I am having a week steeped and stewed in STUPIDITY!
Here are 2 examples-
Who are these faceless people called THEY?
My wise -man book shop owner popped in this week and we had a long conversation about a book he had given me to read- a very thought provoking book called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.
We were having a lively conversation about the nature of autism and one of my teachers commented that, “They have recently announced that even 2 year old tantrums might be a sign of autism,” and the inimitable Don exploded, “Who are these &^%$# people called THEY? They seem to be running the world!”
Actually he is right.
How often do we say, “They say………
We need to start thinking for ourselves.
If 2 year old tantrums are caused by autism we have an almost 100% autistic population so perhaps autism is the new norm. What stupidity!
Another stupid example:
I am currently conducting many assessments of new children and most are high achievers who somehow do not fit weird, preconceived ridiculous notions of what children should be able to do.
One grade one child demonstrated an aptitude for maths, great problem solving, understanding of place value and ability to already handle many grade 2 concepts. He is apparently getting an F in mathematics.
How hard does a child have to work to get a decent mark?
How depressing is this for children and parents?
I am ok with an honest reporting system.
I am not OK with trying to put a label on every child and shove a defined mark on a living breathing, improving little human being. Our children cannot be pinned down to letters and numbers.
Very soon we will have a nation full of machine-like children who can only write persuasive texts (as required by our NAPLAN testing), don’t think at all and get Cs for everything!
We would not even treat our pets this way- let alone our children!
Thanks Don- you gave voice to what had been brooding in me for some time. Now I feel better.
Watch out the next person who says something stupid to me! I am likely to throw a whole container of fake snow at you.
Maybe it’s just the season for stupidity ….or maybe I am just too old to agree with these faceless “Theys” any longer!!
