Marjorie Said:

Could/should we get rid of welfare?

We Answered:

The 1996 Welfare reform that Gingrich forced Clinton to sign after vetoing the same bill twice before did a pretty good job correcting welfare's most abusive wrongs. This is not to say that improvement isn't still possible, but Welfare went from one of the top 5 most pressing programs in need of reform to a fairly back-burner issue.

Personally, I don't have a problem with some degree of short-term government support. I would prefer that the program exist at the state level (thus encouraging innovation), and would prefer that the subsidy come in a form that makes it harder to misuse the funds...like perhaps a direct payment to your local supermarket and your landlord and gas company to pay for that sort of stuff. That way folks who are addicted to something would have a harder time misusing the funds. Note that this would differ from food stamps because the funds would never actually be in the hands of individual. Of course, they could turn around and sell the groceries, and so forth, but nothing is perfect.

I'd also like to see the program slowly ramped down. This would encourage more people to donate to private poverty charities which do a better job of turning people's lives around than public assistance. By making the move gradual it should prevent any large scale social upheaval.

Jenny Said:

where is a good website to find case studies on Piaget and cognitive development for free?

We Answered:

http://www.learningandteaching.info/lear…

good luck!

Marsha Said:

Parents with Kids in Great Colleges Now - do you have any advice for parents of school age children?

We Answered:

Hi :)
I'm not a parent (sorry!) but I am currently in college, and I was the kid who was self-motivating. I studied both primary and high school by distance education, and from the last year of primary school onward I taught myself.
I guess I wanted to write to you because I understand where you are coming from. My mother never needed to push me, but she did anyway. Between her pushing and my massive work load, I almost burnt out in my final year. You do need to support and guide and sometimes be strict with your kids to get them where they need to go and doing what they need to do. But you also need to have that balance between study and life. I had no other life but school work and it cost me a lot. You need to let them be kids as well as getting them to study. Because they need to socialize properly and also have down time so they don't burn out.
The other advice I'd give is to be approachable. If they are having trouble or are getting low grades, when they tell you or ask for help don't critisize. Instead or telling them they haven't worked hard enough or aren't trying to understand, ask them what they don't understand and why, ask what they need to make it easier, and help them get what they need; that's when support is most important.
Goals are always good, but if a chilld doesn't reach that goal, then it shouldn't be the end of the world. Ask them why they think they didn't reach it, then help them set a new goal and help them reach it. But always show them that they haven't disappointed you and that you believe they can do better and you still love them.
Kids that go far are healthy emotionally and mentally, as well as having the good education. Sit with your kids, and honestly and without critisism, talk to them about their feelings, about how they are coping emotionally and mentally at school and with the work load. Nowdays, I can sit down and do this with my fiance about college, but as a child and a teen I couldn't do that with my parents, and it caused so much extra strain on me. When they can get all of that stuff out in the open, it releases so much of their energy and enthusiam backj into learning because they are not under the weight of other mental and emotion strains, or at least not alone.
I hope I helped, and that you get a lot of good answers :)

Anita Said:

I need ideas for a micro-teaching lesson. what can i teach a group of 20 highschool kids in 15 minutes?

We Answered:

On the last days of school, I have no books and only half of my students. I teach them how to play cards. My favorite game is Ups and Downs.
Pretend there are 4 people playing. Everyone is given one card and trump is placed on the table. The player to the left of the dealer guesses first if she will win or lose. After all guesses are made, the first player puts her card down. Whatever she leads with is what needs to be beaten. If another player has the same suit as the trump card, that beats the first player's card. If people have the same suit, the higher number wins. You get 10 pts. for guessing correctly and one point for winning. Therefore, the game is more about guessing correctly than getting the best cards. After you finish one round, the person who guessed first is now the dealer. She passes out two cards to everyone. The same rules apply. Each round the number of cards increases. Then, it decreases. (Most people play until 5 or 7 and then go down from there.)

Jerome Said:

Why are so many people against home schooling when they know NOTHING about it?

We Answered:

Because we've been so brainwashed by the government and the media into thinking that public schools are the only appropriate way to learn anything. Lack of experience and no exposure to a large number of homeschoolers leave them using their imaginations and what few bad cases show up in the media to prejudge hundreds of thousands of people.

Never mind ALL the instances of abuse, ignorance and nonsense in public schools every day, we're supposed to just suck that up because the state dept of ed says it's normal for development.

Ella Said:

I'm in 7th grade and my study skills teacher is telling us we need to know what college we want to go to now!?

We Answered:

HI there

i think its really a good idea to keep in mind what you want to be in future.

Many scholars and successful ppl just knew what they want to be in their early days. infact before the age of yours.

its not like you should stick to it, but you can know what you want to be to lead a better life.

Irene Said:

My teacher wants to take me out of Spanish class!?

We Answered:

Are there any other optional classes you can choose from? If you're not good at Spanish and are good at technical stuff or maths, maybe you can have a class related to those instead of the Resource one. Maybe Spanish isn't for you, but that doesn't mean that you HAVE to go into that Resource class instead.

That's like when I was in the 8th grade doing Latin and Greek and some guidance councillor told my mum she should send me to special ed. where I could learn packaging (as in working in a factory packaging batteries or special packages of laundry detergent and stuff like that). I had trouble with Greek because of the different letters but I finished high school (even did 3 more years of Latin without too much trouble still). I've now been diagnosed with PDD-NOS (on the Autism Spectrum) so I'm guessing she suspected something back then and that was her reason for saying that, but I think I've proven that I have more potential than that. I'm glad my mum stood by me and refused to send me to special ed - I've worked in factories especially designed to employ people with a disability (as a temp) but that was not something I could have stuck with indefinitely.

Organization and study skills are useful, but if you don't feel it's for you, try and find another option. Arts, woodwork, computer class, extra math - there has to be some other option instead of the Spanish, they shouldn't be able to force you to choose a certain class (except for the mandatory ones like English and maths obviously).

Good luck!!