In many cases, it's kind of bad form to cut down someone's post on his own wall. It's his wall. For him to express an opinion. A few people encourage debate and disagreement. That's awesome. Others are simply venting or having a bad day and aren't really seeking critical appraisal of their posts.
In light of the fact that I have been guilty of sharing some of these painful images and claims from time to time, and I don't want to be "that person" who constantly criticizes what other people post, I thought I'd share my thoughts on some of the memes here. I'll update this post from time to time.
Without further ado, here is the
Wall of Shame
1. The incredibly chill turtle from "Finding Nemo" is declaiming: "If my kid can't bring peanut butter to school, then your kid shouldn't bring preventable diseases"
Why this meme is a fail: This one fails on several levels. First of all, yes, non-vaxxers irritate me (and yes, I know several, who are generally good people, who make puzzling choices on this issue). But despite my very openly pro-vaccine stance, I cannot like this meme. Firstly, it strangely ties together peanut allergies (a life-threatening condition that was not chosen by the individual) with vaccinations (presumably, the poster would not insist a child receive a vaccine if she is allergic to one of the compenents?) That juxtaposition is just confusing. I keep trying to assemble the syllogism that would make this meme work, and there are none that follow a valid construct. Secondly, it's really unfair. It targets kids with allergies, as if they are doing something willful just to piss you off. I'm sure, given the choice, these kids would vastly prefer to NOT have nut or other food allergies that could take their lives in minutes with little warning. I'm equally certain that this preference has absolutely nothing to do with any inconvenience you feel you suffer by coming up with alternative lunch options. Oh, but, the problem is that their allergy is impacting your behavior; shouldn't they just learn to get along in the real world? Ummmm . . . have you ever watched kids eat in the cafeteria? They are not careful, clean, or great at clean-up, on the whole (there are always happy exceptions). Some kids with allergies don't even need to ingest the food they are allergic to; they only need to breathe it or have skin contact-- from a light switch, pencil sharpener, door frame, jungle gym, or other innocuous item. Finally, it suggests that families whose kids have allergies are the same families who are refusing vaccination. This if often not the case. I know several kids who have severe food allergies who are fully vaccinated (though extra precautions are taken with each vaccine, hoops your kids did not have to jump through). I know several families whose kids have no or mild allergies who refuse to vaccinate because they simply don't understand the science behind vaccines or believe they are being conned by Big Pharma. Linking the two ideas is just plain wrong. I sympathize with the idea of being a bit irritated by having your kid endangered unnecessarily. But don't blame the kid with peanut allergies. He doesn't really deserve your wrath, and neither do his parents.
2. Look at this Common Core Math! It's SOOOO Stupid! I can add and subtract the "normal way" much more efficiently than this example shows! I don't even understand my second grader's homework! And hahahahhaha look at the smart alecky answer the parent wrote back to the teacher! Awesome!
Why this meme is a fail: Oh geez, I could do an entire blog post on this one. It's hard to know where to start, though a parent openly snarking at the child's teacher via the child's homework paper would be an excellent place to start-- do I really need to explain that one? Let's move right along then. Should any parent be following up, "I can't understand my second grader's math homework," with claims that they know more about math than the math teacher? No. I have to give the answer there, because many people seem to not get that one. As a corollary (math term, sorry) Should any parent who cannot understand second grade math homework, and pretty straightforward homework at that, really want his kid to receive the same evidently rather poor understanding of math that he did? Again, I'll help out here. No. Having your kids surpass you is a wonderful, exciting thing. Here's the kicker: the Common Core math standards do not insist all kids solve problems the same way. Do you know what standard did? When all kids were simply told to use the "standard algorithm" that we learned growing up. We were all forced to do it the same way. What does the CC actually teach? A related but varied group of approaches, that once mastered, the child may freely choose among when solving problems. Here's the thing. To master each concept, the child needs to practice. The choice comes later, after the concepts have been mastered. To insist a first or second grader should choose the best method for solving a problem would be like asking a first-time home builder to simply choose the best way to frame a house. Maybe, just maybe, getting solid experience and mastering the basics first would help them make solid choices later on. When implemented properly, kids educated through the CC standards across the years develop fabulous number sense and mathematical literacy in ways our generation didn't even dream about. For most of our generation, it was enough to see formula, memorize formula, plug numbers into formula. For today's kids, they see a problem and are learning to reason through it, can detect if a calculator gave them an outrageous answer, and can puzzle out new problems that don't look just like the example-- they can think.
The internet, and particularly Facebook, is often a source of images and statements for people to post without thinking about it too much. I'm sure more failed memes will be added over time.
