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Americans orchestrating own doom
Scripps Howard News Service ^ | 10/22/6 | DALE MCFEATTERS

Posted on 10/21/2006 10:38:35 PM PDT by SmithL

The dispatches arrived in a bunch and pointed too much to the same conclusion to be coincidence. The conclusion: We're doomed. And it's not al-Qaida doing us in. We're doing it to ourselves.

In what is surely the tip of the social iceberg, a New England grade school has joined schools across the country in prohibiting the kids from playing tag at recess.

Touch football is also banned. The schools are growingly - and legitimately - fearful of lawsuits over playground accidents by litigious parents. Seesaws and jungle gyms have long since disappeared from playgrounds.

But there is probably more at work here than just fear of the courtroom: the kids' feelings. Remember a few years ago when the schools started banning dodge ball? The problem was, dodge ball was exclusionary, the point being to knock people out of the game at great risk to their positive self-image.

The problem of unsupervised games and skinned knees may be self-solving because surveys show recesses are shriveling, with the schools arguing they need that time to prepare their students for the tests mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act.

So how's that working out?

Not so hot, according to a Brookings Institution study. It found that, while American eighth-graders professed enjoyment of math and confidence in their math skills, they didn't perform as well as foreign eighth-graders, who were not so happy and confident.

Summed up one account: "Even the least confident students in Singapore outscored the most confident Americans."

Countries like the United States that teach math by trying to relate it to daily life using real-life examples have the worst scores. There's a two-word explanation for that: binomial theorem. When was the last time you had occasion in daily life to use that basic first step in introductory algebra? The more math you learn, the more remote it is from real life.

The final threads of this tapestry of doom came together when the Associated Press filed a story about an NFL program to help combat the epidemic of childhood obesity, a condition caused in part, the experts say, by a lack of exercise like, oh, say, playing tag or dodge ball.

The program aims to work physical activity into the classroom. Reported the AP:

"New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning dropped by a Manhattan public school this week where he showed eighth-graders how to add some exercise to their math class. He had them perform squats, then count their own heart rates for 15 seconds and multiply by four to calculate their heartbeats per minute."

So here we have eighth-graders - 13-year-olds - being challenged to count into the double digits and then multiply that number by four.

A science lesson would teach the dangers of cholesterol and the importance of healthy hearts by having the kids play - get this - tag. Imagine what it will do to the self-esteem of an eighth-grader who in a classroom game of tag is chosen to be cholesterol, heart-clogging fat.

We will ask ourselves how we got to be so fat and stupid. And the answer will come: Education.

We're doomed.

Indeed, the descendants of the flinty New Englanders who chased the British redcoats from Lexington Green and Concord Bridge back to Boston are prohibited from playing all unsupervised "chasing games."

There is likely some advantage in approaching a difficult task with humility and trepidation, but we do lead the world, however, in instilling self-esteem.

If you're really good, there are only about five other people in the world you can talk to, and none of them, very likely, is a Singaporean eighth-grader.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: selfesteem; shakespearewasright
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To: freema
I'm only on here for a minute, this morning, and ran into your post. I hope you don't mind, I've put it on my homepage : )

I don't mind at all. Send me a link!

81 posted on 10/22/2006 12:48:21 PM PDT by sizzlemeister
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To: nathanbedford
Yep, Skinner and Walden Two. I took a Behavior Analysis course in college in the late 70's. The prof was a True Believer (nice guy and excellent instructor, btw). Creation of the Utopia through behavioral science.

The Utopians fail to take into account the Pride of man, which is called the greatest sin. Those who rise to power will become full of it, and they will have to deal with hordes of people who will not think Correctly. Reeducation camps, executions. Same old same old. They never, ever learn.

82 posted on 10/22/2006 1:19:01 PM PDT by FlyVet
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To: Earthdweller

Yes, there's nothing sadder than meeting someone who's high point in life was high school...


83 posted on 10/22/2006 1:25:48 PM PDT by GOPJ (:Every Muslim hero, including Mohammed, has been a mass murderer.)
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To: SmithL

We aren't all doomed. What we are doomed to is bigger and bigger cultural, educational, and income gaps. It is happening already. So far it works to conservatives advantage because as a group conservatives work and don't snub entry level work they work themselves up the ladder or they start business. Capitalism in this country still favors harder workers. Liberals have a small number of intellectual elites that think nothing of lying to the masses to keep them down and on welfare just to keep political power. This why the income gap is going to grow and why going to the inner city is like visiting a different country.


84 posted on 10/22/2006 1:38:20 PM PDT by YdontUleaveLibs (Reason is out to lunch. How may I help you?)
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To: GoLightly
I had a recent conversation with one of my sons about converting numbers into various numeric bases.

I only learned numeric bases after I bought an M1 Garand. You have to know your octets to know how many rounds fill how many clips. Finally I understood.

85 posted on 10/22/2006 1:49:33 PM PDT by Hardastarboard (Why isn't there an "NRA" for the rest of my rights?)
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To: RaceBannon
"must read bump"
Interesting article. Thanks. I supposed many here, especially of the say 40 on up crowd have surmised this crap has been slowly creeping into the social fabric.
Things we did back in the fifties and sixties as kids, while at school, scouting, sports, etc., now horrify many.
Things that for thousands of years showed no long term ill effects. So many jerks from the social/liberal establishment have modified growning up into something that is no longer healthy.
86 posted on 10/22/2006 2:35:06 PM PDT by Marine_Uncle (Honor must be earned)
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To: Hardastarboard
Course, nowadays there are all kinds of accessible tools available...

http://www.projects.ex.ac.uk/trol/scol/calnumba.htm

If humans had left off counting our thumbs when our numeric system was created, we'd all be using a system based on eight.

87 posted on 10/22/2006 2:59:48 PM PDT by GoLightly
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To: GoLightly

Where are all the kids playing football in vacant lots?

I live very close to a small inner-city community in NJ. I'm always astonished at the poor, black kids who still gather in dusty, empty lots to play ball and other games without any parental or adult supervision. It's like the 1950s come back to life.


88 posted on 10/22/2006 3:28:08 PM PDT by miss marmelstein
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To: miss marmelstein
It's like the 1950s come back to life.

Our company was in the inner city in the '70's. Kids in the neighborhood were out playing like that, during the week, during the school year...

89 posted on 10/22/2006 4:35:10 PM PDT by GoLightly
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To: SmithL; DCPatriot; TheLion; RaceBannon; goldstategop; SheLion; SkyPilot; CDHart; GOPJ; EGPWS; ...
Great article, SmithL! Thanks for posting!

Amazing!!! There must be an election coming up! All of us 'Olders' are showing-up on threads about stuff that offends us, and that's a good thing!

Good to see all youse guys and gals! I'll just assume we're all gonna go kick some democRAT ass on Nov 7. Stay well y'all, and if you have a mosque in your neighborhood, get a firearm and ammo.

Stay well - good to see y'all.................FRegards

90 posted on 10/22/2006 4:41:25 PM PDT by gonzo (.........Good grief!...I'm as confused as a baby in a topless club!.........)
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To: FARS

Thank you for the link, I have passed it on.

An excellent site.


91 posted on 10/22/2006 5:20:57 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)
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To: sizzlemeister
To see another example of this...little league baseball.

The 1st organized leagues for children are hitting the ball off a tee...no outs recorded...no scores recorded.

You can be sure Albert Pujos and Alex Rodriquez didn't start there.

92 posted on 10/22/2006 5:23:24 PM PDT by DCPatriot ("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon)
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To: GoLightly

It's not so much that I can't do the math (I can't, but that's not a material issue because I don't have to). I just literally didn't understand the concept. Sort of like base 10 was how God intended it, and there is no other possible system.


93 posted on 10/22/2006 5:54:37 PM PDT by Hardastarboard (Why isn't there an "NRA" for the rest of my rights?)
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To: Anvilhead

I once heard about a study where it was noted two boys playing in one of those non-violent, no toy weapons type day care enviornments picked up a couple of Barbie dolls...and immediately began using them as swords to fight with.


94 posted on 10/22/2006 6:08:15 PM PDT by Knitting A Conundrum (Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly With God Micah 6:8)
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To: sizzlemeister

Click my name...my FR homepage ; )


95 posted on 10/22/2006 6:09:32 PM PDT by freema (Marine FRiend, 1stCuz2xRemoved, Mom, Aunt, Sister, Friend, Wife, Daughter, Niece)
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To: sizzlemeister

BTW, what is really fascinating is......

my daughter and I went out for dinner Friday night, grabbed a paper to read while we ate. This article was in the paper, and I read it outloud to her.

(P.S. I was not a cut and run advocate of public schools...I was, nay "am", a thorn in the side of our public schools for many years, and raised my children outside ; )

(P.P.S. There is hope. Several kids I've 'mentored' are becoming teachers : )


96 posted on 10/22/2006 6:14:09 PM PDT by freema (Marine FRiend, 1stCuz2xRemoved, Mom, Aunt, Sister, Friend, Wife, Daughter, Niece)
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To: Marine_Uncle

Fancy meeting you here. LOL!


97 posted on 10/22/2006 6:17:25 PM PDT by freema (Marine FRiend, 1stCuz2xRemoved, Mom, Aunt, Sister, Friend, Wife, Daughter, Niece)
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To: freema
Yeah, I figured that out. :^) I'm still somewhat of a "noob" as some neanderthal member in another thread has reminded me. I still am not sure what "pings" are all about.

Anyway, I think a lot more folk are "up" on these matters than we're led to believe. The majority of them, however, don't know what to do about it and thus trust the system regardless because everyone else seems to trust the system. If you say something or, worse, try and take action, those holding the reigns (and, again, I mean the unions, the bureaucrats, and other "embedded" moles) do what they can to subdue you. This is especially evident at the local level. If you go after the state or federal levels it's reduced to a "political issue" making it easier to marginalize and, in the end, ignore.

I agree that the situation, our education system combined with its effects on society (and vice-versa), runs in cycles and that, eventually, something resembling sanity will take root again - unless, of course, the cycle of history leads us down the Roman path. It's just that I'd like to see it in my lifetime, preferably sometime before my kids graduate from elementary school.

98 posted on 10/22/2006 6:30:12 PM PDT by sizzlemeister
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To: Hardastarboard
Sort of like base 10 was how God intended it, and there is no other possible system.

I know what you mean. When my oldest was five I bought a huge box of Popsicle sticks to teach him the concept in base 10. I made up bundles of ten with him. He struggled & couldn't get it. Meanwhile, his younger brother who was barely verbal learned it. When my three year old learned something beyond the measure of many who are older, it gave me a greater understanding about differences in innate abilities, as well as different learning styles.

My oldest son's reading abilities allowed him to learn more advanced math later in his life. (He began learning to read on his own, starting around age three.) I taught my middle son how to do long division one evening. He had skipped the year of math where it was taught to his peers. This middle son is the one that learned how to do the different bases with about 5 minutes of explanation. Despite his natural aptitude, he burnt out on math during his sophomore year of HS.

I have to do work arounds for my inability to remember the multiplication tables. LOL Trust me, math concepts use a different part of the brain.

99 posted on 10/22/2006 6:50:54 PM PDT by GoLightly
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To: sizzlemeister

neanderthal LOL!

Pings are just a heads up to lead you to a good post or thread.

I know "subdue", it having been tried on me, on several occasions : ) I could never leave all those kids to let those weirdos distort their minds. So, I did what came naturally. I fought back. And while I did, those kids watched..........................................and learned.


100 posted on 10/22/2006 6:53:14 PM PDT by freema (Marine FRiend, 1stCuz2xRemoved, Mom, Aunt, Sister, Friend, Wife, Daughter, Niece)
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