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Editor-in-Chief of Editor-in-Chief
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Musings, meanderings, wonderings and wanderings about unschooling, natural parenting, sustainable living and more by Wendy Priesnitz. Archives - November, 2007 Exciting New ADHD Research –
November 26, 2007
So I was pleased to see, during my regular perusal of the abstracts of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) for article ideas, a research report that found children who have been “diagnosed” as ADHD just have normal brains that develop later than those of other children. The researchers found that the average age for the maturation of the cerebral cortex was 10.5 years old in ADHD kids, as opposed to 7.5 years old in non-labeled kids. I think this is a huge finding, so I went searching for commentary on it. There wasn’t much – doctors, educators, many parents (alas) and pharmaceutical companies might not like the ramifications. But Thomas Armstrong, the author of Awakening Your Child’s Natural Genius, The Myth of the A.D.D. Child and many other books, didn’t disappoint me. In his blog about his latest book, Armstrong notes that in working with children who have been subjected to the ADHD label, he has noticed that they act younger and more what is often referred to as “immature” than their peers. In a characteristically gracefully and positively worded posting, he suggests that the word “neoteny” could be used, rather than “immaturity” to capture the vitality of these kids. Neoteny is a Latin word meaning “holding youth” and refers to the retaining of childlike characteristics into adulthood – such as was true for brilliant people like Einstein and Picasso. So, like me, Armstrong is happy to see the PNAS
research report. And he suggests that the kids who are labeled with
these so-called disabilities are actually to be admired for being the
vanguard in the evolution of our species. Although I’m not sure of the
need for any labels, he suggests “evolutionarily gifted.” Now we
just have to find a way to convince Neanderthal education systems to
evolve away from desks, tests, workbooks, bells, lineups, rules and
other old-fashioned creativity-killing bad habits. PNAS is an important
journal; here’s hoping some of the professionals who work with kids
will read this report and wake up to the damage they’ve been doing and
the wonderful possibilities involved with allowing children to be their
curious, active, imaginative, playful selves. An
Alien Education – November 25, 2007
If you’re not familiar with Roland Meighan’s
work, he is a British educational thinker, author and founder of
Personalised Education Now and Educational Heretics Press. He has
written numerous books on autonomous learning, and contributed a couple
of articles to Life
Learning Magazine. He supports learner-managed learning, invited rather than
uninvited teaching, assessment at the learner’s request and
re-integration of learning, life and community. When School Stinks – November 25, 2007
Some of the teachers are, according to media
reports, staying home. Students don’t (always) have that choice. An
education official told the press: “You can only delay the start of
school so long before you start impacting on the school year.” Strange
priorities. New Address –
November 21, 2007
Shopping to Save the Planet – November 21, 2007
Simon Fanshawe, writing in the UK-based magazine Green Futures suggests that male-dominated governments have been destroying the planet for too long, and now women need to clean up the mess. And, since we already control the majority of the shopping decisions, all we need to do is buy the right foods, shoes and handbags. Fanshawe is referencing a serious initiative on the part of two British organizations – the National Federation of Women’s Institutes and the Women’s Environmental Network – which have launched the Women’s Manifesto on Climate Change. And, yes, women may be more inclined than men to initiate and value small, personal and family-based changes, which is an approach I’ve long championed in the pages of Natural Life Magazine. But Fanshawe’s article highlights something I’ve also been saying since the latest wave of environmental concern surfaced awhile back: While ethical consumerism is important, we can’t shop our way out of the problem. Writing in the Guardian newspaper last summer, British writer George Monbiot cynically derided ethical shopping as “just another way of showing how rich you are.” For the record, I may be the only person on the planet who dislikes that highly opinionated man and his best selling book Heat…well, actually I couldn’t stomach his attitude enough to finish reading the darn thing. But I do agree with him on that point. If I receive one more cute little miniature recycling box or one more supposedly biodegradable plastic pen from a PR firm, I’ll have to move out of my house to make room for all the “eco-junk.” That has been defined as the Sixth Sin of Greenwashing in a just released study by TerraChoice Environmental Marketing. They’re the company that administers the EcoLogo marketing program begun in 1988 by the Canadian government. They say that the Sin of Lesser of Two Evils, illustrated as organic cigarettes or a hybrid-yet-inefficient SUV, occurred in one percent of the 1,000 products they tested. Unfortunately, 99 percent of the products were, they say, guilty of greenwashing or stretching the eco-truth. The study and details about the other “sins” can be found on their website. So shopping ethically ain’t easy, folks, even if it might do some good. Fanshawe says that we will probably have to define
ourselves less by what we buy, and more by how we behave, to make a real
change. So the solution is to buy less stuff, not just substitute green junk
for non-green junk. Perhaps the best immediate choice is to celebrate
Buy Nothing Day this Friday! Sharing
the Pleasure of Books –
November 19, 2007
Some of my skepticism relates to the fact that computer use is seen as a villain rather than an alternative source of words to be read, and that comprehension is based on my old enemy standardized tests. But I am happy to read that NEA chairman Dana Gioia feels this supposed decline in reading is an important socio-economic issue and is calling for changes “in the way we’re educating kids, especially in high school and college. We need to reconnect reading with pleasure and enlightenment.” Now there’s an earth-shattering idea! Of course, it’s an idea that
unschoolers have known about all along. And a couple in Ottawa
has created a terrific tool for families who like to read. It’s a
children’s book podcast called Just One More Book! Three times a week,
Andrea Ross and Mark Blevis sit at a table in their favorite coffee shop and record
their conversation about the children’s books their family (they have
two young daughters) loves and why they love them. They also feature
weekly interviews with authors, literacy related discussions and audio
reviews submitted by listeners. Episodes range in length from five to 30
minutes and can be played directly from the website
or downloaded to an iPod for listening on the
go. Through this podcast and its website, this family is building a
lively, interactive community linking children’s book authors,
illustrators, readers (parents and children) and publishers. Here’s to
reading for pleasure and enlightenment! (Oh, and thanks for reading this
blog...even if it is not a book.) Keep On Rockin’
in a Free World – November 12,
2007
Neil Young has provided one of the soundtracks of my life, from the early Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young days when the harmony and sentiment in “Teach Your Children” took my 19-year-old breath away, through the protest songs like the Kent State massacre tune “Ohio” and “Rockin’ in the Free World, to the album After the Gold Rush with “Only Love Can Break Your Heart”, the Harvest album (1971) with “Old Man” and “Heart of Gold,” which is his only number one hit single and features the back-up vocals of some of my other nostalgic favorite singer/song writers James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt, and “Comes a Time” in 1977. Oh, wait, maybe I like Harvest Moon better: “But there’s a full moon risin’, Let’s go dancin in the light, We know where the music’s playin’, Let’s go out and feel the night.” Every song on that album is a hit in my mind. Or maybe I prefer Are You Passionate? (2002), an album of love songs dedicated to his wife Pegi. Somebody once suggested that I liked his music because he often sings off-key, which makes it easy for me (who has trouble holding a tune) to sing along! Perhaps. We’re all getting
older, of course.
Today’s Neil
Young’s 62nd birthday and a couple of
years ago he was treated for a brain auerysm and we thought he’d burnt out. But he survived to record
Prairie Wind. Today, I’ve been
having a musical party for him while I work. Keep on rockin’, Neil. Enlightened Homemaking – November 12, 2007
She is part of a trend (although some of us lived
this way 30 years ago). And she is writing about that trend: Her next
book will profile people like her – either male or female – who have
sidestepped a traditional career to put family and planet first. She
calls us “enlightened homemakers.” You can contact Shannon
about being interviewed through her website. Creating a Relevant College Education – November 6,
2007
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Topics & Passions: natural learning ~ What I'm Reading:
The Geography of Hope - A Tour of the World We Need by Chris
Turner (Random House Canada, 2007)
~ What
I'm Listening To:
Gold by Nina Simone (Sony Universal Music, 2007) ~
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Bookmarks:
Daughter Blog ~ Fav Quotes:
Art, Writing, Creativity
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