Image via Wikipedia

So when the marks come round to you, there is the jubilation of success but the equal danger of failure.

Should we change the marking system to encourage a positive approach to examinations?

If we had only the positive approach to tests then people would not fear them. And when we fear and are scared, we make mistakes. Mistakes do not reflect ourselves, but only the pressure we are under. Thus it seems horribly unfair to mark someone ‘down’ for trying.

Trying should be given prescendent over the ‘right’ answer. This perhaps is the preserve of the humanities specialist, but the potential for failure is also what scares away possible great thoughts. If there is only a mark for the right answer and no big red crosses on work makes the us understand what we should be writing about, but also accepts that our thoughts are valid.

The red mark is the worst way to react to a statement written on paper.

The cross is black on a voting paper. The star is yellow. We don’t put a big red cross on anything until we wish to register out greatest contempt for something.

Perhaps we should become more compassionate to marking things. Criticism is good, but beating down all non-conventional ideas would be a crime against freedom of thought.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_%28education%29

When I was a seniot in high school it didn’t matter if kids bought a Bible to school or prayed before they ate. Some other kids may have looked at them strange but it was not frowned upon. We even had Christmas and Easter breaks, do you remember them?

Over the years they have removed God from our schools in almost every way. We now have winter and spring break because Christmas and Easter are considered a religious holiday. You are not permitted to pray or bring a Bible to school because our society today takes offense to something they know nothing about. They have even tried to change the pledge of allegiance because it says ”one nation under God.” Today however was the straw that broke the camels back.

My son was told he was going to be suspended if he wore his cross necklace again! Why you might ask because I sure did. The answer is simple really it is a gang sign. Do you believe that! since when is showing a slight sign of your faith make you affiliated with a gang?

Maybe we should have not ever taken God out of our schools. What harm did learning or expressing your beliefs do to anyone? When i was going to school, even public school, there was no worries of school shootings or bombings. Do I think taking God out of schools has mad things worse? Not necessarily. But some kids need to feel accepted even if it is by a “higher being”. I think that telling them what they believe will not be accepted is very wrong. Telling a child that you are affiliated with a gang because you wear a religious symbol is going way to far.

In private school things are just like high school except that it is smaller and that you are free to express your religion. There are still drugs, gangs, cliques, even kids that go to juvinille detention, but you are never told that you can not believe in something or you couldn’t wear something because it might offend someone. You ere actually aloud to be yourself.

Back to the cross is a gang symbol. maybe I am wrong but I got all my kids crosses, they are not huge or gaudy, just a simple gold cross and I told my children they are aloud to wear them, and if the schools have a problem with it to call me. Not only is this wrong in more ways than one it is discriminating and I for one am putting my foot down. I let enough things be controlled in my children’s lives by a system that is out of control and it will stop here. I have to watch what colors my kids wear to school, if they have hoodies on and this year they have gone as far as to say that the back packs with the thick shoulder straps are not allowed. They have to have the ones with ropes straps I will be damned if I will allow them to tell my kids that they are in a gang because they have a small gold cross on. What happened to freedom of speech and religion?

Maybe I should not be as upset as i am but really a cross? I have two boys who have crosses tattooed on their arm does that make them gang leaders? What is so wrong with God or Whoever your higher being may be anyway? I knock no religion, I have no right to say who is right and who is wrong but why should we give anyone the power to take away our constitutional right?

The Fairy Hough outside Fools Nook. Photo by Gary Tacagni.

Belief in the Fairies is far stronger in rural areas, and in some places in the Peak district farmers still leave a bowl of milk outside at night for the Fairies, if they do not do this they run the risk of the cow drying up and not giving milk.

This rock I have been told has some connection with the Fairy Folk, it is found on the far side of the Roaches in the Staffordshire Moorlands. Photo by Gary Tacagni.

This is known as the Fairy stone which can be found next to the old road known as the Earlsway, which the Earls of Chester used when travelling to the now ruined Abbey known as Dieulacres. Photo by Gary Tacagni.

In the Dane valley it used to be tradition to leave food for the Fairies in a field the night before it was due to be ploughed by the farmer. Out on the Ashbourne road the other side of the town called Leek there is a place known as the Manifold valley, the high rocky sides of this valley make it difficult for sunlight to reach its bottom, it is said that Fairies light the way for the traveller through this ravine, perhaps these are Will O’ the Wisp known locally as Jenny Burnt Tail.

A view down into the Manifold Valley. Photo by Gary Tacagni.

At Ludchurch in the ancient Backforest which can be found on the far side of the Roaches in the Staffordshire Moorlands there is a legend there that the Fairies danced at dawn outside this natural chasm, also the cave which is at the southern end of the chasm but is now sealed up is said to be the entrance to the otherworld.

Do the Fairies dance here outside the entrance to Ludchurch? Photo by Gary Tacagni.

One of the Christian explanations for the existence of Fairies is that they are fallen Angels seduced by Satan. When the Angel Micheal evicted Satan’s hosts from Heaven they were followed by countless innocents, and when God saw Heaven was emptying he raised his hand and closed the gates, but some had descended to Earths mountains and woods.

This ancient cross at Mottram St Andrew in the county of Cheshire, U.K. is a place where the Fairies or “Good people” danced around at a certain time each year. Photo by Gary Tacagni.

Another Christian explanation for Fairies was that Adam and Lilith his first wife had so many children that they were ashamed. When God asked Lilith to bring the children to him she hid half of them, but God knew and said all those that are hidden should be “hidden from all Mankind”; thus they became known as the Huldre or hidden people, perhaps it is these that we know as Fairies.

Like the cross at Mottram St Andrews, this one can be found at Gawsworth and was also used by the Fairy Folk as a meeting place and used to dance around. Photo by Gary Tacagni.

This tree in Windmill wood at alderley Edge in Cheshire is said to have a connection with the Fairy Folk, when the tree finally dies so the connection will be broken. Photo by Gary Tacagni.

There is an area between Ipstones and Bradnop near Bottom Lane which was said at one time to be the part of the county which held the title of having the most Fairies. There are several small farms called Lady meadows, which it seemed possessed the ideal conditions for this race of small beings, the subsoil is clay and the ground is wet, except in dry weather. These beings were said to find lost items in exchange for cake e.t.c and were said to prevent Hedgehogs from sucking the milk of cows during the night, presumably when they were lying down (lol). They were encouraged to come into the houses using presents of tobacco and food, but if angered for any reason they could cause mischief and create havoc. The species is rapidly dying out now, it seems this modern way of life which is lived so fast is causing their way of life to come to an end, I am sure this world will be a poorer place when they have all gone. Perhaps they have not all died out yet though, as a tiny clay pipe has been found in recent times in a Cheshire field still smouldering. The photograph below is of Ladymeadows, perhaps one of the last sanctuaries of the Fairy Folk.

Ladymeadows. Photo by Gary Tacagni.