Seek Wisdom, Not Facts

Theodore Roosevelt:

To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.

We search and search for the answers (or rather a quick fix, easy solution) to the violence and mayhem happening in our culture and around the world today. Invariably someone cries out, “We need more education!”

Ignore these people. We have been “educating” generations of American children to no avail. A society can not survive long, where even “The Golden Rule” can’t be discussed in a public school.

Seek wisdom. Find and keep a moral compass that is rooted in something other than the material or in the self. Once you have wisdom and morality, you’ll then know what to do with all of the useless facts.

They’re Called Outpatient Orphanages

Unfortunately, I think I’ve called it well in advance. As reported in The Daily Sheeple.com it seems our current Education Czar, Arne Duncan, believes that because there are so many children without a quality home life, the providers of a “quality education” should start looking into boarding schools for these lost boys (and girls). Boarding schools are just another name for Outpatient Orphanages.

Back in the old days, the institutions where children without parents went were called Orphanages. Nowadays, we have the framework for Orphanages already built and ready to go. They are called Public Schools. The only thing one need add is a few dorm rooms, and the green light for derelict and dependent parents to just leave their extra children at the school for pick up, when (or if) it’s convenient for them.

I wonder if there will be a time when attendance at government Outpatient Orphanages will be compulsory? Are you going to keep taking your children there, until it’s too late to take them out?

The New American reports:

In essence, according to Duncan in various speeches, government schools, now largely controlled from Washington, D.C., are being used as a “weapon” to “change the world.” With the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as what the education secretary called his “global partner,” public education will also serve as a tool to transform children into what he described as “green citizens.” If Obama’s “Green Jobs” Czar Van Jones had not been forced to resign over his self-declared revolutionary communist views, he could have even placed the newly minted “green citizens” into the “green jobs” Duncan says the feds are preparing them for.

When your children aren’t your children

I reject the notion that the Federal government and its employees are in any way responsible for the upbringing or education or even the personal happiness of my children… as suggested by this tweet from the White House:

Education and the power and money that goes with it, is simply NOT in the constitution.

Skip School Now! It’s Time for DIY Education

I’ve been preaching it for years: It’s time for individuals with the skills and entrepreneurial spirit to just DO IT… and start creating alternative learning businesses, organizations and associations/groups so that anyone can choose to skip compulsory state schooling, and get the education they want for their children.

I was enjoying a new site to me this morning. It’s called Dropout Nation, edited by RiShawn Biddle. In a post from 2011 called The Promise of DIY Schools, RiShawn details how the concept of Do It Yourself (DIY) schools have been a part of our history for quite a long time, especially since the ending of slavery, when public schooling wasn’t immediately available to the children of recently freed slaves.

…Imagine if such DIY ethic was brought into reforming American public education? We’re not necessarily talking about the so-called unschooling movement (which consists of very few kids and their parents), or the more-mainstream homeschooling. This would go beyond that. The idea would be that teachers, parents or others committed to reforming American public education would simply start their own schools, either in their own homes, in storefronts or even in the basements of churches. While the schools would still be subjected to standards and accountability — including testing — to ensure that every child is getting high-quality instruction and curriculum, they would be able to create cultures of genius with little bureaucracy in the way.

I will have some fine points to add to this article, but suffice to say, it’s worth reading.

Another Skipping School post worth reading.

Public Schooling: Indoctrination and Distraction

An excellent video of a high school graduation speech by a student that obviously hasn’t been brainwashed by the system. What’s amazing is that she wasn’t stopped.

The second half of the video is of Sir Ken Robinson, on the changing paradigm of education. Well worth the 15 minutes.