school is just a place to park your kids

There have been complaints for a long time that parents are 'abdicating their responsibility' to schools:

Parents, not schools, must ultimately be responsible for children – Michigan Education Report ... – Mackinac Center (2001)

Parents 'abdicating responsibility for their children' (2008: paywall)

Have parents abdicated their responsibility? | The New Times | Rwanda (2016: from the NY Times)

It is to some extent a cultural thing:

Some parents are "abdicating" responsibility for bringing up their children by "dumping" youngsters on schools, headteachers have warned.

Mick Brookes, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, criticised the Government's drive for all schools to offer childcare between the hours of 8am and 6am.

"The vast majority of parents want to see their children after school. (They) echo the shock expressed by some of the eastern European parents that rather than promoting the importance of quality childcare at home, our country advocates a back to work culture that may well prove to be counter-productive."

Parents 'dump' children on schools | UK | News | Express.co.uk (2008)

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Here's a complaint from 2012 that schools 'teach parents incompetence':

PUBLIC SCHOOL IS A BABYSITTING SERVICE

The first news I saw of the Chicago teacher’s strike was a headline on the Chicago Tribune that said, “I’m going to lose my job.” It was not a quote from a teacher. It was a quote from a parent, who was worried about the time she was taking off from work because she had nowhere to send her kid.

This is not an isolated problem. The New York Post reported that Chicago schools and churches were opening doors during school hours so that kids were not left alone in homes. It’s clear that the main function we lose when teachers strike is not learning, because it was already questionable how much learning goes on in Chicago public schools. The loss is childcare. School provides a safe place for kids to be while parents work.

You are telling yourself that your school is not like this. But here’s why your school is the same: Public school is a huge infrastructure set up as a social service program. It is terrible at teaching kids how to be successful adults, but it’s great at providing a safe way to care for kids, no matter what their income level. (The blog Get Rich Slowly enthusiastically estimates that parents save $1000 a month by sending their kids to public school instead of paying for childcare.)

We see this clearly in the Chicago Tribune headline. But also it’s clear when I tell people I homeschool. They say they could never be with their kids all day. School teaches that: schools teach parents learned incompetence that they are not able to be with their kids all day and they require a public babysitting service. But surely, this is not true for you. Or anyone, really.

Public school is a babysitting service | Penelope Trunk Education

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During the last months, however, parents have been forced to look after their children - otherwise known as 'home schooling':

Jay Doubleyou: homeschooling and deschooling

And many parents have found it very difficult:

Home schooling my kids in lockdown has been a horror | Metro News

Coronavirus: Homeschooling 'stressful and challenging' for most parents - BBC News

‘I Feel Like I’m A Crap Mum And Failing My Job’. Parents On The Reality Of Working From Home | HuffPost UK Parents

Parents struggling with homeschooling during coronavirus lockdown share hilarious memes as they battle unruly kids

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But actually, before 'school' existed, children had to adapt to their parents' work rhythms:

Covid-19 lockdown: How parents who are self-employed can homeschool their kids :: Freelance UK

Which was absolutely the norm:

Prior to passage of America's first compulsory schooling statute, in Massachusetts in 1852, it was generally accepted that education was a broad societal good and that there could be many ways to be educated: at home, through one's church, with a tutor, in a class, on your own as an autodidact, as an apprentice in the community – and often all of the above. 

Education Used to Happen Outside of School - Foundation for Economic Education

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And this is the point.

If we see school as simply a matter of 'social control' rather than 'education', then it makes perfect sense to put children into institutions - to learn about how to adapt to the demands of institutions:

Jay Doubleyou: deschooling society

The Pinky Show - Scary School Nightmare - YouTube

If we see school as being about providing human resources for society and the economy, then we need to 'engineer' our children rather than 'educate' them:

Jay Doubleyou: human resources as social engineering

HUMAN RESOURCES Social Engineering In The 20th Century HQ FULL - YouTube

And if we see school as a place where we pacify people rather than 'educate' them, then we need to actively train them to become less competent and more dependent:

Jay Doubleyou: education: dumbing us down

Jay Doubleyou: we are much more than problem-solvers

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This system was first brought about by the Prussians some two hundred years ago:

Jay Doubleyou: the purpose of education: from china to prussia to the united states

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See here:

The 3 Rs of Education: Respect, Reality, Reason: Prussian Education Very American

The 3 Rs of Education: Respect, Reality, Reason: Yep another Copy/Paste no commentary post...

The Purpose of Education: Social Uplift or Social Control? | Coop média de Montréal

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yeats the song writer

Here's a very beautiful poem by the Irish poet W B Yeats:

The Song of Wandering Aengus

I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire a-flame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And someone called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done,
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

The Song of Wandering Aengus by William Butler… | Poetry Foundation

It has been put to music:

Donovan - The Song Of Wandering Aengus - YouTube

Here's a rather difficult 'analysis':
"The Song of Wandering Aengus" by W.B. Yeats: An Analysis

And here's a more fun class looking at the lovely poem:

Language Arts Lesson Video: The Song of Wandering Aengus (SyncTV FULL Episode!) - YouTube

Is it about the dream of a god?

It has been claimed that the poem's story is based on the Irish god Aengus, and specifically the story of the "Dream of Aengus", which had first appeared in the 8th century, in which Aengus falls in love with a woman whom he sees only in his dreams.

The Song of Wandering Aengus - Wikipedia

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bab.la online dictionary

There are some very good online dictionaries:

Jay Doubleyou: on-line dictionaries

Jay Doubleyou: more on-line dictionaries

Jay Doubleyou: which on-line dictionaries can you use on your smartphone?

Jay Doubleyou: translate with reverso context

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Another good place to go is bab.la - with lots of other help:

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Online dictionary for 28 languages.

Everything about languages and translation: Conjugation, Phrases, Living abroad, and much more.

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Online dictionaries by bab.la - loving languages
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the tyranny of merit: we are not self-made or self-sufficient

Do you believe that 'passion and perseverance' - focus and dedication - will get you where you want to be?

Jay Doubleyou: grit

Do you 'merit' - or deserve - what you get if you use your talents and work hard?

Jay Doubleyou: meritocracy

But there are several weaknesses in the argument:

Jay Doubleyou: don’t think you’re lucky? think again

Jay Doubleyou: 'I have met many people who earn way more than £30,000 and have literally no discernible skills, not even one.'

Prof Michael Sandel of Harvard University has just written a book on the subject:

The Tyranny of Merit | Michael J. Sandel | Macmillan

As he says in the Observer:

'The populist backlash has been a revolt against the tyranny of merit'

“The solution to problems of globalisation and inequality – and we heard this on both sides of the Atlantic – was that those who work hard and play by the rules should be able to rise as far as their effort and talents will take them. This is what I call in the book the ‘rhetoric of rising’. It became an article of faith, a seemingly uncontroversial trope. We will make a truly level playing field, it was said by the centre-left, so that everyone has an equal chance. And if we do, and so far as we do, then those who rise by dint of effort, talent, hard work will deserve their place, will have earned it.”

Even a perfect meritocracy, he says, would be a bad thing. “The book tries to show that there is a dark side, a demoralising side to that,” he says. “The implication is that those who do not rise will have no one to blame but themselves.” 

“Those at the top deserved their place but so too did those who were left behind. They hadn’t striven as effectively. They hadn’t got a university degree and so on.”

Blue-collar workers were in effect given a double-edged invitation to “better” themselves or carry the burden of their own failure. Many took their votes elsewhere, nursing a sense of betrayal. “The populist backlash of recent years has been a revolt against the tyranny of merit, as it has been experienced by those who feel humiliated by meritocracy and by this entire political project.” 

The Covid-19 pandemic, and in particular the new appreciation of the value of supposedly unskilled, low-paid work, offers a starting point for renewal. “This is a moment to begin a debate about the dignity of work; about the rewards of work both in terms of pay but also in terms of esteem. We now realise how deeply dependent we are, not just on doctors and nurses, but delivery workers, grocery store clerks, warehouse workers, lorry drivers, home healthcare providers and childcare workers, many of them in the gig economy. We call them key workers and yet these are oftentimes not the best paid or the most honoured workers.”

To those who, like many of his Harvard students, believe that they are simply the deserving recipients of their own success, Sandel offers the wisdom of Ecclesiastes: “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding… but time and chance happeneth to them all.”

The Tyranny of Merit is the latest salvo in Sandel’s lifelong intellectual struggle against a creeping individualism that, since the Reagan and Thatcher era, has become pervasive in western democracies. “To regard oneself as self-made and self-sufficient. This picture of the self exerts a powerful attraction because it seems on the face of it to be empowering – we can make it on our own, we can make it if we try. It’s a certain picture of freedom but it’s flawed. It leads to a competitive market meritocracy that deepens divides and corrodes solidarity.”

Fair competition does not constitute a just vision of society. Even if Trump is defeated in November’s presidential election, this is a truth, Sandel says, that Joe Biden, and his counterparts in Europe, must take on board. For inspiration, he says, they could do worse than turn to one of his intellectual heroes, the English Christian socialist RH Tawney.

“Tawney argued that equality of opportunity was at best a partial ideal. His alternative was not an oppressive equality of results. It was a broad, democratic ‘equality of condition’ that enables citizens of all walks of life to hold their heads up high and to consider themselves participants in a common venture. My book comes out of that tradition.”

Michael Sandel: 'The populist backlash has been a revolt against the tyranny of merit' | Michael Sandel | The Guardian

Here he is giving a TED talk back in May:

Michael Sandel: The tyranny of merit | TED Talk

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Michael Sandel: The tyranny of merit | TED Talk

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a system of education so dictated and dominated by endless data gathering and exams is "ridiculous and absurd and sad"

Michael Morpurgo is very famous for his story 'War Horse':

War Horse (novel) - Wikipedia

And he has written other stories on the First World War:

Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo - BBC Teach

Jay Doubleyou: how is world war one seen in different countries

He has also been the Children's Laureate:

Michael Morpurgo - Wikipedia

Home - Michael Morpurgo Official Site

And he is passionate about the issues which are important to children:

"Every child has the right to a life-enhancing experience" - Michael Morpurgo

Here he is talking about how idiotic exams are - and how he's looking forward to telling stories and listening to stories at his old school in London:

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Thinking Otherwise

A Point of View

As children return to school, Michael Morpurgo questions whether we are educating our children....or programming them.
"The pandemic has found us out," Michael writes, "shown us how ridiculous and absurd and sad" is the rigidity of a system of education so dictated and dominated by endless data gathering and exams.
He argues that we must use this opportunity - where so much is up for grabs - to take a serious look at what needs to change.

BBC Radio 4 - A Point of View, Thinking Otherwise

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what to do with prepositions

Students seem to really hate prepositions...
i hate the preposition

It's quite understandable when you look at a lot of the material available...

So much of what is presented is in the form of lists - although a lot of students (and most teachers?!) like them:
englishwithjames.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/dependent-preposition-patterns.pdf
englishwithjames.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/the-dependent-preposition.pdf
Grammar Reference | LearnEnglish | British Council | Verbs & Prepositions
Phrasal verbs, Prepositional verbs - English Grammar

Perhaps more helpful is trying out some exercises:
Prepositions | English with James
ESL Quizzes - Prepositions I (Vera Mello) I-TESL-J

Or some games:

6 Brilliant Hands-on Exercises That Teach English Prepositions | FluentU English Educator Blog

ESL Preposition Games and Activities: Top 20 to Try Today!
Five fun activities to teach prepositions | British Council

But prepositions are much more than 'prepositions of place or time'.

To look at another posting:

PREPOSITIONS AND ARTICLES:

It's all about chunks:

Following the pattern that most course books take, i.e., dealing with prepositions in manageable chunks, is not a bad way to go. Teaching prepositions of time, place and movement, for instance, at different times, will enable learners to build up their knowledge of prepositions slowly and steadily. Doing so will be much more effective than, say, trying to teach every use of 'in' at the same time.
How to help learners of English understand prepositions | British Council

Sure, we can give students rules to apply, such as; use on with days of the week; in for months and years; at for specific times and holidays, but as native English speakers we do not grow up learning these rules, or even thinking about what preposition to use. Ask an English speaking child, “Where is your mother?” They will know to say at home instead of in home or on home. This is not instinctive; it has been acquired through hearing and mimicking, which is not the same way that students learn the language. Children learn languages in chunks and phrases so English learners should do the same.
Learn prepositions easily

You can also say it's all about phrases:
Prepositional phrases (video) | Khan Academy

Or collocation:
Grammar and vocabulary: teaching students collocations | Onestopenglish
Fun classroom practice of collocations - UsingEnglish.com

Jay Doubleyou: grammar workshop
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graded english readers

Reading is one of the best ways to get your language going:

Jay Doubleyou: the importance of reading

But course books can be very boring, in whatever subject:

Textbooks: Boring Students to Death | by David Cutler | Medium

And following a coursebook in a class is even more boring:

Why we don’t like English classes | Antimoon

Reading a book, you can choose what to read and how fast to read - and here's a good guide:

How to be a better reader

If you're learning a language, 'readers' are an excellent starting point:

A graded reader is a book intended for learners at different levels of learning English. These books have complex and interesting stories, but are written in a way that’s comfortable for English language learners at every stage.
English readers have different grades: the higher the grade, the more difficult the ESL reading will be. These books are designed to use a specific number of difficult words (for example, one new vocabulary word every 500 or 600 words). This means you can understand and enjoy the book, but still learn from it.
Some graded readers use existing classic and popular modern books, and simply rewrite them to accommodate different levels. Other English readers write completely new and original stories. These kinds of books exist for kids, young adults and adults. They’re a great way to learn and to read some works that you wouldn’t have been able to understand otherwise.

Where to Find the Best English Readers: 7 Incredible Sources for Endless English Reading Practice | FluentU English

These are the biggest on the market:

Home - Penguin Readers

Pearson English Readers support English learning everywhere

Macmillan Readers – English Reading Resources

ELT | English Readers – Collins

Readers | Cambridge University Press

Oxford Graded Readers

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