HOME SCHOOL and the upcoming generation of scientifically illiterate kids

by Terry 75 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Terry

  When I worked for a book store I became familiar with BEKA text books for HOME SCHOOL.

  I spoke with the mothers who came looking for them. I realized something didn't smell right.

  Then, I realized there are a couple of generations of fundamentalist kids who have had NO exposure

  to the scientific method, science facts or any conversancy with Physics or Biology or History as a result of BEKA textbooks.

  In a nutshell here is the situation:

  Parents who are Christian Fundamentalists don't have the competency to answer the questions of their children when their

  sons and daughters come home from public school. So, like JW parents, they decide to teach them at home to prevent

  "worldly satanic" ideas and beliefs from polluting the mind of their precious ones.

  Garbage In= Garbage Out

  These kids are going to have hollow coconuts for brains!

  BEKA is a manufacturer of the leading Home School text books.

  "A Beka Book has been criticized in recent years by secular organizations such as the University of California and National Center for Science Education for publishing information contrary to generally accepted historical consensus, scientific consensus, especially regarding the age of the Earth and evolution . Counterintuitive to more secular programs, A Beka Book takes a traditional Biblical literalist and young earth creationist position in its science curriculum, portraying the Genesis creation narrative as a fact. This is unsurprising, however, as A Beka Book is a Christian curriculum typically serving Christian families with different viewpoints than their secular counterparts. For example, A Beka Book was criticized by certain organizations for selling works that are contradictory to the scientific consensus regarding the origins of the universe , origins of life , and evolution ."
• 

  Terry

  Between 1988 and 1996, A Beka Book held tax exempt status because its profits were channeled into PCC as a tax exempt religious organization or educational institution. [10] In January 1995, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ruled that the college's publishing arm was liable for taxes as a profit-making entity. The IRS further ruled that since the profits of the publishing arm benefited the organization as a whole due to the fact that both A Beka Book and PCC were run under the same organization and that all of the profits of A Beka Book went directly to PCC constituting 60% of the college's income. [11] The effect of this ruling rendered the publishing company ineligible for future tax exempt status.

  Although PCC was ultimately cleared of any liability for back taxes, PCC paid the estimated $44.5 million, and A Beka Book paid another $3.5 million.
• 

  GrreatTeacher

  Scary. They aren't getting a great mathematics education either.

  I am a math intervention teacher in a public elementary school. These kids that come from private christian schools or are homeschooled typically end up on my caseload. A lot of them are very good at basic calculations but are ignorant of the mathematical concepts behind them.

  They sink like a stone in public school mathematics classes.
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  I've yet to see a home-schooled JW kid amount to any kind of success in life.

  Home schooling is OK for pioneering and janitorial work just as much as having NO schooling is OK for such.

  It is an incredible disservice to any kid -- JW or otherwise.

  The only amazing stories of home-schooled children that I've seen (science fair winners, etc) are where the parent doing the schooling is a professionally trained/taught educator.

  Of course, anyone considering higher education at this time would never complete a four- or six-year degree nor ever fulfill a career considering that the end of this system will be over long before they could ever finish their education.

  OOPS! I forgot! That was written in 1969. (Awake! May 22, 1969)

  But, clearly(TM) still applies today.

  Doc
• 

  PaintedToeNail

  I home schooled two of my children. The oldest went on to the young scholar program which partners colleges with high school students. He was the one of four students in the chemistry class to get an A. He also tested out of required math classes. The younger child went back into the public school system this year because of changed circumstances at home. She has been accepted by Johns Hopkins University to become part their special program for the top performing 95% elementary students in the world. She was also recommended by her school to attend a leadership conference for promising youth to be held for one week in Washington D.C. This honor is because of her intelligence, maturity, and leadership abilities.

  Home schooling done correctly, using excellent text books, field trips which include museums, science museum, historical sites and the like, reinforce lessons. My 5th grade daughter just had a history question to be answered in essay form. She was the only one who could accurately name the generals at the Battle of Gettysburg. Most students thought President Lincoln fought there and didn't know that he actually delivered the Gettysburg address at the consecration ceremony of the cemetery.
• 

  AlphaMan

  Great way to put it DOC.

  I never did agree with the home schooling clique in JW land. Thought they were just morons who pulled their kids from school, because they expected Armageddon to come before their kids guaduated and needed educational skills in order to make a living.

  Deep down I was always suspect of the no higher education part of the cult. Kept my kids in school, let them be on the academic team and always had college as a goal for them.

  This whole Watchtower way of religion robs people of life. Amazing that we could be convinved that we had to believe all this wacky Watchtower doctrine, go to all those meetings, and pedal Watchtowers door-to-door in order to not be destroyed at Armageddon by our oving God Jehovah.

  To any lurkers out there. PLEASE....do no fall for the Watchtower guilt trip of no higher education for your kids. This religion is a cult con-job. There is no Armageddon coming to destroy you and your family for not following the bat-shit crazy ever-changing Watchtower beliefs. Have your children to get an education or skills that will enable them to make a living and provide for themselves and their family.
• 

  littlerockguy

  DesirousOfChange,

  I went to a private liberal arts college in my early 20s and I met several students who were home schooled and they did quite well. One of them today is a pediatrician. I have a cousin who was home schooled and is an RN. I have an aunt who was valedictorian of her class and she became a teacher and when she had kids when she found out that all the kindergardeners would do was play she taught them the first several years of school before sending them to public school and resuming her teaching. The educational system here in the states is a bunch of shit and if I had kids I would never educate them in the publish school system.

  LRG
• 

  blondie

  Bill Nye the Science Guy was on SCI FRI on PBS on April 11, 2014. He said it was not just home schooled that lacked true knowledge of science, but the current generation. You don't have to be a creationist.

  http://www.sciencefriday.com/playlist/#play/segment/9394

  I never pursued science as a profession but as a continuing learning process. But I am always amazed at what people don't know my age or younger. I live in a university city, 40,000 students, most of my contemporaries have degrees, the newer employees as well. I was in my mid-30's when I went back to school and science was required. I had to compete against 18 and 19 year olds fresh out of high school. But lo and behold my hs classes 15 years ago and my continuing interest in science made me first in that class and the next 2 required classes. It wasn't that they were not smart but that the curriculum in hs was not comprehensive or challenging as when I was in hs...during the space race and the cold war.

  I'm glad I have and continuing to have an interest in science, math, history, gardening, etc., without the dollar motivating me. Learning never ends until we die.
• 

  GrreatTeacher

  Although it's nice that one can name from memory the generals that fought at Gettysburg, the skill of fact memorization simply isn't in demand anymore. Kids can find that information in minutes from the internet.

  What's required now is a discussion on the reason those generals were chosen and an analysis on the effects of those choices on the outcome of the battle of Gettysburg. A fifth or sixth grader should be able to write an essay on that topic after doing research.

  Another big skill that is now necessary is the ability to critically analyze whether a source is credible or not. Students need to be able to separate facts from opinions and be able to discern whether the author has any biases, loaded language or avoidance of certain facts. This is actually one of the common core standards. In other words, critical thinking is actually an explicit learning goal.

  This type of critical thinking skill is often absent in comments on this board where someone makes a scientific assertion, but whose resources aren't relevant. There's a lot of information on the internet that discusses scientific subjects, but yet are not sufficient to support a scientific claim that one might be making. Students have to be taught the scientific thinking process.

  This is what I fear is missing in homeschooled and christian schooled kids.
• 

  Terry

  I only have two large opinions about education.

  The first one is about History. I think, unless we know the order of events in human history, we are hopeless confused about the great upheavals and spurts of greatness, or causes leading to effects. Trends aren't understandable without a correct placement in time.

  I like to play a game with with people at a party or out on the town with friends at a table.

  I name a famous person in History and they have to give me date of their existence WITHIN A MARGIN OF 10 years either way.

  For example, if I say the name: GALILEO (1564--1642) a "correct" answer would be anywhere from 1554 to 1652.

  Another variation is to call out two names: SIR ISAAC NEWTON, GALILEO . . . all the player has to do is say back the names in the correct historical chronological order.

  The answer to that one is: Galileo is first. The year he died is the same year Newton was born!

  There are waaaaay too many people of all ages who can't give you the right decade or even century for the Korean War, the Mongol invasion,

  Thomas Aquinas, our own Civil War, Muhammed or Buddha.

  Now, I said I had two large opinions; here is the 2nd one: VOCABULARY.

  Without a large and extensive vocabulary you can't read difficult books, appreciate great literature, think with a palette of nuance or subtlety or spontaneously speak with eloquence and depth. The wider your vocabulary the more prepared is your intellect for challenges.

  Developing a large and colorful vocabular is as simple as carryng around a 3X5 card with a new word each day and working that word into conversation.

  My own vocabulary was achieved from the age of 16--18. I learned 16 new words a day every day for 3 years. It was the best idea I ever had.