Freedom Philosophy and Education

Cato - these are great thoughts and explanations!

The general american public, especially the segment under 35, does not know the deep meaning behind much of anything these days because we have lowered expectations so much.

In my school which is challenged economically with students who are very low readers, there is almost no social studies (history or geography) taught.

I try to make my music classes vital and and include as much of this as I can, but that is also hard because we are in a state of education in America where the arts and PE teachers are considered baby-sitters while the "real teachers" teach.

I push the students to do higher-order thinking instead of regurgitating information, but that is hard when I basically have them for 30 minutes.

Our media center focuses on books like "Captain Underpants" and "Junie B JOnes" and my students have no idea who Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Allen Poe, Louisa May Alcott, etc are. They coudn't read half of the words anyway because they have grown up in semi-literate homes where all the emphasis is on visual and verbal communication.

Today I am out sick so I have them doing a "Revolutionary Read-a thon" reading books about our first Veterans, the heroes of the Revolutionary War.

check out my blog... http://gordoncafe.blogtownhall.com/

to the future! the past is done...we can't put a bandaid on the wound from this election. It needs major surgery or even amputation. :o)

Gordon at the Cafe

I appreciate your comments Gordon and I understand your frustration. I teach undergraduates in history and spend so much time on remediation that it is difficult to have time for the critical thinking exercises that I think are essential to a proper education. Things that used to be taught in Civics classes in grade school, middle school, or junior high, I now have to cover in a college classroom. The students should have known much of this material before they got to college. Right now my school's education department is considering adding Core Knowledge, so that at least those who teach at the grade school level will have been exposed to basic content. Our public schools in Hobbs are trying to be Core Knowledge schools, maybe you should look into being an advocate for doing that in your school.

You are, of course, right about the need to build from the ground up.