From what I hear, they produce confident, self-assured and completely uneducated children. A school inspector I talked to said the kids there were *years* behind those in mainstream schools.
My kid sister went to one of those schools. Most of the parents seemed to be hippies. The curriculum was very strong on art, dance and general creativity but they didn't sit exams. Rudolph Steiner had been heavily into occultism, theosophy and his own brand of christianity. I don't know how many of the parents there shared those beliefs, but there was a lot of new age flakiness.
I write English as a second language, not so well, but I have learned a lot about writing and my own language (Danish) that way which is useful to many aspects of reading and writing.
May I complement you on your grasp of the English language. You use it better than some native speakers that I have met.
As for "real English grammar", English is a manmade entity. Its main purpose is communication, and the language gradually morphs through the years. Who knows what "real grammar" will be like 300 years from now.
I think the phrase "real English grammar" is a strange one, it implies there is only one grammatical structure. Even in England there are many different dialects with different grammatical structures. Who is to say which is the correct one.
American English and English English are similar but they do have different grammatical structure. A good example is the phrase "in back of", the english never say this even though we do say "in front of". I had an American friend who was taught at school that this was proper english grammar. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, American English has enriched our language in many ways, but it would be false to assume that there is such a thing as "real english grammar".
Just for an experiment, if you want to see how much more effort it is to have something that's just "understandable," go read some Middle English like Chaucer, where words were spelled phonetically instead of according to specified rules
I'd reccomend reading Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh.
It's about scottish drug addicts and the entire book is written in phonetic scottish. It's weird at first, but it really works. It's also an amazing book.
Come on now... I agree it's more intuitive for illiterate or dyslexic people, but that's a pretty small minority.
There may be more dyslexic people around than you think. There are varying degrees of dyslexia and a lot of people with lesser syptoms don't get properly diagnosed. I had a lot of problems at primary school with my reading and telling the time, but noone recognized the syptoms.
I had massive problems reading an analogue clock and still couldn't do it by the time I was 11. The teacher made me stand in front of the class and made me repeat all the times over and over again. I'm a very good reader now, but I'm still bitter about the humiliation that I was put through.
How on earth can you describe an analog watch as more intuitive than a digital watch? More elegant, certainly. But intuitive? A digital watch shows the numbers. If you can read them, you can tell the time.
I totally agree with you. When I was at primary school I had massive problems reading an analogue clock (I suffer from some of the syptoms of dyslexia). I'm ok with it now (that was a long time ago), but I still think digital watches are far simpler, you simply read off the numbers.
Brian Givden -
"Everybody's doing it. Which is why it is also okay to do drugs, jump of cliffs, and buy Windows XP."
Threni -
"It's ok to do drugs because it's your choice, and nobody elses."
Both of these posts use the word "drugs". Neither of them specify whether the drugs in question were illegal or addictive, yet you start talking about "addictive substances that will rot a society to death from the inside out". Asprin is a "drug" that "everybody's doing" but I'm pretty sure it isn't addictive and I don't think it's rotting society to death from the inside out. Ok, I'm being facetious, but you need to be careful about making blanket statements if you are to be taken seriously.
I'm not saying I completely agree with Threni's post either. People can do what they want with their own bodies, but not if they are harming others in the process. Far too many (but not all) heroin users have to commit crimes to pay for their habits.
Drugs isn't a simple black and white issue, every drug should be considered on a seperate basis.
(You'd think straight male slashdotters would want as little competition for females as possible, actually)
That's how I've always looked at it, a gay man is just one less competitor for the ladies. The more men who turn gay the better. I've been chatted up by blokes on numerous occasions and I see it as a compliment not a problem.
I've always seen some truth in the idea that homophobes are often closet homosexuals who are threatened by gayness because they are in denial about their own sexuality. I'm glad that homosexuality isn't as much of a taboo as it was in my parent's or grandparent's time. I hope society continues to become more accepting of peoples preferences.
Well said. There are some geeks who live down to the stereotype, but there are plenty like myself who keep themselves in good shape and have active social lives.
It's not quite as bad, however, as that new line of digital cameras called "Dimage". It makes you think of a combination of "Dim" and "Damage", neither of which sounds particularly good for a digital camera.
To me Dimage sounded like a combination of dim and image. Definately a bad combination for a camera.
Thinking globally is what humans need to learn. I think the internet is aiding that process. People from all over the planet are communicating and forming friendships online. Conditioned social stereotypes can be challenged and discarded.
I have a silent e on the end of my name. My ancestors were given the choice of being exciled from their home or spend the rest of their lives in a debtors prison.
You mean like those horribly backward places that consider "aluminium" to be a 3-syllable word, and think "getting pissed" has something to do with being angry?
I was talking to a gamer friend who only uses consoles. I asked him why he didn't play games on pcs and he told me that he didn't want to buy buggy games that need patching and he didn't want to be constantly upgrading his computer to play the latest games.
Slashdot Mirror
My kid sister went to one of those schools. Most of the parents seemed to be hippies. The curriculum was very strong on art, dance and general creativity but they didn't sit exams. Rudolph Steiner had been heavily into occultism, theosophy and his own brand of christianity. I don't know how many of the parents there shared those beliefs, but there was a lot of new age flakiness.
May I complement you on your grasp of the English language. You use it better than some native speakers that I have met.
I think the phrase "real English grammar" is a strange one, it implies there is only one grammatical structure. Even in England there are many different dialects with different grammatical structures. Who is to say which is the correct one.
American English and English English are similar but they do have different grammatical structure. A good example is the phrase "in back of", the english never say this even though we do say "in front of". I had an American friend who was taught at school that this was proper english grammar. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, American English has enriched our language in many ways, but it would be false to assume that there is such a thing as "real english grammar".
I'd reccomend reading Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. It's about scottish drug addicts and the entire book is written in phonetic scottish. It's weird at first, but it really works. It's also an amazing book.
There may be more dyslexic people around than you think. There are varying degrees of dyslexia and a lot of people with lesser syptoms don't get properly diagnosed. I had a lot of problems at primary school with my reading and telling the time, but noone recognized the syptoms.
I had massive problems reading an analogue clock and still couldn't do it by the time I was 11. The teacher made me stand in front of the class and made me repeat all the times over and over again. I'm a very good reader now, but I'm still bitter about the humiliation that I was put through.
I totally agree with you. When I was at primary school I had massive problems reading an analogue clock (I suffer from some of the syptoms of dyslexia). I'm ok with it now (that was a long time ago), but I still think digital watches are far simpler, you simply read off the numbers.
Resident Evil was bearable though.
"Everybody's doing it. Which is why it is also okay to do drugs, jump of cliffs, and buy Windows XP."
Threni -
"It's ok to do drugs because it's your choice, and nobody elses."
Both of these posts use the word "drugs". Neither of them specify whether the drugs in question were illegal or addictive, yet you start talking about "addictive substances that will rot a society to death from the inside out". Asprin is a "drug" that "everybody's doing" but I'm pretty sure it isn't addictive and I don't think it's rotting society to death from the inside out. Ok, I'm being facetious, but you need to be careful about making blanket statements if you are to be taken seriously.
I'm not saying I completely agree with Threni's post either. People can do what they want with their own bodies, but not if they are harming others in the process. Far too many (but not all) heroin users have to commit crimes to pay for their habits.
Drugs isn't a simple black and white issue, every drug should be considered on a seperate basis.
That's how I've always looked at it, a gay man is just one less competitor for the ladies. The more men who turn gay the better. I've been chatted up by blokes on numerous occasions and I see it as a compliment not a problem.
I've always seen some truth in the idea that homophobes are often closet homosexuals who are threatened by gayness because they are in denial about their own sexuality. I'm glad that homosexuality isn't as much of a taboo as it was in my parent's or grandparent's time. I hope society continues to become more accepting of peoples preferences.
Well said. There are some geeks who live down to the stereotype, but there are plenty like myself who keep themselves in good shape and have active social lives.
Don't panic!
Interesting idea.
CARTMAN: "What's the big deal? It doesn't hurt anybody. Fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck."
To me Dimage sounded like a combination of dim and image. Definately a bad combination for a camera.
I'm a bit of a health frea, but I do like to get stoned on occasion. Putting it in food seems to be the healthiest option.
Thinking globally is what humans need to learn. I think the internet is aiding that process. People from all over the planet are communicating and forming friendships online. Conditioned social stereotypes can be challenged and discarded.
That would worry me. You would be so fucked if you lost your connection or you if the computer crashed.
Wrong. The United Kingdom refers to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Is there some connection between these two facts?
The ultimate in convergance will be when the PDA becomes part of the users body. Connecting with their nervous system and even their brain.
This parrot is dead.
Solar panels are made from baby seals.
I was talking to a gamer friend who only uses consoles. I asked him why he didn't play games on pcs and he told me that he didn't want to buy buggy games that need patching and he didn't want to be constantly upgrading his computer to play the latest games.
I'm not sure if the brits have bad teeth, but we don't seem to straighten our teeth as much as places like America.