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Editor of Editor
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Musings, meanderings, wonderings and wanderings about unschooling, natural parenting, sustainable living and more by Wendy Priesnitz. Archives - March, 2007 Treating the
Symptoms and Not the Problems – March 26, 2007
Two things trouble me about this report. First of all, the underlying assumption is that school is the best and perhaps only method of education and that anyone who cannot learn in that environment has a problem. I can’t describe how angry I am at the idea of mandatory screening of children to find “symptoms” of a “disorder” that doesn’t need to exist! Who is spending $300,000 worth of taxpayers’ money to figure out how to dismantle our archaic school system and replace it with a community-based, learner-directed one where children are free to learn naturally…and that doesn’t victimize, medicalize and stigmatize its unsuccessful clients? Unfortunately, we are apparently going in the opposite direction. An article in today’s Toronto Star about the report quotes its co-author Alexander Wilson of Mount Allison University as saying, “We have to get away from thinking of this as an education problem. We need to make a systemic change and look at this across a person’s lifespan and involve more agencies in their care and support.” And that leads to my second concern. The study found that about 40 per cent of children who were identified with learning disabilities at age seven were prone to ear infections and allergies at age three. Since, according to the study, up to 85 percent of those labeled as having a learning disability also have a reading disability (not sure how they differ), there is a need for early learning disability screening, presumably so that children can learn to read better. Here, once again is a confusion between symptom and problem. Of course, someone who doesn’t feel well will have trouble functioning, especially in a structured, noisy environment like school. But ear infections and allergies aren’t normal. In fact, like many so-called learning and behavioral “problems” experienced by children in school, they often are associated with diets full of chemicals and processed foods, and with nutritional deficiencies or weakened immune systems. Conventional
medicine treats ear infections with antibiotics rather than addressing
the underlying causes of the problem; this report wants to “treat”
children who don’t learn well in school in the same manner, rather
than questioning our assumptions about education and health. The way to
really help stem the mushrooming “problem” of people with
“learning disabilities” is to admit that our factory model of
education doesn’t work anymore and needs a major demolition and
reconstruction. Maybe we need to get rid of junk food first, so that we
all think straighter! Liberating Education – March 18, 2007
Classifying and Dividing – March 17, 2007
On the Assembly Line at Birth – March 14, 2007
I don’t know about babies, but when I read about
this outrageously misguided compulsory regimentation, I cried, gurgled, babbled and
screamed. I hope that saner heads will prevail and understand that this
is exactly the opposite of what is needed to nurture the sort of
critically thinking, creative people society needs. And if saner heads
do not prevail, I hope that the UK authorities are prepared for the inevitable increase in the number of
unschoolers. We’ve Come a Long Way – March 8, 2007
When my daughters were teenagers, I sensed that they felt that all the battles had been won for women and didn’t seem to understand the complexity of patriarchy and how much it is part of the fabric of society. Women are still not proportionately represented in politics and in many jobs. There are still grave problems globally in terms of women’s education, health and violence. And, as I’ve written about here and in other places, there are many differences and disagreements among women about what choice and equality really mean. On the other hand, we have come a long way. Here in Canada, women officially became “persons” under the law the year my mother turned 20 (she says she did not notice...was probably having too much fun dancing!). And now, some countries have female leaders, women are pursuing higher education and non-traditional careers in unprecedented numbers, and we do have real choices. Today is a day to celebrate these choices as well as all women and our individual and collective achievements…so Happy International Women’s Day to us all. I like to remember what Judge Emily Murphy (one of the five women who
fought for Canadian women to have legal status) wrote in 1931: “We
want women leaders today as never before. Leaders who are not afraid to
be called names and who are willing to go out and fight. I think women
can save civilization. Women are persons.” Freedom to Read – March 1, 2007
As part of the week’s festivities, the Writers’ Union of Canada has awarded its annual Freedom to Read Award to a child…for the first time ever. Evie Freedman won for what Union Chair Ron Brown calls her “impassioned defense” of the book Three Wishes when it was banned last year by the Toronto District School Board. Brown says, “Although many notable individuals defended the retention of the book in the schools, Ms. Freedman was best able to reflect the concerns of those most affected, the students themselves. She did so most ably in front of a large press conference as well as in a number of media interviews.” She was nine years old at the time. Three Wishes, by Canadian author Deborah Ellis, is a compilation of the author’s interviews with Israeli and Palestinian children who expressed a wide range of hopes, fears and hatred on the conflict in their region. The Canadian Jewish Congress launched a campaign among school boards across Ontario to have the book withdrawn from the popular Silver Birch Awards competition. While only a handful of school boards agreed to do so, the Toronto board was the only one to remove it from the public schools entirely. In media coverage when the book was banned, Evie
was quoted as saying that adults were always underestimating what kids
can understand and she was adamant she didn’t need anyone to tell her
what she could read. At the same time, the books’s author Deborah
Ellis said, “If children are tough enough to be bombed and starved,
they’re tough enough to read about it.” Well said. And congratulations
to Evie Freedman. Return
to current weblog copyright © Wendy Priesnitz 2007 |
Topics & Passions: natural learning ~ What I'm Reading:
Goddesses in Older Women - Archetypes in Women Over Fifty by Jean
Shinoda Bolen (2001, HarperCollins)
~ What
I'm Listening To:
The Band: The Last Waltz (Warner
Bros., 2003) ~
Fav
Bookmarks:
Daughter Blog ~ Fav Quotes:
Art, Writing, Creativity
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