"Like the study of science and art, accounts of historical events can be intrinsically fascinating. But they have a wider significance. I believe that people are better able to chart their life course and make life decisions when they know how others have dealt with pressures and dilemmas---historically, contemporaneously, and in works of art. And only equipped with such understanding can we participate knowledgeably in contemporary discussions (and decisions) about the culpability of various individuals and countries in the Second World War. Only with such understanding can we ponder the responsibilty of human beings everywhere to counter current efforts at genocide in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia to bring the perpetrators to justice."
"...we humans are the kinds of animals who learn chiefly by observing others---what they value, what they spurn, how they conduct themselves from day to day, and especially, what they do when they believe that no one is looking."
----Howard Gardner, from The Disciplined Mind, published in 1999

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Give a Little Whistle; or, A Short Post

Dear reader, courtesy of our K-1 students, a knock-knock joke:

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Jiminy.
Jiminy Who?
Jiminy Cricket!
(guffaws and hoots ensue)

Those persons holding the belief that children with autism don't possess a sense of humor are sadly mistaken.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are too darned right my friend.
Cheers

neroli said...

mcewen, welcome!
It looks to me as if I've a lot of reading to catch up on over on your site---do your kiddos like knock-knock jokes?

I have lots of neckties said...

My all-time favorite of the knock-knocks:

Knock! Knock!

Who's There?

Control Freak. Now you say "Control Freak who"!

neroli said...

Lots Of, my kiddos at school would find that one *seriously* funny!