No one wants an abortion (update)

Democrats have been backed into a position where they are perceived as pro-abortion. I don’t know anyone who wakes up in the morning yearning for an abortion. Those who say they know someone are immersed in political rhetoric. Abortions are devastating for the woman as well as a morality issue for some. But we continue to hear from the MEGA GOP that Democrats want to see more abortions. They argue that abortions should be under the control of the government while Democrats argue that the choice is for the woman to make. 

The question that is being ignored is, how can abortions be reduced without interfering with the woman’s right to choose? Let's do some critical thinking! Making abortions illegal puts them inder the control of government thus making them dangerous. There are way too many situations to be considered to make it a "one size fits all" decision.

In addition to supporting choice, isn't it just as important to put a focus on doing everything possible to reduce the need for an abortion. The first that comes from the Evangelicos is abstinance. Who in the MAGA GOP will be the first to volunteer for that approach? Nor is it realistic for anyone to think they are going to stop millions of people from having sex. I understand that is the view of many religions and I am ok with that.  However, if the pastor of those churches would say "Those without sin cast the first stone", I doubt that anyone would have to take cover due to the enormous amount of stones being thrown.

Consider this: free birth control led to dramatically lower rates of abortions and teen births, a large CBS news study concluded. “The project tracked more than 9,000 women in St. Louis, many of them poor or uninsured. They were given their choice of a range of contraceptive methods at no cost — from birth control pills to goof-proof options like the IUD or a match stick-sized implant."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/study-free-birth-control-leads-to-way-fewer-abortions

When price wasn't an issue, women flocked to the most effective contraceptives — the implanted options, which typically cost hundreds of dollars up-front to insert. These women experienced far fewer unintended pregnancies as a result, reported Dr. Jeffrey Peipert of Washington University in St. Louis..."  There were 6.3 births per 1,000 teenagers in the study. Compare that to a national rate of 34 births per 1,000 teens in 2010. That rate dropped to 24.2 in 2014 due to the easy availability of birth control.

Education along with free birth control, can make great strides in eliminating the need for abortions. Isn't that what we want? And, of course, Planned Parenthood is a leader in contraceptive distribution. Closing Planned Parenthood equals more abortions.

Given that, according to the Orlando Woman’s Center:

•        One woman dies every 7 minutes around the world due to an unsafe illegal abortion.

•        Making abortion illegal or legal has no effect on the total number of abortions.

•        Making abortion legal dramatically reduces maternal morbidity and mortality.

•        Nearly 50% of pregnancies that occur yearly are unwanted with nearly ½ of those pregnant women terminating their pregnancy. 42 million choose to terminate their pregnancy.

It's time to support the reduction of abortions by 5% each year through education,and through a program of free contraception for everyone who wants it.

Rape and incest must also be attacked from every angle. Short of the old timey "razor blade" option, matbe technology could get involved.

It is important that Democrats use their powerful Megaphone to put an equal amount of attention on prevention thus offering an even handed approach to the abortion issue.

www.wholechildreform.com

The rural South lacks a sense of urgency re: racism

What we see in Charlottesville is only the tip of the iceberg.  Racism has been simmering for a long time and was unleashed by the words of Donald Trump.  In small communities in the South there appears to be a reluctance to react to racism especially in the form of hate incidents.

In my community in Yancey County, North Carolina, there was a hate incident at the local high school.  When mentioned to people in the community, little is known abouth this atrocious act. The reason is because there is a lack of urgency among those who are charged with assuring decency in the community.

In this case, the school covered it up indicating they didn't have a problem.  The reality is that it may not be a school problem as much as it is a community problem.  The local newspaper, when made aware of it, did little or nothing.  And the local NAACP also covered it up saying they would deal with it later.

When a student walks through the school with a cross with two effigies of black people hanging from a noose it becomes clear that there is a problem that needs to be addressed by the community.  This must be dealt with immediately to assure it doesn't escalate into more and more Charlottesville incidents.

It is time to demand a sense of urgency in the rural South!

Caplee68@yahoo.com

Trickery and Deceit

TRICKERY AND DECEIT

Trickery and deceit is a way of life for the Monsters, Ogres and Agenda Driven Politicians as they have found ways to maintain the subclass, keeping children in their designated place in a social cast system by manipulating the educational process. Listening to the old worn out phrases gives a hint as to the antiquated thinking used in today´s educational world. “If the school day was longer kids would learn more, or unions are the problem or just raise the bar, or change to a charter school and the problem is solved”. The reality is that none of these artificial changes make a difference.

The elevating of the artificial standardized test to celestial predominance becomes a smoke screen designed to assure a simplistic approach to education. The schools that have the best test scores win, regardless of the gains made by students in that school or what skills those students can actually demonstrate. No consideration is given to those children who have huge obstacles in the way of learning as they are expected to be proficient on the same day and at the same time as demanded by the standards. When those students don’t “succeed” at the same rate in the same way on the test as the selected elite schools, their schools are deemed failures by those Monsters, Ogres and Agenda Driven Politicians.

The trickery and deceit continues as the evil empire embarks on the poverty games. Those school officials then shout from the mountain top, “poverty isn’t destiny” while they continue to maintain an antiquated system that assures most poverty is destiny. Listening to that rhetoric begs the question, which “poverty” are they talking about? Poverty covers those who are damaged by its obstacles as well as those who, with the help of a strong support system, can overcome those obstacles.

It is the goal of the tricksters to convince the public of the racist belief that all poor black children are the same, and their school came to the rescue. The real trick used is to enhance a school population by taking the effort to sort through and identify those in borderline poverty with a strong support system that can score high. Enrolling those students gives them the ability to demean the schools who serve the children who need us the most while maintaining bragging rights.  

Whole Child Reform

Teachers, have you had enough?

THE GREATEST CHALLENGE TO EDUCATORS IN THIS DECADE IS TO PREPARE CHILDREN TO RISE ABOVE THE CONFIRMATION BIAS AND EMBRACE CRITICAL THINKING

The confirmation bias impacts our thinking in everything from daily living to the politicians for whom we vote. It diminishes the thought process by having us stop short of critical thinking forcing us to believe everything we hear, regardless of its validity. It is time to teach the whole child to rise above this bias and think deeply about all issues.

Teachers, educators, parents, have you had enough? We have been marching and chanting for almost ten years and nothing has happened. It is time to take charge of your classroom and your school. Between the pages of my upcoming book is a step by step guideline designed to subvert the school in the best interest of children.

Now is the time to take back the school from the Monsters, Ogres and Agenda Driven Politicians and give it to the teachers, parents and students where it belongs.

www.wholechildreform.com

Fail for success

Learning is a constant flow of problem solving experiences driven by the reality that failure is not only an option but an integral tool guiding students on their pathway to success. Why shouldn’t school be the same? 

In today's artificial world, failure in school is about the most devastating experience one can have. If you do not give the answers the textbook wants, you will fail. Regardless of thinking, the answer is the answer. Columbus discovered America right? If you lie and answer "correctly" you will succeed. If you use critical thinkng, and say it might have been Marco Polo or Leif Erickson, or others, you will fail.

A great example here is WD-40. The 40 in that lubricant refers to the 39 failures leading to the 40th success.  However, in school, those 39 failures would have put you into the streets on a cycle of poverty. Whether it is Milton Hershey, Norm Larson, Albert Einstein, Michael Jordan or anyone who achieved real success, failure was the reason why.

What if a teacher assigned the class a project for the science fair? And what if the teacher indicated the students would be assessed based on .the number of failures they had developing that project? Would the students then picked the easy project, one that had the smallest level of challenge?

Now, what if you told the students, they would receive a higher assessment based on a higher number of failires? The more failures, the better the assessment.

Just sayin' 

The Confirmation Bias

What is the confimation bias and why is it important to the future of our world? According to Science Daily, ¨Confirmation bias is a phenomenon wherein decision makers have been shown to actively seek out and assign more weight to evidence that confirms their hypothesis, and ignore or under weigh evidence that could disconfirm their hypothesis.” 

When Donald Trump says he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and people would still support him, he is probably correct. They would say the guy shouldn't have stood in front of the bullet, or he was protecting his family, regardless of the circumstances. This is the result of the confirmation bias. His supporters want to believe him no matter how outrageous his statements.

The significant word in the definition is "ignore". "and ignore or under weigh evidence". His supporters would ignore any thought that he was simply a killer in this scenario. Expand the word to become "ignorant" and that is truly what his supporters would be. That is why his supporters believe lie after lie no matter how extreme.

When 180 dangerous gang members were caught going over the border this year out of 187,000 people, those 180, when put into the endless cycle of news, puts fear into our hearts.  When the reality is 186,820 are punished for the 180, our thoughts would change. This means .09% are dangerous. Fear affects the brain. 

What implications does this have on education? The frontal lobe of the brain believes everything it hears for a split second. Then it looks at past experiences and other arguments to determine the facts. When the person is surrounded by those who are also victims of the confirmation bias, their irrational thoughts will be vindicated. However, if children are taught to use critical thinking, they will then dig deeper to search for true solutions to a problem.

The greatest challenge of education in this decade is to prepare children to rise above the "confirmation bias" and embrace critical thinking. In education, we do the opposite. Students must regurgitate what the teacher or text book tells them thus diminishing the need for critical thinking.

Whether it be climate change deniers, or those who believe President Obama is a Muslim from Africa, or fake news from Russia, the ability to think critically would make these scams obsolete. Education can make a difference  and must teach students to think while it is still legal.

Stay tuned for my next book "STOP POLITICALLY DRIVEN EDUCATION" that addresses this subject. Visit my wholechildreform website  for more info.