Posted on 06/20/2018 6:29:08 PM PDT by huckfillary
If your kids don't know these things, it's time you seriously considered educational alternatives for your child. And please don't say you can't afford it, because you can't afford not to. If you love your children, take them out of public school, find a good private/parochial school, homeschool, or simply keep them at home. They'll learn a lot more watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune than spending seven hours in a government-run holding tank for the children of dysfunctional parents.
Below are subject matters that my peers and I learned between the ages of 10-17. These issues and facts were taught during the 60s and 70s. Minorities had no problems learning these things. Why do they have problems with them now ? It's called the "soft racism of low expectations."
Ask your children or grandchildren these questions. If they can't answer a good many of them, your children are the victims of child abuse.
QUESTIONS
Who invented the cotton gin?
The steamboat ?
The electric lightbulb?
Movable press?
The reaper?
The sewing machine?
Vulcanized rubber?
Can you identify all 50 states from a map of the United States? And name their capitals?
Can you diagram a sentence?
Do you know the rules governing the use of "less vs. fewer?"
Can you quickly recite the multiplication tables? Like, right now.
Can you discuss the significance and meaning of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and U.S. Constitution?
Can you name five major figures of the Renaissance? The Enlightenment?
On which date was Julius Caesar assassinated?
Could you identify most of the countries on a map of the world ?
Can you briefly discuss the early American settlements at Plymouth and Jamestown? What drew these early settlers to risk life and limb to come here?
Can you name the major battles of the War of Independence? Which war preceded the War of Independence that, in fact, helped set the stage for the War of Independence?
Can you prove that a triangle is 180 degrees?
Can you prove that alternate exterior angles are equal?
Can you name the formula of the Pythagorean Theorem?
Can you name the formula of Einstein's theory of relativity?
Can you cite the four rights enshrined in the First Amendment?
Can you name your Natural Rights? HINT: There are three.
Do you know the rules of punctuation, grammar, and syntax, i.e. the King's English---the correct use of quotation marks, when to use a semi-colon instead of a comma, the rules of capitalization, etc. ?
Can you name the seven continents?
Can you the name seven parts of speech?
Can you name the seven auxiliary verbs?
Do you know the "rule of three" in mathematics?
Have you read any of the following---A Tale of Two Cities, any Shakesperean plays, Oliver Twist, Wuthering Heights, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Last of the Mohicans, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Little Women, Scarlet Letter, The Red Badge of Courage, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Democracy in America ? If not, can you at least name the authors of these classics ?
Do you know the difference between a peninsula and isthmus?
Can you briefly discuss the Protestant Reformation, Counter Reformation? Can you name the major players of these historic periods?
Who is Charlemagne and why is he important? On which day was he crowned the first Holy Roman Emperor and what was the name of the crown?
Can you discuss the Age of Discovery? Columbus, Pizarro, de Leon, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake, Magellan, Balboa ? What can you say about these conquistadores and explorers?
Can you identify at least five major figures of the Enlightenment ? Can you identify the generally accepted years during which the Enlightenment took place? What was the significance of the period? Explain its impact on our own history?
Our country is routinely called a democracy. This is soooo incorrect. Our Founding Fathers loathed the idea of democracy, likening it to the "rule of the mob." Which term correctly describes our form of government?
What is a synonym? An antonym ? A homonym?
Do you know when to use there, their, and they're ? Your and you're ?
Do you know the formulae for converting Fahrenheit to Celsius and vice versa?
Can you name the planets? In order of their distance from the sun ?
Can you name the oceans ?
What was the first battle/act of aggression in the War of Northern Aggression (i.e. Civil War) ?
Can you name the Great Lakes ? In order of size ?
I could go on and on. But these are just the basics of grammar, mathematics, and history that all of us were required to learn while attending school in the 60s and 70s. Minorities were required to learn these things, and did. I don't recall any minorities struggling with these things. If they are, it's termed the "soft racism of low expectations."
Well the ones that want to stay on the right side of the law usually get jobs at slaughterhouses.
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Speaking of Julius Caesar, it is a little known fact that Shakespeare’s play was originally titled “Julius Grab the Girl Before She Gets Away”.
He shortened the title.
THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE was usually required reading in high school and I agree with you re the "unfortunately"!
Good fiction (poetry too ) has its place and should be required reading in grades 3-8, instead of the garbage that is currently being required, even in the best, most elite private day schools.
Or the old Groucho Marx line: Who is buried in Grant’s Tomb??
“Can you cite the four rights enshrined in the First Amendment?”
There are 5 rights enshrined in the First Amendment. Religion, speech, press, assembly and petition.
Do I get get bonus points for this?
Fixed.
Music is a different mechanism.
And some people are not auditory learners.
If someone gives me directions to somewhere verbally, I can make it to the first light and turn right and that’s it.
If I see a map or especially if I draw a map, I can throw it out right away and not need it again. I am able to get a picture in my mind’s eye of the map and see it there.
I CANNOT do that by hearing.
People’s brains are wired differently and what works for one does not work for another. So no, it’s not a matter of *want to*.
Re: “good for a laugh”
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Stupid in America: Students Are So Bad, Professor Can’t Grade Them
Apathetic or even hostile students, dumbed-down tests, often incompetent and ideologically driven teachers, Cracker Jack-box degrees, morally toxic curricula, revisionist history, the new math — education has collapsed in America. And one of the sincere educators, wandering amidst the rubble, recently provided a window into this academic apocalypse.
Eileen F. Toplansky, a social commentator and adjunct English instructor at the college level, laments that a good number of her ex-students were so bad that it’s difficult to even grade their work. She provides many examples of former students definitely not smarter than a fifth grader...
I knew a lady who was born in the 1890’s and who had passed the entrance exam to attend a RURAL (very rural) Pennsylvania High School in the 1910’s.
She had four years of French, four years of Latin, four years of German, and three years of Greek.
what little fiction I read in school, I remembered long enough to get a grade and then promptly forgot.
as for poetry, I write it, but don’t usually read it.
I made the mistake of glancing at one of E. E. Cummings collections, it was the most unintelligible, childish garbage I have ever read.
Shakespeare, I’ll give you that one, (I prefer the movies)
I think memorizing trivia is not much more than a quirky and mostly useless talent (that I don’t have, public school or not). But I will put my theoretical skills at comprehending special or general relativity up against the author’s or any of the fill-in-the-blank trivia “geniuses” any day.
I think Spock invented Vulcanized rubber.
Pre-warning: I’m bored and its a slow night at work -
“Who invented the cotton gin?”
I didn’t even know you could make gin from cotton.
“Movable press?”
John Wooden
“The reaper?”
Blue Oyster Cult, though they didn’t want people being afraid of it.
“Vulcanized rubber?”
Mr Spock
“Can you identify all 50 states from a map of the United States? And name their capitals?”
Yeh the names are written on the map and the capital is the first letter of the name.
“Can you quickly recite the multiplication tables?”
I can recite my gozintas. 1 gozinta 2 two times, etc
“On which date was Julius Caesar assassinated?”
It was the day before his funeral.
“Can you prove that a triangle is 180 degrees?”
My thermometer doesn’t go that high.
“Can you name the formula of Einstein’s theory of relativity?”
Counting just blood kin or in-laws too?
“Do you know when to use there, their, and they’re ? Your and you’re ?”
Your really gonna go their?
“Can you name the oceans ?”
I could but I thought they already had names.
As the recipient of a home education I am no fan of the public school system. I will be educating my own children at home but this list and the accompanying paragraphs in an effort to encourage it are poor attempts at highlighting the benefits of non-government school. The point of education is not for you to memorize a bunch of facts, although the art and skill of memorization is lost today and is beneficial in spite of our googlable world. Instead, education should teach you HOW to think and reason which is why the modern school system fails on so many levels
Interesting article,but has nothing to do with public schools,private schools,or home schooling.
It seems to be comparing education today vs. years ago..
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Hirsh has a series of books WHAT EVERY x GRADER SHOULD KNOW I think it goes up to 8th grade and there is also a listing of appropriate curriculum for each grade available. I used it as a guide to make sure my children were well educated when I homeschooled and that I didn’t miss anything.
I wouldn’t send a skunk to any public school.
I am going to be volunteering at a homeschool coop soon. All adults who have skills to offer need to volunteer to educate kids in private homeschooling and private school settings.
And don't even get e started on the high level of education that she got in high school! LOL
Today's education, on ALL levels and for ALL venues ( including homeschoolers! ) is extremely low!
But thankfully, some parents and grandparents still take their responsibilities, to children, seriously and expose them to many things that they will NEVER get in any school. It's just a shame that they are few in number.
Rote learning and drills are what will help an older child develop into a critical thinker. Doing higher math is way easier when you don’t need a calculator to divide or factor a 2 digit number. With history being able to understand why an event happened or how it changed the times requires you to recall who was in charge at that time and what major issues were present in that time period.
Ping
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