How to Educate Children

This thread will be about the methods to educate children.

Preface: Education is not Indoctrination. Education implies a beneficial approach to learning in general while Indoctrination is generally detrimental. Therefore it is in the the benefit of all children or anybody to be educated rather than to be indoctrinated. Indoctrination, almost always, or always, is to push a political ideology onto children which benefits a third-party. It is not intended to benefit the children, and can even be disastrous to them. An example of this would be religious indoctrination (which they call ‘education’) where one group intends to harm, maim, or destroy other groups. Thus the children are used as pawns, or intended to be, in somebody else’s game (usually their government or authorities).

Indoctrination is common. Education is rare. Education is rare because ‘honest’ approaches to learning are rare. There are many disputes and distinctions about how to educate children in general. Since children have such malleable and changeable minds, they are easy to manipulate and lead into falsities. Thus children attract predators, or even predatory institutions. Institutions want to “educate” (indoctrinate) children because then allegiance is owed to their own foundation rather than another’s. Therefore there are many different groups competing to indoctrinate children, so that their own institutions rise in power.

A military school, a public school, a private school, a church school, all of them have their own motivations, loyalties, and institutions to maintain. They all have a status-quo.

However real ‘education’ begins between biological parent and child. Thus education between a non-biological peer, a “teacher”, a professor, a priest, whomever, is secondary. State-schools, the most common schooling, is secondary-schooling. It is already removed from the biological education. Secondary-schooling is most popular because societies, cultures, and civilizations have over time specialized, and so send children to teaching specialists. The implication is that an average “teacher”, socially sanctioned, is a superior teacher than the biological parents. This makes sense in certain ways, such that a teacher who teaches Electricity and Electricians, cannot be mimicked by average parents. Because the Electrician teacher is a specialist, and that knowledge cannot be replicated, copied, or imitated by others. This is the means by which common people justify public, common, secondary, and state-schooling methods.

The rationale is that it is better that children enter and graduate such institutions, as a means to access specialized fields. This is sensible and reasonable, but flawed in many other ways.

There are disputes in many matters, between parents and teachers, school-boards, the state, and policies. In essence, modern secondary-schooling is primarily a socializing exercise. The bottom-line practicality is to socialize young children so as to induct them into greater society. The more rebellious and anti-social a child is, the more s/he is forced against will to fall in line with social and state status-quos. This is what is meant by “the status-quo” throughout society. It reflects upon the foundation and fundamental styles of educations that everybody receives, or does not receive. And to support the status-quo, is to reinforce the ways in which children are educated, socialized, and learn, which extends throughout everybody’s lives.

More to come,
Feel free to add questions and insights anytime.

How did Spartans teach their children?
Did they let their parents teach them or did they take them away from their parents and sent to a state-school?

How did other Greeks teach their children?
Did their parents teach them or was it slave-teachers who did so?

If a child’s formative years occur before five years old, then parents must provide access for education to their children, but not any old education for the quality teachers, teachers who have a huge bag of tricks to capture the attention of kids, to make them interested in all they do not yet understand, make them wonder what more is out there and what can be improved, these teachers are instrumental in lighting fires in kids. Dumb parents and dumb teachers cannot help an average or below average kid be anything more than dumb.

Spartans are a military order, hence a specialized group. And the children were taken from the biological mother at age 7, which means, she educated her child before the age of 7. It is most natural and common that women, mothers, educate their biological children at those young ages. That is really the core of all ‘education’, between mother-child. Therefore women have an extraordinary natural advantage and power in life, which is, passing on core lessons and experiences.

As for the Athenians and civilized Greeks, I’m not sure the details of their schooling practices. However, from the Greeks, the first Academy arose, and then those education practices evolved into Catholicism-Christianity, as Universities and Colleges. The term “University” (meaning Universe) is obvious and reflective of this fact.

However you are focused on one tribe, 2000 years ago. Much has passed since then. Many educational practices are still in effect. What is relevant today and what are the modern trends? What types of educations do most people, around the world, have? And if education is neglected, then isn’t it obvious, that modern children turn to television and pop-culture to fill in the gaps? For example, rap music and “thug lifestyle” is appealing to children from broken homes and fractured families?

What should be done with stupid and dumb, children, as well as what should be done about the parents too?

The State-Government, with liberal-leftist attitudes, often say that Government should step into and intercede upon such families. But isn’t that a dangerous move? By whose authority is it in life to educate, the government, or the biological parent?

My personal opinion is that biological parents have full autonomy and authority over their own children, who are for all intents and purposes, their own property. For the government to intercede, is to trespass on private property.

However I recognize that most will disagree with me, as most modern people are loyal slaves to the centralized, authoritarian State. People look to “The Government” as christians look to “The God”. In other words, you don’t own your own biological children, “the state” does, or “god” does. That’s the majority opinion and attitude in life. I’m opposed to that. I’m opposed to any institution or external authority interceding and trespassing into the private realm (of the biological family unity).

More hands on education needs to occur so children realize that they have the power to make science and math happen. Two of my college roommates were education majors, neither were dynamic or above average intelligence-wise, so it’s difficult for me to imagine what great inspiration and differing teaching styles for differing kids either could implement.

My impression with teachers overall is that many who are enthusiastic about it, are not even good or skilled at it. And some of the most memorable and inspiring teachers I had, treated their occupations as day-jobs. Rather a unique personality, and selfless personality, are rare in life, and these types aren’t necessarily rewarded for being good/superior teachers.

Where have I mentioned the state? I agree, parents have total authority, but how can a beneficial education be impressed on dumdums who are young, dumb, and overwhelmed as parents. Tutors and specialized classes that parents can participate in and oversee would aid younger kids.

I mentioned it, not you.

One of the predominant reasons why State education, secondary-schooling exists, is because the majority of the population already serves and is loyal to the State. Schooling becomes a matter of passed-on tradition. The grand-parents went to public schooling, and so the parents did, and so the children do. And each generation eventually grows complacent with their education and see it as “normal”, without recognizing the system they’ve all setup.

A core method of modern education, indoctrination, is the “8-hour workday and 40-hour work week”. Children go to public school while parents, mother and father both, waste their lives in menial day-jobs. And then those children grow up and inherit those same menial day-jobs. The “traditional family” is undermined in this way. Shouldn’t the biological and mother have a more interactive and affluent relationship when it comes to educating their own children? Modern values are different. People are lazier, and “the state schooling” can do it. Thus modern people hand more and more authority over to public and state institutions.

Modern schooling has more and more power, and so too the state grows in power, as it develops full control over education in general. Who learns what and why, becomes regulated over time.

It’s easier for me to learn on my own than to follow other people’s instructions.
I suck horribly at following instructions.
It bores me so much that I’d rather die than follow them but live.
Modern education is not even strict. This means there is even less motivation to learn.
It’s critical but in a relatively soft way. You get criticized on a daily basis but it’s never enough to induce fear that will motivate you to study.
Instead, it motivates you to argue with your teachers.
Even if it were strict, I’d still suck at it.
The threat of punishment would motivate me but it would not make the process of learning by following other people’s instructions any easier for me.
I have to be naturally motivated.
This means that if I have to learn algebra, foreign language, history or whatever that I need to have a good reason to do so.
A natural reason.
I need to understand its practical value, how it applies to life, its relevance.
The purpose of knowledge is to avoid negative consequences, so if you want me to learn something then you have to tell me what these negative consequences are and how this knowledge will help me prevent it.
Can’t do that? Sorry, we have nothing to talk about.
Most teachers are liars.
They lie because it’s their job to lie.
They lie about how useful what they teach will be later in your life.
They will never tell you HOW it will be useful.
I wish they were honest and simply said “the reason you have to study is because if you don’t we will punish you”.
In other words, you need to acquire that knowledge because it will help you prevent being punished by your teachers.
Did we develop medicine in order to please our teachers?
Or did we develop it in order to cure diseases?
The purpose of medicine is to deal with very specific type of stressors: the ones that have to do with physical health.
The purpose of medicine is not to avoid punishment from your teachers, your parents, your society . . .
Public education never thought me anything.
Whatever it did manage to teach me was forgotten rather quickly.
It’s the kind of knowledge that does not stick.
You acquire it only to avoid punishment from your teachers . . . how can it stick?
Everything I know I learned on my own.
All of this gives me a reason not to send my children to school.
But I have to because elementary school is obligatory.
Unless I want to be fined.

There is but one good reason to send your children to a public school and it is social in nature - to introduce and habituate them to conflict.

That’s it…conflict?


With small children (1-4 yrs.), I’d work on language development in English and a second language, coordination (hand-eye and overall with acrobatics, swimming, martial arts), memory enhancement, cooperative play, manners and common sense approaches to life.

Children (4-6 yrs.) Mathematics, reading, writing, spelling, continued coordination training (start dance and playing an instrument), introduce a third language, introduce psychological therapy measures to control emotions, extended cooperative play and an introduction to leadership, basic emergency and first aid instruction.

I believe it’s best to segregate teenagers in high school, divide them apart by race and gender as teenagers. Because the education a male receives ought to be different than a female, white different than black, and smart different than stupid. As a farmer or gardener with his crops or fields, you must nurture each particular thing according to its own nature. You do not treat a wheat stalk as a plot of carrots, you do not treat grape vines as apple trees, and you do not tree flowers as herbs. You treat and nurture the thing as its own type. So it makes no sense to treat teenage boys as teenage girls or vice-versa. Western societies must address “race-reality”. There are some positions more suited to whites than blacks. And if smart children rise above then they should be given special clearances and privileges. Those who are smarter will have more freedoms to pursue particular and specialized interests.

The nature of humanity is by profession. You have a family of doctors, then their children are most suited to medicine. The family of policemen, suited to policing. The family of politicians, suited to politics. The family of soldiers, suited to warfare. The family of artists, suited to art. Etc. You identify the child according to his or her bloodline, and you educate them according to their familial lineage. If they have no family, or a broken family, then they will be thrown into a “general education” group suited to menial jobs and labor, catering to the averages and status-quo.

Now a very intelligent female or black student will have some exceptions and can access the ‘gifted’ category which will allow them more choices of specializations. However they will need to prove this by age 12-16. In most schools however, gifted and exceptional intelligence is demonstrated by age 8. So it should be obvious anyway.

Yes, that’s it…conflict with peers. The one and only essential thing that cannot be properly simulated in a home school environment.

As far as everything else goes - everything a school can do, a good educator can do better…much better. It is well known that individual work and lessons produce the best results. With that in mind, why in the hell would anyone who is capable, willing and in a position to conduct a private education condemn his child to years of slavery in retarded institutions?

Conflict and competition is the best, redeeming quality of public school settings and ‘education’. It is very helpful to socialize children with peers, whom they will interact with throughout life. Public school, representing the general population, is a proper setting to anticipate the types of people and challenges that most will face. The average child and young person, quickly learns the value of friendships and alliances, leading to ‘cliques’ and sub-cultures.

In public high schools this manifests as ‘jocks’, ‘cheerleaders’, ‘nerds’, ‘skaters/punks’, ‘goths’, ‘honor students’, etc.

What about public speaking, learning leadership skills where you need peers to practice on, and learning to handle unexpected changes/transitions?

I haven’t seen anyone in this thread advocate for our current institutions.

It makes no sense to send your children to school solely for the purpose of social interaction.
There is social interaction outside of the school too.
You want to control the stressors your child is exposed to.
Or at any rate, you want to allow your child to control the stressors it is exposed to.
School is too rigid in this regard because it was not designed with this aim in mind.
In another thread, Pandora said how managers have to go to gym in order to maintain their physical shape unlike construction workers who can maintain it through their job.
But exercising is better because it allows you to choose which parts of your body you’re going to stress and which you’re going to rest.
Not something you can do at work because at work you have to do what you have to do in order to earn a living.
Noone cares how that’s going to affect your body so as long you can keep working.

Most home schooled kids are inept in social situations, plus kids need time to play with other kids, unless you immerse them in semi-private classes that are age appropriate.

Point taken, but there are many other environments where such skills can be cultivated. Sport comes to mind first.

Besides, not everyone is in need of learning those skills. For instance, why would a future artist bother with mastering public speaking?

That’s because their education revolves around acquiring knowledge and nothing more. People are laughably superficial when it comes to cultivating children.