come back to me
breath on
wingless flight
drift in on breeze
soft focus
for harsh light
suffuse my air
aromatic
scent the night
cushioned sin
pervade till
all seems right
be still and hear
muse music
erudite
return my love
with kindness
ease my plight
pour forth to me
essence
beaming bright
to see you here
tears blur
so heal my sight
http://weknowmemes.com/2011/10/the-educational-system-comic/
Not being a conspiracy theorist, I cannot say, categorically, that there is a plot afoot to keep the general populace in widespread ignorance by dumbing down the curriculum.
Neither can I say, with any real evidence, that current methodology and practice within establishments (from primary through to secondary and beyond) is designed to ensure minimum love of education and a destruction of motivation within students and teachers.
What I can say, with more than a measure of truth, is that all of the above appears to be happening.
And it worries the hell out of me.
Children either unable to read or spell or their capacity to do so measuring well below their intellectual abilities.
Children bored or turned off of education from the earliest years.
Students lacking the desire to embrace education for the sheer joy of it.
There is much more. And there are many more worrying traits that I have observed over a lifetime being involved in education as a student, teacher and parent.
I am embarking on something of an investigation into this on a practical level as well as in theory.
I would be grateful for any input you may have to offer from any perspective regardless of nationality. I am looking at this within the context of Scottish education but keeping an eye open to a wider perspective. I have reason to believe that this is not merely a Scottish issue.
It would be helpful to know where you are from. If possible, could you please state a country in the comments section, as additional information to the first poll, with ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ or other placed beside your nationality.
Thank you for taking part. I’m hoping to get to the bottom of a number of issues and any information will add value to the practical measures I am taking.
Ok so, Pete made a comment on one of my posts about the ‘fact’ that Mr. Kellogg had apparently invented corn flakes while trying to discover a cure for masturbation for the inmates in a sanatorium.
I just had to check the facts on that. Wikipedia might not always be up to scratch but it seemed to be true. What I read in the rest of the info has prompted this post. I wanted to entitle it ‘Wankers’ but felt sure that some people might be put off reading thinking it was another political rant!
So here goes nothing.
I did a post a wee while ago referring to the fact that I don’t find discussing sexuality easy. Especially in public. Blame my mum.
It doesn’t take away from the fact that I admire those who can. It doesn’t take away from the fact that I am a sexual being. A sensual woman, I like to think. Despite the fact that my own mum had issues discussing, overtly, anything of a sexual nature. Blame her mum.
In later years, my mum would discuss pretty much anything with the adult me. Sometimes embarrassingly so. But I always remember one of her ‘talks’ as she tried to explain a few facts to me.
It kind of went like this.
‘You know how some men like steak and some prefer chicken for dinner?’
‘Umm, yes.’ (Mama, have you lost your mind?)
‘Well some men like to lick the plate.’
Now this analogy took a few seconds to hit home with me. And then, wham!
WTF! My mum was attempting to discuss oral sex with me. I was in my late teens as I recollect. You can imagine the thoughts conjured up about my parents then. Yeuch! I guess she figured I was mature enough to realise that what two consenting adults did in their own time was not my business. I was. I still am.
In my early teens I had gone to confession and told the priest that I had investigated ‘down there’. Yup, I did. I was under the impression that if I died before I confessed God would ask me about my ‘sins’ in front of everyone in heaven. And what a red neck that would be. Better just get rid of it now. So to speak.
And the priest’s answer? ‘Were you on your own?’ Seriously. I was shocked. I thought I had discovered something that only I knew about and it turns out people did these things together and it had a name. He did commend me on such a frank confession which I was quite chuffed about!
There is a point to my embarrassing disclosure. You might not be embarrassed but I am. But I figure the truth is out there. And maybe it’s time we acknowledged a few home truths.
Like, for example, that girls do have that little hooded area of orgasmic pleasure that they are aware of and, if lucky, some man will one day be aware of too and act on a couple of instructions. It may be a penile stub in comparison to the ‘magnificence’ of the erect penis – all 12 inches worth, according to some men.
Both appendages are there. Belonging to the individual. To them. No other.
Reminds me of when my husband looked in the rear view mirror of our car a long many a year ago and commented to one of the kids for the umpteenth time, ‘Stop picking your nose.’
Her babyish answer of, ‘My nose’, soon shut him up. Touche.
Mr Kellogg (1852-1943) had some rather strange and worrying practices. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harvey_Kellogg
Here’s an excerpt (from Mr Kellogg’s own book) in case you don’t follow links.
| “ | A remedy which is almost always successful in small boys is circumcision, especially when there is any degree of phimosis. The operation should be performed by a surgeon without administering an anesthetic, as the brief pain attending the operation will have a salutary effect upon the mind, especially if it be connected with the idea of punishment, as it may well be in some cases. The soreness which continues for several weeks interrupts the practice, and if it had not previously become too firmly fixed, it may be forgotten and not resumed. |
” |
further
| “ | a method of treatment [to prevent masturbation] … and we have employed it with entire satisfaction. It consists in the application of one or more silver sutures in such a way as to prevent erection. The prepuce, or foreskin, is drawn forward over the glans, and the needle to which the wire is attached is passed through from one side to the other. After drawing the wire through, the ends are twisted together, and cut off close. It is now impossible for an erection to occur, and the slight irritation thus produced acts as a most powerful means of overcoming the disposition to resort to the practice |
” |
and
| “ | In females, the author has found the application of pure carbolic acid (phenol) to the clitoris an excellent means of allaying the abnormal excitement. |
” |
He also recommended, to prevent children from this “solitary vice”, bandaging or tying their hands, covering their genitals with patented cages and electrical shock.[7]
In his Ladies’ Guide in Health and Disease, for nymphomania, he recommended
| “ | Cool sitz baths; the cool enema; a spare diet; the application of blisters and other irritants to the sensitive parts of the sexual organs, the removal of the clitoris and nymphae… |
” |
|
|
||
Some cultures still carry out female circumcision. And sew up the vaginal opening, allowing only for menstrual flow.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/jul/25/female-circumcision-children-british-law
At what point in history did it become the case that our preoccupation with sex reduced it to something so abhorrent that remedial measures should be taken to ensure minimum pleasure? And control?
Excerpts from the article, in case you don’t link.
Cleanliness, neatness of appearance and the increased sexual pleasure for the man are all motivations for the practice. But the desire to conform to tradition is the most powerful motive. The rite of passage, condemned by many Islamic scholars, predates both the Koran and the Bible and possibly even Judaism, appearing in the 2nd century BC
“FGM is not confined to African countries. It has no basis in Christianity, it has no basis in Islam; none of Muhammad’s daughters had it done. For some parents it is enough to let them know that and they will drop it completely. Everyone needs to understand that every child, no matter what the background or creed, is protected by this law in this land.”
“FGM has a social function and until this is understood by social services and other bodies they will never stop it. It is a power negotiation mechanism, that women use to ensure respect from men. It prevents rape of daughters and is a social tool to allow women to regain some power in patriarchal societies….”
This has led me on to some research that I’m not going to include here because it does not answer the question of why we as a world deem it appropriate to interfere with another person’s body.
I could go on about rape; about sexual harassment of many kinds and of both sexes; about why we think it’s ok to judge others based on their sexuality; or ok to judge on so many counts from colour, nationality to creed; about why we, as a species, allow victimisation in all its myriad forms.
Where did we inherit the right to discriminate against another person? Period.
How far back must we go to ascertain the truth in when it became a god-given right of anyone?
In fact, aren’t we told, ‘‘judge not lest you be judged’?
At some point in history deities of both genders were worshipped for their attributes. At some point in history nature was embraced and recognised for its wonders and the processes of life.
At some point it changed.
We became preoccupied with what everyone else was doing in privacy with their own bodies. We became preoccupied with everyone else’s perceived flaws of nature or appearance or sexuality.
Is it because we live in a male-dominated, patriarchal world?
It would seem to be men predominantly who have proscribed the acceptable terms of a woman’s sexuality. Or indeed anyone who does not conform to a defined macho sense of maleness so you’re buggered if you’re gay. Pun actually unintended. But I thought, what the hell.
Let’s face it men, generally, are the biggest wankers of all time and I mean that it in its correct usage. Might it be that rather than women suffering from penis envy men suffer from clitoral and vaginal envy? Two surely is better than one. And think of how quickly we recover after climax. What’s not to envy? Ready to go again, darling? How emasculating.
Now before you go off on one yes, it does sound like I’m having a go at men. Even my own husband has just said so. ‘But I’ve not finished!’ I said to him. *rolls eyes*
Earlier my sixteen year old daughter read out to me something she received via email/text.
This is an excerpt from a poet at http://inkskinned.tumblr.com/
I’ve just followed. I can’t find a link to this piece of writing. It’s excellent. It’s strong. But I’m selecting this part to underline what so many women feel.
An open letter to the ‘nice guy’ who tried to hit me because I stopped him from taking home a drunk girl who was begging him to leave her alone (or: why you should never ask a poet if she’s really an ugly cocksucker or if that’s just her day job):
you wanna know why we don’t let nice men into our beds? Because we rarely find them.
They’re out there, I know it, but they’re not the ones wetting themselves when a woman asks ‘why do you think that?’ instead of sitting back and letting him laugh with his buddies about femi-nazis. They’re out there and they’re probably as pissed as we are that at least one third of their population has openly admitted there are times when they think it’s okay to force their significant other to have sex: they’re out there, and the sad thing is, if you’re a male, you’re statistically not one of them. As far as we know, you don’t exist. You are a white knight only you believe in.
The thing about oppression is that it can only last for so long. You are not making yourself dominant, you’re making yourself weak. I’ve seen men crumble because they feel uncomfortable when they get hit on by other men as if the stench of their own mistakes is strangling them. I’ve seen them get impassioned because a teacher preferred females and I’ve laughed because I had eight other classes where it was reversed and in all of those eight, it went uncontested.…I’ve seen boys growl about women’s history month and had to wonder if they’ve ever held a textbook where the only names of girls are tiny footnotes. I’ve seen fathers ask why the curriculum I use for my six-year-olds is carefully gender neutral, why I let his son play at cooking or his daughter be a doctor.
I have never heard a mother complain except to beg me to get her little girl to talk more, to do more, to succeed – do you see? Do you see?
Now the last few weeks I’ve been involved in something of a private education programme thingy that might come back to bite me on the arse. But I’m doing it because education is the way forward. And it’s not the first time I’ve been bitten on the arse. Whole other story.
Speaking
Discussing.
Honesty.
And most of all love.
It’s hate that is at the root of everything I’ve read recently that has scandalised me.
And why?
We care so much about a woman’s tickly bits that we’ll mutilate.
We care so much about other people’s sexuality that we vilify.
We care so much about the colour of a person’s skin that we decry.
We care so much about the name of the religions that divide that we cannot unite.
We are a scared humanity, a humanity filled with petty differences. So petty that we cannot use the power of our own voices and select our own futures.
We inherit politicians who sometimes act wrongly under threat of disclosure about their sexual exploits. Name them, I dare you. Numerous.
Let’s lay off the sex, colour, religion and get down to the truth of this world. It is temporal. It is troubled. It is temporary.
I, for one, am taking the log out of my own eye before commenting on another’s splinter.
Except where truth and lies perpetuate cruelty.
Hatred and lies hurt. Truth will set us free.
In the words of Rabbie Burns – not rabbi Burns! –
Sirocco stirring
Sands of time,
Diablo melting
Mind,
Mistral chilling,
Vaping life,
Winds of fame
That blind.
Give me winds
That sweep from sea
Or rush
Down mountain pass,
That charge, invigorate,
Clear all inside,
Billow through,
Enlarge.
Or gentle breeze,
A breath so fine,
Whispering through my
Hair,
Gentle caress
Of tenderness
From lips that
Breathe your air.
May we all be prepared to reach in either direction.
Reach out, reach out, I will always be your friend,
always in my heart, a strength I will send,
don’t let those fears, be your lonely guide,
don’t let your heart, be burnt away inside,
don’t ever think, the things that you feel,
are not so important, they are not so very real,
when it comes too much, and everything a task,
you hide it deep inside, always wearing a mask,
the days become a struggle, it’s hard to keep at bay,
to take another breath, one more time in the fray,
but here my beautiful friend, let me give a plea to you,
I love you even more, if you ask to help you through,
I see your every turn, that black dog is lurking deep,
testing every part of you, the climbs are very steep,
I see your silent agony, please just call out my name,
you mean…
View original post 231 more words
I was messing around with a fellow blogger about acronyms and she used one I didn’t know ROFLMPRAO. Well, who does? But I’d told her I googled definitions if I didn’t know. So I googled this one and laughed with her that it was one of her own blog pages that came up.
Then I stopped laughing because I started reading. Then I clicked on the first link. Holy shit! For real?
A proud young American singing his heart and soul out for his country. And slated because of ignorance. I know this is an older post relevant to last year’s ball game. But does prejudice disappear so quickly? I think not.
We have so much to learn yet it seems. So many prejudices to overcome.
Last night was the 2013 (July 16) MLB All-Star game.
Ah, America’s past time!
Who doesn’t love a good baseball game? And what better way to open up America’s game then with a heartfelt rendition of “God Bless America“?
And … wait, a minute.
Who is this guy coming out to sing “God Bless AMERICA”?
Wow! Who is this un-American Spanish Mexican spic illegal foreigner terrorist singing “God Bless AMERICA” at a game of baseball, our AMERICAN past time?
Why, it’s New York born, United States citizen of Puerto Rican descent, Marc Anthony! …. and so on, and so on, and so on …..
OMG!!!!
***This just shows how uneducated these Americans are ….. Puerto Ricans have fought & lost their lives in your wars, the Island is a “colony” of your “great” country!!
Where did you guys go to school? Says a lot about those…
View original post 105 more words
You are what you eat?
On average, Americans consume more than their weight in GMOs each year – 193 pounds of GMOs per person. Not to mention the ROUNDUP HERBICIDE sprayed on and absorbed into it, or the Bt TOXINS inside the corn & cotton (seed oil)…
[ Repost from www.gmofreeusa.org ]
Do you really know what GMO is all about? If not, I have developed the following video to provide a simple introduction to GMO for you. After viewing the video, I hope you want to know more. If so, I have many posts here on my blog about GMOs.
Enjoy the video and get involved in protecting ourselves and our food supply!
A touch of magic! Natural, unadulterated talent!
Aspartame in food…..raising awareness.
Aspartame, also known as NutraSweet and Equal, is one of the most widely used artificial sweeteners on the market today. It is used in thousands of foods and beverages including chewing gum, candies, diet soft drinks, desserts, yogurt, condiments, and even vitamins and pharmaceuticals.
Astonishingly, although millions of people consume Aspartame every single day, it was never tested on humans prior to its approval.
First introduced in the 1980s, Aspartame has constantly been linked to a broad range of health problems. In a report by Dr. Joseph Mercola, he wrote that “Aspartame accountsfor over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA.” Here’s just a few of the over 90 different documented symptoms listed in the report as part of Aspartame dangers:
Headaches/migraines, Dizziness, Seizures, Nausea, Numbness
Muscle spasms, Weight gain, Rashes, Depression, Fatigue
Irritability, Tachycardia, Insomnia, Vision problems, Hearing loss
View original post 654 more words
And it goes on….Reblogging for humanity
Students are fighting for their rights to speak up against the government system and express their freedom of speech. Why are they assaulted, harmed and killed by the authorities that are supposed to protect them? Why parents, single mothers and elders are made to wait in long lines to find the most essential things to live like toothpaste, paper toilet, soap, milk, rice and medicine to say the least? The TV channels are censured to only show what the president has to say? Why does the social media completely shut down when exposing reality? Why do the people have to live in constant fear? Why can’t my generation and the next one…
View original post 151 more words
Decided to dance a little deeper in life, and wow can spirit dance!
Adventures to beguile you, worlds to enchant you.
- A paradigm shift in the meaning of domestic abuse & the Atlantic Bridge to ‘1984’...
The thoughts that run through my heid on the subject of Scottish politics and the influence of Westminster rule in Scotland
IT'S NOT ROCKET SALAD.........in the Land o' cakes and brither Scots
Musings on Faith, Education, Arts, Sport and Travel
bringing you the community news in Orkney
When it comes to life, write your own account...
A Son of Scotland
Scottish food - local to global
Irish History Online With Green Lamp Media
Author and political commentator
Side A - Politics, economics, Scottish Affairs :::: Side B - Guitars, gadgets, amps, mods.
News, opinion and analysis on the things that matter to you.
scottishmomus 