A Different, Uncared-about Achievement Gap

When other groups fall this far behind in education, it's evidence of racism or classism or sexism or barbarism or something:

For last year's graduating Class of 2009, women dominated at every level of higher education. Here's the national breakdown: for every 100 men, 142 women graduated with a bachelor's, 159 women completed a master's and 107 women got a doctoral degree. University of Michigan Economics Professor Dr. Mark Perry says similar numbers are in tow this year....

Instapundit suggests, not entirely mockingly, that we might have to extend Title IX beyond athletics

Since we’ve given up on merit and instead focus on group representation nowadays, what’s the argument against such an approach?

I cannot come up with one.

West Point Cadets Invent Statue of Liberty Rescue Device

This cannot be true, of course, because we all know they're just a bunch of automatons and baby-killers:

Visiting Lady Liberty just got a little safer.

The "Crown Rescue Device," invented by a team of West Point cadets, debuted yesterday as a faster way to get a sick or injured tourist down the perilous staircase that winds inside the Statue of Liberty.

The portable chair - designed by the cadets for their senior-class project - latches onto the statue's narrow interior stairwell, allowing a patient to slide carefully down the 146 stairs to the pedestal.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/05/06/2010-05-06_west_point_cadets_invent_crown_rescue_device_for_sick_or_injured_tourists_at_sta.html#ixzz0nlEVpld0

There's video at the link as well.

Wednesday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
1929.

Today's question is:
In what country was the 1981 cult movie classic My Bloody Valentine made?

Visited By The Suits

Our superintendent's latest fad to push onto our administrators is the "smart walk", wherein administrators drop in on classrooms unannounced and observe what's going on. I have no objection to this; back in the early 90s, when I was a manufacturing manager, I did that very same thing. Back then we called it "management by walking around". I heard it was very big at Hewlett-Packard.

I prefer unannounced visits because then there's no expectation that I'll put on a dog-and-pony show. Last week my principal dropped in on one of my classes, observed and took some notes, and later sent me a short laudatory email. I got feedback!

Today my principal came in with his boss and an administrator from another high school. My students were working independently at the time, and I was wandering about answering their questions and making sure they were doing the assignment. The visitors didn't do the usual visitor routine of staying in the back and taking notes, though--no, they actually circulated among the students and interacted with them! It didn't occur to me to ask the students if the visitors were offering help or just asking questions--perhaps I should have, because when the suits left they huddled outside, not too far from my room, and seemed to be comparing notes for awhile.

I wonder what kind of feedback I'll get this time.

Tuesday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
1770.

Today's question is:
In what year was the St. Valentine's Day Massacre?

Least Worst

Yes, he was the least worst of the plausible candidates, but that doesn't give much comfort when I remember that I voted for this embarrassment.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger joked that he was afraid of being deported in Arizona during a commencement speech he delivered Monday at Emory University in Atlanta.

"I was also going to give a graduation speech in Arizona this weekend," Schwarzenegger said. "But with my accent I was afraid they would try to deport me."

The Republican governor is opposed to Arizona's new immigration law and said last month, "I would never do that in California." Schwarzenegger has blamed the federal government for not securing the border. link

If he "blames" the feds for not securing the border, what specifically about Arizona's law, which mostly restates federal law, does the governor object to?

Elected officials aren't supposed to act this way. Did he think it funny when people in other states proposed boycotts of California over Proposition 8?

Teachers Union Budgeting In The "Worst Economic Crisis Since The Great Depression"

Delegates to the national union's (NEA's) 2010 representative assembly will be asked to approve a $354.7 million budget - a budget 0.3 percent smaller than last year's. Set aside your concerns. NEA has already appropriated $5 million for its political operations during the 2010 campaign.

The union's state affiliates are implementing similar measures. The Indiana State Teachers Association, having already chalked up a $40 dues hike to help pay for its failed insurance trust, will boost them another $10 for the 2010-11 school year. The California Teachers Association, which claims to have lost 16,000 members, will increase dues by $18 to $639 for the coming year. This insures that the $15 per member for "advocacy," the $16 for the media advertising fund, the $17.97 for the union's PACs, and the $36 for the ballot initiative fund will not be adversely affected. link

This might be enough to push union dues in my district past the $1,000/year mark.

How Much To Become A Medical Scientist?

A scholarship worth half a million dollars? Well done!

On Sunday, Washington will become the first black valedictorian in Notre Dame's 168-year history. In the fall, she will begin an eight-year joint M.D.-Ph.D. program at Johns Hopkins University in its medical scientist training program. She has been awarded a full scholarship, worth about $500,000, plus a stipend to help cover housing and living expenses. link

Tie this in to the post I wrote just a half an hour ago.

How Much Is That Degree In The Window?

In theory, a university or college degree is much more than just a credential for any particular field of employment. It should represent a well-rounded education, a person who can think, a scholar. In theory. But how well does that hold up in the real world?

According to that great philosopher Yogi Berra, “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is.” Sometimes a degree is just a ticket to punch on the way to a career.

Having said that, which are the worst-paying degrees?

No surprise, engineering degrees continue to be top earners--and (also no big shocker) you have to go pretty far down the list before you see the liberal arts well represented.

10. Drama
9. Fine Arts
8. Hospitality and tourism
7. Education
6. Horticulture
5. Spanish
4. Music
3. Theology
2. Elementary education
1. Social work

Definitely not a lot of scientists and engineers on that list.

Monday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
1773.

Today's question is:
In what year was the Boston Massacre?

Sunday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Two. One is not a prime number.

And today we start another Theme Week. This one is "From One To The Next" Week, wherein each question or answer is related in some way to the next question or answer. Today's question, the first in "From One To The Next" Week, is:
In what year was the Boston Tea Party?

It Takes A Village--To Regulate A Teenager

Barring high school students from buying Gatorade on campus, banning metal bats from their baseball games, making it illegal for adolescents to have themselves "branded" with a hot iron: Regulating teenage behavior has become an attractive topic for California's legislators.

Some lawmakers also want to outlaw nipple piercings for teenagers, and prohibit them from snowboarding and skiing without a helmet or reentering a football game too quickly after taking a hard hit to the head.

The proposals have riled those who complain that California is already an intrusive "nanny state," and they're asking whether lawmakers should find better ways to spend their time than pondering how to keep teens in check — like dealing with high unemployment or resolving the budget crisis.

The tone is one of dismay bordering on contempt, and it comes not from a conservative blog but from the Los Angeles Times.

My guess is that it isn't conservatives who are pushing for these laws, but I guess I could be wrong.

Jolly Rancher Candy Lands 3rd-grader In Detention

ORCHARD, Texas – A third-grader at Brazos Elementary was given a week’s detention for possessing a Jolly Rancher.

School officials in Brazos County are defending the seemingly harsh sentence. The school’s principal and superintendent said they were simply complying with a state law that limits junk food in schools...

Jack Ellis, the superintendent for Brazos Independent School District, declined an on-camera interview. But he said the school was abiding by a state guideline that banned “minimal nutrition” foods...

Brazos Elementary Principal Jeanne Young, said the problem, in this instance, was that the candy was provided by another student – not the girl’s parents.

Every adult mentioned in the story, with the exception of the girl's mother, is an idiot.

Hat tip to NewsAlert.

Do You Want Your Kid Taught By This Guy?

"Where we now stand is stolen, occupied Mexico"...La Raza rally at UCLA....More gems: 'Communist Revolution', 'Frail, racist white people', 'La Raza' (the Race), Fidel Castro, 'Northern Front of Latin Revolution'..."40 million...revolutionaries...in the belly of the beast". "Our enemy is Capitalism and Imperialism".

Sanchee H.S. history teacher Ron Gochez, La Raza Rally at UCLA

We are revolutionary Mexican organization here. We understand that this is not just about Mexico. Its about a global struggle against imperialism and capitalism At the forefront of this revolutionary movement is La Raza. We will no longer fall for these lies called borders. We see America as a northern front of a revolutionary movement Our enemy is capitalism and imperialism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGqPo5ofk0s

Is This Really An Issue Of Student Safety?

In Duluth, a chorale group performed before and during a board of education meeting. One of the board members took some photos of the group. The choir director says it made some of the students uncomfortable, and he sent emails asking why the member took the photos.

I agree with the author of the blog post.

Saturday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
George and Gracie.

Today's question is:
What is the smallest prime number?

How Much CYA For A CPU, and Y

Yesterday after lunch, the world ended.

Not really. Not for everyone. Just for several of us at my school.

You see, Zangle, our online attendance-recording (among other things) program, stopped working. The student names came up, but I couldn't mark them present, tardy, or absent.

I sent an email to the rest of the teachers on staff and from the replies I got, several teachers all over the site were having the same problem. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to who was having problems and who wasn't. One teacher said that she couldn't take roll on Firefox but could on Safari. Go figure.

I emailed our attendance office with the names of my absent students and asked her to mark the students absent via her access. At least this way I have a record that I did, in fact, take roll. I also contacted our Tech Services people and let them know of the problem, and sent my principal an email letting him know I'd done so.

It's important that I did all this because we have a vice principal with Napolean Complex. If someone makes a simple mistake, his response is not just to point out the mistake but to identify how the teacher has violated numerous state laws, district policies, and components of the California Standards For The Teaching Profession. If in writing, these laws, policies, and the CSTP will be stapled to the letter/note/warning. At my Alma Mater we had a special term we used for such people....

On Monday it might appear that I didn't take roll during 5th or 6th periods yesterday. There's a part of me that is hoping I get a nasty-gram for not doing so.

Friday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
USS Hornet, currently moored in Alameda, California.

Today's question is:
In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, what were the names of the humpback whales that Captain Kirk and the gang took forward in time from the 20th to the 23rd century?

Proposition 13

Does Prop 13 bear the lion's share of the fault for California's fiscal/budget mess? No.

Virtual Schools, or Distance Learning

I've long been an advocate of "school by internet", but believe it's probably going to be the exception rather than the rule. Not everyone is capable of being self-directed in a way required by going to school at home.

But that doesn't mean that such schools shouldn't exist for those who need or prefer them, and Massachusetts is entering the fray:

The schools would have no desks or lockers, not even a cafeteria to trade gossip over a plate of chicken nuggets. Instead, students could take classes from the comfort of their homes or a neighborhood coffeehouse, as teachers convey lessons via the Internet.

This is a snapshot of virtual public schools in Massachusetts, which could open as soon as this fall, enabling hundreds of students to take all their classes online...

State education leaders say they expect the schools will appeal to a small fraction of students statewide, who would have to apply for entry. But it could be a boon for students who are bored or unchallenged by curriculums (sic) in traditional schools, and could benefit students who can’t attend regular school because of a medical condition, expulsion, or incarceration, among other reasons.