homework: Watching Debate

[kaytieeldr]

FTW.


Maybe Judge Judy is available for the next one?

Now, that'd be an entertaining debate! And it'd draw all her daytime viewers, too. Brilliant!

 

[mhsjax]

My two high schoolers will be watching it with us. I don't think it was a school assignment but it is a family assignment. We want them to know about current issues and where they stand personally as they'll be voting in the next presidential election. They've watched the previous national debates and we have the MA Senatorial debates DVR'd. Should be a fun night!

The Unfortunate thing about the debate, it is a TOTAL waste of time. You can sit there and listen and make your informed choice which is a very good thing, but it doesn't matter, they are all lying but it is fun to see how far their lies will go. Who cares what they say, it doesn't matter, none of them get the job done anymore. The only thing it does more me, is raise my blood pressure.

 

[mhsjax]

My 12 year old granddaughter is frequently up until 11:00 doing homework. If my child were assigned to watch the debates for a class, I would not enforce a bedtime. Elections only come along every 4 years.

Wow, mine is never up that late doing homework and she is in gifted/advanced classes. She is 13 and is in bed every other night by 9:00 and on Monday and Wed by 9:45 due to an activity. No way would she be up that late frequently. She wouldn't survive.

 

[skater]

My 15 year old is very political and watched a lot of it last night. I actually encouraged him to go to bed because he's already way too involved and not getting enough sleep. I'm happy he's interested though.

 

[penn19]

Keep your friends close, keep your enemies even closer...it's best to know what those you dislike are saying, even more so than those that you like.

Absolutely. I am also of the opinion that my kids don't have to agree with everything I do. I hate to fly, but in no way to I try to pass my fear onto my kids. One of my kids is for the other candidate. I think that is great. I want him to decide for himself what issues are important to him.

 

[luvmy3]

My 12 year old granddaughter is frequently up until 11:00 doing homework. If my child were assigned to watch the debates for a class, I would not enforce a bedtime. Elections only come along every 4 years.

My ds is never up that late doing homework, he isn't up that late on school nights at all. I would have let him stay up to watch the debate but he wanted to go to bed around 9:30. He got up early and watched it this morning.

I found myself interjecting my own opinions so I stepped away from the TV. I didn't want him to answer his questions based on what I was saying. I wanted him to answer his questions based on what they were saying and what he felt about it. Dh wasn't even allowed to watch with him, he can't keep his political opinions to himself either

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

My DD is in 7th grade and has Civics this year. She's really enjoying it. Teacher is a little odd. I think he has really great ideas but sometimes I think he doesn't put them across correctly. The guy seems to come off as arrogant when what he is trying to say is awesome. Anyway, I digress.

As DD knew they would be discussing it today, she started watching the debate. Made it the first 30 minutes and then had to go to bed. She's up at 6 a.m. so she was exhausted.

 

[Heidict]

The Unfortunate thing about the debate, it is a TOTAL waste of time. You can sit there and listen and make your informed choice which is a very good thing, but it doesn't matter, they are all lying but it is fun to see how far their lies will go. Who cares what they say, it doesn't matter, none of them get the job done anymore. The only thing it does more me, is raise my blood pressure.

You put my thoughts into words perfectly!!! All they do is lie through their teeth, so why waste my time. I have much better things to be doing.


I can't believe someone has a young child that has to stay up till 11 at night doing homework! Is it that the teachers are giving her 5 hours of homework ever night or that she is busy with other things and isn't able to get to it until late?

 

[SaraJayne]

Please tell me Jim Lehrer won't be the moderator for the next two debates. I used to really like him but he is like a bad parent that doesn't have any control over his small children.

Yeah, he was awful. Completely ineffectual and had no control whatsoever.

 

[ICF]

Yeah, he was awful. Completely ineffectual and had no control whatsoever.

That's what happens when you leave Grandpa in charge of the kids!!

 

[PrincessKsMom]

For those who are saying their children need to go to bed early, watching the first 1/2 hour or so of the debates would have put them out cold. Honestly, that's all I could get through. It was absolutely painful to watch. My DD16 however, did watch most of it and it wasn't an assignment for school. I personally believe it was a train wreck for both candidates and the moderator. I'm looking forward to the John Stewart/Bill O'Reilly debate myself.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

The Unfortunate thing about the debate, it is a TOTAL waste of time. You can sit there and listen and make your informed choice which is a very good thing, but it doesn't matter, they are all lying but it is fun to see how far their lies will go. Who cares what they say, it doesn't matter, none of them get the job done anymore. The only thing it does more me, is raise my blood pressure.

Perhaps I am just being naive here, but I don't believe that they go out there intentionally lying. I think it's kind of like when you are in fifth grade and run for class president under the promise of getting coke in the water fountains and longer recess. You don't have that ability, but it's often not until you take office that you realize you don't have that kind of power. I figure that people in the presidential debates have these great ideas on how to fix everything, but then they take office and find out all this stuff that the American public in unaware of. Those things keep the presidents from being able to fulfill all of their promises. At least, that is what I have to believe.



I think that having students watch the debate is an excellent assignment. It is important that all citizens with a say in this country actually have an idea of what is going on politically. The sooner you start them, the more informed they will be. This is the first presidential election that my BIL is old enough to vote in and he knows next to nothing about the election. He wasn't even sure who our VP is. Had he started getting involved in the civic affairs of our country earlier, he would be much more prepared for next month.

 

[luvmy3]

Perhaps I am just being naive here, but I don't believe that they go out there intentionally lying. I think it's kind of like when you are in fifth grade and run for class president under the promise of getting coke in the water fountains and longer recess. You don't have that ability, but it's often not until you take office that you realize you don't have that kind of power. I figure that people in the presidential debates have these great ideas on how to fix everything, but then they take office and find out all this stuff that the American public in unaware of. Those things keep the presidents from being able to fulfill all of their promises. At least, that is what I have to believe.

I would hope that any person running for President has a pretty good idea of the things they can and can't do when they take office. They better know more than a 5th grader
I'm of the belief that they promise what they have to to get into office, because once there its not like they can get voted out for not fulfilling them.

 

[newt2]

I would hope that any person running for President has a pretty good idea of the things they can and can't do when they take office. They better know more than a 5th grader
I'm of the belief that they promise what they have to to get into office, because once there its not like they can get voted out for not fulfilling them.

Of course they can get voted out for not doing them. It happens frequently.

The real issue is that it takes two to tango. Both parties have their own wishes and agendas but unless you get some cooperation from the other side, it's not going to happen.

It seems that they used to know that. Now it's just a bunch of digging in their heels and zero cooperation. People need to realize that government is not Burger King and you can't always have it your way.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Of course they can get voted out for not doing them. It happens frequently.

The real issue is that it takes two to tango. Both parties have their own wishes and agendas but unless you get some cooperation from the other side, it's not going to happen.

It seems that they used to know that. Now it's just a bunch of digging in their heels and zero cooperation. People need to realize that government is not Burger King and you can't always have it your way.

It's the snowflake mentality -- it's all about me and what I want, not what's for the greater good. No give and take. Stonewalling and power struggles. I think every president, regardless of party, has the best of intentions. I don't think they're ready to have their hands tied once they take office. And let's face it, it's usually a thankless job for little pay, compare with football players, baseball players, etc. And the constant stress, duress and scrutiny they're under? I personally think you have to be a little "not right in the head"

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

I would hope that any person running for President has a pretty good idea of the things they can and can't do when they take office. They better know more than a 5th grader
I'm of the belief that they promise what they have to to get into office, because once there its not like they can get voted out for not fulfilling them.

Of course they have a good idea of what they can and cannot LEGALLY do. But I can easily see how they would have an idea of how to fix the budget and what they would cut, but then they get in office and find that X amount of money is going to fill-in-the-blank area for this secret research that civilians don't know about. Or they have this great idea about foreign policy, but then they take office and find out from advisors that there is a lot going on that everyday Americans haven't been informed of. So, while it looks like they aren't fulfilling their promise of their specific idea of how to balance the budget or fix a certain foreign policy situation, there are reasons behind it and many times,those reasons are not ever going to be made known to the rest of us.

I just can't believe that a person would get up there and lie through his teeth about everything and then sit on his thumbs and not fulfill anything that he promised during his campaign unless he had a darn good reason. And, if he really doesn't have a good reason and was just lying through his teeth, that means that the American people are truly idiots to keep electing these lying liars. I'm just not wanting to believe that either of these situations can be true. I have to believe that they campaign on promises made without having all the facts and that they cannot get all the facts until they are sworn in.

 

[lovin'fl]

You put my thoughts into words perfectly!!! All they do is lie through their teeth, so why waste my time. I have much better things to be doing.


I can't believe someone has a young child that has to stay up till 11 at night doing homework! Is it that the teachers are giving her 5 hours of homework ever night or that she is busy with other things and isn't able to get to it until late?

My 2 DDs-13 (8th grade) are frequently up past 10 pm doing HW, but it is because they have softball 3 nights a week. But they do have a lot of HW this year...like 2-3 hours per night (last year was more like 1-1.5 hours per night). Their bedtime is 10 pm anyway, but they don't have to get up until 7:15 am.

I just took this quote from Huff Post Teen article
'According to guidelines endorsed by the National Education Association (NEA), a student should be assigned no more than 10 minutes per grade level per night. For example, a first grader should only have 10 minutes of homework, a second grader, 20 minutes, and so on. This means that a student in my grade -- seventh -- should have no more than 70 minutes of work each night. Yet this is often doubled, sometimes even tripled!'

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Deleted since the thread is beginning to lean toward a political topic.

 

[luvmy3]

Of course they can get voted out for not doing them. It happens frequently.

Not before their term is up

 

[LisaR]

I believe ALL politicians, from the small town school board member all the way up to the president, think they have some magic power that will allow them to accomplish what nobody before them was able to do. They feel they are the one that will break through any and all barriers. They have very large egos, and I think they truly believe that they are capable of things that others just aren't as equipped to handle. Of course, once they get in office, they realize that it is a lot tougher than they imagined, but their ego is too big to allow them to see that, so they still go on thinking that they are the greatest thing since sliced bread.

What boggles my mind are the staunch supporters who actually believe that their guy is better than anyone else. I can almost excuse the politicians because their heads are so big they can't see their own feet. But I have a hard time with everyday people that will fight to the death over some big headed politician, and clearly be dumb enough to think their guy is so much better than the 20 people before him and in front of him. I used to enjoy politics but it is too frustrating now. I really don't have any patience for those that get all hot and bothered over it now and fail to see the absurdity of the entire system.