Great Times!

Grrr!!! Gettin' jacked! Say it with ya chest!

Kevin Hart reference anyone? I seem to have a massive stand-up comedy and funny movie database from which to pull quotes that most Kennedy kids don't, not the few I have met anyways.

I have so many things I just want to scream into this computer screen right now. If I were to give a speech on everything I want to say not only are there not enough hours in the day but my vocal cords couldn't handle the enormous stress I would put them under for extended periods of time in the course of the lecture, because when I say something I feel strongly about, I say it with meaning. By meaning I mean (hahaha it's like a pun or something, Spongebob reference) I'll yell it. Seriously I can work myself into a tizzy just thinking about things, sometimes so much so I just start discussing things with my cat. Sounds totally weird but don't kid yourself, you've done it too. I'm the one who embraces the fact and you're calling me weird? You'd better check yourself before you wreck yourself. Due Date reference. Anyways, you can tell I have material for this post, though maybe I'm just killing words with the above explanation. The world may never know...Tootsie Pop commercial reference

I will attempt the impossible. That is, present a clear and well-thought out thesis on a specific topic. I loved Montaigne so much for his writing, because my brain is wired like his writing. I do not think in order, I do not think like a file cabinet, I don't think related thoughts, and the slightest utterance can produce a tangent completely wild and original. This is major reason I do not like language arts. It may be true that making notecards helps many people organize their thoughts and receive a good grade, for others (like myself) they are a roadblock for creativity and a source of anxiety. No, I don't need to write a sentence on a piece of paper to remember where it should in my paper. Mr. Ayers, I must take my hat off to you (which really means I'm praising you immensely for saving my belief, or maybe it's just a hope now, that there are still good teachers out there) for your lack of hoop-jumping and anxiety creating books and pencils and worksheets and outlines and other insufferably boring techniques that flat-out do not work. To clarify, I like your teaching style. People learn from people, not from books, not from websites, not from homework, not from doing tedious tasks that require knowledge previously attained, not from sitting in a group doing nothing when we're supposed to be working, not from doing any number of pointless techniques. People learn from people. They learn from concept sharing, storytelling, idea-bouncing-offing, question asking, discussion having, maybe even from arguments debating. 2000 years ago people didn't have such a thing as homework, because there wasn't a ready supply of paper. When people went to school they had conversations. Sometimes one on one, many times delivered as a lecture in front of a group. Aristotle and Plato didn't learn what they learned, though considered weak when held to today's standard, by doing worksheets, or by comparing and contrasting, or by filling in bubbles. They sat around and look at stuff until it made sense to them, then they wrote it down. John Nash didn't need a class to tell him he knew how to do math, because he obviously knew how to do math. And math he did, without the credentials that the aristocracy of academia demanded (who eventually did grant him more than the necessary credentials to be taken seriously after he published his revolutionary theses). High schools don't understand this! People have natural talent, and requiring them to do things the same as everyone else is cruel and unusual punishment. There once was a student at North Fayette who had completed Pre-Calc (highest math class offered) after his freshman year. He entered Calculus at Luther the next year, and held the highest score in the class the whole term. I don't know the specific details of the story, but I'm willing to bet my left testicle that it took him considerable time and effort to achieve that. When I say considerable time and effort I don't mean he had to try really hard at math, I mean he had to convince the administration that this was the right thing. Math was obviously something he was naturally good at and something he enjoyed. School didn't offer enough of a challenge, so he went to college. Again, I don't know much more than I already told but I would make the same bet as I did previously as to he destroyed the college math courses as well. I experience the same thing! Put me in the hard class without the pre-requisites! Challenge me! Test my knowledge! Strain my brain! Ask me questions I don't know the answer to! Involve me in the conversation! Stimulate my thoughts! Do a bunch of other things that generally don't happen in the classroom!

End post. Boom. Roasted.