 |
| Ben Franklin, the original Benjamin guy. |
I wish I could remember who it was that said you can get a
basic education in three years, but let us take a look at Ben Franklin as an
example of that. We have a family joke that the answer to almost any Jeopardy clue
is almost always “Who was Ben Franklin?”
When I am asked who I would most likely enjoy an afternoon
with, it is always Ol’ Ben, the only President of the United States, who was never the President of
the United States.
Did you know he was the master of self-promotion and a man I admire? Even as a
young lad, if he spotted a person of higher station, he would grab a shovel or
some tool and begin to work diligently. The person would see him and remark,
“What a fine worker that young man is!”
I’ve read a couple of books on the man and it still amazes
me that he did so much with so little organized education. “From 1714-1716,
Franklin attended Boston Grammar School and George Brownell's English School
(for one year each) but he was withdrawn due to the expense of formal schooling
(Cambridge Companion). Franklin
didn't let this bring him down. Nothing could ruin his eternal drive and
passion! Franklin
read books and taught himself foreign languages.”*
On his many trips to Europe,
he conducted experiments on the tides and currents and that data is still used
today. Mr. Franklin was such a learned man, that he is known as the greatest
scientist of the 18th century. The bifocal glasses many of us wear
were invented by him. The lightning rods
on buildings? Yup, Ben Franklin and he coined the words, battery, positive,
negative, and charge in relation to electricity.
Ben’s secret to success was his curiosity and his love of
learning. He didn’t waste time with redundant nonsense, like playing video
games, texting thousands of unnecessary thumb taps, and watching idiotic
reality television and wouldn’t have if they were available. Ben had more
important things to think about. Stuff like inventing the US Postal System and
starting the first lending library so others could gain access to knowledge.
Ben was an advocate of swimming in a time that only children
and shipwrecked sailors did it and seeing a need to propel himself faster,
fashioned the first swim fins and this earned him recognition in the International
Swimming and the United States Swim Schools Association Hall of Fame. That
odometer in your car? Ben, for the most part.
Boy, those 2 or 3 years of school he got sure paid
dividends!
I enjoy those political cartoons as much as anyone else and
the first one was attributed to our scientist. Even the modern selfie-stick is
a descendant of Franklin’s
reaching device, as are the clamp sticks used to pick up trash by highway
crews. The
Franklin Stove became a standard addition to most every home that
could afford one and is still used today.
 |
| Malcolm X |
Now Ben might be the exception, but I don’t think so. I
believe an overhaul in our education system is needed. If you read the book
Malcolm X, you will see how Detroit Red went from being a nearly illiterate 8th
grade drop-out street hustler to an articulate and educated Malcolm X in a few
short years in prison. He did this by reading books and like Ben Franklin, was
mostly self educated, as was the great educator Frederick Douglass.
As I have written before, my real education began after I
flunked the 9th grade. Because we moved constantly, my knowledge of
math was disjointed and I became the class clown in my English class, going for
the laugh above studies. My teacher flunked me by one point and it was the best
thing that ever happened to me. Humiliated, I worked through summer and paid
for my summer school with those earnings, as my mother simply told me I must,
or repeat the grade. By today’s standards this would be considered child abuse.
 |
| Frederick Douglass |
My teacher started me on the course that I’ve never left.
She truly taught me to read, comprehend, and write. The arithmetic came later
after I developed a love of learning. I truly believe our educational system is
producing cookie-cutter educations that do little to prepare a young man or
woman for the hardships of adult life, despite the well intentions of our
teachers abilities. We need curriculum that challenges the minds of young
people to excel instead of memorizing the same stuff over and over. Give them
the proper tools and then make a path for exploration.
Paul Simon sums up my thinking perfectly in the song
Kodachrome. "When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school,
it's a wonder I can think at all. And though my lack of education hasn't hurt
me none, I can read the writing on the wall." A real shame is most people
under the age of 35 don’t even know what
Kodachrome was and aren’t curious
enough to find out.
 |
| Aught plus aught |
After a few years of basics, a child should be aptitude
tested and funneled toward their natural propensities. Forget individual quotient testing and help
them develop their real potential. We already have enough educated idiots with
no common sense and proof of that is in Washington
and many corporate offices. When a twenty-two year old “man” has no idea how to
change a flat tire or check the oil level in their car motor, something is terribly
wrong. Where are the Ben Franklin’s when we need them the most?
*Quote from HONOR DEVI THAPA
.
No. We find time for what is important to us. Fact. If we
write short abbreviated anonymous logs we are making a statement that the log
is nothing more than a requirement. The cache owner doesn't mean a thing, nor
the container. "Found it. STFTC!" Never mind that the C/O is a newbie
screaming out for recognition, or worse, not caring what they read, just give
me my smiley. Mentor?
Me? You? What? What tha heck?
