oh and p.s.
I dont think any of us should be required to be neutral. we all have our oppinions for a reason. We all like to promote them.
I promote homeschooling because I believe in it.
I promote John McCains approach to education because I believe its right.
I promote the Bible because I've studied it and it's flawlessly useful in every way.
I promote Jesus, too... that that's okay.
I promote breastfeeding.
I promote gifted programs.
I believe in all these things and find them relevant to gifted kids and all kids.
We are all on here sharing what we find VALUABLE. That's the point. Sharing resources. Sharing what we find valuable. I have seen plenty on here that is against what I believe. Plenty that I don't choose to accept. But it's really okay.
We should all have some freedom of speach here and enjoy it!
All views, whether they be expressed neutrally or ignite passion in some and not others should be allowed.
I guess I disagree with you here. Most of us explicitly do NOT promote things on this board. For example, the homeschoolers tend to say "it's the best option for MY CHILD(REN)" without promoting it for the children of others. In fact, I've seen many posts that explicitly say "what works for me and my kids may not work for yours."
No one here even promotes gifted programs, from what I've read. We discuss them, cite what we see as their good points and bad points, and talk what we see as strengths and weaknesses of other education programs. Yet I don't recall seeing a lot of promotional statements about any one program.
The point here is that we're all aiming for a balanced discussion. We avoid calling one another intolerant and keep the tone even. For me, this is one of the great strengths of this group (that and the extreme displays of intelligence and thoughtfulness that I see in so many of you here!).
I guess I think promoting one idea over another gets in the way of all that. Again, this is what other posters were getting at, in my opinion.
Val
