Great articles, thanks! I especially liked these quotes...
From Chris Hedges:
"The core values of our open society, the ability to think for oneself, to draw independent conclusions, to express dissent when judgment and common sense indicate something is wrong, to be self-critical, to challenge authority, to understand historical facts, to separate truth from lies, to advocate for change and to acknowledge that there are other views, different ways of being, that are morally and socially acceptable, are dying."
Luckily, Nicholas Kristof provides some hope with his counterpoint. I liked this line:
That's a shame she's getting a poor education. I'd probably be more outraged about the poor state of education in society if I had kids too.
I'm not sure that the choice is necessarily between strict discipline and neglect. I think more encouragement and attention can work wonders. I was given high expectations as a child, but I also loved learning. There's no substitution for that. Increasing class sizes, and the insistence on teaching for proficiency tests, helps suck the joy out of learning, and makes everyone into little automatons who don't learn how to think for themselves.
I would blame the schools, and some parents, and the society at large that doesn't value education.
Comments 3
On a more serious note, here are two related articles you might find interesting.
Reply
Great articles, thanks! I especially liked these quotes...
From Chris Hedges:
"The core values of our open society, the ability to think for oneself, to draw independent conclusions, to express dissent when judgment and common sense indicate something is wrong, to be self-critical, to challenge authority, to understand historical facts, to separate truth from lies, to advocate for change and to acknowledge that there are other views, different ways of being, that are morally and socially acceptable, are dying."
Luckily, Nicholas Kristof provides some hope with his counterpoint. I liked this line:
"President Bush has discredited superficiality."
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
I'm not sure that the choice is necessarily between strict discipline and neglect. I think more encouragement and attention can work wonders. I was given high expectations as a child, but I also loved learning. There's no substitution for that. Increasing class sizes, and the insistence on teaching for proficiency tests, helps suck the joy out of learning, and makes everyone into little automatons who don't learn how to think for themselves.
I would blame the schools, and some parents, and the society at large that doesn't value education.
Reply
Leave a comment