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26655. thoughtful - 12/17/2011 4:41:05 AM Well of course you don't have to be jewish to have anti xtian sentiments...i was raised catholic, haven't been to church since i was 14 and still harbor many anti xtian sentiments.... 26656. iiibbb - 12/17/2011 5:06:38 AM Yeah... but it's ironic that their response is as bad as the traits they complain about. I mean I've got no love of X-mas marketing in October, but the boy is being raised in a family with one parent with a Christian background (although I am a non-denominational Protestant-agnostic who believes that one's relationship with God is personal and doesn't require external validation - and that Christian Doctrine is too buggered up to give anyone much to say about anyone else's standing with God).
But still, despite my seemingly weak convictions, to hear her mom say that a book like this makes her vomit feels a little harsh.
I respect Judaism. I respect it's longevity and adherence to tradition. I do consider it to be 1/2 culture and 1/2 religion. The culture aspect is the main reason I'd never convert. 26657. arkymalarky - 12/17/2011 4:18:51 PM It's too bad that Psychprof's observations of MAs is so bad. Mine at a very small university was rigorous, demanding, and excellent. The problem with most education programs is that the content is often on a weak or ninexistent foundstion and, since NCLB in particular, driven by agendas and big money, from the Waltons to Kochs to Bill Gates. Ironically, though, education programs are getting much harder.
Education has been one of the weakest departments in most universities for decades. There are a number of reasons for that, starting with the combination of low pay and high demand for k-12 teachers. It hardly transfers to anything about the university system as a whole. 26658. judithathome - 12/17/2011 7:12:30 PM but it's ironic that their response is as bad as the traits they complain about.
But don't you find that to be true of most of the "faithful" when they criticize other religions?
I agree it was an extremely distasteful remark but not surprising to me that someone claiming "faith" is blind to the sins they themselves commit. 26659. iiibbb - 12/17/2011 7:52:05 PM I mean I get that the season is downright oppressive ---
--- but don't take it so personal.
I don't agree with Mormonism, but I am never rude to the ones that wind up at my door. I just tell them I have a church and they've never bothered me further. Why the need to be rude to teach them a lesson? From they're perspective they're trying to share something they love.
It's like getting on someone's case for holding a door open. Or getting mad because someone says "God bless you".
Plus I'm sure it was different when she was younger. My grandmother had a lot of weird viewpoints that were related to the times she grew up.
My wife and I are on the same page so I'm not worried about it. 26660. arkymalarky - 12/17/2011 9:25:23 PM I used to call my brother a proselytizing athiest. Everyone is put off by someone who thinks they have all the answers and makes uninvited pronouncements of their superior nuggets of wisdom to the unenlightened. 26661. iiibbb - 12/17/2011 9:42:43 PM The proselytizing is something that Jews are particularly down on. And perhaps I'm hearing it only because I'm on the inside and their guard is down. 26662. iiibbb - 12/17/2011 9:43:12 PM So it's ultimately probably just poor situational awareness. 26663. arkymalarky - 12/17/2011 11:14:14 PM It's not about the proselytizing, it's about the knowing approach toward others' beliefs or lack of them. Calling my brother that is my way of calling him on it. 26664. PsychProf - 12/18/2011 12:11:01 AM Arky…I have seen no evidence that the educational system in USA I getting stronger at any level. We compare poorly with other industrialized nations in math and science, no less our own history, and yes, our own language.
26665. arkymalarky - 12/18/2011 3:16:35 AM Our universities are touted even now as the best in the world and we are the only nation that educates all and measures all with the same tests. 26666. arkymalarky - 12/18/2011 3:24:38 AM But people are trying to kill free universal public education and they may succeed by ensuring that its universality and egalitarian qualities are used to label it a failure, and to create a bar many can't reach. The question is what is education's purpose in the US. Contrary to the current popular view, it is not to make everyone an intellectual or even a college graduate. I tell my students that its purpose is to help them find their place in the world. 26667. arkymalarky - 12/18/2011 3:35:06 AM When I started teaching students could drop out in 8th grade. Now they must go to age 18. Name another nation that does that. Name a top nation that doesn't track its lower performing students out of the high school college prep academic program. Yet the Common Core is designed to prepare all students for college. It's a worthy goal as a required offering, but not practical as a one-size-fits-all curriculum. 26668. arkymalarky - 12/18/2011 3:40:41 AM Iow it's fine to require every school to offer it but stupid to expect every student to master it. Once we begin comparing apples to apples i'll get more interested in comparisons with other nations. Top students to top students I think we compare well, but I haven't looked at that in a few years. But we don't demand enough from that group imi. 26669. arkymalarky - 12/18/2011 3:41:51 AM Imo 26670. PsychProf - 12/18/2011 2:21:42 PM Arky...my college freshman, as a group, are barely literate. I guess we live in different educational worlds.
Thanks for posting with me. 26671. thoughtful - 12/18/2011 7:52:16 PM I understand your concern as it could be confusing to the young'un if he gets mixed messages from his various family members....of course he won't be the first or last child to be subject to conflicting messages. As he gets older he will learn to dismiss certain remarks made by those he loves. We all have to do that at some....or rather many...points in our lives. 26672. Ms. No - 12/18/2011 8:45:54 PM Prof,
But are they barely literate because education has gotten worse, or are they barely literate because people who would never have even considered going to college have been pushed to do so?
I fall more on the side of the latter explanation. 26673. iiibbb - 12/18/2011 9:52:18 PM They are barely literate because the paradigm has shifted from going to college to make something of yourself, to one where college is something you have to do before you get a real job; you don't learn anything useful in college, you'll be trained for your job when you get the job.
And since students are _paying_ there is an expectation they get the reward automatically.
----
but Ms No... your are right too. I went to college before I knew what I wanted to get out of it (and my slight ADHD required that I completely change the way I worked and studied compared to high school). As a result I struggled for a few years before I really started to perform. 26674. iiibbb - 12/18/2011 9:54:25 PM Half of me thinks it wouldn't be a bad idea for 2 years of public-service to be a requirement after high school... military, peace corps, or a domestic peace corp of some kind... but I wonder about the liability.
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