Support Preschool, Or Face A Boycott

I guess I need to start shopping at Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy.

BTW, do such boycotts ever really work?

Racist Democrat

I thought it was only Republicans who were supposed to be racist. I love the old yarn about how the Democrats were the party of Civil Rights and all that, when in much of the South blacks weren't even allowed to register as Democrats. Southerners during the Civil Rights Era weren't Republicans--they cursed the party of Abraham Lincoln.

Then one day, all the Southerners got together and decided to trade parties. All the racist Democrats suddenly became Republicans, and all the saintly Republicans became today's Democrats. I've actually had people tell me about this switch. Amazes me. Why didn't Kleagle--I mean, Senator--Byrd, change parties?

Democrats will scream "David Duke!" "David Duke!" Yes, what exactly is the story behind David Duke? What exactly is his position in the Republican Party? Was he, or was he not, booted from said party? Could most people identify a picture of him? Unlike Grand Wizard--I mean, Senator--Byrd, Duke is a nobody.

Then there's this guy, whom we learn about via Instapundit (see blogroll at left).

By JAY REEVES
Associated Press Writer

May 12, 2006, 3:56 PM EDT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A Democratic candidate for Alabama attorney general denies the Holocaust occurred and said Friday he will speak this weekend in New Jersey to a "pro-white" organization that is widely viewed as being racist.

Larry Darby concedes his views are radical, but he said they should help him win wide support among Alabama voters as he tries to "reawaken white racial awareness" with his campaign against Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson.

Resigning Because He Doesn't Like The Graduation Speaker

This seems a bit extreme, but whatever.

I'm sure he'd be happy to have as commencement speaker that paragon of virtue, Bill Clinton.

Not A Class Act At All

Whose behavior is worse in this incident, the picketers--who tried and successfully screwed up a university graduation--or the pandering politicians who refused to cross a so-called picket line to fulfill commitments they had made to speak at the commencement?

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - True to its liberal reputation, the University of California, Berkeley, had planned to present graduates with a largely Democratic ticket of commencement speakers.

But a picket by a small group of disgruntled janitors robbed the festivities of their partisan punch when several speakers, including national Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean and state Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, refused to cross the line. Some graduation ceremonies were scheduled to go forward without their keynote speakers while some university officials scrambled to find backups.

Nunez backed out of his commitment to address several thousand students at the main undergraduate commencement Wednesday, as 20 janitors picketed outside the Hearst Greek Theatre. Chancellor Robert Birgeneau gave a short, impromptu speech in his place...

Dean decided to cancel his keynote address at the Boalt Hall School of Law commencement on Saturday, but the 2004 presidential candidate tried to make up for his absence by holding an informal gathering with about 100 graduates at a private home Thursday night, said spokesman Luis Miranda.

"An important part of our democracy is the right to organize and the right to picket, and we obviously don't cross picket lines because it's such vital part of the system," Miranda said...

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, also canceled his Sunday speech at an Alumni Association ceremony for graduating scholarship recipients; state Sen. Liz Figueroa, D-Fremont, who's running for lieutenant governor, canceled her Saturday commencement address at the School of Social Welfare; and Assemblywoman Carol Liu, D-Pasadena, decided against speaking Saturday at the Graduate School of Education.

Commentary of the Ten Commandments of Education

I have nothing to add to this post.

CaliEduBloggerCon

Months ago I proposed a social gathering of California education bloggers. I even named this star-studded event. The problem is that I haven't followed up at all.

So Polski3, EdWonks, Joanne, Coach Brown, Chris at Miller's Time, Chanman at Buckhorn Road, Lillian--are any of you up for this? I'd like to propose Monterey or Santa Cruz for such a meeting, especially since a few of us have children. How's July sound, right after the NEA Rep Assembly?

Let's coordinate using the comments =)

Textbooks

We've had some interesting, and conflicting, proposals in the legislature recently, proposals relating to textbooks.

1. Most recently, which I've written about here, would require our textbooks to discuss the contributions to California of gays, lesbians, and other sexual minorities. This would make textbooks bigger.
2. Another legislator, for whom I have nothing but contempt, proposed a bill that would require textbooks be no longer than 200 pages. This would make textbooks smaller.
3. Many high schools don't have lockers--students might stash drugs or firearms in them. Students have to carry their books around with them all day. Periodically we hear about suggestions for laws that would limit the weight of the books a student would have to carry in his/her backpack. Such a law presumably would require textbooks to be smaller.

I have an algebra textbook published in the 1940s. It's 7.5"x5.5"x1", and that 1" is measured from outside the cover to outside! It has more algebra in it than the textbooks my students currently use, which have perhaps three to four times the volume. Has there been *that* much new algebra to learn since the 1940s?

My textbooks in school weren't as big as they are today. Then again, they didn't have glossy pictures of unrelated items that are supposed to get the student interested. No, we were expected to be internally motivated to some extent, and the thought that they should actually have to entertain us probably never occurred to my teachers or to the publishers of textbooks.

So why are students' textbooks so big and heavy today? What silly requirements has the legislature imposed for our textbooks? Why is student achievement today not as high as it was in decades past?

Let's not blame MTV, at least right off the bat.

An Allegory For Congress

Today I helped scoop ice cream at lunch--the Sacramento River Cats (and their mascot, Dinger!) provided the ice cream to our students who had perfect attendance during our standardized testing.

One of my students, a rugby player, came through my line and I gave him a little extra. During class this afternoon, he thanked me for hooking him up.

It was then that I realized what I had done. And I was ashamed.

You see, it wasn't my ice cream to give away. It was just there, lots of it, and I gave some of it to a favorite. It didn't really hurt anyone, right? I mean, it was just one extra scoop out of thousands. It didn't put me out at all, and it bought me some personal goodwill.

It was the perfect allegory for how lawmakers spend our tax dollars.

Smoke-Filled Rooms and Back Alleys

Just read it.

Sacramento River Cats Support My School

The local Pacific Coast League Champions, the Sacramento River Cats, sure are good to my school.

During the two weeks we spent doing standardized testing (no, it wasn't just testing going on), my class had perfect attendance. This was exceptional. One day one of our vice principals walked into my room and gave me a stack of River Cats tickets--two for every student in class, and three left over (presumably) for me. That was a one-day reward for perfect attendance, my class wasn't the only one to get such a reward, and the tickets had a face value of $17 a piece. That's over $850 just for my class.

All students at our school who had perfect attendance during the testing--and I believe we had over a thousand--will be getting ice cream at lunch tomorrow, compliments of the River Cats. Supposedly Dinger, the mascot, will be there along with members of the team. I'll gladly be helping serve up the ice cream for my students.

All the teachers whose classes had perfect attendance, well, we were put in for a drawing. I won a Boys Night Out at a River Cats game--6 tickets, admission to the Solon Club, and tossing out the first pitch! I think I'll just take my dad and my son, and let my son throw the first pitch.

The River Cats are apparently a class act--get it? A "class" act? Hahaha! Sometimes I slay myself! Anyway, they're definitely doing their part contributing to our school, and I want to give them a loud ROAR for doing so.

Update, 5/12/06 9:00 pm: I didn't see team members, but then again I was busy scooping ice cream. I did see Dinger, though, and got a handshake out of the deal. ROAR!

War In Iraq

Remember way back when, when the moonbats were howling "No blood for oil!"? The logic then was that we were invading Iraq in order to take control of their oil, to ensure cheap gasoline.

With gas well over $3/gallon now, I'm waiting for the moonbats to go 180 on us and declare that the real reason for the invasion was to drive gas prices up, thereby enriching the President, VP, their friends, whoever.

20/20 Hindsight Rationales. Coming soon to an MSM outlet near you.

If you'd like to read about some of the good things occurring in Iraq, click here.

Classic Quote About The Exit Exam

From today's major Sacramento newspaper comes this quote from a senior who hasn't yet passed the exit exam:

"I didn't have any problem with the English test, just the math part," she said. "I know math is important, and I have worked and worked. And I think this exit exam is really good - but why not enforce it next year?"

Classic.

Manipulatives

I've always felt that manipulatives can have a place in the math curriculum, but only if they directly, and I do mean directly, relate to the math being done. In that vein I support Hands-On Equations for introductory pre-algebra and algebra, as the program is designed to transition students from manipulatives to symbolic manipulation on paper.

Now I read this:

In another series of studies (Amaya, Uttal, & DeLoache, under review) we investigated the effectiveness of concrete symbolic objects, known as manipulatives, in helping young elementary-school children learn the procedures associated with two-digit subtraction.... [T]hose children who learned with the manipulatives had trouble transferring knowledge to written versions of the math problems; they did not use what they had learned using the manipulatives to solve written versions of the same or similar problems. Moreover, learning with the manipulatives took almost three times as long as learning with the written method.

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=1989

American Psychological Association Observer

Granted, that statement applies specifically to subtraction, but if it's applicable to more pervasive uses of manipulatives then I've been wise to caution against their use in most cases.

Union News

EIA (see blogroll at left) has an interesting post (May 8th communique) that contains info about unions in the Golden and Empire States.

California:

Not many details available, but it seems the California Teachers Association is playing hardball with its staff unions in contract negotiations.

CTA has been altering its evaluation of the union's financial condition based on the audience. When CTA was trying to stop a court injunction against its special assessment last October, it claimed it was in danger of great financial harm. When word of this reached the members, CTA reversed course and assured everyone the union was not broke. Now union officials are claiming financial hardship while negotiating with both professional and support employees over contracts that expire August 31, 2006. EIA will be watching this closely.

New York:

NEA, NYSUT Approve New York Merger, Rumore Lays Out Options. You really have to admire NEA's ability to spin. By its own admission (see last paragraph here), NEA New York was in financial free-fall, losing members and locals to the AFT-affiliated New York State United Teachers (NYSUT). NEA New York finally threw in the towel last year. Now, representatives of NEA New York and NYSUT have agreed to a merger… which is a merger in the sense that Britain and India merged in 1757.

The NEA Executive Committee approved the merger, and sent out a press release over the weekend proclaiming itself "the largest union in U.S. history," with 3.2 million members. This is a pretty bold claim, since NYSUT's half-million members will pay no dues to NEA, and will have no representation in NEA.

Meanwhile Phil Rumore, merger opponent and president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation (BTF), has notified his members of the situation, and presented them with their choices.

According to a letter from Rumore to BTF members, the options are:

"1. We can join the new organization.

"2. We can become an independent local, as are the Buffalo Police and PCTEA, and work cooperatively with other unions, as we do now.

"3. We can join with other local unions who have approached us to start a new state organization.

"4. We can affiliate with another state and national union."

Rumore is at least convinced that BTF could make better use locally of the $1.7 million it sends annually to NEA New York and NEA.

I've said for a long time that the smartest move for any moderate-sized local teachers' union is to disaffiliate from the state/national organizations. All the money that is currently sent to those headquarters--let the members keep half of it, and use the other half to retain the best labor law firm in the county. Let them represent you in contract negotiations, not your fellow teachers. It's a win-win--people keep more of their own money, and you get better representation when it comes to legal and negotiation issues.

Teacher Fired For Being In A Porn Flick

Via Going to the Mat I learn about a teacher in Kentucky that was recently fired for being in a porn movie--11 years ago.

Wow.

I don't see the logic here. At the above link Matt discusses some of the logical ends of such a course of action--might someone with a drunk-driving conviction in his/her past now be fired? He's right when he says that people might be able to be fired for "immoral" conduct that happens while they are under contract, but for something that happened over a decade ago? This happened almost a decade before this school distict even hired her!

I'm not a big fan or morals clauses anyway. Way too subjective for my taste. I'd rather stick to legal/illegal, rather than moral/immoral, when it comes to firing someone. And what she did was entirely legal, even though she now regrets doing it.

I wonder how it would play if they fired a "practicing homosexual" for immoral conduct.


Update, 5/12/06 6:42 am: Here's a similar story out of Florida.

Judge May Rule Against The Exit Exam

I'm amazed how a judge could rule that the exit exam is "illegal". Who determines what the requirements for graduation are? The Legislature. How can this test be illegal? The mind boggles.

High school seniors who flunk the controversial state exit exam may be able to graduate next month anyway, according to a judge's tentative ruling issued late Monday.

Setting the stage for heated debate in court today between supporters
and opponents of the California High School Exit Exam, Alameda Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman said he is likely to rule that the test cannot take effect this year as scheduled.

The statement comes as tens of thousands of seniors sit down to retake
the test today and Wednesday, their final chance before most schools are
scheduled to hold graduation ceremonies.

They've had *how many* opportunities?

Students first take the exit exam as sophomores. If they fail, they have five
more chances to pass by the end of their senior year. The majority of students in the class of 2006 passed the first time they took the test....

So much for that canard. And the test is at a 7th/8th grade level for math and up to a 10th grade level for English, and students can score less than 60% on both sections and still "pass". Why would anyone want to give a diploma to people who can't pass such a test? Who, truly, would be served by granting such a diploma?

Supporters of the exit exam have argued that the test will create more equality in the schools because it holds everyone to the same standard. Without an exit exam, they say, there's no way to assure that all graduates have mastered the most basic skills.

Further, the test allows teachers to identify students who are lagging and steer them into extra math and English classes, said Jack O'Connell, the state superintendent of schools.

"To me the irony ... is they will receive less help and less attention if the (exit exam) is not in place for 2006," O'Connell said. "That's not in the best interests of this state, nor in the best interests of the students in California."

I like Jack O'Connell. If he keeps this up, I'll be voting for him if he runs for reelection. And he's a Democrat. And O'Connell has a vested interest in this test:

O'Connell wrote the legislation creating the exit exam as a state senator in 1999. The test originally was to take effect for the class of 2004. The State
Board of Education postponed it in 2003, saying schools needed a couple more years to prepare students for the test.

O'Connell vowed not to back down. He said the state will appeal an unfavorable ruling.

And the governor agrees with him:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a statement Monday night
condemning the tentative ruling and any delay in implementing the exit exam.

"We owe our children, especially our disadvantaged and minority students, a good education and the tools they need in college and in the workplace," he said. "The purpose of the exit exam is to ensure that our schools are meeting their obligation to our students by providing them with the most basic skills they will need in life."

Obviously what we have here is yet another judge letting his personal views stand in the way of the will of the people.

As Little Education As Possible For The Money

Instapundit had an interesting quote in this post, and summed it all up with

Education, as they say, is the only consumer product where the consumer is out to get as little as possible for the money.

I'm fortunate to teach where I do, where so many students push themselves (sometimes to an excessive degree in my opinion, but that's not my decision to make) so hard to do so well. Just as one example, I have a student who will take 5 AP courses next year, will participate in sports both semesters, will continue his progress through the ranks of the Sea Cadets, and will also join the Boy Scouts and the Civil Air Patrol.

He's a sophomore, and hopes to attend the Naval Academy.

I've had dozens of students miss class the past several days due to AP exams. I hope that they view college as a means and not an end--and that Instapundit's comment doesn't apply to them.

A Neat Kid

From today's major Sacramento newspaper:

Benjamin Underwood tilts his head, and the sun lights up his deeply set eyes. They are the color of milk chocolate, and they are only for show. Cancer took Ben's real eyes when he was a toddler, more than a decade ago.

But at 14, Ben has his own vision of the world, and he is a master navigator. Using echolocation, a skill common in dolphins and bats but rarely documented in humans, Ben creates sounds that bounce off of objects and allow him to decipher obstacles in his path. That talent, combined with his superbly refined senses of hearing, smell and touch, allows Ben to "see" remarkably well. Just ask his mother, Aquanetta Gordon, or his teachers at Smedberg Middle School in Sacramento, or his many, many friends...


It is easy to forget that Ben is blind when he is zipping down his neighborhood streets on inline skates or whipping an opponent, one with perfect vision, at the video game Dragon Ball. Ben cannot fully explain how he does these things. "It's something I taught myself when I was little, and I just got better," he says...

He clicks his tongue. "I can hear those parked cars," he says, pointing toward the street. "That's a big echo, much bigger than a trash can or a pole." Metal, he says, makes a "pinging" sound, while wood sounds more muted. Human beings are harder to detect, but "I can hear y'all standing there," Ben says.

Wow.

Yet Another Glimpse of Socialized Health Care

More from Britain--this time about dentists.

Personalities In History

The local coin club, of which I am nominally still a member, held it's annual coin show today. Sometimes they hold two a year, sometimes one--since I haven't been to a meeting in awhile, I'll just assume it's an annual show.

Great turnout, lots of dealers present, and I added some beauties to my collection.

I don't collect any one thing--Indian Head cents, Buffalo nickels, anything like that. I prefer world coins, and I just buy whatever jumps out at me. For instance, today I bought a beautiful piece from the Falklands. It was the penguins on it that caught my eye.

Mostly I like coins because of their cultural or historical significance. Sometimes I do funky things--I have a case that has coins of dozens of different denominations. As a math teacher, I find that kind of collection fun.

Lately I've considered creating a case of coins of significant personalities in history. Unfortunately, many of the big names in history have large premiums associated with their coins. Many Roman coins can be had for only a few dollars--not bad for a man-made object 1700 years old or more! But try finding anything from Julius Caesar in even the double digits. And if you do find one, please let me know! Today I added Alexander the Great, Elizabeth I, George III, Napolean Bonaparte, and Joseph Stalin to my collection.

I saw only one piece from Ludwig II of Bavaria (a favorite of mine since childhood), but it was about $200 over my budget! He built three castles in Bavaria, and as a child I was fortunate to visit all three. If nothing else he was eccentric, and while his role on the world stage was small indeed, it was big enough for me to want a coin from his reign.

If I ever assemble this "personality set" and display it at a show, I'll let you know if I win a prize. I did win 2nd place once for my "denominations set" at one show but darn it, I want a first place prize!