Comments by rahnia
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Posted on December 17 at 9:31 a.m.
Wow, savage. Do some research. Studies show that homeschooled children are more socially adept than public OR private schooled children. I speculate this is because they spend more time around adults, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I was homeschooled for most of my childhood, and it was wonderful. I've learned things that no school could have ever taught me, and I was active with my peers--I attended dance classes, acting workshops, etc. Not spending all that money on school freed up some cash to do those other things.
People have the misconception that parents home school their children because they want to brainwash them, or keep them from the world, and while there are those parents, mine certainly were not among them. For me, public school was frustrating and a waste of time (we tried it once, in 4th grade, although I did go to high school). Some aspects of formal education still frustrate me. For example, public schools are the MAIN socializing force in our country. Children say the pledge of allegiance before they understand what it means, they are taught warped stories of American History, and they are cajoled into doing many less than savory things by "peer pressure." I can say that even at the college level (Co-Lin) in Natchez, it's still not "cool" to be smart.
Would I home school my own children? That depends on the children. My sister didn't do well in that environment because school is all about the social life for her. She is smart and she does learn, but she needs those other 30 kids in class around all the time.
And PS, Savage, I'm from Portland, Oregon--a large, open-minded city. A city that, sadly, has a public school system that is lacking. Oregon has a large home schooling contingent, and a lot of great thinkers on the subject. "The Teenage Liberation Handbook" is a good place to start. Or other great educational minds, like John Taylor Gatto.
Posted on December 11 at 9:42 a.m.
Many of the people who came here originally were slaves. The slave trade began before we were a country...the Transatlantic slave trade began in 1440. Also, many of the Europeans coming here were indentured servants for seven years or more. So yes, saying that America was founded on slavery is a valid statement.
Posted on December 9 at 9:39 a.m.
I hear these comments so much..."whatever, none of them were any good at writing anyways," "we don't need to watch so much TV," etc. And while some of it may have a basis, there are excellent shows and movies being written out there. They may be a little out of the mainstream, which means those writers are being hit even harder by the strike financially. So are all the other people who work on shows where production has shut down, like most late-night shows (some hosts are paying salaries for their laid-off employees out of pocket for the time being) and prime-time shows like The Office.
The last time the Writer's Guild went on strike was 1988. The strike lasted twenty-two weeks and cost the industry (and therefore the American economy) an approximate $500 million. Now that the new shows have run out and the networks are faced with nothing but reruns and reality, you bet your butt they're ready to talk again.
Posted on December 9 at 12:33 a.m.
Does anybody have any statistics proving a connection between casinos and crime rates?
Posted on December 4 at 9:31 a.m.
I was going to say exactly what sammohon said...it is misleading both to the children and to the readers of this newspaper to imply that Monet created this technique.
Posted on November 24 at 9:12 p.m.
I've been watching the forums and everyone here posting about how they would not go to the parade because OMG DOWNTOWN NATCHEZ AFTER DARK IT'S NOT SAFE!!! And panicking because the crime rate has gone up. Yes, the crime rate has gone up. Even in 2003, Natchez was slightly above national averages per capita according to FBI statistics. But--and I hate to say this--the crime is mostly concentrated in a certain community. There was a shooting a few houses down from where I live, but I don't feel less safe because that shooting wasn't random, and it had nothing to do with me.
I live in "the ghetto," and one night we accidentally left our house keys in the front door, with the porch light shining on them all night long. Not only were our house keys there, our car keys were too! Anybody could've waltzed in while we were asleep and loaded our own possessions in our own car and driven off. In the morning the guy who lives across the street came and knocked on the door and said "hey, you left your keys in the door." Ghetto indeed.
That anecdote aside, those of us who have lived in real cities know that this is laughable in some ways (compared to what we've experienced elsewhere), and yet depressing in others--hopefully Natchez can turn this crime spike around.
Posted on November 13 at 12:23 p.m.
Natchez_Writer, the reason that the elderly are not revered in our culture is because often their experiences are simply irrelevant to the way that we live our lives today. When these people were growing up, everyone didn't have a computer, or a forum such as this where we can all express our opinions under the cloak of anonymity. Life is moving at such a fast pace, our lives have changed so much in the past 20 years, hell, the past DECADE (did we ALL have cell phones in 1997?), that it is so hard to relate what we're going through now to the life of wisdom that these people have gathered.
Posted on November 10 at 2:06 p.m.
ntzmom, it's illegal to search anyone's private property without a warrant. If St. Francisville indeed has something like that set up, that's also illegal. IF you get pulled over for a traffic violation AND the cop has reasonable suspicion to search your vehicle, that's different. But random searches of your private property? That is unconstitutional.
Also, if somebody gets caught on possession and they only have a personal amount, not anything they would be distributing, why on earth would they need to be in jail for more than a year?
Posted on November 9 at 12:36 p.m.
Anyone who has a phD should be called "Dr.", by the way, even if they are not an MD. It's disrespectful, just like it is disrespectful to refer to any member of the US Senate by anything other than "Senator ________" or "The Honorable ____________".
I do not think Dr. Waggoner meant that we should vote Democratic for every position, merely that he was critical of Gov. Barbour. Although I have to say that as a registered Independent, I still ended up voting for Gov. Barbour. He demonstrated great leadership throughout Katrina, and offered a stark contrast with Louisiana as to how the relief effort should be run.
I agree with JunkyardDawg's appraisal of guy2c0. guy2c0, are you too set in your ways to even consider the other side? We have "socialism" in that we have public schools, libraries, etc. Socializing healthcare does not mean we need to become a socialist state, nor does it mean doctors are going to be starving. There are many medical professionals who honestly want to help people, and want to be able to treat anybody who comes their way without worrying about whether or not they can pay for it. There are many medical professionals who want to make money. Which would you rather be treated by?
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Posted on December 17 at 10:18 p.m.
Who thinks that the parents have to do all of the teaching? You don't need a teacher to learn, you just need motivation. After I learned the basics, everything else was self-directed and self-chosen. I learned some things my parents knew nothing about, from these things called "books." You don't need somebody feeding it all to you. How do you think people KEEP learning? You don't need a classroom setting.
On Where do children get a better education?