short rant

[firstfrost]

Number 2 in what I keep thinking ought to be a series: Posts that mjperson ought to have made.

Here's a very short blog post by Steven Levitt.

The punch line is cute. But... he doesn't know how his third-grade daughter is supposed to know what the colors of the rainbow are? SHE'S SUPPOSED TO KNOW BECAUSE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE TEACHING HER THAT!

What are the Great Lakes? I might give him a pass on that not being part of the standard curriculum for your small child. I learned my states, but not my Great Lakes, as a little bitty kid. (mjperson, as a little bitty kid, did learn them, but he's from New York and I'm from California.). I learned "Thirty days has September" before I can remember, but I think davehenry told me about knuckle-counting.

But not teaching your kid *colors* is a dereliction of duty. I mean, come *on*. Isn't that like the first thing ever, when you're teaching them words?

Comments

[remcat.livejournal.com]

I know the "HOMES" acronym to remember the names of the Great Lakes.

I am very tempted to quiz Seth, but alas -- he's at ATA.

[remcat.livejournal.com]

Oh! They came home.

Seth named many colors, including pink and black, and claimed to not know the order of the rainbow. ALthough, he did try to find out by looking for a rainbow in the light refracted by the fish tank.

Eli was able to name the colors in rainbow order, except that he left off blue.

Seth knew what the Great Lakes are, and was able to name two: Erie and Ontario. He asked for a hint -- I said another one begins with "H" -- he guessed "Huperior"? Not sure how to score that :).

None of the kids had a clue on the 30-day months. Dave and I recited the rhyme together, after which Seth insisted vehemently that September has 31 days. Not.

[twe.livejournal.com]

I definitely learned Roy G Biv later than 3rd grade (maybe 5th?). I learned the months rhyme from my grandmother, but I have no idea how old I was though. I probably couldn't have named any great lakes beyond the ones I'd seen -- Erie & Ontario. (I was probably full of all kinds of fun facts about Erie though, har.)

[tirinian.livejournal.com]

Huperior is a lovely guess. :-)