Here’s your Tuesday morning recommended reading list from the Yak:
1. Murphy’s Lesser Known Laws at This, That and Frog Hair2.
2. The Anchoress‘ post on “teaching to the test” gets the nod for best substantive piece of the day. Probably because my current level of frustration with the allegedly educational system is at “High.”
3. Best title: “I keep the inflatable easter bunny behind the portrait of Dorian Gray.” With a title that good, you know it came from The Dimmer Switch.
4. The New Blog Carnival makes its triumphant return, now sponsored by our friends at Pet’s Garden Blog. Sign me up, Pet, I’m in for the duration.
5. Third World County has an offering featuring one of my favorite (living) authors and his take on Global Warming. I may not share all his views and opinions, but there’s no denying Orson Scott Card can use the language.
Yeh, Card can write. all right. I can appreciate the fact that he’s more of a classic (well, neo-classic old-style Democrat) liberal who seems to be open to real debate and thought, as opposed to merely feelings on issues. Some points he makes from time to time I, too, disagree with.
I might have commented at The Anchoress, but I rarely register for sites that require it, simply because I just won’t take that extra step every time one of ‘em crops up. My only quibble (and it is a reservation I have reservations about myself :-)) is her stress on learning “facts”. So many “facts” (like, say, Einsteinian SRT) are problematic and open to reconsideration, IMO… of course, having some fundamental facts, framework for argument, etc., can make reconsideration of things we “know” both easier to do and safer. As one of my fav “wise guys” has said,
???Live long enough and your head will be cluttered with things you thought through once and need rethinking.?????Jerry Pournelle
The real problem with our current “prisons for kids” is not the absence of rote learning or the attempt to teach “critical thinking” in an atmosphere void of any factual basis but in squealching the joy of learning, which requires learning that learning isn’t always easy and in fact, it is quite often a difficult process indeed, but that the rewards are legion and last for a lifetime.
Making learning a game and playing pat the4 lil dummies on the head games when they start whining about how hard things are is the greatest disservice our “prisons for kids” are doing our society.
Of course, there are other areas, such as setting college as the putative goal for all the inmates, when clearly many (half, perhaps?) are better suited (and would have more productive and satisfying lives) to a trade school type of track.
But then, of course, “open borders” and “free trade” (with countries like China that still practice slave labor, no matter what name they call it by) and our tax system pretty much put paid to jobs for that many trades trained people… And so we breed (well, actually, ) an underclass that cannot have productive, satisfying lives, an overclass (that is generally from a privileged background that has forgotten the obligations of privilege) and a muddled, mentally crippled middle class of sheeple.
And all of this is done with the best of intentions. Isn’t it? I mean, surely there is no conspiracy…
But it is a tempting thought, isn’t it?
Comment by David — March 27, 2007 @ 1:29 pm
You know, it’s rare to get a substantive, high-quality rant in the comment section. More rare to get one I totally agree with.
Both of which tell me I need to do reading lists more often. Heh.
For the record, I haven’t registered at the Anchoress either – like you, I rarely comment at the ones that require registration, but in my case it’s because I can’t ever remember the passwords. Hypocrisy thy name is Yak. In fairness I must admit I’m actually registered at half a dozen requiring registration, all of which are daily reads, so I figure it’s not true hypocrisy – it’s more “limiting the conversation to those who really mean it.” (And a rose by any other name smells like cat food, right?)
As far as education goes, I’m taking to referring to it as the “alleged public education system” from now on. Allegedly public (but try to get into a classroom to see your kid at work), allegedly educational (like twinkies are allegedly nutritious) and allegedly a system (though my recollection of basic physical science suggests systems actually have a determinable function). How I deal with it from now on, only time will tell.
Comment by Random Yak — March 27, 2007 @ 1:49 pm
Ya know, I am absolutely positive (and likely falsely positive :-)) tha I typed, “And so we breed (well, actually, manufacture) an underclass… ”
*sigh* Poor memory or poor typing or both exacerbated by fading batteries in my wireless keyboard? I’ll plead, “Yes”.
;-)
Comment by David — March 27, 2007 @ 3:50 pm