Part 2 - Notes on Education

What is Education?
What can be considered a quality education? A quality education is custom designed that address the unique abilities of each student. Custom education evaluates natural talent and how student learns'. This is why home schooled students out perform classroom students. Parents learn what works and does not work, then focus on what works. With this method, students develop a love to learn and learning becomes a lifelong process.
 
Our Learning Personality ,Explanation of term.
Each of us has a physical personality that is different from everyone else, we also have a learning personality that is different from everyone else. Our learning personality is the combination of natural talent, social environment, character, personal interest, motivation, current opportunity, and how the brain processes information. Everyone could find a productive lifestyle if they could find a learning process with opportunity that matches their learning personality. Also includes a chart on "Perceived Intelligence in Different Social Environments."
 
Measurable Skills and Learning Environments
High school funding and teachers salaries are now based on measurable output in classroom environments. This means the system has abandon the development of skills that cannot be measured. These abandon skills are the foundation to motivation and productivity. There is a table that list the ignored skills, skills that are vital for a productive personality.

Education first then opportunity? or
Opportunity first then education?

Some people can learn without knowing the reason why, for them, education first then opportunity. Classrooms are examples of education first. Technical skills are acquired as needed.

Some people need to know why before anything sticks. For them, opportunity first followed by training. Apprentice programs are examples of opportunity first. Academics are acquired as needed.

Opportunity First versus Academics First
People, whose ideas changed the way we live have always been in conflict with classroom environments. Innovators are not "A" students, they do not accept the classroom formula for success. They learn with projects, which require opportunity first.

Note: A high percentage of today's skilled craftsmen did not qualify for entrance into technical schools or formal apprentice programs, because of the academic requirement, so they started as helpers. For them it was opportunity first.  More information.

K-12 Education Reform is Urgently Needed Now!

A dysfunctional education system produces dysfunctional teenagers.

Society expects teenagers to adapt to a one-system-for-all no matter how dysfunctional the system may be. A flexible system can create opportunity for various learning personalities, thereby, motivating them to excel.

Nationally, 30% of teenagers drop out of high school. Some high schools have a 70% dropout rate. In South Carolina, there is a 40% dropout rate. An increasing number of teenagers are rejecting the system. To stop the outflow, the system must adapt to the interest and needs of teenagers, instead of pressuring them to adapt to the system. When the curriculum inspires, teenagers will accept and learn.

Case for Education Reform - Classroom Perspective
A one system for all is not feasible.
 
Education Reform is Needed for the 21st Century - Career Perspective
Our high schools are designed to prepare students for college, not the world most will enter.
 
Teaching Young Students to be Failures
Every teenager wants to be an achiever and be somebody. For many, the classroom environment labels them failures. No one likes to be labeled a failure, so these teenagers join street gangs where they are considered heroes among their peers. They become achievers in criminal activity.
 
Drugging Students to Accept the Status Quo
Society is now drugging our youth with behavior control pills, nulling the skill that makes them creative. They learn to accept the status quo. This new generation may make a comfortable living, but they will have lost the ability to be an innovator. Soon, America will have a generation of people who can earn "A's" in the classroom, but have no vision in the real world.
 
1917 Grade School Textbooks
The curriculum assumed students would not finish high school. For this reason, farm management and engineering skills were taught in grade school. Today's young people have to attend college for specialized learning opportunity.