Arm Yourself Against Stupidity! An Unschooling Moment
[email protected]
Just had a cool unschooling moment --
Driving DD14 to ballet class this afternoon, we had the radio on NPR
as usual, when we heard this young, girlish voice talking about guns --
shooting guns and owning guns and how guns weren't just for self-defense but lots of
fun. Turns out it was the author of a book called "Blown Away!" (DD shuddered
-- we must've missed any explanation there might have been about why this
wasn't as awful a title for a gun book as it sounded)
So now we're both paying attention to this unexpected topic of girls
and guns.
Understand that guns are no part of any real experience she's had, or
any curiosity she's ever expressed. So this was totally new to her, and quite
uncommon territory for me too.
We turn the interview up. The author says authoritatively that 75% of
all girls and women over the age of 12 will be a crime victim and a third of
those crimes will be violent. So of course we need to know how to protect
ourselves and guns are the ideal way to shift power from men to women so they won't
be victimized (she goes on at some length about this.)
My first thought was that DD needn't be unduly scared (not of guns but
men!) so I commented that as a very tall and strong woman, I had never felt
any particular need to arm myself against men. Even as a 12-year-old I was used
to be mistaken for an adult and to looking down on my share of bald spots! So
it never occurred to me to look for a way not to be victimized by men.
Then I thought I'd change the subject from defense against crime and
the need to take power away from men, maybe by focusing on the math to see if
maybe the statistics weren't as bad as they sounded (I was trying to guessimate
it quickly in my own mind, thinking the self-protection need seemed
unrealistically high for boring, middle-class, university town dwellers like us.)
DD hates math almost to the point of being phobic about it. And I
wasn't trying to teach it to her, I promise! But here was something she was
riveted by at the moment, even if not exactly in a "good" way.
So, I muse aloud that if all the women over twelve were a whole
dollar, then the author's 75% figure meant that 75 cents of that dollar became crime
victims. She nods and looks at me for more (I'm still driving, remember.)
Well, then if one-third of those victims experience "violent" crime
and one way of making 75 cents is with three quarters, then one-third of 75 is
one of those quarters, right? She looks surprised and smiles, and nods again.
So I say that's a lot less than three quarters of all women, isn't it?
Now we can see that three-quarters of all women WON'T ever be a victim of
violent crime, right? She is looking much more comfortable -- at least as I'm
hurtling down the interstate thinking there are all kinds of self-defense and
good driving is maybe a lot more important than good shooting to us <grin> --
when I have a further thought, spontaneous and maybe ill-advised if my purpose
was to make her feel safe, I don't know.
"Oh! And they say on average, violence tends to happen from people you
know, right?" I say. Because that's who you are with almost all the time, so
this makes sense. Strangers don't figure into girls' normal lives that much,
relative to relatives anyway.
I explain there must be all the kinds of violence against teens --
girls older than 12 but too young for responsible gun ownership at say, 18 --
violence that happens in bad home situations with people girls know but wouldn't
have a gun to protect themselves against, like date rape and stepfathers and
strange "uncles" or neighbors.
So I wonder if that 12-year-old statistic is a key to this picture, I
say. Maybe if they set the crime-counting starting point at 18- or 21-year-old
women, the statistics would be quite different? We conclude together that
teens could be at least half of those violence victims, and thus maybe only one
woman in ten who COULD actually use a gun responsibly for self-protection ever
would have cause to do so in her lifetime. And more importantly to us, that
nine out of ten won't.
She is thinking along with me now, and about math! And reason. About
something real that matters to her life. And she's *really* good at the
thinking and reasoning part, even with no previous knowledge of guns or violence, and
almost none of simple fractions, much less of statistical misrepresentations
for effect!
But that's not the good part in my mind. HERE's the good part.
Again without knowing what I'm gonna say until it comes out of my
mouth, I start to admire her thinking and reasoning ability, and how well we just
worked through the issue without being stampeded to a false and possibly
dangerous conclusion, and I say *that* is a form of power, too. A way that girls
and women can arm themselves at any age, not only protect to themselves
physically but against all manner of victimization, criminal or not, from any source
-- and it was more important than any other method because I could guarantee
there was a 100% chance there'd be cause to use it. Hadn't we just needed and
used it, in fact?
Laughing now, she called out her own new statistic: Arm yourselves
against stupidity! One-hundred percent of all girls and women will be the victims
of attempted stupidity today!
I don't know what percent of her day was improved by that little
moment, or what value she would place on it, but I can speak for mine. Priceless!
:) :) JJ
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Driving DD14 to ballet class this afternoon, we had the radio on NPR
as usual, when we heard this young, girlish voice talking about guns --
shooting guns and owning guns and how guns weren't just for self-defense but lots of
fun. Turns out it was the author of a book called "Blown Away!" (DD shuddered
-- we must've missed any explanation there might have been about why this
wasn't as awful a title for a gun book as it sounded)
So now we're both paying attention to this unexpected topic of girls
and guns.
Understand that guns are no part of any real experience she's had, or
any curiosity she's ever expressed. So this was totally new to her, and quite
uncommon territory for me too.
We turn the interview up. The author says authoritatively that 75% of
all girls and women over the age of 12 will be a crime victim and a third of
those crimes will be violent. So of course we need to know how to protect
ourselves and guns are the ideal way to shift power from men to women so they won't
be victimized (she goes on at some length about this.)
My first thought was that DD needn't be unduly scared (not of guns but
men!) so I commented that as a very tall and strong woman, I had never felt
any particular need to arm myself against men. Even as a 12-year-old I was used
to be mistaken for an adult and to looking down on my share of bald spots! So
it never occurred to me to look for a way not to be victimized by men.
Then I thought I'd change the subject from defense against crime and
the need to take power away from men, maybe by focusing on the math to see if
maybe the statistics weren't as bad as they sounded (I was trying to guessimate
it quickly in my own mind, thinking the self-protection need seemed
unrealistically high for boring, middle-class, university town dwellers like us.)
DD hates math almost to the point of being phobic about it. And I
wasn't trying to teach it to her, I promise! But here was something she was
riveted by at the moment, even if not exactly in a "good" way.
So, I muse aloud that if all the women over twelve were a whole
dollar, then the author's 75% figure meant that 75 cents of that dollar became crime
victims. She nods and looks at me for more (I'm still driving, remember.)
Well, then if one-third of those victims experience "violent" crime
and one way of making 75 cents is with three quarters, then one-third of 75 is
one of those quarters, right? She looks surprised and smiles, and nods again.
So I say that's a lot less than three quarters of all women, isn't it?
Now we can see that three-quarters of all women WON'T ever be a victim of
violent crime, right? She is looking much more comfortable -- at least as I'm
hurtling down the interstate thinking there are all kinds of self-defense and
good driving is maybe a lot more important than good shooting to us <grin> --
when I have a further thought, spontaneous and maybe ill-advised if my purpose
was to make her feel safe, I don't know.
"Oh! And they say on average, violence tends to happen from people you
know, right?" I say. Because that's who you are with almost all the time, so
this makes sense. Strangers don't figure into girls' normal lives that much,
relative to relatives anyway.
I explain there must be all the kinds of violence against teens --
girls older than 12 but too young for responsible gun ownership at say, 18 --
violence that happens in bad home situations with people girls know but wouldn't
have a gun to protect themselves against, like date rape and stepfathers and
strange "uncles" or neighbors.
So I wonder if that 12-year-old statistic is a key to this picture, I
say. Maybe if they set the crime-counting starting point at 18- or 21-year-old
women, the statistics would be quite different? We conclude together that
teens could be at least half of those violence victims, and thus maybe only one
woman in ten who COULD actually use a gun responsibly for self-protection ever
would have cause to do so in her lifetime. And more importantly to us, that
nine out of ten won't.
She is thinking along with me now, and about math! And reason. About
something real that matters to her life. And she's *really* good at the
thinking and reasoning part, even with no previous knowledge of guns or violence, and
almost none of simple fractions, much less of statistical misrepresentations
for effect!
But that's not the good part in my mind. HERE's the good part.
Again without knowing what I'm gonna say until it comes out of my
mouth, I start to admire her thinking and reasoning ability, and how well we just
worked through the issue without being stampeded to a false and possibly
dangerous conclusion, and I say *that* is a form of power, too. A way that girls
and women can arm themselves at any age, not only protect to themselves
physically but against all manner of victimization, criminal or not, from any source
-- and it was more important than any other method because I could guarantee
there was a 100% chance there'd be cause to use it. Hadn't we just needed and
used it, in fact?
Laughing now, she called out her own new statistic: Arm yourselves
against stupidity! One-hundred percent of all girls and women will be the victims
of attempted stupidity today!
I don't know what percent of her day was improved by that little
moment, or what value she would place on it, but I can speak for mine. Priceless!
:) :) JJ
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
pam sorooshian
On Apr 22, 2004, at 2:47 PM, jrossedd@... wrote:
-pam
National Home Education Network
<www.NHEN.org>
Serving the entire homeschooling community since 1999
through information, networking and public relations.
> Laughing now, she called out her own new statistic: ArmThat was a great story. Thank you. I'm saving that for my math talks!!
> yourselves
> against stupidity! One-hundred percent of all girls and women will be
> the victims
> of attempted stupidity today!
>
> I don't know what percent of her day was improved by that little
> moment, or what value she would place on it, but I can speak for mine.
> Priceless!
-pam
National Home Education Network
<www.NHEN.org>
Serving the entire homeschooling community since 1999
through information, networking and public relations.
Krisula Moyer
J.J.
I hope you foreword a copy of this post to whatever NPR show was airing at
the time.
-Krisula
I hope you foreword a copy of this post to whatever NPR show was airing at
the time.
-Krisula
Lisa H
JJ wrote: <<Laughing now, she called out her own new statistic: Arm yourselves against stupidity! One-hundred percent of all girls and women will be the victims of attempted stupidity today!>>
JJ - thanks for sharing this wonderful moment. the message will serve her more than (well at least certainly as much as) math ever will in her entire lifetime.
I am in awe of *your* own reasoning and recognizing the beauty of the moment that reaches so far beyond math. I needed to wake up to this story today.
Lisa H.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
JJ - thanks for sharing this wonderful moment. the message will serve her more than (well at least certainly as much as) math ever will in her entire lifetime.
I am in awe of *your* own reasoning and recognizing the beauty of the moment that reaches so far beyond math. I needed to wake up to this story today.
Lisa H.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Lisa H
<<DD hates math almost to the point of being phobic about it.>>
JJ, I am curious - what makes an unschooler hate math? Lisa H.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
JJ, I am curious - what makes an unschooler hate math? Lisa H.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
diana jenner
>>>Laughing now, she called out her own new statistic: Arm yourselvesagainst stupidity! One-hundred percent of all girls and women will be the
victims of attempted stupidity today!<<<<<<
Hee hee hee, she'll be quoted in South Dakota today! <bg>
~diana, Queen of Everything
Mother to the Princess of Quite-a-lot and the Prince of Whatever's Left.
Living proof that today's mighty oak is yesterday's nut who stood her
ground. ~anonymous
_________________________________________________________________
FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar � get it now!
http://toolbar.msn.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/