Housing Students

The 3rd Amendment to the Constitution prevents the quartering of soldiers in private houses.

UC Santa Cruz is asking faculty and staff to  quarter students in their houses:

The Bay Area’s housing crisis is hitting local colleges, too.

Facing a shortage of housing for people who want to live on campus as the start of the fall quarter looms, UC Santa Cruz sent an email this week to faculty and staff asking them to open their homes to students.

You've got to be kidding.

To me, this is simple.  If you can't afford to attend a certain school, choose one you can afford to attend.  Be sure to factor housing into your budget.

See?  Simple.

And don't whine back to me about not being able to attend certain so-called elite schools, either.  First off, Santa Cruz isn't an elite school.  Second, you can get a good education anywhere if you apply yourself to that goal.  And no, no one is entitled to attend Santa Cruz.  This state already provides no-out-of-pocket-cost education to everyone, non-citizens included, for 13 years.  You don't have a "right" or an "entitlement" to get higher education.  If you can't afford a certain school, pick another one.  I don't know why the mere thought of that is anathema to some people.

New California Law Puts Thousands Out Of Business

Liberal fantasies gone wild, as it wasn't the 3 Republicans in the state legislature who made this happen:

California’s newly signed law abolishing money bail makes the livelihoods of thousands of bail bondsmen obsolete – and in Sacramento, which is dotted with colorful figures from the industry, many are frustrated by the move.

There are 3,200 licensed bail bondsmen in the state and the industry accounts for at least 7,000 jobs, according to Maggie Kreins, vice president of the California Bail Agents Association. .

“Bail bondsmen are insurance agents,” said Topo Padilla, president of the Golden State Bail Association and Sacramento bail bondsman. “We issue an insurance policy to the court guaranteeing a person’s appearance in court. If a person fails to appear in court, the bail industry goes out and returns people to the court. If we fail to return the person to court in time, we pay the full amount of the bond"...

“With a stroke of a pen, this bill eliminates the bail bond business,” Topo Padilla said.

SB 10 replaces bondsmen with county-funded teams that are responsible for finding people who don’t show up on their court date.

I wonder how this will turn out.

Is This Really Something That Should Be Determined At The State Level?

Whenever people want "the government" to make a statewide law about education, I always ask:  is this proposed law just as good for the people of Susanville as it is for the people of San Francisco?  Does it make as much sense in Lincoln as it does in Los Angeles?  Will it have the same effect in Madera as in Santa Monica?

We have urban, suburban, and rural areas in California.  Each has different needs, and the needs of students are different in each.  That's kinda sorta why we pay lip service to "local control" of schools and districts.  But the do-gooders want to enforce their righteous good on everyone:

School boards and teachers unions successfully shot down a legislative proposal last year that would delay start times until 8:30 a.m. at middle and high schools in California.

Now the bill is back, with a better shot at becoming law.

Sen. Anthony Portantino, who introduced the bill, cites public research that says later school start times improve pupil health. He has several studies on his side, and his staff put together a 218-page book on the policy last year to prove it.

The Democrat from La Cañada Flintridge cites a 2014 recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics to start middle and high schools no earlier than 8:30 a.m. to offset sleep deprivation. The AAP linked insufficient sleep to physical and mental health problems in adolescents.

I always ask: do students in other developed and/or high-performing countries have the sleep deprivation we supposedly have here in California?

A couple of years ago I polled my senior classes (sample size: approximately 100) if they would rather start school earlier or later.  Even those half-asleep in 1st period said they'd rather start earlier--they wanted their afternoons free.  The vote was close to 100-0.

Wait, who is this strange fellow in my bed?

The California Teachers Association argues that Senate Bill 328 eliminates local control and that legislators in Sacramento should not unilaterally dictate the first school bell for diverse communities all over the state.

“It should be a conversation that should be had by school district officials, parents, students and educators,” said Claudia Briggs, a CTA spokesperson. “We shouldn’t have a one-size fits all approach for all school start times based on how geographically diverse and large our state is.”

Go figure!

And this Democrat makes the most sense of all:

“Maybe we should just have a mandatory bedtime bill because that’s the real issue here,” O’Donnell said. “If you’re worried about kids not getting enough sleep, maybe they should go to bed earlier.“

Parental responsibility for raising kids.  No village.  Hmmm.

Social Science

But there’s a wrinkle here and you may have guessed what it is. The world of social science is overwhelmingly left-wing: so heavily agenda-driven, so rife with confirmation bias and skewed methodology that almost inevitably its studies will show conservatives as blinkered and dim, and lefties as open-minded and clever regardless of the evidence.

Lest you think this is my own bias showing, another recent study confirmed it: a survey of 479 sociology professors found that only 4 per cent identified as conservative or libertarian, while 83 per cent identified as liberal or left-radical. In another survey — of psychologists this time — only 6 per cent identified as ‘conservative overall’.

Just occasionally, though, a more balanced study does slip through the net — like the one just published by a team from Oxford University. The study by Nathan Cofnas et al — Does Activism in the Social Sciences Explain Conservatives’ Distrust of Scientists? — pours scorn on the idea that conservatives are any more anti-science than lefties. It’s not science they distrust so much as scientists — especially ones in more nebulous, activism-driven fields like ecology or sociology. As Cofnas told Campus Reform, a site that exposes left-wing bias at universities: ‘Conservatives are right to be sceptical. Take any politicised issue that is connected to some disagreement about scientific fact. I do not believe there is a single case in the last couple of decades where a major scientific organisation took a position that went against the platform of the Democratic party.’ He added: ‘What an odd coincidence that “science” always, without exception, supports the liberal worldview.’

If you have to add the word "science" to the name of your field in order to give it some gravitas, then it's not science at all. It's just not.  And you're not a "scientist".

Update:  NPR makes the point of the author above.

A Funny (But Practical) Use For Math

I fear some high school students would never be able to shut off the alarm:

Do you have trouble oversleeping in the morning? Are you tired of losing the battle with your traditional alarm clock? Do you want the perfect way to make sure that you get up on time whenever you want, and wherever you are? Then you need Mathe Alarm Clock!

...Unlike conventional alarm clocks and alarm apps, Mathe Alarm Clock forces you to solve multiple-choice math puzzles before shutting off its alarm. You'll never worry again about unconsciously pressing your alarm clock's "snooze" button and oversleeping!

Get it (only for Apple products) here.

The Current "Long March" Through Institutions

May this plan have as much success as Bolivarian Socialism has:

The Young Democratic Socialists of America organization is urging socialists to “take jobs as teachers” in order to exploit the “political, economic, and social potential the industry holds"...

For those who might be reluctant to engage directly in teaching, the handbook suggests non-teacher positions that are often represented by education unions, such as “school secretaries, guidance counselors, psychologists, speech therapists, parent coordinators, and special education support staff.”

“There is a growing national network of educators in DSA working to transform our schools, our unions, and our society,” the section concludes. “Being a member of DSA means there is a pre-existing network of fellow socialists you can tap for support as you undertake this work.”

And then, the indoctrination of other people's children.

What A Disservice We Do

Standards?  We don't need no stinkin' standards.

We let anyone pass through junior high.  Fail all 6 classes both years?  No problem.  Maybe we'll pretend to care and you'll pretend to learn something in summer school, but it certainly isn't mandatory--neither the attendance nor the learning.

So these kids who flunk their way through middle school get to high school, and all of a sudden the bar, which had been in the vicinity of their ankles, is now above their shoulders.  In order to graduate they have to pass 4 years of English, 2 years of math, etc.  That's right, pass.  And those are just the minimal state standards.  Then add in districts trying to outdo each other in the I-can-set-higher-graduation-standards-than-you sweepstakes, requiring students to have passed 3 years of math, 2 years of science, 2 years of foreign language, etc.  We've trained middle school students that you don't have to pass a thing in order to move on to the next grade, and then they get to high school, where actual standards enshrined in law, augmented by district policy, come into play.

Yes, they'll be able to jump through so-called credit recovery hoops if they fall far behind, and maybe they'll pass and eventually graduate even if they've learned nothing.  But at the very minimum we'll require them to jump through hoops, and perhaps pirouette, before we give them a diploma.

These 9th graders show up in the Miller Hall of Learning, and they want to stare at me during class.  They don't want to write anything down, don't want to practice, don't even want to try.  Not even take out a pencil or a piece of paper.  "I can't think today", as if that's a get-out-of-jail-free card.  It's probably even been a good enough reason to be free of effort in the past, but it's not sufficient now.  It's just not.  Seriously, you can't subtract 3 from both sides of this equation?  And you think this is OK?  I get it if some traumatic event just happened, but it seems it would be the normal state of things if I allowed it to be--as it was allowed to be before 9th grade.

Such 9th graders are always a challenge.  It's been awhile since I've had any freshmen but the top students, so I haven't dealt with this in a few years.  If I were naive I'd be surprised that nothing has changed on this front in the many years since I've had such students.  Instead I'm just disappointed.

Why we train students that apathy is OK, and why we reinforce that belief, is something I cannot fathom.

Yet Another Justification For My Classroom's Being a "No Phone Zone"

I don't allow phone use in my classroom.  Period.

The question of whether or not to allow students to use smartphones, laptops and other technology in the classroom has been long-debated, and at times, heated.

And just as a new school year is set to begin, a new study raises fresh concerns about potential downsides of multitasking during class.

The study, published in the journal Educational Psychology, found that when students divide attention between electronic devices and a classroom lecture, they still followed the lecture in the moment, but that long-term retention was reduced, resulting in lower grades on unit and final exams.

Arnold Glass, a researcher and professor at Rutgers University’s psychology department, ran the study with graduate student Mengxue Kang. He tells EdSurge that it’s fine for a student to use a digital device to take notes. The problem arises when the student starts dividing his attention between taking notes and other tasks, such as texting or watching a video. He adds that many students think using digital devices doesn’t have an effect on them, because their immediate comprehension doesn’t suffer.

“If you ask the a question right then, they’ll get it right,” he says. “Therefore, they’ll feel comfortable that they’re getting it all. However, a week later, they don’t remember it because that’s the effect of dividing attention.”

A study at my Alma Mater showed that laptops inhibit learning--and I assume phones are worse!

Are Your Remarks Racist or Sexist?

If you're a conservative or merely opposing a liberal, the answer is probably "yes" to both.  That's what I got out of this article :)

You are a decent and fair-minded person. You strive always to treat all people fairly and with dignity. In your heart of hearts, you know that you are not a racist, nor a sexist. But you also know that these are highly charged times. In spite of your pure heart and your very best efforts, you still fear that someone might unfairly accuse you of making a racist or sexist remark or slur. You want to avoid even the slightest appearance of engaging in racism or sexism.

And yet, it has become so complicated these days. Accusations fly everywhere, sometimes over words that to you seemed completely innocent. What to do? You need some guidance!

To help you, the Manhattan Contrarian has put together this weekend's Manhattan Contrarian Quiz. Take the Quiz. Study the answers. You will then know all there is to know about what is and is not racist and sexist in today's world.

The Quiz consists of ten questions, each of which is either an actual quotation or a hypothetical fact situation. For each question, you are to answer whether the posited fact situation or quotation does or does not demonstrate racism and/or sexism. Answers, and explanations, below the fold. One point for each correct answer!

When liberals call you a racist or a sexist, laugh at them. Mock them. Smile at them. It drives them crazy.

Letting the Inmates Run The Asylum

While I guess it would be easier to have essentially no dress code to enforce than any dress code, I still wonder if this isn't doing a disservice to students:

Tube tops, tight pants, ripped jeans, short skirts and even pajamas are now acceptable attire at Alameda city schools under a new dress code adopted by the school board over the summer break.

Heads covered by hoodies also are allowed as long as faces are visible, as are comfy yoga pants, sweats or soccer shorts — and if underwear is peeking out the top of waistbands, that’s fine too.

Students will now have nearly unfettered freedom to wear almost whatever they want as long as they have a top, bottom, shoes and “clothing that covers specific body parts (genitals, buttocks, and areolae/nipples) with opaque material,” according to the new policy.

Approved on a trial basis for this school year, the new dress code is among the most permissive in the Bay Area, leaving it largely up to students and families to decide if shorts are too short or tops are too revealing.

District officials said they expect teachers, parents and guardians to have a range of reactions once school starts and policy goes live. The school board will review feedback and consider in the spring whether changes need to be made, said spokeswoman Susan Davis.

If adults were to wear certain types of clothing at school (in the workplace), it could be considered a form of sexual harassment.  I don't know why we'd teach teenagers that it's OK to wear such clothing at school.

Math Is Haaaaaard

It's a lot easier to complain about the patriarchy than it is actually to learn or accomplish something:

Engineering education has been infiltrated by a “phalanx of social justice warriors” who are steadily corrupting the field, according to a Michigan State University professor.

“They have sought out the soft underbelly of engineering, where phrases such as ‘diversity’ and ‘different perspectives’ and ‘racial gaps’ and ‘unfairness’ and ‘unequal outcomes’ make up the daily vocabulary,” asserts Mechanical Engineering professor Indrek Wichman in an essay published Wednesday by the James G. Martin Center.

“Instead of calculating engine horsepower or microchip power/size ratios or aerodynamic lift and drag, the engineering educationists focus on group representation, hurt feelings, and ‘microaggressions’ in the profession,” Wichman adds.

Citing the Purdue University School of Education Engineering as a case study, Wichman claims that “engineering education” schools increasingly focus on concepts that are incompatible with the actual discipline, such as “empowering” students and “reimagining” engineering as a more “socially connected” field of study.

“For the record, engineers ‘empower’ themselves and, most important, other people, by inventing things,” he points out. “Those things are our agents of change.”

Hear hear, it's about time someone in academia points this out.

Jordan Peterson on IQ

The End of an Epic Quest

I have a friend whose parents adopted him at birth.  He's known forever that he's adopted, and we've known each other since 1st grade. 

He was a dutiful son, and his parents were doting.  They deserved each other, and in the best of ways.

But of course he always wondered about his biological parents.  It was certainly nothing against the parents who raised him, but I wonder if there isn't some biological urge to know.  We're roughly the same age, and I'm kind of old, so he's wondered for a very long time.  His parents weren't forthcoming about his biological parents until late in their lives, and some of the information they had wasn't all that accurate.  Still, he wondered.  And sometimes searched, but to no avail.

Last year he did a 23&Me DNA test, and shortly after that received an email saying something to the effect of, "This test says you're my brother, is that possible?"

A few months ago I drove him to a city about 4 hours from here so he could meet some of his new-found siblings--I didn't think someone should drive that far alone when dealing with so much anxiety.  Thankfully their meeting went off without a hitch.

This weekend he drove further, but on his own.  He met another sibling, as well as his biological father.  He sent me a picture.  I wonder which of us had the bigger smile as he told me about the meeting.  And to think that he's gone from being an only child to having siblings, and nieces and nephews!

How must it feel, to reach the literal and absolute end of a lifelong search?

Not Quite What I'd Do, But...

He wasn't violent, which is more than you can say for leftist protesters when they show up at non-leftist gatherings.  He was shocking, and his actions mortified those present.  And he didn't do anything illegal.

Which is more foul, this or wearing pussy hats in public?

A meat-loving YouTuber staged a “shocking” demonstration at a vegan food festival in Amsterdam by chowing down on a raw veal heart “literally dripping” with blood.

Breaking Spaghetti

It's not a problem I've ever considered, but it has some interesting properties and ramifications:

If you happen to have a box of spaghetti in your pantry, try this experiment: Pull out a single spaghetti stick and hold it at both ends. Now bend it until it breaks. How many fragments did you make? If the answer is three or more, pull out another stick and try again. Can you break the noodle in two? If not, you're in very good company.

The spaghetti challenge has flummoxed even the likes of famed physicist Richard Feynman '39, who once spent a good portion of an evening breaking pasta and looking for a theoretical explanation for why the sticks refused to snap in two.

Feynman's kitchen experiment remained unresolved until 2005, when physicists from France pieced together a theory to describe the forces at work when spaghetti—and any long, thin rod—is bent. They found that when a stick is bent evenly from both ends, it will break near the center, where it is most curved. This initial break triggers a "snap-back" effect and a bending wave, or vibration, that further fractures the stick. Their theory, which won the 2006 Ig Nobel Prize, seemed to solve Feynman's puzzle. But a question remained: Could spaghetti ever be coerced to break in two?

The answer, according to a new MIT study, is yes—with a twist. In a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers report that they have found a way to break spaghetti in two, by both bending and twisting the dry noodles.

Tweet That Did Not Age Well

The one here sure didn't.

Here are three posts I've done on Venezuela:  2016, 2017, 2018.  You decide.

Only An Educated Person Could Believe Something So Stupid

You'd think the field of math would be a bulwark against such idiocy, but you'd be wrong:

An Illinois professor who focuses on “equity” in mathematics will present her plan to redefine the field of study to oppose “objects, truths, and knowledge” at a 2019 conference.

University of Illinois education professor Dr. Rochelle Gutierrez will give her talk, titled “Mathematx: Towards a way of Being,” at the Mathematics Education and Society 10th International Conference in India during January and February 2019.

“The relationship between humans, mathematics, and the planet has been one steeped too long in domination and destruction,” Gutierrez notes in her presentation’s description. “I argue for a movement against objects, truths, and knowledge towards a way of being in the world that is guided by first principles — mathematx.”

“This shift from thinking of mathematics as a noun to mathematx as a verb holds potential for honouring our connections with each other as human and other-than-human persons, for balancing problem solving with joy, and for maintaining critical bifocality at the local and global level.”

Other-than-human persons?  As Sonny would say, "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs":

Why Is The School Involved In This At All?

School isn't even in session yet, and district personnel believe the video was not made on district property.  So why is the district even involved?

The Sacramento City Unified School District is investigating two of its students for allegedly posting a video with racist slurs in it on Instagram, Superintendent Jorge Aguilar wrote in a statement Wednesday.

A blurry, nine-second screengrab of the video was shared Tuesday on Facebook by Black Lives Matter Sacramento, and shows a male and a female teen wearing blackface or black masks. In one scene, a male voice says “I don’t think this bird likes n------.” In the second scene, he says “Hi, n-----,” as a female laugh is heard.

District spokesman Alex Barrios said the district believes the two people in the video are students at C.K. McClatchy High School, but has not yet determined their identities.

Excitement In The Homeland

It seems an ISIS killer has been captured here in River City:

An Iraqi national who entered the U.S. as a refugee was arrested this afternoon on charges he participated in ISIS killings in Iraq in 2014.

The arrest of Omar Abdulsattar Ameen comes after an arrest warrant was issued by an Iraqi court in May...

A side note: Sacramento is a declared "sanctuary city." 

What were the lefties chanting this past weekend?  Oh yes:  "No border, no wall, no USA at all."  Geniuses.

Last Day!

Students show up tomorrow.  Whatever I've done or failed to do, I've got to perform superbly starting tomorrow.