Comments on: Slap the Mean Out of ‘Em http://oneandfour.org/archives/2006/02/slap_the_mean_o.html Alex's Blog Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:27:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.2 Comment on Slap the Mean Out of ‘Em by: Galen http://oneandfour.org/archives/2006/02/slap_the_mean_o.html#comment-417 Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://oneandfour.org/archives/2006/02/slap_the_mean_o.html#comment-417 The trouble is that when adults "express their views" it's often with a belt, or harsh words, or some other way of NOT "expressing" their views, but rather IMPOSING their views. You can't teach autonomy by not allowing it and you can't raise children who will be indepentant adults able to think for themselves without allowing them to develop autonomy. If you do all the thinking for them, they never learn to think for themselves. Then you wind up with a generation of sheep like the one we have now. Great job.... The trouble is that when adults “express their views” it’s often with a belt, or harsh words, or some other way of NOT “expressing” their views, but rather IMPOSING their views.

You can’t teach autonomy by not allowing it and you can’t raise children who will be indepentant adults able to think for themselves without allowing them to develop autonomy. If you do all the thinking for them, they never learn to think for themselves. Then you wind up with a generation of sheep like the one we have now. Great job….

]]> Comment on Slap the Mean Out of ‘Em by: Peter Levine http://oneandfour.org/archives/2006/02/slap_the_mean_o.html#comment-416 Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://oneandfour.org/archives/2006/02/slap_the_mean_o.html#comment-416 Where does this come from? What in the world justifies it as a paraphrase of what I wrote? <blockquote>"How do you make children kind and fair to one another? No doubt by punishing them if they behave otherwise. So if someone does something mean, you teach them to do something nice by being mean to them."</blockquote> You make children kind and fair by paying attention to their lives, by playing with them and their friends, by expressing your views about how they treat one another. Where does this come from? What in the world justifies it as a paraphrase of what I wrote?

“How do you make children kind and fair to one another? No doubt by punishing them if they behave otherwise. So if someone does something mean, you teach them to do something nice by being mean to them.”

You make children kind and fair by paying attention to their lives, by playing with them and their friends, by expressing your views about how they treat one another.

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