Mythopoeika
I am a meat popsicle
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2001
- Messages
- 51,690
- Location
- Inside a starship, watching puny humans from afar
Have my posts been removed?
I can still see them...
Thanks anyway!
I can still see them...
Thanks anyway!
Quake42
Warrior Princess
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2004
- Messages
- 9,312
I disagreed with something Mytho said. That's not unusual, with this being a discussion board and all. He said that he was sorry if he offended me and I said that I hadn't been offended, and then the thread went on as normal. I agree that the apology was unnecessary as no one had done anything wrong.
I'm not quite sure why you've taken such umbrage at this exchange. As I said, people do tend to have different views on discussion boards. The discussion would be pretty boring if they didn't.
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2005
- Messages
- 11,990
I was slightly confused. I certainly didn't remove anything, nor did the other Mods report removing anything. Myth is not one usually given to retraction, or self-censorship and (as far as I could see), nobody had said anything more outre, or robust, than usual.
Still, usual rules apply. If you do find something offensive, don't make accusations online, report it to a Mod. Otherwise, just try and be excellent to each other.
P_M
Still, usual rules apply. If you do find something offensive, don't make accusations online, report it to a Mod. Otherwise, just try and be excellent to each other.
P_M
I'd sure hate to be a kid these days they get in trouble for anything and everything. It seems that teachers and principals either can't or won't manage kids' behavior and would rather just call in the cops.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/dec/01/us-burp-arrest/
Suit filed after NM teen cuffed for burp in class
The Associated Press
Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011 | 1:48 p.m.
A 13-year-old was handcuffed and hauled off to a juvenile detention for burping in class, according to a lawsuit filed against an Albuquerque school principal, a teacher and school police officer.
The boy was transported without his parents being notified in May after he "burped audibly" in PE class and his teacher called a school resource officer to complain he was disrupting her class. The lawsuit also details a separate Nov. 8 incident when the same student was forced to strip down to his underwear while five adults watched as he was accused of selling pot to another student; the boy was never charged.
The suit was one of two filed Wednesday by civil rights attorney Shannon Kennedy, who says she has been fighting the district and police for years over the use of force with problem children. She says a review of school and Bernalillo County records shows more than 200 school kids have been handcuffed and arrested in the last three years for non-violent misdemeanors.
In the second lawsuit filed Wednesday, the parents of a 7-year-old boy with autism accuse a school officer of unlawful arrest for handcuffing the boy to a chair after he became agitated in class. New Mexico law prohibits officers and school officials from restraining children under 11.
The suits come one year after the same attorney settled a class action lawsuit against the district that was prompted by the arrest of a girl who Kennedy said "didn't want to sit by the stinky boy in class." And Kennedy says she has a number of other cases she is preparing over treatment of students in Albuquerque by school officials, school police, city police and sheriff's officers.
"I am trying to get all the stake holders in a room to get people properly trained to prevent this from happening," Kennedy said.
Kennedy said the problem lies with the schools more than with the law enforcement agencies.
"It lands in the lap of the principal. There are good schools and bad schools. The principals ... who are handling their schools properly don't need to have children arrested. It's ridiculous."
A spokesman for Albuquerque Public Schools did not immediately return calls and emails seeking comment on Thursday. A police spokeswoman said the department does not comment on litigation.
One school board member, Lorenzo Garcia, said he had not seen and could not comment on the lawsuits, but he did say he was concerned about what appeared to be schools getting stuck on a "zero tolerance policy."
"Really, in my opinion, this really increases the whole idea of the schools-to-prison pipeline," he said.
they get in trouble for anything and everything. It seems that teachers and principals either can't or won't manage kids' behavior and would rather just call in the cops.http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/dec/01/us-burp-arrest/
Suit filed after NM teen cuffed for burp in class
The Associated Press
Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011 | 1:48 p.m.
A 13-year-old was handcuffed and hauled off to a juvenile detention for burping in class, according to a lawsuit filed against an Albuquerque school principal, a teacher and school police officer.
The boy was transported without his parents being notified in May after he "burped audibly" in PE class and his teacher called a school resource officer to complain he was disrupting her class. The lawsuit also details a separate Nov. 8 incident when the same student was forced to strip down to his underwear while five adults watched as he was accused of selling pot to another student; the boy was never charged.
The suit was one of two filed Wednesday by civil rights attorney Shannon Kennedy, who says she has been fighting the district and police for years over the use of force with problem children. She says a review of school and Bernalillo County records shows more than 200 school kids have been handcuffed and arrested in the last three years for non-violent misdemeanors.
In the second lawsuit filed Wednesday, the parents of a 7-year-old boy with autism accuse a school officer of unlawful arrest for handcuffing the boy to a chair after he became agitated in class. New Mexico law prohibits officers and school officials from restraining children under 11.
The suits come one year after the same attorney settled a class action lawsuit against the district that was prompted by the arrest of a girl who Kennedy said "didn't want to sit by the stinky boy in class." And Kennedy says she has a number of other cases she is preparing over treatment of students in Albuquerque by school officials, school police, city police and sheriff's officers.
"I am trying to get all the stake holders in a room to get people properly trained to prevent this from happening," Kennedy said.
Kennedy said the problem lies with the schools more than with the law enforcement agencies.
"It lands in the lap of the principal. There are good schools and bad schools. The principals ... who are handling their schools properly don't need to have children arrested. It's ridiculous."
A spokesman for Albuquerque Public Schools did not immediately return calls and emails seeking comment on Thursday. A police spokeswoman said the department does not comment on litigation.
One school board member, Lorenzo Garcia, said he had not seen and could not comment on the lawsuits, but he did say he was concerned about what appeared to be schools getting stuck on a "zero tolerance policy."
"Really, in my opinion, this really increases the whole idea of the schools-to-prison pipeline," he said.
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Almost 4m children in Britain do not own a book, poll finds
National Literacy Trust describes as 'very worrying' results of survey of 18,000 children between 11 and 16
Jessica Shepherd, education correspondent The Guardian, Monday 5 December 2011
Almost 4 million children in Britain – one in three – do not own a book, a poll has found. The National Literacy Trust charity, which carried out the survey, said the proportion had risen from one in 10 in 2005. The charity said the findings were very worrying because book ownership was linked to children's future success in life. Children who read well can often overcome other hurdles that lock their peers into a cycle of disadvantage, it said.
Jonathan Douglas, director of the charity, said children were reading from books and even computers less, but watching films and images on screens more. He said there were many more forms of entertainment competing for children's attention than there used to be. The charity commissioned researchers to quiz more than 18,000 children aged 11 to 16. Almost a fifth – 19% –said they had never received a book as a present and 12% said they had never been to a bookshop.
Girls were slightly more likely than boys to own a book.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/ ... itain-book
National Literacy Trust describes as 'very worrying' results of survey of 18,000 children between 11 and 16
Jessica Shepherd, education correspondent The Guardian, Monday 5 December 2011
Almost 4 million children in Britain – one in three – do not own a book, a poll has found. The National Literacy Trust charity, which carried out the survey, said the proportion had risen from one in 10 in 2005. The charity said the findings were very worrying because book ownership was linked to children's future success in life. Children who read well can often overcome other hurdles that lock their peers into a cycle of disadvantage, it said.
Jonathan Douglas, director of the charity, said children were reading from books and even computers less, but watching films and images on screens more. He said there were many more forms of entertainment competing for children's attention than there used to be. The charity commissioned researchers to quiz more than 18,000 children aged 11 to 16. Almost a fifth – 19% –said they had never received a book as a present and 12% said they had never been to a bookshop.
Girls were slightly more likely than boys to own a book.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/ ... itain-book
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
8 December 2011 Last updated at 03:37
UK students lack global outlook, says British Council
By Sean Coughlan, BBC News education correspondent
Business leaders are warning that students in the UK are lagging behind in developing an international outlook needed for a globalised economy.
A British Council survey suggests many employers are struggling to recruit staff with a "global outlook".
The report says UK students need wider horizons if they are to compete with rising economies such as China.
The "UK economy risks losing global competitiveness", says Jo Beall of the British Council.
The Global Skills Gap report reflects concerns that UK students remain too insular in their outlook.
Multi-national companies, with staff and customers in many different countries and cultures, have told the survey of the importance of recruiting employees who can "think globally".
According to the survey of 500 business leaders, 75% fear that the UK economy is at risk of being "left behind" because of a lack of recruits who can have such an international awareness.
In particular they warned about being overtaken by "emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil".
The survey, commissioned by the British Council and Think Global charity, also found that 74% of these business representatives warned that in the UK young people's "horizons are not broad enough" for a globalised economy.
Businesses which traded heavily with other countries found it particularly hard to find the right staff, with the survey finding that among such multinational firms 35% find it difficult to recruit employees.
Business leaders suggested that this could be because schools were too worried about exam results and league tables to encourage pupils to learn "about the wider world beyond the school gates and beyond our shores".
The report warns that if UK students do not have the skills wanted by multinational employers then "highly skilled and highly paid jobs will be increasingly taken by young people in countries other than the UK".
"This risks a future for many young people in the UK consisting of low-paid jobs or being out of work," says the report.
Jo Beall, British Council director of education and society, said "This research shows that while British students are extremely keen to gain international experiences, there aren't enough of the right opportunities for them to gain the professional skills that British employers really value."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16071105
UK students lack global outlook, says British Council
By Sean Coughlan, BBC News education correspondent
Business leaders are warning that students in the UK are lagging behind in developing an international outlook needed for a globalised economy.
A British Council survey suggests many employers are struggling to recruit staff with a "global outlook".
The report says UK students need wider horizons if they are to compete with rising economies such as China.
The "UK economy risks losing global competitiveness", says Jo Beall of the British Council.
The Global Skills Gap report reflects concerns that UK students remain too insular in their outlook.
Multi-national companies, with staff and customers in many different countries and cultures, have told the survey of the importance of recruiting employees who can "think globally".
According to the survey of 500 business leaders, 75% fear that the UK economy is at risk of being "left behind" because of a lack of recruits who can have such an international awareness.
In particular they warned about being overtaken by "emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil".
The survey, commissioned by the British Council and Think Global charity, also found that 74% of these business representatives warned that in the UK young people's "horizons are not broad enough" for a globalised economy.
Businesses which traded heavily with other countries found it particularly hard to find the right staff, with the survey finding that among such multinational firms 35% find it difficult to recruit employees.
Business leaders suggested that this could be because schools were too worried about exam results and league tables to encourage pupils to learn "about the wider world beyond the school gates and beyond our shores".
The report warns that if UK students do not have the skills wanted by multinational employers then "highly skilled and highly paid jobs will be increasingly taken by young people in countries other than the UK".
"This risks a future for many young people in the UK consisting of low-paid jobs or being out of work," says the report.
Jo Beall, British Council director of education and society, said "This research shows that while British students are extremely keen to gain international experiences, there aren't enough of the right opportunities for them to gain the professional skills that British employers really value."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16071105
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
"Global outlook" would have to include geography as well as languages. A knowledge of where countries are, what their main industries and agriculture involve, what language(s) are spoken there, educational levels, religious issues... the list goes on and on!
Not to mention climate and weather issues. Ideally you need to be a walking encyclopedia! Nobody knows everything, but if you know some of the basics, you'll know where to look and who to ask for more information.
It's about inernational trade, so it involves many angles. Do people in a certain country need particular goods, and if so can you make those goods (and ship them out there) cheaper than it would cost the locals to make them for themselves?
Not to mention climate and weather issues. Ideally you need to be a walking encyclopedia! Nobody knows everything, but if you know some of the basics, you'll know where to look and who to ask for more information.
It's about inernational trade, so it involves many angles. Do people in a certain country need particular goods, and if so can you make those goods (and ship them out there) cheaper than it would cost the locals to make them for themselves?
Quake42
Warrior Princess
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2004
- Messages
- 9,312
With respect, I don't see that your average employee needs to have this information at his/her fingertips. If you're working in marketing or international sales then perhaps. Otherwise: not really.
There is an issue with British people of all ages being monolingual but it's much less of an issue than in say France (where knowledge of foreign languages, whilst better than in the UK, lags far behind most other Western European countries) because English is the international language of trade and business.
I thought it was an odd article that wasn't clear on what the problem was or how the British Council had concluded that there even was a problem. It may be that it was just reported badly.
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Heart-breaking tale here:
Why did you lie to me, Daddy? Boy, 8, devastated to find his illness is terminal after going on Google
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:56 AM on 2nd March 2012
When their eight-year-old was diagnosed with terminal illness, Dominic and Caroline Stacey thought it best to keep the tragic news from him.
They had, however, not reckoned on Dominic Junior’s inquisitive nature. He looked up the disease he called ‘tired legs’ on Google and discovered the truth.
Lil Dom – as he is nicknamed – then confronted his parents and asked why they had not told him, and had been so upbeat about his condition, Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
The rare disease causes muscle degeneration and difficulties with walking and breathing that eventually lead to death. Average life expectancy is 25.
Mr Stacey, a 33-year-old youth worker, said the aftermath of Lil Dom’s discovery was traumatic for the family.
‘He came up to me and asked me why I had lied to him,’ he said. ‘We sat him down and explained everything. It was one of the hardest conversations I’ve ever had. We were all in bits.
‘Since then he’s had several nightmares about it and always calls us in for a cuddle.
‘He just wants to know we’re here for him. One night he asked me to find a cure for his condition and that hit me like a sledgehammer. I wanted to say yes, but it was so hard.
‘He understands the effects of the condition but it’s very hard to explain to someone so young.’
Mr Stacey said his son had asked him in the past if the illness would kill him – and he had replied that no one knows when they’re going to die.
Dominic, who uses a wheelchair, said he led a normal life for a young boy. ‘I like history and maths at school and at home I enjoy drawing and playing on my Xbox,’ he added.
‘I like playing with my friends but I can’t do it for too long because my legs start to hurt.
‘Luckily my school let me have a sleep in the afternoons if I’m tired. I also have to eat a lot to keep my strength up. I’m an eating machine.
The other day I had a whole seafood platter all to myself.’
Dominic and Caroline, a 42-year-old psychiatric nurse, have three other children: Cate, six, Georgia, four and two-year-old Tahlia.
Around 2,500 people in the UK suffer from Duchenne, which is most common among boys.
Dominic also suffers from a form of epilepsy known as absent seizures, which means he can have up to 20 memory blanks in one day.
His father has organised fundraising events for the Action Duchenne charity, including swimming with sharks and a lantern release.
Dominic, from Holsworthy, in North Devon, said: ‘He’s done some crazy things like dress up as BA Baracus and wear a silly mankini. Both of those were really funny.
I like being at the events. I was sat on top of my friend’s car to see all the lanterns released last year, it was great.
I was amazed so many people turned up, it was really nice they supported the charity.’
The family are also backing a charity song on iTunes called Nobody Knows Their Time by Mark Emmins.
The song is released on digital download on March 4 and is available on iTunes for 99p, with 40p from each sale going to Duchenne Now.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... z1nx3tYkEC
Why did you lie to me, Daddy? Boy, 8, devastated to find his illness is terminal after going on Google
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:56 AM on 2nd March 2012
When their eight-year-old was diagnosed with terminal illness, Dominic and Caroline Stacey thought it best to keep the tragic news from him.
They had, however, not reckoned on Dominic Junior’s inquisitive nature. He looked up the disease he called ‘tired legs’ on Google and discovered the truth.
Lil Dom – as he is nicknamed – then confronted his parents and asked why they had not told him, and had been so upbeat about his condition, Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
The rare disease causes muscle degeneration and difficulties with walking and breathing that eventually lead to death. Average life expectancy is 25.
Mr Stacey, a 33-year-old youth worker, said the aftermath of Lil Dom’s discovery was traumatic for the family.
‘He came up to me and asked me why I had lied to him,’ he said. ‘We sat him down and explained everything. It was one of the hardest conversations I’ve ever had. We were all in bits.
‘Since then he’s had several nightmares about it and always calls us in for a cuddle.
‘He just wants to know we’re here for him. One night he asked me to find a cure for his condition and that hit me like a sledgehammer. I wanted to say yes, but it was so hard.
‘He understands the effects of the condition but it’s very hard to explain to someone so young.’
Mr Stacey said his son had asked him in the past if the illness would kill him – and he had replied that no one knows when they’re going to die.
Dominic, who uses a wheelchair, said he led a normal life for a young boy. ‘I like history and maths at school and at home I enjoy drawing and playing on my Xbox,’ he added.
‘I like playing with my friends but I can’t do it for too long because my legs start to hurt.
‘Luckily my school let me have a sleep in the afternoons if I’m tired. I also have to eat a lot to keep my strength up. I’m an eating machine.
The other day I had a whole seafood platter all to myself.’
Dominic and Caroline, a 42-year-old psychiatric nurse, have three other children: Cate, six, Georgia, four and two-year-old Tahlia.
Around 2,500 people in the UK suffer from Duchenne, which is most common among boys.
Dominic also suffers from a form of epilepsy known as absent seizures, which means he can have up to 20 memory blanks in one day.
His father has organised fundraising events for the Action Duchenne charity, including swimming with sharks and a lantern release.
Dominic, from Holsworthy, in North Devon, said: ‘He’s done some crazy things like dress up as BA Baracus and wear a silly mankini. Both of those were really funny.
I like being at the events. I was sat on top of my friend’s car to see all the lanterns released last year, it was great.
I was amazed so many people turned up, it was really nice they supported the charity.’
The family are also backing a charity song on iTunes called Nobody Knows Their Time by Mark Emmins.
The song is released on digital download on March 4 and is available on iTunes for 99p, with 40p from each sale going to Duchenne Now.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... z1nx3tYkEC
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2003
- Messages
- 58,266
- Location
- Eblana
Immigrant kids have been shot dead for less.
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Nature deficit disorder 'damaging Britain's children'
By Richard Black, Environment correspondent, BBC News
UK children are losing contact with nature at a "dramatic" rate, and their health and education are suffering, a National Trust report says.
Traffic, the lure of video screens and parental anxieties are conspiring to keep children indoors, it says.
Evidence suggests the problem is worse in the UK than other parts of Europe, and may help explain poor UK rankings in childhood satisfaction surveys.
The trust is launching a consultation on tackling "nature deficit disorder".
"This is about changing the way children grow up and see the world," said Stephen Moss, the author, naturalist and former BBC Springwatch producer who wrote the Natural Childhood report for the National Trust.
"The natural world doesn't come with an instruction leaflet, so it teaches you to use your creative imagination.
"When you build a den with your mates when you're nine years old, you learn teamwork - you disagree with each other, you have arguments, you resolve them, you work together again - it's like a team-building course, only you did it when you were nine."
The trust argues, as have other bodies in previous years, that the growing dissociation of children from the natural world and internment in the "cotton wool culture" of indoor parental guidance impairs their capacity to learn through experience.
It cites evidence showing that:
- children learn more and behave better when lessons are conducted outdoors
- symptoms of children diagnosed with ADHD improve when they are exposed to nature
- children say their happiness depends more on having things to do outdoors more than owning technology.
Yet British parents feel more pressure to provide gadgets for their children than in other European countries.
The phrase nature deficit disorder was coined in 2005 by author Richard Louv, who argued that the human cost of "alienation from nature" was measured in "diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses".
In the UK as in many other countries, rates of obesity, self-harm and mental health disorders diagnosed in children have climbed significantly since the 1970s.
But nature deficit disorder is not generally regarded as a medical condition.
"There's undoubtedly a phenomenon that's not good for health, which is about not giving access to outdoors or green space, safe risk-taking and so on," said David Pencheon, a medical doctor who now heads the National Health Service's sustainable development unit.
"But I wouldn't say we've identified a medical condition.
"In fact we don't want to 'medicalise' it, we should see it as part of everyday life - if you medicalise it, people say 'you'd better go to your doctor and take a pill'."
But despite growing recognition of nature deficit disorder, policies aiming to tackle it appear thin on the ground.
Mr Moss cites statistics showing that the area where children are allowed to range unsupervised around their homes has shrunk by 90% since the 1970s.
Whereas some reasons behind the parental "cotton wool culture" are not based in logic - most sexual molestation occurs in the home, for example, not in parks - the one "genuine massive danger" is traffic.
"I think the first step for any child is playing outdoors in the street; and in the 40 years since I grew up, traffic has increased hugely, and that's the main reason why none of us let our kids out on their own," Mr Moss told BBC News.
"The only solution would be to have pedestrian priority on every residential street in Britain; when you are driving along the street, if there are children playing, they have priority."
The report advocates having teachers take children for lessons outdoors when possible, with urban schools using parks.
It also says that authorities who cite "health and safety" as a reason for stopping children playing conkers or climbing trees should be aware that successive Health and Safety Executive heads have advocated a measure of risk-taking in children's lives.
The changes in childhood in previous decades are now filtering through into adulthood, where levels of obesity are also rising.
Dr Pencheon observed that although doctors are beginning to prescribe exercise instead of drugs where it is indicated, much more could be done from a policy perspective.
"One of the problems here is that the NHS is not incentivised financially to do public health," he said.
"The healthcare system is run on a rescue basis - people come to us when they're ill, we patch them up and try to get them going again - that's not the culture of a system designed to keep people healthy."
The National Trust is now beginning a two-month consultation aimed at gathering views and examples of good and bad practice from the public and specialists.
These will eventually be turned into a set of policy recommendations.
"As a nation, we need to do everything we can to make it easy and safe for our children to get outdoors," said National Trust director-general Fiona Reynolds.
"We want to move the debate on and encourage people and organisations to think about how we take practical steps to reconnect children with the natural world and inspire them to get outdoors."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17495032
Another problem is that as more and more housing estates are built, there is less 'nature' within easy range for kids to interact with. (See my posts on the Overpopulation thread.)
By Richard Black, Environment correspondent, BBC News
UK children are losing contact with nature at a "dramatic" rate, and their health and education are suffering, a National Trust report says.
Traffic, the lure of video screens and parental anxieties are conspiring to keep children indoors, it says.
Evidence suggests the problem is worse in the UK than other parts of Europe, and may help explain poor UK rankings in childhood satisfaction surveys.
The trust is launching a consultation on tackling "nature deficit disorder".
"This is about changing the way children grow up and see the world," said Stephen Moss, the author, naturalist and former BBC Springwatch producer who wrote the Natural Childhood report for the National Trust.
"The natural world doesn't come with an instruction leaflet, so it teaches you to use your creative imagination.
"When you build a den with your mates when you're nine years old, you learn teamwork - you disagree with each other, you have arguments, you resolve them, you work together again - it's like a team-building course, only you did it when you were nine."
The trust argues, as have other bodies in previous years, that the growing dissociation of children from the natural world and internment in the "cotton wool culture" of indoor parental guidance impairs their capacity to learn through experience.
It cites evidence showing that:
- children learn more and behave better when lessons are conducted outdoors
- symptoms of children diagnosed with ADHD improve when they are exposed to nature
- children say their happiness depends more on having things to do outdoors more than owning technology.
Yet British parents feel more pressure to provide gadgets for their children than in other European countries.
The phrase nature deficit disorder was coined in 2005 by author Richard Louv, who argued that the human cost of "alienation from nature" was measured in "diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses".
In the UK as in many other countries, rates of obesity, self-harm and mental health disorders diagnosed in children have climbed significantly since the 1970s.
But nature deficit disorder is not generally regarded as a medical condition.
"There's undoubtedly a phenomenon that's not good for health, which is about not giving access to outdoors or green space, safe risk-taking and so on," said David Pencheon, a medical doctor who now heads the National Health Service's sustainable development unit.
"But I wouldn't say we've identified a medical condition.
"In fact we don't want to 'medicalise' it, we should see it as part of everyday life - if you medicalise it, people say 'you'd better go to your doctor and take a pill'."
But despite growing recognition of nature deficit disorder, policies aiming to tackle it appear thin on the ground.
Mr Moss cites statistics showing that the area where children are allowed to range unsupervised around their homes has shrunk by 90% since the 1970s.
Whereas some reasons behind the parental "cotton wool culture" are not based in logic - most sexual molestation occurs in the home, for example, not in parks - the one "genuine massive danger" is traffic.
"I think the first step for any child is playing outdoors in the street; and in the 40 years since I grew up, traffic has increased hugely, and that's the main reason why none of us let our kids out on their own," Mr Moss told BBC News.
"The only solution would be to have pedestrian priority on every residential street in Britain; when you are driving along the street, if there are children playing, they have priority."
The report advocates having teachers take children for lessons outdoors when possible, with urban schools using parks.
It also says that authorities who cite "health and safety" as a reason for stopping children playing conkers or climbing trees should be aware that successive Health and Safety Executive heads have advocated a measure of risk-taking in children's lives.
The changes in childhood in previous decades are now filtering through into adulthood, where levels of obesity are also rising.
Dr Pencheon observed that although doctors are beginning to prescribe exercise instead of drugs where it is indicated, much more could be done from a policy perspective.
"One of the problems here is that the NHS is not incentivised financially to do public health," he said.
"The healthcare system is run on a rescue basis - people come to us when they're ill, we patch them up and try to get them going again - that's not the culture of a system designed to keep people healthy."
The National Trust is now beginning a two-month consultation aimed at gathering views and examples of good and bad practice from the public and specialists.
These will eventually be turned into a set of policy recommendations.
"As a nation, we need to do everything we can to make it easy and safe for our children to get outdoors," said National Trust director-general Fiona Reynolds.
"We want to move the debate on and encourage people and organisations to think about how we take practical steps to reconnect children with the natural world and inspire them to get outdoors."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17495032
Another problem is that as more and more housing estates are built, there is less 'nature' within easy range for kids to interact with. (See my posts on the Overpopulation thread.)
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2003
- Messages
- 58,266
- Location
- Eblana
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2003
- Messages
- 58,266
- Location
- Eblana
A cool kid.
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
For kids too timid to visit the poles, this:
National Trust Super Rangers to teach children 50 things to do outdoors
‘Super Rangers' at National Trust properties around the country will teach children how to climb a tree, make a den and skim stones in an effort to get ‘cotton wool kids’ outdoors.
By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
12:01AM BST 13 Apr 2012
The latest study by Play England showed a third of parents will not let children do ‘risky activities’ like climbing trees.
As a consequence children are growing up with little experience of the outdoors and are afraid to go for a walk in the woods or search for bugs.
In an effort to give both parents and children more confidence the Trust have created a list of ’50 things to do before you are 11 ¾’.
The checklist for under-12s includes setting up a snail race, damming a stream and making a mud pie.
Five ‘super rangers’ at National Trust properties have been chosen as experts in certain activities. Tree man is a 6ft 3" tree climbing expert who has scaled 50 metre-high trees, Captain Skim can skim a stone over 26 times, Den-Boy is an outdoor hideaway-building champion, Midas will lead treasure hunts and the Bug Catcher can identify 300 species of moth.
The “fantastic five” are just some of the volunteers on National Trust properties offering to teach children the skills they have forgotten.
The new initiative comes after a report commissioned by the Trust found children today spend fewer than ten per cent of their playtime in wild places. Instead the younger generation spend an average of two-and-a-half hours a day watching the television.
Dame Fiona Reynolds, the Director General of the Trust, said children need to reconnect with nature by playing the games generations before them have enjoyed.
“Children today are unfamiliar with the countryside. They need to be given the confidence and the skills to go into the wood and build a den or climb a tree.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthn ... doors.html
The 50 Things to Do Before you're 11 ¾ - the list:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthn ... to-do.html
National Trust Super Rangers to teach children 50 things to do outdoors
‘Super Rangers' at National Trust properties around the country will teach children how to climb a tree, make a den and skim stones in an effort to get ‘cotton wool kids’ outdoors.
By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
12:01AM BST 13 Apr 2012
The latest study by Play England showed a third of parents will not let children do ‘risky activities’ like climbing trees.
As a consequence children are growing up with little experience of the outdoors and are afraid to go for a walk in the woods or search for bugs.
In an effort to give both parents and children more confidence the Trust have created a list of ’50 things to do before you are 11 ¾’.
The checklist for under-12s includes setting up a snail race, damming a stream and making a mud pie.
Five ‘super rangers’ at National Trust properties have been chosen as experts in certain activities. Tree man is a 6ft 3" tree climbing expert who has scaled 50 metre-high trees, Captain Skim can skim a stone over 26 times, Den-Boy is an outdoor hideaway-building champion, Midas will lead treasure hunts and the Bug Catcher can identify 300 species of moth.
The “fantastic five” are just some of the volunteers on National Trust properties offering to teach children the skills they have forgotten.
The new initiative comes after a report commissioned by the Trust found children today spend fewer than ten per cent of their playtime in wild places. Instead the younger generation spend an average of two-and-a-half hours a day watching the television.
Dame Fiona Reynolds, the Director General of the Trust, said children need to reconnect with nature by playing the games generations before them have enjoyed.
“Children today are unfamiliar with the countryside. They need to be given the confidence and the skills to go into the wood and build a den or climb a tree.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthn ... doors.html
The 50 Things to Do Before you're 11 ¾ - the list:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthn ... to-do.html
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Middle-class children 'hear 23MILLION more words than poorer children before they start school'
By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 13:00, 6 May 2012 | UPDATED: 13:00, 6 May 2012
Middle-class children hear 33 million words by the time they start school - 23 million more than poorer children of the same age, a Government adviser has revealed.
A collapse in parenting skills in poor homes with unstable families blights a child's prospects by the time they are three-years-old, according to the Government's adviser on poverty Frank Field.
In a report on child deprivation, he said that wealthier children from stable homes will have heard 440,000 more positive comments from their parents than children from dysfunctional families by the age of three.
He told The Sunday Times newspaper that the level of communication between a parent and child has a more drastic impact on a child's future than class, race or income.
And he warned that the findings are only set to continue for future generations if action is not taken as young people brought up in dysfunctional families have no experience of being a good parent when it comes to raising their own children.
Mr Field aims to 'break into this cycle of deprivation so the whole thing is not automatically handed on the next generation'.
He is calling for a 'parenting curriculum' at schools where pupils will learn about child care as well as a formal 'rites of passage' ceremonies attended by local mayors for children not christened.
His proposals come just days after he accused David Cameron of wasting the first half of his term in government by ignoring the study into how to smash the cycle of deprivation.
Mr Field’s paper ‘The Foundation Years: preventing poor children becoming poor adults’ revealed that many children begin school without knowing their first name because their parents barely speak to them.
One of his most damning findings was that youngsters who were behind when they started school never caught up to their peers.
He blamed the situation on the low aspirations of parents trapped in poverty where no one in the family has worked for generations.
These parents do not bother to play with, talk to or read to their children.
The Labour MP called for a dedicated Cabinet Minister to take charge of all policy for the under-fives.
Mr Field’s ground-breaking study, commissioned by Mr Cameron, warned that children’s life chances were almost entirely determined before they even got to school.
His report called for health visitors to measure children’s behaviour and communication skills from the age of two to catch youngsters who were falling behind in their development.
The MP for Birkenhead told the Daily Mail: ‘This is a missed opportunity. I am puzzled as to why the Prime Minister would be so anxious for me to do all this work when he has yet to show that he has read it.’
‘Time is running out, we are coming up to halfway in this parliament.
‘If the Prime Minister had hit the ground running from day one two years ago, they [the coalition] could have said, ‘we may have made a mess of things in these other areas but at least we are trying really hard on this’. ‘
Downing Street dismissed the criticism, saying the Prime Minister took tackling poverty very seriously.
But the government is expected to miss its child poverty target, of ensuring that no more than 1.7 million children live in poverty.
This is despite successive governments spending £150 billion on tackling poverty since 1997.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... chool.html
By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 13:00, 6 May 2012 | UPDATED: 13:00, 6 May 2012
Middle-class children hear 33 million words by the time they start school - 23 million more than poorer children of the same age, a Government adviser has revealed.
A collapse in parenting skills in poor homes with unstable families blights a child's prospects by the time they are three-years-old, according to the Government's adviser on poverty Frank Field.
In a report on child deprivation, he said that wealthier children from stable homes will have heard 440,000 more positive comments from their parents than children from dysfunctional families by the age of three.
He told The Sunday Times newspaper that the level of communication between a parent and child has a more drastic impact on a child's future than class, race or income.
And he warned that the findings are only set to continue for future generations if action is not taken as young people brought up in dysfunctional families have no experience of being a good parent when it comes to raising their own children.
Mr Field aims to 'break into this cycle of deprivation so the whole thing is not automatically handed on the next generation'.
He is calling for a 'parenting curriculum' at schools where pupils will learn about child care as well as a formal 'rites of passage' ceremonies attended by local mayors for children not christened.
His proposals come just days after he accused David Cameron of wasting the first half of his term in government by ignoring the study into how to smash the cycle of deprivation.
Mr Field’s paper ‘The Foundation Years: preventing poor children becoming poor adults’ revealed that many children begin school without knowing their first name because their parents barely speak to them.
One of his most damning findings was that youngsters who were behind when they started school never caught up to their peers.
He blamed the situation on the low aspirations of parents trapped in poverty where no one in the family has worked for generations.
These parents do not bother to play with, talk to or read to their children.
The Labour MP called for a dedicated Cabinet Minister to take charge of all policy for the under-fives.
Mr Field’s ground-breaking study, commissioned by Mr Cameron, warned that children’s life chances were almost entirely determined before they even got to school.
His report called for health visitors to measure children’s behaviour and communication skills from the age of two to catch youngsters who were falling behind in their development.
The MP for Birkenhead told the Daily Mail: ‘This is a missed opportunity. I am puzzled as to why the Prime Minister would be so anxious for me to do all this work when he has yet to show that he has read it.’
‘Time is running out, we are coming up to halfway in this parliament.
‘If the Prime Minister had hit the ground running from day one two years ago, they [the coalition] could have said, ‘we may have made a mess of things in these other areas but at least we are trying really hard on this’. ‘
Downing Street dismissed the criticism, saying the Prime Minister took tackling poverty very seriously.
But the government is expected to miss its child poverty target, of ensuring that no more than 1.7 million children live in poverty.
This is despite successive governments spending £150 billion on tackling poverty since 1997.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... chool.html
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Some people might think this belongs in Police State... 
Police haul missing pupils from their beds in drive to cut truancy
School truants are being visited by police, hauled out of bed and escorted to their classes in a pioneering scheme.
6:10AM BST 25 Jun 2012
Officers are targeting truants by calling at the homes of any pupils who fail to turn up to school without a reasonable explanation.
If they are still in bed, police get the parents to wake them up before driving them to lessons in a patrol car.
The scheme, in Wiltshire, is the first of its kind, developed in a partnership between police and the county council.
The operation began last week in Amesbury and the town’s police chief, Inspector Christian Lange, said it was already producing results.
“So far, one early morning visit from the police has been enough,” he said. “It’s not good for the parents when their neighbours see us knocking on their doors and taking their kids off to school.” 8)
Each morning, police officers are provided with a list of children who have failed to turn up at school without a reasonable explanation.
“Of course, if they are off sick or there is a good reason then we don’t intervene,” said Insp Lange.
“If they are still in bed we get their parents to wake them up, we put them in the car and deliver them straight to school.”
Officers are accompanied by an education welfare officer and are working closely in partnership with Wiltshire council and local schools.
It is hoped that the operation will help reduce anti-social behaviour in the town and ensure that children are getting their education.
Insp Lange said: “The correct place for a child of that age to be is in school.
“If they are not in school they are more likely to get into trouble. It’s not good for anyone to be hanging around, doing nothing all day.
“Truancy is a recurring problem for a small number of children. They are missing out on their education, and if us waking them up and taking them to school is what is needed, then that is what we will do.
“So far we have been very pleased with the results. It is early days but we are taking truancy very seriously.
“It is a real example of a partnership working and getting things done.”
Parents have a legal responsibility to ensure their children attend school until they are 16.
Fixed penalty notices and fines can be issued if parents fail to make sure their children go to school, along with parenting contracts and parenting orders designed to enforce attendance.
etc...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/93 ... uancy.html
Police haul missing pupils from their beds in drive to cut truancy
School truants are being visited by police, hauled out of bed and escorted to their classes in a pioneering scheme.
6:10AM BST 25 Jun 2012
Officers are targeting truants by calling at the homes of any pupils who fail to turn up to school without a reasonable explanation.
If they are still in bed, police get the parents to wake them up before driving them to lessons in a patrol car.
The scheme, in Wiltshire, is the first of its kind, developed in a partnership between police and the county council.
The operation began last week in Amesbury and the town’s police chief, Inspector Christian Lange, said it was already producing results.
“So far, one early morning visit from the police has been enough,” he said. “It’s not good for the parents when their neighbours see us knocking on their doors and taking their kids off to school.” 8)
Each morning, police officers are provided with a list of children who have failed to turn up at school without a reasonable explanation.
“Of course, if they are off sick or there is a good reason then we don’t intervene,” said Insp Lange.
“If they are still in bed we get their parents to wake them up, we put them in the car and deliver them straight to school.”
Officers are accompanied by an education welfare officer and are working closely in partnership with Wiltshire council and local schools.
It is hoped that the operation will help reduce anti-social behaviour in the town and ensure that children are getting their education.
Insp Lange said: “The correct place for a child of that age to be is in school.
“If they are not in school they are more likely to get into trouble. It’s not good for anyone to be hanging around, doing nothing all day.
“Truancy is a recurring problem for a small number of children. They are missing out on their education, and if us waking them up and taking them to school is what is needed, then that is what we will do.
“So far we have been very pleased with the results. It is early days but we are taking truancy very seriously.
“It is a real example of a partnership working and getting things done.”
Parents have a legal responsibility to ensure their children attend school until they are 16.
Fixed penalty notices and fines can be issued if parents fail to make sure their children go to school, along with parenting contracts and parenting orders designed to enforce attendance.
etc...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/93 ... uancy.html
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2012
- Messages
- 478
rynner2 said:
Quoting Insp Lange.
No, it's not - it's an example of a waste of police time.
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2012
- Messages
- 478
I don't know - it doesn't seem like the police are that good at doing any police work these days. On reflection, as a taxi service for delinquents, I think Britain's 21st century coppers may have found their level. Hell, if they were any use as a force, there wouldn't be any trouble or anti-social behaviour in the first place. But, I get the feeling that's preaching to the choir
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2003
- Messages
- 58,266
- Location
- Eblana
I've had a look at the Police site. The Chief Constable is a former teacher. Hmm...
http://www.wiltshire.police.uk/
http://www.wiltshire.police.uk/
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
I misremembered the briefly glimpsed headline: this is the story, though, but from another local paper:
School no-show mum faces losing children
Thursday, June 28, 2012 West Briton
A FALMOUTH mother who let her three children "pick and choose" when they went to school could face losing them.
A warrant has been issued for Claudia Ward's arrest to return to Truro Magistrates' Court to be sentenced for the offences after she failed to attend.
Despite her absence, in breach of her bail conditions, magistrates agreed the case against the 40-year-old had been proved.
The court heard Mrs Ward, of Meadowbank Road, mother of the six, twelve and fourteen-year-old, was prosecuted in 2008 and 2011 and placed on curfew by one of the courts.
Cornwall Council education welfare officer Christopher Whitehead said "perhaps there is a case for social care", due to her attitude, record of attendance issues going back to 2002 and because she had made it clear she would not abide by any legal or school rules for her children.
His predecessor had transferred the case to him after allegedly receiving threats from the defendant. :shock:
At an earlier hearing Ward entered not guilty pleas to three offences for failing to ensure her children attended school regularly.
Two head teachers and a second education welfare officer said the children had amassed 57 days of non-attendance between September 5 and December 10 last year.
Their absences were still taking place.
Kevin Hill, prosecuting for the council, said Ward had said she did not know her children were not at school. He added: "But the prosecution say she must have known, or wilfully turned a blind eye."
All three children's education was suffering through their absences, witnesses said, and one had missed a GCSE exam.
Ward had been told on each occasion when they were absent, but failed to engage with the authorities. She left one meeting early after shouting and swearing, saying she could educate her children how she chose and if they did not want to go, they did not need to.
Liz Mozeley, education welfare officer, said: "She felt they could pick and choose when they go."
Chairman of the bench Tony Woodhams said the evidence had been "very strong".
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/School- ... story.html
School no-show mum faces losing children
Thursday, June 28, 2012 West Briton
A FALMOUTH mother who let her three children "pick and choose" when they went to school could face losing them.
A warrant has been issued for Claudia Ward's arrest to return to Truro Magistrates' Court to be sentenced for the offences after she failed to attend.
Despite her absence, in breach of her bail conditions, magistrates agreed the case against the 40-year-old had been proved.
The court heard Mrs Ward, of Meadowbank Road, mother of the six, twelve and fourteen-year-old, was prosecuted in 2008 and 2011 and placed on curfew by one of the courts.
Cornwall Council education welfare officer Christopher Whitehead said "perhaps there is a case for social care", due to her attitude, record of attendance issues going back to 2002 and because she had made it clear she would not abide by any legal or school rules for her children.
His predecessor had transferred the case to him after allegedly receiving threats from the defendant. :shock:
At an earlier hearing Ward entered not guilty pleas to three offences for failing to ensure her children attended school regularly.
Two head teachers and a second education welfare officer said the children had amassed 57 days of non-attendance between September 5 and December 10 last year.
Their absences were still taking place.
Kevin Hill, prosecuting for the council, said Ward had said she did not know her children were not at school. He added: "But the prosecution say she must have known, or wilfully turned a blind eye."
All three children's education was suffering through their absences, witnesses said, and one had missed a GCSE exam.
Ward had been told on each occasion when they were absent, but failed to engage with the authorities. She left one meeting early after shouting and swearing, saying she could educate her children how she chose and if they did not want to go, they did not need to.
Liz Mozeley, education welfare officer, said: "She felt they could pick and choose when they go."
Chairman of the bench Tony Woodhams said the evidence had been "very strong".
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/School- ... story.html
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
One to raise a smile:
YouTube hit for Loughborough door frame toddler
[Video - Over 210,000 viewers have watched Sofya Dickson climb a door frame]
A three-year-old girl from Leicestershire has become an internet sensation after video of her climbing up a door frame was a YouTube hit.
Sofya Dickson's father filmed her scaling a door frame, and now over 210,000 viewers across the world have watched the video.
The Loughborough girl says it is hard but she enjoys it and it is not scary.
Her father Peter said the global interest, including US TV firms, had been "bizarre" and "very strange".
Mr Dickson said he put the video on the internet after Sofya stunned both him and his wife with her skills.
"Almost quarter of a million people have watched the video of my daughter climbing the wall," he said.
"It's a little bit bizarre and I'm getting phone calls from America and it's all very strange to be honest.
"I had a lot of comments saying you should take her to the local rock climbing centre, so I might give them a call and see if they would let a three-year-old through the door."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-le ... e-18963516
YouTube hit for Loughborough door frame toddler
[Video - Over 210,000 viewers have watched Sofya Dickson climb a door frame]
A three-year-old girl from Leicestershire has become an internet sensation after video of her climbing up a door frame was a YouTube hit.
Sofya Dickson's father filmed her scaling a door frame, and now over 210,000 viewers across the world have watched the video.
The Loughborough girl says it is hard but she enjoys it and it is not scary.
Her father Peter said the global interest, including US TV firms, had been "bizarre" and "very strange".
Mr Dickson said he put the video on the internet after Sofya stunned both him and his wife with her skills.
"Almost quarter of a million people have watched the video of my daughter climbing the wall," he said.
"It's a little bit bizarre and I'm getting phone calls from America and it's all very strange to be honest.
"I had a lot of comments saying you should take her to the local rock climbing centre, so I might give them a call and see if they would let a three-year-old through the door."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-le ... e-18963516