First off, allow me to apologise for the fact that this is not the originally scheduled post about Hijab. I will still be posting on that topic; it has merely been postponed for a couple of months. I decided that,… Read More ›
school
Open Letter To America
Dear America, I am writing to express my concern over the direction in which you seem to be heading. You used to be ‘the home of the brave, the land of the free’, the cool kid who the rest of… Read More ›
Top Ten Back-to-School Essentials 2013
Well, it’s that time of year again. Our kids have just returned to school, we’ve been issued with school lists and our kids are bugging us not to buy the same old generic stuff. So here is a list of… Read More ›
Of course
The first grade was learning the letters of the alphabet. ‘What comes after T?’ the teacher asked. Nettie quickly answered, ‘V’. — Herbert V Prochnow & Herbert V Prochnow Jr. in Jokes, Quotes & One Liners Volume 2
Important question
The professor was delivering the last lecture of term. ‘The examination papers are in the hands of the printer,’ he concluded. ‘Now, are there any questions you would like answered?’ Silence prevailed for a moment. Then a voice piped up,… Read More ›
Great poet discovered
Professor: ‘Did you write this poem without any outside help?’ Student: ‘I did.’ Professor: ‘To think I would be lucky enough to have Lord Byron in my class!’ — Herbert V Prochnow & Herbert V Prochnow Jr. in Jokes, Quotes… Read More ›
Alphabet
‘Willie,’ the teacher asked the new pupil, ‘do you know your alphabet?’ ‘Yes, miss,’ answered Willie.’ ‘Well, then,’ continued the teacher, ‘what letter comes after A?’ ‘All the rest of them.’ — Herbert V Prochnow & Herbert V Prochnow Jr…. Read More ›
Subtraction
Tommy did not seem to understand subtraction, so the teacher tried to make it plain with the following example: ‘Now, suppose Billy had fifty pence,’ said the teacher. ‘Yes’m,’ said Tommy. ‘And you asked him for twenty-five.’ ‘Yes’m.’ ‘How much… Read More ›
Boredom
I believe that boredom is a side-effect of the conventional school approach. In school, children are taught not to do what they feel like, and not to act on a sudden creative impulse or idea. Instead they are expected to… Read More ›
School survival
— Jan Hunt in The Unschooling Unmanual
Trapped
— Claude Monet in The Unschooling Unmanual
Prefix
‘Some plants,’ said the biology teacher, ‘have the prefix “dog”. For instance, there is the dogwood, the dogviolet. Who can name another plant prefixed by “dog”?’ ‘I can,’ shouted the little boy in the back row. ‘How about “collie flower”?’… Read More ›
Responsibility
…the transfer, by the parents, of so much of their own authority and responsibility to the schools is in most ways a cowardly and contemptible business… —John Holt in ‘What Do I Do Monday?’ Related articles Quote This: John Holt… Read More ›
Classrooms
…it is our responsibility as teachers to have in our classrooms what the children need, to make a rich and varied environment for them to live, learn and grow in. ‘The school won’t let me get anything’ is not an… Read More ›
Supporting Powers
Supporting powers is, of course, exactly what we do not do in most schooling. We do not give children extra time to work at what they like and are good at, but only what they do worst and most dislike…. Read More ›
John Holt in ‘What Do I Do Monday?’
“One of the things adults do, and above all in schools, is invade, in every possible way, the lives and privacy of their students. There are master keys to the students’ ‘lockers’ in schools, so that administrators may search them… Read More ›
Kathy Lette in ‘How to Kill Your Husband (and other handy household hints)’
“Fish are in schools. And they’re not learning Anything…” ~ Kathy Lette in ‘How to Kill Your Husband (and other handy household hints)’
Harold Schechter in ‘Fiend: The Shocking True Story of America’s Youngest Serial Killer’
“Reading about the pathetic state of public education, we grow teary-eyed for the age of the ‘Little Red Schoolhouse’ – completely unaware of the deplorable conditions of nineteenth-century classrooms (according to one authoritative source, ‘a survey of Brooklyn schools in… Read More ›
Maggie Hamilton in ‘What’s Happening to Our Girls?’
“Increasing numbers of parents are ‘treating’ their daughters to breast implants and liposuction for birthdays and Christmas or for doing well at school.” Related articles What’s the Right Breast Implant Shape For You? (aboutplasticsurgery.com) The Pros and Cons of Adjustable… Read More ›
Rafferty's Rules is Closing Down 