221–230 of 254 posts
I don't understand the 'no timetable' part. In my experience kids will do nothing if no deadline is presented. How do schools avoid some kids diddling away the semester? Or is it just OK for some kids to fail?
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Thanks for the link, thanks for your efforts. I'll definitely read up on sudval.org. "They are fully democratic and focus on producing empowered self directed citizens..." Word. I've run democratic teams. The empowerment is real. I can't explain it; it feels like magic. Those experiences have transmuted me into a full throated advocate for democracy. Democracy, in its multitude of forms, is very much a technology. Ju…
> I wonder why learning can't be more like that? Money. There isn't enough of it. America would rather spend it on other "more important" things.
Other posters have pointed out that there's plenty of spending in schools, but it is in frivolous activities on the periphery of education. They did not mention facilities, which I believe is another huge point of financial irresponsibility when it comes to how municipalities fund their schools. Any town pointing to a dilapidated school as proof of need for a new one is among the least likely to be a good steward of that school, given that it is deferred improvements and maintenance, not age, that really causes problems (to a point, of course). Worse yet, they move these schools to huge complexes on the edge of town so that no one can reach it without a car or bus. Then they get to spend more good school money on buses.
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Whoa. Agree to disagree, big guy. Not only are the majority of HN commenters practicing amateur everything (especially with politics) but that's not what I was doing. And further disagreeing, any 12 year old that shows such blatant disrespect - and makes friends with a porn star in the process - is in no way a cute story of "adolescent cleverness." It's something that should get protective services involved.
You don't have nearly enough information to make such personal judgments—that's an understatement by orders of magnitude—which makes your comments here unduly personal and therefore uncivil. Please stop.
I don't understand the 'no timetable' part. In my experience kids will do nothing if no deadline is presented. How do schools avoid some kids diddling away the semester? Or is it just OK for some kids to fail?
It said they had to come in on Saturday if they didn't get shit done during the week
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The key point of democracy isn't voting, it's participation. Your right to vote is the mechanism by which your right to participate is ensured. If you have participation, where all are heard, and real work is made for a consensus, voting doesn't have to have centre stage And yet in practice, the only reason for a political party to hear all (including its opposition) and to seek consensus is to seek the number of vot…
Your right to vote is the mechanism by which your right to participate is ensured. That's just one mechanism. Your right to participate is also ensured by freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and the ability to get your name on the voting ballot.
Another very prominent example would be freedom of press.
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The key point of democracy isn't voting, it's participation. Your right to vote is the mechanism by which your right to participate is ensured. If you have participation, where all are heard, and real work is made for a consensus, voting doesn't have to have centre stage And yet in practice, the only reason for a political party to hear all (including its opposition) and to seek consensus is to seek the number of vot…
>> The key point of democracy isn't voting, it's participation. > Your right to vote is the mechanism by which your right to participate is ensured. It's a shallow form of participation. Being educated, informed, and being part of the decision process - drafting bills, finding alternatives - forming political parties, being part of committees , being available for election, all the work that is done before a vote his…
> It's a shallow form of participation.
It's not a form of participation at all.
>Being educated, informed, and being part of the decision process - drafting bills, finding alternatives - forming political parties, being part of committees , being available for election, all the work that is done before a vote his held is arguably more important.
You are arguing about how the right to vote is exercised. With the right to vote as a given, I would agree with you on all of the above.
However, none of the above is relevant without the right to vote (and other rights), hence why I'm arguing that the right is more important.
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>> The key point of democracy isn't voting, it's participation. > Your right to vote is the mechanism by which your right to participate is ensured. It's a shallow form of participation. Being educated, informed, and being part of the decision process - drafting bills, finding alternatives - forming political parties, being part of committees , being available for election, all the work that is done before a vote his…
And how does the average voter get involved in "drafting bills" I suspect that there are very few of us on HN who have ever done something like that. I manged to get several thousand people a better pension by using the democratic process but I suspect as a dual wonk/nerd I am in a minority. I did half consider going to work in the HOC if one of my colleagues had got the speaker ship.
In representative democracies [1], they usually don't get involved at all. You delegate your rights to someone else (eg members of parliament), who then act on your behalf, so to speak.
The alternative of direct democracy [2] is much rarer.
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> That said, they apparently voiced strong disapproval of the fact that I could already read Strange, I had the same experience in a public kindergarten. I never understood that attitude. I could read at a 5th grade level in kindergarten, but that was treated as an evil thing by the teachers because the material they were trying to teach was far below me. I suppose I can understand that in retrospect now that I think…
Waldorf education assumes, for completely unscientific reasons that are about as reasonable as homeopathy, that children go through fairly specific phases at fairly specific ages. Based on that belief certain things are taught at specific ages in specific ways. Any deviation from that is seen as harmful to a child's development. So, their disapproval is not strange at all, it's completely consistent with their view,…
I can, however, understand where your condescending attitude comes from. I used to wonder why churches and clerics were still a thing. Until someone from my family ended up in the local church council, and it sort of dawned on me, that actually, you do not need science to do a lot of things right. You can come from a down-right anti-scientific base and still be more skilled - scientifically better - at something than someone who doesn't believe in anything but quantum mechanics.
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And how does the average voter get involved in "drafting bills" I suspect that there are very few of us on HN who have ever done something like that. I manged to get several thousand people a better pension by using the democratic process but I suspect as a dual wonk/nerd I am in a minority. I did half consider going to work in the HOC if one of my colleagues had got the speaker ship.
> And how does the average voter get involved in "drafting bills" This is exactly my point - real democracy means engaging in the political decision process on all levels, and taking/feeling a sense of ownership of/to it.
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How do parents react if their child doesn't choose to learn academics?
It is very important for the school to make it clear that this can happen, is likely to happen, and that they need to be okay with that. This can certainly be a deal breaker. Also a deal breaker is unlimited screen time. Or the freedom to go off-campus (with an age appropriate buddy system). Or any number of other things that giving a human being responsible freedom really means. It is easy to give freedom to those w…