#92

reason to homeschool #92
there is just TOO much standardization in america.
the kids and i are listening to "story of the world volume 2" in the car. last night, on the way to the gym, we heard about eli whitney. no, i am not talking about the cotton gin. i am talking about his invention of interchangeable parts. well, a frenchman invented it first but eli brought it to america and the rifle. interchangeable parts brought on standardization. standardization is something we all kind of just take for granted. gas pumps in ANY state will fit into your car's gas intake and dvds bought anywhere in the world will fit into your dvd player despite make and model.
soooo- here's where i get to my point. i started thinking "in a word, this is why chris made the switch to homeschool."
he was interviewing with cbeyond then- and was having to return for MANY interviews. it turned out that they were having trouble picking from such an educated and talented bunch. their resumes looked the same- almost standardized. everyone had an mba. everyone was a cpa. everyone had the same amount of experience. standard. but chris was able to communicate his knowledge. to bring it off the paper and talk about it, analyze it, answer questions on the fly. he was also able to exhibit creative problem solving- something that just can't be taught. it is acquired. acquired as a child through long hours of "doing nothing"- no structured activity, no video games or tv shows to occupy time. just time spent building, dreaming, playing. time that most kids in school just don't have. especially kids in school that also play sports. chris did these things, but then again, the homework load back in the 80s and 90s was slim to none compared to today.

we don't want our kids to be standard. to be easily replaced by another cog for the wheel. we want them to not only have all the knowledge they need, but also to have the creative problem solving and inventive ingenuity that most kids lack coming through school.

case in point- (the name of this woman will be kept private- for the ease of reading i will call her "jenny").
jenny works for chris on his staff of account managers. periodically he will give jenny a job that requires problem solving. there is no one correct answer. there are many routes to take to the solution. jenny sits will sit in her cube trying for a bit, then invariably comes back to chris for help. he has tried modeling problem solving. he has showed jenny many many ways to attack a problem. yet she constantly needs him to hold her hand on these projects. i told him there is no amount of modeling that will help jenny. if problem solving is not already in her possession she will not pick it up now. old dogs, new tricks.