Tag Archives: Education

ONE LITTLE, TWO LITTLE, THREE LITTLE INDIANS

Education, Politics, Truth, Uncategorized, , , , ,

Harry Reid Feels Your Pain

Bonnie’s mother is Navaho (or Navajo, if you prefer). When she had to choose a tribe, Bonnie also chose to be Navaho, so when she had her second little Indian, a lovely girl with masses of black hair, she gave her the wonderful name Nizoni, pronounced ni-ZHON-ee, the Navaho word meaning Beautiful, and beautiful she is. Nizoni was born exactly one year and nine minutes after her older brother, Gavin, so they are real “Irish twins.” Or is that considered a racist term now? Their shared birthday parties are a juggling act, although as long as everything (including the chili) has chocolate in it, Nizoni is happy.

Bonnie’s father is one-half Hopi and a member of that tribe. At Gavin’s Hopi Hair Washing Ceremony, all his direct Hopi relatives (parents, aunts, uncles, etc.) washed his hair and gave him the Hopi name meaning Tadpole. Other members of the tribe are witnesses to the ceremony. At Nizoni’s Hair Washing, being a girl, she was named after the Kachina for cumulus clouds.

Bonnie’s father is also one-half Tewa. His father was the last full-blooded Tewa Indian in Bonnie’s family, and he was the first Indian Platoon leader in the US military. During the closing weeks of WWII, he and the members of his platoon parachuted behind enemy lines in the Phillipines and helped rescue a group of American POW’s who they knew were scheduled for execution by the Japanese within 24 hours. Bonnie’s grandfather was a great man and a great warrior.

When her third little Indian, Soren, was born, she gave him the middle name of Tewa, a lifetime remembrance of his heritage. He was named Little Corn at his Hopi Hair Washing. His mother thinks he’s pretty corny for sure when he’s hungry and yelling for food. He’s nine months old now and seriously considering walking. Since his eyes shine with mischief, Bonnie wonders how she’ll corral him when the time comes and if there’s any sleep in her future.

If you question Bonnie about her heritage she says she prefers to be called an Indian, with no hyphenated anything. That she is a patriotic American is a given. She wishes some Americans would just get over being so phony about their supposed sensitivities and if someone wants to call her a “Redskin”‘ hey, that’s fine with her. She’s proud to be an Indian and hopes the Redskins keep both their pride and their name.

Bonnie’s children belong to a mixed world, for you see she chose a (gasp!)
white guy for a husband. Alex’s roots in America go back only to the Mayflower, so he’s a newcomer to the land. Together Bonnie and her Alex are more concerned about the character, good behavior and toughness of their Three Little Indians than they are about any manufactured hurt feelings. They are, however, not above using Indian culture to make a point.

When Gavin started school this past autumn, he quietly folded his arms and bowed his head over his food at lunch. His teacher told him he was not allowed to do that. He was confused and upset when he told Bonnie and Alex about it because he had been taught at home to always bless his food. His parents very carefully considered their options and what they hoped to accomplish for their son. The next morning Bonnie went to the school and explained that in Hopi culture and tradition it is important to give thanks for the bounty of the earth. Caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place, the school, to be politically correct, bowed to Hopi, not Christian, tradition.

Harry Reid’s evil remarks are both demeaning and insulting to both sides of Bonnie and Alex’s family. Please Harry, everyone’s heard enough from you, just go away.

We are the blessed ones as the Three Little Indians invade our home every day. They giggle as they pull their Papa’s suspenders and kiss the bald spot on his head. He saves himself by bribing them with anything chocolate and calls them his “War Whoops.” The dog loves them with slavish devotion and makes certain they are safe in the yard. They love the dog and tolerate me as they kiss me and call me gramma.

Harry, not a single one of us needs anything from you.

PARKINSON’S DISEASE

Dyskinesia, Homespun philosophy, Medicine, Parkinson's,
    . . . in sickness as in health . . .

    I had thought to be first to leave since you were
    . the one called upon to do the caring, and you soon did
    . as you stood always by me.
    Now I’m not so sure as you descend into your
    . own private hell of illness, PD –
    . Parkinson’s Disease.
    I dreamed last night of a time when you ran up the ladder
    . while carrying two bundles of shingles on your shoulder
    . something you can no longer do.
    I wasn’t worried then but I do worry now –
    . all the “I” sounds above are not about “me”, but about what
    . “we” are – in this together.
    Yesterday we met with Parkinson’s friends to share
    . news and humor (always mixed with pain) –
    . the only place where PD can be funny.
    Sallie wants her PD to “just go away” but says so
    . with laughter and everyone laughs, too,
    . because they know PD doesn’t “go away.”
    We laugh with Peter, who, like many others “freezes”
    . while walking forward. He can only move then
    . by walking backward.
    Once at the airport he “froze” after clearing TSA, then
    . had to walk backwards all the way to his gate and
    . onto the plane – no one even questioned him.
    Some PD people “freeze” but can be “unfrozen”- or
    . is it “thawed”? – by only a touch. Others must be led from
    . the front or pushed from behind.
    Some “freeze” if they try to step on a stool, or step on a line
    . or crack, or maybe the opposite is true, they can only
    . walk if ON a line or crack. Crazy.
    We discussed ways of coping with loss of balance, constant pain,
    . garbled speech, which medicines cause trouble for some
    . but not others, and the things doctors don’t know.
    Susan is newly diagnosed and wants to know if anyone
    . else has trouble with speaking, drooling, falling
    . sleeping, vivid nightmares, leg cramps –
    The three Dans, Deanna, Peter, Sallie and Bob answer as best they can –
    . Susan asks quietly, “Has anyone lost their sense of smell?” All
    . hands go up. She looks relieved.
    After all this is only a “movement disorder” that
    . makes your arms “shake a little bit.” I once heard a
    . doctor on the radio say so.
    He evidently has not seen anyone in the throes
    . Of dyskinesia, or shaking from head to foot, or walking
    . by running rapidly on their toes and moving mere inches at a time.
    Nor has he seen anyone who has not
    . slept more than minutes for what seems like months – as
    . they cry out for nonexistent help.
    Just before leaving I briefly touch again on a matter that intrigues
    me, one that PD people do not often discuss, even
    amongst themselves, and certainly not with doctors –
    “How many of you believe you were born with PD?” Eyes always
    drop as almost all hands reluctantly raise. No one, and I do
    mean NO ONE, will tell their doctor this.
    If a patient did, would it matter to the doc? Or would he think the person
    is assigning too much importance to tracing the cause of
    his illness, or maybe think he’s just crazy?
    You see, no one knows what causes PD. There have been no real
    advances in meds or treatment for nearly twenty years. Big things
    are always just around the corner.
    Until the Big Things happen, we live with what is. I hope you
    know how much of this I share with you as I clasp your trembling
    body in the night.

THE CARE AND FEEDING OF GENIUS

Education, intelligence, Truth, Uncategorized, , , ,

CAN WE REALLY KNOW WHAT GENIUS IS?

In the late 1970’s Popular Science ran an article about The Next Decades Up- and-Coming Young Scientists, or something of that nature. At the time I was busily engaged in the trenches rearing three small children. Our eldest son had scored very high on an IQ test (I almost want to say here that he was “diagnosed” with a high IQ), which was no surprise, but it did increase our insecurities about how best to meet his needs.

The author of the article in question interviewed several of the men and women scientists who had been recommended for the magazine’s honor. Some of the questions asked and the answers were very illuminating.

When asked when they knew they were “smart”, over half said they had no idea until they took the SAT and/or entered college. They thought of themselves as “just one of the guys” until they went away from home. There were very few who said their parents told them or any of their siblings they were smart or praised them for it. Some of the respondents still sounded shocked that they were considered smarter than average.

When asked what they considered their biggest advantages in growing up,  the answers were almost all along the lines of:

My parents made me do my homework, and they checked it.

I had responsibilities at home, but learning was a priority.

My mother took me to the library at least once a week to get as many new books as I was allowed to borrow, and made certain I both read the books and took care of them. My parents questioned me about them.

Both of my parents were interested in what I was doing and what I thought. We ate dinner together and discussed everything under the sun.

All of the respondents said their strengths started with their parents and being taught to work.

The article also quoted one top scientist as saying, “You can learn anything in the world if you have an IQ of 120, anything above that number is just so much gravy.”

I’m still not convinced that we know enough about intelligence to “test” for it. What is considered intelligence in one culture may be totally irrelevant in another. Is a Polynesian explorer steering his canoe by his knowledge of the ocean and heavens any less intelligent than a book taught scholar at Cambridge? Would some of our present day educators have enough knowledge to survive if dropped into a wilderness? What kind of IQ would survival take?

So, does IQ matter? I read once that after Richard Feynman won the Nobel Prize in Physics, he and his wife visited his old high school where he asked to see his school records. Upon leaving he turned to his wife and said, “Winning the Nobel Prize didn’t seem like such a big deal, but now that I know my IQ it seems huge.”

I have watched the trap that parents of “smart” kids can fall into when they think that their child “has no peers”, as I heard one woman say. It’s an easy trap to be caught in. When our son skipped sixth grade and began Middle School he left his friends behind and felt lost without them. He came home one day and happily told me he had made a friend. Without thinking, I asked, “Is he smart?” My son, wiser than I, answered, “I don’t know, but he sure is nice.” I mended my ways.

Remember, we should be engaged in the business of rearing good people first, geniuses if we have to. Now that I have watched my children become adults and begin families of their own, I have learned a few lessons that, in the real world, seem important to me in growing those good people:

All children should be taught to work at a young age. They should also be given some moral and/or religious instruction.

All of your children, whether genius or not, will have different strengths and weaknesses. Other children are their peers.

All children will fail, and need to be told they failed. Their feelings will recover and their self respect will be strengthened when they master what they failed at.

Never be afraid to tell your children “NO”, and mean it.

Unless they are infants or ill, never clean up after your children. They need to clean up their own messes and mistakes.

All children should learn a skill or trade, but not all should go to college.

Your child may be a “late bloomer”, cut him or her some slack.

All children, no matter how “smart”, will have troubles and heartache. It’s called the human condition.

At some point, earlier than you might think, you lose the right to be your child’s boss. They’re on their own.

As long as your children know how to work and love God and learning, chances are, no matter what they do, they’ll be fine.

One more thing. If I were doing things all over again today, I would home school in a heart beat.

HARVARD HUBRIS

Education, Politics, Truth, ,

MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL, WHO’S THE SMARTEST ONE OF ALL?

Sandra Korn, a student at Harvard and a columnist for the HARVARD CRIMSON, has raised eyebrows over her assertion that adherence to liberalism trumps academic freedom, and Harvard should lock out those who do not agree with her. I suppose she’s getting her fifteen minutes in the limelight, but let’s look at what she has to believe in order to make such a proposition:

That Sandra Korn is the smartest woman in the world, or at least at  Harvard (which, in her mind, may be the same thing.)
That she knows everything, so no other ideas are needed.
That anyone who thinks other than she is at least her inferior, if not downright stupid, and probably evil.
That free thought and free speech should not be tolerated in academia, so Harvard must bar its doors against such folk. (I thought they already had, so this point may be moot.)
That she has the right to determine what other people think and say.

In another context I had quoted Soren Kirkegaard as follows: THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO BE FOOLED. ONE IS TO BELIEVE WHAT IS NOT TRUE; THE OTHER IS TO REFUSE TO BELIEVE WHAT IS TRUE.

Sandra seems to have put herself on the horns of a dilemma here. What she says and why she apparently believes she has the right to say it are completely illogical and profound foolishness for the following reasons:

Sandra has not told us her IQ, but it is possible that smarter people than she exist, some may even attend Harvard, or no university at all.
It is impossible that she knows everything and has no need of other ideas. What a closed mind that would be.
Very intelligent people, some way smarter than she, may very well disagree with her.
Free thought and free speech are the very essence of TRUTH and LEARNING.
What other people think and say are, frankly, none of her business. If she chooses to engage them in debate then she is obliged to remain civil.

What she says, and apparently believes, is not true and meets Kirkegaard’s first test of foolishness. Her REFUSAL to believe that free ideas and free speech are vital to academic freedom meets his second test of foolishness,

Sandra appears to be a foolish person on all counts and the horns of her dilemma are very sharp, they might even break her ego mirror on the wall.