How About Better Parents?

-Thomas L. Friedman

    "Better parents can make every teacher more effective." says Thomas L. Friedman. He is right. Something I've come up with is how well you do in a subject depends on how much you study it outside of the classroom. In school we are just learning the absolute basics; rhetoric, algebra, and  french still mean nothing to us. We will graduate and never see these concepts again. I already forget how to solve matrices and never really learned how to factor. What I'm getting at is self-discovery is more important than anything you can be taught. If I were to teach myself music theory, I would undoubtedly come up with something never seen before, perhaps a new method of creating a progression. However, I would miss out on much of the classical knowledge offered through classroom education. It is necessary to find a balance.
     My parents have had a small impact on my learning career. I haven't had them look at my homework, study with me, and I haven't even asked them a question in years. They have slipped out of my education in school. It is neither here nor there as to if this is for the better; it is what it is. These studies are made out to seem as if reading is the only thing that will make your child succeed in school. Research is unnecessary to prove the legitimacy of the article: common sense can be substituted. The earlier you start to introduce advanced materials to your children, the better they will do in school.
     I have talked about Friedman before. In my past blog post, I was infuriated by his criticism of Obama. I his past opinion was incredibly dull and was a chore to read. This is much of the same. There is no descriptive language and very little use of any rhetoric tools. He is pedestrian in his word choice, often repeating his basic grammar. I was surprised that his final paragraph did not begin with "All in all". While I like the concept of taking the blame for the lack of development in youth off teachers, I do not agree with some statistics due to personal experience. The article was drab and I would not recommend it to anyone except new parents.


Article by Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times