ROTC

When universities object to ROTC because of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, isn't that a little disingenuous? After all, the military didn't create that rule, the Congress did--and it was signed by President Clinton. Shouldn't the righteous indignation of the schools be directed at the Congress and not at a program that serves both students and the country well?

Personally, I think people hide behind the "don't ask, don't tell" policy as a way to hide their dislike for the military in general.

Erin O'Connor has a great post on the topic.

No Problem, The Government Is Taking Care of My Retirement

There's a dip in the stock market and you no longer trust those "greedy Wall Street types" whose praises you were singing last year as your 401(k) was flying high? Perhaps you want something guaranteed, like a government pension?

Not so fast.

Many pensions are backed by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation. It insures the pensions of 44 million workers. Just last week it agreed to take up the obligations of bankrupt lumber company Pope & Talbot.

But the PBGC is facing its own problems. The agency last week said it lost $5 billion dollars in stock investments and expects a deficit of $10 to $12 billion this year. It has $68 billion in assets and $83 billion in liabilities.

And there's more.

First, many Americans and politicians have an erroneous view that stocks are for “rich people” and not them. Wall Street remains a mysterious world, operated largely behind closed doors by mad scientist math wizards. The pension problem proves nothing could be farther from the truth. The teachers, cops and other government workers who trust their retirement to companies such as CalPERs may suddenly take a keen interest in equities.

The other reality is that many Americans will have to work longer than planned. Companies and governments may not have the ability to cover costs for people retiring at 62 and living another twenty years. The math of early retirement + living longer / awful stock markets simply will not add up.

And this is in addition to the ponzi scheme of increased entitlement spending.

Will California renege on its promise to me regarding retirement, will it just modify the rules a bit, or will it tap the taxpayers to make up the expected shortfall?

A Halloween Joke

This joke is courtesy of one of my pre-calculus students:

"What does a math teacher's child say on Halloween?"

"Trig or treat!"

The Perfect Circle

Math teachers always have to draw shapes. We're always graphing lines or parabolas or circles or ellipses, or perhaps drawing solids like spheres or cones or cylinders or prisms.

The Holy Grail for math teachers is to draw the perfect circle. On an overhead projector it's nigh impossible; it's not quite as impossible on a chalk/whiteboard, where you can pivot your arm around the shoulder socket and make a good, large circle, but perfection is difficult. Some teachers can go an entire career without ever achieving this pinnacle of performance.

I have achieved--and on an overhead, too:

Totally freehand. While I was talking. Students tell me I was looking at them, not even looking at the overhead. Totally in the moment.

Bow, my minions!

How Much Is The CTA Spending On Politics Not Directly Related To Teacher Pay, Benefits, and Working Conditions?

Every cent that the CTA is spending on politics this year, that's how much. I don't see any initiatives, or any candidates for political office, that have anything to do with teacher pay, benefits, and working conditions.

Since the CTA is legally entitled to my money because California is a so-called fair share state, there should be some legal limits on how much money they're entitled to and on what they can spend it. I can't believe there could be any reasonable objection to a requirement that dues money be spent only on campaigns directly related to teacher pay, benefits, and working conditions, although I'll entertain such objections in the comments.

Here's just a small sample of how CTA is spending money during this election:

Speaking of which, the California Teachers Association is getting the biggest headlines of all for its $1.25 million in monetary contributions to the No on Prop 8 campaign (NEA has not contributed money). The irony is that the union contribution is receiving criticism from some members because gay marriage has nothing to do with education, while the union money is being spent on TV ads that directly state, "Proposition 8 has nothing to do with schools or kids."

Considering the culture war aspect of Prop 8, it's surprising that more attention hasn't been paid to the fact that CTA has also contributed $450,000 to defeat Prop 4, which would require parental notification before abortions are performed on unemancipated minors.

The one proposition on the ballot that CTA supports, the Children's Hospital Bond Act, has received a grand total of $161.77 from the union.

Bless their hearts.

Change A Grade, Go To Jail

More accurately, if you hack into a university's computer system and change grades to make people eligible for federal financial aid, you might be guilty of unauthorized computer access and fraud.

How do we know this? Because some who tried to do it have been so charged.

According to the indictment, the conspirators caused the grades of approximately 90 FAMU students to be changed, effecting changes in approximately 650 grades overall. The grade change increased the grade point averages of the majority of students whose grades were changed, which in turn, made these students eligible for financial aid in the form of grants, scholarships, and loans to which these students would not otherwise have been entitled. Approximately 114 of the grade changes at issue were failing “F” grades that were changed to “A” grades, which had the effect of awarding students thousands of dollars worth of credit hours to which they were not entitled. The indictment also alleges that the conspirators caused the residency status of certain students to be changed from out-of-state to in-state, thus reducing the amount of tuition owed to the university by thousands of dollars.

Not a smart move.

Teacher Training

Joanne has the scoop:

First-year teachers who work with mentors, receive extra training and observe experienced teachers don’t outperform other new teachers, concludes a Mathematica study. Researchers looked at two high-intensity induction models that cost considerably more than the support new teachers typically get.

Nana Is Gone

My nana died this morning. It was entirely expected, but that doesn't make it too much easier to deal with. I spent some time alone sitting with her yesterday, and even though she was unconscious the whole time, just having done that brings some comfort now.

Blogging may be light for a couple days, who knows. I have to go to work now.

College "Politics"

Not far away is American River College, a two-year school serving students in northeast Sacramento.

A recall election for the student government was held there recently because said student government voted to support Proposition 8, the initiative that would change California's constitution so that only heterosexual marriage would be recognized by the state. Given the polarizing nature of the recall you might expect a large turnout, but only about 9% of the student body cast votes--and all the incumbents survived recall.

The nine American River College student leaders targeted for recall after the campus government voted to support a statewide ballot measure banning same-sex marriage will remain in office, campus officials announced late afternoon Thursday.

It remains to be seen whether the campus vote, which was seen by many as a referendum on Proposition 8, will be a bellwether for the state or an anomaly.

In either case, the vote is the latest victory for a group of politicized Christian fundamentalists who have gone from outsiders to power-wielders in a matter of months.

"Politicized Christian fundamentalists". That terminology may be accurate, but I wonder if the major Sacramento paper would use similar loaded words to describe "politicized Marxist activists", which describe so many other students on our area campuses. Perhaps this kind of opinion that masquerades as journalism helps explain why the paper is in such a cost-cutting mode lately, and why its parent McClatchy is bleeding jobs faster than a leech. I couldn't care less either way how this election at ARC turned out. My beef here is with the paper's incendiary language as opposed to *trying* to report objectively.

The college president said about the only thing he could say and not anger either side:

Campus President David Viar applauded the democratic process on display.

Way to play it safe, David! Very astute on your part. Say anything but that and one side or the other will be after you.

The Christian Civilization Club became active in campus politics after losing its status as an official campus organization. The majority of it's members are immigrants from the former Soviet Union who came to the United States to escape religious persecution.

How could it lose its status as a club--in such a "diverse" and "inclusive" environment? Because I'm sure that before they got political power, AR was tolerant, peaceful, welcoming place--especially for the Christian Civilization Club.

The opposition group, which collected the signatures needed to trigger the recall, was less organized.

The recall effort was supported by several organizations including the Native American Student Union, Latinos Unidos, GLBTQ (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Youth) and ARC Campus Progress.

Maybe now they will do a better job and take over in the next election, and impose their beliefs on their fellow students.

Accessorizing Sarah

Let me get this straight.

The people who have spent well over $600 million dollars to get one man elected are complaining about the people who may have spent up to $150 thousand dollars (and that number is disputed) to get a "woman of the people" dressed up for prime time?

The people who spent over $5 million for Invesco Field (home of the Greek temple) for Obama's nomination acceptance speech, to make him "look good", are complaining about the people who may have spent up to $150 thousand dollars to get a "woman of the people" dressed up for prime time?

Are liberals hypocrites? Will they try to destroy anyone who doesn't toe their line? Will they lie through their teeth to get what they want, by any means necessary?

Yes.

When Party Bosses Steal An Election

The following was sent to me by a reader whose veracity I do not question:

Here in Clarksville, Tennessee, we have as our State Senator, Rosalind Kurita, a Democrat (well, former, and you'll see why). Last year she royally pissed off the Democratic Party here in Tennessee, by doing what was best for the State, not the party, when she was the deciding vote to replace Senate Speaker John S. Wilder (D) with Ron Ramsey (R). I think Wilder has been in the Senate since the Reconstruction and he's a poster child for term limits. The man would babble on about space ships and all sorts of crazy nonsense.

This past primary season she had a challenger, Tim Barnes, who was supported heavily by the party bosses here in the State.

Kurita won by 19 votes.

The Democratic Party decided to toss out the election and put Barnes in as their candidate for the general election. Why? Because Kurita made them mad, she won't toe the party line, and they wanted things their own way.

Unfortunately the Republicans didn't have a soul running in this race (which, in itself, is a crime), so that meant that the candidate of the Democratic Party, Tim Barnes, would win by default as he's unopposed.

And he wasn't elected by the people. He was selected by the Democratic Party so he represents the party. After all, who's he beholden too?

Kurita got mad, and launched a write-in campaign. She has a good chance of winning because she'll get her original voters, plus nearly every Independent and Republican I know is writing her in because they don't want the Dem's Boy to be our Senator.

I went and early voted Thursday and ran in to her. I introduced myself and told her I was a rock solid Conservative Republican but I wrote her name in because I'd be damned if I was going to let the Democratic Party Bosses chose my senator.

She said if it made me feel in better, she's now an Independent and "I'm never going back to that party. Never. And all because I wouldn't sit there and say "yes sir", when they wanted me to."

I still can't believe they're actually trying to get away with this.

I can believe it, and it scares me.

Ahoy, Mateys! Thar Be TREASURE At That University!

Newsalert has a piece that's relatively short but so full of delicious poetic justice that I post it here in its entirety:

George Will reports:

WASHINGTON is having a Willie Sutton Moment. Such moments occur when government, finding its revenue insufficient for its agenda, glimpses some money it does not control but would like to.

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) recently convened a discussion of how colleges and universities should be spending their endowments.

Marxism or should we say Rawlsian Justice finally come home to where it started: the universities.Our universities love to promote taxation for everyone but themselves.We can't wait to hear the libertarian arguments on why they shouldn't be taxed.

That will be fun to watch.

No, I'm not for taking money from universities. However, "taxes for thee but not for me" has gone on for long enough.

Another Reason To Learn Math

You might need it to defeat Jack the Ripper.

Cheating on the SAT

How did students get the SAT a day early? The news report indicates that the tests were left unsecured at the school.

A Protest Gone Wrong

Mike Antonucci at EIA (proudly listed on my blogroll) has the story of parents who have pulled their students out of school to protest the CTA's involvement in the anti-Proposition 8 movement. The twist?

The 1,800 teachers in the district do not now belong, nor have they ever belonged, to the California Teachers Association. In fact, Clovis is the only large school district in California that has never had a teachers’ union.

Oops!

Interested In Taking A Survey?

I received an email today asking that I solicit volunteers for a survey. I haven't researched this at all but I'll honor the request and assume it's legitimate:

A research team from the Psychology Department at New York University, headed by Professor Yaacov Trope and supported by the National Science Foundation, is investigating the cognitive causes of voting behavior, political preferences, and candidate evaluations throughout the course of the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. This stage of the study focuses on the information people use to inform evaluations during the last few weeks before the election. They seek respondents of all political leanings from all over the country (and from the rest of the world) to complete a 15-minute questionnaire, the responses to which will be completely anonymous.

I will disable comments for this post to avoid the bias that is likely to result when new respondents see comments about the survey before taking it.

The survey can be found here.

Why We Shouldn't Push All Kids To Go To College

It's crazy to think that every American kid should go to college. Look at the problems our colleges are having with remedial classes if you think otherwise.

Common sense should tell us that some people's talents lie in places other than school, but finally we have a data point:

I have a hard time telling such people the killer statistic: Among high-school students who graduated in the bottom 40 percent of their classes, and whose first institutions were four-year colleges, two-thirds had not earned diplomas eight and a half years later.

That's pretty telling. Now let me provide a little more information regarding that:

I have a hard time telling such people the killer statistic: Among high-school students who graduated in the bottom 40 percent of their classes, and whose first institutions were four-year colleges, two-thirds had not earned diplomas eight and a half years later. That figure is from a study cited by Clifford Adelman, a former research analyst at the U.S. Department of Education and now a senior research associate at the Institute for Higher Education Policy. Yet four-year colleges admit and take money from hundreds of thousands of such students each year!

Even worse, most of those college dropouts leave the campus having learned little of value, and with a mountain of debt and devastated self-esteem from their unsuccessful struggles. Perhaps worst of all, even those who do manage to graduate too rarely end up in careers that require a college education.

We need more vocational ed programs in our schools.

CTA and Prop 8

Just a few posts prior to this one is one about Proposition 8, the statewide initiative that would change California's constitution to say that the state would only recognize marriages between a man and a woman. My point in that post was not to debate the merits or demerits of the initiative, but to point out that CTA has no business kicking in teachers' money on either side of the issue.

Longtime anonymous RotLC reader "Dan" is a CTA member and emailed the union to ask why they're spending teachers' money on this issue that does not relate at all to teacher pay, benefits, and working conditions. What follows is the email dialog between Dan and CTA, and Dan has given me permission to post it here.

Dan:
To Whom It May Concern;

I am a full dues paying member, and I am voting no on Proposition 8 for both ethical and practical reasons.

That said, I am appalled that our association has spent a dime, let alone $1.25 million in fighting this proposition. Would someone please get back to me about how the passage or failure of this proposition affects my working conditions? Because if it doesn't, I don't want my money being spent on it.

I have no problem with CTA making endorsements, even though I disagree roughly 75% of the time. But, when it comes to spending the money, I need it going towards things that might make it easier to get a raise that at least keeps up with the rate of inflation, or class sizes that are below 36. I don't need you sticking your neck out to make sure that homosexuals can marry, even though I agree that it's right.

Would someone please get back to me with the rationale behind this spending decision?

Two minutes after sending that, Dan received the following response from CTA:

Thank you for your email. In June, the CTA State Council of Education, CTA's top governing body that is comprised of more than 800 democratically elected educators from across the state, voted to oppose Proposition 8. CTA believes that all people should be allowed equal protections under the law. CTA policy states that the legal rights and responsibilities of marriage and civil unions belong to all adults. No one group should be singled out and treated differently.

However, as with any election or initiative, CTA only makes recommendations. The final choice is always up to you.

Thank you for the work you do every day for the students of California .

Darren's commentary: I can't stand how CTA and NEA always hide behind the "democratically elected" charade. The Supreme Soviet was "democratically elected", too.

Dan:
Thanks for the quick, almost form-like response. However, you did not address my concern -- I agree with the platform plank, which would lead to a "no" endorsement. However, it is not an issue we should be spending money on. Would you please address that issue specifically, letting me know why it is to my benefit as an educator that this proposition not pass? Because if it doesn't benefit me, I shouldn't be forced to pay for its defeat.

Darren's commentary: Note that Dan apparently agrees with me that if it doesn't affect teacher pay, benefits, and working conditions, then CTA shouldn't be spending teachers' money, time, and effort on it.

CTA:
CTA campaigns for initiatives when they have a recommended position from the CTA State Council. In this instance the Council took the position of oppose on Proposition 8 as we have policy on non-discrimination. Many teachers will have benefit from defeat of this initiative.

Darren's commentary: Many teachers will benefit if President Bush's tax cuts are extended--but CTA won't support that in an Obama presidency. Hmmm, I wonder why. No, actually I don't; I know why.

Dan:
Please, understand . . . I agree with the association's position. What I don't understand is how "many teachers will benefit from the defeat of this initiative." How will this happen? What, precisely, will be the benefit? And again -- I support the stance -- I just don't support the funding.

CTA:


Darren's commentary: no surprise they have no response. The actual reason is because they can. They entitled to all teachers' money by law, therefore they are not accountable at all for how they spend it.

Snakes At A School

No, Nick (if you still read this blog), it's not Snakes On A Plane, but this real story is a little more believable:

School officials in Big Sandy said Tuesday the students were bitten by a cottonmouth snake their teacher had misidentified as non-venomous. They were taken to a hospital Monday when their hands began swelling...

Beene said the school district would revisit its policies about bringing animals on campus.

Either that, or make sure your teachers know what they're talking about.

Proposition 8

For those of you outside of California, Proposition 8 is a statewide initiative, only one sentence long, that would alter California's constitution such that only heterosexual marriages would be recognized by the state.

You might--or you might not--be surprised to learn that the California Teachers Association has spent more than $1 million to defeat Prop 8. Prop 8 clearly has nothing to do with teacher pay, benefits, or working conditions, so I don't think CTA should be involved in it at all. Of course, CTA didn't poll its membership about spending money on politics, either.

The "Yes on 8" campaign mentions in its advertising that schools would teach about (and promote) homosexuality if gay marriage remains legal, as happened in Massachusetts.

After the Mormon couple objected to having their children taught about same-sex marriage, the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals ruled they had no right to advance notice of the instruction. Two weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of their case.

What does California's Prop 8 have to do with education, though?

There's not a word about education in Proposition 8, but what public schools will be required to teach about same-sex marriage has emerged as the central issue in the campaign.

Again, because of the Massachusetts example.

Why is CTA so invested in ensuring this proposition fails? Couldn't be a leftie bias, could it?

I sure would like to see a "wall of separation" between unions and state--both labor unions and personal unions.