Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
About Me
- Susan Harwood
- It's one of those odd things . . . I live in my little house by the sea and listen to the radio and reckon I know best about more-or-less everything . . . as I keep telling the news-casters, the policiticians and all the experts interviewed there. I shout quite loud - but I'm beginning to suspect they can't hear! Sometimes, I write to my MP . . . but there's always more to say. So, here it is!
BOOK ON A BLOG
THE BRICKS IN THE CAVE - A full length children's adventure story by Susan Harwood - click on the book to read it.
ANOTHER BOOK ON A BLOG
TIMES RHYMES - For people who want to learn 'Times Tables' the easy way!
16 comments:
Hi Susan: Returning the compliment. But if you're interested in blogs by people interested in the environment, check out my regular blog too at dianeparkin.blogspot.com - there's not often much on there but I do occasionally have a bit of a rant. Say hello if you're passing.
just found you on Anna's blog...I live near Boston in the USA, I am a designer and I also love England...to ..we live by the sea as well, love the beach and boating and traveling...keeping the world safe and pretty
welcome!
best,
carol
That gem of wisdom has certainly made me think. I am always pushing my kids with their studies, doing extra lessons with them etc, but I need to step back and remember sometimes that education isn't everything.
Michelle
Thank you for your comment.
My children are in mainstream education and I had expected one of my gresatest challenges as a parent would be to get them to study. Instead, I find I get into quarrels with the school about how much homework they are set . . . and have to persuade the children to 'stop working on that project, you've done enough for now' etc.. It feels all very back to front!
Carol - thanks for your note.
What do you design?
Harumph - too much of what passes for education consits of counting grades, National Curriculum levels etc.
A disillusioned ex-teacher.
I believe in tough old fashioned education. My children went through the French system (one has finished, one still in it ). Not fun. All work and no play. But I think it prepared them well for the harsh realities of life.
Good Morning Eurodog!
I think I would approach this from the other direction - try to take the harsh realities out of life so children won't need to be 'prepared' for them.
Susan
There's a kind of homeschooling that is all about learning, but not about "education." It's generally called unschooling in the U.S. and Canada, "autonomous education" in the U.S. and maybe other things other places.
I have a collection of writings and comments, and my friend Joyce, who lives in Massachusetts, has a site with similar ideas but a very different format and tone.
sandradodd.com/unschooling
joyfullyrejoycing.com/
Part of what makes the world harsh is school itself, and the hurts so many adults carry throughout their lives. For me, school was better than home, but that's far from an ideal life. Children from a loving, peaceful home do better as adults, it seems. (And they do better as children too; they do better as people.)
Sandra
You bring a really interesting perspective.
Language is awkward. Sometimes, I find myself saying I'm 'anti-education' . . . But if asked to define the word, I would probably come up with something rather positive, along the lines of being drawn towards understanding while gaining in knowledge.
Whereas, if asked to define 'learning' I might describe something narrower . . . Perhaps being drilled in knowledge without growing in understanding.
And there are other contradictions. While I rant at the school for setting homework during the holidays, I am delighted to see how happy my daughter was over Christmas, writing what appears to be the definitive history of the Roman Empire (according to a twelve year old)and I put every means I could at her disposal so she could do it as well as she wanted to - which involved her working for much longer each day than she would have done at school . . . at the same time as thinking BUT IT'S THE HOLIDAYS!
Contradictions!
I'd be interested to know your opinion of some pictures and rhymes I've started putting on a blog called TIMES RHYMES
http://timesrhymes.blogspot.com/
(It's for helping people with learning the 'facts' of multiplication)
(I'd also like to know how come everyone except me knows how to put proper links in these comment boxes!)
But since I can't . . . there's a link to TIMES RHYMES on the main page of this blog!
. . . you you could click on my name here, that would work!
There are a few different views about education. And it may be that none of them are wrong. I'm certainly no expert on the subject, yet I've been intrigued by it all my life.
I believe my grandfather was my first tutor, teaching me to read, write and do arithmetic long before I went to primary school. He also used to use the comic section of "The Sunday Post" to get me interested in riddles, and puzzle solving.
At my primary school I had a great headmaster, Charlie Tulley, and for most of my years there a terrific class teacher, Mrs Cameron. She worked hard with those of us who revealed above average intelligence, while not sparing herself with the rest of the class.Maybe I'm biased about my primary education being so good, because I was dux of that primary school - but only because they kept me up to the mark.
Secondary was much more of a mixture, of course, but I well remember our Latin master, Mr Munro, for whom you just wanted to do your very best. He was truly inspirational. (at the age of 66, I'm reading the whole of Caesar's Gallic Wars - Latin and English. Surely a sign of a good education in every sense of the word).
But, I feel that today's society has become far too liberal in matters of education. We've wondered so far awy from the days of heavy homework and hard work in the classroom, and the use of csalculators and computers is no blessing.
Somehow, I hope we strike a happy balance between these two 'extremes', and the sooner the better.
David.
David . . .
I don't know what it is like in New Zealand but, in this country, it is a myth that the children don't get homework.
The other evening, my daughter, who is 12 years old had to answer 26 questions on 'The Tempest' ( a paragraph for each answer); make up a story suitable for presentation as a piece of music, constuct a story board for it and write notes about what instruments / noises would be used at what points in its presentation; contiue preparing a talk on the Hindhu concept of 'Samsara' for a talk she will be giving to the class and find a suitable object for which she will make a box in woodwork.
It seemed a lot to me!
She enjoyed it all . . . but she also has school choir practice on one night, rehearsals for the school musical production on two other evenings and Saturday morning and a singing practice with some other children who have formed their own small 'choir' on another evening.
Later this month, she is being sent on a week long residential course for 'Able mathematicians' . . . and she would like to have some time to read / do things with friends / have time in the family.
Last year, she got ill. I'm certain it was because of over-work.
Our role as parents is in saying 'no more'!
Meanwhile . . . on the radio, we are always hearing how children don't have homework . . .
I disagree!
Susan
There is little danger of children getting an excess of education in English schools: there they get an excess of cramming and examination and, especially, learning the techniques of passing exams. It is important to encourage our children to pursue an education: the first step is to withdraw them from school.
This is going to sound rich coming from a childless man but it is born out of personal experience.
It is my opinion that the best gift you can give a child to prepare them for later life (other than feeding it on proper food and minimising its exposure to TV) is to give them with a thirst for knowledge and a work ethic.
Once they emerge from whatever "educational" establishment they are currently in, clutching the same pieces of paper as everyone else who's just emerged, that is when the learning starts and from that point onwards there is no one to tell them the answers.
I am the product of a dismal school and a university drop out and I can personally vouch for the fact that a work ethic and a thirst for knowledge will help you succeed in the real world. Once the door to employment is opened with a GCSE in English Maths and Science you don't need anything else.
I only wished I'd known this before I wasted 2 years of my life on 4 A-Levels and 2 years of my life on a degree! Sorry if a little ranty it's just my two penneth!
John . . .
When we are all old, it will be the children of now who will be looking after us then . . .
Which means, it seems to me, that every person has a right and very good reason to take an interest in the education of children, whether or not they have some 'of their own'.
So . . . thank you for your comment . . . though I'm hoping even maths is not completely essential . . . cos I failed four times!
But would you like to define 'work ethic'? I nearly said I didn't like the idea of it . . . then I realised that would sound as if I think there is something wrong with working hard - and that is far from the truth (I don't even think you can enjoy life properly without 'working hard' in some parts of it) . . . but the term 'work ethic' somehow makes me feel uncomfortable.
Susan
Post a Comment