Jeanson's book "Traced": How to Explain its Faults to Lay People?

[beaglelady]

@Christy

Plus most homeschoolers are actually requiring far more long-form reading and reading of books than public schools these days.

Wouldn’t that be hard to evaluate?

[beaglelady]

@bness2

Just put a hold on this at my library. Another book that came out about the same time provided lots of fascinating data on what the digital age is doing to our young people (and likely, many of the rest of us too): iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy–and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood–and What That Means for the Rest of Us by Jean M. Twenge. I recommend it. And yes, I have read it, for anyone who wonders.

I didn’t read it, but doesn’t the author blame everything that’s wrong with youth on smartphones?

[bness2 (Bryan Ness)]

@beaglelady

I didn’t read it, but doesn’t the author blame everything that’s wrong with youth on smartphones?

No, not at all. It does, however, show the effects of many hours per day use of social media, both positive and negative. The negatives do outweigh the positives. One of the positives hs been a drop in teen pregnancies. Teens spend so much more time on social media than in face to face interactions that they simply do not have as many opportunities to have sex, which is believed the be one of the drivers pushing teen pregnancy down. Teens are reporting fewer sexual experiences than previous generations. Of course, the reduced in person social interaction leads to leads to the downsides too, loneliness and inability to build good relationships.

Other negative effects have been reduced engagement in educational activities as well, and also extracurricular activities like music and sports. The near every waking hour attachment to social media also leads to higher levels of mental health problems, especially depression and suicide, both of which are on the rise since the Internet age. The social media environment makes kids continually compare themselves with others, and the highly groomed way others present themselves, often makes everyone else seem to be living wonderfully fun and fulfilling lives making kids wonder what is wrong with them.

[beaglelady]

I guess you don’t have to worry about any students reading Jeanson’s book!

Every generation has its challenges. Please don’t assume your students are too neurologically impaired from screen time to do their reading assignments. If you lower your expectations they will perform accordingly. Other students can master the material and so can yours. You can find a way to get them through.

btw, in spite of all its problems, online learning let students continue their studies during covid lockdown.

[KateKnut (Paige K)]

@bness2 VIDEO ALERT Creation Myths has brought up a great point addressing incompatible creationist theories. This video is only 13 minutes long, but the gist is that YECs use the waiting time problem AND created heterozygosity. The fact that evolution would take too long is one of their favorite arguments, and at the same time Jeanson and others use hyper-evolution in order to account for genetic variation. YouTube aside, if anyone asked me about that book (or others) a good question would be to ask about their claims about genetic variation and discuss how if one is true, then the other one cannot be. AiG seems to be very into the variation game, so they need to be careful about crying Waiting Time Problem!

[pevaquark (Matthew Pevarnik)]

@KateKnut

but the gist is that YECs use the waiting time problem AND created heterozygosity. The fact that evolution would take too long is one of their favorite arguments, and at the same time Jeanson and others use hyper-evolution in order to account for genetic variation

I saw that video earlier and, interestingly enough, was thinking I may have noticed the same thing in a YEC book I was gifted one time. In one chapter, they argue that evolution’s too slow, and in the next chapter argue it’s too fast.