The Gun Counter

slowpoke wrote:

g-man wrote:

slowpoke wrote: It turns out thats not any more of an issue than regular schooled children
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-new ... 180952613/

Does. Not. Compute. To wit:

And, says KQED, unschooled kids did report having trouble with math and, as a group, disproportionately favored careers in the "creative arts."

Does not align with:

Many of the unschooled kids, however, did follow their passions into technical fields: “half of the men and about 20 percent of the women,” says KQED, went in to fields that required a substantial background in science, technology or math.

National average for bachelor's graduates is 40% in STEM for men, and 28% for women. So according to their data, boys chose STEM fields in college at a higher rate than average, and girls at a slightly lower rate. Neither of which indicates significant trouble with math, nor a predilection for the creative arts. You'd think a 'science writer' with a B.Sc. in 'physical science' would have less trouble with those maths...

Doesnt change my point though. I dont actually agree with the unschooling principle; Its just that everything is better than the prussian school system.

I am not a public school fan (my kids have never gone to public schools). That said, although the "Prussian System" was a bit of the motto when they were trying to reform US schools back in the day, the actual US system doesn't have much of anything to do with the Prussian or any other German system. That system is much more about pushing the advanced kids faster and getting them into their own system for university prep (AKA Gymnasium) while putting the rest of them into a vocational path.

Our actual system is based on the theories of John Dewey, who designed his system around holding advanced kids back based on his extreme ideas of egalitarianism.

http://canadafreepress.com/article/john ... -education
http://www.improve-education.org/id42.html

And in that regard it has been a smashing success.

let me revise then, anything is better than the current system.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussia ... ion_system

Vonz90 wrote:
I am not a public school fan (my kids have never gone to public schools). That said, although the "Prussian System" was a bit of the motto when they were trying to reform US schools back in the day, the actual US system doesn't have much of anything to do with the Prussian or any other German system. That system is much more about pushing the advanced kids faster and getting them into their own system for university prep (AKA Gymnasium) while putting the rest of them into a vocational path.

Our actual system is based on the theories of John Dewey, who designed his system around holding advanced kids back based on his extreme ideas of egalitarianism.

http://canadafreepress.com/article/john ... -education
http://www.improve-education.org/id42.html

It was a bit of a shock when my HS German teacher (who happened to be a Prussian lady) explained how schooling works in Germany.

The forking either Gymnasium to University, or Vocational school division is real. And decided for you, based on your performance when you're surprisingly young.

College is cheap or free, but whether or nor you are *allowed to go* is decided for you in advance by the government.

Which is one way of solving the resource issue.

People arguing for free college for everyone on the European model have no idea what they're asking for.

As someone said to me earlier today, we are a declining nation. In our decline we will desperately try to take care of everyone's needs. We will fail. Then, the country splits or dissolves.

slowpoke wrote: Doesnt change my point though. I dont actually agree with the unschooling principle; Its just that everything is better than the prussian school system.

I don't disagree. Guess I should have been more specific about my point: The writer said things, then made supporting points which did not support, or directly contradicted those things. Teaching to the 'lowest common denominator' hurts everyone.