Stuck In the Middle
@stuckinthemiddle.bsky.social
681 followers 325 following 292 posts
Teaching online longer than most of my students have been alive. Algebra, w/a side of geography and astronomy. Books: How to Homeschool the Kids You Have, Teaching Online Handbook. Past: Kitchen Table Homeschool Podcast All opinions are my own.
![Plato on Writing
Socrates [to Phaedrus]: ... Now the king of the whole country at that time was Thamus, who dwelt in the great city of Upper Egypt which the Greeks call Egyptian Thebes, while Thamus they call Ammon. To him came Theuth, and revealed his arts, saying that they ought to be passed on to the Egyptians in general. Thamus asked what was the use of them all, and when Theuth explained, he condemned what he thought the bad points and praised what he thought the good. On each art, we are told, Thamus had plenty of views both for and against; it would take too long to give them in detail. But when it came to writing Theuth said, 'Here, O king, is a branch of learning that will make the people of Egypt wiser and improve their memories; my discovery provides a recipe for memory and wisdom.' But the king answered and said, 'O man full of arts, to one it is given to create the things of art, and to another to judge what measure of harm and of profit they have for those that shall employ them. And so it is that you, by reasons of your tender regard for the writing that is your offspring, have declared the very opposite of its true effect. If men learn this, it will implant forgetfulness in their souls; they will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves, but by means of external marks. What you have discovered is a recipe not for memory, but for reminder. And it is no true wisdom that you offer your disciples, but only its semblance, for by telling them of many things without teaching them you will make them seem to know much, while for the most part they know nothing, and as men filled, not with wisdom but with the conceit of wisdom, they will be a burden to their fellows.'
Plato (c. 429-347 B.C.E), "Phaedrus" (c. 360 B.C.E.), 274c-275 b, Reginald) Hackforth, transl.,
1952.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:wxoptgu4dypomkpcr2623ip7/bafkreiga5jelbxvi2qp33lsfvqwfx7hnna6nlbu2jjdiju45vvxlbh5pee)
![Professor Tamsin Ford: We know there is a bi-directional relationship between mental health and attendance at school: if your attendance is poor, then your mental health may well deteriorate because you lose the chance to connect with peers, and so you become socially isolated [and less likely to attend school].](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:wxoptgu4dypomkpcr2623ip7/bafkreiclx7kjseqjg3a4lx5g4xeh74rfe35oly4flhtmjsl72zi6rtygny)
