Forced Conscription Of Children Is Evil

I just became interested in Sudan & Uganda because of a movie I saw called Invisible Children, which was given to my dad by our family's friend Scott Cummins. It showed what the Sudan People's Liberation Army is doing to Ugandan and Sudanese children. Although a greater evil is the Sudanese goverment based in Khartoum, the recruiting of kids to fight in a war is completely wrong . The SPLA are turning children into killing machines under the threat that they are going to be killed if they don't kill 50 people.

Many of these children hide in hospitals at night from fear of being abducted. Although "Invisible Children" was made in 2003, three years later the problem still exists in all of Sudan (especially the Darfur region) plus most of Africa especially in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This article from the Daily News in Tanzania reveals that there have been 100,000 child soldiers recruited to fight in wars in Africa, and that more are forced into fighting by the government in Sudan's north than the rebels in the south. The Coalition To Stop The Use Of Child Soldiers is an organization working to prevent the recruitment of children for soldiers.

I think that Sudan shouldn't have this much turmoil, and children should first get education, then be allowed to decide what their future is going to be.

TECHNORATI TAGS: SUDAN, UGANDA, CHILDREN, WAR, FORCED CONSCRIPTION, AFRICA

Seattle School Board Rethinks Fuzzy Math Concepts

I'm in fourth grade and doing a lot of math. The people who write the "fuzzy" math books don't care if you get the right answer, they just care that you try to solve the problem in the right way. In my class when I get an answer wrong, it's marked as wrong, and I have to fix it.

In today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer there is a story about how the Seattle School Board is having second thoughts about "reform" math textbooks.

The two recommended books are "Connected Mathematics Project II," an updated version of the curriculum used in many Seattle middle schools, and "Interactive Mathematics Program" for high schoolers.

Both use a more "conceptual" or "reform" math teaching style, which aims to help students better understand math by helping them reason out concepts themselves. Reform math also emphasizes estimating and being able to analyze whether the answer derived is correct and reasonable.

Proponents of the teaching method say it makes lessons more relevant for students and helps build a solid foundation for studying more advanced math. But critics say the approach lacks the structure and the practice problems necessary to help drive home key math concepts. They would like to see a return to more traditional skill-based curricula.

I'm glad that the Seattle School Board is holding off on fuzzy math textbooks. The right answer doesn't always matter, like the moral of a story, but in math, spelling, and grammar, you can't change the way "through" is spelled, or that 4/5=1/5+16/20.

Fast Food............Yummy or Not?

My opinion of fast food: Many people like fast food because it tastes good and is convenient, but what they don't think about is how unhealthy it is for them. An excellent source of information is the book "Chew On This" (Everything You Don't Want To Know About Fast Food), by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson.

They write:

....companies that sell fast-food don't want you to think about it. They don't want you to know where it comes from and how it's made. They just want you to buy it...........people should know what lies beneath the shiny happy surface of every fast-food restaurant. They should know what really lurks between those sesame seed buns. As the old saying goes: 'you are whatyou eat.'

What are the "yummy" ingredients in a strawberry milkshake from a fast-food restaurant?

...milkfat and nonfat milk, sugar, sweet whey, high fructose corn syrup, guar gum, mono- and diglycerides, cellulose gum, sodium phosphate, carageenan, citric acid, red food coloring #40 ( carmine, which is made from bugs ) and artificial strawberry flavoring.

Conclusion: On top of that, artificial strawberry flavoring has about 40 more ingredients. Ick. Here's my recipe for a strawberry smoothie: fresh strawberries, vanilla yogurt, two percent milk, and a ripe banana.

TECHNORATI TAGS: FAST FOOD, JUNK FOOD, HEALTH, CHEW ON THIS, ERIC SCHLOSSER, CHARLES WILSON

The World According To Max, Vol. 1

OK. I'm nine. I have a blog. My favorite color is turquoise. My favorite foods are shrimp, salmon and fruit. In school, my favorite subjects are math and spelling. On spring vacation, I learned Chicago is smellier than Seattle, and went to see the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Now, some Q & A, with help from my dad.

Q: How long before the earth disintegrates, and why?
A: 5,000,000,000 years, but that's kind of a silly question. Instead, couldn't you ask what books I'm reading?

Q: OK, what books have you been reading recently?
A: "Majyk" by Angie Sage; "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver; "Eragon" by Christopher Paolini; and I'm reading "Eldest," also by Christopher Paolini.

Q: What can you cook?
A: Salsa, fruit salad, cookies, brownies, and homemade pretzels. Any more questions?

Q: Um.......no.