It's 8.49am and my daughter is still in bed. She goes to high school-her choice-were school starts at 8.40am. Why so early? Studies have shown that the juices of brains in this age group don't start flowing until at least noon. Like most things about public schooling, the system doesn't work for kids.
This is why I am in support of Paul Goodman's 'manifesto' below. Take a look and throw some comments our way.
1) Incidental education, taking part in the on-going activities of society, must again be made the chief means of learning and teaching.
2) Most high schools should be eliminated, with other kinds of youth communities taking over their sociable functions.
3) College training should generally follow, rather than precede, entry into the professions
4) The chief occupation of educators should be to see to it that the activities of society provide incidental education, rather than exploitation or neglect. If necessary, we must invent new useful activities that offer educational opportunities
5) The purpose of elementary pedagogy, through age twelve, should be to delay socialization, to protect children's free growth, since our families and community both pressure them too much and do not attend to them enough. Modern times pollute and waste natural human resources, the growing children, just as they do the land, air and water.
Goodman 1971
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