|
|
“For a mechanic, you seem to do an incessant amount of thinking.” – C-3PO, Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones
Padawan Learner wants to be an inventor. Maybe I should say PL is an inventor, because he’s been imagining improvements to just about everything that comes his way since he was old enough to declare something “to be when he grows up”. His inventions/improvements are often fantastic (lovely word, that – multiple meanings), frequently push the laws of physics, and sometimes lead to quite interesting discussions – occasionally heated discussions when he feels that Dad Windu and I are just not getting the point.
Once or twice a year, I hear this refrain, “Why am I learning about (insert annoying topic o’the week here)? I’m going to be an inventor.” My answers usually run along these lines:
- Who cares if my spelling isn’t right? Only the people reading your grant proposal.
- Why do I need to learn calculus? Do you think you’ll ever need to calculate things in motion?
- Do I have to learn the metric system? Only if you want people in the scientific community to take you seriously.
- Is good grammar really a big deal? It is only if you want patent clerks and investors to fully understand your invention.
- What’s the point of learning history? You might find a new solution by exploring an old problem.
One of the best things to help stem this tide has been talking about all the different shapes that ‘inventor’ can take. Is a chemist working on a new cholesterol-lowering drug an inventor? Is a biologist who designs a test for resistance to a new pathogen in trout an inventor? Is a writer an inventor? Where is inventing an important part of success in a person’s job – even if they don’t think of themselves as an ‘inventor’? Did you know that Uncle Owen has invented processes and contraptions to further his research? Does that make him an inventor of sorts? Would a person who creates a new computer language be an inventor, a linguist or ‘merely’ a computer programmer?
“Who’s the more foolish: The fool or the fool who follows him?” Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars IV: A New Hope
As part of our little odd-duckgroup, Jake’s Mom often refers to MT’s Mom and I as her “bee people”. While I certainly understood the gist of her comment, she’s explained what she means by this, but I just didn’t comprehend the perfect appropriateness of the reference until today. When we all took our boys to the latest Indiana Jones movie Friday night, three of the four boys showed up – without prior planning – wearing fedora hats. (Padawan Learner does not currently own a fedora hat, sadly, but would have worn one if it had been an option.) Jake’s Mom sent us a link the next day showing us what she means by “bee people”.
We are:
- secular homeschoolers in a sea of religiously-based homeschoolers;
- moms of one or two kids surrounded by moms who can intelligently discuss the merits of one cargo van over another for hauling mega-families around;
- in general, not formal group joiners in a region where “So, which homeschooling groups do you belong to?” is generally only second to “Which church do you attend?” when meeting another homeschooling for the first time;
- loosely following a classical homeschooling format (a la, The Well Trained Mind), with a decidedly science-friendly and secular twist; and
- so very, very fortunate to be married to men, and to have four boys between us, that all enjoy hanging out together as well.
I can’t imagine life without my “bee people”. Who are your “bee people” and what characteristics make your group swarm together?
“For over a thousand generations, the Jedi knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the old Republic… before the dark times… before the empire.” Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars IV: A New Hope
Well, I don’t know if it’s been exactly a thousand generations, but from time immemorial, parents have taught their children at home, caring for them, teaching them, correcting them and encouraging them. Children learned the basic skills this way. It was not always bucolic, idyllic or easy, but it was normal and it worked well. The instructors weren’t certified, credentialed, professional learning specialists. They were parents and they loved their children enough to make sure that they received the education they needed to survive, thrive and be a useful part of society. Often they directed their children to make use of the collective wisdom of their clan, the knowledge of a friend or the ingenuity of a particularly talented person. What they never did is pretend that they couldn’t teach and direct the education of their own children, nor did they ignore directing the education of their children by assuming that it was someone else’s responsibility.
People from ages past were neither dumber nor more simplistic than people today. Chronological snobbery (the “they had less to know” argument) is simple foolishness. People thousands and thousands of years ago addressed, contemplated and solved essential, elemental issues. We still struggle with variations of them today: transportation; food production and distribution; communication; construction; and preventative health measures. The Ancients developed the wheel and made the connection between seed, soil, water and time to produce their own food. They selectively interbred animals to increase the likelihood of certain desirable traits. Not too shabby. The Minoans invented a system of writing to keep track of daily activities and to facilitate trade. The Egyptians envisioned, planned and constructed marvels of engineering that still stand today, strong and awe-inspiring as ever. The Greeks wrestled with water, pulling it skyward, with Archemedes’ screw. The Romans channeled it, via the aqueducts, into their magnificent cities and flushed waste from private and public places, effectively reducing the specter of disease.
For the basics, they were taught primarily by their family members, relatives and other individuals on an one-to-one basis. In essence, they homeschooled their kids until they were ready to specialize in an advanced field of study or were ready to join the larger labor market. Just like homeschoolers do today. Let’s be honest here. Most of what is taught in the K-12 classroom is pretty basic stuff: reading, writing, mathematical manipulation, basic scientific concepts… These are things we should all have learned by the time we start making babies.
Considering the craziness of California’s current state of homeschooling legislation, I recommend reading the following essay by Diane Flynn Keith: Be a Homeschool Pirate! Hoist the Jolly Roger!
“The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.” – Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars IV: A New Hope
We hear a lot these days about kids needing higher-order thinking skills, teamwork skills and study skills. As a homeschooling mom of an only child, I used to hear a whole lot about kids needing social skills — that elusive “socialization” argument. I agree that kids need to think logically, work effectively as part of a team, learn to process information easily, and form working and social relationships with other people not exactly like themselves. What I don’t hear much about from educational think tanks, teachers and the average parent on the street is ethical skills. In my opinion, without ethical skills, nothing else matters.
Ethics teach us to think outside of ourselves, outside of our own needs and desires, and outside of what might be easiest, fastest or cheapest. The abilty to think, and then act, ethically allows us to look for the positive and negative impact of our actions on the people and world around us. Such understanding requires us to realize that - sometimes - there are multiple, conflicting options and that sadly the lesser of two evils really might be the best solution.
Without ethical skills, other skills can even prove a detriment to the individual and socity. A person with excellent higher-order thinking skills but no ethical basis has the makings of a truly fantastic criminal. Teamwork without adequate ethical insight means that poor decisions can simply be performed efficiently and with everyone’s assistance, not that the team considered the relative merit and weight of each person’s argument or idea. Study skills (commonly meant as: know the material – or appear to know the material - for good grades and high stakes tests) without ethics as the educational backbone ensure that cheating, cribbing notes and plagerism will all maintain their usefulness and popularity for years to come.
Furthermore, ethical behavior has everything to do with social skills training. Learning to “get along” in a group often means learning to keep your head down, to avoid appearing, thinking or acting different from the other people in your group and to not question the group’s leader, the group’s actions or the group’s norms. It has more to do with being a good member than with being a good or useful person. My favorite online dictionary, Merriam-Webster, defines socialize (a transitive verb) as: to make social; especially to fit or train for a social environment. Note that it is defined as a social environment, not necessarily a desirable environment. Even gangs and cults have social rules and mores that must be followed. This can be further emphasized by looking at the intransitive verb, socialization: to participate actively in a social group. Social (if you follow the link) being defined as involving allies or confederates, first definition.
So, in this case, I define the Force as ethical skills and abilities, and it does, indeed, give a Jedi his power.
“What’s going on… Buddy?” – Han Solo, Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
Dad Windu left for a conference today and we miss him already. My Padawan Learner especially misses his sleeping-in time, since we had to leave at 8 a.m. for the airport. In the end, we ended up coming home and finishing up the lessons we completely blew off yesterday. You see, it was just far too nice out to spend our time cooped up in the house. In spring, a beautiful, warm, sunny day is reason enough to put the books away and go outside. In between the cold , the rain of spring and the oppressive heat of summer, you have to grab the good days when you can and squeeze as much out of them as you can. Afterwards, my young Padawan Learner walked a few houses down and finished up a game of Lord of the Rings Risk that his friend had found at a garage sale yesterday afternoon.
Although Dad Windu wasn’t around, we still joined his company for dinner and a few hours of baseball. Every year, they buy baseball tickets for any of the company families that want to go so we saw the local minor league team duke it out with another minor league team. In the end our team lost, but I didn’t mind so much. It was a good game with lots of diving for balls, stealing of bases and rooting for the home team. My young Padawan Learner took his best friend along, using Dad Windu’s ticket, and they drank enough soda to last a lifetime, gorged on sugar and kept the concessions people hopping. In an irony to end all ironies, the best friend was the only person to catch any of the “goodies” thrown into the stands. It was a hotdog. He is a vegetarian.
For the record, I’m not sure how Obi-Wan would have handled a couple hours of his young padawan learner’s friend’s fart and butt jokes, but I ran out of subtle and friendly hints after a while and had to just insist on him stopping it. Obi-Mom can only take so much.
|
|
