How Should We Then Teach?

I am fascinated with education. I don’t mean this in the sense that I am a scholar. No, I am captivated with understanding how people learn and how to better teach people.

Perhaps I was spoiled growing up. My mom knew how to tailor my education to my learning styles because of the individual interaction I had with her during lessons. I learned best whenever my mom drew out diagrams and pictures explaining concepts. On the other hand, my sister learned well from listening. Atticus, my younger brother, learned best by throwing balls and chopping things outside. My youngest brother became frustrated with learning – except when he was able to act it out.

I know it’s not possible for everybody to have such an individualized education, but I have seen a recent surge of parents desiring to take the homeschooling route for their children. When I was a young child, we were the only family at my church that homeschooled. Many of my peers saw me as different, and perhaps a little strange, because I didn’t go to a “real” school. Now, many parents are turning around and asking my mom for advice, because they think she “did a good job” with me and my siblings. It’s rather interesting, in my opinion.

I view the American school system as both a blessing and a curse. Our society is literate and moderately educated, but in making that possible, standards have been lowered for everybody. Since everybody is required to go to school, classrooms are larger, and individualized education is not always possible. Teachers cater to the average learner: anybody who learns faster is bored, and anybody who learns slower is lost. Many energetic children who learn best from throwing balls and chopping things outside have the “ADHD” label stuck on their foreheads and are force-fed pills to make them more calm and standardized. My younger brother, Atticus, who is extremely intelligent in mathematics and science, never needed pills. He just learned about the world through physically experimenting with it.

Even college has made me more skeptical about the education system. There’s a strange phenomenon that I have yet to figure out: grades. People say they’re not important and that it’s really only about what you learn. And yet, everything is centered around what grades you make. People who make A’s are seen as better than people who make C’s. Scholarships are given based on grades. First choices for study abroad are based on grades. As a student, I am torn by this dichotomy.

I have many ideas that I don’t think will ever become a reality. I see a corrupted system that I wish I could make right. But as a Christian, I believe that anything led by people will not be perfect and cannot be without the redemption given through Jesus Christ. I plan to use my love of teaching people to individualize the education of my own children in the future. Learning is fun when you do it the right way.

Making Cancer History

“Making Cancer History” is a phrase that ties in with most of my childhood struggles. When I was six years old, my dad found out that he had a late stage of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, or as I knew it at the time, a lump in his neck. He immediately started treatment at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. At the time, I was the third child of four in my family, but my youngest sibling, Samuel, was about to be born. My parents were also about to buy land to build a new house for our growing family.

My life immediately changed.

There was much confusion and scare throughout my family and church. My dad was added to the “Prayer’s of the People” list, and I heard his name, Phillip, every Sunday. My dad was in the hospital all the time, and I barely got to see him. I remember that my siblings and I would spend days and sometimes weeks at homes of family friends while my mom spent time with my dad in the hospital. I liked the time at friends’ houses, because they treated us very well and gave us lots of food and toys.

One time my dad came back home after what seemed like a month of his absence. I remember us running to the door crying out “Daddy’s home!” and feeling ecstatic as he hugged us all and asked us to sign his bald head with colored sharpies. But those times at home scared me. I remember that he was in pain and threw up all the time. His treatment went on for about two years, coming close to death multiple times.

My dad is now cancer-free, but the effects of his cancer have affected me and my family in ways most people cannot imagine. I knew from a very early age that I would have to pay my entire college tuition by myself, and so I started working and saving money since I was eleven years old. My family still struggles constantly because of the after-effects. But that’s the downside of the effects. The positive effects, in my opinion, largely outweigh the huge struggles that we face every day.

My dad is alive - thank the Lord! We were raised in the church, and consequently, we have a strong Christian faith. Our church supported us throughout my dad’s sickness.

In my family, we depend on each other. There was always a scare that my dad was going to die, so my family became very close. My siblings and I saw my dad’s persistence to live. The doctors told him he was a rare case and should have died. But he didn’t, because he had something to live for – God and his family.

We know that happiness and success does not come from money. We live without luxuries and don’t take for granted many American privileges. My peers have many worldly complaints, but I try to focus on the blessings God has given me.

"Making Cancer History" changed my life.

The Life of a Homeschooler in a Prejudiced World

I was homeschooled.

Yes, you might have a series of questions for me. I’ve heard them all many times.

“Does your mom teach you?” This is my sweet answer: “Yes, my mom teaches me.” This is my sarcastic answer: “No, my mom hires a private tutor to teach me in her own home so that she can go to work to pay for the private tutor.”

 “Does that mean you don’t have homework?” The clever ones twist this one and say, “So all of your schoolwork is homework, right?” I chuckle. Schooled people don’t seem to have any concept of schooling without homework. This is a secret way of life that most homeschoolers take part in and guard with their lives.

“How do you socialize?” This one is actually quite humorous because it is so illogical. The people asking me this don’t seem to notice that they are partaking in the act of socializing with me by asking me that question. I usually don’t point out their ignorance, because it is not an uplifting way to communicate with people. Instead, I laugh it off. I also usually don’t tell them that I actually have many wonderful friends whose ages range from young children to aging adults, and that I could easily interact with all of them. I also don’t remind them that they are stuck in a room all day full of people that are only the same age as they are, which means that I probably had a better social circle than they have.

“Do you get recess whenever you want?” Yes, and in fact this is actually a much more effective way for children to learn. Children have so much energy and curiosity that it just seems logical they should be using it through play to learn about the world. Why stick them in a classroom all day writing out problems on pieces of paper when they can be figuring out problems in the real world by playing? It’s healthier anyways. We don’t want any more of those obesity problems everybody constantly complains about.

“How do you know you’re getting an adequate education?” This one is offensive. People tend to have this preconceived idea that a home education is synonymous with a bad education. You know, someone’s education isn’t considered adequate until it’s been proven by a standardized test, right? Luckily, my parents made me take one of those tests in fifth grade. (So I can actually empathize with all schooled children who sit through that misery annually.) My “above average” scores on all areas of learning was a way my parents could prove to skeptics that they could actually teach their own children. Isn’t that an absurd idea?

“Do you get to do your schoolwork in your pajamas?” This is my favorite question because I get to make people jealous of me when I scoff and say, “Yeah, after I get up at eleven in the morning!”

I was homeschooled. Do you have any more questions?

Project 1: Non-Points-Based Grading Rubric

I believe that the grading system for our college is corrupt. Instead of encouraging students to focus on learning, it promotes an education that is focused on getting grades. Growing up homeschooled, I understood that grades (seldom used) were to gauge what a student did and did not know in order to efficiently learn unknown subjects. It was not a category somebody was placed in, and it did not determine a person’s intelligence. With that mindset, I propose that this project be graded on a non-points-based rubric coupled with a professor-student relationship that encourages learning and growth through re-submissions.

In order to grow, students should be placed in an atmosphere that encourages messing up, getting back on track, and performing better afterwards. With a non-points-based rubric, design students will be able to explore their creativity without a fear of getting a bad grade. Students would then meet with the professor to discuss where their proficiency is within the project categories, and then resubmit their project after deep consideration of the categories in which they need to grow.

Two reasons for a non-points-based rubric for studio projects are as follows: 1) Design is subjective, and 2) the working world is not graded. Many of my peers and people I know who are working at firms all agree that project grades are too often negatively influenced by a professor’s opinion (even though we are encouraged to develop our own style). In regards to the working world, if you do not produce, then you are fired. If you put in effort and work hard, then you will continue to have a job (assuming economic stability).

The professor should note each student’s work and progress in each of the following categories, noting proficiency as “Improvement Needed,” “Meets Expectations,” and “Exceeds Expectations.”

Time Management

-         Scheduling in order to meet deadlines

o   Importance: an architect always has deadlines he/she needs to meet.

Craftsmanship

-          Attention to details

o   Importance: An architect is successful when he designs in the details.

-          Moving parts

o   Importance: Understanding how the joints work reflects an understanding of the reality of design.

-          Cleanness of the final model

o   Importance: Designs need to be portrayed beautifully to a client in order for it to sell.

Structural Stability

-          Solution for weak joints

o   Importance: On a much larger scale, weak joints could lead to drastic failures in a building, causing waste of time and money, and sometimes leading to injuries or deaths.

-          Understanding of basic structural concepts taught in class

o   Importance: Architects need to have a basic understanding of structure. Even though the structural engineers will do the detailed calculations, the architect should originally design with an approximation of required structures in order to reduce changes in the future.

Teamwork

-           Communication with teammates

o   Importance: Architects communicate with and are held responsible for all the people involved in the building project.

-          Fulfillment of assigned duties

o   Importance: If you do not do your work, you might be fired.