Kelly Lovejoy

I'm still interested, though, in what people have thought needed to be
"taught" - not necessarily just in school, but homeschoolers, too.

It is really a list of what doesn't have to be "taught," of course. I
think it is very very useful to take some time to consider all that
stuff that most people think has to be taught is either learned
naturally by our unschooled kids or not learned because they never need it.


********************************************************************





One of my bestest buds is a private school principal. We've had long discussions about a LOT of things that are taught/not taught and learned/not learned in school.




Pam, you've clarified one of the reasons for teaching algebra (separating the college-worthy from the rest). Now, I disagree that we don't use algebra on a daily basis: I think we DO, but we just have very little use for algebraic *notation*. I think understanding variables is an important thing we learn in day to day living. Notation? Not so much---it's importance in our adult lives is highly questionable.




But how many of us have a dog? How many of us know much about caring for a dog? How many adults get their first dog ever when they have three kids and a mortgage? Oh, lord, let's not get into the importance of understanding mortgages and insurance and escrow and points and rates and, and, and---because, really...how many of us will ever own a house? <g>




I think school misses the boat on really20serious life concerns---like buying a dog or a car or a house. Chances are good that *most* of us will do ONE of these three things. <G> Maybe all three. <G> One or two of us may even buy that yacht Sandra keeps bringing up! <g> But how well does school prepare us for any of them? Not that I think they *can*---I think buying your first house prepares you to buy your second house. <G> But it seems to me that school would cover a few of those things it they thought them valuable enough!




I dare say that I think they would botch that too, but.... <g>




If school's *goal* is to prepare children for life "in the real world," why are algebraic notation, capitals of Africa, and the complete works of Shakespeare so damned important?




I once read a quote from a liberal arts college valedictorian who said that his four expensive years in college prepared him *quite* well for a life of a gentleman farmer in the 18th century. <G>




But to Pam's original question: I think schools (and *society*!) think that *everything* must be TAUGHT. The problem is that they simply don't understand that LEARNING can't be taught. 





 ~Kelly

Kelly Lovejoy
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." ~Gandhi












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Pam Sorooshian

On 2/26/2009 11:40 PM, Kelly Lovejoy wrote:
> But to Pam's original question: I think schools (and*society*!) think that*everything* must be TAUGHT. The problem is that they simply don't understand that LEARNING can't be taught.
>

Rosie's boyfriend, who is 22 and was homeschooled, told me, just the
other day, that his parents "taught him how to learn." I asked how they
did that and he said that his mom had been very ill for several years
and so she'd give them their assignments in the morning and they had to
work on them pretty much on their own so they became really good at
teaching themselves.


I didn't even know where to start! <G>

-pam

Sandra Dodd

-=-The problem is that they simply don't understand that LEARNING
can't be taught.
>

-=-Rosie's boyfriend, who is 22 and was homeschooled, told me, just the
other day, that his parents "taught him how to learn."-=-

Education goes through waves and fads, and there have been a couple of
waves in my lifetime of "teach them to learn," or "prepare them to
learn" or "give them learning tools."

The way to teach people to learn is to coach them to use libraries and
searches and resources and to read critically and to interpret studies
and all that. To find answers and then to sort good answers from
outdated or unfounded answers.

I have helped my children to learn the same way I helped them do other
things. It's not a big deal for me, but I don't think "simply don't
understand that learning can't be taught." There are things about
learning that people don't know before they come to unschooling
discussions or sites or books.

Sandra

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Sandra Dodd

-=-But it seems to me that school would cover a few of those things
it they thought them valuable enough!

-=-I dare say that I think they would botch that too, but.... <g>-=-

OH NO DOUBT!

If they "taught" people how to buy houses, how many adults would then
absolutely REFUSE to even consider buying a house, ever, because it
reminded them of school and they hated school? Or would sadly
resolve themselves to renting because they didn't get a good grade in
the house-buying course?

And schools do sometimes teach kids to use checkbooks, but in peeking
up and out at real young adults, they're using debit cards and
websites, things kids could teach teachers about.





(this is old, but I just found it under a pile of open windows on my
old computer. <g>)



Sandra






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