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Parent Questions Mandatory High School Chemistry
Ollabelle writes "David Bernstein, a nonprofit executive who lives in Gaithersburg, Md., has two sons, ages 7 and 15. He has previously written about how schools fail students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Now he turns his attention to mandated curriculum in public schools, and argues that his sons shouldn't be forced to take any science class."
From the article: "There’s a concept in economics called 'opportunity costs,' which you may not have learned about because you were taking chemistry instead of economics. Opportunity costs are the sacrifices we make when we choose one alternative over another. ... When you force my son to take chemistry (and several other subjects, this is not only about chemistry), you are not allowing him that same time to take a public speaking course, which he could be really good at, or music, or political science, or creative writing, or HTML coding for websites."
In line with that, I don't know what Md state law is... but if worst comes to worst, he can just move across the border to Virginia, and get a religious homeschooler's exemption. Of course, that means that he doesn't get other opportunities.
Which was his whole point.
My point is that just because you are in public school, doesn't mean you're forced to do anything. The disreputable kids learned it long ago. When I realized it, it was quite liberating.
You see, I too favor not teaching the sciences. Anyhow, I favor not teaching them in K-6 with quite as much force as I want my kids to learn basic math, reading, and writing. Get those 3 down, and -- to quote the JMU physics professors' consensus -- they can teach the rest.
So... my kids are already good at reading. They aren't good at math. Therefore, I require my kids to do 1 hr of math each day, when they get home. Practice, practice, practice. And if they get the other homework done, that's fine. If not, so be it. They still are required to get all As and Bs for a dinner out... but I let them know I don't find that as important as the math.
They're getting better. Between Hooked on Math, and lots of practice problem drills, they are starting to move forward. It was really lousy, before, when they couldn't add 7+8, or multiply 9 x 13, and the teachers were saying "he'll be fine in geometry. He's one of our best students."
And when it comes time for the sciences, I hope my kids to learn experimentation: theory, then design, then construction, then results, then analysis, and so on.
THEN we can start learning about what others say is science. I don't always think the standard theories are correct. Like, I favor the young earth theory. More specifically, I favor the theory that the moon is no older than the Permian Extinction, and I consider the possibility that the Creationists could be right in their Tectonics theories (sudden motion, as opposed to gradual motion). I certainly hope they aren't. But I don't *presume* that the standard theories are right.
Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
[Chemistry] also teaches critical thinking and problem solving skills.
As does a range of other subjects, some of which his son may actually enjoy rather than loathe. But his son will not be given the opportunity to find those subjects, which is a far larger travesty than missing out on having to memorize a large number of facts that will be useless to him the moment the class is over.