college

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If we look at a “disorder” and call it “normal”, then we fail to support a child’s true need for support and assistance, if truly needed. However, if we look at behavior which is actually normal for a child and call it a “disorder”, then we instill in the child (many times from a very early age) a belief that there is something “wrong” with her; there is something wrong that cannot be “fixed”, or that must be fixed with drugs.

Is there an alternative to labeling a young child with a mental disorder? Is it possible that “Attention Deficit Disorder” [2] is not a “disorder”, but rather something more natural, a remnant of necessary skills that brings not only challenges, but a skills set that may be seen as helpful in certain circumstances?

Read the rest...(this is the only thing that we were graded on and I got an "A")

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Ahh...tis the week before the last week before Christmas...

I just turned in a Spanish paper, I have a Education Psychology paper due on Monday, a final exam (Spanish) on Thursday - and (extra credit) I just found out that I can do a recitation for the equivalent of one test (I'm doing the Lord's Prayer).  I could conceivably bring my grade up to an A-...except that I have to be pretty good at pronunciation, and I'm not.

So the kids at work are getting weird (and will be until Christmas).

I have a final exam on Thursday night and surgery on Friday morning.

I'm a bit busy...

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In the “Allegory of the Cave”, we see an example of people seeing “through the glass dimly.” Plato describes a group of people in a cave since their childhood, chained so that they cannot move their heads. I could not picture this until I saw the illustration, but imagine a fire behind the people, casting shadows on the wall in front of them. There is also a walkway and animals, people and things are carried along between the fire and the wall in front of the prisoners.

All these people know of the world are the shadows on the wall in front of them. In fact, they may not even know that there is a world outside of those shadows. All they can see – all they can know – are the flickering shadows on the wall in front of them.

Imagine that one of these prisoners is set free. He stands up and turns around, seeing the fire for the first time. This is the first time he sees the direct flame and he is blinded. At first, before his eyes grow accustomed to the light, the objects that cast the shadows seem unreal – less real than the shadows. He rebels – this is not what he is used to!

(continue reading)

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I'll only have three posts this week, but it's been a good week. I think I did okay on the history test, and sure I did ok (meaning "A" on this one) on the psych test.

The psych paper is done - this is the paper that will be my final exam grade. I did the paper on "The Psychology of Deafness" and the subject turned out to be a lot more interesting that I thought it would.

Next up - "The Rise of the Roman Catholic Church - 800 - 1300). I'm learning a lot. This paper is due on Monday.