Why the Cookie Cutter Approach to Education Doesn't Work
Each child is an original! No two are alike. As parents, we carefully plan and prepare to help each child. We recognize that even siblings in the same family come with unique interests and aptitudes, needs and abilities.
So we seek unique learning opportunities to meet the needs of our children.
We may enlist the help of teachers, friends, clergy, coaches and others, but we have the primary responsibility.
With all our hearts we want to help our children prepare to live happy, successful lives of accomplishment and service.
No one knows better than you what your child needs. Others can help you, but you are the one with the love and experience to tailor experiences to meet the needs of those you love.
Until recently, no one questioned the unique role of parents in the lives of their children. But all that is changing now. Government bureaucrats, many of whom have never had children of their own, believe they know best, and can mandate how parents raise their children. Educators in training are taught in university classes that they know better than parents about what children should learn.
Listen to what one illustrious educator has to say:
“Every child in America entering school at the age of 5 is mentally ill because he comes to school with certain allegiances to our founding fathers, toward our elected officials, toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being, and toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. It’s up to you as teachers to make all these sick children well — by creating the international child of the future” ~Chester M. Pierce, Professor of education and psychiatry at Harvard.
According to my friend who is finishing a Ph.D. in Education at a prestigious university, that attitude is prevalent in government and modern academia. They take your money (via taxes), and require your child to attend their schools and study the curriculum they choose. In some states you can opt out of their program, but you don't get your money back.
But the government "cookie cutter" approach to education is an abysmal failure. Here's a quick explanation why.
So we seek unique learning opportunities to meet the needs of our children.
We may enlist the help of teachers, friends, clergy, coaches and others, but we have the primary responsibility.
With all our hearts we want to help our children prepare to live happy, successful lives of accomplishment and service.
No one knows better than you what your child needs. Others can help you, but you are the one with the love and experience to tailor experiences to meet the needs of those you love.
Until recently, no one questioned the unique role of parents in the lives of their children. But all that is changing now. Government bureaucrats, many of whom have never had children of their own, believe they know best, and can mandate how parents raise their children. Educators in training are taught in university classes that they know better than parents about what children should learn.
Listen to what one illustrious educator has to say:
“Every child in America entering school at the age of 5 is mentally ill because he comes to school with certain allegiances to our founding fathers, toward our elected officials, toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being, and toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. It’s up to you as teachers to make all these sick children well — by creating the international child of the future” ~Chester M. Pierce, Professor of education and psychiatry at Harvard.
According to my friend who is finishing a Ph.D. in Education at a prestigious university, that attitude is prevalent in government and modern academia. They take your money (via taxes), and require your child to attend their schools and study the curriculum they choose. In some states you can opt out of their program, but you don't get your money back.
But the government "cookie cutter" approach to education is an abysmal failure. Here's a quick explanation why.
