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1. Formal education is rather new in the history of humans.
2. The creatures that survived did so with a combination of
instinct and experience. When people were able to develop a
spoken language, and later a written language, that was an
earthshaking achievement.
3. I have noticed for years that a highly skilled worker
usually had a skilled father and a skilled grandfather. How
much of this is learned and how is inherited I do not know.
4. It is now acknowledged that different parts of the motor
area of the brain are devoted to different functions. In
humans, the area devoted to speech movements and hand
movements is much out of proportion, much larger, than any
other creature. So we are born with the potential of speech
and the potential of hand skills. I have talked to great
numbers of young people about this. I say that if you do not
develop your speech function and your ability to use your
hands early, you may never be good with communicating or
with skills.
Suggestions for possibly resolving some of these problems
1. All schools should be neighborhood schools.
2. Some schools at least should have a small factory. I
would like to see the factory sponsored by a local firm.
Students would work in association with adults. They would
be paid for productive work. There should be a good grade of
restaurant for all those concerned. Students who cooperated
could be rewarded with special banquets where they could
sometimes bring their parents or a friend. There should be a
lot of singing of songs with understandable works. There
could be special nights where relatives and friends came and
all sang together. They could sing minority songs, like
Spanish. They could mix them up with English songs. The
idea is that all the parents should become proficient in
English as well as their native tongue. Students could make
their own uniforms--not individually, but in some sort of an
assembly line. Different schools could specialize in
different garments or parts of garments.
On the grounds there could be a small apartment development.
People who were skillful in their trade could be favored. In
the Palo Alto area and Silicon Valley, electronic assembly
could be favored.
Health should always be a big theme. It is cheerful to think
of a factory/school where nobody smokes. Students who were
uncooperative and trouble-makers could be ignored and they
would miss the action, or they could be transferred to
another school. The aim would be to have students who finish
high school and have definite skills. Good speech. And have
learned to work with others. When they finish high school
and lived in the neighborhood, they might work in the
factory for awhile, especially with a parent who had a child
still in the school.
Each school could visit with other schools and exchange
skills. Fairs could be arranged where various goods were
displayed. There could be a certain amount of visiting with
students from other schools in the area. Students could
compete with their singing ability or other forms of
entertainment. They could demonstrate their skills in
language and in a foreign language. I would particularly
like to see invitations to black schools to participate in
singing. Many blacks appear to have a natural ability in
singing. We should encourage and admire.
It always disturbs me when I read about young people who
finish high school and have no learning skills to speak of.
What have they been doing all this time? I have talked to
countless students about this. Apparently a lot of them just
fooled around or played sports or had a very intense social
life, especially with the opposite sex. A lot of good that
does them when they enter that cold world.
Students could participate in a variety of other skills, but
learning one skill helps to learn another. Learning one
language makes it easier to learn another.
Hopefully, my advice so far may help a lot of people. But
something more may be needed for a long and successful life.
This includes marriage, with successful children and
grandchildren. It is important to become an educated person.
Leaders from other countries have been surprised at our lack
of knowledge of geography and history. Anyone can learn
geography--it's just a matter of effort. One should acquire
a general outline of history. Certain books which I will
mention later might be helpful. All students should know a
foreign language, possibly three of them. One can learn them
through tapes. The more practical education that a family
has, the more they can teach their children.
Certain hobbies are very helpful with family communication.
Such things as cooking--survival cooking, I call it, not just
fancy cakes--and gardening are things everybody can enjoy for
their whole lifetime. Working around the house with good
tools is a very useful thing.
Some people today do not bother to memorize the
multiplication tables. They depend on little computers or
something. I think everybody should learn the multiplication
tables.
Memorizing can help fluency of speech. I only memorize
things that apply to everyday life. I have memorized a lot
of Shakespeare, especially the play Hamlet. I memorized a
poem recently by Wordsworth about the daffodils in central
England. The British have recently planted hundreds or
thousands of daffodils in the area that the poem alluded to.
By memorizing good things, it helps to keep the garbage out
of your memory banks.
In another article I hope to outline what an educated person
should know, along with suggestions for reading and
memorizing. That will be a separate article.
