in every small village...

In small villages and towns throughout the world in the latter part of the 19th century, craftsmen went to work making Froebel's gifts of early childhood. The image shown above is from the Sverresborg Trøndelag Folk Museum in Trondheim, and is one of many photos from their collection online.

These gifts represented a revolution in education, in which education was put directly in the hands of local individuals. We are now facing a revolution in which education is being taken out of local hands and outside of local control, and outside of local initiative. The revolution is called "common core." This video attempts to explain it, but also makes a lie of the claims that common core is a local initiative.




Common Core testing and curriculum are offered by Pearson Education, in a global big business initiative having a major effect on education. The claim is that curriculum is left to local control, but we will find that what we get is not as lovely as a Froebel Gift.

All of this is going to come to the forefront of the American presidential campaign, as Jeb Bush has close ties to both common core and to Pearson Education which recently admitted spying on American teens. Pearson's claim was that they need to protect common core from cheaters and they make no apologies for spying on kids. We've seemingly abandoned any trust in the child's natural inclination to learn, and as we have done so, we can watch American education go down the drain, making our citizenry even more stupid than we are today.

A few years back, President Obama announced a "race to the top" which was his proposal for education, in which states would compete for additional funding based on proposals of things they would do, but only if new funding was in place. Now, the funding is over and states that had promised so much are financially challenged to continue their initiatives, and have little to show for all the money that was poured their way. 

I suggest that we take all matters having to do with the education of our kids into our own hands. Putting craftsmen to work making Froebel's Gifts and giving our children the self-activity to direct their own lives would be better than spending billions on Pearson education. Just think of it this way. Using Froebel's gifts transforms the way kids think. Making Froebel's gifts gives the advantages of craftsmanship (character and intellect) to those who make them and share them with their kids.

Today I am packing for travel to Marc Adams School of Woodworking.

Make, fix and create...