Post by dirk2atjss on Dec 19, 2012 15:35:01 GMT -5
It is sometimes hard to pin point what specifically attracts one to a particular idea. Also, different interests can attract to the same idea. Thus the simplest question is sometimes hardest to answer. In this note, I will make a personal attempt which will necessarily differ from those of others since we are all individuals. I hope that my approach integrates the majority of approaches found among us:
In our planning team two schools of thought seem to have emerged. One group thinks of JSS as either an alternative for homeschoolers who want their kids exposed to more peers or a chance for wannabe homeschoolers who cannot afford to stay home and teach their own kids. The other group is horrified by what they see happening in conventional schools and wants to install a much better alternative. Mostly, this group is negatively impressed by public schools, but from my personal experience and research I think I can assure everyone that much the same applies to most private schools as well.
Does the first group have it right, or the second? Personally, I think JSS adequately meets both interests.
I think we are not merely offering a healthy alternative to public schools but to all other schools and to homeschooling as well. The vast majority of both public and private schools are designed around the same model, a model engineered to warehouse kids (so their parents are free to do their jobs), kill children's joy of learning, obstruct the natural development of individuals, prevent rather than train the capacity for critical thinking, and mold our children into cogwheels for a giant machine run by a few megalomaniacs. Homeschooling is sometimes based on a curriculum adopted from these institutions.
As I see it, wannabe homeschoolers are in need of the warehousing part, and people who already have their kids attending other schools (public or not) are in need for freeing their children from the oppressive institutions which prevent them from growing and learning along their natural inclinations and to their full abilities.
In conclusion, the way I see it, we can store your children for you at JSS if you need to go to work, we can do so without obstructing their growth, and - as an important added touch - we can create an intellectually stimulating environment formed from peers, inspiring adults, and pooled material resources not available in every family home: a mix between a village and an academy, so the kids can learn to socialize, discuss, work with and learn from others, balance freedom with responsibility, function in a pluralistic society, use a variety of resources, and become mature, self driven, capable, well centered, responsible, decent, young adults with a clear sense of self and their direction by the time they graduate.
:-) DB
In our planning team two schools of thought seem to have emerged. One group thinks of JSS as either an alternative for homeschoolers who want their kids exposed to more peers or a chance for wannabe homeschoolers who cannot afford to stay home and teach their own kids. The other group is horrified by what they see happening in conventional schools and wants to install a much better alternative. Mostly, this group is negatively impressed by public schools, but from my personal experience and research I think I can assure everyone that much the same applies to most private schools as well.
Does the first group have it right, or the second? Personally, I think JSS adequately meets both interests.
I think we are not merely offering a healthy alternative to public schools but to all other schools and to homeschooling as well. The vast majority of both public and private schools are designed around the same model, a model engineered to warehouse kids (so their parents are free to do their jobs), kill children's joy of learning, obstruct the natural development of individuals, prevent rather than train the capacity for critical thinking, and mold our children into cogwheels for a giant machine run by a few megalomaniacs. Homeschooling is sometimes based on a curriculum adopted from these institutions.
As I see it, wannabe homeschoolers are in need of the warehousing part, and people who already have their kids attending other schools (public or not) are in need for freeing their children from the oppressive institutions which prevent them from growing and learning along their natural inclinations and to their full abilities.
In conclusion, the way I see it, we can store your children for you at JSS if you need to go to work, we can do so without obstructing their growth, and - as an important added touch - we can create an intellectually stimulating environment formed from peers, inspiring adults, and pooled material resources not available in every family home: a mix between a village and an academy, so the kids can learn to socialize, discuss, work with and learn from others, balance freedom with responsibility, function in a pluralistic society, use a variety of resources, and become mature, self driven, capable, well centered, responsible, decent, young adults with a clear sense of self and their direction by the time they graduate.
:-) DB