Thought Experiment
What do you think is most helpful and necessary to support a young person in becoming a strong, contributing, alive, good adult? Details below as given by his uncle.Imagine, if you will: A boy of 13 -- bright, very lazy, and ignorant. You thump him and he is empty, except for some vile slops that need to be drained. And this is just the time of his life when he should be taking in everything he needs for the rest of his life. Suppose I could get him for one summer at an isolated location (i.e., isolated from the 'burbs and its deadly influences) and I want to give him a power exposure that will compensate in some degree for his mangled education. The constraints are: Directed reading (i.e., intensively discussed on the model of the scholar/tutor arrangement at the OxBridge colleges) 20 books in a 3 month period. I can also send him home with supplemental follow-ups that aren't directly part of the "curriculum." Films and music ad lib. Can't think of enough that would be worth putting a limit on. At any rate, this is also a course in power-remedying a defective education for adults. Here's my preliminary list -- I ran out of ideas when I got to 13 books. 1. Hamlet and; 2. The Tempest -- for the music of the language, familiar quotations, consciousness and morality. Supplement with MacBeth and Romeo & Juliet and he will have more than most people ever get exposed to, all the fundamentals. 3. Lies My Teacher Told Me and 4. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Critical approach to schools and history -- exposure to how to read. 5. Plato's dialogues -- for general introduction to philosophical method. Supplement with Aristotle's Nichomachaean Ethics and Poetics. See 7. below 6. Complexity by Waldrop -- basic exposure to coming trends in science. Follow this up by running the first Connections TV series, for how history works; how science works; how technology works, all in one big 10 part bang. 7. Homer's Contest and 8. Thus Spake Zarathustra, both by Nietzsche. I know this is reaching, but I want him to get at least an exposure to "religion" outside the judeo-christian framework, to see how religion and philosophy relate to each other. Follow this up by 9. Armstrong's History of God. Follow this track up by intensively discussing the philosophical content of the three Matrix movies. Supplement with Ouspensky's Tertium Organum and Bacon's Essays 10. Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson and; 11. Jane Jacobs' Cities and the Wealth of Nations. Innoculation against macroeconomics. Supplement with Heilbron's The Worldly Philosophers. Or maybe make the Jacobs the supplement and get the Heilbron in as no. 11. 12. Have Space Suit -- Will Travel and 13. Farmer In the Sky. These are the most subversive of Heinlein's juveniles, and they have enough material between them to set one's mind rocking. [They add "sense o' wundah." -- C] Supplement with Starman Jones and Stranger In a Strange Land, though 13 years old is much too young for that book, and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. And every day run one of Leonard Bernstein's Young Peoples' Concerts for a broad exposure to music.
My first thought was to begin with significant exposure to heavy, physical labor; both for the self-discipline and how-to-work aspects and the experience of the limiting alternative to broad education. The exposure must include the shoveling of poop -- for its grounding aspect and its metaphoric aspects. [can't call it unless you've experienced it . . . ] Well, whaddya think? What do you think would be most instructive or helpful for this young person?
He’s a 13 year old kid… ease up!
Lord of the Flies by William Golding - the innate savagery of man
Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck
The Martian Chronicles by Ray BradburyPosted by pietro on 12/09/03 at 07:15 AMI would skip Stranger; youngsters especially tend to see libertine rather than libertarian in it. The Heinlein which subverted me was Tunnel in the Sky.
I’d also include some Louis L’Amour. Reilly’s Luck would be a good one to start with. There was an anecdote in homeschooling circles 20 years ago about an Australian girl who had been so traumatised by the government schools that her mother started her with a decompression curriculum of light fiction, and L’Amour reportedly got this girl so interested she wound up in college as a history major.
Posted by triticale on 12/09/03 at 10:53 AMPietro: I remember what I was reading aet. 13; this is all, with the exception of Thus Spoke Zarathustra , well within the range. He won’t be able to get full use of any of it, but the idea is to give him a power exposure of stuff he can chew on later and the directed discussions will concentrate on techniques and methods of critical thinking.
And that is the reason I wouldn’t include any of the books you mention in this power curriculum: They’re all fine, but they are, compared to the others, single-dimension insights—and in the case of Lord of the Flies, I’d have to say 1/2 a dimension, since I’d have to pair it with Tunnel in the Sky—and if this experience kickstarts his mind, he’ll find and enjoy them on his own
Posted by on 12/09/03 at 12:30 PMTriticale: Yep, that’s why I included Stranger only as a supplement (and didn’t include Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead)—it’s unbelievably rich, but at 13 there just isn’t enough life experience to be able to unpack anything except the sex.
If I had a second summer, I might include a course specifically of genre books—pair up Lamour with Chandler, for example, and maybe Sturgeon, and follow them up with modern imitators to see how memes mutate over time.
Posted by on 12/09/03 at 12:34 PMMy oh my, You’al want a bit much from a boy that is still wondering if he will have hair down there for next years show and tell in the gymn shower.
Of course, I have something to suggest. Find him an adventure he can connect with. Turn of the tube (hide it or make him earn it) and hand him Tom Sawyer. Later Huckelberry Finn. Then if he wants some high adventure sci-fi give him Alfred Bester’s Demolished Man (You reread Time Enough For Love>>>Heinlein).
If you really belive shoveling poop builds character then give him the poop maker to care for and earn the priveledge of riding.
Make the contract, mentor the task duer and keep the contract no matter what. This will teach him that he will be held responsible for his actions and decisions, good or bad.
And remember he is a boy of thirdteen and the two most wonderous things to him on this planet are himself and a fourteen year old girl.Posted by on 12/10/03 at 07:18 AMIf you want to do Twain I’d suggest “Prince and the Pauper” rather than “Tom Sawyer” or “Huckleberry.” The satire will go over his head but it’s a good read and something he can go back and read later with no harm done.
Does he show any aptitude for anything or is a product of TV parenting? If the latter what programs does he watch? That will give a better clue for recommendations.
Posted by ATinNM on 12/10/03 at 02:10 PMNice list, although way to heavy on Shakespeare for a 13-year-old IMHO. Might as well throw Don Quixote at him (just kidding—17th century Spaniards make for really boring reading. I know—I tried when I was 13).
For an alternate point of view, how about The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda? Or perhaps Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse?
And I found Asimov’s Foundation trilogy as politically formative as most that I read. Heinlein’s Citizen of the Galaxy should warn against fundamentalism, as should Revolt in 2100.
I will resist the obvious Starship Troopers suggestion (may the Hollywood moonbats that perverted the book to make their profane movie die horrible, agonizing, slow deaths and be sent to the ninth level of hell for all eternity - spit, spit, spit!).
Posted by AlphaPatriot on 12/10/03 at 03:39 PMI agree. The “Prince and the Pauper” would probably be more appealing to him. Good call.
Posted by on 12/11/03 at 01:49 AMAlphaPatriot, may I add, “ptui!”
Posted by Claire on 12/11/03 at 04:04 AMToATinNM I would not say he is particularly reared by television—more like raised by wolves.
If I had to give him one Mark Twain it would probably be LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI. If he gets interested in Twain, he’ll get to the others on his own. But LotM has the secondary advantages of (a) being very close to a juvenile and (b) giving a realistic view of a period of history that is highly romanticized and thus is subversive enough for my purposes.
Isn’t anyone going to approach this as a problem in remedying one’s own education as a product of an American public school?
Posted by on 12/11/03 at 11:30 AM...or even by remedying the Disnification of our culture??
Posted by Claire on 12/11/03 at 11:33 AMIf he was raised by wolves then I would suggest the Mowgli stories by Kipling. Come to think of it ... that’s a pretty good idea all by its lonesome. Also the “Just So” stories.
If the kid can’t read LotM is going to be a hard slog. I don’t have a copy at hand but I think the story is going to go over his head.
Remedying One’s Own Education:
To quote Paul Simon “When I think back at all the crap I learned in high school, it’s a wonder I can think at all.”
Anything you give the little bugger is going to be subversive to the American Public School system. Merely teaching the squirt to READ is subversive to the A.P.S. system.
If his parents are as f*cked up as you intimate my suggestion is to interact with the kid on a serious level. Very few kids have an adult who takes them seriously, is interested in them, and interacts on an intellectual level.
Posted by ATinNM on 12/11/03 at 01:50 PMIf his parents are as f*cked up as you intimate my suggestion is to interact with the kid on a serious level. Very few kids have an adult who takes them seriously, is interested in them, and interacts on an intellectual level.
Yeah, well, that would be the ideal solution; I just can’t manage it from 450 miles away.
Posted by on 12/12/03 at 12:37 AMWell, every little bit helps, goes the old saying… Even an email and IM relationship on a random basis gives him someone to turn to when he has questions about—whatever. Occasional links to bits-sized bits of *stuff* can encourage him as well. It would provide tangible proof that someone out there cares about him, and not cuz they “have to” cuz they are his parents. --just for *him.*
The hardest thing of all—small steps.
Posted by Claire on 12/12/03 at 03:21 AM
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