anatess2

The States can decide that for themselves. The voucher system, for one, doesn't demand anything beyond which schools are accredited for voucher. But, even Filipinos have public schools. It's well and good to say government should get out of education until you meet the kid who goes to school to escape/rise above the horrors at home. Philippine public schools are there to catch these hopeless children (and hopeless parents). Tom HIddleston (Loki in the Avengers movie) just added his voice to the #EmergencyLessons campaign that raises awareness for the role of education worldwide especially in war-torn countries. It's not all about the 3 R's...

Uhmm... I don't know how I destroyed the argument when this is the gist of my entire point: States can implement school choice. Florida has a head start on it.

I can't remember anymore which thread it was where I called the NC bathroom law stupid. I'm fairly certain I was talking to @Just_A_Guy at the time. I actually spent the time to read the NC bathroom law and learned a few things. Now, I still think it's ridiculous for government to legislate the use of bathrooms... but anywho... Here's what I found out: 1.) The NC bathroom law does not apply to privately owned bathrooms, so it only affects public (i.e. government-run) facilities. 2.) It has some broad-brush exemptions for people needing assistance - this can be used to exempt children and special needs and elderly, etc. 3.) NC bathroom law segregates multi-occupancy bathrooms by biological sex. 4.) The law defines biological sex as the gender on your birth certificate. Now, this is what a whole slew of people do not realize about NC: 5.) In NC, you can change the gender on your birth certificate. Yep. This is a law enacted long time ago that allows for people who have gone through gender reassignment surgery to change the gender on their birth certificate. Of course, one would think that if they've spent all that money to change their private parts it wouldn't be such a burden to send in the completed form with the $30-or-so filing fee to change their birth certificate as well. Now, of course, Caitlyn Jenner who didn't go through the surgery still has to use the boy's room. Well, that kinda makes sense... you got boy parts, you go use the high-occupancy urinal instead of holding up the line in the women's stalls. This is not Gender Identity discrimination, this is practical facility application. But yeah, I still don't like these legislations because it bothers me that Caitlyn Jenner will have to go to jail if caught using the women's bathrooms and I could also end up in jail if I go rush into the empty boys' room with my husband/kids on guard when the women's room is being cleaned or has a mile-long line, etc. etc... It's just a recipe for disaster with the zero tolerance policy types.

This one is classic:

You don't need government to standardize. Education is standardized in the Philippines and government can't see beyond their noses to do anything with education. The way the Philippines is standardized is through commercial competition. The highest standard is the Catholic Schools. You go to a Catholic School anywhere and graduating from 6th grade guarantees you qualify for 7th in any other Catholic School. Because Catholic Schools are so popular, all other schools advertise as "meeting the standards of Catholic School". No tests needed. If you transfer schools, you take your transcripts and send it to the new school. If you passed 6th grade, you get admitted to 7th... how do you know that your 6th grade is at the same standard as the new school? Because, if it isn't, that becomes news and your old school will lose student enrollment or parents are going to storm the school and demand a better education. Who decides whether you passed 6th grade? Your teachers. Every single teacher of every single subject determines your grade. Each teacher has a different way to measure core competencies. As a student, it is your job to know what that specific teacher requires to pass that class. If that teacher sucks, students will demand the teacher gets fired. Are there bad schools in the Philippines? You betcha. But everybody knows they're bad schools. You don't have to enroll there. Those who enroll there don't care that it is bad. They somehow figure out how to bridge the gap. No, this will not work in the American Public Education System. The main reason is because.... you have not much choice on which school you get to attend. If a school in the Philippines does idiot rules about their bathrooms... they'll lose students by next week.

I think this is a version of the same thing I've been through. I was around 8 years old when my seatmate in school died of leukemia. She was the first dead person I've ever seen. When I became a teenager and had my first monthly flow, I started thinking of her again. And then I started having dreams of being dead and the coffin is being closed over me. Then it got to where I would think even when I was awake. It finally stopped after a while. Then about 20 years ago in my hometown, an SUV got hit by a truck on the bridge causing it to fly over the side rails to fall into the water. The passengers died. A few years later, I started thinking of that incident. Then I started having dreams of falling off the bridge. It got so bad that it creeps into my head even when I'm awake. I even went and researched how to survive a car falling into the water and bought the tool thingee that breaks the window. Then I found out I was already 3 months pregnant... I can't really prove that those 2 events were related to the hormonal changes that I was going through at the time. It just seems like such a coincidence. In any case, until today, I still won't drive the car in the lanes on the rightmost and leftmost side of that bridge because it just gives me the heebie jeebies.

Oh, that's the Millennial Artist.

My son will fit right in your house. This is my kids' battle... "You're a.... <insert any witty random name-call here>" "I'm a person." "No you're not... you're a <insert another even wittier random name-call here>" "I'm a person." "Ok, I give up. Wanna ride bikes?" "I'm a person."

Ohh... but did she make Angry Birds lunch complete with angry bird shaped babybel cheese and boiled egg??? I did. Check the photo below...

Good mythical morning! My kids are so into that show that one day I made their lunchbox themed, "Will it taco?" where I wrapped every item in soft taco shell... strawberries in the taco, celery and peanut butter in a taco, boiled egg in a taco, chicken nuggets in a taco....

Hah hah... THAT is a comeback. When I was in high school, I had several memorized phrases I can whip out in a snap as the moment is ripe for it. My favorite is "How dare you insinuate that I can tolerate such a diabolical insolence from a scrap of humanity such as you!".

Now see... you always have an excuse for everything... that's why you're single.

In Spanish, a set of drawers are cajones... so, bragging that I know Spanish I told the man from craigslist who was shouting at his kids in spanish that I'm here to see his cojones that he posted on craigslist.

Lots of Filipinos........ ..... need visas.

In addition to the wonderful suggestions above.... My advice to all parents... build self-confidence in children so they can stand up against rumor-mongers and know that's not who they are so it doesn't matter what they just said. I'm gonna share this altercation in my 12-year-old's school: My son's best friend in school put his hand on the back of a girl's neck a few days back to steer her to where she was supposed to go. The girl accused him of physical abuse days later and said he attempted to choke her. My son defended his friend and told her that you can't choke somebody by holding the back of her neck. The girl responded by telling my son that his dad is cheating on his mom. My son came home upset that this girl accused his dad of cheating. So, I asked my son... why did this upset you? Do you think your dad cheated on your mom? My son replied - of course not. So, I ask him... so why did this upset you? And he said... I was just so mad that I got outworded... My son apparently wanted to reply - are you sure that wasn't your dad you saw? But he didn't think of it at the heat of the moment and so he got upset. So we had a long talk about it's not necessary to have the last word on everything. Sometimes, it's best to just ignore things you know is not true. Sometimes, you can challenge them to prove it. Sometimes, you can educate them of the truth if they genuinely believe the falsehood. But this time, the girl just wanted to outword you... doesn't matter what words came out of her mouth... best to just ignore it instead of wasting your energy on figuring out a comeback.

No, I'm not meaning the classic, textbook definitions. I'm looking for the American Definition. How is Pro-Gun, Pro-Life anti-LGBT marriage, etc. Conservative... WHAT MAKES them Conservative other than the Republican Party holds these positions? Same for liberal positions of issues. It would have made more sense if instead of saying Conservative/Liberal, you say Republican/Democrat. That's easy - you just look up their stated party platforms and you got a definition. This is very evident in this election cycle when even candidates running for Presidency have no consistent definition of what it is - you have 7 Presidential Candidates spouting on stage 7 different definitions of Conservatism and on the other side, a socialist Presidential Candidate accusing a long-acknowledged Liberal of being Conservative.

Okay see... this doesn't make sense. How does Conservative equate to "say what it means and mean what it says"... as a matter of fact, how does Conservative apply to scripture at all? What is the State in this context? How does Liberal equate to "broad recommendations"... What are they seeking Liberty from? The reason I'm pushing these questions is because a lot of people accuse Liberals/Conservatives of stuff that Liberals/Conservatives aren't.. they just assumed they are because that's what they thought being Liberal/Conservative means... or more accurately, it's the color of their jerseys. So when "conservatives" see Catholic nuns wearing full habits holding up a Pro-Choice sign they feel betrayed because they're supposed to be wearing the conservative color jersey... so they end up calling the nuns fools.

Okay... this is how I saw this conversation went: You said: You do not see how it is possible... I said: It is possible when you consider post partum mood disorder - includes post partum disorder all the way to post partum psychosis. I cited several examples of crazier things that happened than forgetting kids, including a personal experience where I forgot my kid in a shopping cart. You said: It's not an excuse. I said: It's not an excuse, it's an explanation of how it is possible. Okay, what did I misunderstand?

I don't know... I think it's a tie between Gary and Plankton.

Okay... here we are with the miscommunication again. Explain this to me. What did I not understand?

What do you feel is your purpose for wanting to know these things? Is it simply morbid curiousity or is there something else?

I'm not excusing it. I'm simply explaining "how it can happen"... it's an answer to your question. There is no excuse for bad behavior. I have never used my IED as an excuse to abuse my family but I still ended up doing so even after all I have done to prevent it. It's not necessarily sympathy that these people need. It is understanding so that they can be properly treated/mitigated/etc. so that they can move forward with this thing called "living". And like I mentioned... calling it a "depression" is a misnomer. Sometimes it manifests as a depression, more often than not it manifests in other ways.

Okay, pop quiz... explain the liberal versus conservative position of baking cakes at gay weddings... explain how they are liberal and how they are conservative.

This is a complete misunderstanding of "standardization". Standardization means if a student receives an A in Algebra in California, it means that that kid should qualify to start Geometry in Vermont. It has NOTHING at all to do with HOW the kid got that A in Algebra or HOW he was taught or WHAT he had to do to receive that A. All that is up to each student, how he learns, and his relationship with his teacher or school on how he figures out how to solve for X. But... for him to pass Algebra, he has to learn how to solve for X - doesn't matter how he solves it, he has to be able to solve it, regardless of whether he's in Vermont or California.

Things I learned from my kid's classical training: "You cannot learn to be Herbie Hancock by playing Bach, Czerny, etc, but Bach, Czerny, etc is an exceptionally comprehensively efficient means to lay the foundation so that the piano student can be empowered to be anything he wants later." or "A curving tree can get better sunlight from one side but it is restricted instead of freed. A solid straight tree may sound restrictive but it is the most free to extend branches in any direction to catch light from all sides." And some more: "There's only one way to start to learn the piano - learn the physicality of the music to the instrument. This allows the student to master the instrument instead of the instrument mastering the student. This physicality is learned through proper technique." and "It is fine and good for the music masters to claim that they never practiced scales or ran exercises, rather they practiced music - as they play with superhuman technique that is obviously not something people are born with. They may not realize it but they have an instinctive conceptualization of music and physical unity such that everytime they play music they are practicing technique. For those without that instinct, they get to practice their scales." "Although there are many erudite musicians who can't read music, there has never been a musician to express that they are glad they never learned to read music."