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Author
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Topic: ADD Is O-U-T!
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Randall
Webmaster Posts: 16539
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted May 20, 2001 02:58 AM
 
What goes around comes around.
http://www.spotlight.org/10_23_00/Ritalin/ritalin.html ------------------
"The ancestor to every action is a thought." EMERSON IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 16539
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted May 20, 2001 01:52 PM
They often write about HUGE events that the regular media somehow fails to report. But the media couldn't be biased, could they?!?------------------
"The ancestor to every action is a thought." EMERSON IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 16539
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted May 23, 2001 01:39 PM
You read it here first. I predicted a little while back that Ritalin manufacturers would be sued for billions and have the money given back to consumers. I just didn't expect it to happen so soon! Teachers will be fired, school administrators will be forced to resign, and parents will join together in outrage. As the cycle continues, just about everybody will get in on the ADD fight. It was a long time coming.  ------------------
"The ancestor to every action is a thought." EMERSON IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 16539
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted May 24, 2001 02:42 PM
Wonder what teachers will do without the ADD scapegoat to blame everything on? They might actually have to teach for a change.  ------------------
"The ancestor to every action is a thought." EMERSON IP: Logged |
chronicprincess
Knowflake Posts: 3080
From: Earth
Registered: May 2001
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posted May 27, 2001 06:21 AM
Good question, randall... let's visualize the answer is a productive one, and not another call for the whaaaa-ambulance from school administators (the biggest problem in schools, more than teachers, i think). If I see one more relatively oppulent school principal's *office* outfitted more nicely and and with more books than his teachers' classrooms, which don't even have FURNITURE (not to mention learning tools) i think i might just scream  My cousin, the kindest, sweetest soul i know on this earth haven is a teacher for special kids. I'm sure, like many other teachers, she spends a good 5% or more of *her* salary on materials and tools for her classrooms (assuming she even has a "room"!) because the athletic department (primarily the boys') has priority in the budget. There are devoted teachers out there who loyal to their charges and committed to their needs, but not near enough of them. How do we circumvent the problem of educators not knowing how to educate, let alone relate to, or inspire a young s-elf?  Hmmmmmmm... I wonder what would happen if the teachers were actually compensated in accordence with their 'importance' ... I think their work is much more important than the man this nation just elected into public office as vice president. He had to quit his day job to take office, but unemployment benefits won't be an issue... he retired with $26,000,000.00 of golden umbrella stuff in his pocket... What's wrong with this picture? How much do Teachers and Fire-fighters make? Which can we more easily live without, the position of CEO at an oil field service company or that of a Teacher? My guess is Teacher, hopefully teaching something other than how to extract focil-fuels from the bowels of this heavenly body we reside on...  &  Katii ------------------
"Not knowing how to live, he kept on living - and not knowing how to die, he went on writing...
~Tristan Corbiere, The Contumacious Poet IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 16539
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted May 27, 2001 03:15 PM
Yep, the good teachers are grossly underpaid. But the bad teachers make far too much. Unfortunately, if teachers received a tremendous increase in pay, we would attract even more of the bad ones. The real problem is with society. Society pays for what it values most--musicians, actors/actresses, and sports heroes, not teachers, firefighters, or police officers. Sad, but true.  ------------------
"The ancestor to every action is a thought." EMERSON IP: Logged |
LMB
Moderator Posts: 668
From: Cooltown, USA
Registered: Dec 2000
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posted May 27, 2001 11:14 PM
Just a note on the quality of teachers...in my LAST TWO CLASSSES OF MY UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGE CAREER (*ahem*) I have the gross extremes of instructors. My history teacher is an older, intensely boring man who no doubt is writing his latest award-winning article on the side while he sleepily reports on the history of the Ottoman Empire. Whereas I'm taking a Philosophy of Business Ethics course (one I was incredibly intimidated by because Philosophy nor Business are my strong points) where a last year graduate student writing her dissertation is teaching. She does human rights work in Africa and a host of other things. Well, she is SO excited about this class. We're reading an incredible text and relating business ethics to ourselves, personally. She has the class interacting with EACH OTHER and it makes ALL the difference. I would like ten teachers like her as opposed to one like the other man. But who gets more money? Who gets tenure? LMB IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 16539
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted May 28, 2001 01:48 AM
Even at the college level, good teachers are hard to find. ------------------
"The ancestor to every action is a thought." EMERSON IP: Logged |
chronicprincess
Knowflake Posts: 3080
From: Earth
Registered: May 2001
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posted May 28, 2001 08:46 PM
Yes, it truly is amazing what society will spend money on, but even more amazing is what government spends money on IP: Logged |
chronicprincess
Knowflake Posts: 3080
From: Earth
Registered: May 2001
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posted May 28, 2001 08:47 PM
Yes, it truly is amazing what society will spend money on, but even more amazing is what government spends money on IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 16539
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted May 29, 2001 12:34 AM
Anybody need a $150,000 hammer?  ------------------
"The ancestor to every action is a thought." EMERSON IP: Logged |
YIVY
Knowflake Posts: 4747
From: Louisiana
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted May 30, 2001 12:37 AM
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@~>~~
YIVY
"Witchy Woman" IP: Logged |
chronicprincess
Knowflake Posts: 3080
From: Earth
Registered: May 2001
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posted June 02, 2001 11:31 PM
OK, how to get better teachers... how about this...To get a teaching *License* (like an MD)one must learn the dynamics and importance of the influence their positions have as being an integral part of a child's development on *all* levels, which ultimately affects the Uni-Verse. Maybe they should have to go through rigorous *internships* like MD's do, before they are allowed to *practice*? Then perhaps *all* teachers can or will be recognized, acknowledged and respected as much as they 'should' deserve. Should, or could, at least a smattering of metaphysics be a part of the required curriculum in grades K-12 (hopefully before the penal gland loses much softness*)? Considering the separation of 'church and state', can a good measure of esoteric things be taught/learned (at least touched on in their vocabulary lessons?  ) in public schools without being labled "spiritual"? Seems like it to me, but I don't K-Now...   ~katii *softness... is a loved touch sensation, and such a pretty sounding word, and a feeling... and will lexi *so to see* ...awwwww  IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 16539
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted June 03, 2001 02:55 AM
If only it could be so, Katii. ------------------
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Randall
Webmaster Posts: 16539
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted June 04, 2001 07:33 PM
In Georgia, they are taking the opposite route. They have a new program where anybody with a four-year degree can be a teacher after taking a four-week crash course! We are so understaffed that we are getting desperate! ------------------
"The ancestor to every action is a thought." EMERSON IP: Logged |
YIVY
Knowflake Posts: 4747
From: Louisiana
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted June 05, 2001 12:10 AM
It is sad, but teaching has to be a labor of love, as it is seldom a well paid profession. ------------------
@~>~~
YIVY
"Witchy Woman" IP: Logged |
chronicprincess
Knowflake Posts: 3080
From: Earth
Registered: May 2001
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posted June 05, 2001 12:33 AM
YIVY~ yes, a labor of love... but it's "just a job" to most who do it.I've heard that too many times, "Well, I can always fall back on teaching.", and when I do I want to say something like, "What makes you think you can "teach"? ~katii
IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 16539
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted June 06, 2001 07:57 AM
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"The ancestor to every action is a thought." EMERSON IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 16539
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted June 07, 2001 02:15 PM
I've had classes with many of them. Haven't found one yet who can teach. ------------------
"The ancestor to every action is a thought." EMERSON IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 16539
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted June 12, 2001 12:53 AM
Does anybody here watch South Park? Childish though it may be, the ADD episode was a hoot! ------------------
"Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream." The Buddha IP: Logged |
Morning Storm
Knowflake Posts: 1778
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: May 2001
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posted September 04, 2001 07:59 AM
Removing the label won't enhance the teaching experience in schools, Randall.  ------------------
If children learn what they live, mine will spend the rest of their lives learning. IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 16539
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted September 04, 2001 09:40 AM
Adding more teachers will! So will changing the format from the current rote drilling to a more fun environment. Today's classrooms are BORING, have externally controlled tasks (do the work on pages 16 and 17), and sitting for very long periods of time in one place. Children spend an incredible amount of time being lectured to and doing worksheets. This kind of OUTDATED teaching method is not only deadly to ADD children, but it is bad for ALL children! Part of the brain is only stimulated by novelty (Magoun's). What is this part of the brain supposed to do for 12 years--hibernate? Yes, some children DO hibernate or sleep, but others respond with distractability and hyperactivity. After being cooped up in such an envirionment, I would not blame any child for reacting with added energy when free from that prison! The problem is the classrooms, not normal children with a wide range of unique characteristics. The label is a relatively simple way to explain troublesome behaviors. It's an all-inclusive term that releases blame and guilt. Once the label is eliminated, teachers will be forced to solve the real problems (themselves and their inadequate classrooms)! To make the claim that ADD is a real dis-ease, there MUST be a medical or biological cause. As of yet, no evidence supports the many hypotheses out there. There are symptoms, but no medical signs that can be validated by a medical test. ADD and ADHD are diagnosed by very subjective observation that varies from one observer to the next. And the symptoms magically disappear in several real life contexts (often in doctors' offices, in one-on-one interaction with a creative activity, especially with their father, and when they are paid to concentrate on a task or paid to take a test designed to assess attention). They act normal when they are allowed to choose their own activities and to pace themselves. And they are quite normal when engaged in activities that interest them or are novel in some way and that involve high levels of stimulation. ADD children function better with field trips, dramatic play, interviewing, and other hands-on creative teaching methods (as do ALL children). A zip code check revealed that 45 percent of all sales of Ritalin in Georgia was distributed to a few rich suburbs in Atlanta (wealthy parents historically spend little time with their children)! And a very high percentage of Ritalin sales were made in Utah--the highest of any state in the nation--(showing that ADD diagnosis is often the result of large family size, overcrowded classrooms, and strict behavior norms). Just my ONION (amply supported by statistics)!  ------------------
Remember, love can conquer the influence of the planets....
It can even eliminate karma." Linda Goodman IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 16539
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted September 04, 2001 02:36 PM
Of course, my Heart goes out to all parents who have such children. Love is all. The bahavior is VERY real, but the solution is more difficult to grasp and not as simple as to be found in a pill (at least not a lasting solution). The solution needs to be centered around moving away from labels and moving towards adding more teachers while creating a learning environment that allows these very wonderful children the freedom to flourish. This takes money, and sadly, society values other things more so than teachers. ------------------
Remember, love can conquer the influence of the planets....
It can even eliminate karma." Linda Goodman IP: Logged |
Morning Storm
Knowflake Posts: 1778
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: May 2001
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posted September 04, 2001 03:43 PM
Randall,You tell me I'm one of the world's best astrologers and trust my work. So if I told you it could be found in a chart, would you believe me?? BTW, Aneasha is yours for any weekend. Just say when and plan on going gray. You will redefine your beliefs.  Your last message is well stated. Love and light,
~Auriel ------------------
If children learn what they live, mine will spend the rest of their lives learning. IP: Logged |
Morning Storm
Knowflake Posts: 1778
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: May 2001
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posted September 04, 2001 04:49 PM
I think I may print out some of these threads on ADD and hyperactivity and tatto it to Aneasha's teacher's forehead. Aaarrrgghhhhhhhhhhh!!!! That woman infuriates me. She overwhelms my daughter with all these stupid worksheets you were talking about. She came home from school sick on Friday with strep throat, an ear infection and a fever and today she came home from school with a ton of worksheets she needs to have done by tomorrow morning.  Excuse me but kids have a life outside of school!!!! Adults don't like to come home from work and look at a pile of homework, so why should a kid have to?? Do you have any idea how overwhelming it is for a hyperactive child to look at all these worksheets when all they want to do is run free?? They have enough trouble staying on task in school and look forward to their free time afterwards. Imagine what it would feel like to learn they are going to be spending all afternoon and evening doing worksheets! That teacher must be out of her mind!! And tomorrow, she's going to be as out of sorts and overwhelmed as my daughter is now when I hand her an assignment I expect to be given to me on Wednesday. If it's not done, the principal, the teacher and I are having a little talk and Aneasha will be moved to another class by Thursday. Worksheets.  Yep, any weekend Randall. Just name it. Love and light,
~Auriel ------------------
If children learn what they live, mine will spend the rest of their lives learning. IP: Logged |
Lindaland
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