Grocery shopping is limited these days, what with the global pandemic and all. Lots of empty shelves, few choices in the things Walmart does have. The kids prefer "Clear" brand sparkling water, which I normally buy them as an alternative to pop. But Walmart was all out of Clear, in every form, every flavor. Quinn was reduced to a can of my LaCroix, which he hates. I buy it because they all hate it. I don't even really like it, but at least I don't have to share it with anyone.
Tonight at dinner, Quinn cracked open a can of Lemon Lime LaCroix, and took a swig. After a hot second, he put the can on the table and just laid it plain.
"This is disappointment in a can."
Truth. But it's MY disappointment in a can.
Saturday, March 21, 2020
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Echoes of Pink Floyd
The boys are having to do an excessive amount of "preparatory" homework in anticipation of our upcoming trip to Hawaii. They are NOT pleased with this, at all. When I picked them up from robotics at 8:00 pm last night, they let loose.
"I am going to be up all night doing my English assignment. School is horrible. It's all about the grade. It's not about learning at all. The American school system is ridiculous. Everyone says so. WHY do I need to know about somatic cells? Who cares? Why do I need to memorize minute details? School should stop after you learn to read. Everything from the 8th grade on is completely pointless. All I need to know is what I'll need to do my job, and I will never need to know about somatic cells." This went on for a good long while. The boys were really working themselves up.
"Well," says I. "It's not just about having enough knowledge to do your job. You should have a basic understanding of the world around you. You should have critical thinking skills. You should know enough to ask questions and know how to find answers. And you should be exposed enough to things to find what you have a passion about."
"We've done all that. The rest of this stuff is stupid and pointless. I should just take the classes I want and do them online."
(The boys will be angry that I'm lumping them together in this blog post, and not delineating who said what, but they were both piling on, and saying essentially the same thing, and so it doesn't matter. This next thing, though, I remember was specifically from Colby....
"Mom, do you know that it's been proven that we are the smartest generation in all of human history? Research has shown that we have the highest IQ of any previous generation. And there's this thing called the internet. Anything I'm curious about, or anything I need to know, I can just Google." Essentially, he was saying that because he's so smart, and he has access to the internet, he doesn't need to go to school. Hmmmm.
OK. Stop right there.
"Colby, they've only been doing formalized IQ tests for the past 100 years or so. And IQ is highly diverse. The intelligence required to survive in the jungle without prior knowledge vs the intelligence needed to make good economic decisions on Wall Street are incredibly different. Humans are highly adaptable and respond to the problems they face in their daily life. You cannot tell me that the inventor of the arch in ancient Rome was dumber than you. I just won't believe it. Scientists today still haven't figured out how Stone Henge was constructed thousands of years ago, or the statues on Easter Island erected. People may be better at taking tests on a computer now, and solving those puzzles, but the genius of people in the past shows that they weren't any dumber than we are. We are where we are today because of the store of knowledge that THEY discovered for us, and generations have built upon." The arrogance of such a thought was astounding to me. But neither boy was buying it. They were very vocally (and loudly) disagreeing with me. Everyone is apparently full of angst in the middle of February.
Quinn has sent me two follow up videos on the horrors of the modern education system. This has led to a branch-off discussion on knowing which sources to trust and which ones are essentially "fake news". The boys purport that "they can tell" when something's not true. Because they can. They're not stupid. But when I pressed them on what criteria they used to determine whether something was factual or not, they couldn't even begin to say.
"What about you, Mom? Just because it's from a certain news source, it has to be true? Or because it comes from a website followed by .edu or .gov???"
"Absolutely not," says I. "I do rely on trusted sources, but that can't be the end-all be-all. That's the importance of the scientific process - peer reviewed, repeatable, scrutinized. I usually go straight to peer-reviewed journals for a lot of factual information." But even that has it's limitations.
((SIGH))
Bottom line, the boys are NOT dropping out of school in the 10th grade. I don't care if they don't like it. I will not raise ignorant children. I agree, however, that the education system is not all it can and should be. It would be great if we lived in a reality where we only had to learn the stuff that meant something to us personally, but then we would be very deliberately illiteraete about a whole lot o' stuff, now, wouldn't we?
"I am going to be up all night doing my English assignment. School is horrible. It's all about the grade. It's not about learning at all. The American school system is ridiculous. Everyone says so. WHY do I need to know about somatic cells? Who cares? Why do I need to memorize minute details? School should stop after you learn to read. Everything from the 8th grade on is completely pointless. All I need to know is what I'll need to do my job, and I will never need to know about somatic cells." This went on for a good long while. The boys were really working themselves up.
"Well," says I. "It's not just about having enough knowledge to do your job. You should have a basic understanding of the world around you. You should have critical thinking skills. You should know enough to ask questions and know how to find answers. And you should be exposed enough to things to find what you have a passion about."
"We've done all that. The rest of this stuff is stupid and pointless. I should just take the classes I want and do them online."
(The boys will be angry that I'm lumping them together in this blog post, and not delineating who said what, but they were both piling on, and saying essentially the same thing, and so it doesn't matter. This next thing, though, I remember was specifically from Colby....
"Mom, do you know that it's been proven that we are the smartest generation in all of human history? Research has shown that we have the highest IQ of any previous generation. And there's this thing called the internet. Anything I'm curious about, or anything I need to know, I can just Google." Essentially, he was saying that because he's so smart, and he has access to the internet, he doesn't need to go to school. Hmmmm.
OK. Stop right there.
"Colby, they've only been doing formalized IQ tests for the past 100 years or so. And IQ is highly diverse. The intelligence required to survive in the jungle without prior knowledge vs the intelligence needed to make good economic decisions on Wall Street are incredibly different. Humans are highly adaptable and respond to the problems they face in their daily life. You cannot tell me that the inventor of the arch in ancient Rome was dumber than you. I just won't believe it. Scientists today still haven't figured out how Stone Henge was constructed thousands of years ago, or the statues on Easter Island erected. People may be better at taking tests on a computer now, and solving those puzzles, but the genius of people in the past shows that they weren't any dumber than we are. We are where we are today because of the store of knowledge that THEY discovered for us, and generations have built upon." The arrogance of such a thought was astounding to me. But neither boy was buying it. They were very vocally (and loudly) disagreeing with me. Everyone is apparently full of angst in the middle of February.
Quinn has sent me two follow up videos on the horrors of the modern education system. This has led to a branch-off discussion on knowing which sources to trust and which ones are essentially "fake news". The boys purport that "they can tell" when something's not true. Because they can. They're not stupid. But when I pressed them on what criteria they used to determine whether something was factual or not, they couldn't even begin to say.
"What about you, Mom? Just because it's from a certain news source, it has to be true? Or because it comes from a website followed by .edu or .gov???"
"Absolutely not," says I. "I do rely on trusted sources, but that can't be the end-all be-all. That's the importance of the scientific process - peer reviewed, repeatable, scrutinized. I usually go straight to peer-reviewed journals for a lot of factual information." But even that has it's limitations.
((SIGH))
Bottom line, the boys are NOT dropping out of school in the 10th grade. I don't care if they don't like it. I will not raise ignorant children. I agree, however, that the education system is not all it can and should be. It would be great if we lived in a reality where we only had to learn the stuff that meant something to us personally, but then we would be very deliberately illiteraete about a whole lot o' stuff, now, wouldn't we?
Monday, February 17, 2020
Thursday, February 13, 2020
Just for Fun
Quinn came home from school and wanted to show me his project. He apparently had worked all day on this geometric figure - a 72 point thing that connected each point with every other point.
"Oh! Was this a geometry project?" asks I. Apparently no.
"Extra credit?" Still no.
"So.... why are you doing it?"
Quinn informed me that his geometry teacher, Mrs. Hocking, had a 36 point picture hung on the wall of the classroom from a student who had drawn it several years ago.
"If I do a 72 point one, she told me she'd frame it and replace that other one."
Ahhhh.... legacy.
Nice job, son!
"Oh! Was this a geometry project?" asks I. Apparently no.
"Extra credit?" Still no.
"So.... why are you doing it?"
Quinn informed me that his geometry teacher, Mrs. Hocking, had a 36 point picture hung on the wall of the classroom from a student who had drawn it several years ago.
"If I do a 72 point one, she told me she'd frame it and replace that other one."
Ahhhh.... legacy.
Nice job, son!
Thursday, January 30, 2020
A Note from Quinn's Teacher
I thought this was super nice. Quinn's science teacher sent a note home to us. Hopefully you all can read sideways.
Thursday, January 23, 2020
They Make Me Tired
These boys. On top of swimming/diving, solo and ensemble preparations, pep band, semester exams, and robotics build season, (which keeps us ALL super busy at a pace that is hardly survivable) I get an email from the director of the school play, with the cast list for the upcoming performance. Luckily I clicked on it, because I wasn't going to. SURELY my boys would not have tried out for the play, given their hectic lives at the moment. SURELY they would realize that there are a mere 24 hours per day, of which school takes 8, swimming takes 3, robotics takes 3, studying takes 2, and sleep? Family time? Travel back and forth from school? YOU understand the math. They apparently don't. That's right. They signed up for the school play and both got parts. When I expressed my dismay/concern/surprise/incredulity they simply said "OH! We told Dave if he needed us we'd do it. We didn't even try out!". Well, apparently Dave needs them. I said "Does he realize that you'll be gone to Hawaii for two weeks in February as well?" Yeah. He knows. Reportedly.
I'm thinking they've invented a time producing machine somewhere, to churn out more hours per day. Because I am certainly not seeing how this all is going to work!! I mean, I'm glad they like to join things, but COME ON!
I'm thinking they've invented a time producing machine somewhere, to churn out more hours per day. Because I am certainly not seeing how this all is going to work!! I mean, I'm glad they like to join things, but COME ON!
Saturday, January 11, 2020
What I needed to hear
So, I'm gonna be honest here. This week has been hard. This past month has been hard. Over the holidays, the busyness and go-go-go, and never feeling caught up. Making magic for everyone else is exhausting. And then my husband in the hospital, then my father-in-law in the hospital, and the start of swimming and robotics build season, and running around my mother in law, and worry, and the house being a mess, and and and, sun up to sun down, constant rush. Just... I've been overwhelmed and cranky and ready to just toss in the towel (is that an option? Can I do that??). So today, a Saturday, I got up at 5:30 am to run the boys into town to catch a bus for their swim meet, then came home, showered, ran to pick up Reagan and my mother in law to take them to the hospital (Reagan had spent the night so LaVerne wouldn't be alone), then went to work for a few hours, brought Reagan and LaVerne home, then started cleaning the kitchen, and eventually made my way to the living room, by 5:00 pm. I was getting ready to sweep, when I found a piece of paper on the floor, which has probably been there for a good long time, given how far behind on housework I am. I make it a rule never to throw away random pieces of paper without reading them, just in case it happens to be a missing assignment for one of my children. This is the voice of experience. WELL. I reached down to glance at this assignment, and look what I found.
It was exactly what I needed to hear, exactly when I needed to hear it, and I am just so so thankful. Maybe I won't throw in the towel just yet.
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