[Buddha-l] re. fundamentalism

[jkirk]

Hi Joanna,

I was amazed at the breadth of knowledge of the children that Richard Hayes 
alluded to. Wow. When my son was small I seriously considered home 
schooling, but my main issue was that he develop a love of learning and felt 
comfortable conversing with all age ranges.  With that goal accomplished 
well before 5, I honestly didn't feel that it would be a good idea for me to 
be his formal teacher. I was good at teaching him to explore and be curious. 
The formality of public school was good for him and he is a kind and loving 
presence, naturally inclined to disentangle himself from situations that can 
backfire. The amount of issues and topics that we have discussed in the last 
year (he just finished kindergarten) makes me think that the public 
education system can be worthwhile if the very institution and the dynamics 
become subjects of conversation at home. In the last year we have had pretty 
deep conversations about racism, authority, flag burning, Tsunami victims, 
Bully's, peace and war, girls and boys,  propoganda, advertisements, living 
by principles and superstitious manipulation to name just a few.  At home, 
these conversations could have arose, but only at an intellectual level. He 
had experiences that made the conversations more meaningful.

One of his favorite books that may be of interest to the list is "The Great 
Hiss" by Gurumayi Chidvilasananda. The Prince Who Ran Away: the story of 
Gautama Buddha by Anne Rockwell is also a book that he requests that I read 
periodically. He loves when Gautama puts his hand on the earth and all 
Mara's demons fall into the crack!

Stormy
==============================
Hi Stormy
Sounds like your system works very well.
Parents in India and or immigrated here traditionally spent and continue to 
spend here at least two hours or more every night with their children's 
schoolwork, and natch, it's the mom who does all this. When I was living in 
Panjab in the mid- sixties, doing my diss. research, with my son who 
attended a local English-medium school, he and I were stunned at the math 
capability of the Indian children. We learned multiplication tables up to 
12, they learned them up to 20. A lot of this facility is based on parental 
training in memorization ability, something our education system has given 
up on.  I have wondered too if there is a genetic factor in the general 
amazing math capability in South Asia. Brainiacs galore.


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