FOWL! That’s two forms of the same word! It hardly qualifies as alliteration!
Your honor, I really am arguing about what objectivity is… objecting to prior definitions.
Sustained, but get on with it.
First Objection:So what is blogging etiquette, anyway? A week and a half ago my friend Mari, a Norwegian, posted two blogs about the Nobel Peace Prize, one the
day before the award, the other
the day of. The first was a charming peek into the country that considers the Peace Prize its own, and how it has been awarded historically over the years, the second an honest and insightful response that I thought was well-thought.
I was shocked, therefore, to find some rather venomous commentary on her Facebook page about it. Yesterday she wrote a careful response (as she was finally back from her travels) and the same…
So that is okay? Where is the line on responding to blogs? Are people free to respond however they darned well please? Are responses welcome only if asked for? Is restraint called for? Can we say rude things so long as we sign in so we can take the heat of responses?
I guess I feel like balance or something might be the answer. “I agree with this, but not that.” Or maybe I don’t object to objections, only rants... “limit your objections to a sentence apiece, please”. I know I love feedback, even that which doesn’t agree with me, but I have veered away from my political views (strong as they are), and only dipped a toe in the religious pool. And probably if somebody told me I didn’t know what I was talking about, I’d be really offended (it’s the downside of being a Know-It-All).
So now I AM ASKING YOU (and want actual honest answers). All you bloggers out there: Where is the line? Am I absurd to think people ought to keep it friendly?
Objection #2:
My son is in the midst of taking the MEAP. Standardized testing… I am a statistician. I am supposed to LOVE standardized ANYTHING. But MAN do I have a problem with high stakes testing. 1) both my kids are at new schools this year, taking tests in October. Their scores are a reflection on their LAST school, yet if they really stink it up, it is their current school penalized. How messed up is that? 2) These tests are the bane of teacher existence. Every teacher we’ve had for years has started the year with ‘reviewing for the MEAP’. They don’t start TEACHING until late October. And on top of that, they don’t seem to be teaching them to LEARN anymore, because there is too much factual material to cram in there. To HELL with the facts! Teach them to process, seek, find, THINK. The objective knowledge a person holds is NOT his or her intelligence. Albert Einstein never knew his phone number, arguing, “why would I? I know where to find it.” EXACTLY! (or maybe that is just the PoV of someone with short term memory issues).
So those are my objections. Object to them if you will!
