tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post4037840681328604208..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: The Gold CoinAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-84157573616972462732021-07-10T19:55:49.756-04:002021-07-10T19:55:49.756-04:00I'm late to this comment section, but I would ...I'm late to this comment section, but I would note that the generation after mine and AVI's also had this problem with penmanship being overstressed, perhaps a moral thing... not sure about that. <br /><br />My son had "perfect" penmanship in 1st grade. The few papers I have of his could be textbook examples. Then he had a closed head injury, followed by months of hospitalization and rehab. His intellect was least effected, his motor skills most. Thus, when given math problems to copy and solve, his answers were correct and his penmanship not 'proper' at all. They were obviously legible, but squiggly and not lined up quite evenly. <br /><br />He was given 0% on the entire assignment because of the penmanship. That was my first confrontation with schools, IEPs, and grades. It was not the last... nor was it the worst. <br /><br />My son retained his 1st grade penmanship learning from the nuns in his parochial school and that translated into legibility even with a severe intention tremor. Thus, minus the "morality" that showed up later in public schools, handwriting practice served him well. <br /><br />I had a similar argument with a different public school 7 years later when his baby sister got an F on a writing assignment. Again, legible, but oh so not perfect penmanship. Though I got that grade reversed, I'd mellowed by then. She doesn't have any physical problems that prevent good penmanship... she's just in a hurry. She is quite capable of producing excellent penmanship. <br /><br />So, I agree with Cranberry that handwriting practice is an important part of education and I agree with you that it shouldn't be a "moral" imperative.<br /><br />Donna B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16771075314473811594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-88228625785807153302021-07-09T14:40:31.017-04:002021-07-09T14:40:31.017-04:00@ Cranberry - i would disagree about the penmanshi...@ Cranberry - i would disagree about the penmanship. It was treated as nearly a moral quality in my school days and I, with very poor coordination, missed many recesses having to do and redo extra penmanship work. It was assumed that if I just "cared" more about it I would be fine. But I did care, and I envied the students who could so easily make things look beautiful, including in crafts, art, and all the drawing and coloring we had to do. I see no benefit to any of it in retrospect. It was a skill they were good at, and so overvalued it. My sons inherited from both my wife and I on these skills, but even at only half my clumsiness had much extra work. We got them on keyboards as soon as we could.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-88630726500945758742021-07-09T09:59:28.701-04:002021-07-09T09:59:28.701-04:00As for beauty, I think it can be a poisoned coin f...As for beauty, I think it can be a poisoned coin for women. People treat a beautiful woman differently. Men are fools, and women can regard beautiful women as rivals. <br /><br />I have witnessed many beautiful women have enormous trouble adapting to the aging process. As we are living longer, you have to deal with faded beauty for most of your life.<br /><br />A hypothetical: You meet your son's girlfriends. One is beautiful, but selfish and vain. The next is not beautiful, but kind and witty. <br /><br />Which would you prefer your son choose to join the family?Cranberryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14192766384424717627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-7283601666517125732021-07-09T09:53:05.017-04:002021-07-09T09:53:05.017-04:00I notice that many of the things teachers deem &qu...I notice that many of the things teachers deem "old-fashioned" are extremely useful for students--essential, even. This includes:<br /><br />arithmetic drills (by hand)<br />handwriting practice (both print and cursive)<br />competent teaching of phonics<br />memorization of facts--such as how to find France on a map<br /><br />It is not a coincidence, in my opinion, that all of this may be very boring for the teacher to teach, year after year.Cranberryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14192766384424717627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-83023753158328115522021-07-09T00:56:28.946-04:002021-07-09T00:56:28.946-04:00Our youngest offspring was fortunate to have a Gra...Our youngest offspring was fortunate to have a Grade 4 teacher who pushed everyone to do his/her best. One of his techniques was to begin each day with an arithmetic drill sheet. Forget the calculator, the students had to mentally add up as many columns of three or four numbers that they could. His rationale was that - apart being good for the brain (now being recognized after being disparaged for many years) - each student could see his/her progress in being able to successfully add more columns in the given time frame. The poorer students would never catch up to the bright ones, but they still saw themselves gaining in speed and mastery of this task. He was one wise teacher.Franceshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16277713882450290045noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-50246073614658751452021-07-08T13:02:53.757-04:002021-07-08T13:02:53.757-04:00@ Cranberry - yes, my younger brother was tracked ...@ Cranberry - yes, my younger brother was tracked in 7-15 (out of 17), largely because he was a November boy with poor attention and poor fine-motor skills. Two of his four teachers wanted him to be moved up to the top tier for 8th grade, two did not. He got moved up to 8-11. He went on to teach technical theater at colleges. A different style of schooling would have been advantageous for him.<br /><br />BTW, phonics and math drill not only work better in general, they especially work well for poorer students, especially minorities. But teachers have been told that this is not so and it is bad in many ways to use those methods, so they screw their students over. It's been three generations of this now. A large part of American success is people figuring out that they need something other than school. The conscientious girls who adopted the values of the educational system and did well are deeply resentful when they move into environments that don't prize that as deeply. The schools screwed them, too, just with a delayed action.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-6509560412777257482021-07-08T11:50:25.874-04:002021-07-08T11:50:25.874-04:00There is a difference, though, between intelligenc...There is a difference, though, between intelligence and others' perception of intelligence. I think teachers' perception of low intelligence can be especially damaging. It can cause resentment that lasts generations. I'm fairly certain relatives by marriage chose to homeschool their children because they themselves had bad memories of their time in school.Cranberryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14192766384424717627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-83334544391990768052021-07-08T07:19:45.939-04:002021-07-08T07:19:45.939-04:00Donna B: Gold is malleable. Silver is less so, but...<b>Donna B</b>: <i>Gold is malleable. Silver is less so, but tarnishes. Resist the hammer and polish the silver? </i><br /><br />The rhyme is already there: <br /><br />Gold is malleable. Silver tarnishes. Resist the hammer! Silver polishes!Zachrielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16081260898264733380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-50038998234394832342021-07-07T19:51:36.785-04:002021-07-07T19:51:36.785-04:00Don't forget Electrum. One of my favorite all...Don't forget Electrum. One of my favorite alloys.<br /><br />Cousin EddieNarrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14043247682000851606noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-15806462079326564642021-07-07T19:47:20.908-04:002021-07-07T19:47:20.908-04:00I noticed many years ago that a lot of people I kn...I noticed many years ago that a lot of people I knew didn't seem to have a problem with stealing. Then I realized that there doesn't seem to be anybody teaching that stealing is wrong.stevohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12393254273631852865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-74827972191803471742021-07-07T17:48:17.070-04:002021-07-07T17:48:17.070-04:00I don't think he would use "malleable&quo...I don't think he would use "malleable" unless he could rhyme it with something. Something completely unrelated, probably.<br /><br />Cole Porter could probably find six rhymes for it, all of them clever and based on splitting things up.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-61167226395451669162021-07-07T14:33:38.886-04:002021-07-07T14:33:38.886-04:00I just realized that my earlier comment could be e...I just realized that my earlier comment could be easily made into a Neil Young lyric... and I'm mortified! Please forgive me.Donna B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16771075314473811594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-56268159413491547172021-07-07T14:28:52.336-04:002021-07-07T14:28:52.336-04:00If God was a better American, he would care more a...If God was a better American, he would care more about equality, goshdarnit. I am reminded of John Henry Newman's attempts to get his fellow Anglicans to understand that being a good Christian was not exactly the same thing as being a good Brit. We are always trying to make ourselves the measure of all things.G. Poulinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18293368745484671254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-7224032319885460272021-07-06T22:49:44.130-04:002021-07-06T22:49:44.130-04:00Gold is malleable. Silver is less so, but tarnishe...Gold is malleable. Silver is less so, but tarnishes. Resist the hammer and polish the silver? <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Donna B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16771075314473811594noreply@blogger.com