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Self-Education

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Ginkgo

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Americana is often characterized by the nurturing of intelligence through formal or public education as a mother feeds a child. Unfortunately, much of the curriculum is riddled with fluff and repetition... Sometimes pocked with nothingness (almost like a day-care at times). Consequentially, individuals of the upper percentile in achievement or intelligence find the redundancy to be tedious and wasteful; so they progress through self-edification by their own means. However, society is structured in such a way that one must live by credentials or reputation. The questions are : does public education instill intrinsic drive for the learner to glide on his/her own? Does public education map out a diverse and balanced curriculum? What are the greatest benefits of self-education or homeschooling; and how can one do this without snuffing out the soul of the learner?

Naturally, the answers vary from individual to area... but what are they?
 

foolish heart

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It is the to each individual's own benefit to realize their potential and bring it to fruition regardless of the circumstances.
 

Lux

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The questions are : does public education instill intrinsic drive for the learner to glide on his/her own? Does public education map out a diverse and balanced curriculum? What are the greatest benefits of self-education or homeschooling; and how can one do this without snuffing out the soul of the learner?

I think rather than the system, it depends upon the person. The system is there, if the individual chooses to take advantage of it. It may not be (and in my personal opinion is not) as stimulating as it could be, but it has to be able to mesh with all different sorts of people. The beauty of it is that it can lay a foundation and the more curious person will build upon that foundation. I think an intrinsic drive to learn is part of an individual's personality. A lot of people don't really care about it, while others only care about learning in all different fashions.

I cannot speak of homeschooling because I wasn't homeschooled.

The greatest benefit of self education (which is what I did to supplement a poorer system, which couldn't be helped) is that you take the shallower knowledge and jump into it. A spark is ignited on that shallower level and a passion is born. These all encompassing passions can only help to build up the souls of those curious individuals.
 

Mole

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Coming home from school.

In 1440 the printing press was invented and the dream of universal literacy was born.

And universal literacy was realised by free, compulsory and secular education.

Although children had learn to speak their language at home, it was necessary to compel them to go to public institutions with trained teachers to learn to read and write.

This was necessary because almost no child learns to read and write naturally at home. Most need to be taught the unnatural task of reading and writing.

But then in 1840 the electric telegraph was invented, followed by the electric telephone, the electric wireless, the electric television and the electric internet.

And interestingly no child is sent to a special institution to learn to use the telephone, the radio, the television or the internet. No, the electronic media are learnt naturally at home, quite unlike reading and writing.

So finally Public Education, based on Prussian Pedagogy, is coming to an end. And once again we will be able to learn naturally at home.
 

neptunesnet

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Americana is often characterized by the nurturing of intelligence through formal or public education as a mother feeds a child. Unfortunately, much of the curriculum is riddled with fluff and repetition... Sometimes pocked with nothingness (almost like a day-care at times).

Ergh, don't even get me started.

I grew up in the Alabama public school system. My county's board of education was filled with sycophants and blind bureaucrats. I haven't since encontered such short-sighted, traditional idiots in my entire life. They were incompetent and as a result most of the kids in the public school system (generally all poor - and unfortunately black - because most of the middle to upper-middle class kids attended private/parochial schools) were barely getting a legitimate education. I seriously lost count of all the times my high school petitioned to get the Board of Education to do something that would beneficial students county-wide and the response we'd receive basically implied that school is nothing more than a "daycare for big kids," so anything extracurricular would be prohibited since it required extra funding.

Then again, Alabama does fund public education with their sales tax, so I guess we know where the priority is not. Bob Riley "the Education Governor" my ass. :dry:


*sigh* I'll probably post my answer to your questions later on.

[Must. Eat. Lunch.]
 
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Edasich

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Aww, I just typed out my longest post ever and somehow it got deleted :(


Anyway, in short, I am for self-education and will definitely be homeschooling my future children unless I really, really can't afford it. I feel like I gained nothing from school... they were wasted years.
 

AphroditeGoneAwry

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The questions are : does public education instill intrinsic drive for the learner to glide on his/her own?

I don't think so. Not when a child is forced form the age of 5 (and preschool before that if he/she was put in daycare) to attend an institution for 7 hours per day, 5 days per week, not counting transport time (which can be up to another hour if they ride the bus or go to after school care, etc). There is simply no time in the regimented school schedule to learn about what one is interested in, unless the child is serendipitously interested in reading about phonics for the 30 minutes from 10-10:30 that the teacher happens to teach it. Get my drift?

Does public education map out a diverse and balanced curriculum?

I am not a public school teacher. I think they try to have a comprehensive academic curriculum, at least in my area. I also think this curriculum is too hard and exerts too much pressure on most kids <8, yet not challenging or wholistic enough when kids get beyond 11-12.

What are the greatest benefits of self-education or homeschooling; and how can one do this without snuffing out the soul of the learner?

-Being in their own nurturing environment is the first and foremose advantage, imo

-Learning at their individual pace

-Incorporating learning into an organic flow of day; sleep in longer, do small morning chores-like making bed, etc., eat breakfast, do math and spelling, take a break in room, finish english and geography, play game, eat lunch, go outside and sled for an hour, come in and read science and history, play with siblings, talk to mom about things (ideas, inventions, questions, friends), rest, be refreshed and help with dinner when other kids would be returning fatigued and famished from school.

-focusing on specific interests like music, reading, inventing, writing, more than school time allows for

-interacting well with children of ALL ages, not just their grade age group.
 

nim

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does public education instill intrinsic drive for the learner to glide on his/her own?
as a child, i was educated both by the public school system and by home schooling. in my public education experience, extracurricular learning was usually discouraged, and knowing more about a particular subject than did the teacher and/or the other students was generally a shock to the teacher and/or the other students. and as a college student, presently, i can still oftentimes see the shock and the discouragement.

does public education map out a diverse and balanced curriculum?
i suppose it all depends upon your understanding of "diverse" and "balanced". however, i should ask, is this the goal of public schooling, to teach that which is diverse and balanced? wouldn't this create a diverse and balanced student? does the public school system truly want a diverse and balanced student?

what are the greatest benefits of self-education or homeschooling; and how can one do this without snuffing out the soul of the learner?
i'm not sure that i understand what is meant here by "snuffing out the soul of the learner". my education through home schooling encouraged me to learn whatever it was that i wanted to learn (benefit no. 1). i studied your basics (science, math, english, etc.), but i also studied anything else that interested me--everything from astronomy to psychology to logic. furthermore, my parents promoted debating and discussion in our household (benefit no. 2), so that our dinner table was often an intense forum for such topics as orion's belt or mental synapses or syllogisms. these dinner table talks, i think, were more instrumental to my mental development than any homework i was ever assigned.



i'm sorry if my experience-relating didn't really answer anything you wanted to know.
although i hope it's helped you understand something about something or the other.
 
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Valiant

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School has taught me less than ten percent of what I know. It's solitary learning that gives me anything at all.
I can learn anything if I do it in my own way, as I have proven time and time again to myself.
It's kind of odd having someone putting grades on you if they know much less of the subject they are teaching to you, isn't it?

That has been the case with social studies, history class, Swedish class, English class and in some of science class. Astronomy/astrophysics yadayada.
The books gave me nothing, as these were pieces of knowledge so rudimentary that I didn't even bother with them when I was eight.
I studied real history books, encyclopedias etc from when I first learned how to read, and my parents and nine year older brother also taught me stuff at home all the time from discussions and outright storytelling.

Can you ****ing believe that the woman who tried to teach me history in seventh to ninth grade outright told us that "I don't like wars and battle, so I won't teach you about that"...


Needless to say, I do not believe in the school system, or that grades of any kind should be needed if you hold the knowledge to do something.
 

Alwar

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SolitaryWalker had a good thread related to this subject awhile back.
 

SolitaryWalker

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Americana is often characterized by the nurturing of intelligence through formal or public education as a mother feeds a child. Unfortunately, much of the curriculum is riddled with fluff and repetition... Sometimes pocked with nothingness (almost like a day-care at times). Consequentially, individuals of the upper percentile in achievement or intelligence find the redundancy to be tedious and wasteful; so they progress through self-edification by their own means. However, society is structured in such a way that one must live by credentials or reputation. The questions are : does public education instill intrinsic drive for the learner to glide on his/her own? Does public education map out a diverse and balanced curriculum? What are the greatest benefits of self-education or homeschooling; and how can one do this without snuffing out the soul of the learner?

Naturally, the answers vary from individual to area... but what are they?

The main virtue of public education is that it shapes you into a good all around worker. One who is an outstanding headbanger or a person who is willing to complete any assigned task regardless of its usefulness or merit. After all, these are the most important skills at the entry level jobs. Get your four year degree and spend another five or six in the army and you should be good to go for any conventional job.
 

Mole

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The main virtue of public education is that it shapes you into a good all around worker. One who is an outstanding headbanger or a person who is willing to complete any assigned task regardless of its usefulness or merit. After all, these are the most important skills at the entry level jobs. Get your four year degree and spend another five or six in the army and you should be good to go for any conventional job.

This is unfortunately true.

But what is more important is the history of public education.

It all began with the invention of the printing press in 1440 and the dream of universal literacy. And public education, compulsory, free and secular, was the vehicle for universal literacy.

And the history of public education, like the history of most things, has a beginning, a middle and an end. And we are reaching the end of public education.

No one learnt to read and write naturally at home so we were compelled by law to go to school.

But today everyone learns to use the telephone, the radio, the television and the internet naturally at home.

Absolutely no one is compelled by law to go to school to learn how to use the telephone, the radio, the television or the internet.

And so we can see, on the horizon, the historical end of public education.

It will not mean the end of literacy. But literacy will be subsumed by the electronic media. Just as it is here. For in front of you now is not print but electronic text spelling the historical end of public education.
 

Mole

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But a surprise is in store. For the end of public education will not mean self-education but tribal education in the global village.

So as we jump from public education to tribal education, we may be jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
 

Mole

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The individual self in 'self-education' is a product of literacy. And as literacy is subsumed by the electronic media, the individual self will be replaced by the electronic tribe in the global village.

So to talk of 'self-education' is driving forward looking in the rear vision mirror.

Indeed the very word 'educate' comes from the latin meaning to 'lead out'. And literacy leads out the individual or educates the individual.

But the electronic media do not lead out, they lead in.

Where literacy explodes, the electronic media implodes.

So the electronic media not only subsume the individual self, they subsume education itself.

In future, we will not be educated, we will be initiated.
 
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