h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yes, well, I do hope for a level of consisternt mediocity.

I was a spleling champion once, myself, but found it increasingly earelephant in a world full of disfunctional letterates.

The more words I learn, the fewer I know how to splel. That's why I'm disgusted with people who have vocabularies of 500 words or less who don't even bother to learn to splel them what they know!

This is also why I don't bitch about Rap artists as much as some, because, at their worst, they do increase their listener's vocabularies, even if the only use for the words is to force a rhyme!

Not that Shakespeare was beyond that, himself.

I mean, when there are college departments called "The Department of Human Ecology", what hope is there from academia?

No, I find maths irritating because my child is supposed to learn, forcibly so, to be a better mathematician, as least as long as it takes to take the test, then as a writer and a speller.

And the truly irritating part, as mentioned by her Principal the other day, when we were discussing the very real possibility of her having to be held back to repeat the year... is that the State and Federally-mandated "standards" tests that are given at the end of the year may let her slide on her otherwise bad grades, because the "standards" tests are practically tutored for in the last few weeks of school, to the abandonment of all other curriculum concerns.

So, as the Principal said, we will have a hard time getting her held back because of her grades in the rest of the year if she manages to limbo under the bar on the TAAS... Which is apparently what has happened in previous years.

Meanwhile, no one has dealt with her left-handedness and the problems that brings. No one has dealt with her bad spleling. No one has dealt with her really bad handwriting. All they worry about is her organizational skills... something which even the school staff seems to have problems with...

Da da da dum ... there's a whole world out there ...

Oh, she's left handed! I thought mine was going to be at one stage, when he wasn't showing a preference one way or another.

When she does write, does she have something interesting to say?

If her vocabulary is anything like little 's she'll be amazing. His organisational skills (or lack of them) are what his teachers focus on too.

I got a book a while ago called 'The Gift of Dyslexia', which I confess to not having yet read. I know dyslexics who are highly creative. Roy is dyslexic too.

How would you feel if she were to be held back?

"I got a book a while ago called 'The Gift of Dyslexia'"

You have to read it upside down.

Uvula claims that she had serious reading difficulties as a child because she was mildly dyslexic.

What the hell is mildly dyslexic?


"When she does write, does she have something interesting to say?"

I can't tell. Her handwriting sucks so badly...

It may be that little has dysgraphia rather than dyslexia.

This gives some detail:

http://www.audiblox2000.com/learning_disabilities/dicd03.htm

It's possible that that is what affects Snooks.

Oh, I see what you mean about reading books upside down;

http://www.dyslexia-teacher.com/t71.html

You say that her teachers have not offered any help? Little got a little help, but I was then told that the main resources had to go in helping children with greater problems than he had.

I'm so blinded by my own difficulties that I can't tell the difference between a "teacher" and a civil servant with an "MRS" degree.

I mean, there is a factory aspect to the education philosophy and if your child doesn't fit into an established product line, then it falls into the custom category and that costs more and requires craftsmen to handle it.

I'm afraid that many of the teachers and admins believe that the biggest problem my child has is... me.
So that means they extend sympathy to the child and sops to me.

Pleh.
I'm afraid they could be right.

Dysgraphia?
I have a friend whose daughter, who is almost through with High School, has a serious problem with writing. She can read, she just can't write. Can't physically, mentally, or spiritually DO it. She's been in special programmes and had accomodations made for her for years. She carries a dedicated electronic typewriter around.

Dysgraphic - yes - difficulty with writing. He's not as confident in his reading, though, as I would like. He was afraid of getting things wrong, so he wouldn't try. his teachers have told him that it's OK to make mistakes.

In what way do Snooks' teachers think you are the problem? Seems to me that you try your best to give her a good start in life and to be supportive. How do they think you could be better?

I agree with what you say about children who don't fit into an established product line. That's the education system for you. Expect everyone to conform to norms and standards, when they can take different periods of time to learn things.

"How do they think you could be better?"

If I was a character they encountered second hand, like in a novel, a movie or a music video...
I have a tendency to fill a room. I'm big, hairy, loud and intense.

I really don't fit in very well with the other lower or middle middle class parents. We live on different planets.

"In what way do Snooks' teachers think you are the problem?"
Because we won't pay for a doctor or a psychologist or a tutor to take the problem out of their hands.
One of them a couple of years ago actually asked me why I didn't home school her if I thought they weren't doing their jobs properly. I said because that would let you off the hook.

Some of them think she is the way she is because she has been raised by me. Thus her problems stem from her shell-shock due to my personality or from her relief at being allowed out of my sight, so that she relaxes at school... Or, I just don't know how to teach a child how to do their homework or how to function with any discipline.

Uvula believes that Shnook's problem is that she's bored and the teachers don't do anything except make it more boring... as a punishment.

I said that if she's ever going to go to work, she's going to have to learn to function through and past the boredom. Some things have to be endured. Period.

Besides, all her teachers are modern liberals. Except for the ones that are modern working conservatives. Anyway, they passed through the college or graduate school system. They know what kind of resources should be available for all the students. They need to demand them from the school system.

Unfortunately, a school bond issue was voted down recently. The matching funds from the property taxes and federal and state are not going far enough. Some of the buildings need major improvements.

Uvula wants to move to a nearby town and get Shnooks into another system that she thinks is better.

I just wrote a lengthy reply and the site ate it. See you later. I'm logging off.

Oh, there it is! How did that happen?
When it blipped back from the XML error message, the posting box was wiped clean!

Oh, that's difficult. I know that a lot of children seem to do well enough at primary school, then go to secondary school and tend to switch off. I used to do work in secondary schools and found it difficult to interest the kids, but when I went into primary school, the atmosphere was totally different.

Education should be exciting and relevant to the kids. I think a lot depends on the schools, as it also does on the background the kids come from. Kids feed off each other, and in a school where the kids are predominantly bored will make it difficult for an enthusiastic child to keep the enthusiasm. The general 'tone' rubs off on the others. In such a situation, new and different teachers can make a difference, however it may take quite a long time for that to get through to the children.

In such a situation, it may be the best thing for anyone who wants their child to succeed to take it to a different school, as you say Uvula is suggesting. It can be difficult for the child, if it has close friends at the school. however, developmentally it can be much better for them.

Hmm. I tell her you said so.

On the other hand, if she does share some of my learning difficulties, then nothing might help except getting someone to realize it.

True. Has her current school done any tests or referred her for them?

Ah. They did an interest survey last month that was supposed to see if the child had any strong interests... and it turned out inconclusive.

They had this curious circular clock-like chart that the computer that printed out the results was supposed to grey out a compass point on, to indicate the direction the child's interest lay in.
Nothing.
Stupid test.

No, it seems that we have to have diagnosis before the school inserts her into any programs or shunts her into a magnet school.

We've been trying to work out exactly where little 's interests lie. He plays with his toys for a while, then gets bored of them. He's still happy with his light sabres, mind you. The one big success we had was getting him a map of the world and putting it up on the wall. He loves finding out where different countries are and what the capitals are. Wants one of England now to go next to it.

Was the test a multiple choice type? A bit like an Enneagram.

http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/dis_sample_36.asp

http://www.act.org/explore/componen.html

I'm not sure.

But I fail to see how these four areas can be used to assess a child's interests! She studies the Japanese language for fun and she draws a lot.

She has signed up for Intro to Veterinary Science in High School.

Yeah, you are right.
It is a mutlipal choice survey.

What her score indicated was what she A. Felt strongly about B. Didn't feel strongly about C. Didn't dislike much D. Disliked.

Pleh.

She wants to be a vet? Does she care for the animals you have?

Unfortunately, the test you linked to at the Enneagram Institute no longer exists! Here's another free enneagram test you can use instead.

Unfortunately, the test you linked to at the Enneagram Institute no longer exists! Here's another free enneagram test you can use instead:

https://enneagramtest.net/