Dat whatchoo git. A lesson on the Blue Man school.

[Ninjahedge]

PG, I am not even going to read that. You know what you did and you are all up in arms because of people calling you on it.

"I meant what I said and I said what I meant" does not matter when what you said was read differently by quite a few people.

Communication does not mean writing what YOU think means something, but conveying what you think to others.

In that case: Fail.


Or:

 

[PokerGuy]

PG, I am not even going to read that.

Good, because apparently you can't read very well anyway

You know what you did

Oh, do tell.... what exactly did I do? I haven't edited anything, my post is there, crystal clear for anyone to see. Please point out what I "did".

"I meant what I said and I said what I meant" does not matter when what you said was read differently by quite a few people.

So, my post which is crystal clear is misinterpreted by idiots to mean something else because of some preconceived notion of what I must have meant... and that's my fault? LOL. Brilliant.

You keep taking the fail to new levels.

 

[Ninjahedge]

Yep. Got as far as "good".

I see you agree.

 

[Moonbeam]

Let me guess. You've never seen the Blue Man Group and didn't get the joke so instead you jumped on something in my statement that wasn't even there and went into Moon-babble mode?

Amirite?

I assumed you meant the fact they throw paint off their drums as they beat them, no? You said, "Even if those kids can't read you'd have to think that they learn to paint really well at that school." So I think I got your joke and said what I said because when you say 'even if those kids can read' has implications. To say 'even if they can't' implies you recognize that there is a standard out there that thinks they should be able to read, and the whole post was about a school that is regrettably not successfully teaching and ridiculing that as fact. So all I did was provide you with things you might consider counter to that position. If you want to call it Moon-babble possibly because you're not very mature, that's up to you. I say nothing, myself, that doesn't have meaning to me. Whether you can get anything out of it could be due to any number of factors, from babble, as you say, to your own meager comprehension.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

I assumed you meant the fact they throw paint off their drums as they beat them, no? You said, "Even if those kids can't read you'd have to think that they learn to paint really well at that school." So I think I got your joke and said what I said because when you say 'even if those kids can read' has implications. To say 'even if they can't' implies you recognize that there is a standard out there that thinks they should be able to read, and the whole post was about a school that is regrettably not successfully teaching and ridiculing that as fact. So all I did was provide you with things you might consider counter to that position. If you want to call it Moon-babble possibly because you're not very mature, that's up to you. I say nothing, myself, that doesn't have meaning to me. Whether you can get anything out of it could be due to any number of factors, from babble, as you say, to your own meager comprehension.

Not every statement in here is pointed commentary aimed at countering your utopian worldview.

It was just a joke.

Lighten up, Francis.

 

[ShawnD1]

This is based on the false idea that teaching hard skills turns kids in robots, which couldn't be further from the truth. The best way to teach people how to think it to teach them the basics: science, math, grammar, etc.

Dis is da truf.
Being uneducated is the first step to being a robot or a serf. When you can't trust your own conclusions, the only thing left to do is take orders from someone else.
I'm glad I understand math and Microsoft Excel well enough to graph anything. After building every mortgage graph I could think of, I know more about mortgages than my realtor does.

 

[BoberFett]

Aren't those the guys that don't talk? I guess we shouldn't be surprised that they weren't teaching kids to read.

 

[Ninjahedge]

Reading is fundamental.

But you know that BMG is appropriate for just about every adolescent male out there..........

 

[boomerang]

What is the purpose and meaning of life. You must think it has something to do with being able to read. A huge portion of the chimpanzee entrusted in your keeping has nothing at all to do with reading. There is a real and huge issue with the fact that education is irrelevant to children, that the form it comes in stifles our natural desire for knowledge, that it just creates little empty and sad robotic tools. A great number of people who know this are in search of alternatives that nurture something deeper in children. Because we live in an age of enormous ignorance as to our real psychological natures, we have a long way to go, and much experimentation to find better ways. You can ridicule this experiment and it may fail, but that won't change the fact that traditional education is also failing.

Other than the part I bolded, that's close to the biggest steaming pile of horseshit I've read here. Congrats?

 

[Moonbeam]

Not every statement in here is pointed commentary aimed at countering your utopian worldview.

It was just a joke.

Lighten up, Francis.

OK, but next time be nicer and don't say Moon babble because it hurts my feelings. Next time say something like, Dear Moonie, I was only making a joke about the paint and in no way intended to imply anything negative regarding the issue of reading or anything else negative about this crazy mother fucking school.

 

[Ninjahedge]

leave mother out of this.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

I wonder how many of the people here even know what a real progressive school is like.

I do, as my kids have gone to one for ten years.

 

[Doppel]

My kid goes here and it's actually a damn good school. He's currently in the equivalent of their grade 3 and just learned how to count to 5. Sure, he can't read, write, has no idea what a planet is, but the self-scheduled curriculum has really allowed him to become a veritable encyclopedia of knowledge for phineas and ferb, plus he's damn good at video games for his age.

 

[DrPizza]

I believe this would be more accurate:

"This is what you get when people who don't understand education try to meddle in education"

Its not like the conservative NCLB was an educational wet dream

I saw a sign recently, and it's a nice twist on an old saying - and relatively accurate twist: Those who can, teach. Those who can't, make laws about teaching.

 

[boomerang]

I wonder how many of the people here even know what a real progressive school is like.

I do, as my kids have gone to one for ten years.

Great. The world is in dire need of more community organizers.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

Great. The world is in dire need of more community organizers.

Does it make you feel better to toss cheap shots like that around? Make fun of other people's kids?

My oldest son went to this school for many years, through what would normally be middle school (grade 8), though there are no formal grades. There are also no exams. The teaching is cooperative and interdisciplinary, and spans both conventional and unconventional subjects.

He finished #4 out of about 300 graduates in his senior high school class, and was accepted to a top ten school to study computer science and engineering. He's currently on an internship for a tech company, the only upcoming sophomore they have apparently ever hired.

But if he wanted to be a community organizer, I'd still be just as proud of him, as long as he was happy.

 

[Moonbeam]

Does it make you feel better to toss cheap shots like that around? Make fun of other people's kids?

My oldest son went to this school for many years, through what would normally be middle school (grade 8), though there are no formal grades. There are also no exams. The teaching is cooperative and interdisciplinary, and spans both conventional and unconventional subjects.

He finished #4 out of about 300 graduates in his senior high school class, and was accepted to a top ten school to study computer science and engineering. He's currently on an internship for a tech company, the only upcoming sophomore they have apparently ever hired.

But if he wanted to be a community organizer, I'd still be just as proud of him, as long as he was happy.

This is typical of liberal vs conservative, success is status or success is personal happiness. Perhaps in you have no inner life status is all that matters.

 

[waggy]

This is based on the false idea that teaching hard skills turns kids in robots, which couldn't be further from the truth. The best way to teach people how to think it to teach them the basics: science, math, grammar, etc. We live in a complex world (relative to what our monkey brains evolved for) and you need to be able to structure your thinking to deal with it.

Of course when teaching these subjects there should be a lot of emphasis on the "why" and not just rote-learning.

exactly. The school my kids go to do this. they over the the basics. they had to memorize the multiplication table (btw did you know you don't have to in many schools?), spelling test weekly, and homework. They learn the fomulas on how do it. But they also learn the "WHY" and how.

my daughter just finished 4th grade. on her state testing she is 97% in everything. but its not just her. her classmates are very high also (well except for the ones that don't speak english..).

my son just finishe Kindergarden. He reads books aimed at 1-2nd grade kids.

again its not just my son but his class.

though it helps having 8 in his class and 14 in my daughters.

 

[DrPizza]

exactly. The school my kids go to do this. they over the the basics. they had to memorize the multiplication table (btw did you know you don't have to in many schools?), spelling test weekly, and homework. They learn the fomulas on how do it. But they also learn the "WHY" and how.

my daughter just finished 4th grade. on her state testing she is 97% in everything. but its not just her. her classmates are very high also (well except for the ones that don't speak english..).

my son just finishe Kindergarden. He reads books aimed at 1-2nd grade kids.

again its not just my son but his class.

though it helps having 8 in his class and 14 in my daughters.

I think that without exception, the kids who struggle in upper level math classes (who I have to help) are the ones who don't know their times tables. It's the strongest indicator that a student will do very poorly in algebra, geometry, or beyond. Though, there generally isn't a beyond in mathematics for any of the students who don't know their times tables.

 

[jhbball]

Great. The world is in dire need of more community organizers.

post your job title, so we can all laugh. lololol.

 

[Ninjahedge]

My kid goes here and it's actually a damn good school. He's currently in the equivalent of their grade 3 and just learned how to count to 5. Sure, he can't read, write, has no idea what a planet is, but the self-scheduled curriculum has really allowed him to become a veritable encyclopedia of knowledge for phineas and ferb, plus he's damn good at video games for his age.

Well, that was incredibly stupid, as my kid is 3 years old, has not GONE to school, and can count to 10.

I guess your kid is "special" or are you just trying to be sarcastic?

 

[hal2kilo]

This is based on the false idea that teaching hard skills turns kids in robots, which couldn't be further from the truth. The best way to teach people how to think it to teach them the basics: science, math, grammar, etc. We live in a complex world (relative to what our monkey brains evolved for) and you need to be able to structure your thinking to deal with it.

Of course when teaching these subjects there should be a lot of emphasis on the "why" and not just rote-learning.

How does one ever learn their multiplication tables without that horrible rote learning?

 

[Ninjahedge]

Multiplication tables:

The easiest thing to do is practice with the kid. I found that doing things like calculating mileage for my car or tips in my head are the easiest way to APPLY base mathematics.

It is amazing what you forget when you start to rely on calculators.

 

[PokerGuy]

I guess your kid is "special" or are you just trying to be sarcastic?

You need to check your sarcasm meter Eagle Keeper messed mine up today, now I've been scouring the hot deals section for a new one.

 

[waggy]

How does one ever learn their multiplication tables without that horrible rote learning?

i agree. but it blows my mind when i found out that many schools don't make kids learn it.