By Lance D’Aoust

If you ask your kids how school was you will get a generic answer. School sucks! It is boring and condescending. Kids don’t value their time there and we all know it. If you want to know what happens there then you have to ask your kids more creative, specific questions about school. Make sure you also ask them what happens when they ask questions. Why? Because more often than not, they’re discouraged from asking questions and are given bullsh*t explanations such as, don’t disturb the class, you’re interrupting, why can’t you fit in like the others? etc.

I have asked these questions with actual results, as opposed to no results, “nothing” or “fine.”
“What was your favorite part of school today? Tell me about it.”
“What was your least favorite part of school today? Why, what happened? Tell me about it.”
“If you could change just one thing in the whole school,  what would it be?”
“Who is your favorite teacher? Why, tell me about it.”
“What is your favorite class? Why, tell me about it.”

If you have really young kids you might want to break out the video camera because sometimes you get the kinds of answers you want to remember forever!

If you don’t ask and find out then you have no idea what messages the schools are jamming into Your child’s head. School is not here to raise your child – YOU are. Schools are supposed to teach the academics while parents teach the character, morals and values AND academics. Schools are a very new concept when you look at human history. Do not give control over your child to someone else.

I was a student AND a teacher, in both college and pre-college, and so I know a little bit about this. I was teaching material I studied the day before. I have friends who are also teachers and they do the same. Our teachers are given impossible tasks, large numbers of kids, little time and no room for error or flexibility. Freedom for critical thinking is an unknown concept in schools. Schools are designed to produce clones who fit into the assembly line learning method. Kids who learn on their own, who ask questions, who don’t fit in are all marginalized and/or medicated.

Teach your kids to ask questions – lots of questions, with valid answers that make sense. Specially to question civil servants such as teachers, politicians, firemen and even the police. They work for US.

Tags: answer, ask your kids, child, civil, critical, learn, pete seeger, question, school, think, today