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Looking for Signs of Intelligent Life on Earth
By Flora Morris Brown, Ph.D. | June 30, 2008
I’m always amused at the stories about visitors from out of space seeking intelligent life on Earth. They don’t seem to stay too long. Could it be because they always seem to land in a field somewhere in Texas or Oklahoma.
There are so many instances of people who in spite of breathing, clearly seem to be clueless about the world and Earth around them. And these folks seem to be generously sprinkled all around the USA.
While browsing through blogs recently I discovered a blog by a high school teacher who works with students in honors classes. Her account of the responses she received while discussing a quiz would have amazed me if I hadn’t just retired from 40 years of teaching.
For students to be unaware of what’s going on in local, national and international politics is one thing. But to meet students who are unaware of what’s going in their own lives is even scarier.
A case in point: As part of my duties as a junior high homeroom teacher I asked students to complete and return an information card with basic information. When I noticed that one young man’s card didn’t have anything writen beside Mother’s Name, I called him to my desk. Since it didn’t call for a signature, just a name, I decided to just write it in so I could submit my paperwork.
I asked, “What is your mother’s name?”
He said, “I don’t know.”
I smiled slightly, thinking he was kidding. I repeated the question. “What is your mother’s name”?
“Mama,” he proudly responded.
I was really getting worried. “No, not what do you call her. What is her name?”
“I don’t know,” he insisted.
I quickly cooked up another plan. A risky plan, but a plan nonetheless. “Ok. When your mother’s best friend comes to your house, what does she call your mother?”
“Oh,” he said, “Mary. She calls her ‘Mary.”
“Then that’s her name,” I assured him. I decided to just use his name as her last name for now. I was too exhausted to go through the whole scene again for the last name.
By the way, this young man was 13 years old.
Read the blog article Lights Are On But Nobody’s Home, by the high school English teacher I mentioned above.
What do you think? Have you spotted any signs of intelligent life on Earth? Tell us about it.
Topics: achieving success, what students don't know |