But for now I just want to try and catch up on my Blogtober posts. I am behind about three days, so I figured I would do two posts tomorrow, two Friday and two Saturday, and that would get me caught up. I have plans for some thoughts posts, and some short writing challenges I would like to do to practice my creative writing. Tonight, however, I'm just going to give a recap on a conversation I had today in class. (I have been really enjoying the conversations in class. They are so much fun, and thought provoking!). This conversation was during physics and dealt with not liking your curricula (textbook), teacher, tutor, and so on.
As homeschoolers I feel like we do have a tendency to take for granted our blessing of being able to choose our text book. It comes with 'owning your own education' (my class motto). You think on the information, reflect on how it is given, and many times decide if it is interesting enough for you to continue on doing (guilty as charged). Sometimes we have a tendency to forget that it isn't how the information is present, but how we respond to it (how do we use it? Do we even use it? Or do we just throw it out because we don't like it? It's kind of a relativistic thought, deciding how you would use the information given to you even if you don't like the way it is given. I think it's a great skill to learn, being able to ignore our feelings on how the information is presented, and instead focus on what we can gain from our textbook, or teacher; even if it is just learning that what it is saying is worthless or not true.).
There are people out there who are starving for education. I was reminded of a book I read just a couple of months ago, God Grew Tired of Us by John Bul Dau. He touched on education as he was growing up. He had to work hard at it, and he and his fellow classmates would suck in anything they could. They didn't have a choice on what they would and wouldn't read, and were hungry for more than they had. They would read any book then could, and would diligently practice all the skills and concepts they would learn in class. The tests they would have to take in order to move on to high school or college were difficult and were not in their favor to pass due to government prejudice against the refugees. Still they worked hard and diligently, and although many did not pass the tests (and in some cases would not be able to retake them), they ended up more educated than many college students with bachelor degrees here in America. And these are kids whose village was raided in the middle of the night, faced starvation, gunfire, and death, and struggled to survive. If more of our students in our modern education system had the amount of dedication these Lost Boys did when it comes to education, think how different this country would be!
We all take for granted our rights to pick and choose, to speak our mind, to decide what we want to believe. We are extraordinarily blessed, and are therefore expected to do extraordinary things. Many times we stay hidden in our bubble believing that we will always get to choose what we get to do, but as we grow older learn is not the case. We have to make an ethical decision. And that decision is what we do, how we respond, to the information we are given. We have to realize that the problem isn't in the curricula or the teacher. Usually, it is you making the ethical decision to dismiss the information you are given based on how you feel about the curricula or the teacher rather on the information you are given.
It is sometimes difficult to distill the information for what it is without getting caught up in all the details of how it is presented. But at the same time, the most difficult things are usually the most rewarding. I don't have a doubt that by practicing that skill of distilling the information for the sake of the information, rather than how you fill about how the information is presented, is one of the most valuable things you can do for your education.
To finish this post I want to share a quote that I believe can apply to this topic.
Remember to learn with the intent to understand, rather than learn with the intent to dismiss it for what your 'relativistic truth' is.
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