20: Rethinking Labels In Education

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Ever feel like a label replaced a lesson? We take a hard look at “arbitraries”—opinions and judgments dropped into the learning process without reason—and show how they quietly turn real educational problems into medicalized stories. From glossy assessments to trending diagnoses, we trace how false solutions enter classrooms, reshape expectations, and nudge parents toward treatments that do not teach.

We share candid stories about grades, testing, and the shock of discovering that high scores don’t always equal real-world competence. Along the way, we break down the difference between ability and familiarity: why the farm kid and the city kid approach the same subject with different speed, and how that variation calls for sequenced instruction, not a diagnosis. You’ll hear how to spot the exact missing step—A, B, or C—that’s blocking progress, and why returning to the last point of certainty is the most humane and effective fix.

Health matters, but it’s not a curriculum. We talk about nutrition and supplements as support, not substitutes, and refocus on the keystone of academic success: reading mastery. When students truly understand how sentences and paragraphs work, every subject becomes more accessible—social studies, science, even math word problems. By the end, you’ll have a clear, practical framework to replace labels with learning: map the sequence, find the gap, teach the step, confirm mastery, and only then move forward.

Through stories and simple frameworks, we show parents and teachers how to find the exact missing step and rebuild competence with sequence, practice, and reading mastery.

• defining arbitraries and why they mislead
• how commercial assessments insert false solutions
• personal stories of grades vs real-world skill
• the harm of labels like “math disorder”
• replacing diagnoses with step-by-step teaching
• when health helps and when it distracts
• reading structure as the keystone to all subjects
• a practical way to trace back to the missed step

If you’re a parent, teacher, or student tired of quick diagnoses and ready for durable skills, this conversation offers tools you can use today. Subscribe for more grounded strategies, share this with someone who needs a reset, and leave a review with the step you plan to revisit first.

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Transcript

Defining Arbitraries And Origins

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of our podcast. Today, Mike and I are going to be going over something that I think will be very applicable and maybe give parents and students a bit of relief and maybe switch things around so that they have a different look at what might be going on and causing there to be trouble with school behavior, et cetera. So this is a subject of arbitraries, which I'm going to let Mike define in different ways, and then we'll walk through how this applies to life and livingness. So over to you, Mike.

How Labels Enter Classrooms

False Solutions And Real Learning

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Okay, so an arbitrary, simple definition is an opinion given by an individual entered into a situation. Okay. It basically comes from the word arbiter, which is another word for judge. And the uncertainty of a judge's decision long history ago, this is an old Latin term, leads to the definition of basically it the word is used now to mean something that's uncertain. It's just something that's a piece of information that's entered in by somebody, and it doesn't necessarily bring any clarity to the situation. And so that's that's an arbitrary. And an example from school would be well, who's judging, for instance, uh this child's progress in any particular subject? Well, teachers are there to make these calls, make these judgments, and that's what that's what they're there for. And but let's let's look at how a teacher's decision could be modified by somebody else putting an arbitrary there. Maybe that teacher has been given an assessment, a reading assessment that has been supplied to them by a pharmaceutical company or a pharmaceutical company that's posing as a curriculum publisher, right? And the the curriculum material not giving a child enough practice to become proficient is then overlaid with this assessment tool that turns out the result that, like, well, they've got this condition and and it needs to be treated outside of the classroom, or we're gonna insert this treatment into the classroom. Okay, and now we're getting into uh uh medical terminology and drugs and stuff, and this has nothing to do with studying, right? And it has nothing to do with making the child more familiar with whatever it is that they're trying to study. Okay. So there's an arbitrary that's entered in that is a false solution, and there there's uh another specialized definition of arbitrary, which I'm going to read. So two sentences really. The the definition, as given here in one of our books, is an arbitrary is a false order or datum, a datum being a single piece of information. Okay. An arbitrary is a false order or datum entered into a situation or group. It is something entered without reason. End of quote. So it it doesn't follow any reason to label the child with some condition just because of some assessment and say, well, now we now we have to bring in this outside handling for the situation. It's false. It's not true. Anyone can learn anything, and and how familiar they are to start with will determine how fast they're gonna learn it. And yes, of course, there are there are physical limitations and various things that go on. I mean, if somebody's legally blind, they're gonna have more difficulty learning how to read than somebody who's not legally blind. And I have I have great reality on that with watching my brother and his wife raise a child who is legally blind, and yet she is an amazingly intelligent person. She's a great student, and her parents never bought into the idea that she can't learn. Okay. She's an incredible learner, right? She just needs a little bit more assistance with certain things than somebody else does. And that's gonna be true for any individual. Okay. The kid from the farm is gonna have a different uh set of familiarities than the kid who grew up in the city. Okay, and so they're gonna approach different subjects with different recognition and speed of learning and so forth. But these are all individuals, and you just you just approach it on an educational basis and use educational tools, not entering in some pharmaceutical tool, quote unquote, and then we're we're gonna get results and we're gonna get have successes.

Ability, Context, And Individual Paths

SPEAKER_00 6:00

That makes so much sense to me. Uh as you were talking, I was actually thinking, I was one of those students who tested very well in school. And so I had this kind of false sense of my ability and intelligence, just to be frank, coming out of school because I had a good GPA, pretty much, you know, not the top of the class, but but close. And it was all because of testing. I just tested extremely well. But then I got into the real world and I found people who maybe didn't test as well or they didn't have those types of grades, but they were competent in life. And they were able to get things done. And I think it was actually an arbitrary of the grading system that made me think that I was in a position that I wasn't regarding how I was going to be able to handle life. And I kind of had to start over again in a lot of areas. So a place or something that I thought of as you were talking about arbitrary.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Well, you and I were in the same boat. Uh I was I was uh doing terribly in math in in this elementary school that I went to, a Catholic school that I went to. Uh I remember in fifth grade, even like getting into the teacher's grading book and like changing like a D to a B or something, or trying to, or something like that, because I was I was not doing it well. I was already as the fifth grade or something, recognizing that I'm not I'm not making it, right? But then I get into a public school in seventh grade and I test it out, and somehow I'm put into an enriched math class. I'm now in this like advanced, I'm in like the, you know, the the I don't know, you know, but the geek class, the enriched math class. I'm now in an enriched math class. We never did go back and clear up whatever I was confused about in fifth grade or rather fourth grade that I never learned, right? Whatever it was. But I'm like elevated into this enriched, so all of a sudden I'm just wow, yeah, I'm I'm really advanced. And I had some of that same stuff going on, right, all the way through high school. I could memorize things and test out things and and uh which which then justifies just other pursuits. We'll just call it that for now, other pursuits besides, besides actually being there and dedicated to learning and becoming competent, right? Which I learned about much later in life. Right. So yeah, same thing. It's a real it's a real problem. So both probably the person who's arbitrarily assigned some higher value and the person who's arbitrarily assigned some lower status are both in in an improper position with regard to what's actually going on.

Testing, Grades, And Misplaced Confidence

SPEAKER_00 9:08

Exactly. Yeah, and I I've seen that in real life, uh, you know, being an adult and needing to make things work. Speaking of how arbitraries misinform us and then lead to just scenarios that we weren't ready for or that that are different than we expected. I, when we were talking earlier, kind of had an aha moment about the labeling of kids with certain disorders, which you touched on earlier, and how that label can then lead the kid to feel that they are a certain way, which they may or may not be, and cause the parents to then pursue other ideas they would never have considered, like, well, he's been labeled with ADD, ADHD. Therefore, it's a possibility he may need this special type of class or treatment or even drugs or something like that. Can you go over how the concept of arbitraries fits into that system for lack of a better word?

Personal School Stories And Gaps

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Sure. I I see it and hear it all the time. You, like I said, tools have been supplied to schools and teachers and administrators and so forth by the pharmaceutical companies to do to do what? To sell drugs, basically. And it's a false solution, as contained in that definition of an arbitrary. It's a false solution that's entered in by somebody else who's not there trying to teach the child. And so labeling somebody with there's all kinds of fancy ones. We some of the most common ones, yes, attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disabled, blah, blah, blah. I mean, there's even one, there's even one. This is straight out of a medical, a medical book. See if I can remember the exact exact wording of it. Mathematical computation disorder. Right? Mathematical computation disorder. Really, that's a medical term. Right? You can look it up, Google it, right? All right, it's it's it's straight out of an official textbook, a handbook. And that label isn't gonna what the what's the treatment? The treatment is medication. Okay. Well, labeling somebody who hasn't been taught how to do math. I mean, you might as well, you might as well label a six-month-year-old child with like, oh, I don't know. Walking, walking and and just walking with skill, walking and ambling, fancy word, right? Walking and ambling disorder, right? They can't they can't amble, they can't walk, they can't sally, they can't do a lot of things, right? Well, yeah, because they're six months old. They're supposed to be, they're supposed to be, you know, crawling around and learning how to any parent has been through this by the time they get to our educational uh uh you know address, right? It's like you can't just label the child and say, and say, well, they have a walking disorder. They haven't learned how to walk. They have like you're gonna look at them standing up and doing things and holding on to people's knees and couches and things and all the stuff that goes into you know helping them grow up, right? You can't just label them as having this disorder, and that's true for any subject. You go, wow, they're they're terrible. They're much, much more better at math than reading. It's like, well, yeah, okay, it's just having time, or vice versa. It doesn't, that's not helpful. It's it's it that arbitrary, that label of that they're good or bad, or they're fast student, or a good student, or a bad, that they're a fast learner or a slow learner in any individual subject, or as an overall condition, are all just arbitraries to does the person have familiarity and certainty of these steps that lead up to being able to do these things. And if they're having trouble with step C, well, let's look at step B and step A. Okay. Um so that's how I see it.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

No, I have actually experienced how that is true for me by you know just associating with you and learning more about grammar and whatnot, even though I had a background in learning about it. The simplicity with which you went over things like the names of objects and places and all that nouns, right? And I think I think it's true. It's kind of just, and again, my opinion, it's a lazy way out. And it's a way not to really look at that individual child and go, okay, the reason you're having trouble with advanced math is because back in fifth grade, you didn't learn how to add numbers more than two at a time, right? And then that child gets that fixed, and all of a sudden they no longer would have that label. But as soon as you do that label, the the then it's like, oh, well, this person has this disability, and we're no longer going to go back and look at why they can't do the advanced mathematics or understand grammar or whatever it is. So it becomes this way of grouping people and not looking at them individually, finding out what's wrong in the past.

The Trap Of Educational Labels

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Exactly. Exactly. And and just to carry that count that mathematics computation disorder a little further, let's go into like, well, what would the what would the the remedy for this disorder be? Well, of course, it's medication, right? You could probably Google around and find out, well, what's the most common medication for mathematical computation disorder? I've never bothered to because then I'm not I'm not that interested in finding out what the drug pushers are selling, right? Certainly, if it's being addressed as a medical condition or psychiatric condition or whatever, it's like, well, okay, you're gonna medicate the child. That's is that gonna teach them math, though? Are there math are there is that gonna improve their ability to learn math? I think my brother, who is that high school math teacher, would say no. I'm pretty sure you would say no. If you're gonna teach somebody math, teach them math. Okay. Don't just label them and say, well, we're gonna treat them for mathematical competition, or which is just an apathy. You just you're down at the level of like, well, we don't even care anymore about trying to teach them math. It's just, it's like you said, it's just a convenient way out of like, let's not bother to find out what they did learn or didn't learn in third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, eighth grade, et cetera, why they're having trouble over here in tenth grade. It's just, well, we'll just label them, drug them, and then just let them know that, like, well, they have other they have other things that they can pursue besides learning math. Right. Let's get them involved. Let's they're really good in drama class, so let's let's let's validate that. There's nothing wrong with drama class, there's nothing wrong with validating their abilities in these other areas. But it's just, as we started out talking about, it's just an arbitrary and false solution to label the kid and say that they can't learn that area.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Exactly. Exactly. And I even have to bring up, because you know, you and I both have, I guess you could say, an alternative health background. And uh, you know, we're thinking with supplements and nutrition and these type of things to help with behavior and whatnot. And I've even seen in that field an agreement, or at least a there isn't another way of looking at it that we know of these labels. And then, okay, we're gonna give you something that helps boost the brain or something that helps you think more clearly. And again, nothing wrong with supplements. I actually take a ton of supplements. Um, and uh could probably rival anyone else in how many supplements I take. But the point is that that in itself is also not the solution. Not that your child should be eating well, it's just like a given. Maybe they do need to take certain supplements that boost their ability to intake certain B vitamins or whatever that helps with, you know, being alert and all that. But the real underlying cause is not a lack of supplements. It's just like you said, that's why I thought of this. I was like, you can't take more supplements to learn math. It's not like you're gonna take enough supplements, all of a sudden you're gonna understand how to do these advanced mathematics, right? So I kind of think of that as you were saying. And so it's the same thing. You still like, yes, make sure your child's healthy, but get to the root cause. Find out what was missed back when. And I know you've even mentioned sometimes it's not in the subject that you're that they're currently having trouble with. Um, you've mentioned many times the inability to read something could lead to not being able to understand pretty much any subject someone is is trying to learn and become competent in. So I always wanted to mention that. I think that's very applicable, especially to our audience to understand.

“Math Disorder” And Misdiagnosis

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Absolutely. And I love your analogy, you know, the the supplements that are no matter the supplements might be needed and helpful to supplement a diet that's based on food that's available now from modern agriculture in America that could be lacking. Okay, great. Well, good. Source, let's source out better food. Okay, there's a slogan going on now in America, eat real food.

unknown 19:36

Right?

SPEAKER_01 19:36

Mike Tyson just recently signed on with that with that message. Eat real food. Okay, well, what is what is real food? Well, there's a whole educational approach right there, you know, a whole subject to take up. But you know, eat real food, supplement it as needed, keep clarifying your sources and all that sort of thing. But let's not confuse that with does the person know how to read? Okay. And and the the they're struggling, maybe the child is struggling with social studies. Do they know what a sentence is made of? Right? Do they know what a sentence is made of? Have they graduated from sentences to paragraphs to chapter books, et cetera, in some kind of a logical sequence and have mastered the earlier steps? Not just they sort of know about it, right? Can can they take a simple idea and make a simple sentence out of it and then keep adding concepts to make bigger sentences? Do they know how these things are hooked together? Okay, have they been taught these things? If not, don't bother to find out while they're struggling in any other subject. Because they're they're reading about these things in the English using the language, the English language. Okay, so let's let's make them masters of that first, the structure of it. Okay, so that they can then branch out and read books on their own, of their own choosing, about you know, things that they want to pursue, whether that's science or the arts or whatever it is, whatever direction they want to go, let's enable them to pursue that stuff on their own by making them masters of the language. Love it.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Absolutely. So we're gonna wrap it up on that. I think that this could help any and hopefully does help any parents or students listening navigate this world of arbitraries and open this up as a way of looking at what we're trying to help help you with with this podcast and give you some tools to do that just by having a better understanding of the possibilities here. So thank you everyone for listening and stay tuned for our next episode.