Lately I have been chastised for not being a grammar scholar and a math wizard. This is what is wrong with society today. educational snobs getting stuck on the idea you are not important or you have no value if you cannot figure out out how to properly use the words "lay" or "lie" in reference to putting something on the table. You are somehow a failure if you cannot remember your times table. They are so busy being educational snobs that they miss the fact you/I have other talents. Talents that could possibly change the world, but that is not important to them. No, only the grammar and math are important. These are typically the same people that buy into the notion that you must have a degree in something, even if it's basket weaving, to prove you are smart enough to answer the phone with a friendly voice. I am not putting down college. I would love to have the extra knowledge it can provide. But from what I see, the people leaving, they only passed their tests to get the grade to get out. Same as with their public education. They pushed and rambled and partied their way through just so they could leave and get on with their lives. Not any smarter mind you, just job worthy. They still cannot spell, they do not know proper grammar, they still do not know their multiplication tables. They used spell check, grammar check, and a calculator to get through the piles and piles of homework. They were not out finding their passion and finding their genius. This here lies the problem. This is what the movie trailer Race to Know Where was talking about. We, as a society, need to stop and think what is really important.
Stop being educational snobs. Some of us, no matter how much you push, will not learn everything perfectly, but we know enough to get by and if left alone we can become better at something you cannot do.
As for myself, and I think this is my oldest son as well from what he has told me, mix numbers up while we read them. 514 becomes 415 or 154. Try to add that to another number and the wrong answer will appear and you don't know why! I have to go very slow when working with numbers. I triple check and then proceed. I am not dumb, my brain just works differently. Yes, it is frustrating. It's hard when someone yells out a phone number and expect me to get it down correctly the first time. I can cook! I can taste it and recreate it. I know smells, textures, and flavors. I know by memory the smell of a certain spice and just KNOW it will be nasty with another. I know color. I can problem solve. I am creative. I am full of ideas. I am a people person. I just suck at math and yes, grammar.
In school I was taken out of class during grammar lessons to learn more math. I missed recess to learn more math. It did not help me in the least. In fact I lost out on social time of making friends because I was taking so much math. I missed out on creative art because I was doing math.
I know doing more does not mean more success. Doing more creates contempt, no, contempt sounds to mellow. Doing more when you are struggling to understand it and missing out on what you love creates a seething hatred for all that is and that will ever be for the subject at hand.
Make a boy that hates frilly dolls or a girl that hates dirty football do it. Over and over and over and over.....
"Be the change you seek." Gandhi said that. That is what I am doing. I am changing the way I think people should be taught, one kid at a time, starting with my own! If you are one of those that disagree, keep your mouth shut, because your way has clearly not worked.
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