This post is a comment to Chris Brogan’s post on education that quickly got out of hand. More was written and deleted than is shared below, but my education also taught me about discretion. Let’s leave it at that and I hope you enjoy the opinion.
I went to school in an age where teachers had rules and a fierce expectation that you learn your multiplication tables without using your fingers, that you learn how to read and write by reading and writing a lot. Turns out, the more you read and write, the better you get at it. The more you know, the more you want to know.
All teachers need to do is get kids past that point of “I wish this book wasn’t this long” to “Wow, I wish this book would go on forever; what else is out there” and then just hang on and fuel the fire. (same applies for math. Algebra, trig, calculus is really hard, but get kids past that point where it starts getting exciting and they become invincibly smart) Most students, teachers and parents give up before they reach that tipping point because the pain of learning looks unhealthy.
Education is not a “guest services” proposition and parents and students are not “customers.” Education is not a “business” and students aren’t “products.” That is the part of education we need to quit. The average kid can’t make change, can’t remember a phone number without speed dial and can’t write a simple thank you note all because we are catering to what he wants rather than what he needs. And we’re using technology as mortar.
I want our kids to be able to know enough about the world around them to be able to circumnavigate the world by clock and fist* without getting killed and without going off course. This is at once a primitive exercise, yet requires a boatload of knowledge and reasoning ability. I think that is a good proficiency standard.
Feel free to disagree.
*If the reference is not familar to you, you are most likely a product of lazy teaching and even lazier learning. Good thing you’ve got Internet to cover for your knowledge inadequacies. No nice way to say that.
Tags: American Culture, Branding Thoughts, Dayton Ohio, Education, Just thinking out loud
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Can you circumnavigate the world by clock and fist? [DogWalkBlog] http://bit.ly/aYof1l
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Wait a minute. I just Googled “circumnavigate the world by clock and fist” and the number one hit was this post. The rest of the hits were sailing results. The Bernadine Sisters who launched my journey into snooty intellectualism would take umbrage at your generalization here mister. I’m telling sister!
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via @dogwalkblog | Can you circumnavigate the world by clock and fist? http://ow.ly/1rQT0
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@Paul The Sisters of the Order of St. Joseph that trained this puppy would lay waste to the flimsy rulers your Bernadine Sisters brandish! The reference is nautical being able to tell where you are in the world with nothing but a clock and fist to chart your course by the night sky… For that, you need lots of math, a good dose of self-esteem and an unwavering faith in your own abilities. (the nuns would throw a few other things in like faith in God, prayer, etc) It probably helps to speak a few languages other than English along the way and to know what plants and animals won’t kill you and to make fire with nothing more than sticks and all sorts of other facts you could look up on the Internet if ComCast had a 25,000 mile cable.
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Well the Bernadines who taught me brandished a helluva ruler, let me tell you. I knew what you quote meant, I was just looking for the context. It’s a colorful expression and I’d love to see how it came to be. Despite the barracks-like school they ran, they did manage to light the fire in me so they must have done something right. Although in retrospect, I think the primary motive in making me memorize times tables and the periodic chart was to distract me from impure thoughts and self-abuse.
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… 3×3=9, 3×4=12, 3×5=15, 3×6=18.. hmmm.. nope not working.. pre-Internet may have made that strategy more effective
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