... by Senator Ben Sasse. I heard an interview with Sasse on public radio last year, probably right after the book came out.The subtitle is 'Our coming-of-age crisis and how to rebuild a culture of self-reliance.' I was intrigued by some of his thoughts, ideas included in his writing, and felt that the book would be interesting. I was not disappointed.
Sasse is from Nebraska, married with three children. The family commutes to Washington during the week, and returns home on the weekends. The children are home-schooled and highly portable. Their parents have tried to teach them to be self-sufficient, developing independence from a very young age, teaching them map-reading, money handling, trip-planning, logistical skills all necessary for living independently in the world.
The parents insist that their children read, for education as well as entertainment. Their desire is to raise adult who are 'addicted' to reading. Sasse tells of the history of the printed word, how earliest writing was painstakingly done by scribes, and only available in Latin, so only educated church officials could read, thus providing their 'interpretation' of the Bible. Along comes Gutenberg, and his press with movable type, making printed matter available to the masses. Then comes Martin Luther, nailing his letter to the church door, disputing and disruption centuries of church doctrine and the hold the Holy Roman Church had on Europe.
Some of the information will be familiar to anyone who has a background in education, aware of how our country developed and children went from working at a very young age to spending many years in classrooms. Education theorists have changed the way we think of youth, how children spend their time isolated, in small groups of children of the same age, resulting in them being completely unprepared for the realities of being self-supporting when classroom time comes to an end.
We are raising a generation of young people who cannot discern between wants and needs, and see the goal of being employed as a means of self-gratification. They have little sense of caring for something bigger than themselves, no understanding of the necessity to provide service or volunteer. No way to realize that they can do work that has no payoff/monetary value, but results in a sense of accomplishment or intrinsic value without dollar signs attached.
There is far too much value and information in Sasse's well thought out writing to condense it here. It is something well worth reading, and having on hand to refer to for anyone with children, attempting to grow a family into productive responsible citizens. I wish it had been available years ago, for me to read and take to heart while trying to train/insert character and values into the two I was given to nurture, and now admire as capable, compassionate adults.
No comments:
Post a Comment