You People...

Yesterday, Alex, my mom and I picked up Rachel from Veterinarian Camp at Purdue. There was a "graduation" ceremony and the speaker was really interesting. Here's the gist of what she said:

"Purdue has been running it's GERI summer program now for 33 years, and it just keeps getting better and better. Programs like this are so important for kids like yours, given the state of education. Most of these kids are probably straight A students. Some maybe not - they're too bored. Those are my favorites - the ones too smart to conform. They go to school everyday, but are they really getting what they need? Mark Twain said "I never let schooling interfere with my education". Unfortunately, education today is a lot like filling a pail full of water and never using it. Eventually it either gets dumped out or stagnate. At GERI, we make sure it's not stagnate. Our classes give kids hands on opportunities to dive into their subject. There are no grades, because we want to encourage kids to soar, not worry about what kind of grade they will get. We want them to think of a million ways to do something. Benjamin Franklin said "I didn't fail the test, I just found a million ways to do it wrong." We think kids should be allowed to specialize in what they are interested. Whose purpose does the "well-rounded" student serve? If someone is brilliant in math, but still required to take 4 years of English, what purpose does that serve other then taking time away from what that student does best? We think kids should have the opportunity to learn in a way that is encouraging, fun and meaningful."

(There was more - her speech was 20 minutes. She mentioned things like 99% of Valedictorian's end up in middle management...)

At the end, I was like WOW! They really get it here at Purdue. I went and talked to her, thinking she might have some good resources for high school kids who have the luxury of not having to sit in class all day, learning information that stagnates. Here's the conversation.

Me: I really enjoyed your speech.
RM: (huge smile)
Me: I am currently homeschooling two high achieving kids
RM: (frown)
Me: (now hesitant) and was wondering if you have suggestions or resources, especially for high school students that will be applying to college...
RM: Well, you know they still need to take AP classes and all the tests and anyway that's not my area of specialty. Don't you people have all kinds of resources?

You people... Really? Someone that sounded so enlightened could only reach as far as offering a 1 week summer alternative to schooling as a solution to what she five minutes before called stagnate? Very closed minded. Alex called her hypocritical. Rachel said her speech was bull(onie!) I am not very enamored with Purdue. Maybe Ms. Mann needs a lesson from Ms. Goldson.