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REALITY Impossible to quantify, but interesting to contemplate. ______________________________________
Drudgery
Drudgery. When I hear the word two institutions come immediately to mind: school and work. My belief is that the work model is merely a reflection of the school model. If, somehow, we could make school fun while getting things done, we would not tolerate an unenjoyable work environment because we would have learned through school that we don’t need to make an oppressive work environment to gets things done. The question is do we have enough belief in our fellow man to attempt making the school experience fun without reaching in the drudgery toolbox? Can we completely skip the drudgery and still get things done simply by teaching our kids, at a young age, that there is no escaping responsibility? I believe we can. We have to present this trade off to the kids: we can do things any way, have as much fun as we like, but work has to get done. We don’t have to inflict this on them, quite the contrary. We have to make work feel as natural as getting up in the morning. It’s all about developing good habits at a young age. The biggest mistake we make as a society is that we don't require enough from each other. We treat each other with kid gloves, make responsibility seem like a monumental task and then assume no one can handle much. It's this mindset that fosters the false belief that we need the drudgery method to ensure work gets done. My belief is that a kid nine or ten can easily handle concepts such as keeping their room clean, rinsing their dishes and being a positive, respectful influence on the family. We assume a kid of this age has to be chaotic and disrespectful so we never even try to teach them otherwise. This is where the bad habits of shirking responsibility begin and the belief in the necessity of the drudgery system are reinforced. Unfortunately, it requires the entire community to buy into this new thinking to make it work. Everyone has to reinforce to the child that they are very capable, work is not to be avoided and doing your part can be fun and easy. Over time, the child, with the help of the school and the parents, develop habits that allow them to handle work and responsibility with ease because they were never allowed or encouraged to go a different direction. Once they are able to easily handle responsibility, the need for an oppressive environment is eliminated and we can make school and life what it really ought to be... an adventure. Teachers can then fill a more natural role of positive advocate instead of oppressive authoritarian.
https://issuu.com/healthwise/docs/school_book_2020_a
Short, 30 second reads, to help explain school
The after school activity model is the perfect example of how school should be optional
The true value of a High School degree
Our feelings about home schooling are paradoxical
Is school a sacred institution or a resource
We are imposing unnecessary drudgery on ourselves
Our best society in our most independent society
The relevance of subjects we've studied for years
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