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Posted by Cheryl P. on April 9, 2008, 9:58 am
Mary Fisher wrote:
>> Mary Fisher wrote:
>>
>>> I can't see any problem in schools teaching boys to do metal and woodwork
>>> and girls to do cooking and sewing. I think we've done a great disservice
>>> by trying to make everyone 'equal'. It hasn't worked.
> LOL! I knew this was a can of worms but I stick to my beliefs.
>> I don't think the problem was that separate sex classes were unequal, the
>> problem was that they were unfair to boys who wanted to learn to cook and
>> sew, and girls who wanted to learn metal and woodworking.
>
> That wasn't the reason given.
It was the reason I heard and expressed. You undoubtedly encountered
someone or some people who had different reasons for advocating the same
change. It's not surprising really that different people have different
opinions for supporting the same thing.
<snip>
> Spouse was a 'craft, design, technology' teacher for many years. Cooking
> wasn't taught to girls or boys, instead they were taught things like
> designing a pizza take-away box or how to assemble ready-prepared
> ingredients to make a meal. He couldn't teach real practical metal or
> woodwork because it involved dangerous tools, only the theory.
That certainly wasn't the case the last time I knew a home ec teacher,
although admittedly that was a while ago - not so long ago that her
students learned those skills at home, though.
Equipment for practical subjects always seems to come at the short end
of funding fights, and of course, the legal requirements for supervision
are strict.
> Playing football once a week isn't going to off-set the lounging about
> playing with computer games or watching television.
>
> I have many beliefs about education but trying to make everyone equal isn't
> one of them. We all have different needs and different abilities. That's why
> schools as we know them fail our children, they aren't nurtured as
> individuals because of the polkitical fear of being accused of elitism.
>
> If I'd had the courage I'd have educated our children completely at home. As
> it was they had an education despite going to school. They are all capable
> of every skill known to Spouse and me and those are extensive. They all
> contribute more to society than they take from it.
>
> What's more they had all the skills they needed to live - washing, making
> bread etc) by the time they were eight years old. If we died they had to be
> able to survive.
I learned from home, school, other formal groups and informal and family
groups and networks. I think that children from families that expect one
institution - even the school; even the family - to provide everything
every single child might ever need to learn are at risk of being
deprived. Fortunately, almost all of them would survive even if their
parents both die since there are so many back-up systems, from family
through friends and neighbours and even to the much maligned foster care
system. Some, tragically, won't - generally because of multiple failures
of several systems, not merely because the schools failed them.
Cheryl
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