Intellectualizing our Children

Intellectualizing Children

This past weekend we attended a Catholic Home School Conference with hopes of it being informative and helpful. It didn’t disappoint ! It is always pleasant and uplifting to talk to parents about topics that concern them. 

The attendees came for a variety of reasons: they hoped to re-connect with past conference attendees; to listen to the wisdom of the main speakers; and to purchase USED books during the Friday night Used Book Extravaganza. The Used Book Sale becomes the main event within the main event. Few of us can withstand the siren call from the plethora of classic, new, vintage, special, and one-of-a-kind books! I almost caved in when I spied an old copy — in mint condition — of The Complete Works of Josephus! 

Andrew Pudewa — the keynote speaker — reminded conference attendees that  the ‘ways of the world’ are highly contagious and infectious even while making us laugh about such a serious topic. He believes that most people are just  not as smart as we think we are. [my words, not his] And he proved it by reciting many different poems in Japanese and English. He was trained by the late great Dr. Suzuki decades ago and learned to apply the method to music classes and reading, writing, and memorization classes. He claimed that the highest reading proficiency of white men  [his exact words] occurred in the 18th century and has been declining ever since. And for one primary reason: the development of electricity! We all laughed! Most of us were probably thinking it was a joke; and it turned out not to be one. Our assumption proved the point of the decline in intellectual processing, thinking, and reasoning! Pudewa obviously had to explain how and why electricity led to the dumbing down of white men.  

Before I get to that, I would like to add a bit of my own research about electricity. Did you know that English Physician and Physicist William Gilbert was the first to publish his theories about electricity in De Magnete —- his book. Up to then, literate people had to rely on daylight; moonlight, and kerosene lanterns for light for reading and writing. English chemist and physicist Robert William went a bit further and published his theories several years later —- 1675. Eventually Edison came along and turned the theories into reality. In fact, the very first house that was powered with electricity was that of Thomas Edison. He  installed his private electric system in 1878. The  second house that was wired for electricity was in Appleton, Wisconsin in  1882. It must have been his grandfather’s home. [Just kidding] Thirty years later [1912], the electrification of homes in America had begun in earnest and the dumbing down of America got a headstart.

I imagine few people could possibly have imagined the myriad of conveniences and inconveniences brought about by the electrification of America. Even fewer would have imagined that it would contribute to the dumbing down of America. Today, people die when they don’t have electricity especially during black outs, storms, and heat waves! People who live well without electricity are called survivalists. So, does that mean that people who don’t survive without electricity the non-survivalists? 

Even though electricity has been around for just a few hundred years, Pudewa laments about its negative consequences on literacy, writing skills, and intellectualism. Let’s think about it. Who are today’s great orators? Do we even listen to their wisdom? How many of us have read the works of Cicero, Pericles, Socrates, Frederick Douglass; Patrick Henry, George Herbert; and others who make the Great Books List? Before electricity, white men were highly literate. They read the classics. They read the Bible. The men of pre-electric days read the classics, thought about the main ideas; taught them to their kids, and tried to live what they learned. They  didn’t waste time watching TV  or using cell phones. Today, many Americans might disagree with Pudewa but could they debate him  intellectually rather than emotionally? 

  Pudewa stressed that what we read matters. How we read books also matters. Memorization of poetry matters. He recommended that our children should memorize at least 100 poems before college using the Suzuki method. This enables them to retain the words and the meaning of each poem. This helps children to become better writers and better readers. Pudewa closed with the urgent request that parents read to their children regularly from a book that the parent likes. The book should be at least two grade reading and writing levels above their oldest child’s abilities. And nobody in the family can opt out — ever! 

As we wrapped up our vendor table, a  participant approached and told me she was going to start reading with her children every night! She added — much to my surprise — that she was going to start with Daughters and Sons Forever. [ https://fortifyingfamiliesoffaith.com/shop/ols/products/daughters-and-sons-forever]. Surprise, surprise! And so I am paying Pudewa’s words forward in thanksgiving for this mother’s gift to me. God bless your reading time with the children. May it lift them up intellectually, spiritually, and psychologically. May God bless your whole family as you create very special memories for their lifetime.