What are we teaching kids these days?

[minikin]

Miss South Carolina may have shown us that we're not teaching them public speaking. However, in her fumbling, she obscured the original observation that "a fifth of Americans can't locate the US on a world map." We're apparently not doing a good job of teaching our kids geography, either

Comments

[puppetmaker40]

I don't think you could put a price on what you learned from that especially at that age. I know where things are on the globe because my parents bought me one for Christmas because I was interested in where things were. I studied that thing to a fare the well. It is now horribly out of date because of all the changes to governments and countries but it served me well in it's time.

Well done you. I liked the flow of the piece very conversational.

[minikin]

Thank you! I've enjoyed all my travels, both as a child, and then in my marriage.

I give great heaping gobs of thanks to my dear partner, roina_arwen, who took my first draft full of rambly asides, and pulled it into this much tighter, more enjoyable read.

Partners rock!

[roina_arwen]

Hey, your "rambly asides" gave me tons to work with! :)

Plus, the better your writing, the more votes we'll (hopefully) get, and the better our chances of making it to the next round!

I've done tons of semi-professional editing work for TimeLord, yanno. I've even got "contributing editor" credits in his last two novellas!

[minikin]

And it's no wonder. You're a great editor!

[eqfe]

I almost stopped reading after the words Miss South Carolina. I detest beauty pagents of any kind.
I'm very glad I didn't stop. Wonderful entry. I really enjoyed you recounting pleasent memories of childhood.

[minikin]

Thank you. :)

I found that

[ladyozma]

I learned far better outside of school than in. Now I'm a parent and I home-school my kids. For this very reason! :)

I do miss being military because I LOVED the travel. However the atrocities committed by the Clinton Administration/Congress of the 90's was not worth staying in for. That and the nil for pay.

But sometimes I miss the travel. We've been in this house nearly 3 years now and that just seems far too long. I have the itch. I need to get on the road. See something new. Experience something new.

Oh and, we didn't make it to Houston, but on our trip from east to west we made it through Dallas-Ft Worth. Does that count for anything? (And we managed to work in a trip to see the entire family from NJ to TN to Mississippi!)

Re: I found that

[purdypiedad]

--I learned far better outside of school than in. Now I'm a parent and I home-school my kids. For this very reason! --

Me too! In this house, we believe in a lifestyle of learning. Yes, we have the textbooks, and we make sure that we can pass the standardized tests, but the valuable learning takes place in the garden, in the kitchen, on a hike, pleasure reading, at the museum, and, in a few years, abroad.

Our culture teaches that an education is a requirement, not a privilege, and our children treat it as such. If we instill a joy of learning and offer them great learning moments by being actively involved in our children's lives, they will be far better educated than any school system could achieve.

There is so much to be learned from travel. In a few years, Kristine and I want to take an intensive language course in a Spanish-speaking country. My time abroad has been invaluable. I can't wait to share that with my daughter.

Re: I found that

[ladyozma]

We read read read and anything else is done by experience. it's great!

You don't need to be in a classroom of 30 other kids to learn. And you are right. It's now a requirement and requirements are no fun. Well that's just bogus.

I wish we could go abroad. We just can't afford it. If I had more money we'd just travel aroudn the world learning stuff! :) For now we use the net to travel and books.

Re: I found that

[purdypiedad]

I can't afford to go abroad either. But, I'll put a little away over the next few years so that we can. Going to a Spanish-speaking country in Central or South America for two months costs less than living here for two months. Of course, many cost of living expenses here in the US don't go away while one is abroad, hence the necessity to save beforehand.

I know a woman who is extremely well off that homeschooled her kids for two years so that she could take them around the world. Heh. Definitely some advantages to great wealth.

[wildcatwrites]

Experience IS the greatest teacher! Nice entry!

[minikin]

Thank you! I got a lot of editing help from my partner, roina_arwen.

Partners rock!

[spydielives]

In all the years I have known you, did you ever tell me you lived in Iceland?

I can't remember!

Very cool, though.

[minikin]

Isn't it amazingly how long you can know someone, and still learn new things about them?

Thanks. :)