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Editor of Editor
of Author of Interview on
Radio Free School
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Welcome to these regular musings, meanderings, wonderings and wanderings by Wendy Priesnitz. Archives - June, 2006 Hooray for Fooling Around – June 28, 2006 This morning, I heard one “expert” cautioning
that children need free time over the summer, except that it should be
the “fooling around with a purpose” kind of free time. Aside from
the hidden message that learning and fun are incompatible, this person,
being an educator apparently knowledgeable about play, should know
better. Fooling around is how kids learn. Fooling around always has a purpose for
kids. This educator meant the kind of purpose that an adult imposes…that is,
a curriculum-related purpose. If, on the off-chance, a child has really
learned something in school, she won’t forget it over the summer. In
fact, she might use what she learned while fooling around this summer!
However, most of what these well-meaning adults are concerned about
children forgetting hasn’t really been learned; it’s been memorized
with indifference. And it may well be long forgotten by September as the
emancipated children steer clear of anything that looks or smells like
school. And
in place of that memorized stuff that seemed so irrelevant to their
lives is bound to be some real learning that resulted from a
summer of freedom to think, experiment, make mistakes, correct them,
read, day dream and fool around. Growing Up Too Soon – June 27, 2006 Perhaps the graduation comment was inspired by an article in this morning’s paper. With no irony at all, the piece describes a senior kindergarten graduation, complete with caps, gowns, diplomas and ceremony. The parents gushed, the kindergarten teacher spoke of milestones and becoming independent (turning from caterpillars into butterflies) as they “graduated” from half-day attendance to sitting in desks and listening to teachers talk on a full-time basis. The kids in the accompanying photo look bored already. But perhaps the most telling comment came from one
six-year-old who said his favorite part of the event was having his mom
there. Too bad so many moms are so eager to push their children away,
under the questionable guises of independence and education. Authoritarianism and the Environment, Eh? – June
16, 2006 According to Canadian pollster Michael Adams of Environics, one of the ways in which Canadians differ from Americans is their take on authoritarianism and patriarchy. Addressing a conference on progressive politics that has been taking place this week at a Quebec resort, Adams, the author of Fire and Ice: The United States, Canada and the Myth of Converging Values, said that the idea of the father as head of the family has been eroding in Canada since 1992. In the United States, however, it’s been growing. In 1992, 26 percent of Canadians said they agreed with the statement: “The father of the family must be the master of his own house.” In 2005, only 18 percent of Canadians agree with that notion, according to Adams. By contrast, 52 percent of Americans agreed with that statement in 2005, an increase of 10 percent since 1992. Another apparent difference is our attitude about the
environment, which Adams told the conference is poised to become “a
secular religion” in Canada in the years ahead. For the first time since the 1980s has gained
prominence as one of the issues Canadians define as most urgent in their
response to polls. That attitude was underscored at the conference in a
presentation by former U.S. vice-president Al Gore. He told reporters that he was encouraged by talk
of progressive politics in Canada, especially if it encompasses a renewed movement toward environmental
stewardship. Definitely Not Deprivation –
June 14, 2006 Learning
Independence – June 11, 2006 Urgent Appeal to Help a Homeschooling Family –
June 9, 2006 The youngest boy was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when he was three and subsequently homeschooled by his parents, at the suggestion of the local school principal, who said he couldn’t guarantee that the school would help the child manage his disease. In spite of school board reports that he and his brother were doing well learning at home, a dispute arose with the school and the family’s file was forwarded, as a truancy issue, to youth protection services. An apparently inexperienced worker took them to court, successfully removed the children from their home and forced additional medical attention and increased medication on the diabetic boy. The family couldn’t afford a lawyer to defend them in court. Eventually, after the media publicized the case, the Quebec Association for Home-Based Education (QAHBE) supplied the family with a lawyer. And immediately after the lawyer appeared on the scene, the children were allowed to return home pending the outcome of a court case this week (with judgment to be rendered at the end of the school year, presumably in a few weeks). The cost of legal representation isn’t being completely covered by QAHBE, so interested education activist and children’s rights advocate Marilyn Rowe is fundraising. For details, visit a special website set up for that purpose. The site has links to news items about the situation. It makes me sad, angry and frustrated that this
sort of thing is still happening in Canada
in regards to home-based education. And those emotions are intensely
heightened by the fact that just today a couple was sentenced in Toronto
for causing the death, through neglect, starvation and other abuse, of a
child who had been put in their foster care by so-called “child
protection” authorities in spite of previous convictions for child
abuse. We should, as a society, be questioning the
motives and methods of both “educational” and “child protection”
institutions. A Different View of Daycare – June 8, 2006 Organizer Sara Landriault – a stay-at-home mother of three daughters – says, “When I heard the non-profit daycare advocates held a meeting at Queen’s Park I realized that the members of provincial Parliament needed to hear everyone’s side of the childcare story. My intention is not to stop daycare but to equalize the funding across Canada for all childcare choices.” Daycare, like public education, labors under the burden of
popular opinion that there is only one correct perspective, one set of
needs and one way of
doing things. Progress happens when we all (politicians included) climb out
of our favorite boxes and open our minds to the big picture. If you live in
Ontario, contact your MPP and ask them to attend this session. The organizers
will be taking attendance. Interest and Respect – June 2, 2006 Gosh, it feels like schools might be learning
something from unschoolers! Not that it’s rocket science...or anything
less than basic human rights. Return
to current weblog copyright © Wendy Priesnitz 2007 |
Topics & Passions: natural learning ~ What I'm Reading:
Epicurean Simplicity by Stephanie Mills (2002, Island Press) ~ What
I'm Listening To:
Where We Live - A Benefit CD for EarthJustice
(Higher Octave Music, 2003) ~
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Bookmarks:
Positive News ~ Fav Quotes:
Art, Writing, Creativity
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