Something that gives me a bit of hope from a current events newsletter I subscribe to:
“There’s clear scientific evidence that digital tools impair rather than enhance student learning.”
“That [quote above] comes from Karolinska Institute, a leading research medical institution in Sweden, in a recent report on its nation’s ongoing digitization efforts in education. The country saw significant drops in academic performance and basic skills like handwriting after an intense push in recent years to integrate tablets, computers, and other digital tools into its schools. Now lawmakers and educators are calling for a reversion to pens, paper, and printed books for student learning. ‘Sweden’s students need more textbooks,’ Sweden’s minister for schools, Lotta Edholm, said earlier this year. ‘Physical books are important for student learning.’ Edholm recently announced that the government would end its digitization program for young students while older students would soon see more textbooks and fewer digital reading assignments as the government rapidly increases its spending on printed materials.”
I lived and worked in Cambodia years ago and saw the aftermath of Polpot and heard firsthand from survivors about an initial "soft" totalitarianism foisted on the trusting populace. Another friend, raised in East Germany was horrified at how quickly we, in Western Australia surrendered our freedoms during the past few years, and how reminiscent it was of the early beginnings of that regime.
I look back fondly (mostly, haha) on my days participating in homeschool co-ops as a kid. I'm sure your kids will have the same experience.
I think I agree with your mother-in-law as well—biblical politics are best expressed at home and with the neighbors, not in capitols and ballot boxes. We vote the way Jesus did: by taking care of people who need it.
I think the extremity of incarceration, torture, and killing of the regimes may seem far removed, but 'soft totalitarianism' as described by Dreher is evident around us. I came across a quote by Vaclav Havel today that will likely resonate with you "We only need to raise our sights a little above our limited daily perspective to realize with horror how hastily we are all abandoning positions which only yesterday we refused to desert. What social conscience only yesterday regarded as improper is today casually excused; tomorrow it will eventually be thought natural, and the day after be held up as a model of behaviour."
Speaking of totalitarian motives and highly organized political intentions it seems to me that this outfit is easily the leading edge vector of such a possibility occurring in the US Project2025
Hi Ruth, I find your writing always stimulating, well-informed, and interesting. The references to other writers and thinkers I also find very helpful. One thing I felt while reading this however was what makes this 'homeschooling'? It sounds like you created a co-op school. I associate homeschooling with something literally done at home.
Hi Dom., thanks for your question. The name of the educational method would easily lead one to this assumption. But as almost any homeschooler will tell you, while much of schooling during the week happens at home, most families will meet up at least once a week for shared academic and social time. Homeschooling allows parents to tailor their child's education to their academic level, select challenging or different curricula, spend more time on pursuing particular interests or projects, and spend time together learning. This does not necessarily only happen at home; it can involve other families, tutors, online classes, or even apprenticeships.
A co-op school would happen on a daily basis, and fully take over the educational role, thus functioning like a private school. The homeschool co-op setting is once facet of homeschooling that most families participate in one form or another generally once a week. This is an opportunity for parents to share their particular professional background or talents, including anything from knitting and soap making to coding and financial planning.
Thanks Ruth, that certainly does clarify my question. Homeschooling is illegal here in Spain. Overall, I’m quite mistrustful of our educational system, and while I feel fortunate to live in a country with free education and children who are not forced to work, I sense education is largely there to impose a worldview and produce workers for factories that mostly no longer exist. There are forest schools here - I would like to look into them. I find the thought of my children sitting in a room all day like a cog in a machine quite dispiriting. Though I was quite popular, I hated school and only really began learning intensely when I left. My parents were thankfully very understanding and never stopped believing in me. I feel very fortunate in that respect.
Something that gives me a bit of hope from a current events newsletter I subscribe to:
“There’s clear scientific evidence that digital tools impair rather than enhance student learning.”
“That [quote above] comes from Karolinska Institute, a leading research medical institution in Sweden, in a recent report on its nation’s ongoing digitization efforts in education. The country saw significant drops in academic performance and basic skills like handwriting after an intense push in recent years to integrate tablets, computers, and other digital tools into its schools. Now lawmakers and educators are calling for a reversion to pens, paper, and printed books for student learning. ‘Sweden’s students need more textbooks,’ Sweden’s minister for schools, Lotta Edholm, said earlier this year. ‘Physical books are important for student learning.’ Edholm recently announced that the government would end its digitization program for young students while older students would soon see more textbooks and fewer digital reading assignments as the government rapidly increases its spending on printed materials.”
That is very hopeful and sane news indeed Linda! Would you be able to send along a link to the newsletter or study? Thanks:)
This is the most complete article I could find:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/11/sweden-says-back-to-basics-schooling-works-on-paper
Thanks Linda! :)
I lived and worked in Cambodia years ago and saw the aftermath of Polpot and heard firsthand from survivors about an initial "soft" totalitarianism foisted on the trusting populace. Another friend, raised in East Germany was horrified at how quickly we, in Western Australia surrendered our freedoms during the past few years, and how reminiscent it was of the early beginnings of that regime.
I look back fondly (mostly, haha) on my days participating in homeschool co-ops as a kid. I'm sure your kids will have the same experience.
I think I agree with your mother-in-law as well—biblical politics are best expressed at home and with the neighbors, not in capitols and ballot boxes. We vote the way Jesus did: by taking care of people who need it.
"The political reality of former communist regimes may seem far removed from us"
no, not to me
I think the extremity of incarceration, torture, and killing of the regimes may seem far removed, but 'soft totalitarianism' as described by Dreher is evident around us. I came across a quote by Vaclav Havel today that will likely resonate with you "We only need to raise our sights a little above our limited daily perspective to realize with horror how hastily we are all abandoning positions which only yesterday we refused to desert. What social conscience only yesterday regarded as improper is today casually excused; tomorrow it will eventually be thought natural, and the day after be held up as a model of behaviour."
Speaking of totalitarian motives and highly organized political intentions it seems to me that this outfit is easily the leading edge vector of such a possibility occurring in the US Project2025
http://www.project2025.org
Lots of right-wing so called conservative Christian groups are supporting this project
Hi Ruth, I find your writing always stimulating, well-informed, and interesting. The references to other writers and thinkers I also find very helpful. One thing I felt while reading this however was what makes this 'homeschooling'? It sounds like you created a co-op school. I associate homeschooling with something literally done at home.
Hi Dom., thanks for your question. The name of the educational method would easily lead one to this assumption. But as almost any homeschooler will tell you, while much of schooling during the week happens at home, most families will meet up at least once a week for shared academic and social time. Homeschooling allows parents to tailor their child's education to their academic level, select challenging or different curricula, spend more time on pursuing particular interests or projects, and spend time together learning. This does not necessarily only happen at home; it can involve other families, tutors, online classes, or even apprenticeships.
A co-op school would happen on a daily basis, and fully take over the educational role, thus functioning like a private school. The homeschool co-op setting is once facet of homeschooling that most families participate in one form or another generally once a week. This is an opportunity for parents to share their particular professional background or talents, including anything from knitting and soap making to coding and financial planning.
Hope that helps to clarify your question.
Thanks Ruth, that certainly does clarify my question. Homeschooling is illegal here in Spain. Overall, I’m quite mistrustful of our educational system, and while I feel fortunate to live in a country with free education and children who are not forced to work, I sense education is largely there to impose a worldview and produce workers for factories that mostly no longer exist. There are forest schools here - I would like to look into them. I find the thought of my children sitting in a room all day like a cog in a machine quite dispiriting. Though I was quite popular, I hated school and only really began learning intensely when I left. My parents were thankfully very understanding and never stopped believing in me. I feel very fortunate in that respect.