Now, would we like to admit that and try something that does or just continue to fail these children in favor of some morally righteous back-patting and $8 billion in false “compassion?”

These wise words apply to to this and virtually every political topic being debated today:

“The problem with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so.”

Ronald Reagan

I’M GETTING REAL TIRED OF PAYING FOR EVERYONE ELSE’S KIDS!!!

ARIZONAVETERAN on January 12, 2013 at 3:53 PM

Coulda stopped right there.

I’m sick of it beyond words.

This is another example of a total lack of common sense as well as government waste and ineptitude. There are so many laws and policies that should be sunset but it will never happen because it is some bureaucrats livelihood. Laws = government jobs = incomes = tax payer loss = total inaction on the part of an incompetent government. The road to hell is paved with good intentions though and they meant well when they instituted programs like this; the only problem is they do not work and no one has the will to go back and correct or discontinue them. After all their only concern is to get reelected and that won’t happen by ending Head Start.

Dr. ZhivBlago on January 12, 2013 at 8:56 AM

I think you miss the point of her essay.

In the classical world it was understood that the spirit of a child is where everything takes place but that spirit must be trained, that is, DISCIPLINED. It will NOT, on its own, make the right decisions for what is best for it but must be, in a sense, FORCED, to do what is in its best interest.

The core context of traditional learning, in the classical world, was, DISCIPLINE. They understood the tendencies of human nature towards unenlightened self-destructive behavior. The mind of a child cannot be taught in a compartmentalized manner, that is, by teaching it SUBJECTS deprived of a context. It must be trained HOW to LEARN. But that assumes that the TEACHERS know both the context and the goal of said training.

Today’s Humanists, for that is the context in which ALL modern education is performed in, lack the insights into human nature and human existence beyond a utilitarian model based on political expediencies which they feel are important.

Classical educators understood, based on their Biblical philosophical grounding, both the limits of human nature and the ultimate goal of human existence and so “taught” to those ends.

The results, while limited to those who could access that discipline, can be readily seen in the lives, writings, and accomplishments of those who were enrolled in it. Even the common person who had been classically trained demonstrate a higher moral and intellectual character than those who are subjected to the Humanistic excuse for education today.

We really have “lost” much. And it is doubtful we will ever reclaim it for we have lost the means for discovery.

Read this:

http://www.gbt.org/text/sayers.html

Cleombrotus on January 12, 2013 at 8:11 AM

I think she made some good points, especially regarding language/grammar and logic.

I don’t think that compartmentalization of learning by subject is in itself a bad thing (if I read her correctly). At some point the individual has to draw the connections for themselves-if they can’t then they probably do not desire to do so or are intellectually incapable.

When you attempt to educate the masses, there will indeed be those “left behind”, but we must at least try as a society and give them the opportunity to either excel or fail, embrace or reject higher education. They as young people have the luxury of time and are free to figure out what vocations they can do the best in. Of course, some never do, or figure it out later in life.

It probably comes down to not so much how people learn best (it varies from individual to individual anyway), but rather what should be learned. There again, if this teacher or that does not teach you something, nothing is preventing you from picking up a book and learning it if you really want to. The teacher can’t teach everything, nor reach everyone, but they can make the student aware of things they would never know about and, hopefully, assist in the learning process.

Surely you can learn Latin on your own, but I suspect that you would learn much more with a teacher explaining it to you, and getting on your butt to do your homework, practice and to issue tests that also light a fire under you.

I suspect there are many, many Rosetta Stone and other language programs that have never been completed collecting dust in millions of American households…maybe almost as many as abandoned exercise equipment and unread National Geographic magazines…LOL

People are fed up with those things and not seeing the great value of the mental attitude taken towards children by those organizations and actors meant to give them an education. Parroting back names and dates isn’t an education… telling you why the names, dates and events were important and how they still ring down to our daily lives, that is vital and yet we do not concentrate on that.

ajacksonian on January 12, 2013 at 7:19 AM

I don’t agree with that. What you’re saying here is exactly what these Libtards have been pushing for 100+ years…how’s it been working out for us?

How many Americans don’t know their times tables, or important dates in history, or where states or countries are?

The reason we have public education is because homeschooling wasn’t adequately educating enough Americans…homeschooling wasn’t a preference 200 years ago, it was all most American families had. The day-to-day struggle of putting food on the table, and possibly time for religious instruction meant there was little time for education. Not only that, the parent was/is hard-pressed to teach their children beyond their own level of knowledge and education.

Our Forefathers clearly saw the need for a literate, educated society-this is as important for maintaining Liberty as the right to bear arms and freedom of speech/Press. But, they didn’t feel that it was something that concerned the Federal government anymore than policing, firefighting or routine medical services. These were among the many responsibilities reserved for the various states, cities and counties.

Public education was also important in the process of enculturation. Immigrant children were to learn American values and mastery of the English language via public education. Certainly the encroaching Left is trying to squelch this aspect of American public education.

To say that public education has successfully indoctrinated our children to become Communists is absurd. The media has far more influence over how people think than what a teacher says. There is a natural inclination for young people to be skeptical of what any adult has to say, teachers in particular.

The vast majority of our engineers, scientists and other professionals were educated in the public school system. But over time many in society have learned that they can be successful (i.e. make $) without academics. Drug dealers can do that…so what have we proven? This attitude has gotten us to the point where we no longer have enough engineers and scientists, and a society that will indeed vote in Communists like Obama.

I maintain that it’s largely our fault as Conservatives. Monetary success and hard work are important to us, but in the larger view, for the good of our Republic, we need more than that. Learning for the sake of learning is not a dangerous thing, but rather a good thing-if you want a Civilization rather than a cluster of homesteads that is.

But, we continue to retreat from public education and indeed Washington and the Leftists have been more than willing to step in.

Dr. ZhivBlago on January 12, 2013 at 5:10 AM

Read this:

http://www.gbt.org/text/sayers.html

The latter might teach kids some actual skills, learn about safety and that the things in their homes do not grow on trees.

Plus it deprives them of the early knowledge that their parents just want to warehouse them with ‘teachers’…a fate worse than education, itself. A new era of education is dawning and it won’t have much to do with: schools, teachers, bureaucrats or government. People are fed up with those things and not seeing the great value of the mental attitude taken towards children by those organizations and actors meant to give them an education. Parroting back names and dates isn’t an education… telling you why the names, dates and events were important and how they still ring down to our daily lives, that is vital and yet we do not concentrate on that. Thus we don’t get it. And children learn to hate the educational system because it doesn’t teach them to think, just be docile, anomic actors in life.

But, these Leftists have a knack for inconsistency. They’ll complain ad nauseum about how right-wingers/corporations rape the environment and how our consumerist society must learn to do with less…how modern society has no moral right to pollute Gaia and so on. But, from what we’ve seen of the Workers’ Paradises of the Soviet Union and China, the end justifies the means-two of the biggest polluters in Mankind’s history.

It’s OK as long as damage is done in such a way so as to further their Leftist agenda.

Progressives in the 1920s complained about kids doing homework. They agreed with the Noble Savage concept of Rousseau…kids should frolic and be kids.

So when pofolk were obviously struggling to compete in academics and the working world, they pushed for stuff like Head Start. It doesn’t matter that these kids grow up with no books in the house, no learning about history, art, culture, mathematics, science and so on. The language at home is restricted to first tier vocabulary (I call it texting vocabulary) and topics centering around gossip, lottery tickets, and more than likely violence, alcohol,drugs, sex and bodily functions.

So then the arrogance of the Leftist takes over-the belief that they know best and that they can “fix” people through government.

Kids start learning from the moment they’re born (probably even before that, which makes abortion even more sickening). Some parents indeed go overboard in pushing their little ones. The point is that it is the family that is the first teacher of human beings, and for core values and the desire to learn, the best teachers.

One cannot teach those who do not wish to be taught.

OldEnglish on January 11, 2013 at 7:04 PM

True, but it’s easier for some to simply blame teachers and unions.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/01/08/are-raising-generation-deluded-narcissists/

Is this at all related?