Family-Friendly Entertainment?

Here is another excerpt from a paper I wrote for my English class:

Entertainment media are becoming less and less "family-friendly" and, as parents, we have to be more careful about what our children watch than our parents had to be with us or their parents with them. Even the so-called children's channels and programs can sometimes cross the line to subjects and words that children simply should not be hearing. It is for this fact that my wife and I have decided that our child will not have a television or computer in their bedroom so that we can keep a close eye on what they are watching and doing.

One mistake some parents make is thinking that just because a television program or movie is animated that it is suitable for children. But, this is simply not always the case. Even the MPAA ratings for movies cannot be completely relied upon as a foolproof indicator of whether a movie will be suitable for children. Yes, it will take lots of prayer and trust in God for parents to actually spend the time making sure that what their children are watching is wholesome and appropriate for them. While it is certainly okay to allow ourselves and our children to be simply entertained, we do need to make sure that the content of that entertainment does not contradict the good morals and values we are instilling in them in other aspects of life so that they will continue to make good entertainment decisions even when we are not around to make sure they are watching the right things.

A Return to Holistic Education

This is an excerpt from a paper I wrote for an English class I am taking:

One of the saddest failings in the modern educational environment is the focus on fact-based knowledge. In most schools ranging from elementary all the way through to some post-secondary levels, students are being taught according to whatever test will be administered in each subject. If it is not going to be on the test, students are unwilling to learn and teachers are unwilling to teach due to the emphasis placed on the test scores and quantity, instead of quality, of knowledge. This situation is also compounded by the fact that each subject is usually taught in isolation of all other subjects. The mass of facts that students must learn in each subject is so extensive that it has also been said that no single person could effectively teach all of the subjects that students are required to learn.

We need to return to a more holistic approach to education as was the norm in ancient and Renaissance times. A scholar or student during these periods would have been taught not only facts but would have been more accustomed to critical thinking to be able to solve problems that did not come out of a book as well as seeing the interconnectedness that exists between and within all disciplines of knowledge. A return to that type of education would find more students getting excited about learning rather than seeing school as simply a drudgery of facts and isolated knowledge to be regurgitated on demand then forgotten because they have not been shown how this knowledge could help them in life outside of that particular subject.

It's a Boy!

We just found out right this very second that we're having a boy. How exciting! Now we can start deciding how we're going to decorate the nursery. We're going to have him carry on my name and be the "III."