Yet another article, this time from the Times of the New York variety, asking: “What are (the) boys up to?”

I reckon there will be plenty of opinions this topic, so I will throw in my 20 cents worth.

I have two daughters and one wife (and one female cat, and until recently two female sheep) and from years of observation I have concluded that we just don’t think the same — the different genders that is. Yeah, yeah, I can hear you: “THAT’S A SWEEPING GENERALIZATION”, and of course it is, but that does not mean there is not a large dose of truth in it.

So here is my theory. I reckon that girls are, by nature, generally much more compliant, and generally much less philosophical, than boys. I have seen this in the school classroom, and in philosophy in general. So if my theorizing has any worth to it, then let’s apply it to the modern secular worldview that is forced upon us from every direction, and to the life of (post)modern boys…

CHILDREN ENTER CLASSROOM… AND TEACHER BEGINS…

Good morning boys and girls. Today we are going to talk about how life came from non-life by an unguided process of Darwinian evolution. That’s right. You are the product of time + chance + the struggle to survive against all odds over eons of time. Before that, did you know that the universe that you live in came from nothing … by nothing … and for no reason. That’s right — it just popped into existence, totally meaninglessly. Indeed, a very big cosmic accident! Wow, isn’t that great?!

As you sit there, children, consider that point of it all. Everything. The universe. Life. Love. Dreams. All this came from a cosmic accident followed by a bloody survival game where the fittest made it and the rest were erased. That’s us children. We made it!!!

And how many of you children like icing on your cake? Well, the news is good. One day in the future, the universe will become uninhabitable. All the stars will be burnt out and the universe will experience a heat death. Yes, that is the icing on the universal cake — a slow cold death. Totally pointless and without meaning. But at least it is icing!

Oh, that’s the bell children. End of lesson. Now, off to psychology class where you can learn about self esteem and about how to feel good about yourselves.

When I was growing up, this is the worldview that I shared. By 17, I had decided to make my first million by 30, then live for pleasure until my body broke down. At that point I was going to terminate my life. Sad eh! But this thinking, as far as I can tell, is entirely consistent with the secular worldview, and makes very good sense of the data. If life is ultimately meaningless, then why live for anything other than pleasure?

Indeed, most boys may not think through the logic of this until they reach their mid to late teens, but the seeds are there, ready to be watered. I suspect deep down many boys may believe this, so they are sitting there saying: “what’s the point of all this schooling stuff? Why should I care about it. It’s a waste of time…” I certainly did.

What do you think? Where are your boys heading regarding their schooling?

Computer science is for people who canot spel.
Chemistry is for people who think oxygen has 16+15 nuclei.
But math is for all and is fun, fun fun!!! and VERY useful is so many disciplines. Yes, I know this from experience!

The best way to learn some sorts of math is by repetition, and these worksheets (with answers provided) give you lots of pages of math problems. The Google advertising on their website is a bit overdone imo, but the worksheets look really good, and are free to download.

Here they are… at Math-Worksheet.com. (These are probably suitable for kids who are 10+.)

This month’s free resource (worksheets + puzzles) from SchoolExpress is on Butterflies and Moths. Download the PDF by clicking here.

There is no doubt that methods for learning have changed in recent years. Just go into a school classroom and you are likely to see computers running Mathletics or Wikipedia or Comic Life (Mac & Windows).

And that is not to mention that many parents now use TV as a baby sucker (a.k.a. a dummy) and churches use DVDs to teach (or entertain?) children on Sunday mornings.

In addition there are podcasts (some of us live on them), daily Bible readings that cane be sent directly to your inbox, and now the Apple iPad.

Oh yes, I would love one of these. I have an iPod Touch, and was amazed at how good it is for daily Bible study and email, because the touch screen technology and user interface design is sooooooo outstanding.

So, here is my question … what is the Apple iPad going to do to homeschool teaching? Would you buy one at $500 USD (about $800 NZD) and use it to help teach your children if they had really good application available to buy at low prices like $10 USD?

And another question … how many homeschool kids are going to be writing applications for these devices? Just consider: you can work from home, to your own hours, use few resources other than your own intellect, and stand to make a small fortune in the process!!!

Research published yesterday by the American Psychological Association, analysing 130 studies worldwide, has proved conclusively that exposure to violent computer games affects youth behaviour:

See: http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2010/mar/vvgeffects

The meta-analysis by psychology professor Dr Craig Anderson of Iowa State University was published in the 1 March 2010 edition of the Psychological Bulletin, a journal of the American Psychological Association.

Read the remainder of the short article here.

Editor’s note: I was chatting with a friend today and we both agreed that television (in general) is like a poisonous gas that hovers throughout the viewer’s house. Slowly the individuals molecules accumulate in the household bodies, the curtains, the couches, and the viewers.

This is a nice looking book that has lots of science experiments such as blowing up a balloon with a banana!!! Very adventurous, and no nitrogen rich fertilizer or plastic explosives necessary. I know one very prominent New Zealand scientist who blew other things up when he was a kid and it didn’t appear to harm him too much…

Btw, did you notice how hard it is to buy a plastic gun for a boy these days? Of course, kids that have these things taken away by the left (hand) just replace their fun using the right hand of Xbox and Nintendo and Playstation (and probably obesity to go with it).

PS. I hope you are using Google Books to find information and book previews. The book mentioned above for example has a few experiments that you can read online.