Trying to follow

So, one of my current housemates is a third grade teacher who recommended I read What Does it Mean to Be Well Educated? And Other Essays on Standards, Grading, and Other Follies, by Alfie Kohn. I’ve been devouring the book and have found Kohn’s insight fascinating. I’m going to post some quotes in upcoming blogs so I’ll keep this review brief.

I think every educator should read this book, or at least some of Kohn’s work (most probably have). I’m not sure that everyone will agree with his opinions, but I think he has brilliant insight that will help you see a different perspective and consider things from an angle you hadn’t before. Kohn manages to step back from the current debates that are often polarized to two sides and lends a whole new perspective the questions some of the very assumptions we currently take for granted.

The ideas are pretty radical at times, but I find I agree with much of what he says. He’s extremely critical of standardized testing, national standards, business and politicians involved in education decisions, and a huge opponent to grades.

Here are a couple quotes and links to a lot of the complete essays!

From Confusing Hard with Better:

But how many adults could pass these exams? How many high school teachers possess the requisite stock of information outside their own subjects? How many college professors, for that matter, or business executives, or state legislators could confidently write an essay about Mayan agricultural practices or divergent plate boundaries? We would do well to adopt (Deborah) Meier’s Mandate: No student should be expected to meet an academic requirement that a cross section of successful adults in the community cannot.

A list Two Cheers for an End to the SAT on why to ditch the SAT:

• The SAT is a measure of resources more than of reasoning.
• Aggregate scores don’t reflect educational achievement.
• Individual scores don’t reflect a student’s intellectual depth.
• SAT’s don’t predict the future.
• SAT’s don’t contribute to diversity.

And finally From Degrading to De-Grading on why to do away with grades:

Grades tend to reduce students’ interest in the learning itself.

Grades tend to reduce students’ preference for challenging tasks.

Grades tend to reduce the quality of students’ thinking.

Grades aren’t valid, reliable, or objective.

Grades distort the curriculum.

Grades waste a lot of time that could be spent on learning.

Grades encourage cheating.

Grades spoil teachers’ relationships with students.

Grades spoil students’ relationships with each other.

Feel free to read the complete essays linked above and let me know your thoughts.

Currently, I’m of the opinion that the all-out-battle I see presented by Christians in the political realm against gay marriage terribly misses the mark. It’s as if we think the most appropriate way to love our neighbor is to stand at a distance and vote away their immorality. All that aside, from what I can tell, Christians are fighting a lossing battle. Gay marriage will be recognized by the state eventually, it’s just a matter of time. And then the apocolypse will come, or our society will decline into moral degradation, or maybe we’ll go on just like we have been. Regardless of your opinion, here are a couple suggestions I have on how the church should be addressing this whole Gay Marriage thing. It’s mostly a PR campaign.

The Church should make a clear distinction between Biblical Marriage and State Marriage

Instead of arguing that the whole gay marriage thing is a threat to the institution of marriage we should be letting everyone know there is a clear distinction between what the state recognizes and what the Bible says (though plenty disagree on what it does actually say). This will help us do away with the feeling of being threatened since they are two entirely separate things. Maybe churches should start calling Biblical Marriage something else to help make the distinction. How about Biblicariage?

The Church should apologize for being silent or hostile to the Homosexual Community

I believe that before the church has an opportunity to speak to the Homosexual community it should offer an apology. We need to apologize for standing silent, or picketed, as AIDS took the lives of many. We should ask forgiveness for being alienating and hostile to many who had once called Christianity home but where ostracized because of their lifestyle choices. And we should acknowledge that though the main face of Christianity that has been presented to the homosexual community has been of hostile picketers at parades and funerals, we are also sorry for apathetically standing by.
This message could easily be communicated through a collection of pastors sending open letters to gay media outlets or publishing full page ads in those magazines. If the church should be an example of anything it should be in our willingness to acknowledge our own sin and ask forgiveness.

I figure there will be a lot to talk about around this one as well, so I’ll keep it short.

It’s seems when it comes to Christian voting decisions there are two main issues I hear spoken about on the Christian radio and from the pulpits. Gay Marriage is one of those and I’ve had a hard time wrapping my mind around why. As I mentioned earlier, in high school I probably would have agreed to vote Republican and outlaw gay marriage and wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but when I started thinking about it I came to some challenges. Regardless of whether or not you thinking Homosexuality is a sin, I think the points below are still valid, and so, we’ll stipulate for the rest of the post that you the reader, consider it a sin.

Gay Marriage is not Homosexuality

The legal issue of whether or not we recognize a gay couple as married has nothing to do with keeping anyone from sinning. There are many people in active homosexual relationships, a law outlawing them to be recognized as legal married, has nothing to do holding back the tides of immorality.

Marriage recognized by the Government isn’t the same as Christian Marriage

Christians historically made a huge mistake when we started confusing the marriage license you get from the government with the marital union recognized by God. The definition of marriage by the government in no way changes the definition of marriage by God, they are two entirely different things and we do ourselves and society a disservice when we confuse them.

Gay Marriage is an issue of Civil Rights

Whether you agree with this statement or not, that is the motivation and passion behind it. It is not some hidden ‘homosexual agenda’ out to corrupt society and our youth. A married homosexual couple would like to enjoy the same legal benefits as a married heterosexual couple. Benefits like making medical or end-of-life decisions for their partner, being with them in the emergency room, and the hundreds of rights, benefits and protections of marriage.

Gay Marriage is an opportunity to encourage Loving Monogamy

Besides the necessity of marriage being one man and one woman, Christians recognize there are many other values and qualities a spouse needs to bring the a marriage in order for it to thrive. Some of those include: selfless love, putting others before themselves, commitment, and monogamy. These are all values Christian find Biblical basis for and esteem to in their own marriages (though we often fall short). Gay couples desire to be married is an opportunity for the church to esteem those values and commitments in these individuals. This sort of support does not have to ignore or eliminate that the church disagrees with homosexual relations, but it is an opportunity to draw out the Christ-like qualities in people and their relationships. When my wife esteems me for making a delicious omlette I know it doesn’t repeal the fact that I’m a total slob at times.

That’s enough for now, I’ll hit up part two on the topic tomorrow.

I know, I’m sort of fascinated by this stuff. This one has subtitles and is 7 minutes

And Pedal Power (ht), if you want to see it in person come to the Liberty Parade

I’ve had the privilege to start writing occasionally for Creation Care’s new web initiative, Deep Green Conversations. Josh Brown (from that podcast), has been working really hard on this project and I wanted to be sure to give him a shout out. You should check out the new site, where you might find a familiar article by me about plastic bags.

When our baby was on the way I started searching for Christians who I could look to as examples of living a simple and sacrifical life while raising children. One couple I ran across was Nancy and Matthew Sleeth. They are fascinating people, here’s just a snippet…

When God called me to this creation care ministry, I was a physician—chief of staff and head of the emergency department—at one of the nicest hospitals in America. I enjoyed my job, my colleagues, my expensive home, my fast car, and my big paycheck. I have since given up every one of these things.

We now live in a house the exact size of our old garage. We use less than one-third of the fossil fuels and one-quarter of the electricity we once used. We’ve gone from leaving two barrels of trash by the curb each week to leaving one bag every few weeks. We no longer own a clothes dryer, garbage disposal, dishwasher, or lawn mower. Our “yard” is planted with native wildflowers and a large vegetable garden. Half of our possessions have found new homes. We are a poster family for the downwardly mobile.

What my family and I have gained in exchange is a life richer in meaning than I could have imagined. Because of these changes, we have more time for God. Spiritual concerns have filled the void left by material ones. Owning fewer things has resulted in things no longer owning us. We have put God to the test, and we have found his Word to be true. He has poured blessings and opportunities upon us. When we stopped living a life dedicated to consumerism, our cup began to run over.

Read the rest and more at Deep Green Conversations