Wednesday - September 07, 2011
Free web course on the Constitution
I was listening to Rush Limbaugh today and he mentioned that Hillsdale College is running their second annual Intro to the Constitution web course:
On September 15, in observance and celebration of Constitution Day, Hillsdale College will hold our second annual Constitution Day Celebration, this year featuring Congressman Paul Ryan, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer, members of the Hillsdale College faculty, and other distinguished guests. Once you register for this event – it’s free – you’ll be able to watch all of these speeches and panels live from your home or office. Even if you are unable to watch on the day of the event, we will make all of the videos available to view in the weeks following.
Then, for the next five weeks after our Constitution Day Celebration, we invite you back to this site for a special lecture series we are calling the “Introduction to the Constitution.” Included in what we will discuss is:
What the framers of the Constitution understood about the document they were writing, especially its fundamental principles true of human beings at all times and in all places;
Why the fundamental features of the American Constitution are representation and separation of powers;
Why the key to a republican form of government is the vibrancy, size and independence of this private society.This program will serve as the basis for future educational programs on Constitution and related topics, including a more complete Online Constitution Class, of which this series will serve as a basis. We will be asking for your participation and feedback along the way to help us improve our efforts.
If you have not already, please take a few minutes to register for this program, the Constitution Day Celebration and the “Introduction to the Constitution” series. And please share this information with others – your friends, family, and colleagues who, like you, understand the vital need for restoring an understanding and love of the Constitution in our great nation.
We look forward to your partnership in this important work.
Best regards,
Dr. Larry Arnn
President, Hillsdale College
If you are interested, visit Rush For Hillsdale to sign up.
It’s free (yes, you will be asked for a donation), but I’d hurry. I signed up as soon as Rush mentioned it. While testing the link, I’ve found that the Hillsdale servers are overwhelmed.
Posted by Christopher
on 09/07/2011 at 02:56 PM
Filed Under: • Education • Patriotism •
• Comments (0)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Monday - August 08, 2011
How Obama Fixes Education
There is simply no problem that can’t be solved by moving the goalposts right over the horizon.
Obama Administration Exempting Schools From Federal Law’s Testing Mandate
State and local education officials have been begging the federal government for relief from student testing mandates in the federal No Child Left Behind law, but school starts soon and Congress still hasn’t answered the call.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan says he will announce a new waiver system Monday to give schools a break.
The Obama administration requested a revision more than a year ago. Duncan said another school year is about to start and state education officials have told him they can’t keep waiting for relief from the mandates.
“I can’t overemphasize how loudly the outcry is to do something now,” Duncan said.
Duncan has warned that 82 percent of U.S. schools could be labeled failures next year if No Child Left Behind is not changed. Education experts have questioned that estimate, but state officials report a growing number of schools facing sanctions under the law.
Are you kidding? Fire the whole damn lot of them, throw out the unions, throw out the lefty namby-pamby touchy-feely bullshit, and get back to actually teaching. My bet is that improvements could be made overnight. We’ve had nearly a decade of this program, with all sorts of milestones and tracking and accountability markers. Why are we hearing this bullshit now? How dare they! Why are the schools that haven’t made the grade for years even still open? Why is their a single carryover teacher or administrator working there? They all should have been fired years ago. But oh no. Instead, the first cheat was to redefine the meaning of “proficiency” and to set the bar nice and low in most of the states. Then a long term plan to eventually someday meet those “tough” standards went in ... in other words, while the school systems have been busy Hating Bush, they’ve been busy spending trainloads of federal dollars, and doing just about dog-squat to make things better. And now they want a Note From Mom getting them out of gym? Hella no!
9 years is 2/3 of an entire scholastic generation, from 1st grade to high school. The Class of 2014 ought to be bleedin geniuses as far as I’m concerned. At the very least they should be acing these exams. It’s not like NCLB is all that demanding. No, it’s because our education system sucks, and almost nobody in it has made any real effort to improve things a jot. All they’ve done is increased spending, given themselves great big raises, and loaded the school systems down with excess management. And all those billions? Up in smoke. Don’t even ask, because no paper trail will ever be forthcoming. Teaching? What’s that??
And what of the tens of millions of students? Will they now not graduate? Or will they get their slip of paper, and never even have the smallest shot at college or the jobs market, because they can’t read, write, or do even simple arithmetic. I don’t blame Bush. And I don’t blame the students. I blame the school systems, and I blame the parents.
No Child Left Behind is exactly what the federal Department of Education should be doing: setting national standards, and then going away. No money to hand out, no involvement in state affairs, no keeping of statistics. This is the test. You take it in the 4th grade, and if you pass it you go to the 5th grade. There is another test you take in the 8th grade; pass that and you get to go to high school. There should be a final one for would-be graduates. Pass that, and you can have your diploma. Fail any of the tests and you are automatically enrolled in intensive summer school, at the end of which you get to take the level exam again. Pass it and move forward. Otherwise you get left back and have to repeat 4th, 8th, or 12th grade all over again.
Yes, under the Drew Plan you could have 21 year old “kids” graduating high school. Gee too bad. At least they’ll know how to read and count change.
Naturally, it’s only fair that if teachers have more than X% of failing kids in their group, then they lose their jobs as well. Might have to set up some kind of entrance exam to make sure all teachers not only know their subjects, but know how to teach.
Posted by Drew458
on 08/08/2011 at 03:57 PM
Filed Under: • Education •
• Comments (3)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Thursday - July 07, 2011
School Cheating, Part 2
I couldn’t say it better myself: take 3 minutes and go and read
America’s public education system has been a sham since those very first look-the-other-way decisions were made by social-engineering elites. The biggest lie of all is that liberals will say to their dying day they did it for the children.
Never has such a shameful pile of self-serving poppycock passed for “love.”
I still remember from the ’70s a very prominent ad for charitable giving. The United Negro College Fund solicited donations to support the system of historically black colleges with this haunting statement: A mind is a terrible thing to waste. It was so true then. It is still just as true.
And sadly, the vast majority of those Atlanta school children cheated out of their educations were black. Self-serving, self-advancing, self-deceiving teachers and administrators have succeeded in wasting more genuine human potential than one mind can possibly even conceive — all of it sacrificed on the phony altar of liberals’ vainglorious pretense. If this isn’t a crime against humanity I truly cannot imagine what would be.
If those administrators and most of the teachers had been white, this cheating scandal would be now denounced by liberals as nothing short of “racist terrorism.” But since the highly acclaimed superintendent is black and originally from Jamaica to boot, this whole scandal will be whitewashed in liberal double-speak and individualized in the extreme. Atlanta’s black mayor can get away with calling the release of the scandalous GBI report “a dark day for the city.” A white mayor would have been rhetorically tarred and feathered for such a blatantly “racist” statement.
I need a font with bold flashing arrows and a built in air raid siren. Bold just doesn’t cut it.
Appearances matter more than content. Period. Video really did kill the radio star.
Hey, wait, she said “tarbrush”? That’s raaaaaacist!!!
Posted by Drew458
on 07/07/2011 at 08:16 PM
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Education • Corruption and Greed •
• Comments (0)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Wednesday - July 06, 2011
Teaching The Wrong Lesson
State inquiry into Atlanta test scores finds widespread cheating
by Philissa CramerReporter Maura Walz’s journey from Gotham Schools to Georgia placed her in the South just in time to cover the education scandal of the century— or at least the summer.
Atlanta’s steadily increasing state test scores were, at least in part, driven by cheating, according to investigators appointed by former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. Today, Perdue’s successor, Nathan Deal, released the results of the two-year investigation.
Investigators looked at more than half of Atlanta’s 100 public schools and found evidence of cheating in the vast majority of them. They found that more than a third of the city’s principals had knowledge of or input into cheating at their schools; thousands of students had been denied extra help after being given scores they didn’t deserve; and “a culture of fear, intimidation, and retaliation” inhibited whistle-blowing.
State officials say criminal charges are likely to follow for some of the 180 teachers, principals, and district officials named in the report.
America’s biggest teacher and principal cheating scandal unfolds in Atlanta
At least 178 teachers and principals in Atlanta Public Schools cheated to raise student scores on high-stakes standardized tests, according to a report from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Award-winning gains by Atlanta students were based on widespread cheating by 178 named teachers and principals, said Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal on Tuesday. His office released a report from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation that names 178 teachers and principals – 82 of whom confessed – in what’s likely the biggest cheating scandal in US history.
This appears to be the largest of dozens of major cheating scandals, unearthed across the country. The allegations point an ongoing problem for US education, which has developed an ever-increasing dependence on standardized tests.
The report on the Atlanta Public Schools, released Tuesday, indicates a “widespread” conspiracy by teachers, principals and administrators to fix answers on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT), punish whistle-blowers, and hide improprieties.
It “confirms our worst fears,” says Mayor Kasim Reed. “There is no doubt that systemic cheating occurred on a widespread basis in the school system.” The news is “absolutely devastating,” said Brenda Muhammad, chairwoman of the Atlanta school board. “It’s our children. You just don’t cheat children.”
On its face, the investigation tarnishes the 12-year tenure of Superintendent Beverly Hall, who was named US Superintendent of the Year in 2009 largely because of the school system’s reported gains – especially in inner-city schools. She has not been directly implicated, but investigators said she likely knew, or should have known, what was going on. In her farewell address to teachers in June, Hall for the first time acknowledged wrongdoing in the district, but blamed other administrators.
The Atlanta cheating scandal also offers the first most comprehensive view yet into a growing number of teacher-cheating allegations across the US, reports of which reached a rate of two to three a week in June, says Robert Schaeffer, a spokesman for the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, which advocates against high-stakes testing.
It’s also a tacit indictment, critics say, of politicians putting all bets for improving education onto high-stakes tests that punish and reward students, teachers, and principals for test scores.
The 55,000-student Atlanta public school system rose in national prominence during the 2000s, as test scores steadily rose and the district received notice and funding from the Broad Foundation and the Gates Foundation. But behind that rise, the state found, were teachers and principals in 44 schools erasing and changing test answers.
I seem to recall a whole lot of attitude about “teaching to the test” when Bush unveiled his “No Child Left Behind” program. It looks like the teachers - union employees all, I guarantee - took the easy way out. Lots of boo-hoo that the federal government wasn’t drowning the schools in free funding (which isn’t their job, nor is it within their proper power to do so). Looks like the lazy lefty loons found an easy way out. At least until they got caught. Why put in any extra effort to actually do your job properly when you can just go in later and fudge the grades? Besides, look at all the free money the government is willing to dish out as bonuses when the scores go up?
I hope this is just the tip of the iceberg. I hope that there is a HUGE public furor. I hope that investigations go on in every school district in the country, and that cheating teachers and administrators are fired and prosecuted. And when it turns out that the vast majority of that cheating happened in “inner city schools” - a code phrase we all understand - and was done by left leaning school employees of any shade, that people will make the connection. These children were ripped off. The taxpayers were ripped off. We need a purge, nationwide. Let’s start with the unions and the curriculum and go from there.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/06/2011 at 09:04 AM
Filed Under: • Education •
• Comments (1)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Tuesday - June 14, 2011
as I recall, hitler said he could change the world if given the youth
Didn’t he ask for the youth because it was too late to train (or should that be brainwash in modern terms) the adults? Although for awhile he managed that okay.
So in another way, this reminds me of that. There will be a generation growing up making the new laws and rules society will live by.
Not everyone is happy about this however, and they’re making their voices heard. But I can tell you from the things I have seen myself, not read in the morning papers, that the kiddies are being well schooled and indoctrinated in this subject in my particular corner of the world.
Here’s what the kiddies are being groomed to believe. And they damn sure do.
One national curriculum module for seven-year-olds, called Solar, says they must: Understand in simple terms how climate change will affect wildlife, using the example of polar bears.
Think about positive ways we can act now to slow down climate change.
Understand that there are forms of energy production that don’t produce carbon dioxide, such as solar.
A list of vocabulary that the youngsters must know includes: global warming, climate change, carbon dioxide and solar power.
Suggested activities include preparing a written or verbal news flash explaining the terms ‘climate change’ and ‘global warming’ with specific reference to the lives of polar bears and the Arctic.
Questions the class must ask:
Will climate change affect us?
If the ice melts what will happen to the seas?
Will this change where we live?
Posted by peiper
on 06/14/2011 at 09:45 AM
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • Education •
• Comments (0)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Wednesday - June 08, 2011
playing soldier and making bang now unacceptable
A couple of weeks ago a little boy in school was reprimanded and sent home because he made a gun with his hand and fingers as so many of us did in saner daze.
I’m spelling it with a ‘z’ because in this case, as in so many others, “DAZE” is applicable.
I suppose that if an adult did that during an argument with someone and things got hot, and one guy did that, it could be seen as a threat. Likewise, kids should not be allowed to make that sort of gesture at their teachers.
But come on, little kids at play making a hand gun and playing cowboys and indigenous people or cops and the alleged suspect shouldn’t be seen by adults as a sign of future crime and evil doing. But apparently some do. This is the irrational world we inhabit these days. Can’t say I like it much but nothing I can do about it except bitch.
Take a look.
School reprimands seven-year-old boys for playing ‘army game’A primary school has been condemned by parents for disciplining two seven-year-old boys after teachers ruled playing army games amounted to “threatening behaviour”.
By Murray Wardrop
Staff at Nathaniel Newton Infant School in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, reprimanded the two boys after they were seen making pistol shapes with their fingers.
Teachers broke up the imaginary classroom shoot-out and contacted the youngsters’ parents, warning them that such behaviour would not be tolerated.The school, which caters for around 180 pupils aged four to seven, said the gun gestures were “unacceptable” and were not permitted at school.
However, parents have described the reaction as “outrageous”, while family groups warned that “wrapping children in cotton wool” damages their upbringing.
Defending its policy, a spokesman for Nathaniel Newton Infant School said: “Far from stopping children from playing we actively encourage it.“However a judgement call has to be made if playing turns into unacceptable behaviour.
“The issue here was about hand gestures being made in the shape of a gun towards members of staff which is understandably unacceptable, particularly in the classroom.”A father of one of the boys who was disciplined said: “It’s ridiculous. How can you tell a seven-year-old boy he cannot play guns and armies with his friends.
“Another parent was called for the same reason. We were told to reprimand our son for this and to tell him he cannot play ‘guns’ anymore.
“The teacher said the boys should be reprimanded for threatening behaviour which would not be tolerated at the school.”The community primary school was rated as “good” overall in an Ofsted report published last year, but warned that children oughtt to have greater freedom to play.
The inspectors praised pupils’ behaviour as “outstanding”, telling them in a letter: “Your behaviour is excellent and you work very well together.”
They added that they had asked teachers to “make it easier for the children to play and learn outside”.Parenting groups condemned the school’s reaction to the children’s game of soldiers, warning that it risked causing a rift between the school and parents.
Margaret Morrissey, founder of the family lobby group Parents Outloud, said: “It is madness to try to indoctrinate children aged seven with political correctness in this way.“Children have played cowboys and Indians like this for generations and it does them absolutely no harm whatsoever.
“In my experience, it is the children who are banned from playing innocent games like this who then go on to develop a fascination with guns.“We cannot wrap our children in cotton wool. Allowing them to take a few risks and play games outside is an essential part of growing up.
“By reprimanding these youngsters at this age, the school makes a very big issue out of something trivial, which will divide the parents and teachers.”
The case follows a string of similar incidents in which children’s playtime activities have been curbed by overzealous staff over health and safety concerns.
Earlier this year, a Liverpool school banned youngsters from playing football with anything other than sponge balls amid fears youngsters might get hurt.
Other traditional playground games such as British bulldog and even leapfrog are prohibited at 30 per cent 10 per cent of schools respectively, a study by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers union found.
Marcus Jones, the Tory MP for Nuneaton, said: “It is quite apparent that the seven-year-olds would be playing an innocent game.
“This is political correctness gone mad. When I was that age that type of game was common place and I don’t remember anyone coming to any harm from it.”
A bit of confusion here I believe. Either the kiddies were brought up due to disrespectful behavior towards staff, or because they were playing army/soldier make believe. It read like both. How do you see it?
Posted by peiper
on 06/08/2011 at 09:22 AM
Filed Under: • Education •
• Comments (6)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Saturday - April 16, 2011
test. what state requires by law the teaching of fag history?
Oh good grief.
Can anyone say ... Reading, Writing, Rithmahtik? Jeesh.
Maybe we won’t be going back to Calif. after all.
What a load of rubbish.
And take a look at the list of all the ‘special’ groups that must now be recognized. It isn’t enough to recognize individual achievement and honor those who contribute. No. Now we have to recognize and pay homage to the group they come from.
Fair enuff but I don’t see Jews on that list and heaven knows that group has contributed out of all proportion to it’s numbers. Who do I sue?
Didn’t I tell BMEWS I wasn’t certain Ca. would be where I wanted to be with Gov. Moonbeam in office.
The worst part? We still could end up there. My head hurts and reading this hasn’t done anything for the stomach either.
California set to teach gay history and rights in schoolsCalifornia is set to become the first US state to require the teaching of gay history and rights.
By Alex Spillius, Washington
Children would take lessons on issues affecting gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people, with schools granted discretion about what age to start the lessons.
The law was passed by the state’s senate and is likely to pass the assembly easily, which is also controlled by the Democrats, before being signed by Governor Jerry Brown.
The legislation, sponsored by Democrat Mark Leno of San Francisco, passed on a 23-14 party line vote.
“We are second-class citizens and children are listening,” he said. “When they see their teachers don’t step up to the plate when their classmate is being harassed literally to death, they are listening and they get the message that there is something wrong with those people.”
Republican state Senator Doug La Malfa opposed the bill saying: “I’m deeply troubled kids would have to contemplate at a very, very early age, when many of us are teaching abstinence ... what is sexuality.”California law already requires schools to cover the contributions to the state and nation of:
Women
African Americans
Mexican Americans
Entrepreneurs
Asian Americans
European Americans
American Indians AND
LABOR ACTIVISTS!
AND
A new bill will also add:
The Disabled, to the list.
How many states will follow this crap I wonder. And here we thought the Brit govt. was loopy. I guess my home state now becomes UK Pacific.
What q queer fuckin world we inhabit.
Posted by peiper
on 04/16/2011 at 10:48 AM
Filed Under: • Education • Gay Gay Gay! •
• Comments (3)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Sunday - April 10, 2011
A Sex-Ed story
I was just reading Dennis Prager’s column The $50,000 Orgasm. For some reason it reminded me of my first time...the first time I was introduced to ‘Sex Ed’.
You see, I never had to take ‘Sex Ed’. I took Health and Anatomy in high school. My sisters weren’t so lucky. They had to take ‘Sex Ed’.
Now BMEWS and BMEWSetts, I’m pretty certain that we could all figure sex out in the back seat of a Chevy. Especially if the movie sucked. No pun intended.
Back to my story.
So, there I was, sans a date, at a high school dance in 1977. My health teacher was one of the chaperones. We were standing together watching the action and drinking the sadly un-spiked punch. My health teacher asked me:
“Do you have a younger sister?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Is she in my Sex Ed class?”
“I think so. Why?”
“I’m still chuckling over an answer she gave on today’s test.”
“Oh?” Note how non-committal I was…
“The question was ‘what is the average amount a man ejaculates during orgasm.’”
Mind you, I’m a) 17 years old, b) we’re talking about my sister, c) who measures these things?
I fell into it. I had to ask. “What was her answer?”
“She put down ‘a half-pint’.”
I thought about this possible view into my sister’s thoughts. How could I use this? But I finally answered: “That’s my sister, always expecting more than a man can give.”
For some reason my health teacher doubled over in laughter. I was saved from further conversation by a hot cheerleader who decided she was drunk enough to dance with me.
Posted by Christopher
on 04/10/2011 at 10:38 PM
Filed Under: • Education • Family • Humor • Sex •
• Comments (3)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Wednesday - April 06, 2011
Larnin me some stuff
ISOPYCNAL ADVECTION
Whereas convection means the vertical movement or circulation of a fluid (air, liquid, magma), advection means the horizontal movement.
Similar to the other iso-s (isotherm - areas of equal temperature, isobar - areas of equal pressure, etc), an isopycnal is an area of equal density. Well, potential density actually, which is what the actual density of the isopycnic (no, that isn’t an outdoors lunch for one) substance would be if it were at a standard pressure and temperature. And to be completely correct, any “iso” is merely the mapped line that shows the edge of any such area, but common usage allows the line term to be used to refer to the whole thing.
We all know that pure water is incompressible; it’s liquid state density does not change when subject to pressure or temperature changes except when it is at the very edge of state transition (about to freeze or boil), when it’s density decreases. This is not the case for salt water. The more salt in the water - it’s salinity - the denser it is, given equal temperatures. Surprise surprise, while the salinity of the oceans are fairly constant, the salinity of the various seas around the edges can vary significantly. This is because many of them are fed by freshwater rivers. The Baltic Sea and the Caspian Sea are much less salty than the Atlantic Ocean. So there can be areas of less dense less salty water that float over areas of more dense more salty water. These areas can be measured and plotted, and because they tend to layer they are called haloclines. “halo” from halide, meaning salt. “cline”, meaning layer.
There are several different clines involved with large bodies of water, such as thermoclines and chemoclines. And yes, there is such a thing as a pycnocline; water stratified into layers based on density.
A rough example of isopycnal advection would be to take a gallon of well mixed paint and to pour it out on the dining table. Because the density of the table top is much greater than the density of the paint, the paint flows out to the sides, horizontally. Don’t try this example at home, or you’ll be having your own isopicnic in the doghouse for a long time.
I have no idea how I got there, but I found myself reading the Wiki page on the Black Sea. The Black Sea is an odd place, a relatively shallow (7200’ max) brackish lake with a significant underwater shelf mostly on the north side. It is only slightly connected to the world’s oceans via the narrow Straits of Bosporus at Istanbul. Fed by several of the major European rivers, the Black Sea has lots of isopycnal advection. The fresh water comes in at the surface, floats only around the sides of the sea, and sneaks out into the Aegean and from there into the Mediterranean via the Bosporus, and then the tiniest sea in the world called the Sea of Marmara, and then through that little passage there by the Dardanelles (the Hellespont) at the feet of ancient Troy. Meanwhile, while the fresh water is flowing out, salt water is flowing in. The Aegean Sea is a bit of an isolated zone in the northeast corner of the Mediterranean, so because of less mixing due to gentler currents it is slightly less salty to begin with. Quite a bit of mixing goes on in the Marmara and it’s two connecting rivers, so the salt water that does get back to the Black Sea is considerably less salty and sinks right to the bottom. And it stays there. Forever. The Black Sea is one of those few bodies of water that is actually anoxic (oxygen limited), and this is all due to the isopycnal advection. Nicely aerated fresh water comes in, and supports abundant life, but the deeper you go the deader it gets. A special kind of bacteria - an extremophile - lives at the medium depths (~200m) right at the pycnocline, and eats up all the remaining nutrients and uses up all the remaining oxygen. It poops out hydrogen sulfide, which sinks into the local abyss. So not only is the deep water of the Black Sea devoid of oxygen and life, it’s also poisonous. If there were a massive earthquake or a big meteor strike that brought those deep waters to the surface, the gas released could kill half the continent. And it’s all completely natural and humans had nothing at all to do with it.
Because the Black Sea has only one drainage point and a small one at that, it can be thought of as one of the world’s largest lakes. Actually, it has been a lake in the geologically recent past, more recently than the last Ice Age. Human dwellings have been found in a number of areas on the northern shelf, so what was once dry land is now 100m underwater. Anyway, the term for lakes where the surface water does not mix with the deeper water is meromictic, and that applies here as well. So water comes in, flows on top due to isopycnal advection, and flows out, and the end result is a meromictic body of water.
Ok, time for recess!!
Posted by Drew458
on 04/06/2011 at 10:01 AM
Filed Under: • Education •
• Comments (5)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Saturday - March 19, 2011
Thank who?
A couple of days ago I got an email from my high school buddy in Afghanistan:
If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you can read this in English, thank a veteran.
American by birth, Soldier by choice.
Sounds good, doesn’t it?
Then I started thinking about the underlying assumptions…
Here’s my reply: I’ve edited the names so as to protect my friend.
I hate to disagree. If I can read that, I’ll thank my parents. My mom used to sit me on her lap and read to me. By kindergarten I knew the alphabet and most of the phonetic sounds.
If I can read that in English and not German? Well, guess I’ll have to thank Grandpa Burgdorf, a first-generation German who ended up fighting in WWII. Admittedly, in the Pacific theatre. Guess it didn’t take too much time to conceive Mom. He was on Navy leave, Mom was born in ‘43. He wasn’t discharged until VJ Day. Family legend says he didn’t even see his only child until after VJ Day.
The fact that I can’t read it in Spanish? Thank Davy Crockett, Col. Travis, David Bowie, Sam Houston, President James Polk, future President Zachary Taylor, Gen. Winfield Scott…
The fact I can’t read it in French? Thank Gen. James Wolfe in 1759. Brits beat the French.
Hmmm, guess I should thank veterans.
Do I thank teachers? Yes. Do I thank members of the NEA union? NO!
Why?
_____, I married a girl with one child still at home. I had to do major tutoring to get him to graduate high school. I complained constantly to the school administration, and the Dayton Board of Education. I showed the letters from the functionally illiterate English teachers. Then I’d get calls from those teachers in the middle of the night threatening me. Ditto for the social studies teachers. I give the math teachers a pass; I couldn’t find that they were negligent or incompetent. My step-son just needed more ‘instruction’. (It’s in quotes because I still do not believe he couldn’t do it, he just didn’t want to. So he ended up with more instruction and homework from me. For once, his mother backed me.)
My point is that they weren’t teachers, they were incompetent union thugs pulling down a paycheck twice mine, and I didn’t get summers off.
I remember one time me and my wife met with the school superintendent and his staff. The subject was ‘bullies’. Not what I called them, what I called them was far less civil. Basically, there was a small group of ‘students’ whose goal was to disrupt classes. Classes my step-son was in, and having trouble with. He wasn’t their target.
My question: ‘Why are they not expelled for disrupting classes?’
Answer - from school superintendent Franklin––can’t remember if that was his first or last name. All I do remember is that he moved on to be superintendent of Washington DC schools. I’m sure you saw a huge improvement during his tenure in Washington!
Anyway, his answer was: “They have a right to be educated too.”
Translation: We need them to be enrolled so as to collect state and federal funds for the government school system.
Christopher
My point? Thank the parents who care enough. The NEA would have you believe the country would go to hell without them. Funny. The United States got along just fine without any unions, much less a teacher’s union.
Personally, my opinion is this: If you graduate high school, you are qualified to teach your children, or any other children, to high school level. If the teachers’ union objects, (you’re not qualified to teach) then they are providing a lousy product. You should sue the NEA, and individual teachers, for false advertising.
At the very least.
Posted by Christopher
on 03/19/2011 at 09:56 PM
Filed Under: • Education •
• Comments (4)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Friday - March 18, 2011
Momma Moonbat
Oh God, how many times have you seen that damn video with the little schoolboy bullying the bigger kid, who finally runs out of patience and body slams the little bastard? It’s everywhere. And what gives me hope about the human race is that, no matter what the hand wringing namby-pamby talking heads on the tube are saying, the whole damn PLANET is saying “good for the big kid, the little d-b had it coming, I would have slammed him again had it been me!” which gives me a small hope that all this PC indoctrination may not be quite so effective after all.
But now the mother of the little twerp is saddling up her high horse and trying to take it for a ride, demanding an apology that her son the bully got his ass handed to him. And the entire world’s reaction is pretty much the same: Go eFf Yourself. Right on baby, right on. Over 1100 comments on this one link alone, and at least 8/10 express that view.
Mother of Bully Body-Slammed in Video Demands Apology From Her Son’s Victim
The mother of an Australian bully who’s become an Internet sensation for being body-slammed on video by one of his victims says she wants an apology.
Footage of the fight shows seventh-grader Ritchard Gale tormenting, shoving and punching 10th-grader Casey Heynes at Chifley College in St. Marys North before the much-larger Heynes body slams Gale and walks away.
But Gale’s mother, Tina, says she and her family are the victims, now that the video has gone viral, and she says Heynes owes her family an apology.
“We don’t need this posted everywhere,” she told Australia’s Seven Network on Wednesday. “I would like him to apologize.”
Tina said she while was “shocked” at Ritchard’s behavior, she didn’t think he deserved to be slammed to the ground. Neither boy suffered serious injuries in the fight.
“Violence is never the answer!”, well true, except when violence is also the question.
Posted by Drew458
on 03/18/2011 at 10:01 AM
Filed Under: • Education •
• Comments (5)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Wednesday - March 09, 2011
SKOOL DAZE - SKOOL DAZE … an unsettling update …
English pancake breakfast and then ham and lots of coffee with Bailey’s Irish Cream, not too much of that, and I believe I may be set for the day.
Back on the third of this month I posted something I called Skool Daze (and benefits) and a few of our regular commenters had some things to say.
Like cbullitt who says;
Wow. Learning how to use the phone to be a beggar is the same as physics? Now I know how those Climate Scientists got their degrees.
And Rich K always cracks me up with things like;
HEHE. OMG, Im laughing so hard at this I think Ive wet myself.
So exactly HOW long will it be till Britannia sinks below the waves????
Our Wardmom had a lot to say on that post of March third but I’ll just quote this line. For now.
And how does it benefit the kids, the society and the future to limit their minds and education to learning out how to fill out Nanny State forms?
Well folks ... as the great Jolson once remarked. “ You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.” In our case, you ain’t read anything like the following yet. Or have you?
I’m saving the most gross for the last. In the meantime, take a look at this.
Not exactly a new issue here but this came up only yesterday so another school joins the madness. Or perhaps not? You decide.
(£1 worth approx. $1.60)
School under fire for offering nine-year-old pupils £1 ‘bribes’ to attend extra lessons
By KATE LOVEYSPUPILS as young as ten are being ‘bribed’ to attend extra lessons in a desperate effort to improve a primary school’s exam results.
The under-performing school has resorted to paying youngsters £1 every time they attend 45-minute cramming sessions before regular lessons begin.
The workshops in reading, writing and mathematics are held between 8am and 8.45am three days a week and are designed to get pupils through national exams in May.
But the tactic has met with dismay among education experts.
A spokesman for the ATL teaching union said: ‘It is desperately, desperately sad that schools attach such high stakes to these tests.
‘Children this young need time away from school. Time to be children. Time to be with family and to play. They shouldn’t be attending extra lessons outside of school hours.
The pressure is also likely to lead to pupils and teachers underperforming.’
That’s pretty mild I think. You may not think it’s smart, but I doubt you’ll pull your hair out in frustration.
Well friends, the next article get a tad murkier. Still ... you may scratch your heads and wonder what rocket scientists came up with it, and it certainly belongs in the category that CBullitt refers to. You’ll love this one. Can’t wait to see what you folks have to say on the subject, but stay tuned cos we aren’t done.
How to… shoplift! University newspaper’s guide to STEALING without being caughtBy Daily Mail Reporter
A guide produced by student activists on the ‘art of shoplifting’ has outraged retailers who say it could cause them financial costs.
The document funded by the taxpayer urges cash-strapped students to ignore any moral concerns and follow its step-by-step stealing techniques.
It coaches would-be thieves on how to swipe goods without being spotted by staff or CCTV.
Tips include how to exit stores without attracting suspicion and suggestions of what lies to tell if caught by police.Legal experts say that the student activists behind the guide - from Queen Mary College, University of London - could face prosecution over its publication.
Some of them took part in the infamous recent riot at the Conservative Party’s Millbank HQ and retailers have branded them ‘highly irresponsible’ for producing the guide.It features prominently in their new student newspaper ‘The Paper’, whose front cover shows rioters occupying the roof of the building.
The newspaper was put together with money from the Centre for Ethics and Politics at the college’s School of Business and Management, which is ultimately funded by the taxpayer.Around 9,000 copies were printed and distributed at a recent student demo in London against higher tuition fees and it is now available online.
It is introduced in the paper as a ‘regular series of DIY and how to guides for making trouble.’
Queen Mary has defended the shoplifting advice by claiming it is ‘satirical’. But there is little hint of humour in the thieving tips.
Examples include: ‘Try to find where the video surveillance monitors are and who is watching them’.They advise: ‘It is a good idea to keep your back to the camera as much as possible without looking suspicious’.
Another tip point out: ‘Display units can make perfect blind-spots’.
If caught by shop staff, the guide suggests: ‘Beg them not to call the cops. ‘If the cops do arrive, it’s a good idea to act scared sh**less because they may assume you’re a first offender and not bother to check your record’.
They add: ‘Don’t antagonise the filth. It is their personal discretion as to how bad you get busted.’Andrew Dodd, spokesman for trade association the British Retail Consortium, raised the possibility of the editors being prosecuted for inciting shoplifting.
He said: ‘This guide is extremely irresponsible, if not illegal. Everyone involved in it should be ashamed of themselves for encouraging people to steal from shops.
‘Shop crime is no laughing matter because it imposes a huge financial cost on retailers and then on to honest shoppers who end up paying more for their goods.
‘There is also significant human cost to thousands of incidents each year where shop staff intervene to try and prevent shoplifting and are physically or verbally abused.’The guide was originally published in an Australian student newspaper whose editors were prosecuted although charges were later dropped.
‘That taxpayers’ money has been used to fund these newspapers demonstrates the contempt the taxpayer is held in by left wing academics and the students they teach.
‘This celebration of criminality portrays the university in its worst light however the vast majority of students here are sick to death of the tiny number of far Left students who see political posturing, rather than education, as their main purpose at university.
There’s a bit more to read HERE
Hold on to your hair cos this last one takes the gross prize. I don’t understand this. True, there are a lot of parents who don’t much tend to their offspring, don’t pay much attention to what they watch. For example, parents who may view porn and don’t hide what they’re looking at from a child in the same room.
Whatever the reasons .... I still think of 5 yr olds as toddlers. There’s a lot of things that are given much exposure and kids can’t help but see things. In movies, on the net and in advertising and TV shows. Things are far more open then in my day. So perhaps kids of a certain age do need sex-ed from some source, so they don’t grow up believing having kids themselves when they’re 12 is ok. Anyway ... I’m not one to get all prudish over too many things but this really is over the top. I think way over.
Whatever happened to something called The Children’s Hour? It was radio and TV. Does anyone remember “LET’S PRETEND?” If yes, then you’re my age.
Things sure are different today.
Take a look at how different.
Should five-year-olds be taught about sex in such an explicit way?By KATE LOVEYS and HANNAH ROBERTS
Last updated at 10:18 AM on 9th March 2011
Explicit cartoons, films and books have been cleared for use to teach sex education to schoolchildren as young as five.
A disturbing dossier exposes a wide range of graphic resources recommended for primary school lessons.
The shocking material – promoted by local councils and even the BBC – teaches youngsters about adult language and sexual intercourse.
‘If public bodies believe these resources are suitable for young children, there is clearly a problem with their judgment and more control needs to be given to parents.’
The Christian Institute identified 16 councils which have recommended explicit books and videos to schools.These include Derby City, Devon County, Gloucestershire County, Swindon County, Worcestershire County, Hampshire County, Birmingham City and Brighton and Hove, many of which have links to the material on their websites.
At present, primary and secondary schools have to teach pupils ‘age-appropriate’ science lessons about the biology of sex.
Couldn’t make it up and if ya could, you’d be a very ill person.
Posted by peiper
on 03/09/2011 at 05:50 AM
Filed Under: • Education •
• Comments (7)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Thursday - March 03, 2011
school days and the benefits culture
And speaking of benefits ....
How’s this for skool dayz? Prepare the kids early so they can be knowledgeable and understand how things work.
Now that’s not a bad idea. Right?
Take a look.
Now that will be useful… students take exams in how to claim the doleBy KATE LOVEYS
HEY! Don’t ya love this already? Talk about preparation for life.
Thousands of children have taken GCSE-style exams which teach them how to claim unemployment benefit.
The subject was one of many ‘Mickey Mouse’ courses exposed in a damning report on how the vocational education system is failing Britain’s children.
The Certificate of Personal Effectiveness level 2 was taken by 10,843 youngsters last year, putting it in the top 20 most popular non-academic courses.
Its material states: ‘Find out what benefits you are entitled to if you are unemployed’. It also teaches how to ‘obtain information’ from ‘using the telephone’, the ‘internet’ or ‘newspapers/magazines’, and even how to ‘host a tea party’.
Launched in 2004, the course was given the equivalent academic rating to a rigorous physics GCSE in 2005.
Today’s report by Professor Alison Wolf found up to a third of the soft, non-academic courses introduced under Labour and taken by 400,000 16- to 19-year-olds are ‘pointless’, while others actually harm their employment chances
In some cases, courses may even make students less employable, the report suggests.
Another course, the level 2 Certificate in Preparation for Working Life, was taken by 29,689 pupils and is worth half a GCSE. It includes a compulsory section on ‘hazard identification at home, on the roads and at work’, which involves a required understanding of ‘self-concept’.
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by students aged 14–16 in secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Posted by peiper
on 03/03/2011 at 01:49 PM
Filed Under: • Education •
• Comments (3)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Sunday - February 27, 2011
Yet another challenge facing government schools.
Honestly, you can’t––well, I couldn’t––make this stuff up! Here’s the headline:
You can lead kids to broccoli, but you can’t make them eat
Students’ reaction to healthier lunches highlights challenges for schools
Lunch poses a challenge? The government schools are already overwhelmed by the challenge of teaching
…reading, and ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic.
(taught to the tune of a hick’ry stick!)
No, the government schools, and by extension, the teachers’ union, can’t teach reading, and writing, and arithmetic. So, with the help and approval of Moochelle Obama, the wife of the First Mongrel, the schools are now going to teach the kids what to eat. Chicago is leading the way, but, like Obama trying to force lead the rest of us into the heaven-on-Earth promises of ObamaCare, the Chicago schools are having problems forcing cajoling kids to eat what the elite want them to eat.
Anyone who has ever tried to sneak healthy food into kids’ lunches knows what Chicago Public Schools is going through.
Sometimes kids openly embrace the new food. Sometimes they eat it without realizing the difference. And sometimes they refuse it altogether.
CPS has met with all three reactions this school year, when it stopped serving daily nachos, Pop-Tarts and doughnuts and introduced healthier options at breakfast and lunch. But in a sign of how challenging this transition can be for schools, district figures show that lunch sales for September through December dropped by about 5 percentage points since the previous year, or more than 20,000 lunches a day.
Surprised? I actually am. My parents never tried to ‘sneak’ healthy food into any meal. They just said ‘eat what’s on your plate.’ ‘No, you can’t have seconds of anything until you eat what’s on your plate.’ Unlike Gollum or the Government, my parents weren’t ‘sneaks.’ (I’m also surprised at having Pop-Tarts on the menu. When did that happen? Donuts? When I was in school you could buy an eclair, or cheesecake, or fruit Jello. No donuts.)
So, sales are down 5%. Why is this bad?
Posted by Christopher
on 02/27/2011 at 04:32 PM
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Education • Family • Government • Nanny State •
• Comments (2)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Five Most Recent Trackbacks:
Once Again, The One And Only Post
(4 total trackbacks)
Tracked at iHaan.org
Thｅ advantage to having a guide with you is thɑt an expert will haѵe very first hand experience dealing and navigating the river with гegional wildlife. Tһomas, there are great…
On: 07/28/23 10:37
The Brownshirts: Partie Deux; These aare the Muscle We've Been Waiting For
(3 total trackbacks)
Tracked at head to the Momarms site
The Brownshirts: Partie Deux; These aare the Muscle We’ve Been Waiting For
On: 03/14/23 11:20
Vietnam Homecoming
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at 广告专题配音 专业从事中文配音跟外文配音制造，北京名传天下配音公司
专业从事中文配音和外文配音制作，北京名传天下配音公司 北京名传天下专业配音公司成破于2006年12月，是专业从事中 中文配音 文配音跟外文配音的音频制造公司，幻想飞腾配音网领 配音制作 有海内外优良专业配音职员已达500多位，可供给一流的外语配音，长年服务于国内中心级各大媒体、各省市电台电视台，能满意不同客户的各种需要。电话：010-83265555 北京名传天下专业配音公司…
On: 03/20/21 07:00
meaningless marching orders for a thousand travellers ... strife ahead ..
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Casual Blog
[...] RTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPL [...]
On: 07/17/17 04:28
a small explanation
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at yerba mate gourd
Find here top quality how to prepare yerba mate without a gourd that's available in addition at the best price. Get it now!
On: 07/09/17 03:07
DISCLAIMER
THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.
Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
- Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.
Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner
Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
RSS 2.0 
Atom 
