Posts by mrhhome

As for the 75% who are unprepared either emotionally or financially to raise a child, I think the ultimate solution is to reduce the income inequality, raise the general prosperity of the nation, and have a stable society and government.

You forgot promoting world peace and eliminating hunger in your list.

The Dutch approach to preventing teenage pregnancy has often been seen as a model by other countries.

Cross cultural comparisons are risky business. There are many demographic and cultural reasons why Texas has a higher teenage pregnancy rate than the Netherlands. You could adopt all of the Dutch policies, and it would likely only have a marginal impact on the teenage pregnancy rate.

So can I deduce from your response that you think abortion should be legal when the mom just doesn't want the baby?

107

How do you feel about Common Core education?

by nonjwspouse in

especially if you are a teacher, how did you learn about it to begin with?

was there a common core rep doing a slick presentation?.

how do those of you with kids on school feel about, among others, things such as the deemphasis on the great works of literature ?.

mrhhome

LisaRose,

I think that the problems are more fundamental. The underlying curriculum has flaws. The implementation is flawed. At what point do you declare it a disaster and scrap it? [A common theme in this administration.]

As for Standardized teaching / testing, I have mixed opinions and my opinions have changed with time.

Pro: I have no issues with holding people to a certain set of standards.
Con: I would like to keep the federal government out of it and leave it to the states. To summarize my views on federalism, I like the fact that I can move to another state if I do not like the politics of the state in which I reside. If the federal government gets involved, there is no escaping it.
Pro: There is nothing wrong teaching to the test if the test covers what you want taught.
Con: Unfortunately, standardized test / teaching is forcing everyone to the same pace. Either you teach to the lowest common denominator or leave X% of your classroom behind in the dust.
Con: At some point, you can only squeeze so much out of your teachers. Let's face it, most of the kids in school have serious problems at home which is impacting their performance at school. Cracking the whip over the teacher's heads isn't going to fix that.
Con: Standardized teaching seems to be limiting the teacher's flexibility.

Misc concerns with where education is going in this country: (Independent of the Common Core Issue)

How much of this push to put everything on the computer a consequence of standardized testing? Aren't studies now determining that kids need to limit their screen time?
What ever happened to "book reports"? I used to write book reports. Now, kids takes "AR" tests on the computer to prove that they read the book. People are beating on the "critical thinking" drum but abandoning a great old fashion tool which forced kids to (a) think about what they read and (b) compose something intelligent.

692

abortion vs holocaust

by unstopableravens in

mrhhome

Folks,

Raven has answered the question. In principle, he does not believe that the mom's life is more important than the baby's life. In practice, he acknowledges that if you cannot save the baby in any circumstances, no reason to take mom down with the baby.

Stop being a moral coward and give a clear answer. - Cofty

Cofty - Here we go again. Are you intentionally trolling, or did you just lose your medication? Do you need therapy for some lingering issues with the JW, or are you just the type of coward who jumps on people when you think the momentum is going in your direction?

I realize unstop would like to nail me down on my stance, to shake me off the fence so to speak, but there's a reason I won't weigh in with an opinion. It's none of my business. - jgnat

jgnat - It is a little unfair to insist that raven give you a clear answer on a marginal case, when you are unwilling to take a position yourself.

Why do you think that it is none of your business? Do you think that society has no interest in (a) when a life begins or (b) when we are justified in ending a life? Isn't that the most basic point of law? To protect life.
Let's follow your first breath standard. What if a baby is born premature and put on a ventilator? Are we justified in killing it? Your standard presents as many problems as the "life begins at concept."

Have any of you who are ganging up on raven answered the question "Do you support abortion in cases that do not involve rape or incest?" You all are arguing over 10-15% percent of the cases and ignoring the other 85-90%.

107

How do you feel about Common Core education?

by nonjwspouse in

especially if you are a teacher, how did you learn about it to begin with?

was there a common core rep doing a slick presentation?.

how do those of you with kids on school feel about, among others, things such as the deemphasis on the great works of literature ?.

mrhhome

BizzyBee,

(The shame of the south and much of the mid-west.)

My kid's rural Alabama elementary school was a 2012 Blue Ribbon Lighthouse school. What about your schools?

107

How do you feel about Common Core education?

by nonjwspouse in

especially if you are a teacher, how did you learn about it to begin with?

was there a common core rep doing a slick presentation?.

how do those of you with kids on school feel about, among others, things such as the deemphasis on the great works of literature ?.

mrhhome

Yes, there is some "conservative" dogma as well. Keep in mind, most of what is pushed as news and commentary is actually entertainment. True for both conservative and liberal view points.

I will elaborate on "blindly accepted tenets" later. I am spending too much on this forum. But this topic got me fired up.

Thank you nonjwspouse for fighting the good fight. You are making good points and standing tall in the face of intense fire. Keep it up.

107

How do you feel about Common Core education?

by nonjwspouse in

especially if you are a teacher, how did you learn about it to begin with?

was there a common core rep doing a slick presentation?.

how do those of you with kids on school feel about, among others, things such as the deemphasis on the great works of literature ?.

mrhhome

LisaRose,

Thank you for asking me to provide some examples. I am doing this from memory. Keep in mind, much of this is multiple choice in 3rd grade. Let’s break this into stuff that is absolutely wrong, stuff that is marginal, and stuff that makes no sense.

To provide some background, my oldest is a naturally gifted child. Testing at an 8+ grade level in math in the beginning of 5th grade. Etc. We really never had to help her in school. My middle child has her own unique gifts but reading is not one of them. She started this year with some problems. Mom and the teacher were not getting it fixed. I stepped in personally and started reviewing all of her classwork and tests.

Absolutely wrong: On a couple of tests per quarter, there are at least one or two vocabulary words that are flat-out wrong. As in the “correct” answer is verifiably wrong with a dictionary. Sometimes, the “incorrect” answers are actually closer to the proper definition. It is so frequent that I stopped bringing it to the teacher’s attention. Nothing she can do about it. Test are graded and recorded by the computer. These are publisher supplied tests based on the core curriculum. It is just plain sloppy.

Marginal: (1) Using words on tests that are above that grade level and have not been introduced to the student. (2) Testing concepts that have not been introduced to the student. [This was more of a problem in the first quarter, given that they have introduced most of the concepts by now.] (3) Many cases where the “correct” answer in a reading comprehension multiple choice test was debatable. (4) On reading comprehension homework, my daughter got a reading passage with the question “What is the main idea?” My wife and I both read the passage and debated the question for 15-30 mins. Our conclusion was that there wasn’t one. I have a graduate degree and my wife is wicked smart. Both of us read a great deal. If that is our conclusion, what do you expect a 3rd grader to do?

Stuff that makes no sense: (1) They are introducing algebra concepts (i.e. the distributive property) to kids in 3rd grade. Why? Because the kids have not mastered their complete multiplication tables, and they need to break the problem into smaller pieces [9x8=(9x2)+(9x2)+(9x2)+(9x2)]. Just to emphasize, they are teaching algebra concepts to kids who have not mastered their multiplication tables. WTF? I asked the obvious question. Instead of spending time teaching algebra, why not spend that time drilling them on their multiplication tables? (2) Several other examples of this in math. The kids get taught a “work around” to introduce a concept that is a few grade levels above them. My question is always the same. By the time you get done teaching them bad habits, you could have taught them how to do it right. Furthermore when they finally get to the grade where the concept is actually taught, the first thing you will need to do is unteach the bad habits.

This is complete nonsense.

692

abortion vs holocaust

by unstopableravens in

mrhhome

Hold on a second. I want to make sure that I understand the dividing lines.

Does everyone agree that the two questions which need to be answered are (1) "When does life begin?" and (2) "Under what circumstances are we justified in ending a life?"

107

How do you feel about Common Core education?

by nonjwspouse in

especially if you are a teacher, how did you learn about it to begin with?

was there a common core rep doing a slick presentation?.

how do those of you with kids on school feel about, among others, things such as the deemphasis on the great works of literature ?.

mrhhome

I'm out of time. I will return to the topic of "Critical Thinking" later.

Suffice it to say, I never said that you could not teach someone to think. I simply said that it is very difficult. It requires time and a great deal of individual attention. Given the constraints in the public classroom, it becomes even more difficult.

I love it when a teacher tells me that they were "taught" about "thinking." Did they actually "think" about "thinking", or did they simply adopted a definition defined by someone else and turn the crank on a process taught to them.

Maybe someday when you have to (a) solve problems that require real abstract thought with (b) people other than K-12 student that (c) come different cultures, backgrounds, behavior styles, communication styles, and very developed but unique gifts; you will begin spending more time "thinking" about "thinking."

I also have had to mentor people and develop their "problem solving" ability.

Got to go.