My life has been interrupted with...life... and I am just now feeling like I can get some blogging done. My Christmas decorations are almost up, we only have one more school concert to go and just a few more presents to purchase. Then, hopefully, our life will be back to normal - as normal as pre-holiday life can be.
Yesterday, my smarty-pants 12 year old son and I were having a conversation about careers in other countries. We were discussing how in some countries you choose a vocation and are provided the schooling for that choice or it is chosen for you depending on your aptitude or talents. Then he told me that if we did that in this country, and if I had chosen to be a stay at home mom, I probably would have only had to go to school through the sixth grade.
Yes, my son told me that anyone with a sixth grade education can do what I do. It is true that I am not very much help with his seventh grade honors math (pythagorean theorem what-um?) , but I think I am seriously offended at his thought process. When I started giving him a hard time about it, he back-pedaled real fast (lessons from Dad) - but it made me think.
How much of my higher education am I actually using on a daily basis? I learned how to read long before sixth grade so the story time, recipe reading and birthday party invitation interpreting would be covered. I could sign my name (pay bills), recognize colors (sort laundry) and write a pretty good paragraph (notes to teachers). All of these things I learned to do before sixth grade! I guess I would have had to take some continuing education courses in a few subjects like driving, first aid and advanced cooking for families. But what have I learned - after age 11 - that has really made a difference in my homemaking skills? I don't think I keep my bedroom any cleaner now than I did then.
This is the question for the ages - I am going to have to really think on this. I know life lessons like living with K-RAZY room mates and mission companions probably prepared me for life with children. But, Buyer Behaviors, Promotional Strategy and Marketing Theory - not so much.
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2 comments:
Jolene! I can't believe Devin said that! What's worse, I can't believe he really believes it. I wonder if my kids would think the same or different.
I was lucky enough to take several parenting and family science classes that literally made me smarter and better able to deal with some of the situations we come across as a mother. I actually graduated with a degree in family life. There are some instances that I use my college knowledge that I am so thankful for. OTher times, I simply use my 13 and 1/2 years experience as a mother.
I'd like to see any 6th grader do what we do. Or any successful man in the world for that matter!
I read this and I've been thinking about it a couple of days. I think your education shapes your children's paradigm of the world. They see the world as wider, and with less ignorance because of what you know. Their chances of getting higher education are much higher if their mother prioritizes it. Obviously, women can teach their children all of this with only a 6th grade education, but it is unlikely they will.
On the other hand, most women who have lived on the earth have had little or no chance for formal education. The Lord knows the school of life is all we really need to love and care and teach. The rest is extra, and we can gain it in the next world. Our job here is to be obedient.
Aren't we blessed to be women in the gospel at this time in history?
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