A longtime teacher, with tongue firmly in cheek, compiled a list of student bloopers, actual passages culled from pupils' essays. For instance: "Homer also wrote the Oddity.... Actually, Homer was not written by Homer but by another man of that name.... Christopher Columbus was a great navigator who discovered America while cursing about the Atlantic. Queen Victoria was the longest queen. She sat on a thorn for 63 years." Richard Lederer, Anguished English (Charleston, S.C.: Wyrick, 1987 ).
If only this were the stuff of our most serious educational concerns! But there are urgent issues—conflicts—that need resolving. For example: uniform standards versus individual learning patterns; educational bureaucracy versus the gifted but unconventional teacher; peer pressure and the amorality of some instruction versus moral values taught in the home. If these and other conflicts aren't resolved, education suffers.
Thoughtful parents can help by bringing spiritual awareness to bear on these issues. An understanding of the divine source of intelligence and communication cuts through the confusion.
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