What three tools are necessary to produce educated citizens?
Reading, writing, and mathematics. Once called reading, and ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic in a 1907 popular tune called “School Days.”
That’s it. That’s what you need to become a lifelong learner. All the other stuff—driver’s ed, sex ed, whatever ed—is just fluff. The hardcore subjects are reading, writing, and math.
Think about it. If you can read with comprehension, write effectively, and understand mathematics up to, let’s say, trigonometry and advanced algebra, the world is your oyster. You can tackle history, psychology, literature, art appreciation, French or any other foreign language, biology, physics, chemistry, and any other subject that appeals to you. If you want to delve deeper into mathematics, well, you have the preparation to do so. Moreover, if you can read, write, and understand mathematics, you can find gainful employment.
So what are educated citizens?
Reading, writing, and mathematics. Once called reading, and ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic in a 1907 popular tune called “School Days.”
That’s it. That’s what you need to become a lifelong learner. All the other stuff—driver’s ed, sex ed, whatever ed—is just fluff. The hardcore subjects are reading, writing, and math.
Think about it. If you can read with comprehension, write effectively, and understand mathematics up to, let’s say, trigonometry and advanced algebra, the world is your oyster. You can tackle history, psychology, literature, art appreciation, French or any other foreign language, biology, physics, chemistry, and any other subject that appeals to you. If you want to delve deeper into mathematics, well, you have the preparation to do so. Moreover, if you can read, write, and understand mathematics, you can find gainful employment.
So what are educated citizens?
Educated citizens are individuals who can reason and think. They are not the sort of citizens Vladimir Lenin once described in a letter: “Most of the people just aren’t capable of thinking. The best they can do is learn the words.” Lenin’s people are not citizens. They are sheep driven by shepherds who deem themselves wiser than their flocks.
Many parents understand the importance of education and the meaning of real citizenship. They are the parents who challenge their public and private school children to take solid courses in reading, writing, and mathematics, who push them hard to learn how to interpret texts like Huckleberry Finn or The Sun Also Rises, who ask for more writing assignments, who want their children enrolled in higher mathematics in high school. They are parents who seek out diverse opportunities for their children, ranging from a course in geometry taught by a teacher with a doctorate in mathematics to an apprenticeship with a licensed welder.
Some bureaucrats in our governments both state and federal, some of our school administrators, and even some teachers regard parents as fools, simpletons who don’t understand the complexities of education or what their children should be taught. Hogwash. These people are not interested in educating thinking citizens. Instead, they are people who have an agenda, a cause they are advancing, rather than any real interest in producing young people with the ability to think and reason. The results of their foolishness and egotism is reflected in the students they are producing, as if seen in this article:http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/05/good_jobs_for_americans_are_out_there_its_the_schools_that_are_failing.html#.WRNy8DAwCBw.email
Parents bear the bulk of the responsibility for the education of their offspring. As a teacher with thirty years of experience, it was always fascinating to me to see how some parents pushed their children to perfection when engaged in soccer or football, violin or dance, but then coddled them in their academic work. These were the parents who had their children at practice sessions on time for violin or basketball, but rarely checked their children’s academic homework.
Sports and the arts are important, even vital to the development of the human person, but so are Latin, French, English composition, the study of history and politics, biology, and any other subject that engages the student and forces the mind to exercise and think. Let me add that students interested in woodworking, auto mechanics, electronics, or any other “vocational trade” also deserve attention in these endeavors.
If you are a parent who encourages your children’s academic development, then kudos to you. You are giving them a great blessing for their future, even if you sometimes seem demanding or strict. If, however, you have turned over your child’s education to another party without oversight, then you are making a grievous error. You are responsible for the education your children receive. Not the state, not some church, not the teacher.
You.
Many parents understand the importance of education and the meaning of real citizenship. They are the parents who challenge their public and private school children to take solid courses in reading, writing, and mathematics, who push them hard to learn how to interpret texts like Huckleberry Finn or The Sun Also Rises, who ask for more writing assignments, who want their children enrolled in higher mathematics in high school. They are parents who seek out diverse opportunities for their children, ranging from a course in geometry taught by a teacher with a doctorate in mathematics to an apprenticeship with a licensed welder.
Some bureaucrats in our governments both state and federal, some of our school administrators, and even some teachers regard parents as fools, simpletons who don’t understand the complexities of education or what their children should be taught. Hogwash. These people are not interested in educating thinking citizens. Instead, they are people who have an agenda, a cause they are advancing, rather than any real interest in producing young people with the ability to think and reason. The results of their foolishness and egotism is reflected in the students they are producing, as if seen in this article:http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/05/good_jobs_for_americans_are_out_there_its_the_schools_that_are_failing.html#.WRNy8DAwCBw.email
Parents bear the bulk of the responsibility for the education of their offspring. As a teacher with thirty years of experience, it was always fascinating to me to see how some parents pushed their children to perfection when engaged in soccer or football, violin or dance, but then coddled them in their academic work. These were the parents who had their children at practice sessions on time for violin or basketball, but rarely checked their children’s academic homework.
Sports and the arts are important, even vital to the development of the human person, but so are Latin, French, English composition, the study of history and politics, biology, and any other subject that engages the student and forces the mind to exercise and think. Let me add that students interested in woodworking, auto mechanics, electronics, or any other “vocational trade” also deserve attention in these endeavors.
If you are a parent who encourages your children’s academic development, then kudos to you. You are giving them a great blessing for their future, even if you sometimes seem demanding or strict. If, however, you have turned over your child’s education to another party without oversight, then you are making a grievous error. You are responsible for the education your children receive. Not the state, not some church, not the teacher.
You.