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Chapter 15
EDUCATION AND GROWING UP
The Chinese royalty used a disciplinary technique that would
straighten out any modern kid. A prince would be raised along with
another child. If the prince misbehaved, it was the other child,
not the prince who was punished. A child might be willing to risk
a spanking for outrageous behavior, but even a young kid would
feel some guilt if his spanking was administered to another kid.
"Whether a school has or has not a special method for
teaching long division is of on significance, for long division is
of no importance except to those who want to learn it. And the
child who wants to learn long division will learn it no matter how
it is taught." - A. S. Neill
The famous philosopher, Socrates, was illiterate. Of course,
this is no excuse for modern kids to drop out of school, unless
you want to be a philosopher when you grow up.
Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Thomas Edison and Andrew
Carnegie never made it through grade school.
Thomas Edison's total school education consisted of three
months.
When Martin J. Spalding was fourteen years old, he was
appointed professor of mathematics at St. Mary's College in
Kentucky.
At the age of ten, Francois Auguste de Thou was appointed
Chief Librarian of France.
Sweden once had a supreme court justice who was nineteen
years old. When he was ten, he could speak fluently in 12
languages.
Law professor Ericus Aurivillius at the University of
Uppsala, Sweden held lectures for eighteen years, even though only
one student ever showed up in all that time.
Braille was invented by Louis Braille in 1824. He was
fifteen years old at the time and blind since he was three years
old.
The United States spends $353 billion for education every
year. That's $1,452 from every man, woman and child in America.
And here's what we get for our money:
Over two thousand random American adults were surveyed about
their understanding of science. 21 percent thought the sun
revolves around the earth, and 7 percent were unsure whether the
sun goes around the earth, or if it is the other way around.
The National Science Foundation conducted a study and found
that only 33 percent of Americans know what a molecule is.
Every year 700,000 students graduate, but when tested, they
cannot read as well as fourth-graders are supposed to.
Three out of every ten American kids drop out of school
before graduating.
It is tempting for American kids to drop out of school. Who
would want to finish school if their plans are only to build race
cars or marry somebody rich? But sometimes plans don't work out
the way you expected. More importantly, in the United States,
school is free, supported by taxpayers. It's free!! You might as
well take as much as you can get.
In parts of the state of Mississippi, 44 percent of the adult
population is illiterate.
In a recent Gallop survey, Americans were asked to identify
America on an unmarked world map. 14 percent couldn't do it.
According to the Oregon Department of Education: "...For
every 100 pupils in the 5th grade... 99 enter 9th grade 88 enter
11th grade 76 graduate from high school 47 go on to college 24
earn a bachelor's degree"
World wide, the figures are like this: For every 100 people,
30 are literate, 1 goes to college.
In Gujarat, India, school supplies are in short supply. The
kids write on their thighs with sharp wooden splinters. The marks
are good for about 12 hours before they fade away.
There are 800,000 American children currently on Ritalin.
That is approximately one out of 125 kids. This drug is
prescribed to slow down "hyperactivity." Many doctors currently
think hyperactivity is normal in some children and they should not
be routinely treated with drugs. With other children, it has been
discovered that by eliminating refined sugar and artificial
chemicals from their diets, their behavior becomes much more
acceptable.
Seventy-five percent of parents never visit their kids
school.
There are 35 million step-parents in America.
At graduation a child has logged 13,000 hours of school, and
15,000 hours of television.
Television sets outnumber bathtubs in America.
If you paid $1 for every murder a child has watched on TV
until the age of 18, that child would have $15,000.
13,500 kids take guns to school everyday.
Every day, 200 teachers are physically attacked by their
students.
Of the 156 women who are college presidents, 105 are nuns.
Approximately 66 percent of average prisoners end up in
prison again after release. In San Quentin prison where they
teach some of the prisoners computer programming, less than six
percent return to prison.