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Musings, meanderings, wonderings and wanderings about unschooling, natural parenting, sustainable living and more by Wendy Priesnitz. Archives - February, 2007 Another Reason Not to Send Them to School –
February 22, 2007
“CPSC told parents that these lunchboxes were safe, but their own tests showed that lead in these lunchboxes could pose a threat to children,” says Michael Green, Executive Director of CEH. “It is shocking to see an agency entrusted with our safety playing Russian roulette with our children’s health.” Since its initial investigation, CEH has tested
hundreds of lunchboxes bought from store shelves and received from
concerned parents, and has initiated legal action against the retailers
and manufacturers of these dangerous products. Through this litigation,
CEH has created industry-wide reformulation of vinyl lunchboxes to
eliminate lead threats to children, in groundbreaking settlements with
15 manufactures and retailers of vinyl lunchboxes. The U.S. Food and
Drug Administration also last year issued a warning to manufacturers of
vinyl lunchboxes, advising them to eliminate the use of vinyl in
lunchbox interiors. Ironically, FDA based their recommendation in part
on CPSC’s test results. Mind boggling. Green and Growing – February 21,
2007
In fact, he said, the costs of action to correct global warming are far less than the costs of inaction. But politicians are busy telling us that we can’t make greenhouse gas emission reduction targets without risking economic collapse. Canada’s new Environment Minister John Baird said just two weeks ago that the country “should brace itself for an economic hit when limits are imposed on emissions from industrial polluters.” Stern, a former chief economist at the World Bank, admitted cutting global greenhouse emissions by 30 percent by 2050 would cost about one percent of the world’s economic output. However, he said, the cost of failing to act could be as much as 20 times higher. Meanwhile, Canada’s emissions continue to rise and are currently about 34 percent higher than the goal. I’m hopeful that the recent rise in
public interest in fixing our environmental errors will force
governments to get moving. But the auto and oil industries (and their
respective unions,) to name just two sources of greenhouse gas
emissions, aren’t going to appreciate being forced to redefine
themselves. So it will take bold and unwavering action backed up by a
strong conviction – not things most politicians are known for.
However, I think that we may be reaching a tipping point and that many
people are ready to accept much greater change than the politicians give
us credit for. So get on the phone to your elected representative today
and tell him or her you want them to put away the green paintbrush and
start to take real action on climate change. Fast, while there is still
a future for our children and grandchildren. The Messy Room – February 18, 2007
Supporting
Homeschooling in Germany – February 12, 2007
But in spite of the seriousness of the problem, I have found the letter incredibly difficult to compose. Although I’m very sure of the desirability of learning without schooling, I am also conscious of not knowing much about Germany’s current politics, culture or education system, even though my husband Rolf was born there and still has family there. So I can’t presume to know how to fix the situation. I can share what helped here when I began
advocating for homeschooling back in the mid 1970s (although it was
legal here, so we were starting from a different place) and that is
what I began to do. However, as I researched the German situation, I quickly
understood just how
complex it is, in spite of some attempts by outsiders to
distill it into a war between Nazis, socialists and Christians. (Here is
a good
history and commentary from
Home Education magazine columnist Valerie Bonham Moon.) And I also began
to realize that while I can most certainly share my concern and
philosophical support, there must be a made-in-Germany solution to the
problem. But how to communicate that, while providing moral support and
not seeming to dismiss the
awful problems of this nascent homeschooling community? Like I said,
writing is hard. Who
Creates the Structure? – February 11, 2007
The term “unstructured” is probably misleading.
“Self-directed” might be a better choice because, of course,
everything – play, learning, life – has some sort of structure
(thanks for the reminder, Sandra!). The issue for me is not whether something
has structure, but who is in control of creating the structure. Play is,
I think, a state of freedom…of movement, action, exploration,
enjoyment. As such, it is inherently both unstructured and
self-directed. Anything else probably isn’t play. Too Busy Playing
– February
8, 2007
Person’s son eventually gravitated away from the TV and toward other play activities, as Mendizza suggests children will. And that’s because they are hard-wired to play. Unlike adults, for whom play is something to be done when more important jobs are finished, children live to play. And it’s crucial to their development. Unfortunately, unstructured play makes many parents fearful that their children are wasting precious time. And so they try to control that play and create or buy products that make the “work” of learning seem like “fun.” I’m working on some articles about the value of
unstructured play for a future issue of Life Learning and welcome input
or contributions. Too Busy Learning From the Real World – February
7, 2007
He wrote: “Baby Einstein, however, is one of my Orwellian ‘double speak’ pet peeves, for there exists compelling evidence that the more time a young child spends watching Baby Einstein the less like Einstein that child will become.” He goes on to note that Einstein’s imagination was fueled by reading descriptive language, not by watching pictures flash by on a screen, which is a sensory experience (like skipping rope) rather than an imaginative one. In fact, he claims, “Babies would never buy Baby Einstein videos. They are too busy playing and learning from the real world.” Mendizza has posted an article on the subject,
entitled Just
Say No to Baby Einstein on his
Touch the Future website. Molly Ivins
Will be Missed – February 4, 2007
Molly Ivins was an eloquent writer and speaker, with a large dose of down-to-earth wit…and one of the women journalists who has inspired me over the years. She was bold, insightful, outspoken, even outrageous at times (in 1991, she wrote a book called Molly Ivins Can’t Say That – Can She?), passionate about writing and a champion of liberal causes and the underdogs of society. She was also a master of satire, which she aimed mostly at politicians – George W. Bush being one of her favorite targets in recent years. She wrote famously: “The next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please, pay attention.” Born in California, she considered herself a Texan, working at a number of Texas papers over the years, as well as The New York Times. Her writing will be missed; we need more voices like hers these days. One of my favorite Ivins quotes is: “What you
need is sustained outrage...there’s far too much unthinking respect
given to authority.” Here are
some more. It May Not Be Too Late – February 4, 2007
I am seeing a huge and sudden increase in the number of people wanting to learn to live sustainably, as demonstrated by the rising sales of subscriptions to Natural Life magazine. Sales of everything organic, energy-efficient and otherwise green are skyrocketing. Corporations are realizing that sustainable business can be profitable. I’m hoping the momentum can be continued, making 2007 the year that citizens, governments and the business sector alike mobilize to save the Planet. Never have the opportunities been greater, but never have the stakes been higher. And for that reason, look for the conservative naysayers – funded by the fossil fuel industries – to rev up their activities. With the release of the UN’s latest climate change report, they have begun creating a cloud of PR pollution, trying to convince voters to convince the bandwagon-jumping politicians that climate change is just part of a normal cycle and isn’t caused by human activity…and therefore the lucrative activities of big commerce shouldn’t be obstructed in its name. Be wary of groups with obfuscating names like Natural Resources Stewardship Project and Friends of Science trying to convince you that you won’t like the economic fall-out from sustainability. Dinosaurs can make a loud noise as they fall. One of the places to monitor the activities of the
dinosaurs is
DeSmogBlog. Broadening Their Horizons – February 1, 2007
This is a novel about significant social issues like
racism and morality. Its content is pretty
innocuous compared to what’s available to teens on the Internet and in
movies (and the book was actually made into an Oscar-nominated film.)
And there is, for me, a fascinating irony here. The author is David Guterson. He was a high school English teacher before
he was able to support himself as a novelist. And, as the father of
four, he was/is a homeschooler whose book Family Matters: Why
Homeschooling Makes Sense was first published in 1992. In it, he talks
about the complete breakdown of our school systems, including their
increasing social irrelevancy. I don’t remember if he talked about
censorship specifically, but his idea of homeschooling (a term that he said he hoped
would disappear from use, a sentiment with which I heartily agree) is to broaden his children’s horizons, which includes
allowing culture to have a life outside of classrooms. Try to tell
that to the censors...parents and school officials alike. Return
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Topics & Passions: natural learning ~ What I'm Reading:
Moral Minds by Marc D. Hauser (HarperCollins, 2006) ~ What
I'm Listening To:
The Band: The Last Waltz (Warner
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Art, Writing, Creativity
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