More Education Musings
There have been at least three people in my (extended) family involved in formal schooling in positions other than as students.
My mother went to what might have been one of the last "one room" schools.* In a time of more modern schools it annoyed my grandfather that his daughter was going to the same one room school he had. Not one to sit back, he ran for school board and got elected. Eventually he managed to head up the board and get a more modern school built. I went to that one for grades 1-6. Looking at what Gatto, and some others, have brought up about things, I wonder if my well meaning grandfather didn't make a mistake by eliminating the one room school(s) in the area. I suppose it would have happened without him, just that it would have happened later.
That sort of thing can't happen anymore. Sure, someone like him could get on the school board, but the person really in charge of the area schools now must have a Ph.D. This is a well meaning but stupid requirement. While a Ph.D. is required, it need not be in any field even remotely related to education (though given how the system works, that might actually be the one good thing about it) and also a Ph.D. does absolutely nothing about showing any common sense. I recall an incident when I was riding with my father. We saw the Ph.D.-holding head of education out walking his dog in the middle of the road. He seemed indignant that anyone would dare drive on his dog-walking road. This was the one time when Pa gunned the engine (after safely passing) and gave a nice loud roar for this joker to ponder. That the car was an old junker (a '74 Hornet) with a loud exhaust only helped.
The school that Grandpa got built was the one I went to, at least after the family moved out into the country. Somewhere there must have been a test or such that decided where I was supposed to be in the reading groups. The reading groups were split into what amounted to dim, average, bright. They may have just been numbered, but what they really were was quite apparent. I would up, by test or by default of mid-year transfer, in the slow group. And I stayed there for some time.
The second relative was a distant aunt who taught fourth grade. She had a reputation for being mean. This was wrong. She didn't put up with much, but she wasn't actually mean. If you want to look for mean in a school, look at the students. It came time for all the reading groups to be tested. She pulled a fast one. I was given the test for middle group, rather than the bottom group in which I had been placed. A bit after that I was given the test of top group and moved into that. I can only wonder if this happened only because of the relation or if she would have done that for anyone. I'd like to think she would have, but I may never know. I do not care to think about how things might have been had she not done what she did. While I was reading and learning outside of school, the confidence and self-esteem boost was more important than the actual lessons of the reading assignments.
The third relative teaches fourth grade in another town now. A closer uncle, who isn't all that much older than I am. He has mentioned a couple interesting things. One is that the teaching of formal grammar (diagram this sentence, and the like) is not taught because anyone needs to know it. He dug around and found the real reason, which came as a nasty shock to some when he mentioned it. Why is it taught? Only because it is difficult. That's it. Why teach it then? To "build character." Explains a few things, doesn't it?
He also is no fan of standardized tests or how they are taught to, nor how they are given. An example is a test question that shows a picture of or just lists some coins. Say, a quarter, two nickels, and two pennies. How much is that? He says a few students will get that question wrong - but not because they don't can't get the answer, but because there is a problem processing the question. If he takes the kid aside and puts the actual coins in front of the kid, the answer is almost immediate, "Thirty seven cents." Just one more data point that showing that testing only measures the ability to take tests.
While that distant aunt did help me, the real credit for my actual education goes to my folks. My mother kept working nights so that she could be around, at least partly, during the day for me and my sister. There was much reading. I've mentioned the toys we had tended to be of the constructive or thoughtful variety. And perhaps the most important thing was a level of trust that I still find amazing. I was allowed to do things by myself that could have had very nasty results. I got perhaps more than my share of electric shocks, amongst other things, but I was allowed to learn some lessons myself.
This trust extended to some of the books I've written about earlier. I don't know if my grasp of chemistry would be anywhere near as good as it is had I not been to read Modern Chemistry one summer - years before taking any chemistry course. I can see how many consider the subject dull. It's not because the subject is dull, it's because it is taught in a dull, meaningless way. Elements of Radio is another book I consider valuable in my education. But the real key was that none of this was forced on me. I picked them up when I wanted, and put them aside when I wanted. I wasn't forced to use the ELF or learn to program, either. I was given the opportunity, and encouraged, but that was it. Once the very basics were learned, I think everything I really learned and retained was by own choice. Sure, I took many required courses that did not interest me... and I doubt I retain very much from them.
* Once there was a "show your pet" sort of show and tell and she rode her horse to school, so it can be said that she rode a horse to a one room school.