<story><title>An alarm about the influence of standardized tests on American society</title><url>https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-the-u-s-education-system-producing-a-society-of-ldquo-smart-fools-rdquo/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>SeeDave</author><text>&amp;gt;2. We will not laugh at or make fun of a person&amp;#x27;s mistakes nor use sarcasm or putdowns.&lt;p&gt;I would have appreciated this as my public school experience was rife with negativity, sarcasm, snark, jeering, insulting, etc.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m not sure what causes such anti-social behavior but I dream of a day where all students can be kind, considerate, polite, and supportive of one another.</text></item><item><author>jbscpa</author><text>My spouse is a classroom educator.&lt;p&gt;Her school participates in Great Expectations program.
&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.greatexpectations.org&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.greatexpectations.org&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is a character development program 
&amp;quot;that provides teachers and administrators with the skills needed to create harmony and excitement within the school atmosphere&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;There are 8 Expectations at the elementary level
1. We will value one another as unique special individuals
2. We will not laugh at or make fun of a person&amp;#x27;s mistakes nor use sarcasm or putdowns.
3. We will use good manners, saying, &amp;quot;please,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;thank you&amp;quot;
and &amp;quot;excuse me&amp;quot; and allow others to go first.
and so forth.
&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.greatexpectations.org&amp;#x2F;expectations&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.greatexpectations.org&amp;#x2F;expectations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion when the U.S. abandoned the judeo&amp;#x2F;christian ethic in the late twentieth century character and wisdom training was denigrated as &amp;quot;old fashioned&amp;quot; and unnecessary.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>oblio</author><text>Having been brought up in a positive environment, yet full of sarcasm, I&amp;#x27;m not sure I buy this argument.&lt;p&gt;Yes, there must be a balance. But sarcasm and negativity are part of our everyday life as adults and we should learn how to handle them.</text></comment>
<story><title>An alarm about the influence of standardized tests on American society</title><url>https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-the-u-s-education-system-producing-a-society-of-ldquo-smart-fools-rdquo/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>SeeDave</author><text>&amp;gt;2. We will not laugh at or make fun of a person&amp;#x27;s mistakes nor use sarcasm or putdowns.&lt;p&gt;I would have appreciated this as my public school experience was rife with negativity, sarcasm, snark, jeering, insulting, etc.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m not sure what causes such anti-social behavior but I dream of a day where all students can be kind, considerate, polite, and supportive of one another.</text></item><item><author>jbscpa</author><text>My spouse is a classroom educator.&lt;p&gt;Her school participates in Great Expectations program.
&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.greatexpectations.org&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.greatexpectations.org&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is a character development program 
&amp;quot;that provides teachers and administrators with the skills needed to create harmony and excitement within the school atmosphere&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;There are 8 Expectations at the elementary level
1. We will value one another as unique special individuals
2. We will not laugh at or make fun of a person&amp;#x27;s mistakes nor use sarcasm or putdowns.
3. We will use good manners, saying, &amp;quot;please,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;thank you&amp;quot;
and &amp;quot;excuse me&amp;quot; and allow others to go first.
and so forth.
&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.greatexpectations.org&amp;#x2F;expectations&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.greatexpectations.org&amp;#x2F;expectations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;In my opinion when the U.S. abandoned the judeo&amp;#x2F;christian ethic in the late twentieth century character and wisdom training was denigrated as &amp;quot;old fashioned&amp;quot; and unnecessary.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>merpnderp</author><text>My school wasn&amp;#x27;t rife with it. Maybe only half my teachers used sarcasm, mockery and negativity towards students.</text></comment>