even should homeschool. I chose to homeschool my children because doing so was the path of least resistance toward providing my children with an education that matched my philosophy about the purpose of education. I probably could find some sort of charter school that would work, or I could have struggled to do so within the parameters of a traditional public school. I didn't want the uphill battle, though.
My goal as a homeschooler is not to teach my children everything. It's impossible anyway, no matter where your child gets his or her education. When my youngest child reaches adulthood in 13 years, I know I will have achieved success as a homeschooler if:
Notice that nowhere in there did I say anything about success looking like an A+ or a 100% on an exam. A test will tell you what a student is able to remember and retell at the moment the test is given. A test does not measure mastery of a subject, nor does it measure the intelligence of the test-taker.
As I see it, the purpose of education is to take a human being from dependent infancy to becoming an independent, competent, contributing, adult member of society who has garnered the knowledge and built the passion to fulfill his or her destiny. I find the idea that every person must learn the same things as everyone else, at the same time everyone else learns them, and to the same degree that everyone else learns them absolutely ludicrous. Not only is that destined to fail because people are not machines that can be programmed exactly the same way right down the assembly line and society actually does need people with different dreams and skill sets to perform all of the tasks it takes to run a modern community, it should fail because it's also immoral and cruel to strip someone's soul of his or her natural yearning to be who he or she is.
The primary goal of education in my house is to preserve my children's natural love of learning. Successful and happy adults never stop learning. If education fails to preserve that love of learning, education has failed. A child who grows to hate what was once a natural endowment will never truly learn anything. A child who learns that education and learning are frustrating and boring experiences will miss out on so much of life. A child whose natural love of learning has been squashed like a bug under the foot of "Big Education" is a victim, not a student. Does this look like a child who loves learning?
Preserving a child's natural love of learning means allowing them the freedom and the flexibility to explore what interests them. Since they are home and their days are, by and large, not broken up into arbitrary subjects that start and finish when someone else deems them to start and finish, education in my house looks like four people (because I too am constantly learning) during the day pursuing the information and skills to do what we want and need to do right now to be who we are right now and to prepare ourselves for who we want to be in the immediate future. My 15 year old will often be found with his nose in a book. My 12 year old will often be found with her pencil in her hand and a sketch pad in front of her. My 5 year old will often be found playing with numbers out loud, saying things like 2 + 2 + 2 - 1 is 5 (don't ask me how she knows that stuff cold like she does, because I have no explanation other than "it's her thing"). My point is that most of the time, they have the time to explore what's on their minds until their curiosity is sated. My children will know themselves. They will know what their strengths are and how to play to those. They will know what their weaknesses are and how to adjust for those. They will know what lights them up inside. They will know how to suffer through something unpleasant to achieve something that they want more than they want to avoid the unpleasant.
When children are in a traditional classroom for five or six hours a day, and they have an hour, two, or more of homework every night, when do they have the time to learn something of their choosing? When they've been told what to read, when to read it, and how to respond to it, when do they ever read for pleasure and to engage their imaginations? When the bell rings and science is "over", what does that do to the child who excels in science and who would rather be conducting experiments than just about anything else? When the unit on World War Two is over, what does that do to the child who wants to know more about Normandy or Hitler? What message does it send to the child who wants more information but is told that the lesson is over? When nearly every single thing that children will be taught in school gets boiled down to a high-stakes test, what does that do to the children who don't take tests well? What does it do to the joy that should be taking place in making new discoveries and connections?
In my house, my children have discovered that learning is fun and exciting, and each bit of information they master opens new doors for them. They learn that they have the power to mold and shape their own destinies. In my house, my children learn the same way adults do. They first identify a want or a need to learn something. Then, they seek out the resources and materials to learn what they want or need to learn. Finally, they do it. First, though, is the why. Why do I want to learn this? If the reason is compelling enough, the learning gets done. The learning gets done faster and better. There are no fights in my house about things like memorizing math facts or learning to write reports. I trust that life will prepare my children each and every day for the next, and I simply wait for my children to recognize for themselves a desire or a need to learn something. They then ask for the resources to do it, and I either provide them or I help my children find those resources themselves. My 15 year old, who hated to write just a few years ago, figured out that some of the merit badges he wanted to earn required written reports. He didn't know how to write a written report. Guess what? He does now...and he earned those merit badges...and our relationship wasn't damaged in the process by me demanding of him that he learn something he didn't see a need or a desire to learn. When the time came to learn to write reports, we were partners. I was a guide and a resource, helping him achieve what he wanted.
When children are told what to learn, when to learn it, and to which degree they must learn it, do those children learn that they have that power to mold and shape their own lives? Do they learn to think critically about things? Do they learn to question what is presented to them? When children are told that they must learn something but they fail to internalize a reason (what I call the why) for doing so, do they really learn the information, or do they "learn" it well enough to pass the test before they forget it? When children are given a set of standards that isn't developmentally appropriate and told that they must comply with those standards, do they feel empowered and smart?
I get a lot of "what if" questions from people who don't understand my philosophy of education. What if my children don't learn what they need to know in order to get into college? The short answer is either they don't go to college, or they get on with learning whatever it is that they need to know before they can go to college. Either way, it will be their choice, as it should be. What if my daughter never memorizes her math facts? Life will come to an end. Just kidding. It'll take her longer to do math problems. So what? When and if that is an issue for her, she'll figure out a way to either memorize those math facts or compensate for not knowing them cold. What if they don't get "enough" science? Enough science for what? I took three years of science in high school and I couldn't tell you a single thing that I supposedly learned, and clearly, it hasn't negatively impacted my life.
What will happen to my children is that they will learn how to take responsibility for what they want to learn, be, and do. What will happen is that my children will not ever measure their self-worth according to a test. What will happen is that my children will never be made to feel stupid because of confusing questions and developmentally inappropriate standards, like those imposed by the Common Core.
As a disclaimer, I'd like to say a few things first. I believe that any child can get a decent education anywhere - even at the worst school in the worst school district in the worst state for education - as long as his or her parents are involved. My way isn't the right way for everyone. I realize that not everyone can homeschool, wants to homeschool, or even should homeschool. I chose to homeschool my children because doing so was the path of least resistance toward providing my children with an education that matched my philosophy about the purpose of education. I probably could find some sort of charter school that would work, or I could have struggled to do so within the parameters of a traditional public school. I didn't want the uphill battle, though.
My goal as a homeschooler is not to teach my children everything. It's impossible anyway, no matter where your child gets his or her education. When my youngest child reaches adulthood in 13 years, I know I will have achieved success as a homeschooler if:
- I have preserved my children's natural love of learning
- I have honored my children's God-given talents by giving them the freedom and flexibility to explore as widely and deeply as they desire into their passions
- They each have ownership over the directions that their educations have taken, without interference from me
- I have taught them how to learn, so that when the times come that they must learn something new, they have the skills and know-how to figure out what it is that they need to know, which resources will best help them acquire that information, and the ability to learn it
Notice that nowhere in there did I say anything about success looking like an A+ or a 100% on an exam. A test will tell you what a student is able to remember and retell at the moment the test is given. A test does not measure mastery of a subject, nor does it measure the intelligence of the test-taker.
As I see it, the purpose of education is to take a human being from dependent infancy to becoming an independent, competent, contributing, adult member of society who has garnered the knowledge and built the passion to fulfill his or her destiny. I find the idea that every person must learn the same things as everyone else, at the same time everyone else learns them, and to the same degree that everyone else learns them absolutely ludicrous. Not only is that destined to fail because people are not machines that can be programmed exactly the same way right down the assembly line and society actually does need people with different dreams and skill sets to perform all of the tasks it takes to run a modern community, it should fail because it's also immoral and cruel to strip someone's soul of his or her natural yearning to be who he or she is.
The primary goal of education in my house is to preserve my children's natural love of learning. Successful and happy adults never stop learning. If education fails to preserve that love of learning, education has failed. A child who grows to hate what was once a natural endowment will never truly learn anything. A child who learns that education and learning are frustrating and boring experiences will miss out on so much of life. A child whose natural love of learning has been squashed like a bug under the foot of "Big Education" is a victim, not a student. Does this look like a child who loves learning?
Preserving a child's natural love of learning means allowing them the freedom and the flexibility to explore what interests them. Since they are home and their days are, by and large, not broken up into arbitrary subjects that start and finish when someone else deems them to start and finish, education in my house looks like four people (because I too am constantly learning) during the day pursuing the information and skills to do what we want and need to do right now to be who we are right now and to prepare ourselves for who we want to be in the immediate future. My 15 year old will often be found with his nose in a book. My 12 year old will often be found with her pencil in her hand and a sketch pad in front of her. My 5 year old will often be found playing with numbers out loud, saying things like 2 + 2 + 2 - 1 is 5 (don't ask me how she knows that stuff cold like she does, because I have no explanation other than "it's her thing"). My point is that most of the time, they have the time to explore what's on their minds until their curiosity is sated. My children will know themselves. They will know what their strengths are and how to play to those. They will know what their weaknesses are and how to adjust for those. They will know what lights them up inside. They will know how to suffer through something unpleasant to achieve something that they want more than they want to avoid the unpleasant.
When children are in a traditional classroom for five or six hours a day, and they have an hour, two, or more of homework every night, when do they have the time to learn something of their choosing? When they've been told what to read, when to read it, and how to respond to it, when do they ever read for pleasure and to engage their imaginations? When the bell rings and science is "over", what does that do to the child who excels in science and who would rather be conducting experiments than just about anything else? When the unit on World War Two is over, what does that do to the child who wants to know more about Normandy or Hitler? What message does it send to the child who wants more information but is told that the lesson is over? When nearly every single thing that children will be taught in school gets boiled down to a high-stakes test, what does that do to the children who don't take tests well? What does it do to the joy that should be taking place in making new discoveries and connections?
In my house, my children have discovered that learning is fun and exciting, and each bit of information they master opens new doors for them. They learn that they have the power to mold and shape their own destinies. In my house, my children learn the same way adults do. They first identify a want or a need to learn something. Then, they seek out the resources and materials to learn what they want or need to learn. Finally, they do it. First, though, is the why. Why do I want to learn this? If the reason is compelling enough, the learning gets done. The learning gets done faster and better. There are no fights in my house about things like memorizing math facts or learning to write reports. I trust that life will prepare my children each and every day for the next, and I simply wait for my children to recognize for themselves a desire or a need to learn something. They then ask for the resources to do it, and I either provide them or I help my children find those resources themselves. My 15 year old, who hated to write just a few years ago, figured out that some of the merit badges he wanted to earn required written reports. He didn't know how to write a written report. Guess what? He does now...and he earned those merit badges...and our relationship wasn't damaged in the process by me demanding of him that he learn something he didn't see a need or a desire to learn. When the time came to learn to write reports, we were partners. I was a guide and a resource, helping him achieve what he wanted.
When children are told what to learn, when to learn it, and to which degree they must learn it, do those children learn that they have that power to mold and shape their own lives? Do they learn to think critically about things? Do they learn to question what is presented to them? When children are told that they must learn something but they fail to internalize a reason (what I call the why) for doing so, do they really learn the information, or do they "learn" it well enough to pass the test before they forget it? When children are given a set of standards that isn't developmentally appropriate and told that they must comply with those standards, do they feel empowered and smart?
I get a lot of "what if" questions from people who don't understand my philosophy of education. What if my children don't learn what they need to know in order to get into college? The short answer is either they don't go to college, or they get on with learning whatever it is that they need to know before they can go to college. Either way, it will be their choice, as it should be. What if my daughter never memorizes her math facts? Life will come to an end. Just kidding. It'll take her longer to do math problems. So what? When and if that is an issue for her, she'll figure out a way to either memorize those math facts or compensate for not knowing them cold. What if they don't get "enough" science? Enough science for what? I took three years of science in high school and I couldn't tell you a single thing that I supposedly learned, and clearly, it hasn't negatively impacted my life.
What will happen to my children is that they will learn how to take responsibility for what they want to learn, be, and do. What will happen is that my children will not ever measure their self-worth according to a test. What will happen is that my children will never be made to feel stupid because of confusing questions and developmentally inappropriate standards, like those imposed by the Common Core.
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