Ta-Nehisi Coates was asked what he would say to a high school of black kids. His answer will be very familiar to homeschoolers.

What I generally try to do is avoid messages about “hard work” and “homework,” not because I
think those things are unimportant, but because I think they put the cart before the horse. The
two words I try to use with them are “excitement” and “entrepreneurial.” I try to get them to
think of education not as something that pleases >their teachers, but as a ticket out into a
world so grand and >stunning that it defies their imagination.

He later summarizes it as “own your education.” Mark Twain told us to never let school interfere with our education. It’s the same idea.

Sound familiar?

That is essentially what most homeschoolers do. The parents own the education early on, and by high school the kids frequently own it. This often gets called unschooling. I’m not quite sure how you can unschool in school, but the concept of getting the kids to own their education is important. However, I suspect many will end up frustrated by a standardized test focused education that keeps the writer from spending his time writing, and the engineer from spending his time tinkering. It’s easy for us. You want to spend 8 hours every day reading history, or studying horses, or math, or whatever? Fine with me! After the 3 Rs are mastered it’s all electives as far as I’m concerned. If only the school system thought that way.

More kids need to hear the message that education is their ticket out, or up, or to wherever it is they want to go. Don’t do it for your teachers or parents. Hell, you might have to do it in spite of them.

Do it for yourself. Own your education.

Ta-Nehisi
Coates
was asked what he would say to a high school of black kids. His answer
will be very familiar to homeschoolers.

What I generally try to do is avoid messages about “hard work” and
“homework,” not because I think those things are unimpor…

Hopefully sometime today between the BBQ and the beer you’ll take a second to think about the countless people that died protecting your freedom. We did our remembering this weekend on our feet.

On Saturday, we detoured on our hike back down from the summit of Sharp Top Mountain to visit the crash site of a B-25 that slammed into the mountain on Feb 2, 1943. All five crewman died instantly. Due to the remoteness of the location, a lot of the plane is still there. The plane is barely 1000 feet from the Sharp Top summit trail. In season hundreds of people are passing by with no clue that such a solemn site is so close. That may be for the best. It is not easy to get to, and we don’t need another accident on that mountain.

My photos from the crash site.

On the way home Sunday, we stopped at The National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, VA. Per capita, Bedford lost more men on D-Day than any other town in America. The D-Day Memorial is a fitting tribute to all who fought and died on that day.

Photos from The National D-Day Memorial

Hopefully sometime today between the BBQ and the beer you’ll take a second to think about the countless people that died protecting your freedom. We did our remembering this weekend on our feet.

On Saturday, we detoured on our hike back down from the summit of Sharp Top Mountain to visit the crash site of a B-25 that slammed into the mountain on Feb 2, 1943. All five crewman died instantly. Due to the remoteness of the location, a lot of the plane is still there. The plane is barely 1000 feet from the Sharp Top summit trail. In season hundreds of people are passing by with no clue that such a solemn site is so close. That may be for the best. It is not easy to get to, and we don’t need another accident on that mountain.

My photos from the crash site.

On the way home Sunday, we stopped at The National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, VA. Per capita, Bedford lost more men on D-Day than any other town in America. The D-Day Memorial is a fitting tribute to all who fought and died on that day.

Photos from The National D-Day Memorial

Hopefully sometime today between the BBQ and the beer you’ll take a second to think about the countless people that died protecting your freedom. We did our remembering this weekend on our feet.

On Saturday, we detoured on our hike back down from the summit of Sharp Top Mountain to visit the crash site of a B-25 that slammed into the mountain on Feb 2, 1943. All five crewman died instantly. Due to the remoteness of the location, a lot of the plane is still there. The plane is barely 1000 feet from the Sharp Top summit trail. In season hundreds of people are passing by with no clue that such a solemn site is so close. That may be for the best. It is not easy to get to, and we don’t need another accident on that mountain.

My photos from the crash site.

On the way home Sunday, we stopped at The National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, VA. Per capita, Bedford lost more men on D-Day than any other town in America. The D-Day Memorial is a fitting tribute to all who fought and died on that day.

Photos from The National D-Day Memorial

Hopefully sometime today between the BBQ and the beer you’ll take a
second to think about the countless people that died protecting your
freedom. We did our remembering this weekend on our feet.
On Saturday, we detoured on our hike back down from the s…

A long time ago we had some fun around here discussing The Underground History of American Education. Reading this article about the history behind our consumer driven society reminded me of Gatto.

At the dawn of the American Industrial Revolution there was palatable fear among the ruling class that all the world’s needs may be produced on only 3 days work. This was not seen as a good thing by the guys spending all their capital on labor saving machines. John E. Edgerton, president of the National Association of Manufacturers said “Nothing breeds radicalism more than unhappiness unless it is leisure.” Also concerned was Charles Kettering, head of research at General Motors, who in 1929 wrote an article titled “Keep the Consumer Dissatisfied,” in which he proposed that it was imperative that American businesses not just meet consumer needs, but constantly invent new ones that the consumers would strive to fulfill. If Kettering’s name sounds familiar it is because he is also the guy that put lead into gasoline, and he invented the CFC’s that created the hole on ozone layer. That’s quite a destructive legacy that Chuck left.

President Hoover was even in on it.

President Herbert Hoover’s 1929 Committee on Recent Economic Changes observed in glowing terms
the results: “By advertising and other > promotional devices . . . a measurable pull on
production has > been created which releases capital otherwise tied up.” They celebrated the
conceptual breakthrough: “Economically we have a boundless field before us; that there are new
wants which will make way endlessly for newer wants, as fast as they are satisfied.”

The sugar and corn merchants at Kellogg’s were not in on it. They instituted 6 hour work days in 1930, a practice that doggedly stuck in some departments all the way until 1985. Employees were almost universally happy with trading some income for more leisure time. Kellogg’s also gave everybody a raise to partially offset the 10 hours lost each week. They also noted that by going to four 6-hour shifts they could hire an extra shift of people, not a small thing in 1930. However, after WWII new management started working hard to undermine the 30 hour work week, event though over 70% of employees wanted to return to it after the grueling 48 hour weeks supporting the war effort. The employees lost, as they always do.

After WWII government and big business teamed up, as they often do, and as usual, it was to the detriment of just about everybody else. Advertising began to tie hard work to the American ideal of freedom, and idle leisure as a danger to America. Americans with excess leisure time would have time to get involved in their communities and government. If you are exhausted by the work day it is less likely that you will be out agitating for equal rights and fairness on the weekends. So here we are today, where the average couple works 500 more hours a year than they did in 1979. We are just greyhounds on the track, endlessly chasing a mechanical rabbit that we will never catch.

A long time ago we had some fun around here discussing The Underground History of American Education. Reading this article about the history behind our consumer driven society reminded me of Gatto.

At the dawn of the American Industrial Revolution there was palatable fear among the ruling class that all the world’s needs may be produced on only 3 days work. This was not seen as a good thing by the guys spending all their capital on labor saving machines. John E. Edgerton, president of the National Association of Manufacturers said “Nothing breeds radicalism more than unhappiness unless it is leisure.” Also concerned was Charles Kettering, head of research at General Motors, who in 1929 wrote an article titled “Keep the Consumer Dissatisfied,” in which he proposed that it was imperative that American businesses not just meet consumer needs, but constantly invent new ones that the consumers would strive to fulfill. If Kettering’s name sounds familiar it is because he is also the guy that put lead into gasoline, and he invented the CFC’s that created the hole on ozone layer. That’s quite a destructive legacy that Chuck left.

President Hoover was even in on it.

President Herbert Hoover’s 1929 Committee on Recent Economic Changes observed in glowing terms
the results: “By advertising and other > promotional devices . . . a measurable pull on
production has > been created which releases capital otherwise tied up.” They celebrated the
conceptual breakthrough: “Economically we have a boundless field before us; that there are new
wants which will make way endlessly for newer wants, as fast as they are satisfied.”

The sugar and corn merchants at Kellogg’s were not in on it. They instituted 6 hour work days in 1930, a practice that doggedly stuck in some departments all the way until 1985. Employees were almost universally happy with trading some income for more leisure time. Kellogg’s also gave everybody a raise to partially offset the 10 hours lost each week. They also noted that by going to four 6-hour shifts they could hire an extra shift of people, not a small thing in 1930. However, after WWII new management started working hard to undermine the 30 hour work week, event though over 70% of employees wanted to return to it after the grueling 48 hour weeks supporting the war effort. The employees lost, as they always do.

After WWII government and big business teamed up, as they often do, and as usual, it was to the detriment of just about everybody else. Advertising began to tie hard work to the American ideal of freedom, and idle leisure as a danger to America. Americans with excess leisure time would have time to get involved in their communities and government. If you are exhausted by the work day it is less likely that you will be out agitating for equal rights and fairness on the weekends. So here we are today, where the average couple works 500 more hours a year than they did in 1979. We are just greyhounds on the track, endlessly chasing a mechanical rabbit that we will never catch.

A long time ago we had some fun around here discussing The Underground History of American Education. Reading this article about the history behind our consumer driven society reminded me of Gatto.

At the dawn of the American Industrial Revolution there was palatable fear among the ruling class that all the world’s needs may be produced on only 3 days work. This was not seen as a good thing by the guys spending all their capital on labor saving machines. John E. Edgerton, president of the National Association of Manufacturers said “Nothing breeds radicalism more than unhappiness unless it is leisure.” Also concerned was Charles Kettering, head of research at General Motors, who in 1929 wrote an article titled “Keep the Consumer Dissatisfied,” in which he proposed that it was imperative that American businesses not just meet consumer needs, but constantly invent new ones that the consumers would strive to fulfill. If Kettering’s name sounds familiar it is because he is also the guy that put lead into gasoline, and he invented the CFC’s that created the hole on ozone layer. That’s quite a destructive legacy that Chuck left.

President Hoover was even in on it.

President Herbert Hoover’s 1929 Committee on Recent Economic Changes observed in glowing terms
the results: “By advertising and other > promotional devices . . . a measurable pull on
production has > been created which releases capital otherwise tied up.” They celebrated the
conceptual breakthrough: “Economically we have a boundless field before us; that there are new
wants which will make way endlessly for newer wants, as fast as they are satisfied.”

The sugar and corn merchants at Kellogg’s were not in on it. They instituted 6 hour work days in 1930, a practice that doggedly stuck in some departments all the way until 1985. Employees were almost universally happy with trading some income for more leisure time. Kellogg’s also gave everybody a raise to partially offset the 10 hours lost each week. They also noted that by going to four 6-hour shifts they could hire an extra shift of people, not a small thing in 1930. However, after WWII new management started working hard to undermine the 30 hour work week, event though over 70% of employees wanted to return to it after the grueling 48 hour weeks supporting the war effort. The employees lost, as they always do.

After WWII government and big business teamed up, as they often do, and as usual, it was to the detriment of just about everybody else. Advertising began to tie hard work to the American ideal of freedom, and idle leisure as a danger to America. Americans with excess leisure time would have time to get involved in their communities and government. If you are exhausted by the work day it is less likely that you will be out agitating for equal rights and fairness on the weekends. So here we are today, where the average couple works 500 more hours a year than they did in 1979. We are just greyhounds on the track, endlessly chasing a mechanical rabbit that we will never catch.

Reading this
article
about the history behind our consumer driven society reminded me of
Gatto and The Underground History of American Education.

At the dawn of the American Industrial Revolution there was palatable
fear among the ruling class that all the world’s needs may be produced
on only 3 days work. This was not seen as a good thing by the guys
spending all their capital on labor saving machines. John E. Edgerton,
president of the National Association of Manufacturers said “Nothing
breeds radicalism more than unhappiness unless it is leisure.” Also
concerned was Charles Kettering, head of research at General Motors, who
in 1929 wrote an article titled “Keep the Consumer Dissatisfied,” in
which he proposed that it was imperative that American businesses not
just meet consumer needs, but constantly invent new ones that the
consumers would strive to fulfill. If Kettering’s name sounds familiar
it is because he is also the guy that put lead into gasoline, and he
invented the CFC’s that created the hole on ozone layer. That’s quite a
destructive legacy that Chuck left.

President Hoover was even in on it.

President Herbert Hoover’s 1929 Committee on Recent Economic Changes
observed in glowing terms the results: “By advertising and other
promotional devices . . . a measurable pull on production has been
created which releases capital otherwise tied up.” They celebrated the
conceptual breakthrough: “Economically we have a boundless field
before us; that there are new wants which will make way endlessly for
newer wants, as fast as they are satisfied.”

The sugar and corn merchants at Kellogg’s were not in on it. They
instituted 6 hour work days in 1930, a practice that doggedly stuck in
some departments all the way until 1985. Employees were almost
universally happy with trading some income for more leisure time.
Kellogg’s also gave everybody a raise to partially offset the 10 hours
lost each week. They also noted that by going to four 6-hour shifts they
could hire an extra shift of people, not a small thing in 1930. However,
after WWII new management started working hard to undermine the 30 hour
work week, event though over 70% of employees wanted to return to it
after the grueling 48 hour weeks supporting the war effort. The
employees lost, as they always do.

After WWII government and big business teamed up, as they often do, and
as usual, it was to the detriment of just about everybody else.
Advertising began to tie hard work to the American ideal of freedom, and
idle leisure as a danger to America. Americans with excess leisure time
would have time to get involved in their communities and government. If
you are exhausted by the work day it is less likely that you will be out
agitating for equal rights and fairness on the weekends. So here we are
today, where the average couple works 500 more hours a year than they
did in 1979. We are just greyhounds on the track, endlessly chasing a
mechanical rabbit that we will never catch.