by PhebaAndThePilgrim » Wed 06 Feb 2008, 11:59:09
Good day from Pheba, from the farm:
There are some points concerning the education of children that most people miss.
First, there are just too many people, and too many little people. So we herd them like veal calves into overcrowded classrooms. They are reared like cogs in a wheel to be molded into worker drones for the machine that has become our existence.
The market is killing us. More important, the market is making us retarded. We had a family gathering this past Christmas with my hubby's family. His cousin has been a kindergarten teacher for almost 40 years. She and I began talking about the rise in autistic children. She disagreed that the mercury based preservative in vaccines had anything to do with it. She may be correct. The preservative was taken out of vaccines in 2001, and autism rates are skyrocketing in this country. Why?
My husband's cousin said that children today are actually "retarded", and totally unteachable. If she sees this in kindergarten then the problem is not just the school system. Where are all of these retarded children coming from. I do not use the word "retarded" lightly. By retarded I mean that the young of the species known as homo-sapien are not reaching their potential mental capacity. As a matter of fact it seems that we are rapidly becoming more retarded in our mental capacity all of the time.
I was a substitute teacher for several years. I finally had to quit. Today's children in the public school system are not teachable.
You could use all of the rulers you want, and encourage spanking, whatever, and you still could not teach these children.
Why?
I switched to Catholic schools for a while. Wow, talk about a difference. What intelligent kids. Even the kindergarten children were highly intelligent. Where does the difference come from?
I have met home-schooled children that were sharp as a tack.
I have also met home-schooled children that were so socially and mentally retarded that they would not even make eye contact.
The family that lives next door to my daughter claims to be home-schooling their children. The mother sleeps until noon, and if she is educating the children, nobody sees it. The oldest boy is seven, does not speak or make eye contact. Her children are dirty, drooling, violent, nasty kids. This woman is crazy, and she wants to have 12 children. Her religion believes she is "A vessel to be broken in childbearing". Yes, some faiths still believe this.
On the other hand I have a girlfriend and neighbor who raised her two girls by home-schooling them. Both girls were delightful children. they were bright, socially active, friendly kids. They both went to college and just breezed right through it. Both have good careers today and both are contributing members of society. Why?
What's the difference. Do we turn the education of our children over to parents who can vary from the slovenly mother in a cult, to the intelligent dedicated devoted mother?
Home-schooling is not easy. School plans, paperwork, teaching, grading, and all of this revolves around housework, grocery shopping, and all of the other normal life chores.
Home-schooled children need outside exposure with other children. I have a hunch that the boy who won't make eye contact is lacking in that outside exposure. His mother belongs to a cult that instills fear of outsiders constantly. I shudder to think what this young boy will become.
I think our public school system is doomed no matter how much money is thrown at it. Advertising aimed at kids just makes the "retardation" worse. I don't think the retardation of the minds of our children is caused just by our schools. I think that there is a deeper cause.
My theory as to what is causing this "retardation":
First, and foremost is nutrition. The diet fed to America's children is awful. Most brain growth is finished by the age of two. Sugar is the main component of most baby formula (read the label). Then toddlers are fed more and more sugar. Not just sugar, but high fructose corn syrup. The brain does not grow with sugar. The brain needs protein and nutrients to grow.
Second, the example of thinking that is set by their parents is dismal. Television, Television, television.
third, exposure to a plethora of chemicals and toxins that science has had no time to test on generations.
Personally I have a gut feeling that plastic exposure may be the cause behind the rise in autistic birth rates. Just my theory from what I am seeing. Several industrial nations have banned pthalates in plastics, the U.S. still uses them. By the way, never, never heat food in plastic in the microwave. very toxic.
The U.S. education system is a joke. They trudge along inventing newer and better methods of "educating" our kids, and they just don't get it. First you feed them, then you love them, then you set an example for them to follow:. then you educate them.
Morons raising morons.
If I had young children today I would home-school them, just to keep them out of the system. I am not a Christian. i am an atheist, and I would still home school them. Religion has no bearing on my decision. I just think the U.S. school system is a travesty.
Pheba.