What Is School?

Note: The ideas referenced here are taken from my experience with 6th grade in one of the best (public) schools in the country. I have extrapolated quite a bit and sprinkled in some information from my own personal reading and experience. I understand that I have stated many things as fact with no scientific basis, but it reads much cleaner when written that way. Imagine every sentence ending with "but this has not been conclusively proven and other schools may do something different blah blah blah...." Thank you for understanding. Now on with the show.

Homeschooling. If you are anything like me, that word evokes two strong gut reactions. Those people are either religious nut-jobs or crazy anti-government extremists. Well, we're both. Just kidding. Maybe.

The thing is, those people (yes, you're allowed to say "those people" when talking about nut-jobs) still exist, but more and more people are homeschooling these days. And that wouldn't happen unless the American education system was seriously broken. The amount of work and money involved in homeschooling your kid versus just sending them off to school still makes it an extreme decision for anyone. Heck, you're still paying for them to go to public school while homeschooling them.

When you homeschool, you are faced with a lot of questions that most parents never have to think about. These are things like what should a kid actually be learning? What is school? What should school be? How long should be spent on a topic? Are there life skills that we should teach as well as "core subjects?" When a kid is sent to school, you have no control or input into the matter. They just do whatever they like with your kid all day long. Then you get them back at the end of the day. Did they learn anything? No one knows. Did they terrorize the school? Maybe, but nothing can be done about it. The bottom line is that school is like daycare in modern society. Anyway, I'm starting to pull at a lot of threads all at once here. Let's stay focused.

Is school necessary?

I think school is necessary. The world would creep to a halt if every parent was responsible for their child all day long (even ignoring the educating them aspect). How would anyone work? How would they earn money or contribute to society? With more and more single parents, eliminating school is impossible. Even in an "old school" traditional family where one parent worked and the other stayed home, kids went to school all day. So unless someone comes up with something better, you can think of school as a daycare so that society can function. I'm getting tired of reading articles saying that school is unnecessary (more about why people believe it is unnecessary next). School is necessary, but it can do much better, and it can do so very easily actually. It's not something to be done away with, but it's something that does need an overhaul.

What is school now?

It's definitely in vogue to claim that school is outdated and a product of the industrial age where kids were trained to be factory workers. I challenge anyone saying this to find a kid who knows how to work on a factory floor when they graduate high school. This argument is so flimsy that it's amazing anyone can write it without it deliberately being satire. Wait, are all those people being satirical? Maybe I'm the one misunderstanding....

Anyway, sure school was invented to be one thing, but it's something totally different now. Don't make an argument about what it was when it is different now. In a way, school has turned into a machine for pushing kids into college. There is less and less emphasis on understanding material and becoming competent, and more and more focus on hacking the tests. Everything revolves around: what's the best way to get the most kids the highest score on the tests? Then the school is successful! Yay! Often, the focus is so totally opposite than the intuitive way to do this (aka teaching them the actual material). If it's an essay, they want to see 5 of these key vocab words and you get the max score. If it's math, these are the tricks to get this specific type of problem answer, but what happens if the form of the question changes? They have no idea how to do it, or that it's even the same question written differently! Where's the problem solving skills? Well, they don't have time on these tests to solve the problems. Solving problems requires thinking and understanding and applying skills and time. On a timed test, you need cheats to finish on time, not ability. Then what's the point?! Okay, sorry. This was probably another tangent.

So, school has morphed into hacking tests. That was actually much better than what school is turning into now. The next wave is so much worse than the wave of test takers. Now, every kid is required (yes, you read that correctly: required!) to have an iPad. But why? We couldn't understand it at first. As time went on, it became clear. Kids are actually sitting in class watching a YouTube teacher teach the material that the actual teacher is supposed to be teaching. Are you kidding?! Okay, so this must be the best teacher on the planet on this topic, right? I mean how can a lowly middle school teacher compete with someone with 50 years experience teaching this one topic in the most perfect way? That's why the kids are watching someone else while the teacher gets paid. Nope. It's some schmuck in his basement who is bumbling through a terrible description of it. But his search came up first because he paid for ads for his lectures. But in a school that requires every single person to have an iPad, the teachers are so technologically illiterate that they don't even realize this. But maybe I'm being a bit hard on the teachers. It is school policy. They are only doing what they are told. It's just a bit infuriating to tell your kid to stop watching YouTube and do his homework and his response is that it is his homework.

Anyway, the laziness permeates into all things that teachers do now. Now that they don't have to prepare a lesson, they aren't using their new found free time to do something productive. Things are actually worse! What are some examples of how teaching has deteriorated?

1. Math homework is not checked.
    a. If I were to turn in 4+4=9 all year long, I would have a 100% in math class now. And I seriously would have learned 4+4=9 as a fact since it was reinforced for an entire year.
    b. Parents are now required to check all math homework for accuracy so their kid does not learn incorrect skills and information. Might as well homeschool, right?

2. Sometimes math homework is coloring. Or more generally, sometimes X homework is Y (Y having not even the slightest resemblance to X).
  a. The school supply list is filled with glue sticks, crayons, colored pencils, scissors, etc. This is all through middle school. What? No class should be using that stuff at this age. Anything involving those supplies is busy work, not work that would aid in learning.

3. When do kids learn to write? I only saw one writing assignment the entire year, and it was terribly written but got a high grade (possibly an A?).

4. Writing is not checked for grammar or spelling (seriously, not even capitalization or periods count anymore).
  a. They don't learn about plagiarism or the importance of citing sources.

5. The above points are for classes with homework. Almost no subject has any homework anymore.
  a. No science homework
  b. No "social studies" homework (geography, history, etc.)
  c. Math would be better off without it if you aren't checking for accuracy
  d. No writing assignments or reading assignments. They didn't read a single book all year long. Seriously. Not one.

6. Kids watch video tutorials rather than reading from a textbook.
  a. Kids cannot comprehend what they read anymore since they never get any practice.
  b. When you watch something, you are not engaged. When you read something, you must focus on it. They watch the same things like 10 times and still can't remember. It takes forever to watch a full 10 minute clip 10x when you could find what you need in under 5 seconds in a text. Let's learn that skill (reading). Watching feels easier and lazier than reading because the brain is turned off, but easier does not mean faster!

7. Kids cannot read! This was partially #6.
  a. In "reading" class, the teachers read aloud to the students rather than have them read to themselves.
  b. There is no reflection or understanding or homework or lessons on what is being read in class (or at home). Reading is now sounding out words, not understanding the meaning of them.

8. The work for every single subject that is assigned is random crap pulled off the internet. Almost all of the assignments we saw had typos, errors, and huge flaws that were painfully obvious to anyone just glancing at it. These teachers don't even look at what they are giving out for work anymore (they don't have to either since it isn't graded).
  a. Textbooks may have errors but the time and effort put into designing and writing a textbook makes it good if not GREAT. Every idiot on the internet posts crap examples, crap explanations, and most importantly crap assignments with no publisher oversight and the teachers just grab it and use it. Being published online does not make it good. Being published in a textbook does make it good. Reputations and money are on the line with textbooks. How do administrators not understand this?
  b. Our vice principal told us straight out that the reason for using the internet is because it is more accurate than textbooks could ever be. What? That's fantasy land. I mean I'm posting this on the internet and no one is checking me for factual accuracy. Although, I'm guessing after a single peer review, my wife is going to tear this thing down as fast as possible.

9. No kid is learning how to type. This was a deliberate choice by the school, but even if not, they are using iPads with no keyboard! How are they supposed to write anything?

10. The real kicker for lazy teachers is that there is no classroom management or discipline anymore. If a kid is watching Fortnite videos on YouTube instead of whatever they are supposed to be watching on YouTube (lol), the teacher complains to the parents that the kid isn't doing what they are supposed to. There's no sending them to the principle or taking the device (god forbid) or giving them a 0 or punishing them somehow. It's just a "meh I can't deal with that" attitude.

I have a lot more to say on the topic of homework and subjects covered, but that's a pretty good explanation of what school is now. On to the final, and most difficult, subject.

What should school be?

What should school be? That is a tough question. Normal people don't have to come face to face with such an idea. School is what it is. We don't have control. Homeschoolers must confront the idea and act deliberately upon their philosophy of education, otherwise they are setting their kids up for massive failure. Let's start with the easy one and work backwards.

School should prepare your kid for life. I don't think anyone disagrees with this. There are abstract ideas like it should teach them how to be healthy. They should have good social skills. They should be able to cope with stress and overcome hurdles. They should become good problem solvers and debaters. All great life skills. These are kind of abstract though and typically don't have a class devoted to them. They can be picked up as they learn "specific material." It can move on to more practical skills that typically don't have specific classes, but should, like they should understand personal finance and budgeting. But as soon as we get to this topic, we see, oh yes, that means they need to know math too. I think a lot of people are scarred from their school years and believe things like "I never use math in life. Why waste all those years learning something that is useless?" So budgeting requires simple math. Sure. Okay. But understanding compound interest and how it can work both for and against you starts to get a little harder. You should know why you should start saving for retirement earlier, or why you shouldn't finance major purchases for anything more than 0.0% APR. This got a little specific, but it's an often missed topic after 16+ years of school. Surely it could have been snuck in there somewhere?

What else is necessary for life? How about getting a "good" job (high paying, good work environment, excellent benefits)? Anything in STEM is going to require strong Science, Math, and English. The core subjects. English? Yes, because almost all communication is written now. You have to document successes and failures. Send emails. Communicate with colleagues. Explain your results. And maybe it feels far-fetched that To Kill A Mockingbird is going to help you in your career as a Biomedical Engineer, but you have to start somewhere. You have to be able to read and understand what you are reading and extract information and understand why that information is relevant. Books like that also have life lessons about courage to stand up for what is right and to have the conviction to do the right thing in your job. It helps teach us right and wrong and gives us a more mature moral compass without having to live through a thousands lives to become a wise person with strong character. It helps us understand the consequences of our actions without having to make bad choices and live with them. Good literature is the backbone of our society, and that might be a reason why it is crumpling. The art of writing and reading is becoming lost with each generation. Perhaps cinema is taking its place, but we aren't being taught to watch and understand movies with the same critical eye. Books can be a training wheel to that as well if that is the wave of the future. So I think that any argument that school is meant to prepare kids for life involves understanding the world through science, developing logical thinking abilities through science and math, and learning the core subjects of Math, English and Science for all the reasons stated above.

Once we have a foundation of core subjects, what else does it mean to be prepared for life? One thing I don't understand is why we don't learn how to deal with normal life situations in school. No one learns how to change a tire. We don't learn how to change an electrical outlet or change our oil. We don't learn about electricity and electronics. How does a computer work? Can you change your counter top from plastic to granite or install a new sink in the kitchen? What about installing a light fixture in the ceiling or laying tile in the bathroom? Can you work with wood? What's a bandsaw? Do you know how to pave a driveway? How does a car work? Can you plant and maintain a garden? Do you know how to program a computer to handle remedial tasks for you? What does it mean to start a company? How do you invest money? If you said "I don't know" to any of these, don't you wish someone had taught you when you had nothing else in the world to do except learn? These are basic life skills. Some may be more advanced than a middle school topic, but certainly by high school level you should be able to do this stuff or know how to do it if you had to.

What else is there? Some would say we study hard to get a high paying desk job so we don't have to do that stuff. It isn't about having to or not. It's about understanding how to. Certainly if you put a hole in the wall, you can repair it no big deal without having to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars. What a waste! But it is a waste that you can choose to do, not be forced into.

There are social skills as well as physical skills. How do you cope with stress? Can you stand in front of a crowded room and deliver a speech or presentation? Are you able to have a discussion or debate with someone objectively without getting emotional or angry? Can you concede with dignity if they are right and you are wrong? Can you win graciously? Do you have good time management skills? Can you lead a team to accomplish a task on time and ensure the deliverable is as good as if you did it yourself? Can you be on that team without being the leader and just get the job done, doing what you are told? Can you make yourself both humble and indispensable? Can you approach every job you do as if it is a gift from the gods? You may be the burger flipper at McDonalds or the CEO of IBM, but you should be the absolute best at that if that is what you are doing. Only good things come from that attitude -- good things for yourself in terms of health and happiness and upward mobility. Don't you think school should teach some of these things?

I think that has something to do with what I think school should be.

Hargrave Military Academy Summer School

For the month of July, CJ will be at the residential summer school program at Hargrave Military Academy.  We decided to send him to this program long before homeschooling was a thought in our mind.  We were feeling so discouraged by his continued behavior problems at school and initially sought it out with two goals.  The first was our hope that the summer program would instill a bit of discipline in him and help him to establish some routines that would lead to better performance in the classroom.  The second was our curiosity about how CJ would fare in this more structured, rigid environment.  

At this point, we have seen evidence that his potential is great.  His teachers acknowledge this as well.  I'm not saying he's a genius by any stretch of the imagination but success would come easy to him with minimal effort...at least at this age.  So, we know that about him and then observe his actions toward learning and his constant reprimands from teachers and administration and it's the saddest thing to see.  As a parent, you're trying to guide them to some future.  I see the basic responsibility of parenting to be to guide the child towards independence in their adult life.  Independence doesn't always mean wealth but why not shoot for the stars? Every parent wants their child to have a career they love that is also very lucrative.  They want them to have lots of genuine friends and eventually  have an awesome wife, and amazing children.  I could go on but you get it.

Our fear was continuing to grow that CJ's actions were diminishing his chances of having those things that we want for him so badly.  His goals are to play in the NBA, make millions and build a dream house that has things like a basketball court and a mini-fridge (LMAO!).  Even that goal was being undermined by  his own actions (maddening!).  

Yesterday, we dropped CJ off at Hargrave.  We were mostly impressed with the staff that we met.  The new President met us on the street and was extremely personable and friendly.  Things were fairly organized and there was a process that most people seemed to understand.  There were several things that I wasn't happy about but overall, it seemed like a good start.  It was a long morning of getting things corrected and in the right places and picking up the uniform and other required things to get him ready for the month.  

CJ's excitement dwindled the longer we were there.  He said he was excited to go and I believe he was to some degree.  He'd gone an overnight camp at the University of Maryland that was entirely focused on basketball and he loved it.  I think I may have set him up for disappointment by signing him up for that before Hargrave.  Either way, my guess is that the more he realized that they would have expectations of him beyond playing basketball and that things weren't set up for him to have the most fun ever so his parents would send him next year, he was less excited.  Honestly, that was hard.  I know this is good for him but it is always hard to see your kid sad or disappointed.

I talk to CJ a LOT.  I'm sure he listens much less than I talk lol but I still do it.  I want him to understand our decisions, even if they upset him in some way.  I'm sure he could articulate why we've sent him to Hargrave and what we hope to get out of it.

When we researched the summer program at Hargrave, I was beyond impressed.  The students (called Cadets) take two academic classes of their choice (my choice lol).  CJ is taking a math class and a class called "Character and Leadership" or something like that.  All cadets also have to take a one week study skills course that culminates in a test.  I just think that is super awesome. They have mandatory study hall everyday M-Th that is proctored and I believe the instructors are present to help with homework or additional instruction of the material.  If the child is not performing well in the classroom, there are other times that they have to do study hall including during free time periods and also on Friday evenings.  This is why I think it is great - it reinforces what we tell CJ "if you do what is expected, when it is expected, you don't have to work harder than you should".  LOOOOVEEEE!!!!

Their model is to develop the whole child - mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.  The physical part comes in with the sports electives.  CJ will take lacrosse for the first two weeks and basketball for the second.  I kinda hope he loves lacrosse so much that he decides to do it for the entire four weeks but either way is fine with me.  Hargrave has produces some amazing athletes (including NBA players) and so I think he'll enjoy that aspect.  I do think he's come to acknowledge the amount of work that is required to get to that level even if he doesn't work that hard independently.

They attend chapel every Sunday and also have awesome activities planned.  You have to be in good standing academically and with regard to your behavior in order to participate in the fun stuff but I love that!  CJ NEEDS THAT!!!

After everything was settled yesterday, the parents were asked to say goodbye to their students and we were addressed by several members of the faculty (President, Dean of Students, etc).  As the President was giving us an overview of their expectations and goals for the summer, I was crying like a baby lol.  I just could not control it.  The things he talked about were just so in line with what we are hoping to instill in CJ that it made me so happy and optimistic and hopeful.

He talked about their model.  He made sure to let us know that there isn't some drill sergeant tearing our kids down as we sat in that room.  He talked about their model being to develop the whole child as I mentioned before.  He talked about wanting to enforce accountability in the boys.  That is just so necessary in today's world.  My honest opinion is that if we fostered more accountability in our children, especially in the black community, that there would be fewer police shootings and no need for the Black Lives Matter movement.  I'm sure lots of people would want to argue about that.

He described their model as not to break them down to build them up (because they didn't actually join the Military) but to impose the structure and routine that would help them be successful.  It really sucks that parents like us have to resort to something so "dramatic" as sending their son to a military academy because that structure no longer exists almost anywhere else in society.  The classrooms certainly don't have it.  I also believe this is why so many kids are being diagnosed with ADD/ADHD.  I am sure that's a real condition but I don't think it is as widely applicable as is being treated.  

I think the thing that really sent me over the edge (emotionally, because I'm a punk) is that he talked about their limiting distractions so that the boys could achieve their full potential.  In a world of kids being always on their phones or devices, I cannot believe that they still enforce this.  The kids aren't even ALLOWED to bring their phones to camp.  I love this for so many reasons.  I love it because it will show them that they won't DIE without phones for a month.  I love it because it will encourage them to interact with each other.  CJ doesn't have a problem making friends or things like that but I am still sure that his social skills are impaired because of the use of electronics.  They couldn't bring televisions or anything like that either.  They do have laptops which were required to bring but they have a strict policy that should limit youtube watching and game playing.  

I think the people I've told that CJ was going to a military academy have the stereotypical impression of what it is.  All work and no fun.  They have absolutely built in fun for the kids.  The building in which they live has a very nice entertainment room.  It might have a television but it definitely has a ping pong table and foosball table and other things like that (we didn't really get to check it out while we were there).  They have all kinds of activities planned for each weekend from Friday to Sunday.  There's free time built into their daily schedule where they can do whatever they want, include going swimming.  

This post is so disjoint but I wanted to put it down anyway.  They have parent-teacher conferences on July 14.  I plan to go and I'm very excited to hear what they have to say about him.  It will be interesting to learn whether he gives in to the structure or fights against it.  We are considering Hargrave for actual school at some point in the future.  We'll see what happens.

Here are some pics of move in day:

The leadership class was designed by Colin Powell.  Wow!

 

Just getting into the barracks before bringing all of his stuff. 

They wear uniforms all summer.  He looks SO cute in his uniform.

So many fun activities planned!