Posted on 08/21/2002 3:49:42 PM PDT by NattieShea
in college I got my favorite A(last) in literature---my first in History(a few b's/rest c's)!
Keep up the great work and all the little things too!
You are a joy and a treasure!
Your parents deserve a big congratulations too!
. . . as indeed I well recall; I need no link to it aside from my own bookmark! Indeed I class it under the heading of Philipians 4:8 . . .Whereas I had read all the Chronicles of Narnia, I have read only 2 of Dickens' classics--Tale of Two Cities and A Christmas Carol. Since I know the quality of your reporting from last year and indeed can critique your discussion of Dickens from memory of two of the works, I now know more about the other three Dickens novels by reading your report.
My general impression is that you clearly have read and understand the works cited, and that that is by itself quite a distinction at your age. And I generally agree with your conclusions, even if I might couch some of them slightly differently.
Last year you wanted your work to be judged without reference to your age, but you were being a little unfair to yourself in that. You see, since the adults who post here are generally quite intelligent and often well-educated as well, anyone who ventures to have their work critiqued here without reference to age is really asking to be judged at the college level if not higher.
There are teachers in schools who won't give any grade higher than a "B", on the basis that even excellent students don't know the entire subject. Of course that's true, but that is also taken for granted in reading a report card. So I think "no A" grading to be mere confusion at best, and probably arrogance as well.
Dickens was so distracted with his anger over his childhood, that he couldn't see the benefits of the Industrial Revolution . . . The Industrial Revolution produced the wealth that, in time, improved living and working conditions for everyone.
It is unlikely that Dickens did not see the benefits of the Industrial Revolution all around him, but he focused not on the donut, but on the hole in the donut. Just like many people today do. The lesson is that it's easy to criticize, even if the people you complain about are doing more for society than you are doing.If efforts to spread the wealth are undertaken arrogantly from the top down (socialist government policies, often called "liberal" in America) the result will spread misery much more than it will spread wealth. And that is because wealth is such an insubstantial thing--factories and machines look so splendid and substantial, but without astute management they turn out to be pretty useless. The Communists in the USSR slaved the people to create the facilities to make steel and concrete, but our steel industry turned into the "Rust Belt" when other things like computers came to be economically more important than steel.
Only by having prices deterimed by free people's decisions to buy and sell can the economy change. No bureaucrat wants to have the value of his empire marked down as "obsolete," and so the government bureaucrat will tend to keep that from happening. Both private enterprise and government socialist producers make mistakes, but the difference is that since the government is so powerful it makes bigger--and longer lasting--blunders.
OTOH entrepreneurs can make huge fortunes if they keep their mistakes smaller than their successes. But let a greedy-eyed government bureaucrat take over, and that same business suddenly starts making bigger mistakes--and becomes unprofitable. The seemingly small item called management, so despised by Communism's "prophet" Karl Marx, turns out to matter more than the size of the factory.
What a mature and polished piece, Nattie.
Your description of Dicken's humiliation and pain as a child, the attention to detail of the unsafe working conditions is balanced by the final paragraph - your own wise "voice." It shows an understanding and compassion grounded in reality far beyond the scope of many "adults."
Your friends, the ones who seem lucky because they get away with anything at home are wishing their own dads cared enough to help them be their best. (^:
She'll do you proud, dad. The Chronicles of Narnia, now Dickens....tough and good. Have you considered tutoring other fathers....or daughters, sons? (^:
Actually, NattieShea would make an excellent tutor, especially in mathematics. She will be taking on trigonometry and analytic geometry this year. I decided to defer the calculus to spend more time on proofs as she seems to have a talent for that. She absolutely blew through her geometry class last year. This year we will focus upon theory and application to consolidate her skills.
This summer's project was to design and build a barn owl box. We need the owls for gopher control. The problem is that the installed cost of the boxes is over $150 and one usually needs five or more. The intent of this project is to eventually produce a low-cost, possibly waxed cardboard product for less than $20. That will help people find out if they can establish viable pairs before they invest in more permanent boxes. The assignment will be to design and build the box, monitor its habitation, and write up a technical research paper. If the project succeeds we'll move on to contacting a container manufacturer with which to develop the prototype. If that succeeds we will patent the product and license it to existing owl box distributors in return for a royalty.
That is how we homeschool. Rigorous theory followed up with real world learning. Right now, she is reading Don Quixote, just for fun.
FReegards,
CO
Let us know how the owl box experiment works. Our condo board decided to go with the realistic plastic owls for our roof. After a few weeks, the pesky pigeons and crows were sitting on the "owls'" heads. They still draw an occasional pedestrian birdwatcher, though, lol!
As do I. I haven't had a car in 13 years and bicycling's been my primary form of transportation. I've had only one terrible accident ... when a panel truck ran a stop sign in the Quarter and I had to crash myself into the pavement rather than slam head-on into the truck.
I've also endeavored to be extremely careful about folks who open their doors into traffic. One friend of mine was killed that way -- in avoiding a driver's door that was opened, he was run over by a car following too fast and too close behind him. Tragic. Another friend ended up with two black eyes, horrific gashes and a broken arm after running into and being flipped over a careless driver's opened door on Canal Street where he had no room to get out of the way and avoid the cardoor.
Regardless the fact that I follow the rules of traffic myself, I always assume that the cars are not going to do likewise, cannot see me and -- depending on the recklessness of the driver -- may actually be out to kill me. It has not escaped my attention that folks who run red lights or cut too close to me or pass me one moment only to cut me off the next as they try and grab a parking space or make a turn often have a cellphone in their hands and simply are not attentive to the road.
I know I don't have to remind you to wear your helmet because I'm certain your folks -- just like mine -- want to keep that beautiful and extraordinary brain of yours intact and have hammered home the importance of ALWAYS wearing your helmet and making sure you've got the flashers or reflective gear to help folks see you at night.
It took me a while to become a believer in helmets myself -- but between my Mom's nagging and the guys at the bike shop (one of whom's done the Tour de France), I always wear it now ... regardless how goofy I look. =)
Did you read "The Jungle"? It's always disappointed me somewhat that the fiction which has been such a boon to powering the ideas of the left is often a cut above the fiction which enshrines a more balanced perspective of the natural hierarchy inherent in human society.
I'm not sure why that is. If ever I do get around to writing some plays or stories, I hope I can strike a balance between the leftists whose bleeding hearts spin extraordinary stories rife with passions I or any human being can understand and the rightists whose concepts of duty, authority, justice and dignity are not only noble but evidence a genuine charity for the individual and hope for humanity.
Good systems prevent problems. When they work, nobody notices.
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