One of the truly good things about an education is that nothing and nobody can keep you from getting an education if you truly want one. This follows from the fact that all you need to become educated is to read good books and articles and talk to knowledgeable people. Most truly educated people put a lot of individual effort into their education independent of any formal education.
The purpose of this article is to give some hints as to how parents can most efficiently go about getting their children educated. We will concentrate on education for people who can neither afford private schools nor have the time to do home schooling.
Starting off in the earliest grades, the parent must be sure that his child is learning to read, write and do arithmetic. A little detective work may reveal that some teachers are better than others. Make all effort to make sure your child gets one of the best teachers. In reading and writing the parent must be sure that his child is being taught using phonics and not the so called Whole Language system.
Phonics refers to a system of recognizing words by sounding out the letters and syllables. Whole Language refers to recognizing words by looking at the whole word rather than breaking it into syllables. If your teacher or school is using Whole language switch teachers or even switch schools.
If you make enough fuss you can usually switch. However, if you are unable to switch then you must augment your child’s reading education. There are several good systems commercially available to help the parent teach the child to read and they usually have the word phonics in the name. If all else fails you may have to hire a
On a personal note I was taught to read by the “Whole Language” method. I eventually overcame the problem but in the meantime my parents thought I was learning impaired.
Parents should make sure that their child is learning his arithmetic. Note that our system of arithmetic is a thing of beauty and should be mastered no matter how many hand calculators you have. There is no substitute for memorizing your addition and multiplication tables. Don’t let anyone tell you different.
Once reading, writing and arithmetic are under control you must pay close attention to what the kids are being taught in the school. There is a strong tendency for teachers to impart politically correct, left leaning ideas. I have observed this tendency with both my grandchildren. When this happens, don’t panic. Just be sure that you take the time to impart your own opinions into the mix. The children will be exposed to bad ideas all of their lives so they might as well learn how to search for the truth at a young age. Sources of more conservative ideas for the beginning grades are available from the text books that are put out for home schooling. One such source is Abekka Books.
Moving on to high school, note that every high school including my alma matter NSBHS has many outstanding teachers. The student should make every effort to attend the classes taught by these outstanding teachers. Note also that teachers are “turned on” when they discover an interested student. In this way the student can often a good education even though the overall system is bad.
One of the weakest areas is in the teaching of history. Most of the textbooks used in our high schools can be described as left leaning, politically correct, superficial and written at a eighth grade level. Reviewing some of the texts used at our local high school I was left with the distinct impression that all Democratic Presidents were great, all Republican Presidents were bad, heavier taxes should be imposed on the rich and more money should be spent on welfare and education. (Note that in Volusia County we are spending about $20,000 per student per year in grades K through 12.)
The Great Depression was due to a failure of free market capitalism and President Roosevelt got us out of the depression with his economic program. Rockefeller, Carnegie, and other capitalists prospered by robbing the masses. The politically correct list goes on and on.
Here I recommend that the school texts should be diligently read and then compared with alternate sources. Again Abekka books puts out a good American history book called “ United States History: Heritage of Freedom.” Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen have put out a good History book called “A patriot’s History of the United States .” Clarence Carson and Paul Johnson and others have written histories worth reading.
The Lassiez Faire book club carries some good history books. The student should learn that there are many views of history and he should be aware of all of them, including the politically correct versions and the more conservative versions, before forming his own opinions.
The high school economics texts tend to be very weak. For instance one text hardly mentioned taxes even though taxes are the largest items in most people’s budgets. I recommend Milton and Rose Friedman’s “Free to choose” and going on line and looking up “The Freeman” or “The Foundation for Economic Education.” Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell put out excellent articles on economic subjects on a weekly basis along with texts on the subject. Laissez Faire Books (800-326-0996) lists some excellent texts. Before leaving the subject I would like to mention The Daytona College (formerly DBCC) has some instructors doing a first rate job of teaching economics.
The student and parents should be on the lookout for liberal, politically correct teachers. The best action is to learn their views but be sure to compare them with other views. Many of these teachers have a tendency to mark a student down if he or she expresses conservative viewpoints. The name of the game is to go “with the flow” and spit back what the teacher wants to hear. You can of course try to switch teachers but this is not always possible.
The bottom line is that a student who wants an education can get one. He does have to put out extra effort like outside reading and talking to knowledgeable people but it is worth the effort. Most if not all of the outstanding students who have come out of New Smyrna High School have done these things.