A few parents in the Grapevine-Colleyville school district resent their children being taught a little bit of Spanish (one semester, and only in one class two days a week). Obviously these particular parents don’t know much about Texas history or the importance of Spanish speakers to it. In what way is keeping your children from learning a good thing?
I could have posted links to the original story when it first came out. I thought linking to an editorial rebuttal would be a better choice. At least the author is writing from a sane perspective.
The parents in question were eating up the sensational local news coverage like candy. Their kids are who I worry about. How can education be priority one in a home that willfully fights against learning. The parent in question doesn’t find fault with teaching other languages… meaning she’s specifically discriminating against Spanish. That conjures up a number of choice descriptions about her character, but which I do not wish to type here.
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Lessig gives a 20 minute talk on why he supports Obama for president. Very lucid and informative arguments!
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It wasn’t bad, but by the end I was ready for it to be over. So this book earns a solid 3. I still don’t think I’m quite in the groove with traditional Science Fiction yet. They seem to feel more like a travel book dedicated to pointing out cool technology or some such. Guess I’ve been spoiled by stories with complex plots, with twists and the like.
Ringworld is the tale of a motley crew of four, two humans and a couple aliens, setting out on an exploration of the Ringworld (a manufactured world in the shape of a ring, go figure). I’ll give Niven credit, the descriptions of this future universe, the aliens, cultures, and eventually the Ringworld are all very cool. The Dyson sphere lite concept of the ring is really neat and well thought out. The luck concept was a little much to stomach though, as it acted as a plot hole device. I’ve seen magic used the same way in some fantasy stories. If you’re lacking a real plot motivation or have no real explanation why something should happen a certain way… bam! magic… or in this case luck.
Like I said, not a bad book at all, but I’m ready to move onto something else.
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