More on Prop 100
With about two and a half weeks until the May 18 vote, I wanted to post some links to information about Proposition 100, the first being the proposition page itself: 2010 Special Election Ballot Proposition 100 at the Arizona Secretary of State’s website. This is an important resource because this page details many of the arguments for and against the proposition espoused by individuals, communities, organizations, and enterprise. Ballotpedia also has an information page on Proposition 100.
Two groups, one in favor of the Proposition 100 and another against, have dedicated websites that advocate their positions: Yes on 100 and Ax the Tax, Arizona. And finally, here’s a recent story that aired locally: “UA researcher studies prop 100″.
During a discussion in English 9 a couple of weeks ago about the proposition and education financing, Kody asked “What started all this?” The budget situation in Arizona has been particularly problematic for the last several years, and was labeled the worst the country in 2008. But in regards to the immediate issue of financing for education, you might read this story from AZCentral.com: “GOP budget proposal slashes funds for Arizona education”. (Those future economists and policy-makers should examine this phenomenal resource: A timeline of news and stories about Arizona’s budget history for the 2000s. The search can be adjusted for years in question and results desired.)
I really encourage you to inform yourselves.
See you soon.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen explained and identified literary concepts in a novel.
We began reading and listening too Of Mice and Men today, freshmens, the novel that’ll take us to the end of the year. It is not the story of two gay men as you now know, but it’s a great piece of literature. We concluded watching the video we began on Wednesday to close the class. You do not need to read over the weekend, but be prepared to continue the book Monday.
Have a fine weekend.
APELC Class Notes
APELCers, today Kira presented Judaism, Jesse Catholicism, Mattie Nihilism, Alee Vodou, Erica New Age cults, in second; Larren presented Mormonism, Sarah Nihilism, Dillon Shamanism, and Caitlin Satanism, in fourth period.
In her presentation today, Kira mentioned that traditional Judaism is founded on the non-controversial assumption that God, the familiar omnipotent creator-deity, exists, and that such a claim requires no debate. Philosopher and theologian Alvin Plantinga calls the belief properly basic and in need of no justification. The further suggestion is that non-belief, on the other hand, would indicate some fundamental epistemological flaw.
Mattie’s and Sara’s presentations on Nihilism, and the presentations of the same worldview and also Existentialism, have referenced Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher and writer who famously declared “God is dead”. Nietzsche expresses the consequence and despair of a godless, material universe in “The Parable of the Madman”.
On that happy note, I leave to your weekend. Be prepared to begin the practice exam on Monday in preparation for May 12.
APELC Class Notes
Juniors and seniors, today Trevor presented Fascism, Riley Mind-Body Dualism, Kate Taoism, Robert Confucianism, Taylor Hinduism, in first. Marissa presented Utilitarianism, Jordan Existentialism, Kristin Buddhism, Leigh the Quaker faith, and Michael Postmodernism, in third.
Robert’s presentation made me think of fortune cookie messages of the type that used to begin with “Confucius say…” which in turn reminded me of a delicious piece I listened to on NPR one day while I was driving home: “‘Fortune Cookie’ Offers New Taste of America”.
And Michael’s talk made me think of the Sokal Affair, a hoax executed by mathematician Alan Sokal to expose the lack of academic rigor in peer-review and irrationality of postmodern cultural studies. Sokal, you see, submitted a paper to an (ostensibly) refereed postmodern journal, and in this paper he argued “the traditional concept of gravity was just a capitalist fiction that would be made irrelevant by the socialist/feminist/relativist theory of ‘quantum gravity’”. The consequence of postmodern thought is that since no reliable standards of truth, morality, et cetera, exist, anything, it seems, goes. Read more about the Sokal Affair.
See you next time, kids, when you’ll begin your last practice before the APELC Exam on May 12.
English 9 Class Notes
Objective: Freshmen contextualized America during the Great Depression.
Freshmens, we watched most of Riding the Rails, an American Experience documentary about teens who left their homes to live and travel as nomads on America’s railroad trains during the Great Depression. We began when I asked you to consider what you’d have to give up if you were to leave home at your ages now. Your answers included friends, comfort, indulgences, security, and more, and you compared your own lives to those of the teen hobos you experienced as you watched the film.
You had time to begin reading Of Mice and Men, the story of two friends and Depression-era migrant workers in northern California, for the last twenty or so minutes of class. We’ll finish the film Friday and begin our examination of the novel. The film engendered thoughts of a favorite, romantic song about, the City of New Orleans, by folkie Steve Goodman. I tried to find a video with Goodman singing his signature song and couldn’t, but I found a version by Johnny Cash that’s pretty tasty:
See you next class, kids.
APELC Class Notes
APELCers, today Jo presented Scientology, Alex Materialism, Sam Feminism, and Rhiannon Hinduism, in second; Cassandra presented the Jehovah’s Witness worldview, Evan Solipsism, Bailey Romanticism, and Tanisha Unitarian Universalism, in fourth period.
Alex briefly touched on the idea that some perceive that the universe exhibits evidence of design; and this appearance of design, many theistic thinkers suggest, points to a supernatural designer. The formal name for this idea is the Telelogical Argument, or Argument from Design, and it’s one of Aquinas’s Quinque viae. (Note this argument isn’t Intelligent Design, but is often cited by those who affirm such principles.)
And Evan mentioned the conundrum of the solipsist who encounters a person lying, bleeding on the street. How is he or she morally bound to act? Would the solipsist, in the reality he or she has created in his or her own mind, assist the wounded person? It seems we can’t even be sure how this encounter would play out in our objective reality. From the no-good-deed-goes-unpunished file, I give you: “Good Samaritan Left for Dead on City Sidewalk”. (And here’s a follow-up: “Homeless Good Samaritan to be honored at NYC wake”).
I don’t need to remind you that tomorrow’s the big day, juniors and seniors. I’ll be in the liberry to answer any last minute questions before turn-in.
APELC Class Notes
Same objective as yesterday (as it will be the remainder of the week). Chelsea presented Transhumanism, Nicole Mormonism, Griffin Objectivism, and Cody Shamanism, in first; and Elly also presented transhumanism, Ana T. Rastafarianism, Brigette Shinto, and Joy Romanticism, and third. Neat presentations.
Joy’s talk on Romanticism brought to mind one of the most celebrated of French Romantic paintings (and a personal favorite), Théodore Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa:
I encountered this painting in my undergraduate career in 1993, along with other Romantic and Neo-classic art that fired my imagination. I’ve since seen it twice in person at the Louvre in Paris where it hangs in the same gallery as The Oath of the Horatii and Liberty Leading the People (all of which and more share the same floor with the Mona Lisa). I’m looking forward to seeing these again with some of you next year.
Ana’s presentation and her mention of Rasta stereotypes and that some poorly-intended novitiates may claim the Rastafarian worldview merely as an excuse to partake in certain “sacraments” made me think of one of my favorite SNL Digital Shorts from The Lonely Island:
Revision conference sign-up for timed-writing 8 is now open and you can either write your names in before or during school in T-12 or after school in the liberry.
Tutoring this Week
Freshmen, juniors, and seniors: Remember that this week I’ll be in computer lab 2 for tutorial. Please enter from the outside door.
APELCers can pick-up timed-writing 8 if they’ve not yet done so, and all juniors and seniors can sign-up for a revision conference then as well. Those that sign-up for Wednesday or Thursday conferences this week will confer with me in the liberry after tutoring.
English 9 Class Notes
Objective: Freshmen wrote expository-analytical paragraphs about character, plot, and setting in a novel.
Freshmens, you worked on your paragraphs about Esperanza and her environment today, and each of you conferred with me individually about your topic sentences, evidences, and inferences that you’re working on to complete your compositions. This is a just a bit similar to the conferencing I do with my junior and senior classes. Good job today.
Have your paragraph ready for turn-in Wednesday when you walk in the door, and bring Of Mice and Men.
APELC Class Notes
Objective: APELCers presented their worldviews.
Today Alex H. presented Druids and their worldview, Ariel Mithratic religion, and Shayne Nihilism, in first; Damon presented Communism, Victoria Baha’i, and Joe Utilitarianism, in second; Lora presented Protestantism, and Ben Daoism, in third; and Eliana presented Communism, Heather Daoism, and Lezo Atheism, in fourth.
Ariel’s presentation prompted note the possibility that Mithraism informed Christian concepts of Jesus, that the story of the latter draws material from the story of the former (and others including the Egyptian god Osiris, Greek god Dionysus, Greek philosopher Apollonius of Tyana, and more). See “Jesus Christ in comparative mythology” for an introduction to these ideas.
Heather suggested that one might be a Daoist and adhere to another religious belief system, and this engendered the question: Can one practice two belief systems with competing truth claims? For example, can one be a Shinto adherent and a practicing Muslim? Some people believe it’s possible as explained in a study published by the Pew Forum: “Many Americans Mix Multiple Faiths”. But then, could one be a Materialist and an Idealist?
Repeatedly, the natures of belief and faith have come up, whether faith is merely blind or whether faith can be a result of reasoned evaluation, and it reminded me of an episode of Point of Inquiry about “The Accidental Mind” where author David Linden noted that same area of the brain houses the mechanisms for reason and faith. All in the Mind also recently podcast selections of talks by Global Atheist Convention speakers Richard Dawkins, PZ Meyers, Peter Singer, and AC Grayling on the ostensible differences between religious and scientific mind-sets; here’re parts 1 and 2.
From your questions it appears that many of you are engaging your peers’ presentations well. We’ll be finished with most this week, so keep paying attention.
English 9 Class Notes
Objective: Freshmen began writing expository-analytical paragraphs about character, plot, and setting.
Today you began composing paragraphs for our novel, The House on Mango Street. I asked you to consider Esperanza (got it right that time) and her attitudes toward her environment, family, and friends at the beginning, middle, and end of the book and how her attitudes reflect her growth (or lack of growth) over the course of the the novel. My instructions were unclear, and we didn’t spend enough time pre-writing, but most of you worked well. You’ll continue on Monday for a Wednesday turn-in.
See you Monday.
APELC Class Notes
Same objective as yesterday. Today Kevin presented Conservatism, Chad Liberalism, Stephanie Animism, and Carl Taoism in second, and Bre presented Animism, Andrea Wicca, Laurel Baptist Christianity, Katherine Quaker faith, and Libby Islam in fourth. Pretty good presentations, and I hope students were left with more questions than answers. Ten minutes does little justice to systems of thoughts that have existed for and have been developed over hundreds, let alone thousands of years, so I encourage everyone to do some investigating on their own before making important judgments.
One thing that came up during Laurel’s presentation was the claim that Christian believers are anti-intellectual since they rely on the Bible as their authoritative text, that they eschew scientific, philosophical, and other types learning. I think the main problem has to do with the very media-friendly controversy over creationism and evolution in schools which has become the focus of the culture war. And stereotypes abound, the most popular that all “fundamental” Christians believe the Earth is between 6,000 and 10,000 years old. This isn’t true; there are a variety of ideas about creation. Brian Dunning laid them all out in the Skeptoid episode “What Do Creationists Really Believe?”.
Further, one need only look to this list of Christian thinkers in science to see the number of famous believers who sought to understand the mind of their God by examining what they call the general revelation, or the world. (Don’t stop there, though; take time to examine the lists of thinking believers and non-believers to understand the breadth of inquiry by people of all stripes.)
Libby’s presentation was timely considering the controversy over South Park’s recent 200th and 201st episodes, the creators’ answer (along with episodes 142 and 143) to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy: “‘Muhammad’ now a dirty word on ‘South Park’”. Historically, and more importantly, Qur’anically, depictions of Muhammad aren’t forbidden. (In fact, I discovered that Muhammad appears in a frieze on the Supreme Court of the United States building.) Here’s an 14th century illustration from Jami’ al-Tawarikh in which Muhammad receives the revelation from the angel Gabriel:
And this week’s dust-up over South Park doesn’t appear to be settling; indeed, reaction seems only to be growing: “‘Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!’ grows in reaction to ‘South Park’”.
Which shirt will I wear on Monday? Light blue? Yellow? Dark blue? White? Darkest blue? You’ll have to see then.
Have a great weekend, kids.
APELC Class Notes
Objective: APELCers presented their worldviews.
In first period, Daniel presented on Wicca, Maddie on Buddhism, Priscilla on Scientology, and Ashley on Anarchism, and in third period, Ebaa presented on Sikhism. I was pleased with the questions and discussion each student’s presentation generated; it was a good start to this phase of the project.
A few items of note:
Daniel assessed that Wiccans practice a type of self-fulfilling “If I believe it, it is or will become so” and it reminded me of our discussion Tuesday when some students reported the efficacy of pseudo-scientific or homeopathic remedies. Here’s one take on the placebo effect from Skeptoid.
Maddie’s mention of the misconceptions about Buddhism, reminded me another episode of Skeptoid, “Should Tibet Be Free?”, and an article I cam across last year: “Will the real Dalai Lama please stand up?”
Ebaa’s excellent talk on Sikhism engendered discussion of rights of believers to wear symbols of their devotion (“French Assembly Votes to Ban Religious Symbols in Schools”, “Sarkozy to Submit Bill Banning Islamic Face Veils”, “Bill Seeks To Ban Muslim Veil In Quebec”) and the (ostensible) tolerant secular paradise that is Europe (“Racism Unfiltered in France”, “Racism Seen On The Rise In Italy”, “Scandinavia’s patchwork of racism”). Neat stuff.
Note that next week, I’ll be holding tutorial in liberry lab 2 to assist those who want help with their formatting. You’ll need to enter from the outside door. I’ll also be conducting conferences in the liberry afterward. (Because of my absence, I’ll grade your timed-writings over the weekend and you can sign-up for conferences beginning Monday.)
Have a great weekend, children.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, in my absences today you to have worked alone to find three examples that show Esepranza’s attitude toward herself, her family and friends, and her environment over the course of the novel. You should’ve found one example from near the beginning, one from near the middle, and a final example from near the end of the book. These examples are what you’ll work with on Friday.
See you then.
APELC Class Notes
Good morning APELCers. Sorry for my absence, but you shouldn’t need me for what you’re doing today which is continuing to research and write your papers and to prepare your presentations. Please use this last hour of dedicated liberry time wisely.
As you begin, please review the notes I posted on Tuesday, April 13. I can’t emphasize enough how absolutely vital it is that you adhere to the MLA Formatting and Style Guide, particularly as it pertains to embedding quotations, citing sources in-text, and formatting your Works Cited page. You will be held accountable for any deviations from the format. (See the MLA Undergraduate Sample Paper for an example of all of the formatting conventions in play.) Remember also that your images (no more than two) must appear purposefully in the body of your paper, and each should take up no more than half a page (unless we’ve spoken about your particular image); do not resize images to pad your paper.
I’ll conduct tutorial tomorrow and next week in the liberry for students who want assistance on their formatting and their synthesis of exposition, narration, and evaluation.
See you next class when you’ll begin presenting your work.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers 1) processed satire, and 2) researched their worldviews.
Periods 1 and 3, today we tackled the satirical piece from The Onion that appeared on the 2005 APELC exam before we headed to the liberry for your final day of research.
Here’s the first part of the piece from Sunday’s 60 Minutes about stem cells magic I talked about in class, “21st Century Snake Oil”:
And here’s more from of Brian Dunning at Skeptoid related to bad or pseud0-science:
And here’re two more to ponder that have to do with the paranormal but that some view as vaguely, quantumy and sciencey: “All About Astrology” and “What’s Wrong with The Secret “. Also, don’t forget to read over the James Randi Education Foundation’s One Million Dollar Challenge. (Maybe you’ll accept the challenge and claim the prize?)
I look forward to your presentations next class, and I’d like all students in all periods to print the texts I’ve listed on your class page for next time. We probably won’t get to them, but I’d like you to have them read and in reserve for when we do have the time.
English 9 Class Notes
Objective: Freshmen identified and explained literary concepts in a novel.
Freshmens, we didn’t quite complete the novel today; we’ll finish Wednesday and begin brainstorming the subject of the brief composition you’ll create over the text.
I don’t recall who said it today, but one of you made the observation that each story we’ve read seems to have some wiener in it, and I was stunned that many of you assessed Esperanza to be the wiener of this story arguing that she never seems to be happy with what she has, that she always more materially and personally. This instigated a fascinating discussion of what’s expected of pre-teens and adolescents; I expected that you’d have offered Esperanza more sympathy than most of you did which I very interesting. But it was a great discussion nonetheless, and we’ll keep at it next class and complete the book then, too.
See you in a couple of days.
APELC Class Notes
Objective: APELCers wrote an argument.
Juniors and seniors, you completed timed-writing 8 today. I’ll have them back to you mid-week. You can sign-up for revision conferences Thursday afternoon.
Here’s the podcast I mentioned in first period, “Confronting Theory” from The Philosopher’s Zone, about how methods of knowing compete for cultural and academic currency. Philip Bell, Alan Saunders’ guest, suggests that too many students enter post-secondary institutions with a relativistic worldview and without necessary critical thinking skills. Critical thinking about ideas and assumptions has been the our focus all year long, which I hope will help you not only with the AP exam, but in your own activity in the agora.
Check the updated presentation schedule; see you next class.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen identified and explained literary concepts in a novel.
Freshmens, we continued our novel today, and we took our study outside. We needed the change of environment the grassy areas between the buildings offered, although I wasn’t so keen with the romantic literature-in-great-outdoors image it provided to curious onlookers.
For your enrichment, here’re three scenes from a dramatization of our novel by Steppenwolf for Young Adults. They’re short; have a look.
How does Esperanza compare to the protagonists of the other short texts we began the quarter with? Think that over as we wind down the brief text.
Have a fine weekend and don’t forget your homework.
APELC Class Notes
Second and fourth APELCers, today we covered the same material in class and did the same in the liberry as your colleagues in periods 1 and 3.
I wanted to post some of the images we discussed in all periods, as I mentioned in yesterday’s notes, and that highlighted the importance of thinking beyond your assumptions and made clear the necessity of understanding context. Recall that I initially was talking with Trevor about images for his worldview paper on fascism and also the pink axes many teachers were displaying in their rooms this week. We focused on the power of symbols and visual argument to instigate.
Our initial reaction to the photo below, for example, is revulsion and perhaps anger, at least as we view it in the context of our American history.
Once we understand that the image is from the Telegraph series “Hooded penitents take part in hundreds of processions throughout Spain in celebration of Holy week”, which visually documented Holy Week in Seville, our understanding may change, although our first reactions may be hard to forget if we can forget them at all.
Of the following pair of symbols, the one on the left is at first as disorienting (at best) as the image above, even if we understand its ancient Eastern origins depicted on the right. And, as such, I fully expect to see versions of the latter in several students’ presentations and final papers.
Find out more at Symbols.com, a great reference. The science of signs, or semiotics, actually informs much of what we do in APELC. Here’s a neat introduction when you have time: Semiotics for Beginners.