When a “teacher” at a religious retreat, in discussing “Creation” told children that a white couple could NOT produce a black baby, none of them raised any objection.
But when she went on to say a Black couple could equally NOT produce a white baby, 2 siblings – a 13 year old boy and a 10 year old girl – reacted.
The girl tried to stifle a giggle. But she was out in front, so the “teacher” readily noticed, and asked what was funny. She quickly said “Nothing”.
But her brother raised his hand and said “Aunty, black people can give birth to white babies”. The “teacher” promptly told him that was “not possible”, and continued with her lecture.
Later at home, the kids told their father about the incident, and they all laughed.
NB: This PI Squared newsletter will be published weekly, on Mondays, in place of the Speaking/Web Marketing IDEAS newsletter, starting from today – 15th February 2016. I’m reinventing my Monday newsletter content and theme, to accommodate my vision of serving the growing audience of serious minded individuals and organizations reaching out to me, with information, education. news and research findings designed to help them do what they do better.
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PII 029 [Best Practice Parenting]: Could You Child’s Teacher be Misinformed
When a “teacher” at a religious retreat, in discussing “Creation” told children that a white couple could NOT produce a black baby, none of them raised any objection.
But when she went on to say a Black couple could equally NOT produce a white baby, 2 siblings – a 13 year old boy and a 10 year old girl – reacted.
The girl tried to stifle a giggle. But she was out in front, so the “teacher” readily noticed, and asked what was funny. She quickly said “Nothing”.
But her brother raised his hand and said “Aunty, black people can give birth to white babies”. The “teacher” promptly told him that was “not possible”, and continued with her lecture.
Later at home, the kids told their father about the incident, and they all laughed.
Now, in case YOU wonder, the kids were right – and their “teacher” was wrong: Black couples giving birth to white babies is a scientific – though remote (about one in a million) – possibility.
Learners in our schools traditionally look up to “teachers” trusting that they KNOW-IT-ALL…
But do they? Or can they?
The teacher in the above story was NOT up-to-date on the subject she was teaching.
By implication, she was doing the kids a disservice, failing to give them the most current information and education on the subject of discussion.
Had the brother and sister not had learning sessions with their father who’d shown them the widely reported news report about the white baby born to black parents, they would have accepted their “teacher’s” submission as true.
And this is the tragedy of the schooling systems we have today.
Most of them have no quality controls in place to ensure kids get accurate, up-to-date and useful real-world-relevant knowledge passed on to them.
Isn’t school supposed to prepare us for the world we are to enter after “graduating” from it? Should “schooled” people not be well informed about what happens or can happen in society?
Of course it should. But sadly our traditional schools often tend to deliver obsolete content to learners.
This is typically because most of those who manage those schools fail to diligently update themselves to better serve their learners. To make matters worse, those “teachers” do NOT believe they do NOT know, making them end up misleading majority of the learners who may NOT explore alternative options (like the Internet) to learn more!
Conventional Schooling – or what I like to call “Academic education” provided in our schools – stopped being enough to prepare learners to succeed predictably, especially outside paid employment, YEARS ago.
Compared to the benefits it offers for achieving worthwhile success and significance in today’s world, the time we spend on it is often too much.
Half that time is better spent giving income earning Vocational Education.
Unfortunately we have wrong quality of people teaching in our conventional schools – especially out here in Nigeria.
The best among us who should be involved in teaching feel it is beneath us. So we leave it to the least gifted/competent among us who settle for teaching after failing to secure better options.
Unlike Mrs. A. A Solagbade, my Montessori trained (now retired) teacher mother, they are NOT motivated to teach. Unlike her, it was not their first love when they ventured into the schooling system.
The teaching job was a last resort for them. They therefore feel little or no passion to do it – and do it right.
Little wonder that they readily cut corners by accepting money to do unethical things like awarding marks not merited.
How can we expect a system like that to DELIVER authentic quality of EDUCATION???
It won’t…at least not half as often as it ought to.
Even the child that gets good grades academically without corner cutting is likely to suffer major exposure to character deforming display of morals and values by teachers, parents and other adults who openly engage in these shameful acts without suffering any negative consequences.
It would be naïve to assume that THAT will not make a lasting impression on the psyche of that child – no matter what lectures you give him/her at home about knowing right from wrong, and the value of honesty, integrity, hard work etc!
What a price to pay!
This is why I’ve taken what others consider drastic steps to control exposure of my kids to the schooling systems prevalent out here.
My kids are learning vocational skills alongside relevant school subjects on a need to know basis based on discussions I’ve had with them about what they would like to do/become in life.
Today, Computer based learning systems with teachers teaching school subjects according to the curriculum for the UK GCSE exams equivalent are accessible for interested persons.
Today, people get degrees and other certifications through distance learning.
My kids have are being trained to leverage technology to acquire Functional Education.
The Internet has proven to be a most valuable resource in this regard – when used correctly (and I have over a decade of personal experience using it that way).
Homeschooling is being embraced worldwide. You don’t have to do it 100%. Vary your use of the model to suit your needs or preferences. Just be sure not to deny your kids access to the powerful learning benefits it offers.
You see, wearing school uniform does NOT guarantee learning. Leaving home to attend school is NOT the only way to learn. Especially if you want to get a complete/balanced education.
In conventional schooling systems, our here, kids are being made to spend tooooooo much time in school reading/writing, and tooooooo little time is left for them to Think and Do and make sense/productive use of what they see and are taught.
My kids are being given that balanced mix. Indeed once a child can read and write, the thinking and doing is more important than any other schooling inputs. That’s why we have many unschooled or poorly schooled people who succeed in life by doing what they are good at.
That’s what real education is about: finding out/narrowing down to what you’re good at, then doing it to achieve the success you want in life.
It’s simple. But it works. My life is proof of it. That’s why I’m determined to empower my kids to get a similar kind of education – as against mere (mind-numbing) conventional schooling.
See the Facebook page on which my 2 daughters (supported by their brothers) showcase examples of baked products they create at home using the No-Oven Charcoal Stove based system.
The article linked below was published on 27th August 2014 – exactly 2 years ago. We’ve come a LOOOOONG way since then!
Vocational Skills Development is an important foundation for succeeding anywhere.
In the coaching program I’m implementing for my kids, there’s a lot of verbal coaching and experience sharing that takes place daily, in addition to the experience based learning.
It’s important to realize that getting an education is not a competition to see who finishes first or best. Each child’s need will often be unique in some areas.
Parents would be wise to pay attention to what each child needs in this regard. Most teachers/schools don’t.
I do – because I have passion and vision to support my kids to overcome the annoyances I’ve encountered in society.
Speaking and writing good English is NOT enough today. Neither is getting a First Class honours degree from the university.
This article has explained why it is so.
Those who are honest with themselves will agree that the above is true. However, I know some are likely to disagree. But that will not change the reality!
Final Words
For those who may choose to challenge the argument I have made here, I offer the following words:
It is said that in order to criticize constructively, one must first of all make genuine effort to understand that which we wish to criticize.
I’ve found that to be quite true. Sadly many well schooled otherwise intelligent adults/parents refuse to see it!
I urge you to do that BEFORE you discard the ideas offered on this page.
What I’m doing with my kids with regard to vocational skills development is what all parents today need to do for their kids.
One must NOT wait for schools to come up with (what are often out here) money-collecting, watery content, vocational skills coaching programs they organize during the holidays.
Make out time to find out what appeals to YOUR child and help him/her get started. Then monitor and support his/her progress over time.
That way, anything the school does in this regard will simply be like icing on the cake. S/he would have established a foundation to build on.
It’s never too early to help your child find passion driven purpose in life – and you’ll make your parenting of him/her easier in the process!
Make out time to celebrate milestone achievements with him/her by taking photos of what s/he makes, and also recording videos of the process involved while s/he is doing it.
I can tell you from working with all my kids in this manner that doing so really makes them develop more interest and passion to do it right. and they LOVE reviewing the photos and videos afterwards.
Another thing is that such resources often come in handy if/when they have to do it again, at a time when they have yet to be fully conversant with what is involved. Being able to watch the videos of themselves doing it, provides an excellent avenue to identify steps involved, and also to detect what they did wrong, or could do better.
I’ve seen my kids work as a team countless times to use their recipe note books, in conjunction with photos and videos from past projects to repeat a baking or other project to achieve superior results.
When kids become independent learners able to challenge themselves to achieve improved performances, even in your absence, then THAT is a good sign that you are succeeding as a coach-parent.
Click here to request part 3 of a 4 part step by step demonstration video I got my 13 year old boy to make, which we plan to sell with a PDF guide online as well as during LIVE workshops I intend to help him organize for interested kids:
Click below (or here) to watch the highlight/promotional video I created using the first battery powered toy bike he made:
I share the above videos in line with my Best Practice Parenting vision, to give interested parents an idea of what I mean when I say my home IS actually a real world school for my kids.
We have similar videos showing the kids baking bread, pizza, cookies, cakes etc using our No-Oven trademark charcoal stove system.
My vision is to open my “home-school” (online – with short stay on-site options) at some point in the future to help other people and their kids learn to use our tried and tested model.
Specialist and Multipreneur (i.e. a highly versatile/multi-skilled entrepreneur), with a bias for delivering Best Practice solutions to Farm Businesses and others.
Since 2002, he has earned multiple streams of income providing individuals and organizations with personal development training and coaching, custom MS Excel-VB solutions, web marketing systems/web hosting, freelance writing services, and best practice extension support services (for farm business owners).
He has delivered talks/papers to audiences in various groups and organizations, including the Centre for Management Development, University of Lagos, Christ Baptist Church, Volunteer Corps, Tantalisers Fast Foods and others.
In May 2012 he was the Guest Speaker at the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development’s Annual Semester Entrepreneurial Lecture at Yaba College of Technology in Lagos.
On 1st April 2013, Tayo (who reads, write and speaks the French language) relocated to Cotonou, Benin Republic to begin slowly traveling across the West African region.
His key purpose is to deliver talks, seminars and workshops on his key areas of focus and interest to interested audiences (Email tayo at tksola dot com for details).
In a previous life, before leaving to become self-employed, Tayo served for seven years (October 1994 to December 2001) as a high performing manager in Guinness Nigeria. He rose from Shift Brewer to Training & Technical Development Manager, and later acted in senior roles as Production Manager and Technical Manager.
In addition to constantly challenging the status quo and influencing positive work changes, he built a reputation for using self-taught spreadsheet programming skills (starting with Lotus 1-2-3, and later moving to Excel Visual Basic) – in his spare time – to develop Automated Spreadsheet Applications to computerize manual report generation processes in the departments he worked. Over four(4) of his applications were adopted for brewery level reporting.
Tayo holds a B.Sc degree in Agricultural Extension Services from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, having graduated top of his class – with Second Class Upper Division honors – in 1992. He is an Associate Member of the UK Institute & Guild of Brewing, a 1997 National Finalist of the Nigerian Institute of Management’s(NIM) Young Managers’ competition, a Certified Psychometric Test Administrator for Psytech UK, innovator of Spontaneous Coaching for Self-Development™ (SCfS-D™), and Founder of the Self-Development Academy (SDAc).
When he’s not amazing clients with his superhuman skills (wink), Tayo works as the creative force behind his Daily Self-Development Nuggets blog – on which he also publishes The Farm CEO Weekly Newspaper (sent via email to paid subscribers) and his Weekly Performance Improvement IDEAS newsletter.
Visit Tayo Solagbade Dot Com, to download over over 10 performance improvement resources to boost your personal and work related productivity.
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[IMPORTANT NOTE:====
On 4th May 2014, Tayo’s 9 year old domain (Spontaneousdevelopment dot com), which hosted his website, was taken over by Aplus.net.
Within a few days however, Tayo used his advanced self-taught web development skills to build a SUPERIOR “reincarnation” of it the website http://www.tayosolagbade.com.
But updates are still ongoing to URLs bearing the old domain name in most of the over 1,000 web pages, and blog posts
he’s published.
If you experience any difficulties finding a page or document, email Tayo at tksola dot com.
You may also wish to check out his growing library of tutorial and demonstration videos on Youtube. Click here, to download over 10 resources to boost your personal and work related productivity.
IMPORTANT NOTE: On 4th May 2014, Tayo’s 9 year old domain (Spontaneousdevelopment dot com), was taken over by Aplus.net. Within a few days however, Tayo used his advanced self-taught web development skills to build (and move his website contents into) a SUPERIOR “reincarnation” at http://www.tayosolagbade.com.
Most URLs bearing the old domain name appearing in search engines should now work if “spontaneousdevelopment.com” is replaced with “tayosolagbade.com”. If you experience any difficulties finding a page or document, email Tayo at tksola dot com.
