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REALITY Impossible to quantify, but interesting to contemplate.
Sacred
Is school a sacred institution or a resource?
When most people think of a sacred institution they think of church. Imagine if one of the parishioners suggested moving the Sunday morning services to Thursday night citing better parking, better attendance and keeping the weekend obligations free.
They would be roundly condemned as blasphemists and heretics because sacred institutions, by their very nature, do not have a need to change because they are more about ritual than pragmatism.
School is not a sacred institution. It is a resource.
The biggest difference is a resource can follow any format, be constantly evolving and can promote any curriculum it wants without much complaint. But, school doesn't.
The school experience has been relatively static for decades. People seem reluctant to radically change it because they treat it like a sacred institution and not a resource. And, they especially don't treat it like something they're paying for where they're the customer.
All you have to do is clearly define what your ultimate goal for school is and the curriculum will fall right into place.
It seems like most people's goal would be to make the kid ready for adulthood.
It's highly unlikely terms like biology, geometry or social studies will come to mind when thinking about how to meet this goal. We don't use this information in any practical manner in our day to day lives.
Quiz
1. What living animal has the heaviest brain?
2. What is the formula for the circumference of a circle?
3. Who fought in the war of 1812?
Whether you knew all, some or none of these answers it doesn't have any practical impact on your life.
Quiz #2
1. Which diet do people use who are living a long, healthy life?
2. What are going to be some good fields to be in when I leave high school?
3. What can I do to have long lasting friendships?
This is information most people would want to know because it helps to solve adult issues.
Our curriculum has to address the issues we're going to face as adults. If biology is so important, why not zoology? If comm arts is so important, why not astronomy? All these subjects are equally valid, but they are also of dubious importance.
Most of our life falls under three main categories: our health, our money and our relationships.
If these are the areas of most importance, why isn't school matching the curriculum to deal with them?
-READ 6 COMMANDMENTS OF A BETTER SCHOOL HERE-
Short, 30 second reads, to help explain school
Why Teachers Can't be Ultimately Successful with the Current School Curriculum
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
email: comments@schoolfromscratch.com
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