Big Think

roshni ray commented on A Poem For Mother's Day on September 14, 2009, 10:44 PM

What a lovely and startlingly truthful glimpse into how a child perceives parenthood...

roshni ray commented on Howard Gardner on Obama's Education Speech on September 14, 2009, 10:36 PM

Perhaps the greater problem is that we ask children to watch the speech because Obama is president and that "he deserves respect."  Of course, President Obama is deserving of respect, but not solely on the merits of his being President. He is a poised, educated, and reasonable man, and these characteristics are immediately obvious upon watching him. As a vocal detracter of former President George W. Bush, I shudder in horror to think that my (future/potential) children might have been subject to his litanies with the simple directive, "He's the president, so listen."  Children are too vulnerable to authority to be merely told that they must listen to the president.  Instead, it is important to inculcate in them a culture of reasoned skepticism.  A culture that challenges every authority but on carefully thought grounds.  Authority, in turn, should cultivate respect, not command it.  Every president should address the schoolchildren of America, and every child should be forced to watch.  However, each time such an event occurs it should be accompanied by an exercise in critical appraisal of the speech and an open classroom discussion.  We sure do have a Civil War on our hands, but it is not one between liberals and conservatives or north and south.  It is between the educated and the wilfully ignorant--and like Julio writes above, it is a worldwide battle.  It is frightening to raise contrarian skeptics in schools, but the world will be a better place for the questions asked of it.

roshni ray commented on When Libraries Close... on September 14, 2009, 10:00 PM

It seems the state budget is in gridlock.  The Republican controlled state senate has recessed before signing off on a Philadelphia city measure aiming to generate $700 million by increasing the city sales tax by 1% over five years.  (The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has already authorized the plan with a substantial margin in favor.)  Without the measure, a projected budget shortfall will force the city to terminate around 3000 jobs:  a third of these jobs would come from the police, firefighting, and emergency response departments, a third from fully shutting down city libraries and recreation centers, and another third from across a multitude of departments.  One would imagine that the shutdowns would be temporary and a budget will eventually pass, but the repurcussions of even a temporary shutdown of all these services could have devastating longterm consequences.   Also, I think Tim was perhaps making the point that maybe some corporate entity might be financially equipped to help...?