Website owner: James Miller
On concentration, methods of teaching, and schools
The biggest problem of my high school and college years was concentration i.e. the problem of entering a state of concentration and applying myself. I don’t remember having any problems with concentration in my years in grades one through eight in the small one room country school.
Concentrating, focusing, applying oneself. How do you do it?
Def. Concentrate. Hold attention and exert mental effort on something.
In high school I struggled, looking for the right conditions for concentration.
What kinds of things affect concentration?
● noise, distractions; freedom from distraction
● emotional state. Example: Being upset about something, worried about something, a state of anxiety
● interest in the topic — or lack of interest
● mood. Not being in the mood or being in the mood.
● self-discipline
● morale; (high morale, low morale)
I didn’t like high school. I was used to the system of the one room country school where classes were only five or six minutes each and I didn’t like the high school system of four one hour class recitations (or lectures) and two study halls. I felt the hour-long recitations were mostly a waste of time and was never able to concentrate and get any work done in the study halls where students would be seated around long tables, 10 or 12 students per table. There was too much to distract me at the tables (like pretty girls) and I could just never accomplish anything there. Mostly I felt that my school days extending from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM were a real waste of time. I would have much preferred just a quiet spot where I could have spent my day quietly studying. However, at that time home-schooling was not legal (at least in our state). I had no choice.
At home in the evening I had the temptation of TV programs that my father and brother watched and I also liked. So I watched TV and then stayed up late (often until 2:00 or 3:00 AM) doing homework. When I was in grade school I never had any homework to do. I did all of my studying and assigned work at school.
What do I think is the best way to teach? I think it is the way used in the small country school I attended.
See Basic Principles of Teaching
What does a student need in order to study? I would give him a desk in an area that was free from distractions and a good selection of well written textbooks, outlines, summaries, and notes. I would suggest a home-schooling setup with the help of a computer, the internet, computer based instruction, and home-schooling type aids. There should be a teacher who assigns work, checks it, grades it, and gives tests. The teacher could be located at a distance and all could be done over the internet. For me, something of that type would be far better than one of our public schools.
To me the modern school system seems patterned after the modern factory system. It is a system designed to mass produce educated people. However, I don’t think it works very well at all and I don’t think it serves children well. The teacher in the little country school I went to did far more work in a day than a teacher in one of our city school systems. Her job was much harder. I think the modern school system is designed for the ease and convenience of teachers. It was designed with the teacher in mind, not the student. If a teacher were to spend his time finding or preparing good exposition, good outlines, good notes, good exercises, good tests, checking assigned work, and answering questions individual students might ask, he would do far more to help the student than by lecturing. The truth is I believe the real purpose of our modern school is more to babysit children than to educate them. Its pretended purpose is teaching; its real purpose is babysitting. I think most people are much more interested in this service that it provides in babysitting their children for the day and providing them with a mid-day meal than how well it teaches them or how much it teaches them. (That is no complement. It is what I perceive as the character of the average American. He is selfish and more concerned about himself than his children.) The question of what type of school system is implemented in a country has a political dimension. People will vote for politicians who support a school system that is convenient for themselves, one that will babysit for them. Our political system will give the kind of system that the people want and that is one that babysits.
20 June 2022
Jesus Christ and His Teachings
Way of enlightenment, wisdom, and understanding
America, a corrupt, depraved, shameless country
On integrity and the lack of it
The test of a person's Christianity is what he is
Ninety five percent of the problems that most people have come from personal foolishness
Liberalism, socialism and the modern welfare state
The desire to harm, a motivation for conduct
On Self-sufficient Country Living, Homesteading
Topically Arranged Proverbs, Precepts, Quotations. Common Sayings. Poor Richard's Almanac.
Theory on the Formation of Character
People are like radio tuners --- they pick out and listen to one wavelength and ignore the rest
Cause of Character Traits --- According to Aristotle
We are what we eat --- living under the discipline of a diet
Avoiding problems and trouble in life
Role of habit in formation of character
Personal attributes of the true Christian
What determines a person's character?
Love of God and love of virtue are closely united
Intellectual disparities among people and the power in good habits
Tools of Satan. Tactics and Tricks used by the Devil.
The Natural Way -- The Unnatural Way
Wisdom, Reason and Virtue are closely related
Knowledge is one thing, wisdom is another
My views on Christianity in America
The most important thing in life is understanding
We are all examples --- for good or for bad
Television --- spiritual poison
The Prime Mover that decides "What We Are"
Where do our outlooks, attitudes and values come from?
Sin is serious business. The punishment for it is real. Hell is real.
Self-imposed discipline and regimentation
Achieving happiness in life --- a matter of the right strategies
Self-control, self-restraint, self-discipline basic to so much in life