Shaun Kerry, M.D. Diplomate, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
As a social psychiatrist, I examine society much like a doctor examines a patient. One of the most troubling ailments that I encounter is our school system, which - without ever realizing it - harms the majority of our students.
It is my belief that our school system is the most fundamental cause of the social problems that our society faces today. Far from being expensive, the solution to this problem would cost no money.
Speaking from a psychiatric perspective, our most critical mental attributes involve emotions, judgment, a sense of priority, empathy, conscience, interpersonal relations, self-esteem, identity, independence, the ability to concentrate, and a number of other whole-brain functions that defy description. I will lump all of these attributes under the term 'mindfulness'. Reading comprehension level, mathematical ability, and standardized test scores are much further down the priority list.
There is a sharp jump in the incidence of mental illness immediately after children begin school. This would suggest that something about our school system is in direct conflict with the human psyche. The academy-award-winning film American Beauty captures the essence of social dysfunction in today's world, and has the power to portray many things that cannot equally be expressed through the written word. I would urge you to see this film. Note how most of the characters in this film suffer from a major personality disorder. By restructuring our schools, many such disorders could be prevented. I will show you how.
First, we must conquer our obsession with attempting to align academic achievement with a time-table. Everyone has a very unique personality, and therefore, learns at a different pace. Some people are ready to learn how to read at age 3, while others may be better to suited to learning how at age 10. In schools, we force subject matter down the throats of the students. We neglect to realize, however, that children learn much more quickly and effectively if they are receptive and eager to learn the subject matter. Children could master the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic far more quickly, if they were allowed to learn what they wanted to learn when they wanted to learn it.
Prior to about 1850, schooling as we presently understand the term - wasn't considered critical to the development of young minds. Granted, some children did attend schools, but only as often as they wanted to.
Classroom education was far from mandatory, yet children still learned to read, write, and perform arithmetic. In fact, Senator Kennedy's office once released a paper stating that prior to the implementation of compulsory education, the literacy rate was 98%. Afterwards, the figure never exceeded 91%. Forcing people to learn has no value, and is extremely harmful. Tests, grades, busywork, and competition are at the core of the problems that plague our schools. The motivation to learn must come from within the student. Often, we become so concerned with fulfilling the demands of other people, that we lose track of what we feel and who we are. I have met or worked with countless individuals who are intellectually well developed, but who have lost touch with their inner-self.
As a child, everyone is curious and eager to learn. Before attending school and being subjected to this process of coercion, children manage to learn a complex language (in bilingual families, two languages) and a copious amount of things about their environment. There is no reason why such learning could not continue without the negative effects of rigid institutionalization and standardized test scores, which seem to form the basis of modern-day education. Rather than hindering the growth of our children, we must provide an environment that will nourish them, and facilitate continuous learning.
I can see where they are going with this article, but if you think about it what kids really want to learn reading, math, science, etc. Just because they don't want to learn it or don't show an interest in it, doesn't mean we should wait until that happens to teach it to them. I remember back in school I always hated math, but I still learned it because it was required, and I'm glad that I did, otherwise I wouldn't have any basic math skills. After kids start learning about a subject, they may become more interested in it later, but how would they know if they weren't introduced to it? I never liked history in elementary school, but loved it in high school.
I do agree that busywork is useless, especially assignments that serve no purpose but to fill the time. The particular method that I disagree with is memorization. There is no need to force kids to regurgitate facts, but rather learn principals and apply them to real life situations. Homework is inevitable, at least in high school, especially when classes are only 45 minutes at a time, it is hard to cover enough in class. I can tell you from my personal experience that the first 5 minutes of class are getting kids to settle down, another 5 minutes reviewing briefly what was learned the last time, going over questions, which can go on to 10-15 minutes, then presenting new material can be put off until the last 10 minutes of class, and by that time there may not be enough time to adequately address the topic. The teacher should be able to pace the class so that students that are faster have additional activities when they are done, and allow students that are slower enough time to finish the project. Setting individual timetables would be really hard as some kids might graduate at, say, age 15, whereas others may take twice as long.
The article brings up valid points, and I think the school systems can be damaging to kids emotionally when they are bullied, made fun of, etc. subhanAllah I just heard a story about a teen that committed suicide because of bullying at the age of 15.
With all that being said, I really want to homeschool my own children, inchAllah, if not perhaps do a homeschooling program with other Muslims in my area if I can start that up.
Whilst the article may well raise valid points, I thought it was going to talk more about the emotional and moral side of things rather than the academic side. So that would perhaps include the harms caused by peer pressure, bullying, exposure to and promotion of immoral concepts, identity crises, degradation of discipline and good character amongst students and so on...
Yeah I thought it was going to talk about how so much emphasis placed on intelligence and good grades is bad for child when he can't meet expectations of his parents and feels like a failure.
“Who said that guidance requires there to be someone accompanying you"
i feel it, i am homeschooling my children and the health visitors are often shocked, as if sending your kids to someone else to teach while both of you slave your asses of is completely normal,
the Prophet (pbuh) is an excellent example of the fact that knowledge and wisdom are not necessarily synonymous with outside school, he could neither read nor write yet he was the leader (actually the founder) of a nation that now spans the globe and accounts for around a quarter of the world's population, he was a family man, a military commander, a teacher on the secular and spiritual level, the whole lot.
yet he still emphasized the value of knowledge and literacy and even released for free prisoners from rich families just in exchange for teaching ten Muslim children to read and write,
he (pbuh) showed that knowledge and literacy are important, but are not necessarily the be-all and end-all of being human.
and that knowledge and literacy do not have to come from a regimented society where the people are pushed into perpetual debt by usurers and slave their asses off while other people are paid to explain how their ancestors were monkeys - what an insult!
most people i speak to don't even know that the banknote in their pocket is a receipt, and when shown the "promise to pay", they realise that the 5 pounds must be somewhere else.
the amazement on their faces shows that it is not education - but a conditioning process.
this famous movie is a must watch for anyone who takes the time:
^ "i promise to pay the bearer five pounds" means that the note is a promise bearing iou, when the banks took in people's gold and silver, they would write out a certificate saying "one pound of sterling silver payable to the bearer of this note on demand" (you could buy a house with it), it was like a cheque, but then the gold and silver dissappeared and the notes became legal tender - which is forced tender.
eg, you give me a dell laptop, i give you a receipt, i keep giving and taking until i have gained enough trust and more and more people give their laptops for me to store in my vault, then i get my favourite politicians/kings to pass a law saying that the receipt bearing the promise to pay a laptop is "legal tender", meaning it must be accepted, you come back to me after a month and i write you another receipt, or two receipts of half each, you get angry and go to the court, the judge asks "was legal tender offered?", the answer is "yes", "then consider the debt discharged".
it's basically an elaborate scam which no court would accept in any other situation, but the banks seem to have politicians and lawmakers in a stranglehold.
have you ever gone to the bank of England and handed them a £20 promissory note and asked them to give you the £20 they promised to pay on the note?
don't it sound ridiculous?
Thus 240 pennyweights made one troy pound of silver in weight,and the monetary value of 240 pennies also became known as a "pound".
n the 12th century, Henry II established the Sterling Silver standard for English coinage, of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper,
replacing the earlier mediæval use of fine silver.
The pound sterling(symbol: £; ISO code: GBP), commonly called the pound,
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