School Choice

I'm a public school teacher as well as a taxpayer and parent. And I support school choice.

Universal public education is sacred, public schools themselves are not. I have no qualms, though, about having government-run schools as one of the choices for parents and their children.

So when I came across this opinion piece via NewsAlert (see blogroll at left), I had to read the entire thing.

During a trip to Washington, D.C., last weekend, I was struck by a front-page Washington Post article on the dismal state of the city's public schools. Despite spending more per student than virtually any other school district in the nation, the capital's pupils are tragically deprived of a decent education, with nearly three-quarters of them lacking basic math skills...

Most supporters of public schools acknowledge that the middle class and wealthy people would do well if the system became entirely private. But what about the poor kids, they ask. That's their ultimate attack on this idea.

That brings us back to the current state of affairs in the nation's poor, urban school districts. Just look at the results in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Can it get any worse? I believe things can get much better, that the market (and private charities) will provide an astounding array of excellent choices in the poorest, bleakest neighborhoods.

He's right, of course, but advocates the total elimination of public schools. I'm not ready to go there yet, but perhaps someday.

Although charter schools and tuition vouchers offer some hope for individual parents who want to get their kids out of urban public school nightmares or out of the mediocre, politically correct school systems in affluent suburbia, they are not the ultimate solution to the education problem. The solution is much simpler and more sensible: the complete elimination of the public school system and its replacement with a true free market. Parents would pay for their own kids' education and would select from a host of private schools (ranging from big institutions to tiny home schools) that best serve their needs. They would shop for benefits, quality, features, location and price – just like we do for everything else in the market economy, such as cars, groceries and cell-phone service. That's not to say that all private companies are good, but consumers have choices, and competition provides pressure for the bad ones to improve. (boldface mine--Darren)

A related argument is made regarding health care. Food and housing are more important, on a daily basis, than medical care, at least for most of us, but we don't expect our employers to provide our food and housing. Because health care isn't truly a competitive market, costs rise egregiously. Imagine what will happen if/when government itself takes over that industry. Think "public education on steroids".

And yet public schools have their rabid defenders, often the same people who want government to take over health care. Such people must not have much faith in themselves, else why would they want government to do so much for them?

Kerplunk Has A New Global Warming Post Up

Go take a read. If you bought beachfront property in Colorado, though, expect to be disappointed.

ACLU Defends Fundamentalist Religious Group!

Surprised? You won't be when you read the story.

How, exactly, do they justify this but not a cross on public land?

Kary Moss, director of the Detroit branch of the ACLU, said its review concluded the plan is a “reasonable accommodation” to resolve “safety and cleanliness issues” that arose when Muslims used public sinks for foot cleaning before prayers, which often spilled water on bathroom floors.

“We view it as an attempt to deal with a problem, not an attempt to make it easier for Muslims to pray,” said Moss, who likened the plan to paying for added police during religious events with huge turnouts. “There’s no intent to promote religion.”

Ah, I get it. So if a cross is just an "architectural adornment", with "no intent to promote religion", then it would be acceptable to the ACLU? Of course it would.

Hate Crimes?

Christians living in Gaza City on Monday appealed to the international community to protect them against increased attacks by Muslim extremists. Many Christians said they were prepared to leave the Gaza Strip as soon as the border crossings are reopened.

The appeal came following a series of attacks on a Christian school and church in Gaza City over the past few days.

There's nothing I need to add to that. Read more about the Religion of Peace here. What, you don't want to?

"The masked gunmen used rocket-propelled grenades to storm the main entrances of the school and church," he said. "Then they destroyed almost everything inside, including the Cross, the Holy Book, computers and other equipment." (boldface mine--Darren)

Rocket-propelled grenades. Savor that thought for a moment. Forcing your way into a school using rocket-propelled freaking grenades.

I wonder if there will be any outrage on the left over this:

(Father) Musalam expressed outrage over the burning of copies of the Bible, noting that the gunmen destroyed all the Crosses inside the church and school.

Those of you who squealed like stuck pigs over the false reports of "disrespect" to the Koran at Guantanamo, I expect to see you protesting and howling at the moon over this event. No? I'm not surprised.

It's a school. And a church. And neither belong to the people whom the attackers claim they're fighting.

Running Over The Cliffs With The Lemmings

I wouldn't have noticed this first headline today if I hadn't already seen the second in a paper at a newsstand:

Municipal Wi-Fi Networks Run Into Financial, Technical Trouble

Capital poised to go Wi-Fi

I'll run a paragraph from each. It shouldn't be hard to figure out which paragraph comes from which article.

Lompoc isn't alone. Across the United States, many cities are finding their Wi-Fi projects costing more and drawing less interest than expected, leading to worries that a number will fail, resulting in millions of dollars in wasted tax dollars or grants when there had been roads to build and crime to fight.

and

The Sacramento City Council on Thursday is scheduled to vote on authorizing a consortium called Sacramento Metro Connect LLC to build a citywide network that would provide wireless connections in parks, cafes, businesses and homes within the 100-square-mile city boundary.

Here's my favorite quote:

"They are the monorails of this decade: the wrong technology, totally overpromised and completely undelivered," said Anthony Townsend, research director at the Institute for the Future, a think tank.

"Green" Politicians

For politicians who want to enforce their own wacko versions of feel-good environmentalism on the rest of us, here are some can't-argue-with-these suggestions for the politicians.

Math Jokes

Numero uno
Numero dos

Lindsey's Show

Exceptional, as expected.

He opened with just himself on stage, and did three songs--one of which was a very smooth rendition of Trouble, which I really liked.

After the opening, the rest of the band came onstage. There were only three of them. One played guitar, one was a drummer/percussionist, and the other was a guitarist/bassist (but not too often)/keyboardist. They started with Second Hand News. I was most impressed.

He played Go Insane, which I like a lot. There was a good mix of new solo stuff (which I've only heard on his web site), older solo stuff, and Fleetwood Mac songs. One of his lesser known songs, from Tusk, could be known as my theme song. It's the 5th song on Side 3 of the album; I liked his live version of it. Tusk itself was very well done, considering there were only four people on stage and no USC Marching Band.

I noted that my age probably put me in the lower half of the audience (but just barely), but I was definitely dressed in the nicer half--and I wore slacks and a pull-over collared shirt. I mean, I know the ticket said "casual dress", but this was an after-dinner show. I'm not expecting top hats for men and white gloves for women, but does dressing for the occasion no longer have any meaning? This isn't an outdoor concert, where shorts and flip-flops are acceptable. It's an evening show.

The show ended after about 90 minutes, of course with Go Your Own Way as the final song.

They opened the encore set with Holiday Road from National Lampoon's Vacation. A surprising treat!

I think they did four songs in the encore and then packed it in. Very well done.

I saw no evidence of Lindsey's "chemical dependence status", as Dean so delicately put it, but perhaps, at 57, he's too old for that crap. His guitar playing is still amazing--Big Love is a religious experience to those who marvel at guitar--but his voice, at least in the high notes, has lost at least half a step. But so has mine. Nuh guh age.

I broke even on my gambling :-) It was a nice day trip.

And now, pictures.

What you're seeing below is US Highway 50, which is also the main street through South Lake Tahoe, CA, and Stateline, NV--two cities separated only by a line on the map. Stateline held an Opening Day Block Party, although I don't know what it means to "open" Lake Tahoe, and traffic through both cities had to be rerouted through neighborhoods. Even bypassing downtown South Lake Tahoe by using the Pioneer Trail didn't spare me a lengthy wait in traffic, but it did reduce my wait significantly.


The Montbleu casino you see in the distance on the right is the former Caesars Tahoe. When Harrah's (the corporation) bought Caesars (the corporation), my guess is they had to divest of the Tahoe property because Harrah's already owns Harrah's, Harvey's, and Bill's, and maybe even the Horizon--they couldn't own the last casino! Anyway, nice block party. Horizon had a U2 cover band playing on the roof; the lead singer was no Bono, but the band was great.


And while the block party was fun, here's what I came to see.

Don't You Love Lefties?

Left-wing actress Angelina Jolie has refused to allow Fox News in on her press coverage. But in one of the more unsavory and perverted travesties to come out of Hollywood in recent memory, her new film on the Islamist murder of Daniel Pearl will be screened next Thursday in Los Angeles—in an event sponsored by unindicted Hamas co-conspirators CAIR, and supported by Cafe Intifada and several other far-left groups.

Do you know the title of the song that was played at the British surrender at Yorktown? It should be played here.

Update: Here's what biased, vile, blah blah blah FoxNews has to say on the topic:

And it wasn’t just about FOX News getting banned from the red carpet. That was bad, but it wasn’t the central issue. Jolie treats all the press with hostility unless she can control the outcome of an interaction. Insisting interviewers sign contracts was an affront, considering that her movie is about the murder of a reporter who tried bravely to do his job. And then to pretend empathy by raising money at the movie for Reporters Without Borders. The hypocrisy and arrogance were overwhelming.

Hypocrisy? On the left? Pshaw!

Including By Excluding

It certainly is a good thing that identity politics promotes “inclusion.” Imagine how fractured the UCLA community would be if it had only one graduation, for everybody.

Imagine.

University Closing Down

Antioch College is closing its doors. Yes, that Antioch College.

YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio (AP) -- Antioch College, known for its offbeat approach to education, will close in 2008 because of a money shortage and will try to find enough funds to reopen four years later, the school said Tuesday...

Antioch doesn't grade classes, encourages students to develop their own study plans, and combines academic learning with experience through a co-op program in which students leave campus to work in various fields...

In 2000, death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted in the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, gave a taped commencement address. Hundreds protested nearby, including Faulkner's widow.

The college drew national attention in 1993 with its "Sexual Offense Prevention Policy" that required students to ask permission from one another if they wanted to have sexual contact, including holding hands...

The school has been a fertile ground for social activism, with protests from the Vietnam War era up to the Iraq war. In 1994, students took over a building for 32 days to protest plans to turn it into an admissions office instead of a student-activity center.

Good riddance, nutjobs.

Why Do They Go After Schools?

Muslim insurgents in Thailand burn 13 more schools.

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

I haven't decided yet, teacher, but perhaps I'd like one of The Worst Jobs in Science, 2007.

One Reason I Don't Support Socialism

There are people who wrongly try to use Christianity to support socialism. After all, if taking care of the poor isn't Christian, then what is?

I'm hard pressed to find the Bible verses that direct governments to take care of the poor. In fact, the New Testament is a call to individuals, not to governments. Individuals commit sin, not governments. Christ died so that individuals can have their sins forgiven and enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. The New Testament is rather silent on what social programs governments should provide to their citizens.

But it's not silent at all on what individuals should do. Christians are commanded to help the poor, who will always be among us, and the meek, who shall inherit the earth. There's no grace in having a government forcibly take your money and spend it on the poor; voluntarily giving to the poor, however, earns God's favor.

Such religious belief, now 2000 years old, makes sense even today. We've seen what's happened with the Great Society and the War on Poverty. We've seen generational poverty. We know that people value that which they work for more than that which they're given. This is why welfare-to-work is a good idea--a hand up, not a handout, so to speak. Teaching a person to fish instead of giving a person a fish. Socialism isn't supported by Christianity.

It turns out our brains may be hard-wired in ways that support that 2000 year old religious belief.

CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) -- Knowing your money is going to a good cause can activate some of the same pleasure centers in your brain as food and sex, U.S. researchers said Thursday.

People who participated in a study got a charge knowing that their money went to a charity -- even when the contribution was mandatory, like a tax. They felt even better when they voluntarily made a donation, researchers found... (emphasis mine--Darren)

He and colleagues were hoping to find out whether there was something in the act of giving itself -- and not just the social and egotistical reward of being a philanthropist -- that offers satisfaction.

"The fact that we find pleasurable activity in those mandatory tax-like situations strongly suggests the existence of pure altruism," he said.

Of course, simulating a tax is quite different from paying taxes to a government with policies you may or may not support, he noted.

Be generous. It's good for the poor, it's good for you--in more ways than one.

Breaking News--Supreme Court: Unions Do NOT Have A Right To Spend Compulsory Union Dues On Politics

From National Right To Work, the organization that filed the lawsuit:

Washington, DC (June 14, 2007) - The U.S. Supreme Court today unanimously reversed a novel Washington State Supreme Court ruling that discovered a “constitutional right” for union officials to spend dissenting employees’ mandatory dues on political causes they oppose. The ruling merely reinstates an ineffective state campaign finance law that had opened the door for courts to misinterpret the First Amendment.

And before you u-bots and assorted lefties whine about "President Bush's Supreme Court", etc, let me remind you that this decision was unanimous.

I can't claim a total victory, though:

In striking down the Washington High Court ruling, however, the U.S. Supreme Court avoided the more critical and far sweeping question -- whether union officials should be able to automatically collect forced dues for politics from nonunion members in the first place. That clarification, sought by Foundation attorneys would have freed roughly one million nonunion employees nationwide from each having hundreds of dollars in compulsory dues automatically deducted each year. Surprisingly, the U.S. Solicitor General actually supported the union’s position on this key question and tried to steer the Justices away from ruling in the employees’ favor...

“America’s workers laboring under compulsory unionism are little better off after today’s ruling,” stated Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Rather than promoting more ineffective campaign finance regulations that risk further undermining the First Amendment, sincere reformers should instead turn their attention to attacking the root problem of compulsory unionism. No one should be forced to join or pay dues to a union in the first place.”

Still, this decision is good news for all American workers, certainly better than if the Court had ruled the other way.

I know someone who went to DC and was present while this case was being argued. She was most impressed.

Cash and Sex For Grades

They didn't pay their professors, they paid people in the records office. Interesting.

PLEASANT HILL (KRON) - Officials now believe the cash-for-grades scheme at a Contra Costa Community College might have also involved sex. They also think this began three years earlier than administrators had originally disclosed. This now raises suspicions about transcripts at Diablo Valley College as far back as 2000.

Dozens of students, many of whom transferred to four-year colleges and universities, are suspected of improving their grades by paying as much as $600 to records-office employees for each changed grade.

*sigh*

School-Sanctioned Discussion: Have Sex, Do Drugs, Please Masturbate

I know this is from Boulder, Colorado, the Berkeley of the Rocky Mountain Region, but have these people no decency at all? I feel for the normal people who live amongst these moonbats.

For 47 minutes they (parents and students) took turns at the microphone (at the school board meeting), alternately praising and punching the April 10 discussion at Boulder High, during which members of the panel talked graphically about sex and drugs. During that talk, members of the panel made statements that, among other things, masturbation is appropriate behavior for 12-year-olds and that students should enjoy themselves as they experimented with sex and drugs.

At Foxnews.com I viewed a video clip from Bill O'Reilly's show, one in which he plays audio from the discussion. He also has video from the above-mentioned school board meeting. Both were pretty startling.

"On April 10, a wonderful thing happened at Boulder High," Wallace Westfeldt, a parent, said. "Talking about sex is important, particularly with adolescents fueled with hormones who face this on a daily basis."

I know it sounds old-fashioned to say this, but we didn't need such talks to encourage us in the 80's. It's not like we weren't having sex in the 80's, and we didn't even have the internet from which to learn more than we needed to learn about sex. We certainly didn't need to be compelled by our teachers (as some students were in Boulder) to attend talks about how sex, with either or both genders, is perfectly fine for teenagers, or how difficult it can be to (I'll sanitize the words they used regarding this point) "maintain an erection" when using a condom because "it doesn't feel as good", or how drug use is acceptable. Oddly enough, the adults at my school thought that such details were beyond the acceptable bounds of their mission. Apparently, the Wallace quoted above wouldn't agree with me on what's considered appropriate topics for discussion with students. I wonder how Wallace would have felt about having students attend a pro-war rally, since teenage boys have lots of aggression due to their testosterone levels...

One interested observer at the meeting was Silverman, the attorney and KHOW talk show host who said he was glad to hear the school board had sent a letter home to parents in the district telling them that mistakes were made April 10.

He also said the debate has ignored the fact that Boulder High students perform extremely well on various academic measures.

Ah, yes. If the kids perform well enough academically, only then is it acceptable to encourage them to have sex and take drugs. Idiot.

If anything good came out of this, it's that even more post-Churchill attention is being directed at Boulder and the left-wing radicalism it supports as a community.

Suspended For Voicing An Opinion?

I'm the first to point out that students, like adults, don't have unlimited First Amendment rights. In fact, courts have always ruled that there can be reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions placed on speech--the "can't yell 'fire' in a crowded theater" standard, as it were. And children, in school, have even fewer first amendment rights than I do on a street corner, or on my blog, or on a soapbox.

But when a student can be suspended for voicing an opinion that the school administration doesn't like, that's interesting. And it happened in Canada. Or did it?

Like me, this student doesn't smoke pot. Like me, he doesn't think it's any worse than alcohol. Like me, he probably supports its legalization.

This story turns, however, on whether or not the student sold marijuana. I notice he didn't deny it, but instead said he's never smoked it. I hope more information will be forthcoming.

Kieran King's views on marijuana have led to his suspension from Wawota Parkland School.

King said he was threatened with police action by Principal Susan Wilson previously after making the case that marijuana was less harmful than alcohol.

"In my opinion, cannabis is safer than they say, it is not worse than alcohol or tobacco," said King, a 15-year-old Grade 10 student.

Wilson accused King of using and selling marijuana at school, according to a media release issued by the Saskatchewan Marijuana Party. King has offered to submit to a voluntary drug test to prove otherwise.

"I've never smoked marijuana. I've never even seen it," said King.

The story doesn't say what punishment he received for using and selling. The title of the story suggests he was suspended merely for voicing an opinion, but the story itself says he was suspended for participating in a "free speech" walkout over this controversy. Yes, he was threatened with police action for his opinion, but what actual punishment occurred for voicing his opinion? This reporting is very sketchy, but the consequences of his suspension are not.

The three-day suspension will prevent King from writing his final exams before he goes to China on a correspondence course. He's to leave Thursday.

The honour student said he will still pass Grade 10 because his marks are in the 80s and 90s. By missing his final exams he will lose 30 per cent of his marks.

That's just petty. That principal is on a power trip. I wonder if he'll really submit to the drug test to prove he didn't smoke pot at school. Of course, there's no real way to prove he didn't sell it, though, because you can't prove a negative.

Update, 6/23/07: Instapundit (see blogroll at left) links to the following comments from Colby Cash:

What fascinates me about the case of Kieran King, the Saskatchewan high school student who was threatened, punished and slandered by various officials over the past three weeks for talking with some pals about the health effects of marijuana, is that it explodes almost every single utopian cliche about public schools that has been ever propounded by their employees and admirers. It's almost glorious, in a way. Ever heard an educator say "We're not here to teach students what to think -- we're here to teach them how to think"? BLAMMO! "We encourage children to make learning a lifelong process." KAPOW! Poor Kieran didn't even make it to age 16 before someone called the cops.

"Diversity is one of our most cherished values." But express a factually true opinion that diverges from what you've been taught and -- WHOOMP! "Public schools aren't crude instruments of social control, they're places where we lay the foundation for an informed citizenry." BOOM!

I could go on, but I'm running out of sound effects and I really don't have time to fire up an old Batman episode on You-Tube to gather more.

THIS Is What Passes For Research At Boston College

I read this and I just had to laugh:

BOSTON - College students are known for finding creative ways to earn money, but few can compete with Boston University senior Allison Yochim — who once earned cash watching dueling images of sea turtles and hardcore pornography...

During one recent study on female sexuality, Yochim answered a survey of deeply personal questions. Then researchers measured her body's response while she watched a computer screen flashing a sequence of National Geographic-like nature images spliced with graphic sexual pictures.

"I'm not sure if it was academically credible, but hey, the more tortoises and porn that are involved, the better, because it was interesting," she said. "If it's going to yield a hilarious story, it's worth it. And the money is, of course, a perk. There's no other time in my life when I can do this without being seen as a weirdo."

Oh, honey, you're still a weirdo--but at least you're getting paid for it!

Sea turtles and porn--now there's a combination I never thought of. Academically credible? I'm probably not qualified to evaluate it. But it sounds darned weird to me.

Another Stupid Teacher Story

Was this guy thinking with the wrong head, or was he not thinking at all?