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I have a burning need to know stuff and I love asking awkward questions.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Cartoon Time.

11 comments:

wstachour said...

Given the attempts to get the term "science" modified to include supernatural events, the cartoon almost isn't funny.

Almost ;-)

CyberKitten said...

It certainly made me smile... Then laugh in that 'It's so sad it's funny' sort of way.

Unknown said...

there's a joke? I was going to ask where I could get my copy and if it'll be available outside of Pennsylvania???

CyberKitten said...

rca asked: there's a joke?

Only in a sad, sick sort of way.....

I'm sure books like that are available in the USA - in some places anyway... Or try your local Christian bookshop.

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Oh My! If you don't laugh, you just might cry! All I can say is: OY!

dbackdad said...

That kind of stuff is alive and well over here. There's actually been a big stink because the gift shop at the Grand Canyon continues to carry a book that says the Canyon was created by God:

Grand Canyon Creationism

Here you are, next to one of the most incredible displays of the power of nature, time, wind and water ... and these yahoos try to tell you it is 6,000 years old. To stand next to the Grand Canyon and make that claim is not only stupid, it's insulting. Welcome to the National Park Service, yet another branch of the United States Theocracy.

CyberKitten said...

Naomi said: If you don't laugh, you just might cry!

That's a pretty good philosophy to live by these days [grin].

dbackdad said: There's actually been a big stink because the gift shop at the Grand Canyon continues to carry a book that says the Canyon was created by God.

I'd heard about that. You live in a *very* strange country!

Stardust said...

My fundie niece and youth pastor, full pastorwannabe husband secluded themselves on Kodiak Island in Alaska so they could do a better job of brainwashing their three adorable and bright children with this "creation science" bullcrap. Yes, they are being strictly home/church-schooled using materials supplied by Abeka. Poor little kids.

CyberKitten said...

Hi Stardust. Hope you're feeling better each day.

I don't really 'get' this whole homeschooling thing. I can understand *why* people do it - up to a point - but I don't understand *how* people can do it. I mean, if I had children, I could probably help them with thier homework and through in some hints & tips along the way... but to teach them a subject from scratch *adequately*.... No way. There's no way that I could trust myself to give my children a decent education.

Stardust said...

Cyberkitten, thanks...yes, getting better every day!

we allowed our kids to "independent study" for high school. The state labeled it "homeschooling". We were dissatisfied with "factory" education they get in the public school system where everyone is expected to learn the same thing at the same time at the same rate. So, for freethinkers, homeschooling is an awesome alternative to truly being "free." It is the fundamentalist idiots who give homeschooling and "unschooling" a bad name. Those who only use homeschooling to shelter their kids from the "evils" of the outside world and to be able to have total influence in the superstitious brainwashing of their young.

Kids learn pretty much on their own. All teachers do is present material and explain when questions arise. School were formed to produce obedient and literate workers for factories during the Industrial Age. But the way they are set up now are outdated and need to be reformed. Our kids spent more time doing senseless stuff instead of truly learning the things they wanted and needed to know.

I, as a past college English teacher know that when students go off to their first year of college and are told by the professor "all that stuff you learned in high school about writing an essay...forget it"...and we have to start from scratch to "deprogram" the five-part essay format..intro, first, second, third, and in conclusion. No one writes that way. Not so obviously as most first year college students do. And it's hard to undo because they are sick of it.

If parents are going to take the homeschooling/independent study route they MUST be involved. Kids who go to school most often go to outside extra curricular activities like community soccer, baseball, clubs, dance classes, music lessons. Our kids were involved in soccer and music in high school and in community youth orchestras and our daughter went on to make the Chicago Youth Symphony. They all did a combo of community college courses in combination with some independent study at home. They all had their A.A. degrees the years their peers were getting their high school diplomas. They went off to universities to get degrees...one in Physics, the middle son in art, and our daughter attended Curtis in Philly and did her Masters at Yale on a full scholarship and is now with a major symphony orchestra. All without high school diplomas. I am not saying they are geniuses. The courses in the first two years of college are actually a "rehash" of what is learned in high school.

So...sorry for going on so long. It just burns me that the fundie freaks have given independent study and homeschooling such a bad reputation and I think as freethinkers we need to stop lumping all homeschooling into that basket and criticizing it when there are a lot of bright and successful homeschoolers leading productive lives and doing good things for society.

Hannah said...

Yikes!

It is exactly this kind of textbook in the schools that leads us to homeschool where we can use a much broader more open curriculum--every library book we can get our hands on. Thanks for the comment, Stardust.