the basics

 There is much discussion about education these days. The curriculum in the schools is under scrutiny as well as it should be. I'm for teaching the basics. In my experience it is the basics that inspire further learning, that spark that interest. If too much variety is offered, the choices are more difficult to make. The old adage about kids in a candy store applies. Reading, writing and arithmetic. Those are the basics and always have been. Everything else is extracurricular. That's what the word means. With those subjects there are rules and correct answers. They are not open for discussion, for debate. 2+2=4 is not debatable, that is the correct answer. Yes, I know you can use other systems to arrive at a different answer but that is all in the hypothetical world. If you change the value of 2 and all that. But we all know how many two really is. What is required is clear concise answers for these young minds. Don't confuse them with a bunch of nonsense that will only be used by less than 1% of the population. 

 Reading is the foundation. That has been shown by many studies. Read to a child and they will have better test scores when growing up. Teaching them to read is of paramount importance. Teaching them to comprehend what they are reading is the key in all of that. When I was a small child, we had Dick and Jane. Basic, you bet. See Jane, see Jane run. The meaning of the words was clear. You are looking at Jane, you "see" her, and she is running. Nothing more to that. The correct answer is Jane is running. No questioning whether Jane was girl or a boy, no questioning whether she was running or jogging, no question about why she was running. Nope, the message was, Jane is running. Clear concise and easy to comprehend. Later the sentences became a bit more complicated. The lesson remained the same. 

 Writing came later on. You began to learn your letters. You spelled your name first. Why was that? Because everyone likes to talk about themselves. Self-interest usually comes first. I could put my name on things making them mine. The word (my name) indicated just that, the meaning is clear. Later you added your last time to really nail that down. The lesson was to learn to write what you were thinking. It was to express your thoughts as clearly as possible, to communicate. That was the theme. This is what this word means. If you don't know, look it up in the dictionary. Webster was the preferred resource. 

 Arithmetic was also taught in the most basic of ways. We used our fingers. We had ten of them after all. Yes, there were children that didn't have ten, but they weren't offended by that, so they just adjusted. We didn't change the curriculum to response to that. We could all do basic math by the time we reached the sixth grade. Advanced math started about then for those with an aptitude or interest. Algebra wasn't a mandatory subject. The truth about that is, very few of us will use Algebra in the real world. I was an engineer in the Navy. I was the engine room supervisor of an 600lb steam propulsion system and all the associated peripherals. I never had a need to use algebra or any other advanced mathematics in that capacity. After the Navy I was an industrial mechanic, repairing machinery, fabricating parts, machining parts, assembling components or whatever. No algebra required, just basic mathematics. Fractions and decimals were involved but nothing more complex than that. The basic math skills I was taught in school have served me well. I would only need those other courses of instruction if I were to pursue a degree of some kind. Still, that doesn't mean I would use those skills, in fact, probably not. 

 In short, I think the schools should just go back to teaching the facts. Leave all the speculation, all the this is what I think stuff for later on. Teach the facts as we know them to be. We shouldn't be teaching history as we wish it had been. No, you have to teach what was. It may not look good, it may look biased and unfair, but it is what it was. Then teach how that was changed. Teach the facts. Facts like this nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values. It's a fact, a simple truth from history. Facts like there are only two genders, boys and girls. Fact is there are two "sexes" of almost everything on the planet, with a few exceptions. Fact, the exceptions are the exceptions, not the rule. Aberrations exist. Just like 2+2=4 you can change the value of two, an aberration of the norm, but that doesn't change the answer. It's still two in the real world. 

 I think we should grade the children on the facts. If you answer the question wrong, you are wrong. It's that simple. Now later in life you can read, write and do math anyway that suits you. You can change the world! But today you are required to provide the correct responses. I will tell you what those responses are. It isn't a debate, it's a lecture. Teachers are to teach the facts. The big issue today is the adults can't seem to decide on the facts. They are too busy trying to impress everyone with their progressive thinking and methods. There are too concerned with hurting someone's feelings. If you give the wrong answer, you are wrong. Keep giving me the wrong answer and you are just plain stupid. I'm not changing the answer to suit you. The facts remain. "Run Jane Run"  Funny how that sentence is a run on sentence. I didn't know that until grade school. Thing is that run on sentence has kept me running ever since. That's what reading will do for a person.