Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Wishful Wednesday


Last week on Wishful Wednesday, I started a new branch of the series about the perfect school. If you missed it, you can go back and caught up. It's not very long and is the jumping off point for my wannabe inner philanthropist's big endeavor.

First, I want my school to look something like this...


Birmingham Business College, image from Wikimedia Commons

...or even this...

Wellesley College Tower Court, image used with permission from Wikimedia Commons

What do you think?? I think I like the first building better.

But buildings don't matter if what goes on inside of them is crap, so let's get back to the institution itself.

A few more of my ideas are that it should be a year-round endeavor. Nine weeks on, three weeks off, which also gives us three tracks of classes/lessons. All children in a given family would be put into the same track.

Of course, there will be certain times of the year when everyone is off, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas/winter break/NewYear, and Easter/spring break. Other federal holidays such as Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day would need to be factored in as well. But those details can be figured out later!

So now onto more important things like what we are going to teach these kids. Obviously the basics. Whatever the standard requirements are in math, English, science, etc... But what about those things they no longer teach that we can see the effects of these days? (At least here in our district. I don't know about the rest of the state or the country.)

How about penmanship?
Economics?
Political Science?
Wood shop/metal shop/auto mechanics?
Home economics?



I know there's probably a ton more.

One of my followers home-schooled her kids and another teaches at the college level. Ladies, I'd love to hear your suggestions.

And I'd love to hear from anyone else as well.

What have we gotten away from teaching our kids that has had a negative impact on society and our nation?

Thanks for sharing!

6 comments:

Regina Richards said...

Lots of nutritional and exercise classes. Poor nutrition and lack of proper exercise cause problems in all areas of life both for the individual who hasn't got the energy to be achieve their dreams and be productive for themselves and for the larger society that is burdened with a more sluggish economy, higher healthcare costs, poor defense readiness, and many more ills.

The other biggie is financial education. But some areas of big business (credit card companies come to mind) would fight a financially savvy curriculum because it would affect their bottom line.

Jen FitzGerald said...

GREAT ideas, Regina!!!

Clover Autrey said...

Gosh yes, please bring back the auto mechanics. What were they thinking getting rid of that?

They also need better technology courses to keep up with the ever-changing, well, technology.

By the way, both of those schools look a little Harry Potter-esque, except for not being in the shadows.

Jaime said...

Not sure about a year round thing, tbh. You don't want the kids to get burned out, for one thing. It also takes out summer camp for the younger ones, or summer jobs for the older ones (which may be needed, given the current cost of college these days.)

Penmanship - As someone who was forced to write with my non-dominant hand, I'm going to have to say no to this one. It would be incredibly stressful to someone like me, and there are certain conditions which can hinder one's writing abilities as well.

Economics - They don't teach economics anymore? It used to be a requirement for graduation in the state of GA.

Political Science - Same as Econ. Government class was also a graduation requirement for us.

Shop and Home Ec.: These two would be my additions, and rather than just make them semester long courses, I'd have them be year long and required. So many kids go off to college without knowing how to do laundry, or cook or anything else. For me, teaching myself to knit, crochet and do very basic carpentry (along with currently teaching myself to sew,) how to shop for groceries and how to grow and cook my own food have been some of the most useful things I've learned in my life (also, all of this stuff involves a practical use of math as well.)

Auto mechanics should be taught in a non-sexist way, too. Back in high school, we were told when they were showing us the classes, that the girls in auto mechanics would only be taught to change oil and tires, while the boys would learn everything else. I refused to take the class because of that.

Another thing I'd also add is a Survival class. Given how bad some of our natural disasters have been in recent years, it would be good for kids to know basic first aid, how to purify water, find food, etc.

Jen FitzGerald said...

Thanks for sharing, everyone.

Jaime, First Aid and some basic survival lessons are great ideas.

mtnchild said...

I thought they were starting Common Core in TX ... That will really be detrimental to learning. I'm so glad I don't have a kid (Jen) in school anymore - I would be camped there every year!!!
Love,
Mom