May 27, 2013

China Parents Apologize After Netizens Track Down Teenager who Defaced Egyptian Temple

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/05/27/ding_jinhao_chinese_parents_apologize_for_teen_s_egypt_graffiti.html

"The father called on China’s netizens to leave his son alone: "The kid has a good academic record, but is a little introverted. This is too much pressure for him to take."



One advantage of losing our hegemony is that other countries will feature more prominently as "Ugly non-Americans." The apology by the father is clueless as to how serious what this boy did.

May 13, 2013

Commenting on daughter's English essay

My daughter wrote a persuasive essay for 9th grade English. One of the requirements was to have an adult review the essay, help make grammatical and other corrections, and fill out a sheet that looks like a rubric that a teacher would use. I was more than happy to do this for my daughter (I homeschooled her in English in 7th and 8th grade). Some observations:
1. What about the kids without parents willing and/or able to do this?
2. I have found that my daughter's ability to write essays has actually declined from were she was under my instruction in 8th grade. I attribute to the decline to the involvement and expectation of a teacher (me) with only one student (my daughter). I have a great deal of respect for her teacher (my older daughter had her as well), but my daughter just seems to be dialing it in. She does not have the passion and commitment she exhibited last year.

I am considering dual enrolling my daughter going forward (Homeschool and selected classes at the High School). This would mean that my daughter would not graduate from the public high school, but it would mean that she could focus on more important considerations without the other things which get in the way of learning. At the end of the day her college transcript is really all that matters (she wants to go to medical school). I don't think she got much out of English this year.