Tag: commentary

botanyshitposts:

smilesandvials:

caffeinatedcraziness:

For all American grad students who get tuition waivers.

This is extremely important for you to be aware of. Please spread the word.

Source: Twitter

Right now, I don’t think I know anybody who wouldn’t quit if this passed. Schools would lose their TAs and RAs en mass.

I don’t get waived tuition here and tuition for grad students isn’t much where I am (compared to undergrad) but what the shit is this? Who is this helping? Like, long-term, considering impacts on the country as a whole, who is this helping?

Source: t.umblr.com

“I enjoy sex” “I’m asexual” Lmao okay anon whatever

lord-brixie:

tomblr-in-action:

You can enjoy sex for reasons besides sexual pleasure though. It feels good to make your partner happy, or it can be good exercise, or it can just feel like a good bonding experience.

Asexual doesn’t mean sex repulsed. You can be asexual and still enjoy sexual pleasure, it just means you’re not doing it bc you think the other person is sexually attractive.

My question, then, is if someone is in that situation where they enjoy having sex with their partner but say they don’t experience sexual attraction to them, then A) what exactly IS sexual attraction and B) in this situation, why does it matter that they’re asexual? Basically what I always read this as is that they’re willing to have sex and get enjoyment from it but just don’t look at people and ever get a “wow, that’s hot” reaction. Like, in what way does that /really/ impact their relationships/social life?

I am, up to this point in my life, actually asexual and aromantic, so I’m not trying to be condescending with this so much as I’m genuinely looking for clarification. I’m asking as someone whose understanding of attraction is entirely based on other people’s descriptions.

We need to talk about how Conservatives and High Stakes Standardized Tests are deliberately undermining public education for profit.

aftselakhis-shaladin:

fandomsandfeminism:

kereeachan:

fandomsandfeminism:

As many of you all know, I’m a public school teacher in Texas. This post will be heavily Texas centric, since this is my experience. But this past school years STAAR Standardized Test results have been released, and, well, the entire state did worse than ever. 

This is troubling. 

First, we need to acknowledge something really sinister about standardized tests: they don’t actually measure the quality of a school. The biggest predictor of standardized test results (not just for STAAR, but the SAT and ACT as well) is the wealth of the child’s family. There’s a lot of reasons for this- wealthy kids are given access to more enrichment opportunities at home, wealthy kids are given better nutrition and healthcare, and wealthy kids go to better funded schools. 

In Texas, our schools are paid for, primarily, with property taxes. Which means rich kids in rich neighborhoods go to rich schools. Poor kids in poor neighborhoods go to poor schools. Does that sound unconstitutional? It might be! 

But here is where it really screws people- All schools do get some funding directly from the state. And now, how a school performs on the STAAR affects how much money the state gives them. Yes, schools that do well get MORE money than schools who struggle. So rich kids at rich schools get MORE funding to do even BETTER, while poor kids and poor schools have funding taken away. It’s a system that directly worsens the achievement gap here. 

Now, the reasons why we have standardized testing at all is a long and complicated story, but a big part of it is this: It’s profitable. In 2013, Texas gave the testing company Pearson a $500 million dollar contract to write and score the tests.  There’s money to be made in supplemental materials and teacher training and remedial curriculum. 

But why tie it so directly to school funding? 

Because the conservatives want public schools to fail.

They want public schools to look bad, to be underfunded, understaffed, and threatened with closure. Because if they do, they can push, harder and harder, for school vouchers, because they can make money on private schools. 

Break the public school system, push for vouchers, turn education into a privatized, profitable business. 

This is not a conspiracy theory. This is happening. 

As someone who took Florida’s FCAT every year it was a thing, a huge reason for this is because the tests often have wholly separate textbooks from the curriculum. Third thru fifth grade we had separate reading and math textbooks just for the FCAT. I went to an elementary school that could afford to do that, an elementary school that tends to score best in our county (though was once penalized for “not improving” their ranking one year when they already had the top rank and I shit you not lost funding anyway). A lot of places can’t afford that. Nor should they have to.

Another reason is this: standardized tests change their standards every year or two. This makes it utterly impossible for teachers to teach kids how to best take them without purchasing materials from the test-makers because by the time the teachers know what strategies produce the best result and what the kids need to know, it’s been changed again. My father was so outraged on behalf of my mother and her fellow teachers dealing with that shit that he hunted down a study where a state–I want to say Michigan but I’m not 100% sure–decided to see what would happen if standards stayed the same for five years solid. Test scores improved, grades went up, and graduation rates increased. Because teachers knew what they were doing and were able to teach kids better because of it. Also money was saved since they didn’t need to buy new shit from testing companies every dang year.

It is a system set up for failure.

THIS. They change our standards CONSTANTLY in Texas. They change the order things should be taught in, they change what GRADES certain things should be taught. It means that teachers are NEVER able to master the material and the school has to keep buying new resources. 

It’s a profit game. They are deliberately screwing over children’s education for money. 

And here I thought Polish education was shit…

Also from Texas, and my sister teaches middle school. Some of the questions she’s showed me from practice STAAR tests are infuriatingly meaningless. Like, “read this long-ass paragraph so we can ask you a question that doesn’t even require you to read it”. She’s in a poorer district and a lot of these kids have reading levels below their grade level. Like yeah, sometimes the answers she gets on tests are genuinely stupid, but when the QUESTION AND THE ANSWER CHOICES ARE STUPID, it’s not the kids OR the teachers that are at fault. And believe me, most teachers I’ve known think the whole thing is bullshit, too. A lot of times the decision makers know jack shit about teaching children and that’s how you end up with such absurd rules.

Apparently making a profit is more important to people than TEACHING OUR FUTURE GENERATIONS.

Professor guilty of sexual harassment over bikini wax test question

bizarrolord:

yourownpetard:

  • Reginald Robinson was accused of sexual harassment by two students at Howard University in Washington D.C. in 2015
  • They complained about a test question which described a hypothetical bikini wax
  • The customer claimed to have fallen asleep and been inappropriately touched
  • Robinson’s question asked if they had a legal case against the salon owner
  • The students said they felt they were forced to reveal if they had ever had waxes themselves
  • They also said they did not like the use of the word ‘genitals’
  • Robinson must now undergo sensitivity training and have all of his test questions screened by another member of staff

Universities are fucked Episode 5,280

I could imagine this reaction (by parents, TBH) if this were a high school, but damn, a law school? People looking into being lawyers should be able to handle this shit. (Because guess what, if you’re going to be a trial lawyer, you’re going to have to deal with worse cases than this.)

I read the whole thing and I’m still really confused about how this was somehow harassment to people reading it, and how exactly this made students feel “they were forced to reveal if they had ever had waxes themselves”. Like what the actual hell?

Professor guilty of sexual harassment over bikini wax test question

Executive Function Impairments in High IQ Adults With ADHD

bizarrolord:

piraticoctopus:

actuallyadhd:

metagorgon:

are you ready for the latest in research-based [ingroup] demographic stereotypy? this one’s a doozy.

In our clinical practice, adults with IQ scores in and above the superior range have sought evaluation and treatment for chronic difficulties with organizing their work, excessive procrastination, inconsistent effort, excessive forgetfulness, and lack of adequate focus for school and/or employment. They question whether they might have an attention deficit disorder, but often they have been told by educators and clinicians that their superior intelligence precludes their having ADHD.

Typically, these very bright individuals report that they are able to work very effectively on certain tasks in which they have strong personal interest or intense fear of immediate negative consequences if they do not complete the task at once. Yet they are chronically unable to make themselves do many tasks of daily life they recognize as important but do not see as personally interesting at that moment. When provided treatment appropriate for ADHD, these very bright individuals often report significant improvement in their ability to work effectively while their medication is active.

yes. so. how would you like a summary of my educational career?

Clinical interviews with patients in this study indicated that individuals with high IQ who have ADHD may be at increased risk of having recognition and treatment of their ADHD symptoms delayed until relatively late in their educational careers because teachers and parents tend to blame the student’s disappointing academic performance on boredom or laziness, especially as they notice the situational variability of their ADHD symptoms.

Like most others with ADHD, these individuals have a few specific domains in which they have always been able to focus very well, for example, sports, computer games, artistic or musical pursuits, reading self-elected materials. Parents and teachers tend to assume that these very bright persons could focus on any other tasks equally well, if only they chose to do so. These observers do not understand that although ADHD appears to be a problem of insufficient willpower, it is not (Brown, 2005).

Many also reported that they often demonstrated considerable prowess in performing specific tasks in which they had little positive personal interest but did experience considerable fear of immediate negative consequences if they did not complete that particular task by some external deadline. Often subjects described this as a character trait, “I’m just a severe procrastinator” or “I always work best under pressure.”

that’s not all.

In an unpublished study of 103 treatment-seeking adults with IQ 120 or more diagnosed with ADHD, Brown and Quinlan (1999) found that 42% had dropped out of postsecondary schooling at least once, although some did eventually return to complete a degree. Those data together with this present study suggest that individuals with high IQ and ADHD, despite their strong cognitive abilities, may be at significant risk of educational disruption or failure due to ADHD-related impairments of EF.

and now?

Biederman et al. (2006) […] found that adults with ADHD who self-reported elevated levels of EF impairments on the CBS tended to be significantly more impaired on measures of global functioning, had more comorbidities, and held lower current socioeconomic status than did those with or without ADHD who scored below the median on that scale. […]

¯_(ツ)_/¯

So, like, I don’t know how many of you-all this stuff describes, but it was awfully familiar to me and what my life has been like, so I wanted to share it since it’s an actual freaking pattern for us ADHDers who are also “gifted.”

-J

Is this saying that high IQ is basically a “disqualification” for the consideration of ADHD? Because that makes no sense.

No, they were trying to say it was underdiagnosed in the high IQ population due to that very misconception. They also detailed the very specific problems “gifted” people with ADHD have as compared to those of equal intelligence but neurotypical.

Ah, gotcha. That just seems weird to me that someone being smarter than usual would somehow make the other stuff no longer point to ADHD as a diagnosis. Their other symptoms are still the same regardless.

Also the part under “summary of my educational career” is way too relatable.

Executive Function Impairments in High IQ Adults With ADHD

Executive Function Impairments in High IQ Adults With ADHD

actuallyadhd:

metagorgon:

are you ready for the latest in research-based [ingroup] demographic stereotypy? this one’s a doozy.

In our clinical practice, adults with IQ scores in and above the superior range have sought evaluation and treatment for chronic difficulties with organizing their work, excessive procrastination, inconsistent effort, excessive forgetfulness, and lack of adequate focus for school and/or employment. They question whether they might have an attention deficit disorder, but often they have been told by educators and clinicians that their superior intelligence precludes their having ADHD.

Typically, these very bright individuals report that they are able to work very effectively on certain tasks in which they have strong personal interest or intense fear of immediate negative consequences if they do not complete the task at once. Yet they are chronically unable to make themselves do many tasks of daily life they recognize as important but do not see as personally interesting at that moment. When provided treatment appropriate for ADHD, these very bright individuals often report significant improvement in their ability to work effectively while their medication is active.

yes. so. how would you like a summary of my educational career?

Clinical interviews with patients in this study indicated that individuals with high IQ who have ADHD may be at increased risk of having recognition and treatment of their ADHD symptoms delayed until relatively late in their educational careers because teachers and parents tend to blame the student’s disappointing academic performance on boredom or laziness, especially as they notice the situational variability of their ADHD symptoms.

Like most others with ADHD, these individuals have a few specific domains in which they have always been able to focus very well, for example, sports, computer games, artistic or musical pursuits, reading self-elected materials. Parents and teachers tend to assume that these very bright persons could focus on any other tasks equally well, if only they chose to do so. These observers do not understand that although ADHD appears to be a problem of insufficient willpower, it is not (Brown, 2005).

Many also reported that they often demonstrated considerable prowess in performing specific tasks in which they had little positive personal interest but did experience considerable fear of immediate negative consequences if they did not complete that particular task by some external deadline. Often subjects described this as a character trait, “I’m just a severe procrastinator” or “I always work best under pressure.”

that’s not all.

In an unpublished study of 103 treatment-seeking adults with IQ 120 or more diagnosed with ADHD, Brown and Quinlan (1999) found that 42% had dropped out of postsecondary schooling at least once, although some did eventually return to complete a degree. Those data together with this present study suggest that individuals with high IQ and ADHD, despite their strong cognitive abilities, may be at significant risk of educational disruption or failure due to ADHD-related impairments of EF.

and now?

Biederman et al. (2006) […] found that adults with ADHD who self-reported elevated levels of EF impairments on the CBS tended to be significantly more impaired on measures of global functioning, had more comorbidities, and held lower current socioeconomic status than did those with or without ADHD who scored below the median on that scale. […]

¯_(ツ)_/¯

So, like, I don’t know how many of you-all this stuff describes, but it was awfully familiar to me and what my life has been like, so I wanted to share it since it’s an actual freaking pattern for us ADHDers who are also “gifted.”

-J

Is this saying that high IQ is basically a “disqualification” for the consideration of ADHD? Because that makes no sense.

Executive Function Impairments in High IQ Adults With ADHD

naksworth:

kinkyfemmequeer:

tigerator:

before you ever even consider having a child you should be ready to handle a disabled child, you should be ready to handle twins, you should be ready to handle a gay child or a trans child

because if you’re not ready for your child to be anything other than one straight, cis, able bodied and able minded child, you’re going to end up neglecting and abusing somebody for years to come

and even if your child is all that, you might have a feminine boy or a masculine girl on your hands. so be fucking ready for your child to be a human being and not YOUR PRODUCT or PROPERTY or CREATION

fucking sort your shit out, i am so tired of shitty parental sob stories about how “hard” it is to “raise” (read: beat the divergency out of) an autistic child or whatever. do you know what’s harder? being the divergent child of parents who you’ve already let down by virtue of existing in a way they didn’t ask for. putting up with years of neglect and abuse because you’re just not good enough for them, you weren’t what they were planning for or expecting.

Last paragraph is a fucking mic drop

Okay but hold up

It is absolutely 100% possible to completely love and support a disabled child or unexpected multiples AND acknowledge how much harder it is to raise a disabled child than an abled one or multiples than one.

The idea that any person has to be 100% prepared for literally anything involving a child is absurd. Being a parent is automatically HARD as shit, there’s about a billion different things that can happen that are totally unexpected, and adding other difficulties to that only makes an already hard job more difficult.

Parents are also people, and it’s okay to acknowledge being a parent is exhausting and that it is WORK. You can love something and acknowledge that it is work, and that it physically, mentally, and emotionally drains you. Added stress or difficulties, like multiples or a disability, makes that work harder, and the idea that someone can’t acknowledge that is ridiculous.

That being said, there is a HUGE difference between acknowledging something for the sake of a parent’s mental health and child abuse, and the former doesn’t justify the latter. Ever.

I think people need to go into it with a realistic mindset and not an idealistic fantasy, though. Because you’re not perfect so your child sure as hell won’t be either, and even if you’re clear of hereditary diseases/disabilities there’s still all kinds of things that can pop up during development. Parents need to acknowledge this before they have kids instead of going into things with a “well that won’t happen to ME” mindset.

I know a lot of people don’t want to adopt because a lot of foster children have “problems” and it’s a “crapshoot”, but guess what? So is making your own kid. The moment you sign up for parenthood, be prepared to do your best for that kid regardless of what they may be like.

And I’m not denying that parenting is hard and exhausting, but it really irks me when people complain about how it’s so hard being a mom, etc. (at least in situations where they’re dealing with nothing out of the ordinary). That experience is literally what you signed up for. It’s not all hugs and kisses.