I was born way too late, or, Unschooling, no fooling...
I was reading MSNBC.Com last night (at Portland Brew, and yes, we're still NOT online in the hutchmo household), when THIS headline caught my eye:
Seems the latest in education is taking home schooling to an entire new level (personally I think the level is the basement, but I'm no home educator - if I homeschooled my kids, they'd know a whole lot about the history of rock and roll, baseball, and how the Williams sisters could have been the greatest forces in the history of women's tennis but they frittered it away by lack of focus, and despite the influence of the French, Jerry Lewis is NOT funny, and deodorant is a hallmark of advanced civilization)..I digress.
This new trend is to let the KIDS decide what they want to learn. As if the little bastards aren't narcissistic enough..
Actually, I'm thankful that my parents were wise enough to insist on a more formal education. My field of study would have looked something like this:
Age 6: Learning how to hold it in so that I didn't have to go the bathroom anywhere but my home.
Age 7: Hot wheels. How you can build really cool ramps with common household objects AND hit your sister in the head with the small, but solidly metallic cars.
Age 8: Chuck Berry and baseball. My parents, in one of their weaker moments, gave me a transistor radio. We didn't have a TV in our house because they thought it was a great time waster. Instead, I listened to WLAC at night until 1:00 AM every morning with the earplug wire hidden beneath my pillow. They played what was called 'race' music back then, and it sure beat the hell out of my church of Christ a capella musical experience. I also discovered Micky Mantle and the Yankees, leading to a lifelong love of pinstripes.
Age 9: Muddy Waters
Age 10: whiffle ball. I learned how to make that sucker sink. We had a large backyard, and my friends would all come over every afternoon after school if the temperature was above 40 degrees. We played LOTS of W. Ball.
Age 11: The Ronettes, the Crystals and Darlene Love
Age 12-15: totally NOT being the master of my domain
Age 16: cars and figuring out ways to get girls to ride in them'
Age 17: riding around with my friends in cars after finding little success in the second half of the Age 16 item
Age 18: Lots more riding around. One night, my friends all piled in my parents Pontiac station wagon with squirt guns and we went around town blasting people in convertibles. This led to a meeting with the police. It was not pretty, but I did get educated.
So, If the SATs were comprised with questions and essays on Chuck Berry, Micky Mantle, Muddy Waters, Whiffle ball, wanking, failed attempts at impressing girls, and aimlessly driving around, I would have qualified for Harvard.
Actually, I'm glad my parents 'schooled' me. I'm the proud owner of a B.A. in Political Science..a degree I have not used in any form or fashion in my entire adult life.
A controversial chapter in education: unschooling
Seems the latest in education is taking home schooling to an entire new level (personally I think the level is the basement, but I'm no home educator - if I homeschooled my kids, they'd know a whole lot about the history of rock and roll, baseball, and how the Williams sisters could have been the greatest forces in the history of women's tennis but they frittered it away by lack of focus, and despite the influence of the French, Jerry Lewis is NOT funny, and deodorant is a hallmark of advanced civilization)..I digress.
This new trend is to let the KIDS decide what they want to learn. As if the little bastards aren't narcissistic enough..
Actually, I'm thankful that my parents were wise enough to insist on a more formal education. My field of study would have looked something like this:
Age 6: Learning how to hold it in so that I didn't have to go the bathroom anywhere but my home.
Age 7: Hot wheels. How you can build really cool ramps with common household objects AND hit your sister in the head with the small, but solidly metallic cars.
Age 8: Chuck Berry and baseball. My parents, in one of their weaker moments, gave me a transistor radio. We didn't have a TV in our house because they thought it was a great time waster. Instead, I listened to WLAC at night until 1:00 AM every morning with the earplug wire hidden beneath my pillow. They played what was called 'race' music back then, and it sure beat the hell out of my church of Christ a capella musical experience. I also discovered Micky Mantle and the Yankees, leading to a lifelong love of pinstripes.
Age 9: Muddy Waters
Age 10: whiffle ball. I learned how to make that sucker sink. We had a large backyard, and my friends would all come over every afternoon after school if the temperature was above 40 degrees. We played LOTS of W. Ball.
Age 11: The Ronettes, the Crystals and Darlene Love
Age 12-15: totally NOT being the master of my domain
Age 16: cars and figuring out ways to get girls to ride in them'
Age 17: riding around with my friends in cars after finding little success in the second half of the Age 16 item
Age 18: Lots more riding around. One night, my friends all piled in my parents Pontiac station wagon with squirt guns and we went around town blasting people in convertibles. This led to a meeting with the police. It was not pretty, but I did get educated.
So, If the SATs were comprised with questions and essays on Chuck Berry, Micky Mantle, Muddy Waters, Whiffle ball, wanking, failed attempts at impressing girls, and aimlessly driving around, I would have qualified for Harvard.
Actually, I'm glad my parents 'schooled' me. I'm the proud owner of a B.A. in Political Science..a degree I have not used in any form or fashion in my entire adult life.
