I use social media regularly and think it can be a useful communication tool, particularly for far flung friends and family. But there are many downsides and a major one is how undiscriminating many people are in what they like and share. I now avoid challenging the obvious crap but today made the following post.

It seems that CLICK BAIT RECRUITERS are increasingly targeting those with left political leanings. I received an email from something called the World Socialist Educators Website Newsletter about freeing Julian Assange. The rhetoric about this and other issues was consistent with my political views. But, when I checked out their website and Facebook page, it was clear to me that it is a ‘Faceless Website’, similar in construction to those that sprout conservative rhetoric. I suspect it is a group of people harvesting followers for their own ends.

But I wrote to them on Messenger to check this out, several days ago, with no response, meaning that my suspicion was probably correct. No matter what your political views are, avoid sharing things just because it fits with your opinions. If you have something to say, say it. Sharing others’ extended Facebook posts and Memes is manipulation that we all fall prey to at times. The motivation for this may be as simple as someone wondering how many clicks and shares they can get. But, as technology becomes more sophisticated it is also a way that people can capture ‘door opening’ information about you and your preferences.

Please question everything before you click and share. We all need to think critically and not just swallow the pap fed to us. Of course cancer is a challenge and heart breaking. Of course, changing the name of products is ridiculous (not something I’ve ever heard particular groups ask for). Of course children with disabilities, chronic illness and people with other challenges should be encouraged and accepted in society, but do you really think that a husband or parent or whoever would say, “you’ll get no shares of this” or similar. Let’s starve these practices of oxygen, particularly where the clear aim is to promote division, distrust and hatred.

If you do really think something is worthy of sharing, please fact check it first. If the issue is that important to you, then that few minutes is well spent.

Anyway, here is the message I sent that got no response. Should I ever hear, I’ll post the response, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

“While I support freeing Julian Assange and the principles outlined on your website, I have noticed that clickbait recruiters are expanding their tactics from the right to the left. A feature of this is faceless websites. Your website has no people attached to it. I will be discouraging others to affiliate with you until this changes. Facebook pages and websites filled with rhetoric are suspect. If I do not hear back from you or you write that individuals do not want to open themselves to criticism my suspicions will be confirmed”

One of the startling realities in our understanding of literacy learning, identified long ago by Noam Chomsky, is that, in this regard, we are not all blank slates at birth. A percentage of us are born with a predisposition to recognise the patterns in writing. A similar number are born with almost an absence in this area, and most fall in between. It is, as with all things, a continuum. Non evidence based philosophies on surrounding children with reading experiences were pervasive in our relatively recent modern educational settings for a generation and more once we moved away from more rigid teaching methods and, these approaches were championed by many respected writers, academics and educationalists, since it addressed the important motivational and modelling experiences that are critical in all human learning and was revolutionary in its impact on those with a predisposition for literacy learning who had often, in the past, been uninspired by overly rigid teaching processes. 

The unintended consequence of this radical and inspiring change in approach was that those with more limited predispositions for literacy were not as well catered for, thus the era of many stories of children reaching high school before difficulties were identified and the large number of children whose literacy was impeded. Poor grammar and spelling in earlier generations had been through lack of educational opportunities but in more recent times it became about short falls in teaching methods, or more, the lack of applicability of widespread approaches to the needs of the majority. Society makes such mistakes and it is pointless to try to change the past or criticise those who made huge contributions to an important part of the educational equation. I’m not trying to engage in a slanging match,just trying to paint a picture of why so many were lost to the joy of reading in relatively recent history. 

Another issue that muddied the communication waters was that surrounding children with verbal language, even long before expressive language develops, is the absolutely optimal approach for verbal language learning so, indeed, it seemed likely that written language might also follow that path and there are clear benefits in surrounding children with books, reading models, and reading experiences. It is such an important part of the mix. But direct teaching in literacy is critical for the vast majority and helpful also for those with strong literature predispositions, unless it is done in a way that bores them. 

Much of what I’ve said may also apply to mathematical learning as this is also a language and we see similar patterns of predisposition. It is not an area in which I have any expertise, though, and others more knowledgeable would need to share their thoughts on this. Similarly with another type of language, music, and, though enjoying this greatly, I am really out of my depth here as with other language types I may not have mentioned. 

The point I am making, though, is that the nature – nurture debate may never be entirely resolved. Both our complex biological makeup and the experiences we have interact in ways that are difficult to unpack. But we can never point exclusively to one or the other. As with life outcomes, children from the same family can turn into very different adults, even though they share so much genetic material. Of course this opens another huge area of discussion around birth order, gender preferences, the types of choices children make, favoured children and too many other issues to mention here. 

But, I want to stress that literacy difficulties were never primarily about “bad” or “lazy” teaching. My experience of teachers is that the vast majority are highly motivated and focussed but when the ‘truth of the times’ is seen as being largely about motivation, and yet the evidence is that there is a need for ‘direct instruction’, in careful combination with this, mistakes can be made. And this is the reason that, as societies, we must follow the evidence rather than philosophies that are appealing but unsound. This has particular relevance to how we deal with a pandemic. Part of what makes this so difficult is that there is an evidence base on how to respond to this, but political and socio-economic forces can blur the edges and much of what we learn will be from the wisdom of hindsight. I would not like to be a leader in these difficult times.

When sadness does descend

Feeling it will never end

Best to share the fear

With a loved one near

No good can ever come

From negative thought

Trapped inside your head

Share with others instead

An easy message to follow

But too, too often

In our own heads

We allow thoughts to wallow

A little rabbit sitting
In the middle of the lawn
Not moving rapidly away
As I approached to look

Something not right
That was plain to see
Eyes so cloudy
Heart beating so rapidly

Mixamatosis I thought
What shall I do?
Out of its misery needed
But did it need to be me?

In the past I’ve taken action
A rabbit, a cat, a small roo
Bodies broken writhing in pain
Nobody else there able to do

But this time a vet was near
The little bundle in my arms
So difficult to deal with summarily
When the need not so urgent

I know these animals are pests
Not compatible with the land
But easier to consider this
When not personally involved

All I could see was a little one
Alone and so afraid
Nestling into my arms
Comforted by my warmth

There is a message here for all
The unwanted group easy to disdain
The suffering individual harder to ignore
When heartstrings gently tugged

No option but to take a life
Humanely by a caring professional
How many slaughtered in other ways
By the uncaring including me

In the distant past I sickened myself
By the bloodlust that I felt
Shooting many more than needed
Eschewing forevermore that desire

Never again I touched a gun
Fearing that monster lurking within
That rationalised such wanton killing
Ignoring the power inherent

I wonder also about the term ‘pest’
Meaning a creature or plant
Plucked from the environment dependent
Transplanted in a faroff place 

Can’t this term be equally applied
To humanity ever expanding
Disassembling the natural order
Forever more consumption demanding

Will a force present itself
That weeds out the excesses shown
As mankind tumbles out of control
Our numbers incessantly growing

And again I have to admit
That to this I’ve also contributed
Breeding to meet personal wants
Without considering consequences

My offspring have not been so wanton
With growth of financial pressures
And I suspect this is what it takes
To ensure more positive directions

But also we need more conscious choices
About societal and environmental limitations
Lest we see ongoing impoverishment
Of our environment and our nations 

10/6/2020

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton