Galt's Gulch

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  • Posted by iroseland 11 years, 10 months ago
    The kids are learning something useful. They are learning that the public schools are full of crap and that the teachers are not a part of the solution.
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    • Posted by $ Maphesdus 11 years, 10 months ago
      I don't think public schools are inherently bad. In fact, I actually fully support the idea of public schools. I just don't think Common Core sets good standards (or even comprehensible standards, for that matter).

      I personally think public schools are a great concept, just so long as the system adheres to traditional methods and standards for education.
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  • Posted by $ Maphesdus 11 years, 10 months ago
    First question: I have no idea what this question is asking. Maybe the worksheet comes accompanied with oral instructions from the teacher? That's about the only explanation I can think of.

    Second question: Maybe they're supposed to shade the shapes themselves, and then match the shapes to the equivalent fraction?

    Third question: That depends. How many friends does she have, and how many stickers come in each bag? Without those critical pieces of information, the problem is unsolvable. Is this supposed to be a complete math problem?
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    • Posted by khalling 11 years, 10 months ago
      One could say all of this curriculum was put together relatively quickly. and of course BIG TIME crony. I think there is one main company where all of these textbooks are purchased from. this isn't just a progressive push either. Jeb Bush was instrumental in influencing Florida to accept the standards. When you see examples like these, the critically thinking child will not anser or do the assignment. But most children will defer to the teacher. So during a very cognitively important time in a child's growth, they learn that critical thinking will not help them get ahead, they must ask the teacher for guidance in answering anything in order to be "right" or "correct."
      I sure hope all of these bad worksheets are due to just putting stuff together on the fly. That's bad but not insidious. I think it's the latter.
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      • Posted by $ Maphesdus 11 years, 10 months ago
        Critically thinking child? I pretty sure the whole point of school is to TEACH children critical thinking skills...

        I suppose if they're getting home lessons from their parents on top of these CC lessons from school, then they could learn critical thinking that way. Otherwise I don't see how they'd ever develop the trait.
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    • Posted by khalling 11 years, 10 months ago
      Yes! This is how these worksheets are looking more and more. When I originally saw the first worksheet I was convinced the teacher must have been leading the assignment. But the parent who originally posted it said it was sent home as homework. So no additional instructions. The only thing I could tell from the fraction worksheet was to lead the kids to understand the power of the denominator by counting all the parts in the shape, finding the fraction with the correct number on the bottom and THEN shading the number of spaces shown by the numerator. But the instructions did not lead the student to do so.
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      • Posted by $ Maphesdus 11 years, 10 months ago
        If that's how the fraction problem is supposed to work, then I have no opposition to that. Understanding fractions is a vital part of math. But if that was the intention, the instructions could definitely have been more clear.

        Though there is also the possibility that maybe there are SUPPOSED to be shaded portions, and the page just didn't print correctly or something? Or maybe the teacher was supposed to shade certain shapes, but simply forgot to do so? I'm just throwing out ideas here...
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        • Posted by khalling 11 years, 10 months ago
          The problem is-more and more of these are coming to light. It's beginning to be a trend not just an anomaly. Why?
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          • Posted by $ Maphesdus 11 years, 10 months ago
            Yeah, I have no idea, and it is definitely concerning.

            I don't have any kids myself, but I do have a younger half-sister and half-brother (ages 12 and 11 respectively), who my father chose to keep out of public school for social reasons. His excuse was that he thought public schools were a bad environment, which I think is BS, but that's what he believes.

            Anyway, I was concerned that they wouldn't be receiving a quality education if they were kept out of public school, but apparently keeping them out is the best way to ensure that they DO get a quality education if this is the kind of nonsense that's being taught in public schools now. My father's reasoning for keeping my brother and sister out of public school may have been irrational, but it still apparently led to good consequences because now they won't be subjected to this Common Core crap.
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            • Posted by gonzo309 11 years, 10 months ago
              Some of the smartest kids were (are) home schooled. Your father was wise to do that for your family. All of my family was public schooled and suffered for it, including myself.

              The socialization can be accomplished by interactions in extracurricular activities and outside groups such as church activities and/or boy/girl scouts or classes at school that welcomes home schoolers.
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              • Posted by $ Maphesdus 11 years, 10 months ago
                I just worried because he did the same thing to me when I was younger, and I actually felt like the education I received prior to 5th grade (which is when I finally started attending public school) was WORSE than what I would have gotten had I been in public school from the beginning.

                A lot of people complain about the so called "problems" with public school, but from my own personal experience, private schools are in no way guaranteed to provide a better education.

                Of course that was all back in the early to mid 90s, way before any of this "Common Core" crap started proliferating through public education, so it's difficult to make the same judgement calls today.
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                • Posted by gonzo309 11 years, 10 months ago
                  Looking back on it now, do you feel he taught you what you really needed to know and saved you from the socialist brainwashing that had been going on, or do you still feel it was worse?
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  • Posted by freedomforall 11 years, 10 months ago
    "One can judge from experiment, or one can blindly accept authority. To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all important and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits. To the academic mind, authority is everything and facts are junked when they do not fit theory laid down by authority."
    Robert Heinlein
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  • Posted by khalling 11 years, 10 months ago
    Oh my. I 'd already seen the 1st worksheet but not the math problem nor the 2nd sheet. I can 't believe teachers are handing these out.
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  • Posted by $ Maphesdus 11 years, 10 months ago
    Conspiracy theory time!

    The worksheets are intentionally designed to be confusing to any adult who looked at them. The questions only make sense when accompanied by oral instructions from the teacher, and are really about getting children to divulge sensitive information about their private home life.
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  • Posted by $ Maphesdus 11 years, 10 months ago
    The article slipped in a line about vaccines, which makes me wary of this website as a reliable source. The whole "anti-vaccine" craze is idiotic, and I'm highly skeptical of anyone who endorses or promotes anti-vaccine nonsense...
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    • Posted by Abaco 11 years, 10 months ago
      Yeah, don't believe it. There's no way our neglect of basic math could have ever made its way into the CDC vaccine schedule. That is one area where we can surely trust our government to keep us safe.
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      • Posted by $ Maphesdus 11 years, 10 months ago
        Well obviously a citizenship that lacks basic mathematical ability is going to have all kinds of problems. My point was simply that the anti-vaccine crowd is irrational.
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        • Posted by Abaco 11 years, 10 months ago
          Well, you are mistaken. That's ok. Nobody's right about everything. And, if you get warm cozy feelings about the vaccine schedule more power to you. Like I said, you can trust the government to do the right thing with that...
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    • Posted by gonzo309 11 years, 10 months ago
      Don't let true facts about mercury in the vaccines distract you from the main thrust of the article. The educational system is creating a curriculum and homework that parents can't help with, making the school the only authority to depend on for clarification. The kids are being set up to fail by their own thinking because you have to be brain damaged to write the material that's shown, hence the effects of mercury in vaccines.

      My grandson brought home a homework assignment in kindergarten that my wife and myself couldn't figure out what the teacher wanted and my wife has a Masters degree. If the child and parent can't figure it out, the child will be inadequate and will tend to make decisions by consensus to feel safer. This what the elite wants; a docile, confused citizen that can be molded into anything that the consensus is manipulated into believing, just like in the UN Agenda 21.
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    • Posted by freedomforall 11 years, 10 months ago
      One thing we have to learn is that even our closest allies and friends will not agree with everything we believe. Of course you will apply your own rational judgement, but it isn't sensible to throw out the good rational points just because of a disagreement on unrelated issues.

      Even if I don't agree with you on vaccines today, we may agree on many other issues. Over time, our positions of disagreement may also change.
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