The Worst of Times
Trying to explain what public schools were like in the 1970s to my son is difficult. He finds it easier to believe in wizards that play ball on broomsticks than to believe in what the best minds of the day thought were educational breakthroughs. Recently I tried to explain to him why I never learned long division in school.
In the 4th grade I was placed in what was then the latest and greatest thing in destroying a child’s cognitive reasoning; the open classroom. The rule of the class was simple, as long as the child was engaging in something vaguely academic, the child could do what they like. The theory being the child would eventually get around to all the required subjects. It was the 70′s; grown ups were stupid.
The boys built models. The girls read. Our teacher sat at his desk reading the sports page. The class was filled with sound and fury signifying tax dollars being flushed into the sewer.
Even then I loved history, so I did learn a lot, all on my own with library books and no teacher input. I wrote a report on Ireland which impressed my teacher much. What I did not do was study math, any math. That’s why I didn’t learn long division until my elder brother sat me down in the sixth grade and taught me, at home.
No one ever asks me why I chose to homeschool. I live in California, people just understand.
