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Helicopter Parenting?

11/22/2015

 
Picture
From Google Images
Recently in Utah, a teacher assigned students an assignment where they had to create propaganda posters for ISIS to investigate how they are able to recruit for their organization. Several parents of those students complained and refused to have their high school 9th graders do the assignment. They felt the assignment was inappropriate, especially since the devastation from the Paris attacks is still so fresh. As a testament to their disdain over the assignment, they complained to school officials who immediately removed the assignment.

Some would call the parents' behavior overbearing, overprotective, hovering or helicopter parenting. This means that parents limit the independence of their children, even at the teenage level. However, today when teens can access information about the ills in the world from media and the Internet, it is difficult to monitor a teen's every move. And even what is being monitored can turn out to be smoke screens and mirrors when trust and accountability is absent.

Other parents felt that learning about propaganda is important and that using current events and getting students involved with what's going on in the world is a challenging way to teach them how to make decision if ever faced with a moral dilemma.   

They argued that the school should be a place where parents feel comfortable with their children being educated about real world experiences and challenges. They feel that schools provide a safe environment where students can discuss their concerns, explore their thinking and ask questions.

Finally, parents who were in favor of the assignment expressed their distaste over parents discrediting the teacher's area of expertise and integrity by going over her head before discussing their concerns with her. Many said, at that point, the students lose respect for the teacher which has the potential to become a classroom management issue when students decide they do not want to do subsequent assignments.  
Instructions: Respond briefly to the following question: To what extent do parents use emotion and reason to impose their parenting traditions onto their children as a way of preventing them from seeking truth through the exploration of ethics in school?

INCLUDE: First initial AND last name AND class period.

Respond in no more than 10 sentences and no less than five. You must also reply to a classmate's post. You cannot post identical comments on different classmates' posts. Posting shallow comments such as "I agree" or "I disagree" will not earn you a passing grade. Make sure your posts address the reply that you are responding to.

Be sure to--
  • Be clear about your position
  • Provide specific support for your argument
  • Use rhetorical devices and other grammar elements
  • Write EPIC Content-Engaging, Powerful, Informative, Creative

CAUTION!! Do NOT embarrass me, yourself, your class, the English department, the school or your parents with tasteless, meaningless comments. This is for a grade.

Due: Thurs., Dec. 4, 2015 11:59 p.m. CST
​​

Peace for Paris

11/15/2015

 
Picture
Image by: Jean Jullien (@jean_jullien)
A hole was ripped in the heart of France after Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) attackers unleashed a coordinated wave of explosions, gunfire and hostage-taking in Paris that left more than 132 people dead and generated scenes of horror and carnage.

The assaults are being called the deadliest day of attacks in France since World War II and one of the worst terrorist strikes on Western soil since Sept. 11, 2001. In at least six locations across Paris: a soccer stadium, restaurants, a concert hall - the attackers carried out suicide bombings, hurled grenades and shot hostages dead in a frenzy of violence that paralyzed the city. Late into the night and early Saturday morning, heavily armed security forces flooded the streets while panicked residents and tourists sought safety indoors.


Friday was the second time this year that the City of Light has been a scene of mass murder. In January, Islamist gunmen attacked the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket, leaving a total of 17 dead.


The latest violence will only heighten the tension on a continent that is already on edge from the accumulated strain of a historic migration crisis, growing Islamist extremism and increasingly polarized politics. And yet, the question remains...why?


Instructions: Briefly answer the following question: what role does faith and emotion play in the justification of taking the lives of those who do not believe the way you do?

INCLUDE: First initial AND last name AND class period.

Respond in no more than 10 sentences and no less than five. You must also reply to a classmate's post. You cannot post identical comments on different classmates' posts. Posting shallow comments such as "I agree" or "I disagree" will not earn you a passing grade. Make sure your posts address the reply that you are responding to.

Be sure to--


  • Be clear about your position
  • Provide specific support for your argument
  • Use rhetorical devices and other grammar elements
  • Write EPIC Content-Engaging, Powerful, Informative, Creative

CAUTION!! Do NOT embarrass me, yourself, your class, the English department, the school or your parents with tasteless, meaningless comments. This is for a grade.

Due: Thurs., Nov. 20, 2015 11:59 p.m. CST

    Mixed Ink

    Mixed Ink is our class blog, the window into our souls. It was designed to improve students' writing, critical thinking and communication skills by giving them a platform to provide meaningful content based on their interpretation of what they see.

    Although the students receive a grade based on a rubric for completing this assignment, they are not graded on complexity of thought. This is a place where students of all levels can freely, confidently and creatively express themselves and their opinions in a nonjudgmental platform. They are required to respond to and critique each other, but degradation, slander, lewdness, etc., will not be tolerated. 

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    • Have a voice about what goes on in the world around you

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