I haven’t been bullied in YEARS. It’s not a normal part of adult life.  In adult life, bullying is harassment.  It can get you fired from a job.  It can get you sued.  It is not acceptable and yet there are people who believe it is a necessary lesson that children need to learn though most never do. This is one of the most half-assed, non-critically considered arguments that non-homeschooling parents come up with as an excuse to not consider a viable alternative.

Bullying in schools is not normal.  It’s bad parenting being spread from the bully to other children.  Ask a parent if their child can go over a bully’s house to spend time with the parents and the answer will be a resounding ‘No.’  I’m not saying at all that kids who bully are bad – they are victims, and they’re often worse off than any kid they bully.  But it is not normal by any means.  Children can learn to handle a jerk when they are good & ready, and that’s different for every child.

This goes with the fallacy of socialization. Sticking 30 kids who are learning to be social together & then asking them to sit down & be quiet is pointless.   It’s completely and utterly antisocial.  When I want social interaction, I don’t go to someplace and sit quietly next to other people without talking to them.  Socialization in schools is the biggest crock of sh!t reason to school out there.  I’d buy the socialization argument if recess were 6 hrs long so kids could actually practice being social.  (and being bullied of course…)

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No big shock here.  You can pick & choose the basic reasons why – all work & no play makes Jose a dull boy?  Or perhaps that punishment doesn’t work?  (see Alfie Kohn’s Punished by Rewards)  Or, as many critics of homeschooling say, that kids need school to be ‘socialized’ – then perhaps they should be allowed to be social instead of cooped up in a classroom being trained for a cubefarm.

2. Too Many Online Friends? Time to Delete

I’ve never quite gotten the whole concept of ‘friending’ online.  Peeps with thousands of friends?  It’s some version of reality that I know nothing about.  Peeps seem to agonize about over defriending/unfriending someone, in case someone is offended or if they themselves regret it.  I’ve culled my list 3 times in the past 6 months, and gone are the people I haven’t seen or spoken to in the past couple of years.  Or the high school peeps I added during my first couple of weeks on Facebook who I don’t even recall speaking to.  I don’t know how people have hundreds of people as ‘friends’ as the status updates and this and that all become annoying, time-wasting noise.

This is exactly what life is about. You get a paycheck every two weeks. We’re preparing children for life.

That would be Michelle Rhee, Washington DC’s school chancellor, providing her rationale for pilot program this fall that will pay kids for showing up, behaving and getting good grades.  Apparently this idea is getting increasing support (like in NYC) and it’s reasonable to expect that nothing good will come of it.  After all, rewards don’t work.  And I can’t imagine that kids without bills and mortgages would give a hoot about a paycheck like every adult working a crap job to make a living.

Ms. Rhee, just stop the blather and say the truth: WE GIVE UP.  We can’t figure out how to motivate children to learn and the best we can do is to dangle a financial carrot and hope someone bites.

And frankly, if you think life is about getting a paycheck every two weeks, maybe you should get a job in a payroll department instead of letting your half-assed mind run a school system.

The article the NYT is referencing is, I believe, this.  Mr. Fisher sums up nicely:

School, as Rhee has often said, should not be a grim, bottom-line enterprise. If you can get kids to discover the satisfaction of mastering new material, you have them hooked. Paying them is the ultimate expression of surrender.

Fryer does not claim to have evidence that his program works, though he hints he will have data this fall indicating some success. But early reports from another New York City pay-incentive program show no such luck: High school students offered up to $1,000 if they scored well on Advanced Placement tests were indeed more likely to take the exams but actually scored lower than those who took the test before pay incentives took effect.

Must 3,000 D.C. students really be subjected to this degrading experiment? We live in impatient times, and Mayor BlackBerry and his dynamic schools chief want to get there right now.

Here, kid, here’s a dollar. Now shut up and learn.

iPhone en Chile / iPhone in Chile?

Originally uploaded by Diego Sepulveda

There are reports of lifeless losers around the world waiting in line for a week for an iPhone. Some of them are attempting to cash in on their feeble attempt at fame, while others are just materialist fanboys/fangirls. What is clear is that 1) they have no life and 2) they have an iPhone fetish.

Now, before any Apple apologists start trolling, I don’t hate the iPhone. Not at all – I would agree that it’s the coolest phone ever. I wouldn’t mind having one some day. But roughing it on a sidewalk for a week to buy one is beyond stupid. If a truck plowed into a line and killed them, it would be one of the lamest ways to go out ever. They would be better off doing something more fulfilling for a week, then buying an iPhone. Here are some ideas:

1. Go camping. Escape the tyrrany of a life ruled by the numbers 9 and 5. Get attuned to the real world by living with nature’s rhythms – wake up with the sun and go to sleep when it’s dark. Amplify that by camping on or near a beach and observe the tides.

2. Spend time with your family. Yeah, I’m sure communicating with your family is easier with an iPhone, but it’s no replacement for actual human contact. Do this with family members you like – I don’t advocate spending a week with the shitheads who hate you. That’s one thing that’s worse than waiting in line for a phone.

3. Go to a drought-stricken country and help people. Buying stuff to make yourself feel good will never be the same after that.

4. Go on a vacation. One week is NOT enough for a vacation, but it’s the best most people can do. (It’s a sad indictment of American values, but that’s a blog for another day.) Get your mind off your job and other responsibilities that suck and free yourself.

Him: ‘If I get an MBA, I can be an entrepreneur.’
Me: ‘Um… why don’t you just start a business instead?’
Him: (some blather about needing a degree, degrees opening doors, other nonsense)

People need that time to mature, some say. Perhaps keeping them in high school during some of the most influential times of their lives is the culprit. Kids wouldn’t need a few years to cut loose if they had more control over their lives when they were younger. That was the case for me – from Catholic school to full-blown party animal. No coincidence there – just simple cause and effect. Maybe – just maybe – traditional cultures knew something when they made their coming of age rituals take place around the age of adolescence.

College is also a false, manufactured reality. Spending the majority of your time with people of your own age is about as far from reality as can be. If anything, it prepares you for the day you get stuck in a home for the aged – once again, surrounded by people your own age. Want some reality? There are plenty of ways to do that by interacting with society in general. Learn a trade, start a business, volunteer, get a job.

The world is out there, and you don’t need to be sequestered in an educational institution to find it. Perhaps that made sense when people lived in one place for their whole lives, but not anymore. You don’t need college for travel either. How stupid is it to make such a big deal about studying abroad when you end up spending time in a classroom and doing homework? What a waste! Better to spend the tuition money on actual travel instead of a limited cultural experience.

What about the so-called best years of our lives? Isn’t it sad that 4 years of being sheltered from real responsibilities is considered the best years? What about the 40 years after that? Interestingly, the other time in life that has such a positive vibe is the Golden Years, when you’re retired and have no more responsibilities. With a message like that, no wonder kids fuck around in school. I am so much happier out of school than in, having the ability to find myself, realize my true dreams and work to make them real. Life is tough, but I’ve never had a better time than I’m having now.

Obviously, all of this is colored by my own experience. I went to the best school I could to get the right pedigree. Not that it mattered – I didn’t graduate on time, lied on my resume about graduating and still found a job. Having spent years being guided away from my interests, I studied something practical,economics, which for me was practically useless. Everything I do for income I taught myself – proof that you don’t need a degree or school. My grandfather was a wealthy, self-made business man without a degree. Lots of jobs that require a BA or BS just want some basic proof that the hiree isn’t a moron – or is a pliable drone.

So what’s going to happen with my kids? Whatever they want, I’ll support. They’ll have years to follow their hearts and if they want to go to college, I think they will have good reasons for it. Either for knowledge or a specific educational or professional goal. I think their interests will be obvious by 10 or 12, and I’ll be happy to let their curiosity be their guide.

Thanks to O’DonnellWeb for kicking off my rant.