Z Rants and Raves

When an average person is misinformed, there is nothing inherently wrong with that.  Not everyone can know everything.  That is just impossible.  The problem is when the misinformed start to believe that they are actually informed, and their truth is grounded in fact and start to spread that misinformation with full conviction.  Then that "truth" gets spread to others and others and before you know it,  it becomes a mainstream "truth." Here are the problems with being misinformed and not actually knowing enough about a subject.  There is this concept that the less a person knows about something, the more they think they know and will speak with more validation about the subject.  Then the person that has more knowledge on the subject will actually speak with less conviction.  Why is this?  The person that thinks they know everything, believes they have reached a finite conclusion to the subject and therefore there is nothing else to learn. ...

It has been a good time in our house.  We have a good bedtime routine.  Change, read a book, drink some milk, go to bed.  This has worked for almost a month now.  But last night, oh last night.  My wife puts the kid to bed, comes down stairs and everything is normal.  Then 10:30 rolls around and the bedroom door opens, and our child is at the top of the stairs crying.  Recently, only mommy can put him to bed, so she takes him and tries sleeping with him on the couch, so I go up to bed.  After an hour of trying to sleep/watching TV, he is still wide awake.  Not hungry, not thirsty, not sick, just upset and awake. Then we switch... sleeping areas.  She goes to our bed with him and I go on the couch.  Why not all sleep in the bed?  He takes up far too much room now and he always kicks me in the back or my manhood.  So for any of us to get sleep, to the couch I go.  We all finally fell asleep around 1 AM.  And of c...

I've been teaching college classes for more than five years now.  I have taught freshmen, seniors, grads, and summer exchange students.  In that time I have seen the range of students from the over prepared to the barely paying attention.  Part of the problem I know is our public education system, or more precisely the system of the standardized test.  When students come to college they have been trained to study and take tests.  Their teachers have given them step by step instructions on how to complete and assignment so that they pass, get good grades go to college and the teacher keeps their job, and the school keeps their funding.  Then they come to me.  I give them direction and freedom.  Complete this project with any of these tools.  And then you see it, the deer in head lights look.  The "Please give me a step by step guide on how to do this."  The generation that has grown up with the greatest access to knowledge some how h...