The following is an excerpt from “Upgrade”, a book written by K. Swanson.
Character is the most basic constituent of an educational program. Without character, any other educational effort is an exercise in futility. But education is more than character. It extends into the cultivation of the mind. If cultivating the mind is important, then what does one do to achieve this? What is the tried-and-true, basic process of education?
Once again, there are plenty of experts with assorted theories on what constitutes a good education. Education should prepare a child to think, read, write, and speak. There are many different ways to teach a child to do these things. There are also various categories of thinking, reading, and speaking.
Children have individual learning styles. Some children will spend more time learning to think on the right side of their brain (with art and music), while others will spend more time learning to think on the left side of their brain )with mathematics and logic). These subjects areas are methods by which children learn how to think. Some children will be better trained as lawyers to argue a point, other children will be trained to teach a point, while still others will be better trained to negotiate a point. But all must learn to communicate. These are the basics of education.
In the next few weeks, we will look at Reading and Writing; Thinking; Discernment and Verbal Communication.
Tom Watson
The Good Curriculum is a comprehensive video-based, self-taught, self-paced, reading-intensive, writing-intensive, systematic online K-12 curriculum.