So I've actually had a lot of people ask me about my education. It's hard for some people to think about, to understand. When telling people I was home schooled my whole life, I get the same answer, a stunned "Really?" And then the questions start. I've never really been able to answer these questions right. So in a way to help explain, I've looked to Oliver DeMille for help. It's a lot to read, but it covers pretty much everything. I hope this helps you all better understand.
The Three Types of Education
“All men who turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.”
—Sir Walter Scott
What is true education? Is it good grades and high test scores? Is it memorization/regurgitation of facts and dates? Is it measured by how much income one can earn, by how much political power one can amass, or by popularity?
Education can’t be fixed as long as we believe this basic myth. The myth is that it is possible for one human being to educate another. The fact is that the only person who can fix education is the student.
…Great teaching will solve our educational problems… Teachers teach and students educate… There are two types of great teachers which consistently motivate student-driven education: Mentors and Classics.
Conveyor Belt Education
The modern public school system was set up about the same time as the industrial revolution with the intent to educate the poor so that they could get a job, and thereby support their families. Each person who travels through the conveyor belt receives a stamp of approval at the end (diploma), and comes out into the world as a “finished product,” ready to be marketed to the highest bidder for employment. And like a factory, conveyor belt institutions test and grade all students on the same scales regardless of individual needs or interests.
The Conveyor Belt does precisely what it was designed to do. It produces a relatively literate workforce for the general populace. It rarely, however, produces independently thinking leaders. Conveyor Belt education can be found in public schools, private or charter schools, and even in home schools. It is often referred to as the “soviet conveyor belt,” because standards and grade levels are set low enough to ensure that nearly everyone can make it through the educational assembly line.
Conveyor Belt Education, has as its objective to prepare everyone for a job, any job, by teaching them what to think. This includes rudimentary skills to help them function in society. Most public schools are set up on the conveyor belt model, although most of us can cite wonderful examples of many excellent teachers in the public system who use leadership methods.
…Conveyor Belts have an important place in society, but it is essential that they don’t become a monopoly and that professional and leadership training schools are maintained.
Goals:
Educate the Poor
Teach What to Think
Get a Job
Curriculum:
85% Social
15% Textbooks
Method:
“Soviet” Conveyor Belt—Schools look and run like factories
Careers: (According to age)
0-18 Play
18-24 College Major/Job
24-68 Work/Job
68+ Retire or Volunteer
Professional Education
Professional education systems create specialists by teaching their students when to think. This system has been used much longer than the soviet conveyor belt, since it arose from the tradition of apprenticeship, where the student was systematically taught what his master knew, before venturing out on his own. Now, each professional, whether a mechanic, a lawyer, a doctor, or a financial adviser, is trained to meet a certain set of standards and to think creatively within his field of expertise. However, outside of that narrow scope of knowledge, he tends to rely on the understanding of other experts.
Professional education is also known as the “competitive conveyor belt,” since the methods usesd are the same as the soviet conveyor belt, but the standards are set much higher—the top 10-15%.
The professional system does what it's designed to do—create expertise. And if you need a doctor, a lawyer, or a manager for your business, you are glad they are well prepared. The professional system has been very effective in achieving its goals, but it is not a substitute for leadership training.
Goals:
Train Experts
Teach When to Think
Curriculum:
50% Case Studies
50% Ethics
Method:
Competitive Conveyor Belt—Students Compete
Careers: (According to age)
0-18 Play
18-22 College Major
22-26 Professional Training
26-65 Career
65+ Retire or Volunteer
Leadership Education
Leadership Education has three primary goals. First, to train thinkers, leaders, entrepreneurs, and statesmen—those with understanding and competence to lead society (do things right) and the moral character to act with integrity in the areas they lead in (do the right thing). Second, to perpetuate freedom by helping people understand what freedom is and what must be done to maintain it, and inspiring them to actually do the difficult things required to make it happen. Third, teach students how to think, which is how the first two goals must be accomplished. Those who know how to think are able to lead effectively and help a society remain free and prosperous, while those who know only when or what to think will be unable to do so.
The method for training leaders is as old as humanity—classics and mentors. The student studies the greatest works ever created, and submits to the guidance of great mentors, who customize the education for the student’s mission in life. This is the simplest, though arguably the most challenging of the educational paths.
"Leadership Education, which I call “Thomas Jefferson Education,” teaches students how to think and prepares them to be leaders in their homes and communities, entrepreneurs in business, and statesmen in government.
"…What happens when a society does not prepare leaders? We get managers and professionals leading in areas they have no training for, such as government, and we get a nation of followers who see no problem with that because they have no experience with anything else. …This was the legacy of Germany in the 1930s—a highly trained but uneducated people easily swayed by Hitler."
Goals:
Create Leaders
Teach How to Think
Curriculum:
Classics (any works that inspire greatness)
Method:
Mentors that Design a Custom Education for Each Student
Careers: (According to age)
0-12 Play/Family Work
12-16 Scholar Phase
16-20 Superb Education
20-24 Depth Phase (Liberal Arts College)
24-50 Build Two Towers (a Family and an Organization)
50+ Impact the World (Statesmanship)
The Four Phases of Learning
One of the most significant differences between Thomas Jefferson Education and other classical styles of education has to do with the belief that people, especially children, learn differently at different ages. Thus, there are different phases for learning certain lessons.
Core Phase (approximately ages 0-8)
The Core Phase is the first of the Foundational Phases, and serves as the foundation for all the rest of a child’s life. This is when parents nurture their children in the safe, cozy atmosphere of home and family life. During this period, they get a spiritual education by learning about the difference between wrong and right in the secure care of their mother and father.
A child in Core Phase should:
Learn the difference between good and bad, and how to make good choices
Learn how to work, and how to be responsible
Learn about God and his or her relationship with Him
Play—which is the best way for a child to learn about the world around him
Spend most of his time at home with his family, being nurtured and loved
Love of Learning Phase (approximately ages 8-12)
The Love of Learning Phase is the second of the two Foundational Phases, and it sets the stage for the child’s later scholarly pursuits. This is when a child begins to play in new ways, and this sometimes begins to look like study, but maintains the spontaneity and curiosity of play. If a child at this stage (or earlier) is forced into academics, what results is usually a “Hate of Learning.” This is one of the earmarks of a conveyor belt education, and why most of us schooled that way can’t fathom the idea that young adults will eventually choose to study 8-10 hours a day, if this phase is successfully nurtured.
This is a time when the student-in-embryo is encouraged to study anything that interests her. If she chooses it, she’ll be excited about it, and so her play will include things that sometimes do and sometimes don’t look like work: reading, writing, discussing, drawing, sculpting, building, cooking, and cleaning. The parent’s job during this phase is to keep the home stocked with “educational products,” and model to the child that learning is one of the funnest things she can possibly do.
A child in the Love of Learning Phase (who has had a solid Core Phase) will:
Study what they are excited about, with minimum "requirements" or "assignments" and maximum inspiration
Be fascinated by a variety of subjects, and will move from one subject to another at a random pace
Grow to love learning, if they are free to follow their interests (and conversely, grow to hate learning, if forced and coerced in academics before they choose)
Continue to learn and add upon the lessons of Core Phase
Scholar Phase (often ages 12-16)
As the student nears the culmination of a successful Love of Learning phase, he naturally begins to transition towards more scholarly pursuits, until he enters the Scholar Phase, the first of the Educational Phases.
"It is a time to study “everything under the sun,” to read, study science and math, practice art and study the great artists, and cover every topic and subject in a spirit of passion and excitement for learning."
Young adults in Scholar Phase (who have had a solid Core Phase and Love of Learning Phase) will:
Study 8-12 hours a day in subjects that interest them
Willingly submit to a demanding mentor to "fill in the gaps"
Feel passionately driven by a sense of “mission,” even though they are might not yet be sure what that mission is
Immerse themselves deeply in subjects of their own choosing that the they feel will help them in their life’s mission
Need time to study and read on their own
Depth Phase
Depth Phase is the second of the two Educational Phases, and as the name suggests, it is where the student digs deeper into the great wealth of learning available. Where the presence of a mentor is required to enter Scholar Phase, submitting to a more demanding mentor is critical to an effective Depth Phase. It is this mentor who will personalize the course of study for the individual mission of the student, filling in gaps and exposing weaknesses that the student must address.
"Depth Phase (ideally between 16-22) is characterized by a profound hunger to prepare for on-coming responsibilities and future contributions in society. This hunger leads a Scholar to acknowledge his or her limitations, and the limitations of the current mentorial arrangement, and to submit to the grueling expectations of a mentor at a new and higher level. For most, this is best accomplished in a college setting."
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Reahna Hayes.
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