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Text of the page (random words):
grandmother was never fond of conversations regarding politics or religion in current culture this concept has expanded to never risk offending anyone or saying the wrong thing to the wrong person under any circumstances however we need to argue debate and question as the scientific philosopher karl popper once stated if we ignore what other people are thinking or have thought in the past then rational discussion must come to an end on a personal note my son is in danger all of our children are in danger this danger is not from any source that the news will tell you about it s not h1n1 it s not terrorism it s not even shark attacks i think the great danger facing today s youth is that a growing portion of our population are threatening our children s natural desire to ask why questioning is one of the most natural and instinctual behaviors we have ask anyone with a preschooler how many times they have been asked why in the past week susan jacoby from the washington post stated in her article the dumbing of america americans are in serious intellectual trouble in danger of losing our hard won cultural capital to a dangerous mixture of anti intellectualism anti rationalism and low expectations it is almost impossible to talk about the manner in which public ignorance contributes to grave national problems without being labeled an elitist one of the most powerful pejoratives that can be applied to anyone aspiring to high office instead our politicians repeatedly assure americans that they are just folks a patronizing term that you will search for in vain in important presidential speeches before 1980 there is no quick cure for this epidemic of arrogant anti rationalism and anti intellectualism moreover the people who exemplify the problem are usually oblivious to it it is past time for a serious national discussion about whether as a nation we truly value intellect and rationality this quote struck me as i googled news relating to anti intellectualism although i have had this conversation with so many of my friends in my little circle of nerd dom but this quote brings up a great point and that is why is this not a serious national discussion many of you know my chosen profession is education as an educator i try to maintain the utmost respect for the many religions and political beliefs held by my students however i do not hesitate to encourage my students to ask why when discussing current events literature science and all subjects the most important skill someone can possess is critical thinking my students were not afraid to tell me why they agreed or disagreed with the little prince s opinion of adults or whether or not they believe huckleberry finn should have tried harder to stay civilized at the end of the book while critical thinking and questioning is openly encouraged in some educational institutions many of you have likely heard by now that the state of texas has proposed changes to the state wide assigned history curriculum to stress the superiority of american capitalism de emphasize thomas jefferson s contributions due to his deist beliefs question the founding fathers commitment to a purely secular government and present conservative political philosophies in a more positive light i find this to be both horrifying and disheartening when our country needs a new generation of leaders diplomats and citizens trained in the art of debate argumentation and critical engagement have we ever so desperately needed education reform that encourages questioning communication skills and varied historical perspectives within its curriculum unfortunately critical thinking is on the decline not only are memorization scripted lesson plans and recited student answers becoming more common with the expansion of no child left behind and standardized testing but critical thinking questioning and asking why is even discouraged news media now commonly portrays those with high levels of education particularly ivy league graduates who enter politics and use large words as elitist this drive toward the appeal of the common man the every day joe the plumber is frightening on many levels why would we not want our brightest and most intelligent educated individuals to be the ones making important political decisions are large words the only intimidating aspect of the intellectual politician i certainly would not want someone without the appropriate education to perform surgery on me why would i want someone without experience education and a firm grasp of the english language to speak on my behalf as a political representative how can intelligence be considered a political liability pop culture does little to help the case of the intellectual watching paris hilton and the jersey shore people shop tan and swim all day not pursing a moment of intellectual stimulation is making my job harder while it has never been traditionally popular to place first in the science fair or to own the newest calculator or to love books glamorizing a lack of education is commonly advertised to adolescents so many young adults are ill prepared for adulthood and living an extended adolescence of tuning out not pursuing careers and partying well into their thirties if not that path so many adults find themselves on auto pilot working in a cubical from eight to five going home each night to the same routine watching the game and drinking a beer on sunday night then push repeat yes we may spend more and waste more than anyone before us but is this really the best use of our time on this planet where is the intellectual engagement meaningful discussions or personal reflection anti intellectualism isn t anything new looking at societies throughout history it is certainly advantageous for those in power to have an under educated particularly zealous group of followers what can provide more trust money and support than people who refuse to ask questions of their leaders only now as tea partiers are dressing as founding fathers they cannot name and reenacting historical events they cannot explain it is becoming more apparent how far the scale is tipping not in our favor this isn t totally depressing because although the problem may be serious and the sources may be beyond our control we can and should do something about it as a child my family was an anomaly among many of my friends as opposed to enforcing a set religious dogma on me from birth and expecting me to follow it unquestioningly i was encouraged to choose my faith and my beliefs based on critical thinking and questioning as soon as i thought i had everything figured out my mom would ask well why do you think that and then i would have to think everything through once again from that starting point i became free to question think differently from my parents and engage in open conversation and debate about issues of the environment politics and my own opinions that changed often through my teen and young adult years this was certainly not the easiest route my parents could have chosen for our family because let s face it it would have been so much easier to have teenagers who didn t ask for an explanation of my curfew time or how grounding me was a violation of my rights however what would be more pleasing for a small conservative religious community than unquestioning quiet well behaved young women and men some of you already know that josh my husband and i have known each other since we were kids and a great example of what i m referring to here is when josh and i were debate partners and we were in the same high school sociology class on several occasions our teacher told the class things that were so obviously false like people were homeless because they chose to be and women s rights in china and the mideast were much better than they were in the u s josh and i decided that the least we could do is bring printed articles of evidence to share with the class to disprove our teacher as you might have guessed we were kicked out of that class that same year while we were punished for challenging an all knowing teacher it was entirely acceptable for the conservative christian students in our high school to be allowed to bring their bibles to science class in a silent protest of the teaching evolution so many other communities are of a similar mindset that children should remain unquestioning and obedient why do we want our children living like this yes asking questions about science about societal norms about faith may bring undesirable results for those around you but can also bring a depth of understanding a journey of discovery and such greater strength in what you do believe is that not what we are all striving for even before today i am sure most all of you recognized that anti intellectualism is a major problem we looked more closely at the causes of this problem and then discussed possible solutions that can get us back on track in closing i would challenge us all to look at opportunities in our own lives to challenge question and encourage others to do the same through my own journey i cannot imagine a better fit for myself and for my family than a unitarian universalist church there is not a better community of people who will encourage my son to ask why consider multiple perspectives and think critically about the world around him i hope to resist rolling my eyes at the twentieth why of the day and i will continue to encourage ben to question everything around him even if it means he gets kicked out of high school sociology someday posted by lara at 2 34 pm 2 comments friday may 14 2010 book learnin i can t even describe how busy we ve been over the past month ben has moved beyond the complacent play independently and sleep early stage into the needing attention every waking hour or else i have a meltdown stage he is absolutely loving first word books so far he recognizes and says ball dog tree kitty and onion i think onion is the funniest we don t even eat onions all that much but i think he likes the way the word sounds when he says it it s more like nun nun and it always cracks me up posted by lara at 7 38 pm 2 comments labels video monday april 26 2010 walking we all knew it would happen eventually ben is walking i m about ready to put his helmet back on until he masters a little more control kidding i m sure in another couple of weeks it will be all i have to keep up with him along with walking toddler behavior has also started appearing on occasion we have had more than one instance of lying down feet pounding wails in reaction to a frustrating situation or not getting something he wanted and so it begins posted by lara at 1 42 pm 2 comments labels firsts video saturday april 24 2010 three weeks later wow how this spring is getting away from me i can t believe it s been three weeks since my last post ben has been non stop motion that entire time he now has a couple of new molars which caused some sleep issues lately i had a sinus infection and have been out of commission with severe spring allergies and josh has been traveling all over the state in an effort to push for smoke free legislation with his american cancer society position between all of that i feel as if i haven t sat down in weeks we ve been watering our seeds but have not seen much activity yet we may have been better off buying grow lights hopefully we will have a greenhouse next spring and not monopolize the dining room table sliding glass door as our makeshift seed starting center i am into the last five weeks of the school year and can t believe it s almost over this has been the most incredible school year yet and i have learned so much this year too today one of my students placed fifth in the regional math contest and 11 of my 13 students placed in the regional writing contest next week is the state wide math competition although i m not very competitive and our school is not very competition focused our students consistently rank high among area schools with the contest experience from this year i can t wait to see how we do next year posted by lara at 1 41 pm no comments labels video saturday april 3 2010 hello another video blog day i ve had a terrible time with allergies which has now progressed into a sinus infection i have had little energy left for creativity projects or much else ben on the other hand is all energy all the time when not playing piano he picks up nearby objects and pretends to be on the phone occasionally he s actually using a play phone posted by lara at 7 30 pm 1 comment labels toys and games video thursday april 1 2010 playing piano all of the children in my family and both josh and his sister took piano lessons as children we all five took lessons from the same woman in fact for my college graduation gift my grandfather gave me a piano that he carefully cleaned re felted and tuned after purchasing it from an sbu auction piano playing is one of ben s favorite pastimes it will be before i know it when he is old enough to start lessons i think we will choose a different instructor though posted by lara at 6 35 pm no comments labels toys and games video saturday march 27 2010 first quilt for the past several days josh has been in texas with work and my computer stopped working so i had some time on my hands i began and finished my first quilt my inspiration was the pro mom blogger soulemama s log cabin quilt she made for her daughter her take on log cabin quilting little measuring and any width of rectangles sewn together to make squares seemed to fit my ability level the quilt top went smoothly but quilting the quilt was far more difficult than i expected i made the quilt from one of my great grandmother s pillowcases one of josh s dress shirts my old pajama shirt and some of ben s old pajamas mixed in with fabric remnants i already owned some of the fabric stretched more than others and there are several mess up places across the top because of not accounting for the different materials next time i m sticking to cotton and no stretch and i think it will work out much better the batting is soft and natural 100 cotton and the underside is super cuddle white fuzzy fabric this made for the perfect heavier weight throw i made 12 squares 18 inches across each making a 54 x 72 blanket i will try to post some close ups soon josh is now home from texas i m sneaking a minute on his computer before he gets up ben is feeling better but is still coughing a little and snotty his grammy keeps promising me that with better weather he should feel better soon i certainly hope so posted by lara at 8 57 am 1 comment labels crafty older posts home subscribe to posts atom published writing and other sites i ve created mrs garrett s class blog my nursling s surgery in la leche league s new beginnings teaching resource articles search this blog subscribe now feed icon subscribe in a reader blog archive 2010 32 july 1 anti intellectualism and public views of education may 1 april 4 march 15 february 4 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