Ad hominem arguments are not constructive and will likely get this thread deleted or locked. ETA: Edited the rest of my post out. I don't see a point in engaging in a certain topic

:party:

I'd like to discuss the role education (as in formal education- schooling) plays in establishing and reinforcing the status quo wrt institutional racism, social racial discrimination. Some countries have historically denied education to the most powerless to 'keep them in their place'. What are your thoughts and experiences?

FWIW, I really admire the person who is mindful of her/his speech and actions irrespective of who s/he is speaking to, because that is how people, in general, should interact, you know? That should be the ideal to work towards...being mindful of my culture, your culture and our culture, iykwim. I get that it is difficult to be mindful, I've had my a** handed to me many times when I thought I was being mindful :o ; but the unacceptable(to me) alternative is---ignorance, insularity and homogenity.

The tone of this thread has taken a very odd turn. I feel we're heading dangerously close to "Every word that I say might be misunderstood or I'll be called Politically Incorrect, so let me not bother at all" Let me reassure the above posters, that as a PoC I don't/didn't really live my everyday life looking for ways to be offended. Nor does any other PoC I know. There are PoC who do take offense at what may seem like trivialities , but the same goes for non-PoC people too!. I mean, taking offense is not a PoC monopoly. :D I do expect that I will be stereotyped; and I usually am -for eg: "How do you speak unaccented English?" or "I thought all Indians have arranged marriages". I, and many others I know, try to inform or educate rather than judge. ETA: I would also suggest to posters worried about offending any PoC, to start a conversation by noticing and building on similarities or likes and dislikes; rather than commenting on differences. Just as you would for any person regardless of their race/ethnicity or skin color.

our personal favorites Beverly Naidu- Journey to Jo'burg, chain of fire.- South African apartheid context Jaqueline Woodson- Brown girl dreaming- set in the 1960s.. ETA: On our to-read list, specific to the Indian context of casteism. Jhoothan- Om Prakash Valmiki, a Dalit writer. Father may be an elephant and mother only a small basket, but...- Gogu Shyamala

Some problem wrt linking it; here's the site- http://www.unitedagainstracism.org/archive/pages/info30.htm

A link to a paper on the different definitions of Racism, the types of Racism, even the spurious reverse racism. Apologies if its a repetition.

@Bibiche- I don't know where this would go, I thought I'll post it here. who, if not you? How you can intervene when witnessing racial assaults. What to do in case of : Racial and religiously motivated attacks How do I respond when I see racial abuse in public?

Its obvious this conversation isn't going anywhere, or maybe it wasn't a conversation to begin with. This is my last post on this thread. Maybe dictionaries and standard definitions are not the be-all and end-all? They're updated frequently anyway. Maybe people get to decide the meaning for themselves, through dialogue, and without bringing out 'standard definitions' As to the underlined- no one in this thread has claimed that 'non-white' aren't racists. What is refuted is 'reverse racism'.

Then, it begs the question- what constitutes as a fact for you? How do you (as in people who believe in reverse racism or anti-white-ism) define a "fact" vs an "opinion"? Maybe this 'reverse racism' is a symptom of progress, however small. When the historically disenfranchised begin to assert their voice; the privileged classes/races are likely to be threatened by the notion of equality and thus- reverse racism. India has a long and sordid history of caste-ism where the Brahmins sit at the top of the totem pole and the 'Dalits/Hairjans' are at the very bottom. The Atrocities Act is like your affirmative action, where a certain % of seats/vacancies in govt positions/universities are reserved for the historically oppressed. I belong to the historically powerful caste and I have been adversely affected by the Atrocities Act and lost out on admissions into certain universities. I have faced discrimination, of all sorts, from disgruntled non-brahmins. Yet, I cannot, in all fairness, claim anti-brahminism- given the long long long and extremely horrific history of oppression against a whole section of society. ETA: Reservations is but small aspect of the Atrocities Act not the whole.

I'm surprised to see posters compare hate crimes to racism or worse- reverse racism. There is no phenomena called reverse racism in the U.S- given the history of slavery and then seggregation at all levels until 50 years ago. Crimes based on prejudice/anger/frustration against the dominant and powerful race *is not* racism. Unfortunately, innocent non-racist individuals can become victims of hate crimes, but these incidences cannot be called racist attacks. A non-academic article that talks about the myth of 'reverse racism'- http://m.huffingtonpost.in/entry/reverse-racism-isnt-a-thing_us_55d60a91e4b07addcb45da97

Maybe I'm reading you wrong, but I feel you're getting too defensive for an informative/educational discussion like in this thread. No one in this thread has claimed that "all white people" are racists. I completely agree that other races can be racist too. For what its worth, I've observed/faced as many instances of racism in SE Asia as in continental U.S. Racism, xenophobia and prejudice are so closely tied its difficult to separate what is what. Humans find all sorts of ways to be cruel and unjust to each other so if its not discrimination on the color of the skin, it could be the language, the culture, the clothes, food.... Racism can occur anywhere in the world where more than 2 races exist. Since this board is predominantly American, that's where the discussions usually end up. But, racism takes place *anywhere or everywhere*. No country is free from it, unless that country is extremely racially homogeneous. ETA: To me, racism is when a racially dominant section in a country marginalize the racial minorities through overt, casual or systemic displays of power.

Forum's complaining? Which forum and about what? I can pm the papers too. Less stressful all around. Lol.

Nm...please PM me for those papers. I cant seem to get it linked here

nm... Tried attaching pdf's that address reading comprehension and problem solving. But formatting issues on the phone.

Given that schools have about an hour a day(more or less?) to work on automaticity and number sense; Ive often wondered if early elementary necessitates 'problem solving' as an exclusive activity in math. Maybe its more a time crunch to fit in everything in a school day +low expectations.. The value of those books is debatable..do kids really benefit? Or do we(parents, educators) assume so? Probably a topic for a different thread..

I wonder if this false dichotomy (conceptual vs problem solving) is encouraged by publishers/authors who present their material as filling a special need or gap.

Its possible that he would have to slowly build up the stamina required for working on multi step problems. Its also possible that some children may be more into the 'theory' than 'application'. And vice versa. I dont know if they can be thought of as 2 distinct and water tight categories,iykwim. I dont know if its possible to focus exclusively on one without impacting the other. I.e. any conceptual learning will involve some procedural and some application. Basically, I would let him continue to lead his own learning and not worry at this point. Edited for clarity

What works for any brand tea, although I prefer Twinings. Lemon tea- squeeze half a lemon+honey(optional) masala chai- add a very small stick of cinnamon and a few grains of cardomom when you brew a cup. Peppermint tea- mint leaves while brewing- Lemon(optional)+ Honey(optional).

She's going through it now :D . DD is 11.

I've been following this thread with great interest. To me, a subject matter expert who is also a gifted teacher is priceless. If I can't find an SME+gifted teacher in one person, then I'd rather settle for a gifted teacher than a SME. A *teacher* can do so much more than just explain or instruct. S/he motivates, inspires, gudes, facilitates and shares a part of herself/himself. They are also quick to acknowledge their limitations. I've had some superlative teachers in my life; and although I would qualify as an auto didact, given a choice I would always choose a teacher. (v/s a textbook, a website or another non human resource) To answer the OP- I don't teach my AL any subject that I don't have a K-12 background in. given the breadth of subjects that India (and my birth state covers), I seem to be comfortable *teaching* most subjects upto a certain level. I wouldnt go so far as to say that I'm doing a disservice to my DD of I cannot *teach* her a subject; but that I am acknowledging my limitations as a teacher. Every teacher would have limitations. The fun part is what does a learner do when s/he reaches the boundaries of the *source*. I think that is a valuable learning experience by itself. :-) ETA: Although I can teach my DD most subjects better than her recent B/M teachers; there are times when I choose not to. Often it's because I want her to have the experience of learning from other competent people too. Competent is the key word I guess.

When burnt out, I hibernate for a while. It could be a couple of days or a week- Depends on the intensity of my physical and mental exhaustion. I postpone past commitments, don't commit to anything new, don't leave the house except to drop/pick or groceries, minimal cooking and cleaning, and spend the week in as much silence as possible.

Now that you've shared more details, the approach seems reasonable. But, I'm curious about your repeated request? need? for validation of your plan (evidenced by the bolded) as the disagreements are consistent in the message: Your approach is high risk for math-dislike or academic burn out.

Dp