4 Years of Grading Bullies High School Students

This is something I said years ago.  Giving grades, term after term, and year after year doesn't help. The grading system is the equivalent of bullying high school students.  It's no wonder why students choose to get high on drugs to cope with the grading system.  Not only that, but the grading system focuses too much on speed of learning, and not enough on long term memory, and real life problem solving.

I had no idea how bad it was until I worked at the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole, where Scientists, most of them with post doctoral degrees, needed reminders of the basics when it came time for peer reviewing other scientists.  If it is bad at a place that is considered more reputable than the Ivy Leagues, why haven't we put more effort in things such as study skills for the college bound folk?

Please teachers and professors of all kinds, stop focusing on how fast, and instead focus on retention related skills.  If it goes into the mind for a test, and pops out before the end of not just a semester, but after several years, that is something that should be taken into strong consideration.

The real test is should be one you can't prepare for, but comes at a completely random time.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/07/09/what-your-high-school-transcript-didn-include-grades/h9V1ZtSTWQqWmqIBzbYwPJ/story.html

Prohibiting Soda Consumption to those Under 18yrs Old

All ye teens, before you shake your fists in angst against me, have you actually met a middle aged adult that wouldn’t like to drop a few more pounds?  Soda consumption rates are a crisis in the USA.  Diabetes is an epidemic, even among the youth, unlike any previous generation has ever known.  It is my opinion that consumption of soda is probably worse for a body in the long term than consumption of alcohol, or marijuana, which is not to advocate for binge drinking, or smoking pot.  Therefore, it would be prudent to prohibit the age for soda consumption to be 18yrs old and above.

For some, I imagine this will be unpopular, especially those looking for his or her first chance to throw a riot in some city while taunting police officers.

There has been a long history of humans restricting stuff, especially for young adults, but even for adults.  There once was a time when there was no drinking age for alcohol.  Later, that age rose from 18yrs old to 21yrs old.  Thus, for young adults the restricted list has come to include lottery tickets, cigarettes, and booze among others.  Even adults are restricted when it comes to the consumption of prescription drugs.

Although I stand for it, I don’t claim that my argument is not without some problems.  I know some of the rebuttals.  The most important is the importance of learning responsibility.  That sounds good, as some may be able to link the raising of the drinking age from 18 to 21 as delaying young adults from reaching maturity, such that they are less responsible when they get to age 21 in college through lack of exposure.

Another argument is that any of those that are pro-legalization of substances use both the Bible and freedom as stepping stones to argue against this idea.  I have to laugh at those who say the right smoke is freedom.  IMHO, as a former smoker, there is no freedom in smoking because for the vast majority of smokers, their addiction would better be likened to slavery than freedom.

Preventing Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) Through Rehab for Would Be Mothers

Any pregnant mother; especially one that has had a difficult time staying away from the booze bottle or drugs should be entitled to check into a rehab for an extended stay, no questions asked, in order to prevent her unborn child from developing lifelong ailments associable with drinking and drugging during pregnancy.  Not only do we need to prevent crack babies, but there is a huge cost from would be mothers who don’t act responsibly.  We need to be responsible as a society to raise children, and that means allowing a complete full term stay at a rehabilitation center, for any mother that suffers from addiction.