Rock and a Hard Place
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Rock and a Hard Place
| Thu, 11-20-2003 - 10:45am |
There's something on this board that has been bothering me, and I hope I can articulate it.
| Thu, 11-20-2003 - 10:45am |
There's something on this board that has been bothering me, and I hope I can articulate it.
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WRT "Well we don't want to have kids assigned to classes in such a way that some classes can be identified as more highly achieveing than others. How would YOU feel, Mrs Opinion, if your child was always in the slow class?"
How Would *I* feel? Well, I may not feel great, but I would sure *want to* know. You're right. It's outrageous.
IMO, a class by class comparison or comparison within the class is more helpful than a national/state comparisons because in the first case, they are somewhat controlling for factors such as SES. So what if I see that my child is doing better than the average kid in a school in the inner city with less resources? It tells me a lot more to see her in light of how the others are doing in the same school.
I heard about this book recently called, I think, "No more excuses." The author was on the radio and she said something that I thought was interesting. Her opinion is that the reason that kids from some "cultures" do better, on average, than kids from other "cultures" is that there are differences in various "cultures" WRT the belief that hard work will result in getting good grades. Of course, there are differences in ability, but I think one gets closer to achieving the maximum amount within that God-given ability if one has the attitude that trying harder may get you farther than you thought based on your past "ability."
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I don't see how any of those things are to be persued enjoyably with a colicky infant and no matter, there is only so much of any of them that I can do without having them start to feel like busy work. I did a whole heck of alot of alot of stuff when I was single and familyless that I don't do now. And I don't miss it either. Because it WAS busy work designed to fill in the volumes of time I had available. Doing the gardneing today because I know I won't have time to do it tommorrow or tomorrow after that or anytime before it actually needs to gets done, is so much more enjoyable than gardening today because I have nothing else to do.
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Daily? I think not.
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At 4 I didn't think of them as busy work either. I don't now, when I can partake as an adult at an adults level. However, with a baby and toddler in tow these things most certainly were busy work. Not for the children. For me. Fun. But not brain stimulating or challenging. In fact I still visit museums with the children for their benefit only, and they are 7 and 9. I like to read all the information, think about what I'm observing. Interpret and learn at an adult level. My kids do the same - but at their level. I can take days to get through what they are done with in a couple hours. I have to accept that fun is about it for me. If I wanted to go for mentally challenging or stimulating, I'd need to turn my brain off.
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