WB -295 (Family Work... In Defense of Literacy)
- Have you experienced the health and familial benefits of outdoor work? Do you think family life and work are unnecessary? 260
- Do most people think the function of public school is to "keep children away from home as much as possible"? 261
- Is our educational system doing a good job of instilling in children a desire to read for pleasure? How could it do better? 262
- Should we (as John Prine said) blow up our TVs? Are you prepared to face your children's rebellion and scorn, if you do?
- Do enough of us value "inner quiet" enough to recognize the inherent worth of all places? Do you ever just sit beside an open window and appreciate the place where you are?
- Is individualism in America mostly "tragic"? 265
- Do you agree that the economic ideal of competition is false, silly, and destructive? 269 Does it encourage contempt rather than compassion for "losers" (the homeless for example)?
- Is it wrong to think of the university as primarily "an economic resource"? 272
- What do you think of Henry Besuden's "bloom" and "delight"? 278 Are these notions likely to be recognized and valued by the managers of large-scale agribusiness?
- Are activist movements generally "insincere"? 284 Are Nameless Movements likely to be better?
- Is "practical wholeness" a worthy goal? 289
- COMMENT?: "Too much money attracts administrators and experts as sugar attracts ants..." Is this illustrated by the contemporary university? 290
- Is illiteracy both a personal and a public danger? 293
- Post your questions and comments.
Do most people think the function of public school is to "keep children away from home as much as possible"? 261
ReplyDeleteThe way our current school system in the United States is set up is nearly the same as a parents 9-5 work day. Berry phrases it by stating that parents "want their children out of their hair," however, the reality is that some parents don't have a choice. In an earlier essay, Berry commented on on the "home" and various ways in which it should be conducted, including "family work" and "home economics," but even he acknowledged that he was fortunate in that aspect because his work is largely at home. Families that have succumbed to the technological revolution, no longer have their own land, and are now primarily consumers- most working a corporate 9-5- do not have the means or knowledge to provide their children with anything otherwise. I do believe that current public schools are viewed as a combination of day care and future career preparation, and many parents would rather have someone look after their children than leave them home alone, especially if they do work corporate hours. That said, I really enjoyed Berry's comparison of the natural world and human world, commenting on how a bird wouldn't let their baby bird leave the nest without learning everything about what it needs to survive (i.e. flying, eating, how to build a home, migration, etc.) and yet we will put our children in day care before they can even say their first words. I don't know that I would say public schools are designed to "keep children away from home," but rather I would say they were a cheap solution to a problem we created for ourselves (that most likely could have been avoided or better handled).
I'm not sure that I agree with Berry's distrust of organised movements. a nameless movement for the betterment of everything would be great, sure, but that's a cause for people to try to apply personally, not a cause for people to rally around and get legislation changed. He's correct that a lot of these movements are intertwined, but I think the correct way to deal with this is to accept that and apply pressure where you best can, not deny the concept of a movement in general unless it is perfect. Perfect is, after all, the enemy of good.
ReplyDeleteI thought his analysis of how these movements are often co-opted by advertising and marketing to be compelling. "Once we allow language to mean anything we want it to mean, it becomes impossible to mean what we say."
We have a multibillion dollar advertising industry that attempts to hijack phrases like "Homemade" and "Organic" and apply them to their product so that they sell better. This is no reason to stop using these phrases, and give them wholly to the cooperate machine, rather it is reason to use these words honestly and frequently to refer exactly to what they mean.
As someone who works professionally with birds, I have to take issue with his optimistic views on bird parenting. Hatchling mortality is often in the 30-60% range, and it's common for a bird to leave the nest early and suffer for it. But, I see his point. A better comparison would have been a K- selected species like a whale or elephant, both of which guide their offspring for years and often through thousand mile migrations.
• Have you experienced the health and familial benefits of outdoor work? Do you think family life and work are unnecessary? 260
ReplyDelete…elaborating household chores and obligations, we hope to strengthen the bonds of interest, loyalty, affection, and cooperation that keep families together. Forty years ago, for most of our people, whether they lived in the country or in town, this was less an ideal than a necessity, enforced both by tradition and by need. As is often so, it was only after family life and family work became (allegedly) unnecessary that we began to think of them as ‘ideals.’
Berry, Wendell. The World-Ending Fire (p. 260). Catapult. Kindle Edition.
My family lived like this growing up and for the first 15 years of my adulthood. Mostly it was about processing and canning food and was not done in a farming situation where the growing and harvesting were a big part of the work. I must say, I finally decided that staying up until 3am for weeks at a time to empty the last batch from the pressure canner got old and was an individual (not family) activity. I finally gave my canning jars and canner to a family that actually lived on a farm. They were pleased to get these items. I don’t know if the work benefited their family, but they were a close-knit family years later after their girls had grown up and married.
• Is our educational system doing a good job of instilling in children a desire to read for pleasure? How could it do better? 262
ReplyDeleteIf public education is to have any meaning or value at all, then public education must be supplemented by home education. I know this from my own experience as a college teacher. What can you teach a student whose entire education has been public, whose daily family life for twenty years has consisted of four or five hours of TV, who has never read a book for pleasure or even seen a book so read; whose only work has been schoolwork, who has never learned to perform any essential task? Not much, so far as I could tell.
Berry, Wendell. The World-Ending Fire (p. 262). Catapult. Kindle Edition.
My children and oldest grandson certainly benefited from public school programs designed to encourage reading. Most of them are avid adult readers like me and my wife. There were times that I had to direct their attention to books that were a pleasure and beneficial to read. The grandson stopped reading in favor of computer games at one point until I found some books about fishing which he rapidly consumed. This jump started his love of reading. Today, however, he is a total computer nerd and gamer, but nonetheless very smart and capable in many subject areas. I have a three of four sons who are avid adult readers, one who seems to recall every word he ever read and introduces me to new books to this day.
I agree with you to some extent Gary! I believe programs like 20 minutes of D.E.A.R reading in public schools can be largely beneficial. They encourage kids to spend time reading what they want to read. However, I feel our education system could do a better job of expanding the mindset that reading can be a pleasure. There are many books like "To Kill a Mocking Bird" by Harper Lee that I feel every student who goes through any type of school should read, and them being a required material is good. I remember going through school and thinking "why are we required to read so many books that are so boring and unrelatable?". I think school systems can do a better job of helping kids understand why there are books that are required reading and a necessity, but that reading can be an entirely pleasurable and beneficial thing when done at home or outside of school.
DeleteHave you experienced the health and familial benefits of outdoor work? Do you think family life and work are unnecessary? 260
ReplyDeleteI have experienced the health and familial benefits of not only working outside but of simply of working with my family and being outside with my family while not working. Firstly, my mother and I attempted to have a small vegetable garden for a few years. All in all, we were not wildly successful in our endeavors, but I will always cherish the time I had with my mom gardening watering, and occasionally pulling a really nice harvest! I remember when we were able to harvest some 30-40 jalapenos, and my mom made jalapeno poppers with it on a Saturday when we had "Football Food". I am not even a big fan of jalapenos, but I remember everyone loving them, and all I could think of was the hard work my mother and I put in.
I think it is vital to work with your family, and be outside with them. sweating together and have the sun beat on your neck does create a bond that people can cherish. Also spending that quality time with your family with no phones or distractions is truly a rarity that is not appreciated enough in our society. Wendell said how working with your family can ".. strengthen the bonds of interest, loyalty, affection, and cooperation that keeps families together"(260). I wholeheatedly agree.
Do most people think the function of public school is to "keep children away from home as much as possible"? 261
ReplyDeleteI do not know if most people think of public school functioning in that way, but I know there is a solid amount who do. I think our society has made school entirely too long and not special. School feels like a job and not like a privilege that we are so unappreciative to have in America. I have seen several instances where parents are irate when they have to find a way to deal with their kids when there's no school, especially over the pandemic. I remember a large complaint by parents was "we need to go back to school cause parents do not know what to do with their kids". A lot of parents also treat their kids teachers as baby sitters, and not as teachers who have a job to instill into the youth they are teaching. There are many examples of other countries who have shorter school days or do not go to school 5 days a week, and have a much more successful education system than we do in the United states. I think we are in a very vulnerable mindset on how we treat school and education in general, and something needs to be done.