Midwest
*Arizona-Purdue is interest...kind of surprised AZ wasn't ranked higher, but Purdue is going to wreck the finesse of the Wildcats
*Butler a 5?? They beat Tennessee and Gonzaga early in the year but very up and down since...losing to Wright St in the conference championship...they will probably lose to Maryland.
*The UNLV-GT rankings are switched...GT should romp.
*TAMU could upset Wisconsin...you heard it here first
West
*UK got an 8???? They shouldn't even be in the tournament.
*VA Tech should surprise...should be ranked higher.
*IU and the Zag's seeds are switched
East
*UT should be ranked higher.
* Don't see many upsets in this bracket...BC is vulnerable if they don't show up...Really bored by this region
South
*I really like A&M.
*Memphis is overrated...they played nobody non-conference and CUSA sucks.
*Nevada-Creighton is a good matchup...should be a fun game
Sweet 16
FL, MD, Ore, GT, Kansas, VA Tech, Duke, UCLA, UNC, Texas, Vandy, Gtown, OSU, VA, A&M, Nevada
Elite 8
FL, Ore, Kansas, UCLA, TX, Gtown, OSU, A&M
Final Four
FL, TX, Kansas, A&M
National Chanpion
Kansas
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Thursday, March 08, 2007
From the Buffalo News
I wrote about this a while ago...this is the follow-up. FYI, Sister Karen was my 5th grade math teacher.
FROM SISTER KAREN’S JOURNAL: “I forgive you for what you have done and I will always watch over you.”
Sister Karen predicted her murder 16 years ago, forgave her killer
Letter in journal read aloud inside courtroom by sister of anti-violence nun as Lynch gets maximum prison term
By Maki Becker
Updated: 03/08/07 7:59 AM
* SAVE
* EMAIL
* PRINT
* POPULAR
Fifteen years before Sister Karen Klimczak was strangled by an ex-convict on Good Friday, the Buffalo nun wrote a letter of forgiveness to her killer.
She apparently had a premonition, perhaps during her prayers or a dream just before Holy Week in 1991, that her life would one day be taken violently.
Wednesday, as Craig M. Lynch — convicted in December of her murder — was about to be sentenced to 25 years to life behind bars, Sister Karen’s sister and fellow nun, Sister Jean Klimczak, read the letter aloud to a packed, hushed courtroom.
“ ‘Dear Brother, I don’t know what the circumstances are that will lead you to hurt me or destroy my physical body,’ ” Sister Jean read.
She found the letter while going through Sister Karen’s peach-colored journal in which the slain nun had neatly handwritten the letter. Her reading was made all the more gripping because of her striking resemblance to her dead sister.
“ ‘No, I don’t want it to happen,’ ” she read softly. “ ‘I would much rather enjoy the beauties of this earth, experience the laughter, the fears and the tears of those I love so deeply!’ ”
Sister Jean continued: “ ‘. . . Now my life has changed and you, my brother, were the instrument of that change. I forgive you for what you have done and I will always watch over you, help you in whatever way I can. . . . Continue living always mindful of His Presence, His Love and His Joy as sources of life itself — then my life will have been worth being changed through you.’ ”
Sister Karen’s words drew tears Wednesday morning from those in the courtroom — many of them nuns wearing T-shirts bearing the words “I Leave Peaceprints” that had been designed by the late nun.
But her letter of forgiveness did not sway Deputy District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III from asking Erie County Judge Sheila A. DiTullio to impose the maximum sentence — 25 years to life in prison.
“There’s been talk of forgiveness,” Sedita said. “But, judge, forgiveness is for God. Sentencing is for court.”
He pointed out the almost unbelievable nature of the murder.
“How can you imagine a crime more heinous than killing a nun on Good Friday and then stashing her body into a shallow grave on Easter Sunday?” Sedita asked.
Sister Karen’s murder came as a horrible shock to her friends, colleagues and many in Buffalo who knew her as the fiery and tireless nun who had devoted her life to peace and worked closely with criminals and victims of crimes alike.
She was famous for the giant dove-shaped sign in front of her halfway house on which she logged the number of days between homicides in Buffalo and for being the force behind popular lawn signs that read: “Nonviolence begins with me” and “I Leave Peaceprints.”
On April 14 — Good Friday — authorities say Lynch, who had been released to Sister Karen’s halfway house from prison just nine days earlier, sneaked into her room to steal her cell phone to sell for drugs. Lynch later told police that he was high on crack cocaine at the time and wanted to buy more.
But Sister Karen walked in on him, and Lynch strangled her and struck her, killing the nun.
The murder took place just a floor above where her friend the Rev. A. Joseph Bissonette was beaten to death during a robbery in 1987 and for whom the halfway house was renamed.
Lynch ditched some of Sister Karen’s clothing in a dumpster, then hid her body behind his mother’s garage.
Then on Easter Sunday, as a massive search was under way for Sister Karen, he moved her body again — this time into a shallow grave in a shack behind a vacant house across the street from his mother’s home.
The next day, he confessed to police what he had done and showed them where he had buried Sister Karen.
Wednesday, Lynch, 37, casually dressed in a white T-shirt, looked ashamed and, at times, distraught.
Tears often welled in his eyes, and he wiped at his mouth with his cuffed hands as he grew emotional. He managed a weak smile as he noticed his mother and other family members in the courtroom.
Lynch stood silently as the judge asked him if he wanted to make a statement to Sister Karen’s family and friends.
“Would you like to apologize?” DiTullio asked Lynch.
He hung his head and breathed heavily.
Sister Karen’s friend Sister Roz Rosolowski, a chaplain at Attica Correctional Facility, whispered audibly: “Say it!”
Lynch eventually began to talk.
“We didn’t have to go through this,” he said repeatedly, apparently referring to the trial process.
Lynch had confessed numerous times to the killing, although he and his attorney have consistently blamed his crack addiction for his actions.
The defense attorney, David R. Addelman, explained to the judge that Lynch was remorseful for putting Sister Karen’s family through the trial and that he was genuinely sorry for having killed the nun.
“Would you like to say that?” DiTullio prodded Lynch.
After a long and uncomfortable pause, he spoke.
“Of course, I’m sorry,” Lynch said, his chest heaving. “Words can’t describe how I feel.”
Addelman asked DiTullio to consider sentencing Lynch to 15 years to life in prison, pointing out his 15-year addiction to crack as well as the fact that a jury that convicted him of second- degree murder, robbery and burglary acquitted him of any intent to commit the crimes.
DiTullio then told Lynch and the courtroom that she acknowledged the seriousness of drug addiction.
But she also emphasized the gravity of what Lynch had done — and the remarkable life he had erased through his actions.
“You killed an exceptional person, to put it mildly,” DiTullio said.
The judge talked of Sister Karen’s devotion to her work at the halfway house and how she often gave up spending holidays with her family to spend with the parolees she lovingly referred to as “my guys.”
“You, Mr. Lynch, let Sister Karen down,” DiTullio said. “I know deep down in your heart you know that.”
She then sentenced him to the maximum: 25 years to life.
As Lynch was led away, he looked back sadly several times toward his mother and toward Sister Jean.
Then, Sister Jean got up to hug her siblings and embraced Lynch’s mother, as she had done many times before since the murder. She also made sure to thank the Buffalo police detectives who solved the case.
“Because of you, we could celebrate Karen’s life,” she told Detective Sgt. James Lonergan as she gripped his hand.
Before leaving, Sister Jean told reporters that she felt as if her sister was speaking through her as she read the words from her journal to the courtroom.
“I experienced her spirit in reading her words,” she said.
She also said she was not disappointed in Lynch’s clumsy apology.
“Karen would accept whatever people were able to say without any expectations,” she told The Buffalo News. “We do our best.”
Lynch’s cousin Judith, who attended the sentencing, said she believes that her cousin is truly remorseful and that his punishment is just.
“It’s real sad what happened to the nun,” she told The News. “I understand that he was on drugs, but that’s no excuse for what he did. I feel very sad for the family.”
She said her family members have been deeply moved by the love and forgiveness Sister Karen’s family have shown to them and to Craig.
“They really did reach out to us,” Judith Lynch said.
Maggie McAloon, chairwoman of the “peaceprint” nonviolence committee at Bissonette House, who also came to the sentencing, said she and others are now preparing a commemorative Mass for Sister Karen on April 14 in SS. Columba & Brigid Catholic Church.
But she also said Sister Karen’s life is being memorialized in many other ways.
After popularizing the “nonviolence” lawn signs, Sister Karen had come up with the doveshaped “peaceprints” logo.
She had printed several thousand lawn signs with the new motto and, at the time of her death, was trying to figure out how best to get them to the public.
They were given out at her funeral, which thousands attended.
Since then, McAloon said, 15,000 of the lawn signs have been printed and given away, with versions of the signs now on display as far away as Brazil and the Palestinian territories, and “I just ordered 2,000 more.”
http://buffalonews.com/101/story/27978.html
FROM SISTER KAREN’S JOURNAL: “I forgive you for what you have done and I will always watch over you.”
Sister Karen predicted her murder 16 years ago, forgave her killer
Letter in journal read aloud inside courtroom by sister of anti-violence nun as Lynch gets maximum prison term
By Maki Becker
Updated: 03/08/07 7:59 AM
* SAVE
* POPULAR
Fifteen years before Sister Karen Klimczak was strangled by an ex-convict on Good Friday, the Buffalo nun wrote a letter of forgiveness to her killer.
She apparently had a premonition, perhaps during her prayers or a dream just before Holy Week in 1991, that her life would one day be taken violently.
Wednesday, as Craig M. Lynch — convicted in December of her murder — was about to be sentenced to 25 years to life behind bars, Sister Karen’s sister and fellow nun, Sister Jean Klimczak, read the letter aloud to a packed, hushed courtroom.
“ ‘Dear Brother, I don’t know what the circumstances are that will lead you to hurt me or destroy my physical body,’ ” Sister Jean read.
She found the letter while going through Sister Karen’s peach-colored journal in which the slain nun had neatly handwritten the letter. Her reading was made all the more gripping because of her striking resemblance to her dead sister.
“ ‘No, I don’t want it to happen,’ ” she read softly. “ ‘I would much rather enjoy the beauties of this earth, experience the laughter, the fears and the tears of those I love so deeply!’ ”
Sister Jean continued: “ ‘. . . Now my life has changed and you, my brother, were the instrument of that change. I forgive you for what you have done and I will always watch over you, help you in whatever way I can. . . . Continue living always mindful of His Presence, His Love and His Joy as sources of life itself — then my life will have been worth being changed through you.’ ”
Sister Karen’s words drew tears Wednesday morning from those in the courtroom — many of them nuns wearing T-shirts bearing the words “I Leave Peaceprints” that had been designed by the late nun.
But her letter of forgiveness did not sway Deputy District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III from asking Erie County Judge Sheila A. DiTullio to impose the maximum sentence — 25 years to life in prison.
“There’s been talk of forgiveness,” Sedita said. “But, judge, forgiveness is for God. Sentencing is for court.”
He pointed out the almost unbelievable nature of the murder.
“How can you imagine a crime more heinous than killing a nun on Good Friday and then stashing her body into a shallow grave on Easter Sunday?” Sedita asked.
Sister Karen’s murder came as a horrible shock to her friends, colleagues and many in Buffalo who knew her as the fiery and tireless nun who had devoted her life to peace and worked closely with criminals and victims of crimes alike.
She was famous for the giant dove-shaped sign in front of her halfway house on which she logged the number of days between homicides in Buffalo and for being the force behind popular lawn signs that read: “Nonviolence begins with me” and “I Leave Peaceprints.”
On April 14 — Good Friday — authorities say Lynch, who had been released to Sister Karen’s halfway house from prison just nine days earlier, sneaked into her room to steal her cell phone to sell for drugs. Lynch later told police that he was high on crack cocaine at the time and wanted to buy more.
But Sister Karen walked in on him, and Lynch strangled her and struck her, killing the nun.
The murder took place just a floor above where her friend the Rev. A. Joseph Bissonette was beaten to death during a robbery in 1987 and for whom the halfway house was renamed.
Lynch ditched some of Sister Karen’s clothing in a dumpster, then hid her body behind his mother’s garage.
Then on Easter Sunday, as a massive search was under way for Sister Karen, he moved her body again — this time into a shallow grave in a shack behind a vacant house across the street from his mother’s home.
The next day, he confessed to police what he had done and showed them where he had buried Sister Karen.
Wednesday, Lynch, 37, casually dressed in a white T-shirt, looked ashamed and, at times, distraught.
Tears often welled in his eyes, and he wiped at his mouth with his cuffed hands as he grew emotional. He managed a weak smile as he noticed his mother and other family members in the courtroom.
Lynch stood silently as the judge asked him if he wanted to make a statement to Sister Karen’s family and friends.
“Would you like to apologize?” DiTullio asked Lynch.
He hung his head and breathed heavily.
Sister Karen’s friend Sister Roz Rosolowski, a chaplain at Attica Correctional Facility, whispered audibly: “Say it!”
Lynch eventually began to talk.
“We didn’t have to go through this,” he said repeatedly, apparently referring to the trial process.
Lynch had confessed numerous times to the killing, although he and his attorney have consistently blamed his crack addiction for his actions.
The defense attorney, David R. Addelman, explained to the judge that Lynch was remorseful for putting Sister Karen’s family through the trial and that he was genuinely sorry for having killed the nun.
“Would you like to say that?” DiTullio prodded Lynch.
After a long and uncomfortable pause, he spoke.
“Of course, I’m sorry,” Lynch said, his chest heaving. “Words can’t describe how I feel.”
Addelman asked DiTullio to consider sentencing Lynch to 15 years to life in prison, pointing out his 15-year addiction to crack as well as the fact that a jury that convicted him of second- degree murder, robbery and burglary acquitted him of any intent to commit the crimes.
DiTullio then told Lynch and the courtroom that she acknowledged the seriousness of drug addiction.
But she also emphasized the gravity of what Lynch had done — and the remarkable life he had erased through his actions.
“You killed an exceptional person, to put it mildly,” DiTullio said.
The judge talked of Sister Karen’s devotion to her work at the halfway house and how she often gave up spending holidays with her family to spend with the parolees she lovingly referred to as “my guys.”
“You, Mr. Lynch, let Sister Karen down,” DiTullio said. “I know deep down in your heart you know that.”
She then sentenced him to the maximum: 25 years to life.
As Lynch was led away, he looked back sadly several times toward his mother and toward Sister Jean.
Then, Sister Jean got up to hug her siblings and embraced Lynch’s mother, as she had done many times before since the murder. She also made sure to thank the Buffalo police detectives who solved the case.
“Because of you, we could celebrate Karen’s life,” she told Detective Sgt. James Lonergan as she gripped his hand.
Before leaving, Sister Jean told reporters that she felt as if her sister was speaking through her as she read the words from her journal to the courtroom.
“I experienced her spirit in reading her words,” she said.
She also said she was not disappointed in Lynch’s clumsy apology.
“Karen would accept whatever people were able to say without any expectations,” she told The Buffalo News. “We do our best.”
Lynch’s cousin Judith, who attended the sentencing, said she believes that her cousin is truly remorseful and that his punishment is just.
“It’s real sad what happened to the nun,” she told The News. “I understand that he was on drugs, but that’s no excuse for what he did. I feel very sad for the family.”
She said her family members have been deeply moved by the love and forgiveness Sister Karen’s family have shown to them and to Craig.
“They really did reach out to us,” Judith Lynch said.
Maggie McAloon, chairwoman of the “peaceprint” nonviolence committee at Bissonette House, who also came to the sentencing, said she and others are now preparing a commemorative Mass for Sister Karen on April 14 in SS. Columba & Brigid Catholic Church.
But she also said Sister Karen’s life is being memorialized in many other ways.
After popularizing the “nonviolence” lawn signs, Sister Karen had come up with the doveshaped “peaceprints” logo.
She had printed several thousand lawn signs with the new motto and, at the time of her death, was trying to figure out how best to get them to the public.
They were given out at her funeral, which thousands attended.
Since then, McAloon said, 15,000 of the lawn signs have been printed and given away, with versions of the signs now on display as far away as Brazil and the Palestinian territories, and “I just ordered 2,000 more.”
http://buffalonews.com/101/story/27978.html
Monday, March 05, 2007
23x+43y'
2 scary occurrences that make me sure I have been doing too much math:
1. I was trying to say a mathematical formula and I couldn't say it in words and had to write it in mathematical notation....not that I didn't know how to say it in words...I just forgot the words.
2. I was looking at the RPI rankings and I sorted them by win-loss record over the past 10 games. I was scanning them looking for Maryland for about 5 minutes and couldn't find it. When I looked for their RPI ranking, (10) btw, I found it in 2 seconds.
1. I was trying to say a mathematical formula and I couldn't say it in words and had to write it in mathematical notation....not that I didn't know how to say it in words...I just forgot the words.
2. I was looking at the RPI rankings and I sorted them by win-loss record over the past 10 games. I was scanning them looking for Maryland for about 5 minutes and couldn't find it. When I looked for their RPI ranking, (10) btw, I found it in 2 seconds.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Education
So I wanted to respond to this post by a friend of mine and decided that what I had to say was too long for comments.
This blog entry actually overlaps part of a conversation we had at a Super Bowl party a few weeks ago, but I'd like to gel what I am saying.
Some background:
I was designated as gifted at a very early age. It was determined that I was not "emotionally mature" enough to be skipped ahead and like my friend, I found myself isolated into special sections. The only classes I ended up in with my classmates was art and gym at the Catholic elementary school. I was in separate classes for language arts, math, and I never took phonics because I read when I was 2 1/2. I went there until 5th grade when I transferred to a 5-12 prep school. All of a sudden school became hard.
By 6th grade I experienced much of what Jackie mentions in the first paragraph of her blog. I don't think it was a low view of my own abilities, but the problem was that I had never learned how to work. Up until then I had never been pushed and never had to work hard; school had been easy for me. My last year in Catholic school was punctuated by my teacher throwing my desk across the room because I was not paying attention. Learning how to work is really, in my opinion, the most important thing to someone to whom everything is easy. This was at the heart of my underperformance in the following years.
By the time I graduated high school, I had taken a few APs and had good SAT scores, but below average grades. My transcript had smart-lazy written all over it. In true ironic fashion, the classes I did worst in were math (see the end). My math tutor, Mrs. Gerstle was the only thing standing between me and failure in math and thankfully she was a large woman. She made me sit in one place and concentrate. I credit the time I spent with her in laying the groundwork for my later development.
Unlike Jackie, I don't completely discount what the separate classes did for me. Although I have my complaints about them, had I been left in regular class, I would be in jail right now. As it was, it's a miracle I am not. I attribute my felonious bearing more to my personality and Jackie's outcome to hers.
In my opinion, the "profound boredom" she experienced was a failure of the school system to adequately handle gifted and talented kids. In many ways the schools are trained and prepared to respond to G & T kids with less effort and resources than special education and troubled children. I too felt as if "they didn't know what to do with me." The most important time to develop these skills is in the first 5 years of learning. In my case, by the time 6th grade rolled around, I had been negatively conditioned and it was too late.
There were two other factors that kept me from incarceration. Unlike Jackie, I was afforded the advantage of having very encouraging parents. My mother, in particular, was a teacher in a school for the gifted and knew how to encourage me and foster my intellectual growth. To me it was expected to be an intellectual. We didn't have a tv in the house or a radio in the car to foster debate. My parents both have PhDs. The other factor, and one Jackie and I have discussed, is that I went to prep school. Despite my grades, I got into good colleges with scholarships mostly based on my test scores and the weight of my school's name.
The reality is that prep schools like this make a difference and give children more options. However much we hope to achieve a meritocracy, Harvard, Yale, and Stanford's doors are open wider to prep school kids. And although I appreciate my undergraduate and graduate educations, thus far, top ten schools have much higher standards and much better training. I'm not kidding myself when I see that top ten programs do in a semester what we take 3 semesters to do.
A sidenote: I was expelled from my first college after my 1st semester and didn't begin school again until I was 27. I spent time homeless and drug addicted in between, oh, and became an award winning executive chef. One of the most important influences on me returning to education was the fact I went to this school. Out of my small group of friends in high school, only 2 of us don't have a PhD or an MD and I'm working on mine. Being around people like this made getting a college education important.
So to answer Jackie's final questions:
And what to do with a smart kid?
Put them into as challenging an environment as you can as early as possible.
Isolate them or surround them only with other smart kids, praise them or treat them as if nothing about them was special?
Isolation is bad, but so is surrounding them with only other smart kids. Make school be about other smart kids and foster a healthy social life outside of school with all types of kids.
Send them to regular schools so they get normal social activity, or send them to magnet or private schools so that their potential gets fully realized?
See above. I never hung out with kids from school. I think you also learn certain social skills being in a private school environment. Although much of the world doesn't live that way, I believe that it is important to be able to comport oneself in any social situation with ease. Being comfortable when invited to your boss' mansion is an important skill. People don't like to be around people who are uncomfortable.
Encourage them to see themselves as special or superior, or keep their intelligence an open secret so that other kids still want to play with them?
Treat them as if it is totally normal to be reading at at 8th grade level in 3rd grade, as if it it the most natural thing to read Dante at 13, and all 10 year olds want to debate the electoral college.
Raising kids is the most daunting thing in the world. The important thing is not to dwell on what you think might be a mistake, because you never know what might happen and how your "mistake" might have influenced your children in a positive, meaningful way. I only hope my kids are as great as Jackie's....I have a fear my kids will be jocks and cheerleaders and hate learning.
So the final punchline is that I am working on a PhD in economics, doing graduate level mathematics on a daily basis.
This blog entry actually overlaps part of a conversation we had at a Super Bowl party a few weeks ago, but I'd like to gel what I am saying.
Some background:
I was designated as gifted at a very early age. It was determined that I was not "emotionally mature" enough to be skipped ahead and like my friend, I found myself isolated into special sections. The only classes I ended up in with my classmates was art and gym at the Catholic elementary school. I was in separate classes for language arts, math, and I never took phonics because I read when I was 2 1/2. I went there until 5th grade when I transferred to a 5-12 prep school. All of a sudden school became hard.
By 6th grade I experienced much of what Jackie mentions in the first paragraph of her blog. I don't think it was a low view of my own abilities, but the problem was that I had never learned how to work. Up until then I had never been pushed and never had to work hard; school had been easy for me. My last year in Catholic school was punctuated by my teacher throwing my desk across the room because I was not paying attention. Learning how to work is really, in my opinion, the most important thing to someone to whom everything is easy. This was at the heart of my underperformance in the following years.
By the time I graduated high school, I had taken a few APs and had good SAT scores, but below average grades. My transcript had smart-lazy written all over it. In true ironic fashion, the classes I did worst in were math (see the end). My math tutor, Mrs. Gerstle was the only thing standing between me and failure in math and thankfully she was a large woman. She made me sit in one place and concentrate. I credit the time I spent with her in laying the groundwork for my later development.
Unlike Jackie, I don't completely discount what the separate classes did for me. Although I have my complaints about them, had I been left in regular class, I would be in jail right now. As it was, it's a miracle I am not. I attribute my felonious bearing more to my personality and Jackie's outcome to hers.
In my opinion, the "profound boredom" she experienced was a failure of the school system to adequately handle gifted and talented kids. In many ways the schools are trained and prepared to respond to G & T kids with less effort and resources than special education and troubled children. I too felt as if "they didn't know what to do with me." The most important time to develop these skills is in the first 5 years of learning. In my case, by the time 6th grade rolled around, I had been negatively conditioned and it was too late.
There were two other factors that kept me from incarceration. Unlike Jackie, I was afforded the advantage of having very encouraging parents. My mother, in particular, was a teacher in a school for the gifted and knew how to encourage me and foster my intellectual growth. To me it was expected to be an intellectual. We didn't have a tv in the house or a radio in the car to foster debate. My parents both have PhDs. The other factor, and one Jackie and I have discussed, is that I went to prep school. Despite my grades, I got into good colleges with scholarships mostly based on my test scores and the weight of my school's name.
The reality is that prep schools like this make a difference and give children more options. However much we hope to achieve a meritocracy, Harvard, Yale, and Stanford's doors are open wider to prep school kids. And although I appreciate my undergraduate and graduate educations, thus far, top ten schools have much higher standards and much better training. I'm not kidding myself when I see that top ten programs do in a semester what we take 3 semesters to do.
A sidenote: I was expelled from my first college after my 1st semester and didn't begin school again until I was 27. I spent time homeless and drug addicted in between, oh, and became an award winning executive chef. One of the most important influences on me returning to education was the fact I went to this school. Out of my small group of friends in high school, only 2 of us don't have a PhD or an MD and I'm working on mine. Being around people like this made getting a college education important.
So to answer Jackie's final questions:
And what to do with a smart kid?
Put them into as challenging an environment as you can as early as possible.
Isolate them or surround them only with other smart kids, praise them or treat them as if nothing about them was special?
Isolation is bad, but so is surrounding them with only other smart kids. Make school be about other smart kids and foster a healthy social life outside of school with all types of kids.
Send them to regular schools so they get normal social activity, or send them to magnet or private schools so that their potential gets fully realized?
See above. I never hung out with kids from school. I think you also learn certain social skills being in a private school environment. Although much of the world doesn't live that way, I believe that it is important to be able to comport oneself in any social situation with ease. Being comfortable when invited to your boss' mansion is an important skill. People don't like to be around people who are uncomfortable.
Encourage them to see themselves as special or superior, or keep their intelligence an open secret so that other kids still want to play with them?
Treat them as if it is totally normal to be reading at at 8th grade level in 3rd grade, as if it it the most natural thing to read Dante at 13, and all 10 year olds want to debate the electoral college.
Raising kids is the most daunting thing in the world. The important thing is not to dwell on what you think might be a mistake, because you never know what might happen and how your "mistake" might have influenced your children in a positive, meaningful way. I only hope my kids are as great as Jackie's....I have a fear my kids will be jocks and cheerleaders and hate learning.
So the final punchline is that I am working on a PhD in economics, doing graduate level mathematics on a daily basis.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Back to life
Well I completed my first semester, and although I can't say I am surprised, I am awed by the amount of work a PhD program entails. I could study 12 hours a day and not have enough time.
That being said, I love it. I am really excited to be learning so much and feel as if I am finally learning a subject to a expert level. That is very gratifying. Learning for the sake of learning. I also like the challenge. This is so difficult that I really enjoy small successes. Who knew I would end up doing so much math. My high school math teachers would never believe it. My high school math tutor would be amazed. I credit her patience and her teaching skills for teaching me to appreciate math.
That being said, I love it. I am really excited to be learning so much and feel as if I am finally learning a subject to a expert level. That is very gratifying. Learning for the sake of learning. I also like the challenge. This is so difficult that I really enjoy small successes. Who knew I would end up doing so much math. My high school math teachers would never believe it. My high school math tutor would be amazed. I credit her patience and her teaching skills for teaching me to appreciate math.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Wow I did something
Snuck out to see Massive Attack tonight. Found a ticket for cheap on Craigslist. They were amazing! What a great show.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Chavez vs. the UN
In his speech to the UN, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez called the UN "antidemocratic". It reminds me of the old adage "takes one to know one".
One other quick thought: What is the U.S. so afraid of letting Venezuela sit on the Security Council?? How about trying some dialogue instead of shutting people it doesn't like out of the conversation?
One other quick thought: What is the U.S. so afraid of letting Venezuela sit on the Security Council?? How about trying some dialogue instead of shutting people it doesn't like out of the conversation?
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Thursday, September 07, 2006
CPI
From Russell Roberts
"Again, I challenge the pessimists, the doom-and-gloomers who accept the wage data as indicating that for 30 years, the average American has made no progress. Either our economic system is broken or are data collection system is broken. There is dramatic evidence that the data collection system is unable to cope with the speed of change in the US economy. Why do you believe instead that it is the economic system that is broken? Where is your evidence?"
"Again, I challenge the pessimists, the doom-and-gloomers who accept the wage data as indicating that for 30 years, the average American has made no progress. Either our economic system is broken or are data collection system is broken. There is dramatic evidence that the data collection system is unable to cope with the speed of change in the US economy. Why do you believe instead that it is the economic system that is broken? Where is your evidence?"
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Peace through trade
This article from the BBC talks about how trade brought peace to Europe, yet there is no mention of those who champion these ideas, namely the Austrians.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Sorry for the pause
So I am confused...why did ABC use Tom Petty for the NBA finals and NBC use Nelly for Wimbledon???
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