“spread”?! what the Heck is that about?

Peter Heck at OneNewsNow takes issue with Frank Barney and his use of the term “homophobia”. Heck argues that “moral objections” to homosexuality are mistakenly classified as fear. He lists “physical”, “psychological”, and “spiritual” reasons why he views homosexuality as immoral. The physical/psychological reality is clearly connected to the fictitious “moral objections”. One who is socially marginalized and treated like a pariah is more likely to suffer from depression/anger and engage in physically risky behavior. Heck’s error is in connecting sexual orientation to statistics without regard to factors evident in societal situations. In fact, Heck writes off any suggestion that how society at large views homosexuality affects the mental well-being of those stigmatized. Heck’s view is that homosexuality is some sort of contagious disease that causes suicidal tendencies, a drive toward drugs and an incapacity for monogamy. He sees this as an illness, that if left unchecked by The Defenders of Morality, is bound to ooze its way into the greater population, bringing untold death and destruction to humanity.

“No, he’s not that extreme. He just has moral objections to homosexuality”, you say? But in one simple sentence, Heck makes his homophobia (and Barney’s point) crystal clear:

In Frank’s warped worldview, anyone who opposes the spread of homosexuality in our culture is a homophobe.

Yes, the spread of homosexuality.

preparing for a dog-eat-dog world

Pittsburgh Public Schools get set to implement a policy granting students a minimum grade of 50% for “assignments, tests, and other work.”

Ideally, grades would not be given to students at all. Grades don’t offer any constructive feedback and only risk distracting students from the purpose of education. The purpose of education is to inspire a love for learning and promote self-awareness. This is key to how caring individuals and a good society come about. One might suspect however, that Judy Leonardi doesn’t see it that way:

“I don’t think [the policy] sets kids up properly for college, for competition in life”

While competition has its proper place in school (e.g. on the basketball court), the broad arena of “life” is certainly where it should not be encouraged. While we certainly have inherited a lot from the animal world, our competitive jungle is largely our creation – a creation we (unlike the beasts) have the capacity to maniuplate, for better or for worse, however we desire. Of course, for the time being some compromise may have to be made with some colleges (e.g. entrance requirements giving high priority to GPA), but it’s the responsiblity of K-12 education not to kow-tow to higher education and instead work cooperatively for change.

incentivizing education

Dan Meyer salivates at the ringing of Michelle Rhee’s bell.

Employment contingency plans and cash incentives for teachers based on student results on standardized tests are misguided. Most disturbing, this approach creates a conflict of interest in schools seeking to educate the whole student (if keeping my job and/or reaching my desired salary level is contingent upon “achievement” results, why should I take sufficient time to care for my students’ emotional and psychosocial well-being?). But let’s say the “school” mission is limited purely to academic achievement; at the very least, such incentive encourages teaching to the test. While a snapshot in time may portray a particular school system as “achieving” more than another, how much innovative learning/teaching is pushed aside by this narrow, inflexibility?

“our” hub(e)ris

Wolfgang Huber:

“It is against the spirit of our ethics, the spirit of our ethical tradition, the spirit of the Christian image of a human person and against the spirit of our law,”

This view relates to similar arguments to criminalize abortion. Rather than advocating that others’ behavior should revolve around a particular “image”, Huber may be advised to promote morally accurate action by conscience and reason alone. Behaving based upon an (oxymoronically prescribed) “ethical tradition” implies meeting the present with a static past rather than looking at the (particular suicidal (or feticidal)) situation anew. Criminalizing either the assistance of suicide or the assistance of abortion (under most circumstances) is societally corrosive. Criminalizing the attempt to commit suicide or a self-performed (or attempt to self-perform) abortion is absurd. Of course, some such situations may reasonably require a psychiatric evaluation, but jail time (or any sort of punishment) is obviously a counterproductive approach.

god delusion index

I scored zero on the humorous GDI continuum, though question #5 had me considering 5 points if not for its disagreeable meaning of “meditation”. Meditation is neither extraordinary thought (as implied by the question) nor an act of “contemplation”. Therefore, I answered “no”.

Punished by McRewards

Those looking to improve education by offering rewards for high grades might benefit from a reexamination of their fundamental assumptions regarding human nature. Their beliefs on learning tend to be heavily biased toward a behaviorist view. Common sense (and research) tells us that dangling carrots detracts from the goal of inspiring life-long learning. Unfortunately, some push this pedagogical train wreck to a higher level of absurdity by punishing the body along with the mind:

The McDonald’s restaurants in Seminole County, Fla., and the Seminole County School Board have agreed to reward students for good grades and attendance during the 2007-8 school year with Happy Meals.