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World isn't over.
May. 21st, 2011 10:50 pm
Yay.
(Other things everybody posted about and I didn't: That wedding thing. I managed to avoid the topic entirely until Ana came up to me and asked if I knew "Queen Elizabeth's grandson" existed and had gotten married.)
On the subject of Ana, she's been having more reading comprehension homework lately, mostly easy peasy stuff. Some of it is so easy she doesn't even read it, she just does the questions, a trick I taught her last year. (Questions first, reading second. Even if you have to do the reading to answer the questions, by reading the questions first you can just skim.)
Now, I've had my questions about the assumptions and moral agenda behind Ana's homework before, but this one takes the cake. It's about this man sometime during the last century who, as a teenager, starts doing deliveries for a bakery. He works hard, is successful and well-liked, and all without finishing school.
Of course, there are a lot of ways to express the fact that in the past, it was less common for people to have high school diplomas (to say nothing of going to college!) For example, you could say just that. Or you could hedge around the subject and just say "after he left school" and make it sound like he left at the same age kids leave today. Or you could, as I would, say that not everybody has always believed it's wise to make every person spend 16+ years in school (largely sitting in a seat being told stuff, no matter what they tell us about new methods, and mostly stuff they don't actually need, no matter what they tell us about being well-rounded and how we'll use these facts later!) just so that they can support themselves. (Support themselves! Not necessarily have a very well-paying job, but support themselves at all!)
But no. The way Ana's text expresses this fact? "In the past, people didn't understand the value of education."
If they had, that loser would never have been successful, kiddos, because nobody would give an ignorant slob the time of day if they knew better like we do now! Stay in school! Ain't nobody letting you drive cakes around town if you don't!
Oh, gosh, now the education police are going to arrest me for my jocular use of the word "ain't". I only said it because I don't sufficiently value education.
(Other things everybody posted about and I didn't: That wedding thing. I managed to avoid the topic entirely until Ana came up to me and asked if I knew "Queen Elizabeth's grandson" existed and had gotten married.)
On the subject of Ana, she's been having more reading comprehension homework lately, mostly easy peasy stuff. Some of it is so easy she doesn't even read it, she just does the questions, a trick I taught her last year. (Questions first, reading second. Even if you have to do the reading to answer the questions, by reading the questions first you can just skim.)
Now, I've had my questions about the assumptions and moral agenda behind Ana's homework before, but this one takes the cake. It's about this man sometime during the last century who, as a teenager, starts doing deliveries for a bakery. He works hard, is successful and well-liked, and all without finishing school.
Of course, there are a lot of ways to express the fact that in the past, it was less common for people to have high school diplomas (to say nothing of going to college!) For example, you could say just that. Or you could hedge around the subject and just say "after he left school" and make it sound like he left at the same age kids leave today. Or you could, as I would, say that not everybody has always believed it's wise to make every person spend 16+ years in school (largely sitting in a seat being told stuff, no matter what they tell us about new methods, and mostly stuff they don't actually need, no matter what they tell us about being well-rounded and how we'll use these facts later!) just so that they can support themselves. (Support themselves! Not necessarily have a very well-paying job, but support themselves at all!)
But no. The way Ana's text expresses this fact? "In the past, people didn't understand the value of education."
If they had, that loser would never have been successful, kiddos, because nobody would give an ignorant slob the time of day if they knew better like we do now! Stay in school! Ain't nobody letting you drive cakes around town if you don't!
Oh, gosh, now the education police are going to arrest me for my jocular use of the word "ain't". I only said it because I don't sufficiently value education.
