Swickard: Do homeschoolers have summer vacations?

© 2017 Michael Swickard, Ph.D.  At the coffee shop someone asked an interesting question: Do home schoolers take summer vacations like students in public schools? My reaction was that home-schooled children do not take three months off from learning and camp out on the couch with their smart phones.

            Over several days I thought about the question. I know several home schooler parents. All indicated there was no summer vacation for their kids, but some learning tasks are focused on summer opportunities.

            Obviously, going to Yellowstone National Park is a learning activity. And Yellowstone is closed during the winter so you must go in the summer. Importantly, none of the home schooler parents said that when summer comes they just turn the kids loose to vegetate.

            Home schooling is one of the most contentious issues in our country. The public receives conflicting messages. On the one hand, they hear that parents are the most influential force in children learning.

            But, on the other hand, many education leaders say that learning at home is different and inferior to “real” education. Especially that education done by professional educators who have teaching degrees from college.

            Also, education is different in a school setting. That I agree with but I do not agree that public school education in and of itself is superior.

            Home school parents forego the benefits of a tax-supported education for diverse reasons including religious, social and achievement concerns. Additionally, there are people in rural areas where the trip to the nearest school is too far a journey for young children.

            For most people, outside of those with strictly religious concerns, the primary reason to home school is a concern about the culture of public education. Currently it is almost entirely focused on taking tests to check on teachers. What a waste for students.

            Others say the pace of instruction in schools is focused on the entire class rather than on any one individual. Home school parents pace their instruction specifically to their children.

            One objection to home schooling is that parents are usually not professional educators. How then do we ensure that their children are learning? What should be done if a home-schooled child reaches majority without sufficient academic skills? Discipline the parents?

            Is it the parent’s right not to educate their children? Sticky questions. We already face the same questions with public school graduates. Shall we dock the teacher’s pension if the students do not learn?

            Some parents are not suited for teaching just as some students are not good candidates for home learning. Sometimes, the combination of parents not willing to work hard at teaching, and students not driven to learn can lead to bad situations. Overall, this is not the case.

            Home schoolers do not turn off their minds when they leave school. Learning occurs at all hours of the day and night. I like home schooling when it is done correctly. Public schools can learn more from the methods used by home schoolers than home schoolers can learn from public schools.

 Email: drswickard@comcast.net - Swickard’s novel, Hideaway Hills,is available at Amazon.com 

Swickard: Do homeschoolers have summer vacations?

Swickard: Racing ducks, how about Llamas?

© 2017 Michael Swickard, Ph.D.  “A peasant has to stand on a hillside for a very long time before a roast duck flies into his mouth.” Chinese proverb quoted by Paul Theroux in Riding the Iron Rooster

            New Mexico has the challenge of a falling economy. Many New Mexicans are standing around waiting for something good to happen. It might or might not. Other people have looked at tourists as a way to perk up the New Mexico economy.

            It’s a place to get new money. Especially if New Mexico appeals to tourists with lots of money to spend. Problem: some New Mexicans don’t want more people in our state.

            There is a conflict between bringing people into the state and people who don’t want New Mexico to grow at all. These people like the lonesome feeling and don’t want any more people coming here.

            My grandfather wanted to live far enough away from his neighbors so as to not hear their dogs bark. And he did.

            First there was Lincoln, the little town that developed a great Billy-the-Kid festival. Then Albuquerque adopted the balloons. Roswell got the aliens celebration going. I asked someone from Roswell about the aliens. He smirked, “The tourists come bringing hundred dollar bills.”

            Years ago, some people in Deming were looking for something to increase the money in their town. Using alliteration, it turned into the Deming Duck Races. If they were in Lordsburg, I wonder if it would have been the Lordsburg Llama Races?

            Perhaps next the Raton Rat Races, the Taos Tuttle Races, the Alamogordo Alpaca Races, the Carlsbad Camel Races, the Artesia Ant Races… well, I could go.

            Again, part of the problem involves the people already in New Mexico who don’t want the state to grow in size. Many people in New Mexico like what Oregon Governor Tom McCall said back in the 1970s. Eric Cain in OPB.org wrote about this in 2013:

            His (Governor Tom McCall) focus was quality of life and so in a 1971 speech said to the people who come to Oregon, “Come visit, don’t stay.” He added, “I urge them to come and come many, many times to enjoy the beauty of Oregon. But I also ask them, for heaven’s sake, don’t move here to live.”

            While some people might think that rude, I understood. Tourism is a nice relatively clean industry. But come, look, take pictures, eat Green Chile, go home. How pleasant.

            And truth be known, I really don’t mind more people coming here. I would just like them to take a pledge:

            “I (state your name) promise never to tell anyone in New Mexico how we did things back home and that it was so much better back home.” Amen.

            Maybe we can think of some more festivals: Dust Days in March comes to mind. A celebration of people baking on their car dash would be interesting. There are plenty of possible celebrations. Consider a Snake Racing in Springer celebration. Then we have lunch. Tastes like Chicken, eh?

Email: drswickard@comcast.net - Swickard’s novel, Hideaway Hills,is available at Amazon.com 

Swickard: Racing ducks, how about Llamas?

Swickard: We are addicted to our addictions

© 2017 Michael Swickard, Ph.D.  “We aren’t addicted to oil, but our cars are.” James Woolsey  

            While that sounds good, it’s wrong. Our cars are inanimate so they can’t be addicted to anything. It is we, ourselves, who are addicted to transportation. This is not a bad addiction like to drugs, speeding or ignoring railroad warning lights which can get you killed.

            The transportation industry is addicted to energy. Electric transportation is more addicted to coal than oil but all transportation other than sailboats are done with energy. They only work for us when the energy is abundant, dependable and cheap.

            Most people are unaware of how important energy is in our lives. But know this: without energy, there would be little available food or water and most people on Earth would die.

            We are so accustomed to having energy at our fingertips that we do not normally think about it. Flip the switch and the light comes on. Maybe some few people living out off the grid could survive for a while. The rest of us will perish without energy.

            There are more addictions in our society that we do not think of often. Driving much of our society is the entertainment industry. It is so pervasive that we, as a society, are ignoring great threats to our society because we are enmeshed in our entertainment society.

            Many people are more concerned about the fortunes of the Dallas Cowboys than the threat of a huge asteroid killing off life on our planet. Or global thermonuclear war. Or some disease with no cure extinguishing the human race.

            The social networks all run on devices that are operated using electricity. Many people are so addicted to these social connections that they will risk death while driving rather than put off looking at the device for a few minutes.

            Imagine the day that the electricity quits. Millions of people will stare at their dead cellphones in confusion. There’s no way to lodge a complaint without electricity. They will have to speak to real people around them instead of being in their own world online. How awful.

            My Great Grandfather came from Sweden to New York and then New Mexico at a snail’s pace. However, I could get on an airplane and be home in New Mexico in one day. Amazing.

            People are very concerned about whom is dancing with whom but not how redundant are the systems protecting our electrical grid. Or with the environmental push against coal and oil what we would do instead of coal and oil?

            The first thing we must do is admit our addictions and if they are good addictions make sure every effort is made to protect those energy resources. The point is that we should not look down our noses at those people who work in the oil patch.

            Especially just because they are covered in black gold and are a bit wiffy after working all week. We should thank our lucky stars that someone is making our addictions work.

 Email: drswickard@comcast.net - Swickard’s novel, Hideaway Hills,is available at Amazon.com 

Swickard: We are addicted to our addictions

Swickard: The surprise of that surprised look

© 2017 Michael Swickard, Ph.D.   It seems odd to me that some of the most learned people in our society should look surprised when in New Mexico over the last six years college enrollment has dropped fourteen percent. What bothers me is the look of surprise on their faces.

            Instead, they should have a knowing looking, “Yeah, that makes sense that fewer students are enrolling.” After all, they are a big part of why college enrollment dropped.

            It isn’t just one thing that is changing the enrollment. Let us count the reasons enrollment is dropping: first, tuition in New Mexico’s colleges and universities has risen steadily for twenty years. We are talking dramatically.

            Twenty years ago, when I was at New Mexico State University, it was about $600 a semester for tuition and fees. Now it is more than $3,500 a semester for tuition and fees. In the old days, you could pay the tuition and fees out of a part-time job during the semester. No longer.

            Yet the wages for college graduates have not risen. So, it costs more to get a professional job that pays the same. And, colleges don’t discourage students taking coursing in majors where there are few if any jobs.

            Graduates are ending up with tens of thousands of dollars of debt in a slowing economy. There are less jobs. Recent college graduates are finding themselves living back at home because no one has a professional job for them.

            Some graduates have taken minimum wage jobs but with the minimum wage rising businesses are cutting back which further makes get a job harder, especially that first professional job. It is somewhat a spiral of problems: it costs more to graduate and pays the same or less today or even worse, there are no jobs.

            Now it might surprise you or me that the rising tuition prices and a falling job market could influence college enrollment but the wise people in our society at those institutions of higher learning had to know that pushing the tuition up would cause a drop in enrollment.

            Which is why I wonder about that surprised look. The retailer J. C. Penny recently had a great commercial, Dog House. It showed men who thought that a vacuum cleaner was a great birthday gift for their wife. They found themselves in a Dog House with other clueless men, all of them having a surprised look on their faces.

            Not that I will give love advise often, but if I was to buy a vacuum cleaner for a woman it would only be if I had a note from said woman indicating the brand and model with instruction to bring one home. Otherwise it is flowers, chocolate and jewelry.

            You can do as you like. Just don’t look surprised if you end up in the Dog House like the commercial shows. Especially don’t stand there with a surprised look on your face.

            But here we are with our colleges acting surprised right after they raised tuition - again.

 Email: drswickard@comcast.net - Swickard’s novel, Hideaway Hills,is available at Amazon.com 

Swickard: The surprise of that surprised look

Swickard: They will insure you lose on insurance

© 2017 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. “Most of the great problems we face are caused by politicians creating solutions to problems they created in the first place.” Walter E. Williams

             Healthcare is the battleground today because one set of politicians today are creating solutions to problems Congress caused in 2009. Shall we fix those problems or create even more problems?

            Caught in the middle are the American public who pays more and get less service. Why? Because the political healthcare plans are financial redistribution plans, not actual healthcare plans intending to provide better service for less money.

            The current healthcare plan in our country known as Obamacare came into being promising to lower costs. But the first action was to hire millions of lawyers, consultants, account managers, technical directors and bureaucrats to run the healthcare system. It suddenly costs more for healthcare.

            Who can possible looked surprised when healthcare cost much more because of it being the feeding bucket for millions of political people who are creating solutions to problems they created in the first place. They will insure you lose on insurance.

            One fact about healthcare not being discussed is that the political pushers of these new plans have and are making out well. When we have dysfunction in our country we should note who is making out well in the chaos. Namely: the politicians of both political parties.

            So, let me ask: why would either political party come to the aid of the country when both sides are doing well themselves with the chaos they are creating? They will not.

            My older brother Bill was born at home. The home in question was twenty miles south of Carrizozo on my Grandfather’s ranch. He was born in the front bedroom with Dr. Klump attending. The bill in 1947 for Bill was forty dollars. It paid for the doctor to attend.

            There was nothing in the bill for any account managers, tax consultants, primary attorney, secondary attorney, the lead consultant on births, the yada yada yada. Just what it cost the doctor to attend the birth.

            What I have is Dental Unsurance. It looks like insurance but doesn’t work. But there is millions of people in the company making money while not doing anything of value for the customers. Why? Because the politicians have set this system up.

            How to make healthcare better? First, stop making it worse for political gain. If you are in a hole and don’t like it first stop digging. That is what America must do. Rather than come up with a more involved system of bookkeeping and rules and regulations, we must step back.

            The media will make every step toward less government sound like the Black Death of 1346. It will not be but the scaremongers will point out that any reduction of government intrusion will kill at least 700 Billion people this week.

            There’s only 7.5 Billion people alive now, should I react to politicians saying 700 Billion people will die if we pull back on government intrusion? Nope.

 Email: drswickard@comcast.net - Swickard’s novel, Hideaway Hills,is available at Amazon.com 

Swickard: They will insure you lose on insurance