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Google Wants Google Doodles Taught In Public School, Warns Kids They Best Behave

theodp writes: Well, this year's Hour of Code is almost upon us, and if Google has its way, K-12 schoolchildren across the nation will be learning computer science by creating Google Doodles with Scratch (lesson plan). Curiously, the introductory video for the Create Your Own Google Logo Hour of Code activity from the Google Computer Science Education Department sternly warns kids, "While it is okay to use the Google logo for your personal Doodle, it is not okay [emphasis Google's] to use it anyplace else or outside this activity." In addition to respecting its intellectual property, Google instructs kids that they are to follow the Scratch Community Guidelines when they create Google logos: "Please stay positive, friendly, and supportive towards others in the Scratch Community. Help us keep Scratch a place where people of different backgrounds and interests feel welcome to hang out and create together."

146 comments

  1. I can't wait for google to transform education by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Then decide it's not profitable and shut it down in 2 years. No more book reports bitches!

  2. Good luck with that. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Yeah, that'll go over about as well as DARE.

    This is wonderful progress, though - when 'fighting the man' is reduced to shitposting Google logos, well, it's clear that we've made real progress over the decades.

    1. Re:Good luck with that. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      4Chan /b/tards inbound in 3...2...1...

  3. Like "free speech" today by Moof123 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You are welcome to speak your mind in America*.

    *Must comply with HR rules of your company, must not offend anyone, infringe on any business interests, or otherwise cause incitement of the public.

    1. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hope you're not posting via a company asset.

    2. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Freedom from consequence is exactly what free speech is. What else could it possibly refer to? Nobody can stop me from saying anything I like, governments/business/whatever can just punish after the fact. The entire point of free speech is is to protect from consequences.

    3. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The first amendment protects you from government censorship where it's not illegal incitement. That's it. You live in a fantasy world with your head up your ass.

      That's not America, you didn't build that.

    4. Re:Like "free speech" today by Moof123 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The only way to actually speak your mind today is to be independently wealthy. Participating in the democratic process can easily make you lose your job, even if you violate no laws. Corporations have more free speech than the average citizen (and more ability to get away with breaking the law without consequence). We are way down the slippery slope on this one.

    5. Re:Like "free speech" today by Moof123 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Try flipping off the president, it could easily cost you your job.

    6. Re:Like "free speech" today by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      The Constitution only guarantees that the government cannot silence you.

      It does not guarantee you an absolute right to say whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want.

      So, if you're on my payroll and property, you follow my rules, or GTFO. When it's your payroll and property, you get to make the rules.

      Now shut up and get off my lawn (but feel free to speak up again once you reach the public street).

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    7. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are welcome to speak your mind in America*.

      *Must comply with HR rules of your company, must not offend anyone, infringe on any business interests, or otherwise cause incitement of the public.

      Careful there citizen, I note that you are not presently inside a pre-approved "Free Speech Zone". That sarcastic attitude can get you arrested over here.

    8. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Careful, your words are inciting me to do something against you, and by your own logic, you should be held responsible for my actions at that point.

    9. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are protected from consequences. The federal government cannot come by and arrest you for being a member of the Nazi or Communist party and espousing those viewpoints. That doesn't mean private citizens and businesses have to put up with your BS -- the Bill of Rights doesn't say I have to keep associating with you regardless of what you say; only that you're free to say it.

    10. Re:Like "free speech" today by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      So, you admit you have no personal control over your own actions. Nicely done.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    11. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It carries a degree of freedom from consequences, just like freedom of religion carries a degree of freedom from religion.

      Freedom of speech means that someone cannot shut me up just because they don't like what I am saying. They do not have to give me a platform to say it, but they do have to accept the fact that I have the right to say it. If it ventures from speech to action, that is less protected, and the line between the two is not always clear.

      Regarding freedom of religion, you cannot very well be free to practice your religion as you please, if you are not free from, say, satanists forcing their beliefs upon you.

    12. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In many jurisdictions he could be, if you could prove it. See: fighting words.

    13. Re: Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Waaaah. Muh actions have consequences.

      GROW UP.

    14. Re:Like "free speech" today by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      Corporations don't have more free speech. They have deeper pockets, and army of lawyers to draw up one sided contracts. Contracts, you don't need to sign, if you want to earn a living outside of Corporate America.

      The problem as I see it, is people want the perks of working for BIGCORP (Large salary, cushy job) but complain about it being "not fair" and how evil BIGCORP is. If they sell their soul to the devil, and don't care about the details, the devil always wins.

      The devil knows the details, and has a great marketing department. Hell is filled with "hookers and blow and a limitless bar tab".

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    15. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Careful, you're a fucking moron.

    16. Re:Like "free speech" today by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 3, Interesting

      IMHO she has a case. She will win. And she'll have more money than she would if she worked there. Male executives already set precedent for that company (documented), doing far worse than flipping the President off.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    17. Re:Like "free speech" today by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      Yes?

      I mean the first amendment is solely to stop the government putting you in gaol for speaking. The purpose is so you can speak truth to power and power can't suppress you. The general motivation is that you should be able to speak to effect a change.

      As with everything it's more complex, but that's the basics.

      Now, by design and intention nothing in the concept of free speech protects you from the social consequences of your speech. The why is interesting. If you were protected and there were no consequences then your speech would be meaningless because you'd be unable to change anyone's opinion.

      I said consequences, not bad consequences.

      Without consequence speech is useless. But it cuts both ways. You can have the consequences you want (converting people to your cause) and consequences you dislike (people thinking you're a idiot/disinheriting you/banning you from the pub).

      I don't think if ever seen a coherent philosophy on free speech which only allows for consequences the speaker personally prefers.

      Now corporations are private and not bound by that amendment. If they become too dominant then there's a problem, because they essentially de facto government. But they are not (yet?). And if you're working for one and taking their money it's really not unreasonable for them to want you too not work against their interests.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    18. Re:Like "free speech" today by sexconker · · Score: 1

      The first amendment protects you from government censorship where it's not illegal incitement. That's it. You live in a fantasy world with your head up your ass.

      That's not America, you didn't build that.

      Try READING the first amendment and the rest of the constitution.
      It's set up that powers not granted to the federal government are reserved for the states and the people. Speech is expressly called out as a right that people have.

    19. Re: Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So it's okay for a corporation to use lobbyists and make politically charged donations but it's not okay for the lowly employee to discuss politics during lunch time?
      Maybe people are right to fear AI if it's being made by companies that police speech.

    20. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'll flip him off every day I pass his new home in the Federal Penitentiary and the only consequence will be the weasely whiny outrage of worthless nazi Republican faggot traitors. FTFY, lil bitch.

      BTW the cyclist? Already has a better job than you. People are tripping over themselves to hire her, Trump is so reviled in this country right now. Suck it red state faggots.

    21. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, you admit you have no personal control over your own actions. Nicely done.

      You forget, you're replying to an Anonymous Coward! Of course there's no personal control, why he's even arguing with himself.

      It is quite obviously a mental illness.

      But no, actually, words can induce a person's actions, that's the whole point of words to influence others, and yes, you can be responsible for the results of them. You do realize this, right?

      Thus your own response is a poor means of opposition, a more nuanced and directed approach would be the proper means to do so, in order to demonstrate the error in the above AC's own mistaken absolutism.

      Not that you'll be alone, there's already a dozen poorly constructed arguments being put forth here.

    22. Re:Like "free speech" today by tquasar · · Score: 1

      Every six year old I know has a attorney and a parent with an IQ of at least 160! And crayons.

    23. Re:Like "free speech" today by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      The first amendment protects you from government censorship where it's not illegal incitement.

      The first amendment does not contain the phrase "illegal incitement" or any other qualification. What is says is "no law".

      Also, the 1st Amendment only protects you from federal censorship. It is the due process clause in the 5th and 14th amendments that have been used by the courts to prohibit state and local governments from censoring.

    24. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey Bill, you're a known retard so here's a civics lesson for you : The Constitution is a document interpreted into law by the SCOTUS, and they uphold the incitement law also. Moron.

    25. Re:Like "free speech" today by slick7 · · Score: 1

      Try flipping off the president, it could easily cost you your job.

      Posting your contempt on fb, twitter or any public venue, will get you fired and rightly so.

      --
      The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
    26. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuck Alphabet and its fucktarded children. I quit.

    27. Re:Like "free speech" today by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 3, Informative

      Try flipping off the president, it could easily cost you your job.

      Posting your contempt on fb, twitter or any public venue, will get you fired and rightly so.

      According to this article (and others), Juli Briskman wasn't identifiable in the photo (and was off-work and displayed no company affiliations in the photo), but after it went viral she voluntarily told her company that it was her and they fired her for violating their social media policy by posting something ‘lewd’ or ‘obscene’.

      It's worth noting that the company only reprimanded a male executive who called someone “f—ing Libtard a–hole” on his Facebook account that displayed the company logo and info and then allowed the guy to clean up his posts.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    28. Re:Like "free speech" today by vux984 · · Score: 1

      "Freedom of speech means that someone cannot shut me up just because they don't like what I am saying."

      "They do not have to give me a platform to say it"

      Who is 'they' and what is a 'platform' ?
      Should a high school student writing an essay not be given the widest latitude possible to write whatever they want to write? Always.

      Is it reasonable for the maker of the pencil and paper to restrict the student only writing friendly, positive things, that won't be offensive, and that do not disparage the maker of the pencil ?

      Yet this is essentially what we have here. Google is providing the 'pen', to a student in an eduational setting... and then putting ridiculous and frankly unreasonable boundaries on the freedom to express themselves, by dint of 'owning the platform'. Do you want to live in a world where the maker of your computer has editorial say of the novel you are writing?

      There should be law in place to grant people, especially students and private individuals etc unrestricted creative expression. The rule should not be "if you don't like the platform don't use it"; everything is a "platform". And your freedom to express yourself creatively shouldn't be contingent on the collective agreement of the platform owners to allow it.

    29. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      She embarrassed the company at the national level and was proud of it, he called someone a bad word on the Facebooks and took it down when asked.

      These two things are not comparable, and you are embarrassing yourself by claiming they are.

    30. Re:Like "free speech" today by fafalone · · Score: 1

      Yes, the first amendment says 'no law'. But there's already tons and tons of cases where courts ruled that 'no law' only actually means 'no law we don't approve of'. There's a few exceptions to the first, massive exceptions to the second (which is permanently revoked from millions of people who aren't even a risk of violence) and fourth (police are basically allowed to ignore it), a few for the fifth. The third is holding strong at least. But imminent credible incitement to lawbreaking is one of the invisible exceptions in that 'no law' statement that sometimes for better and sometimes for worse, the courts and society agree we can make up as we go along.

    31. Re:Like "free speech" today by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      Of course, words can "influence" others. That is part of communication. And I am aware of the whole "fighting words" concept.

      However, I am one to believe that in spite of all that, we are responsible for the actions we choose ... including "fighting words". There are expectations that come along with influence. If you use words expecting someone to punch you(or someone else) in the face, then yes, you are responsible for that. But the courts have said that there is a very high burden of proof bar to make in terms of judicial recourse.

      I wonder if all the snowflakes running around screaming "punch a Nazi" are responsible for when someone gets punched because someone else pointed and said "Nazi!!!!" . Or, they'll just claim it is an internet Meme and they didn't mean THAT guy, just a nameless, faceless, kind of Nazi person.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    32. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Freedom from consequence is exactly what free speech is. What else could it possibly refer to? Nobody can stop me from saying anything I like, governments/business/whatever can just punish after the fact. The entire point of free speech is is to protect from consequences.

      Not quite.
      Freedom of speech requires immunity to consequences from the act of speaking. It does not apply to release from liability for consequences of actions taken as a result of speech.
      The difference is subtle, but importnat. Especially because we've got a lot of people trying to leverage the ambiguity to erode freedom of speech at present.

      If you can be fired because you said the n-word you do not have freedom of speech. On the otehr hand if you are fired because you lost the company a major cleitn because you called their rep an n-word that is not infringing your freedom of speech.

    33. Re: Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's all gov's fault anyways and removing regulations will solve everything in no time.

    34. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Schools already have rules against being nasty to other kids, this is no different. One of our classroom rules was "no put-downs". You don't have a license to go anywhere you please and be a little piece of shit. It's totally acceptable on Slashdot, of course.

    35. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course, words can "influence" others. That is part of communication.

      Then your choice of expression was especially poor.

      And I am aware of the whole "fighting words" concept.

      Which is only one of the many ways in which words can induce action, and for which a person can be liable, so how am I to know what the extent of your awareness is because you are aware of only one?

      However, I am one to believe that in spite of all that, we are responsible for the actions we choose ... including "fighting words". There are expectations that come along with influence. If you use words expecting someone to punch you(or someone else) in the face, then yes, you are responsible for that.

      Ok, now can you provide examples of other conduct? You seem to be focused overmuch on the face-punching context, which doesn't do much to demonstrate your awareness.

      But the courts have said that there is a very high burden of proof bar to make in terms of judicial recourse.

      I wonder if all the snowflakes running around screaming "punch a Nazi" are responsible for when someone gets punched because someone else pointed and said "Nazi!!!!" Or, they'll just claim it is an internet Meme and they didn't mean THAT guy, just a nameless, faceless, kind of Nazi person.

      And your comments lead me to wonder if you realize you'd have a high burden of proof to convince a court that going around pointing out people as "Nazis" for a judicial recourse for the person doing the punching.

      To me, this indicates that you should really rethink your own approach, it's really just contributing to the problems here.

    36. Re:Like "free speech" today by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      There really is no point to free speech unless you can speak your mind without repercussions. Like the guy who wrote that memo at google about their gender bias, he should have been debated and been given the chance to face up to some of his errors in that memo and everyone would have learned from it. No, they just banish him and one side gets to keep thinking they were completely right and he stubbornly believes he was completely right and google still has a gender bias problem that no one in their right mind is going to bring up with any seriousness again. This is the opposite of free speech. In relation to the constitution (Bill of Rights for the pedants), it means that we don't go to prison for speaking out against our government or government officials but as a society it is clear right now that we do not value this solid principle. It's like we reverted from the enlightenment to bronze-age thinking.

      On any good team everyone knows they can speak their mind and are not afraid of being ridiculed. They know they can question the "obvious" and spark a productive debate that solves real problems and moves things forward.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    37. Re:Like "free speech" today by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      As an addendum, Damore didn't lose his job for his gender bias views. He lost his job because he indirectly compared management to failed Marxist intellectual maggots in one of the footnotes. There is no way in hell they were not going to fry him for that.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    38. Re:Like "free speech" today by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      Odd. Show the part in the constitution that talks about the supreme court. ....or the part that talks about other branches of government that can spring up and subvert the others.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    39. Re:Like "free speech" today by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      The Supreme Court allows whatever gives it cheap credibility and skirts anything that Washington or most of society might reject and henceforth get reverted--reducing their credibility. Same way with the the other branch of government, the Federal Reserve.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    40. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Corporations don't have more free speech. They have deeper pockets

      Money has been declared a form of free speech in the incredibly obvious Citizens United case.

      You can't go two sentences without a contradiction.

      The devil knows the details

      The devil is in the details.

      Are you really a human being or a chatbot?

    41. Re: Like "free speech" today by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      "but it's not okay for the lowly employee to discuss politics during lunch time?"

      I know of an incident where a guy got written up for listening to another guy in the lunch room who was expressing some politically charged opinions about current events. He was eating with him and at that point was captive, for all practical purposes. Someone ran to HR and complained about the douche talking politics in the lunch room but my friend got lumped in with him and now has a mark in his file. He didn't say a word.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    42. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh lord and master, am I always on your clock? At 2 am when I wake up with a stomach ache and am on the crapper, am I still under your thumb? Unless in the photo I represented the company in any way shape or form, you can piss off with your demands. Fire me and I shall sue you, and rightfully so. As I flipped off a member of the government, my speech was political in nature at the government, and by you retaliating, you may very well be seen as acting at the behest of the current government. Best be remembering that you're no slave master, and that I only have to abide by your policies when on the clock or when representing the company.

    43. Re: Like "free speech" today by Reverend+Green · · Score: 1

      Fake-Progressive Capitalists sure do love imposing dictatorial codes of conduct on people without their consent.

    44. Re:Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah, but calling someone a fucking Libtard asshole isn't obscene or lewd. Just like how it's ok to punch Nazis...

    45. Re: Like "free speech" today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Said the AC

  4. Teach Kids Life Skills by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "While it is okay to use the Google logo for your personal Doodle, it is not okay [emphasis Google's] to use it anyplace else or outside this activity."

    What we should be teaching children is the appropriate response to this:
    "You want a logo design? Pay me."

    1. Re:Teach Kids Life Skills by postbigbang · · Score: 0

      Please respect your Google Overlord, You are only a cog in the new plutocracy. You need re-education. Please use the search term "I am fucked, I am fucked. Heal me. Heal me." and your sins will be absolved, citizen.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    2. Re: Teach Kids Life Skills by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pay me or at least pay your fair share of taxes, Google. Until you contribute, you aren't allowed to participate... If only we, the people could unite in solidarity against the responsibility & tax shirking corporations.

  5. Use our logo BUT Dont' use our logo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Fuck you Google.

    If you want to make people revolve around your every move then they get to do shit with your stuff you don't get to control.

    If you don't like them using your logo for other things ... DON'T FUCKING MAKE IT THE CENTER OF AN EXPERIMENT ABOUT MODIFYING IMAGES WITH SOFTWARE YOU SELFISH FUCKS.

    Use a logo developed to be public domain specifically for this purpose.

    Anything else just shows your selfishness. My children will literally NEVER be allowed to participate in ANY Google summer of code bullshit.

    captcha: comeback

    1. Re:Use our logo BUT Dont' use our logo by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      mod up

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  6. What could possibly... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google apparently doesn't know the best way to get kids to do something, is to tell them not to do it.

  7. From Corporate Agenda from conflict of interest by evolutionary · · Score: 2

    It' is truly inappropriate for Google to come in with education agenda, legal and social agenda. That is for teachers and parents to decide. Not corporations. That just leads to all sorts of abuse. Microsoft and Apple have been pushing their products through schools and the results are future people who no nothing but the products pushed in the school. Not what I call an education. Oscar Wilde would have a field day with this. (see his statement about British education in "The Importance of being Earnest").

    --
    "Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
    1. Re:From Corporate Agenda from conflict of interest by GonzoPhysicist · · Score: 1

      It's still up to the teachers or schools to implement the lesson or not, Google isn't forcing anybody to do this it's just providing resources for those that choose to use them.

      And this isn't new at all, for example look up Pepsi's use of the US's attempt at adopting the metric system to push using 2 liter bottles of soda as teaching aids ("follow the liter" campaign)

      --
      horror vacui
    2. Re:From Corporate Agenda from conflict of interest by evolutionary · · Score: 1

      But google (like MS and Apple before them) is exerting pressure as the article indicates. I think most of us agree that the potential of conflict of interest of any private company, especially a large corporation, is far to great to be allowing them to set agenda/criteria in our school system at the primary level before children have had a chance to form independent idea.s

      --
      "Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
  8. Test by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    this is a test from an AC

    1. Re:Test by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I give this test a D-

  9. Oh goodness, having to tell children to behave? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's just terrible. Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children?

    Now who wants to see Mark McGwire sock a few dingers!

    1. Re:Oh goodness, having to tell children to behave? by avandesande · · Score: 1

      Yes, I am confused. Not sure if Google should have said more or less about the children's behavior.

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
  10. Needs to Stop by sycodon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This whole trend of Big Business dreaming up some curriculum and then trying to push it on public schools has got to stop.

    Not only because it's an obvious shill for their particular technology, but it is often poorly thought out and in some instances politically charged.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    1. Re:Needs to Stop by CanHasDIY · · Score: 3, Insightful

      ... it is often poorly thought out and in some instances politically charged.

      Well then it sounds like a proper fit for Common Core schools.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    2. Re:Needs to Stop by sycodon · · Score: 0

      LOL..

      Pretty much.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    3. Re:Needs to Stop by networkBoy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      as a parent of a kid dealing with CommonClusterfuck I can say that this has *nothing* on just how political and railroaded CC is.

      [rant]
      Us parents were billed as "it's an additional method to help us teach, not all kids understand the math lessons we grew up with"...
      BUT!
      My kid is hyper analytical (and an aspie, so...) he thrives on a sheet of graph paper and columns for long division, not this brainfuck of repeated additions and subtractions to find the right answer.
      He was reduced to sobbing trying to figure out how to do his homework, which might as well been written in greek, considering the teachers can't even properly explain it.

      I read it, extracted the actual division problems and taught him how to use graph paper to keep his columns straight for classic long division with remainders. He did the entire worksheet with the right answers. and got an F.

      [/rant]

      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
    4. Re: Needs to Stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      100% agree

    5. Re:Needs to Stop by sycodon · · Score: 1

      Time for Dad to visit the School Board.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    6. Re:Needs to Stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      God that shit is horrible. My best friend pulled his kid out of public school and mom and grandma home school he in the more "traditional" way. not only has he caught up to where he is "supposed" to be at but has exceeded it by a fair margin. of course mom having masters in speech therapy/teaching and grandma having BEEN a HS teacher for 35 years helps, but that's not really the point.

    7. Re:Needs to Stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've hear of hostile takeovers, but what the ____. Do you ever get a choice on how or what you want to learn in school anymore??? I don't know since I don't have a kid, but I'd rather find a friendly Web site that doesn't force a kid to do something. AND goes at the kid's pace! When something is so complicated that even a teacher gets confused. ..Unbelievable

    8. Re:Needs to Stop by PCM2 · · Score: 2

      He deserves an F ... for being able to correctly complete division problems. Got it.

      Not every kid can understand long division ... so the kids who can, get punished by effectively getting kicked out of the school curriculum with failing grades. Got it.

      I used to think home-schooling people were all libertarian nutjobs or whacked-out Christians. Now I'm not so sure.

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
    9. Re:Needs to Stop by networkBoy · · Score: 1

      I know you're trolling but there is actually a decent point here.
      There are people who just can't get classic long division, does that make them bad?

      Or is it rather that instead of chucking out the entire system they should maybe consider that there are many diverse and distinct learning styles and use the one(s) suited to the students?
      Also, the IEP counselor would disagree with you as she's just as baffled by the new crap (as was the teacher teaching it in the first place, who was openly hostile to it).

      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
    10. Re:Needs to Stop by networkBoy · · Score: 1

      forgot to add, this is not common core, this is considered classic:
      https://www.splashmath.com/mat...

      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
    11. Re:Needs to Stop by slick7 · · Score: 1

      Time for Dad to visit the School Board.

      That's how you commit suicide by common core. Quiz custodiet ipsos custodet.

      --
      The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
    12. Re:Needs to Stop by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

      Well then stop putting in politicians that keep on cutting taxes and the budgets of education, and other services, to fund those tax cuts. If the school system was properly funded with good teachers who had time to prepare their lessons then there wouldn't be an opening, or at least an easy one, for companies to market their products under the guise of education.

    13. Re:Needs to Stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hate to tell you, but my kid made a Scratch quiz from...scratch. Without any help. And the got bored and gave up on stupid "evil" made language perversions.

    14. Re:Needs to Stop by be951 · · Score: 2

      Not only because it's an obvious shill for their particular technology

      Like Google providing materials and lesson plans based on Scratch, "a project of the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab. It is available for free at http://scratch.mit.edu/"? Those monsters!

      in some instances politically charged

      Yeah, the example they give of changing the color of a letter in the logo. Obviously racist, right?

      Damn big businesses, offering free educational resources to teachers and schools. What kind of world are we creating when we expose kids to STEM concepts at a young age? Oh, the humanities!

    15. Re:Needs to Stop by sycodon · · Score: 2

      We put people on the moon with men who grew up going to one room schools, using pencils and slide rules.

      Those schools were funded by local property taxes and controlled by local school boards. There wasn't even an "Ejucation Departmemt".

      The Austin ISD just received approval for a one BILLION dollar bond. They are going to spend 40 million dollars on an elementary school.

      I'm sorry, there is NO lack of funding in education.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    16. Re:Needs to Stop by mallyn · · Score: 1
      Very eloquently said 'commonclusterfuck'! I luv it! Put that one with 'All Childrent Left Behind' or 'All Of Us Left Behind' when referring to 'no child left behind'.

      Seriously, when I tried to read through the no child left behind documents, I was lulled to a deep sleep and was left miles behind!!

      --
      Most Respectfully Yours Mark Allyn Bellingham, Washington
    17. Re:Needs to Stop by plopez · · Score: 1

      Ummm no. Most of them were solidly middle class and went to suburban schools. There was the occasional exception but most of them were born during or shortly before WWII, average age in the mid 20's. The pilots went to Academy's the engineers and managers went to 4 year schools.

      --
      putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
    18. Re:Needs to Stop by apoc.famine · · Score: 4, Interesting

      What you and the GGP are missing is what the actual lesson is: You assume it's to learn how to do long division, because that's what it looks like to you. That's what you learned, and how you learned it. Newsflash: This is a different standard, in a different time. It's not the same lesson you learned.

      This lesson is to learn that method of long division. Not the underlying math, but the method.

      That's why his kiddo got an F. Not because he can't do long division, because he can't demonstrate that he understands that method. That's the standard he was being assessed on. Dad's mistake was assuming that long division was the end goal, when it's actually an indirect goal. While the GP here was a bit harsh, he was spot on.

      The reason that the focus is on this method is that it's a building block for higher order math skills. Column division with remainders isn't. The idea is that if students learn enough of these methods, they can apply them to algebra and calculus in the future. That wasn't a lesson on long division. It was foundational work to support mathematics growth far in the future.

      Good on dad up there for caring and teaching his kiddo a new skill, but bad on him for misunderstanding the lesson and subverting his kid's learning. If you really care and want to help, you're going to need to learn what's being taught and why, and not just inject your vastly out-of-date knowledge into kids' brains. That's going to make things worse rather than better.

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
    19. Re:Needs to Stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My sympathies. My daughter is doing well but she does find it frustratingly tedious to read the question, have the answer immediately, then having to go back and 'show her work' using the method they are supposed to use which seems overly convoluted to her (and me). The life lesson I have kept in mind is that the real world can be that asinine, and that learning to take it in stride is a good thing.

      For that, she excels more than I ever did. Sure she gets the correct answer the simpler way first because she's eager to know the answer, but doesn't balk at going through the motions for the benefit of the 'correct' way.

    20. Re:Needs to Stop by CanHasDIY · · Score: 2

      This lesson is to learn that method of long division. Not the underlying math, but the method.

      So, what you're saying is, in Common Core following the method that an authority figure demands you follow, regardless of how harmful it may be to your individual learning process, is more important than figuring out the correct answer.

      2+2=4.

      So does 3+1.

      To fail a student because they got to 4 by a different method than the "approved" version is counter-productive, assuming the concept is to produce a generation of intelligent people capable of critical thinking.

      Then again, perhaps I am conceptually mistaken on the purpose of public education...

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    21. Re:Needs to Stop by apoc.famine · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      What you're arguing is that it's better to learn many unrelated short-term skills than it is to learn a number of skills that in aggregate provide better access to more complicated material in the future. It's pretty classic short-term thinking.

      I get that you're angry because you don't understand it. I'm a little unclear why you want to hate Common Core so badly that you're unwilling to even try to understand it.

      See this part that you wrote:

      more important than figuring out the correct answer.

      That's wrong. That's you making up in your head what the lesson is, because you don't understand the real lesson. You don't understand the goal.

      The goal was never to get the correct answer. The goal was to teach the student a fundational skill they will build on in later grades.

      You're making up a problem that doesn't exist by creating this scenario in your head where a boogieman is forcing kids to "use approved versions" to solve trivial tasks. That's not what's happening. That's you trying to wedge your experience in math into what the common core is doing. If you take some time to try to actually understand it. you'll likely be surprised to find that it's nothing like you imagine it to be.

      Yes, things that you don't understand are scary. The solution isn't to bitch and moan on the internet about them. The solution is to learn about them, so they are less scary.

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
    22. Re:Needs to Stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's more like in common core they each you that 2+2 = 3+1 = 4.
      While you're telling them "the answer third question on the page will always be '4'".

      Then when they fail because the third question was "6+3=?" you bitch that you can't help your child do math because in your day the third question was always "2+2=?" and memorizing that was good enough for you so it should be good enough now.

      Column based long division is an obsolete skill in the age of computers. But knowing how to transform an equation to a more useable representation without changing it's meaning is extremely important.

    23. Re:Needs to Stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It doesn't matter that he got the correct solution, but how he got it, obviously. This will prepare what he will face at employers. Only solution is 1) become an owner 2) own companies.

    24. Re:Needs to Stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let me translate your wonderfully articulated comment using a movie: (see Karate Kid)

      Yes, Daniel could have waxed the cars in many different ways, but the purpose of the exercise was not to actually wax the cars, that was a secondary thing, the purpose was to develop muscle memory to support the skills he was going to learn later.

      Much like sanding the deck and painting the fence.

    25. Re:Needs to Stop by sycodon · · Score: 2

      Pencils and slide rules.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    26. Re: Needs to Stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which Academy's what, again?

    27. Re:Needs to Stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The point is to understand the operation of division, not to memorize an algorithm and repeat it ad nauseum. They are making them use those other algorithms because they realized that a lot of kids who could perform the standard algorithm didn't actually understand what they were doing.

    28. Re:Needs to Stop by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Re "Not only because it's an obvious shill for their particular technology, but it is often poorly thought out and in some instances politically charged."
      It has to be the lack of computers, teachers, books, calculators, robot kits, ebooks, laptops, desktop computers, new funding, nutrition.
      Add more computers, quality teachers and a find funds to design new buildings.

      Just keep on over funding the parts of the nation that cant educate their students and in a few decades the students test as well as the national average.
      Decades of funding, public private partnerships, support, new computers, teachers, new buildings... any decade now that spending just has to result in better grades on average.
      Just keep on adding more funding for education and it will all be good soon...
      Change the way teachers get educated. Curriculum changes... More books for the library? Ebooks? New laptops with ebooks on them? Replace the new laptops with new tablet computers...add more new ebooks with a new generation of US authors.
      That has to show up in the next generation as better average test results?
      Add more funds... that will bring the poor government schools up to some mythical wealthy private school standards?
      Another new building and more a lot more new networked computers? Lack of fast internet, that had to be the issue... More new robot kits and colourful gui control software for the robot kit? Computer art? Computer music ... Bring the private sector into the classroom .. new art and music funding will improve average test results...
      It just has to be the learning environment...
      Did anyone stop to consider on why past generations got the best students to top US universities with average teachers, pen, paper, calculators and math text books?
      Testing and sorting found and supported the best students. The best students got supported and found their way into a top US university. They went on to advance the USA.
      Now funding is spread over average students for decades and the very average results stay the same.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    29. Re:Needs to Stop by PCM2 · · Score: 1

      That's why his kiddo got an F. Not because he can't do long division, because he can't demonstrate that he understands that method.

      Why does the algorithm used to achieve a correct result matter? If there's more than one algorithm, and each will produce the correct result each and every time, both are correct.

      If you told me that the "correct" way to achieve 2+2 = 4 is to "reduce" it to (1+1) + (1+1) = 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 4, I would laugh at you. I don't care what textbook you learned it from.

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
    30. Re:Needs to Stop by PCM2 · · Score: 2

      The difference is that in math, you actually are trying to get the right answer. Knowing how to wax a car won't do shit if you can't do basic division. The only way to know that you're "doing math right" is to arrive at the correct answer. And if you can do that, reliably, then you don't need any "muscle memory." This ain't gym class.

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
    31. Re:Needs to Stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In my experience schools are absolute whores when it comes to funding.

      They'll take whatever disease riddled cock they can gobble, provided they get some moolah.

    32. Re:Needs to Stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your argument may seem rather clever to you, but it hi-lights exactly the failings of many education approaches.

      The answer doesn't matter - even more so in an IT-augmented world.

      The process is king, as the process leads to deep understanding, that in future situations allows you to discard trivial solutions, assess and categorize problems, and (if deemed worthy) filter the input to the global AI once the singularity arrives.

      But seriously, nothing about school should be about the right answer...

    33. Re:Needs to Stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First kids draws a tranny Trump shooting swastikas out of his erect penis.

    34. Re:Needs to Stop by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      Doing well under these conditions is not a good sign.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    35. Re:Needs to Stop by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      Yeah. You can't fix that.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    36. Re:Needs to Stop by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      You sir, are an idiot.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    37. Re:Needs to Stop by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      Perhaps we should expose them to the humanities as well?

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    38. Re:Needs to Stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So when the kids are learning "sight words" instead of learning phonics, I'm supposed to understand "as a parent" that no worries, they'll grow up and be perfectly capable of reading what I was able to read a year before they started being taught that rubbish?

      Common core is nothing more than common fail, across the board. People think they're so smart and if only all the kids were forced to do things their way the world will be a better place. Well, got news for you pal, you're not so smart, and you're making people really fucking stupid. Anyone who thinks sight words are a more useful long-term tool than actually being taught to read is an absolute fool, and the people pushing this stuff should be run right out of the damn country.

      War on fats, common core, corn subsidies, just how much is it going to take for you guys to understand that libertards ain't quite so tard?

    39. Re:Needs to Stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And what you, and Common Core and every other aspect of the public education system don't understand is this: people are not robots. Some people benefit from the Common Core approaches. Others do not. Forcing everybody to do the same always just brings about imagery of "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2" with the meat grinders. By forcing his kid to do it a very specific way you may actually be turning him off from his desire to learn. I know this from first hand experience.

    40. Re: Needs to Stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you stopped raping your neighbor's goats yet?

    41. Re:Needs to Stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All for Google doodles in school to counterbalance teaching actually significant events like WW2, Veteran's Day, Memorial Day, math, science, critical thinking,...

      There just is too little cheering for suffragettes, feminists, popular painters/artists, minor inventors, 'heroes' to one generation or another, national nacho day, national lawrence welk birthday, ....

      Curse the greek philosophers, roman orators, the magna carta, virginia constitution, and all those other meaningless and outdated history lessons....

    42. Re:Needs to Stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it is the bar method, then I wholeheartedly support the parent. The bar method is a "method for dummies." It is a method that will affect the student in the future. Where a student already knows how to do things by the STANDARD METHOD (which is of course up to date), then forcing the young student's mind to use the low-function method is an intellectual maiming. Math is a discipline. Forcing the processes of the less capable upon the more capable is an abomination.

    43. Re:Needs to Stop by apoc.famine · · Score: 1

      The AC replying to you nailed it. I'm not sure if it will help, but you could try reading what I wrote another time or two. I'll try to explain again, because being angry at strawmen is apparently the theme of this thread.

      Nobody is telling you that the correct way to achieve 2+2 is to reduce it to 1+1+1+1. That's a scenario you've made up. That's your personal strawman, and it's not what happens in common core math.

      I'll try with a computer example. You need to write a snippit of code to solve the trivial calculation of 2^5. But you're told you have to use a for loop to do it.

      You just type in 2*2*2*2*2 and hand that in, and you get an F. Why? Because the point wasn't to solve the trivial calculation. The point was to demonstrate that you could write a for loop to do it. Why? Because if you can write a for loop for this trivial calculation, you can write one that does much more powerful stuff in the future.

      This is how scaffolding and decent teaching actually works. Learn a process. Demonstrate you understand it using fairly trivial tasks. Then gradually apply it to harder and harder tasks.

      You and the rest of the angry people here can't seem to grasp that the goal isn't to get the right answer. As the AC here said:

      The process is king, as the process leads to deep understanding, that in future situations allows you to discard trivial solutions, assess and categorize problems....

      You're stuck in 20th century math where we were focused on memorizing solutions and where the solution was the end goal. We've realized now that that's not the most effective way to learn math. Process is far more important, and understanding the process allows for much higher order thinking and problem solving.

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
    44. Re:Needs to Stop by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      I read it, extracted the actual division problems and taught him how to use graph paper to keep his columns straight for classic long division with remainders. He did the entire worksheet with the right answers. and got an F.

      [/rant]

      Same here. It's insanity.

      I'm assuming it was all about someone (or a lot of someones) getting their PhD, not about educating children. After all, it's hard to claim "original research" with tried and true methods.

    45. Re:Needs to Stop by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      What you're arguing is that it's better to learn many unrelated short-term skills than it is to learn a number of skills that in aggregate provide better access to more complicated material in the future. It's pretty classic short-term thinking.

      I get that you're angry because you don't understand it. I'm a little unclear why you want to hate Common Core so badly that you're unwilling to even try to understand it.

      See this part that you wrote:

      more important than figuring out the correct answer.

      That's wrong. That's you making up in your head what the lesson is, because you don't understand the real lesson. You don't understand the goal.

      The goal was never to get the correct answer. The goal was to teach the student a fundational skill they will build on in later grades.

      You're making up a problem that doesn't exist by creating this scenario in your head where a boogieman is forcing kids to "use approved versions" to solve trivial tasks. That's not what's happening. That's you trying to wedge your experience in math into what the common core is doing. If you take some time to try to actually understand it. you'll likely be surprised to find that it's nothing like you imagine it to be.

      Yes, things that you don't understand are scary. The solution isn't to bitch and moan on the internet about them. The solution is to learn about them, so they are less scary.

      This is just you dismissing any disagreement as being ignorant, "scared", etc. No, it's that someone disagrees with you. Deal with it.

      Maybe what you are saying is how it is supposed to work, but it doesn't, for far too many kids.

      You have to get the basics down before you can "build" on anything. And kids aren't even learning how to divide, thanks to this crap.

    46. Re:Needs to Stop by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      The traditional way of doing long division is actually quite clumsy and mechanical in itself. I'm not sure why people here are holding it as some pure, classic method of training kids in logical analysis/ thinking. It's a bodge. Carry one over, cross out the 7 and write a little 8 next to it in pencil? Seriously, it's a kludge.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    47. Re:Needs to Stop by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      The difference is that in math, you actually are trying to get the right answer.

      Put that on a plaque on the wall!

    48. Re:Needs to Stop by apoc.famine · · Score: 1

      And kids aren't even learning how to divide, thanks to this crap.

      Do you have data to support that? Or just an anecdote or two?

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
    49. Re:Needs to Stop by networkBoy · · Score: 1

      Yes it is mechanical.
      For a highly analytical person it is easily graspable, because that mechanical-ness *is* analytical.
      My issue isn't even with alternate teaching guides, it's that the implementation is *shit* and that's not helped when there is no context for the problems your kid brings home as homework.

      https://mommybunch.com/wp-cont...
      I don't even know where to start with that problem. There is no framework to understand it with.

      This is the best I've been able to find:
      https://i.pinimg.com/736x/b9/6...
      But it's still mapping to classical division.

      To add to the shitfest of CC, many of the teachers don't like it, and as a result fail to teach it very well. That leaves the kids confused as all hell.

      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
    50. Re:Needs to Stop by Radiophobic · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, the current trend of public education seems to be to reduce funding and support privatization and/or charter schools. This leaves very few options on the table. Corporations and religious organizations are filling that void. If you don't want big business and religion interfering in the education process, elect politicians that think education is a good use of your tax dollars.

    51. Re:Needs to Stop by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      Maybe you're just scared of understanding :P

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    52. Re:Needs to Stop by OldMugwump · · Score: 1

      I don't think mathematics ever becomes "out-of-date".

      --
      "Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff."
  11. Fair use? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm moderately certain that one of the fair use exceptions is educational. If you're purposely inserting your IP into a lesson plan, I'm moderately certain you then can't complain about your IP being abused due to a fair use exception.

  12. Sounds like a contract by Brett+Buck · · Score: 2

    Ultimately, this appears to be a contract. Children cannot agree to contracts, and the school can't enter them into a contract without parental consent. So, kids, do whatever you want with your Google doodles, they are yours.

          If nothing else, copyright applies.

    1. Re:Sounds like a contract by swillden · · Score: 2

      Ultimately, this appears to be a contract. Children cannot agree to contracts, and the school can't enter them into a contract without parental consent. So, kids, do whatever you want with your Google doodles, they are yours.

      If nothing else, copyright applies.

      IANAL, but I don't let that stop me.

      I don't think this is a contract. Google isn't giving them something (permission to use the activity?) in exchange for agreement not to violate Google's trademarks. Google is giving them permission to use Google's trademark in a limited way. There's no exchange of value here, just a unidirectional, limited grant. Kids who, say, make an incredibly-attractive and artistic doodle and then sell thousands of copies of it haven't violated any agreement with Google, they've violated trademark law.

      If nothing else, copyright applies.

      Certainly copyright applies, but copyrights are orthogonal to trademarks. Because of the kid's copyright, Google couldn't use the kid's doodle for commercial purposes without permission (and the kid's inability to enter into a legal contract likely makes it impossible to get that permission via some activity EULA, because that would be a contract), but the copyright doesn't give the kid a right to infringe Google's trademark. Except, of course, in the way that Google gave the kid permission.

      This is all kind of silly, of course. No kid is going to create a doodle that is commercially useful in a way that would bother Google. Unfortunately, trademark law requires that trademark holders take reasonable action to protect their trademarks. Failing to include the relevant caveat while directing kids to make variations of the logo could possibly be interpreted as blanket permission for unrestricted use. It's unlikely, but this sort of thing theoretically could cause a company to lose control of its name and logo.

      I'm not sure the boldface is necessary, though. But, as I said at the top, I'm not a lawyer, so what do I know?

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    2. Re:Sounds like a contract by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      "There's no exchange of value here"

      You underestimate the lawyers' ancient and finely crafted skill of rhetoric.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    3. Re:Sounds like a contract by swillden · · Score: 1

      "There's no exchange of value here"

      You underestimate the lawyers' ancient and finely crafted skill of rhetoric.

      No, I don't. Remember that there would be lawyers on both sides, and the argument that this was a limited, one-way grant, not a contract, looks like a very powerful one. There's also no need for a contract in this case, nor any language that implies one.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    4. Re:Sounds like a contract by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They are partnering with MIT's Scratch on this. Anything published on Scratch is copyleft: "By publishing your project on the Scratch website, you agree to license it under a Creative Commons Share Alike license. If you don’t want others to view and remix your creations, don’t share them on the Scratch website."

  13. I JUST got the memo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I stand corrected. Google is my babysitter after all!

  14. In the past that wasn't a problem... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because anyone firing an employee for stating an unpleasant political opinion would have to consider the community repercussions against them, which very well might have cost them their business.

    Today, with companies spanning cities, states, and even nations, they can often do that with impunity and given the lack of physical community instilled in the current generation, it often won't even make a dent in their bottom line.

    The reason there used to be so little legal pressure was because in the past societal/cultural pressure could be exerted in its place. Today however that is less true, outside of explosive events like the Catholic church, or hollywood sex scandals, or the rare major fallout of corporate misdeeds.

    1. Re:In the past that wasn't a problem... by Moof123 · · Score: 1

      +1. Basically the rich can afford to have free speech, often using their companies as megaphones for their political whims. The rest of us underlings have a lot less freedom to go to political rallies, or openly involve ourselves in politics in a public way. At-will employment makes it fine for your HR department to dismiss you if they disagree with your involvement in the countries political process. We have seen the result, most legislation tilts towards more rights and tax cuts for corporate interests, and eroding rights and tax situations for the worker bees.

  15. Google Should Be Banned From Classrooms by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 0

    Google is a data acquisition and analysis company with ties to intelligence agencies and operated by liberal extremists. They should not be allowed to market to or provide "services" to classrooms in any manner as it just affords them the opportunity to persecute children for wrongthink before they have even developed the wherewithal to know what not to say. This will ruin people's lives.

    1. Re:Google Should Be Banned From Classrooms by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      Thank you for that eloquent expression. Sorry you modded down.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  16. Open standards requirement. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I donâ(TM)t like tech companies demanding use of their semi proprietary standards. When I was in high school I took then optional courses for coding. We did everything in c++ html and some basic java. All cross platform all skills I can still use today.

    I may have been using a Windows pc to write the code but the c code worked with very minor tweaks in GCC on Linux when I tried it. Thatâ(TM)s what makes it useful. I can use it anywhere and as the basis for learning new stuff because the concepts are all the same in OO languages.

  17. "This Is Google Home Assist" by forkfail · · Score: 3, Funny

    "I notice that you have a printout of your child's Google Doodle (tm) on your refrigerator.

    Please be aware that you are in violation of the Universal EULA. As such, until such time as you remove the offending item, all Google Services, including but not limited to gmail, your autonomous vehicle permissions, electricity, and access to Amazon will be revoked.

    Please also be aware that until such time as you complete the mandatory three day course "Google Loves Me: Why I should Love Google", you will be ineligible to receive your daily Google Credits.

    Remember, we at Google want what is best for you and for the children you entrust to us."

    --
    Check your premises.
    1. Re:"This Is Google Home Assist" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Additional violations and infringing surfing activity has been reported by a person in your household. Please click here to view your fine and credit score changes.

    2. Re:"This Is Google Home Assist" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Remember, we at Google want what is best for you and for the children we entrust to you."

      You're welcome. :)

  18. And the missed the line by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "And we are watching EVERYTHING you do. We KNOW if you have been naughty or nice, and unlike Santa, we are real and we never forget"

  19. Get kids interested in programming... by freeze128 · · Score: 2

    ...by introducing them to the boring and tedious world of copyright and trademarks.

  20. Been going on for decades by Flexagon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    When our kids were in school, decades ago, our battles along these lines were many. There was McDonald's handing out arithmetic worksheets asking the students to add up the costs of Big Macs and fries, decorated with the company's cartoon characters. There were even charities that lobbied for sales or other fund raising activities, for themselves, during school instruction hours. So it's not simply big business (unless one also puts some charities in that same bucket). All of these activities had the strong support of the school district's leadership and it took a lot of effort to get these stopped or limited. Eventually, the primary supporter was voted out of office. Some district leaders continue to think of these programs as "free" instructional material or other supposed benefits. But it's all really designed to sell product or reduce instruction time, and should continue to be fought.

    At the same time, we supported other fund raising activities, for the school itself, when they were held outside of instruction hours. That might be the annual Walk-A-Thon type event held on a weekend or a bake sale after school. And we involved our kids in our own charitable giving. But absolutely none of this on school time.

    In the case of Google's offer, this might be a fine example to use to explain the concepts of copyright, fair use, and even open source to the targets of this unacceptable activity.

    1. Re:Been going on for decades by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      This extends into other areas of education. Patient education is delivered through pamphlets and interactive media in doctors' offices...materials that the doctors refer to as authoritative. The pamphlets and video media are produced by a third party company that sells ads and space in the literature to drug companies. All of these educational materials are funded by big pharma and the large drug store chains. Take that shit with a grain of salt.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    2. Re:Been going on for decades by Flexagon · · Score: 1

      Somewhat OT, but that would be Outlook Health, which is also being sued by its investors for alleged fraud related to reporting ads run on more screens than they'd installed. So in this case, it's not just the info(tainment) itself as directed to a captive audience, but also the service provided to the advertisers.

  21. Public schools: the junior prisons of the west by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Public schools are a prison system.

    Students are forced to attend and labor under duress. There is no indictment or jury. If they fail to attend, they or their parents can be penalized or even arrested.

    Taxation is theft
    War is murder
    The draft is slavery
    Public schools are prisons

  22. child labor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    what? the people at Google couldn't come up with new doodles and now need small children to create content for them. Sounds about right for the goog.

    on top of that i still think that it is debatable that programming in scratch will actually teach you any of the principals of programming. All scratch does is add another layer of abstraction (obfuscation) to the stack and it will hinder people when they need to actually start typing out commands. FWIW Logo is a much better start followed up with Turing or basic Java

  23. Pepsi presents Addition and Subtraction by sootman · · Score: 1

    Troy: (on TV) Now turn to the next problem. If you have three Pepsis and drink one, how much more refreshed are you? You, the redhead in the Chicago school system?
    Girl: Pepsi?
    Troy: Partial credit!

    https://www.simpsonsarchive.co...

    --
    Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
  24. Here at the"U" by Latent+Heat · · Score: 1

    on the Engineering Quadrangle, Google had students queued up to get a donut along with a chance to win a Google Donut or whatever they call their clone of the Amazon Echo. They were totally slow because you had to give over your personal information to even get the kind of donut you could eat, and they had this Disney-ride line-control labyrinth filled with students by 8:30 AM. Sure wish I had my camera to photograph Google treating a large mob of Engineering students like cattle in a feedlot.

    What did this have to do with the mission of the College of Engineering?

  25. A bright future by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Where corporations own literally everything, even your doodles. How far away are we from a day when a corporation owns the genes in your pets. And Facebook and Instagram already owns any photos you posted.

  26. Too bad The Circle (2017) wasn't a big hit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...although I wonder if The Circle floundered* because it isn't a great movie (I read the book, but who reads?), or because so many people are already buying into and seeking a tech company to guide their lives and give them transcendental meaning?
    Too bad. Even a poor movie with the concepts in it might inoculate some % against stuff like this.
    For all it's faults, /. people see through stuff like this at a much higher than the great unwashed public.

    *According to Wikipedia it cost $18 million to make and the Box office was $33.8 million. I guess according Mediathink, that is an abject failure. But then only the top movie of any week is a success, and all the others are abject failures.

  27. Fuck that shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fuck Google, fuck their logo, and fuck their scratch rules. Disrupt Disrupt Disrupt should be what kids are doing with Google, not buying into their corporate horseshit.

    Use their logo however you want, the more obscene the better lol.

    Don't be a pussy (or Ballsacker...which is the same thing).