Oakland Military Institute

Earlier today I had the high privilege of visiting and being given a tour of the Oakland Military Institute, a charter school in the Oakland (California) School District. Summer school was in session so I did get to see some cadets, but I look forward to visiting again some time when the full student population is present--that's the only way to get a true feel for a school.

The school board and local teachers union were hostile to the creation of OMI from the very beginning; it was only the persistence of then-Mayor Jerry Brown (former CA governor, current attorney general), that allowed the school to get off the ground. For its first few years, OMI was located at the former Oakland Army Base. But that facility became needed, and OMI had to find a new home. There was a closed elementary school in a residential neighborhood...

...and that became the new and current Oakland Military Institute. The school has a 5-year lease on the building, so it's home for awhile.

Of course, click on the pictures to enlarge them.

First I'll tell you what OMI is, then I'll tell you what it isn't.

Look at the name on the sign in the picture above. Oakland Military Institute College Preparatory Academy. OMI's graduation requirements are the same "a-g requirements" for admission to our state's university system; clearly, these graduation requirements are stricter than those imposed by the state, and higher than any other school in the Oakland district. The reason is simple, and isn't hard to figure out if you drive around in the vicinity of the school--there aren't a lot of kids who are considering college in Oakland, and this school, like the AVID program at so many other schools, focuses kids on the goal of attending college.

OMI has approximately 600 students in 6th-12th grades. The students apply to get into this school and reflect the community from which they come; for example, in looking at pictures/names of students, I saw fewer than 5 non-Hispanic white boys in the hundreds of pictures I saw. The average student comes to OMI more than a year below grade level in some core subjects. In other words, these students are not much different from students in any other Oakland school.

Yet over 80% of OMI graduates go on to college--and I'm told that's just the 4-year colleges, that the percentage is higher when you add in junior colleges. They're doing something right at OMI, and I'll tell you what it is.

At OMI, standards are stated explicitly. There are standards of behavior, standards of academic work, standards of discipline/bearing/decorum. The students know what those standards are, and the standards are not flexible. Here's an example of one such explicitly stated standard:


There is no ambiguity there, no room for interpretation. And that's good, that's what so many students need.

Now let me stop and say that this isn't Martinet High. The atmosphere is not one of Basic Training, there aren't a bunch of automatons running around. The kids here are just like the kids in any other Oakland school, and while you can take the kid out of Oakland (at least, out of the Oakland public schools), you can't take the Oakland out of the kid. These are mostly low-income, mostly minority kids from an inner city, with everything that implies. But instead of using that as an excuse to allow kids to fail, OMI helps them succeed.

While utilizing a military model, OMI is not a soldier factory, it's not a recruiting arm of the military, and they're not teaching warmongering there. I was very direct in my questions to the commandant on this topic, and his answers were equally clear. In addition to academic subjects OMI teaches leadership, it teaches respect, it teaches self-discipline, it teaches peaceful resolution to problems--values sorely needed given the environment so many of the students come from. Uniforms, formations, military-type discipline--these are just effective tools, very efficient tools, for instilling those values in students. They are merely a means to an end, and that end is college.

I said previously that the OMI campus is a converted elementary school in an inner city. There was no "field", so they bought one:

The students play soccer, conduct parades, and have PT on a (rather soft) field that used to be the blacktop. Athletic competition is always a great motivator, and records are posted:



I don't quite understand the relationship, and perhaps a reader can clarify that for us all, but OMI is affiliated with the California Cadet Corps, a JROTC-like program of the California National Guard. Some of the military instructors are CCC officers and soldiers, and OMI cadets wear CCC uniforms. They wear the official CCC uniform (see some here) 3 days a week, and a black OMI PT uniform two days a week. Today during my visit there was summer school, and every cadet there had on the PT uniform. It's called a "uniform" for a reason.

There is no graffiti in or around the school. The walls were painted, the floors clear of debris. The building was obviously old but cared for. OMI reminds me of the Little Engine That Could.

I mentioned previously that it was Jerry Brown who really pushed for OMI, and I'm told that even today he comes by periodically to visit and see how the school and students are doing. I don't have very many positive things to say about Brown, but I give him an A+ for his continued commitment to this school and program.

The last time I looked up OMI's school accountability score a couple years ago, it wasn't that high. Let's do so now and see what we get.

Here are their scores. I'm impressed with the math scores; the lower classes' scores aren't so good, but the number of "advanced" and "proficient" students in Algebra 2 and Summative High School Math (the test taken in all courses above Algebra 2) show marked improvement over the lower courses. Here are the Oakland Unified School District scores as a whole. Pick your favorite subject area and compare the two.

This site gives the Academic Performance Index for OMI, and compares it with schools across the state with similar demographics. The information is from the school year that ended a year ago; 2007-08's information won't be posted until the end of August. If all of California's schools were ranked in order and divided into deciles, OMI's student performance would be in the 4th decile overall (better than over 30% of all schools in the state, worse than 60%). When compared only to schools with similar demographics, OMI would be in only the 2nd decile, so clearly there's room for improvement.

Overall, the Oakland District had a score of 651. OMI's score is 658. It's doing slightly better than the district as a whole, but it is helping more students get into colleges and universities.

To conclude, I'm impressed with OMI's program. I wish the school and its cadets continued success and continued improvement.

"Mapping" Cadet Learning at West Point

Inside Higher Ed has an interesting piece about a long-term effort to evaluate West Point's "product"--an educated, adaptable lieutenant.

“Our graduates are likely to be stationed all over the world. They’re going to confront challenges that quite frankly we couldn’t have prepared them for. We couldn’t have known what the challenges would be,” said Bruce Keith, a professor of sociology and associate dean for academic affairs. “We have to develop in them a foundation for lifelong learning.”

With broad goals of lifelong learning and liberal education at the fore, West Point professors are diligently pursuing an ongoing effort to map where, in what classes, and how students achieve the outcomes West Point wants. Yet, even considering West Point’s heavy core curriculum — which consists of about 30 courses, Keith said, 26 of which are taken in common by all students — the circled route consists of many branching roads that ultimately, faculty hope, converge.

And while West Point is of course a unique institution, some suggest it could be a model for how colleges can become more intentional in linking all of these branches of the undergraduate experience.

I'm usually skeptical of such evaluation programs, but if any institution can do them correctly, our service academies can.

Yet Another Difference Between A Conservative And A Liberal

President Bush was exactly right in this exchange, quoted in an opinion piece about energy conservation:

A reporter, saying the energy debate will continue into the next administration, told President Bush that "one thing nobody debates is that if Americans use less energy the current supply/demand equation would improve. Why have you not sort of called on Americans to drive less and to turn down the thermostat?"

Bush responded: "They’re smart enough to figure out whether they’re going to drive less or not … it’s interesting what the price of gasoline has done, is it caused people to drive less. That’s why they want smaller cars, they want to conserve. But the consumer is plenty bright. … The marketplace works.

"Secondly, we have worked with Congress to change CAFE standards and had a mandatory alternative fuel requirement," he continued. "One way to correct the imbalance is to save, is to conserve. … I talked about good conservation. And people can figure out whether they need to drive more or less; they can balance their own checkbooks."

"But you don't see the need to ask? You don’t see the value of your calling for a campaign?" the reporter persisted.

"I think people ought to conserve and be wise about how they use gasoline and energy … and there’s some easy steps people can take. You know, if they’re not in their home, they don’t keep their air-conditioning running," Bush said, adding that "it’s a little presumptuous on my part to dictate to consumers how they live their lives."

Lefties tell me all the time that it's the right that wants to take away your freedoms and tell you how you must live. I honestly don't see it.

12 Out Of 12

Paying attention to the news paid off for me on this quiz.

Wikipedia

If I want information on a topic, I'll sometimes start at Wikipedia. Notice I said start.

When you've been around the block a few times as I have, you're more able to notice when something's not quite right. You notice bias, for example. And there's plenty of it on Wikipedia. The more controversial the topic, the more bias you'll find there. That shouldn't be surprising.

Students, however, don't have the spectrum of knowledge, gained by decades of paying attention, that I have. They see Wikipedia as the Encyclopedia Britannica of the internet, the source of all information. It's not.

It's only a place to start. If a topic is well footnoted and referenced on Wikipedia, the footnotes and references might be useful. Start with Wikipedia, and launch your search for knowledge from there. One of my high school English teachers spent quite a bit of time drilling into us the difference between a "scholarly reference" and a "reference", and when each should be used. Wikipedia is certainly in the latter category, for a number of reasons.

Here's a story about a hacker who is helping uncover who is doing what edits to Wikipedia topics. It's very illuminating, and I highly recommend that you read it. I found two points to be very instructive. The first comes from a comment, the second from the end of the article:

1. Skeptics of anthropogenic global warming have their edits removed and if they complain, they'll get their accounts suspended. I created an entry about one of the suppressing administrators and not only was the entry deleted, but my account was ended with the comment "User hates Wiki".

Other politically left of center positions and personalities get favored treatment.

2. Instead, he argues that removing anonymity makes the site's information more accurate. "I would say that if people are anonymous, the quality of their contribution is probably much lower," he says. "Wouldn't you want Wikipedia users to be held accountable for what they change?"

Accountability. Such a versatile proposition.

Update, 7/28/08: I'm not the only one who thinks so. So does Roger L. Simon.

Too often we reference Wikipedia as if it were authoritative. It isn’t. Not even faintly.

What Is The Meaning of Life?

Mallory, in the Family Ties series finale, gave the best response I've ever heard (which I'll paraphrase here):

Be happy, try not to hurt anyone, and hope you fall in love.

"Unless you see evil up close and personal like this, it is admittedly difficult to comprehend that it actually exists."

I refer you to this exceptional post by my friend Mr. Chanman, and ask you to consider which political philosophy, current American liberalism or conservatism, is better able to deal with this man.

Now extrapolate from this one person to the world, and tell me which American political party you trust more to deal with the Saddam Husseins, the Ahmedinejads, the Dear Leaders, the Assads, the Chavezes, and the bin Ladens of the world.

They Mean To Govern

Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.
--Daniel Webster

Exhibit A is the former and perhaps future governor of California, Jerry Brown:

In the meantime, Mr. Brown is taking aim at the suburbs, concerned about the alleged environmental damage they cause. He sees suburban houses as inefficient users of energy. He sees suburban commuters clogging the roads as wasting precious fossil fuel. And, mostly, he sees wisdom in an intricately thought-out plan to compel residents to move to city centers or, at least, to high-density developments clustered near mass transit lines.

Mr. Brown is not above using coercion to create the demographic patterns he wants. In recent months, he has threatened to file suit against municipalities that shun high-density housing in favor of building new suburban singe-family homes, on the grounds that they will pollute the environment. He is also backing controversial legislation -- Senate bill 375 -- moving through the state legislature that would restrict state highway funds to communities that refuse to adopt "smart growth" development plans. "We have to get the people from the suburbs to start coming back" to the cities, Mr. Brown told planning experts in March.

The problem is, that's not what Californians want.

All boldface is mine.

Textbook Downloads

When your prices are too high and people need your product, they will find a way to game the system, even if it's not legal. The marketplace is responding.

Faced with soaring prices for textbooks, cash-strapped students have discovered a tempting, effective, but illicit alternative - pirated electronic books, available for free over the Internet.

"We think it's a significant problem," said William Sampson, manager of infringement and antipiracy at Cengage Learning Inc., a reference book publisher in Farmington Hills, Mich. Sampson said that in any given month, 200 to 300 of the company's titles are posted illegally as free Internet downloads. Distributing books for free without permission violates copyright laws and deprives publishers of revenue.

What might a legal market-driven solution look like?

Is State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell An Idiot?

The answer is clearly yes. Either that, or he's off his medication or something. And I say this as someone who voted for him, a Democrat, in the last election.

Why is Jack an idiot? Two recent reasons. The first was his opposition to 8th grade algebra, giving the classic "soft bigotry of low expectations" excuse. The most recent reason, though, is this:

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell announced Thursday that educators with the state's migrant education program will distribute information to farm worker families about protecting themselves against heat-related illness...

O'Connell said it is time educators do their part to help keep families healthy. (emphasis mine--Darren)

Jack? Bite me.

A more intellectual response is this one, from one of the commenters at the link above:

May I assume these state educators also will expand their workload to cover instruction on birth-control, safe driving next to irrigation ditches and canals, cooking meat without incurring food poisoning, safe home electrical wiring, drownproofing, why to not ride a motorcycle, using a ladder without falling off, choking hazards from small toys, rules for safe pedestrians, the need for smoke detedtors near residence bedrooms, safe storage of household chemicals and cleansers, skin cancer caused by excess exposure to sunlight, and the incipient hazards of global warming? Is there anything "in the best interest of our children, our families,... and our state" the Superintent (sic) of Public Instruction should NOT be teaching?

It's Good To Be A Patriot!

I found a slot machine called American Original. Everything on it was some combination of reds, whites, blues, stars, and eagles, so I had to play it. I put in $50 and got bonus after bonus, eventually winning up to $105 before cashing out with $90.

It's an added bonus for loving my country!

Update, 7/18/08: Sadly, that luck didn't hold out last night. Maybe a bunch of liberals came to the casino =)

Atlantis

I type this post having just come in from the pool at Atlantis, and having a short time until my massage appointment. Ah, life is good.

I haven't been here in over a year and it sure has changed. A skyway is being built over the street to connect the hotel with the Convention Center, and there's been a large casino floor expansion. In fact, it's so different I got a bit lost finding the hotel desk last night--construction is still ongoing, and the main walkway was blocked off. I learned my way around before brunch this morning.

A two-day trip somewhere never hurt anyone!

Fast Food Nanny State

I read this story--one I'm sure lefties will love.

In a proposal that is stunning in both its ignorance and arrogance, a South Central Los Angeles politician wants to place a moratorium on the construction of new fast food restaurants in her area...

“Some people will say, ‘Well, people just don’t have to eat it,’ ” said Jan Perry, the Democrat who represents the city’s overwhelmingly African-American and Latino District 9. “But the fact of the matter is, what if you have no other choices?”

It warms my heart that some of the commenters so clearly pick up on what's really going on here:

Dave Hardy:
If there are no viable alternatives to a fast food restaurant, we must conclude that if she closes down the fast food restaurants the population will die of starvation.

my2cents:
I dunno, maybe I’m just too cynical, but isn’t this just the SOP for these types of things? A business makes a location decision based on the belief that it will be profitable. Then, community activists raise all kinds of objections…which melt away when the business in question makes the right donation…just a cost of doing business in the city, nothing to do with nutrition or Big Brother…politicians and activists understand market forces all too well…

But the winner goes to

Thom:
...snip...
No, what amuses me here is this will likely receive lots of support–from the fast food chains already in the area! This is GREAT for them! No new competition while the consumer market continues to grow! This is government support of business at its finest! You’d normally need the backing of organized crime to achieve something like this–and the government just HANDS IT TO THEM ON A PLATTER!

Meanwhile, people continue to eat fast food because–gasp!–they WANT to!

Ding ding ding!

This runner up, though receives the snark award. I don't think he's serious; rather, he's trying to show how government involvement here can make things worse:

Anonymous Patriot:

...snip...

how much of the money spent by residents patronizing these places comes from welfare checks (a.k.a. John Q. Taxpayer). That’s it! I’ve got the answer; eliminate the welfare checks! That way nobody can buy the “bad” food in the first place. Problem solved.

Indeed.

Carnival of Education

You can find this week's here, and it includes my post about government schools and the nanny state.

June 2008 California Educator

This issue is devoted to professional development, and the first story on which I'll comment is called "Unconscious Bias program explores prejudices".

Here we go again.

Whenever we have to sit down, get in touch with our feelings, and reveal that deep inside all of us--but most especially the white folk--are racists, does the thought of reeducation camps come to mind? "I used to be a capitalist, but now I understand how my selfish, greedy ways harmed the peace-loving people of my new communist homeland. I feel so sorry for what I have done, I'm so ashamed."

Usually I claim that consistency isn't a strong point of the left. I have to modify that thought--because they consistently hold views that are stupid. I addressed this same "unconscious bias" crapola in this April 2005 post--and nothing's changed. Nothing at all. Go read that post for all you really need to know about the topic.

If the CTA spent half the effort on Darren's pay, benefits, and working conditions that they spend on race issues and socialism, maybe I wouldn't despise them so much.

The next story I'll touch upon comes from page 31. A few years ago, the CTA "temporarily" increased dues $60/year in order to build a war chest to defeat some ballot initiatives. I wrote about it here. In the April issue they discussed what to do now that the "temporary" increase was coming to an end, and I blogged about that here. In the June issue, in a story on page 31 as was the April story--so apparently page 31 is where they put information about raising your dues--we find that they decided to do exactly what they "considered" in April. Since there's nothing new here, allow me to quote from my last link:

CTA wants to continue getting some of that money, so they're going to keep $20/year of that increase and let the remaining $40/year expire. That additional $20/year will continue to go to their political efforts--unless teachers opt out of it. Notice: they're not going to spend a lot of effort telling you about opting out, and they're not going to get your permission to take that money and spend it on politics. No, they're going to require you to tell them you want to keep your own money, counting on either teachers' lack of knowledge or higher priorities to ensure that most teachers don't opt out.

Is that how professionals act? Or is that how cynical politicians act?

P.S. Those are not trick questions. Way to look out for teachers, CTA!

And lastly, let's look on page 36 at the "CTA-sponsored and co-sponsored legislation for 2007-2008". Let's see how well CTA is looking after its K-12 teachers. Of the 7 bills listed, 5 of them relate to community colleges, one relates to universal health care, and one relates to a 2-year kindergarten pilot program.

Way to look out for teachers, CTA!

May 2008 California Educator Magazine

I've held on to this so long because it pains me to have to read the complete and total crap it contains. But I want to get it off my desk so I have to address the points. Perhaps I'll just offer minimal commentary and let their paranoia and idiocy speak for themselves.

The entire issue is focused on "The Value of Public Education". Conjure up the worst scaremongering that public schools are going to be sold off to Wal*Mart, and that's what you get in this issue.

Page 12, in an article called "Ways to boost awareness of the value of education": "Repeat simple, effective, positive messages about public education." Of course! Trite sayings will trump anything truthful or intellectual any day.

How about this suggestion: "Become a pro-education blogger." That's me. I'm pro-education. I want people to be smart enough to see beyond the trite sayings of the CTA's minions and sheeple.

"Don't refer to schools as 'failing,' or if you must, use quotation marks or refer to them as 'so-called failing schools.'" In other words, don't admit for a moment that there are government education centers where children don't learn.

What these fools refuse to understand is that while universal public education is sacred, public schools are not. Trite sayings and word games which protect a system in which too many kids aren't learning--if they really cared about kids they would fix the problems and not play games with them.

Starting on page 20 we get a story called "Conference warns against dismantling of public ed". Who's doing this, the Democrats who run both the Congress and the Capitol in Sacramento? Fools. I loved this part, though: "There are also 'grassroots' organizations... So-called 'professional educator' associations make it appear as if teachers support school choice, NCLB and vouchers, while opposing teacher unions. But these are bogus groups that do not represent the vast majority of teachers...." CTEN and the "so-called" Association of American Educators! I'm a proud member of both (and I'm just as capable of using the "so-called" tactic as CTA is). Apparently some teachers support school choice, et al, and there's no reason here to discuss why CTA has the advantage of representing the "vast majority of teachers". Just call those groups, and the teachers who join them, bogus. Coming from an organization that must compel dues payment with the force of law, that's rich!

On page 30 we read about something that I probably agree with, but will enjoy CTA's hypocrisy: "CTA and the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) have defeated a well-intentioned but overly restrictive measure that would have jeopardized the pension board's ability to fulfill its duties to its members... (It) would have prohibited CalSTRS and the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) from placing public funds in investment companies fully or partly owned by investors from foreign nations that have not fully complied with certain international treaties." Like Kyoto? =)

That's enough, as that was just the idiocy I could tolerate reading and commenting on. Have your TUMS nearby, because the next post is on the June issue.

Short Attention Spans

While I don't really believe the headline of this story, I'm sure it's more true today than it is when the economy is going like gangbusters.

"There may be a backlash against markets at the moment," acknowledged Kevin A. Hassett, economic studies director at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington and an advisor to presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain. "But the backlash doesn't seem to be informed by any alternative view of how the world works."

True that. Boom and bust is a cycle here, and unless you're willing to settle for the stagnancy of a European socialist economy, I suggest riding this storm out--with apologies to REO Speedwagon.

Update: Here's an alternate view:

Two major related threats loom over the world economy: credit crises and rising inflation. What do these two menaces have in common? Bankers, hedge-fund managers, speculators and capitalism in general have been taking the hit for the economic turmoil, both for credit risk and inflation. But the looming collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Macin the United States should help change the focus a little. We are now getting down to the heart of the matter, which turns out not to be rampant capitalism but out of control back-door socialism.

There is nothing free market about the two American mortgage backers, hybrid institutions created by the U.S. government to support mortgages and make home buying easier and more affordable for Americans.

Mini-Nuclear Plants

Bring 'em on! You know that here at Right on the Left Coast we're all about safe, clean, pollutant-free nuclear energy.

Something's got to charge all those electric cars.

Can They Do Anything Right In The Seattle School District?

I've written about jaw-dropping happenings in Seattle Public Schools before (here, here, here, and here, for starters). I don't know, maybe it's the rain up there, maybe it turns people's heads to mush. Or maybe the people who run the schools up there are just extraordinarily good at being idiots.

Annika and Nicole Jewett are twins who live in the same house, their beds just two feet apart. Their mother never dreamed they'd be assigned to different schools for kindergarten this fall.

Stephanie Jewett listed the same three schools in the same order on each girl's application. Made a note that the girls are twins, and told the enrollment staff the same thing.

When Annika was assigned to Bryant Elementary, and Nicole to Wedgwood, Jewett initially thought it was a mistake.

It wasn't.

In one of the stranger quirks in the Seattle School District's convoluted student-assignment system, twins can be assigned to different schools, despite the district's policy to keep siblings together.

Hat tip to NewsAlert.

Your Chance to Evaluate the Credibility of Nutjobs

Some folks believe everything they read. Some cling to conspiracy theories to explain a world that operates outside their comfort zone--it gives some people relief to believe in the nefarious plots of people they can identify rather than to worry about a big bad world where no one is really in charge, and bad things can happen seemingly capriciously.

Here's a lively one, and the nutjobs in the story were helpful enough to provide dates for these apocalypses. Let's see how close to reality they come--the first is only two months away.

Word has begun leaking from last weeks special, closed-door session of the United States House of Representatives.

Theorists wrote "Not only did members discuss new surveillance provisions as was the publicly stated reason for the closed door session, they also discussed: The imminent collapse of the U.S. economy to occur by September 2008, the imminent collapse of US federal government finances by February 2009, the possibility of Civil War inside the USA as a result of the collapse and advance round-ups of "insurgent U.S. citizens" likely to move against the government.

Also theorised was the detention of those rounded-up at "REX 84" camps constructed throughout the USA and the possibility of retaliation against members of Congress for the collapses and the location of "safe facilities" for members of Congress and their families to reside during expected massive civil unrest

Other answers included "the necessary and unavoidable merger of the United States with Canada" (for its natural resources) and with Mexico (for its cheap labor pool), the issuance of a new currency - THE AMERO - for all three nations as the proposed solution to the coming economic armageddon.

Members of Congress were FORBIDDEN to reveal what was discussed and ABC News via WCPO web site at the link below CONFIRMS congress members were FORBIDDEN to talk about it!

I clicked on the "web site at the link below"--well, compare the hysteria of that last paragraph with the WCPO (local Cincinnati ABC affiliate) report yourself and make your own decisions.

And stock up on ammo before September. While you're doing that, I'm going to Cancun to spend some Ameros.

Why We Need A Part-Time Legislature In California

If the legislature were in session only a few months out of the year, perhaps they wouldn't spend any time on idiocy like this:

Legislation to ban restaurants and bakeries from using trans fats in food production was approved Monday by California lawmakers.

Assembly Bill 97 now goes to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has not announced whether he will sign or veto it.

Just curious, do we have a state budget yet?

You Don't Like Racism? This Is Just As Bad.

Here's a small anecdote about India's caste system, which is outlawed but still exists.

As a Dalit, the lowest level in India's complex caste system, she was a so-called scavenger, a person who collects the garbage, feces and urine of other higher caste people. In the eyes of many, that would make her too disgusting to touch.

These are the "untouchables".

"While I was a child at 13 years old, I touched an untouchable. For that my grandmother forced me to swallow cow dung, cow urine and Ganges water to purify myself," (Dr.) Pathak said.

I guess, though, that all cultures are equally valuable. Except American culture, of course.

Achieving Racial Diversity at Princeton

If John's blog Discriminations (see blogroll) gave a weekly chutzpah award, this week's would go to Princeton.

Go read it. You'll be glad you did. Then you'll be disappointed when you realize the scope, strength, and utter evil of the "diversity industry" in this country.

(Evil's a very powerful word, but I can't think of another that conveys what I'm trying to convey. Help, readers?)

UC Considering Admissions Changes

From the San Jose Mercury News:

The University of California's admissions standards would undergo their most far-reaching overhaul in decades under a faculty proposal that would allow students who have not completed the prescribed college-prep courses or earned minimum test scores to have their applications considered.

Starting with the freshmen class of 2012, the revised policy also would promise a spot on one of UC's nine undergraduate campuses for all students who graduate in the top 9 percent of their senior classes, compared with the 4 percent now promised admission.

The changes, scheduled to be discussed by the university's governing board on Wednesday, are designed to ensure the state is making room in its premier public colleges for promising students who are overlooked under current qualification requirements, said Mark Rashid, who chaired the faculty committee that developed the proposal.

Community colleges are for people who aren't quite up to UC snuff or haven't taken the minimum coursework. Considering that we already have community colleges, what possible legitimate reason could there be for this proposed change? We're given a hint in a later paragraph:

But Rashid said his committee, which is charged by the Board of Regents with revising the freshman eligibility policy, found that the current system did not produce unyielding equality, but was a model of "structural unfairness" that penalizes students from less-privileged backgrounds.

"If you are in that eligible cohort, you are visible to the university. You are guaranteed admission somewhere within the system. If you are not in that cohort, you are as good as invisible to the system. You don't even get to make your case," he said.

I guess if you don't believe in merit or in getting up to speed at community colleges, the current situation seems like a problem. To me, the current situation is the way it should be. You're invisible to a system for which you're unqualified? That's a feature, not a bug.

Stripping For Ibuprofin

Joanne has the story of a 13-year-old girl who was essentially strip-searched at school by school authorities looking for contraband ibuprofin. They didn't find any on her, and an appeals court has ruled 6-5 that her rights had been violated.

6-5. That means 5 judges thought it just dandy not only to have a completely stupid rule about painkillers, but to have a girl be required to undress in some dramatic search for painkillers. If those five judges are trying to generate total contempt for the law and for the legal process, they could hardly have chosen a better hill on which to plant their flag.

Joanne comments:

The eighth-grade girl was an honor student who’d never been in trouble. Of course, that doesn’t mean she never takes ibuprofen for her period. Most girls that age take something.

Nope. They should just suffer. If Eve hadn't convinced Adam to eat from that apple, women wouldn't have to worry about such issues anyway.

The idiocy astounds.

"New" Calculus Teaching Method Appears To Flop

I'm not a Luddite, nor do I think that old ways are always best. However, I do believe that we can learn from the past; that change isn't always progress, especially if it's change for its own sake; and that if something works, don't fix it.

Sometimes, though, people want to try something new, to see if they can improve upon what already exists--in the case of this story, professors at BYU tried a "progressive" approach to teaching calculus.

Last year, Brigham Young University professors taught experimental calculus courses with honors students to test an emerging and controversial way of teaching math. Instead of lecturing, Janet Walter and Hope Gerson, assistant professors in BYU's department of math education, had the students hash out math problems cooperatively.

They explored scenarios from the real world, such as calculating the volume of a region formed around an axis, with the hope of arriving at key math theorems on their own. The professors wanted to study how people learn math - that most abstract, yet essential of academic pursuits.

But some BYU faculty are questioning whether Gerson and Walter's students learned much calculus after they bombed on departmental exams. Even though they were teaching high-achievers in smaller classes, test scores were lower than BYU's overall averages and sunk as the experiment proceeded over the course of three semesters.

"At the end of the day, no matter how much they talk about it, they have to be able to solve the problems. That's where these programs break down," said Lynn Garner, who recently retired after nearly 40 years with BYU's math department...

Gerson and Walter contend there are multiple paths to solving a mathematical problem and students should be encouraged to chart their own way by exploring problems drawn from the real world.

"It sounds great, but it doesn't work," quipped David Wright, a veteran BYU math professor.

"When [Gerson and Walter] proposed those sections, we said it was fine with us as long as they take the uniform final and use the same textbook," Garner said. "Their object was to study how students' attitudes changed during the course. They didn't drill the skills like they do in the other sections."

When the facts contradict your expectations, believe the facts. Scores were tragically lower than traditionally-taught calculus, which is especially bad when you consider that these were honors students.

You gave it the ol' college try, now get back to what you know works.

Where Should New College Grads Head For The Best Paying Jobs?

Texas, according to Forbes magazine.

When A Little Math Comes In Handy

I'm going to Cancun in a few weeks (first time!) and I'm checking out all the web sites I can find. I found this one to be exceedingly painful.

Here's an example to illustrate the point: You buy 5 beers in a bar advertised at 40 pesos each. This bar offers an exchange rate of 10 pesos to the dollar. You could either pay 200 pesos or $20.00, fair enough.

Next door, the bar is selling the same beer at the same price of 40 pesos but they have an exchange rate of 11 pesos to the dollar. Your same 5 beers, will still cost you 200 pesos but pay in dollars and instead of $20.00 it's $22.00.

In the 2nd example, 200 pesos at 11 pesos to the dollar would be about $18.18, not $22. The way I see it, you could pay with a $20 bill, and since the site says you'd probably get change in pesos, I figure that you'd get maybe 15 pesos in change (rounding to the barkeep's favor).

And in California we have people whining because 8th graders are going to be tested in algebra.

California Homeschoolers Catch A Break

A couple of months ago I wrote, however briefly, about a case that sent California homeschoolers into fits--a judge ordered a family to send two of its children to public school because the mom/teacher didn't have a teaching credential. Homeschoolers took it to mean that the judge effectively ruled that homeschooling is illegal in California.

I didn't really get exercised over it because I didn't believe it would ever stand up--the governor and the legislature both support homeschooling, and if for some arcane reason our law could be interpreted as not allowing it, that law would be corrected mucho pronto.

Well, yesterday, the original case has been dismissed, which puts the ruling about homeschooling in some sort of legal limbo.

A controversial legal ruling that outlawed most forms of home schooling in California will face greater scrutiny because the underlying family court case was dismissed earlier this week...

The issue remains in legal limbo. On Thursday, the family court judge terminated its jurisdiction over two of the eight children of Phillip and Mary Long, who were accused of mistreating some of their children. All of the children are currently or had been enrolled at Sunland Christian School, where they would occasionally take tests, but they were educated in their Lynwood home by their mother...

The Longs, the Sunland school and others appealed, and the appellate panel agreed to revisit the ruling. That panel heard arguments last month and is expected to rule by late summer on whether parents can legally educate their children without a credential.

I'm pretty sure the courts will rule that homeschooling is legal, and this issue will die the embarrassing death it deserves. At least, I hope that's what happens.

Cuba: Now With Only Half The Communism!

First China and Vietnam veered from the communist standard planned economy (how'd those work out, anyway?) towards a market driven economy. Today we learn that the last bastion of true communism outside of US academia, Cuba, may follow China and Vietnam.

HAVANA - President Raul Castro warned Cubans on Friday to prepare for a "realistic" brand of communism that is economically viable and does away with excessive state subsidies designed to promote equality on the island...

"Socialism means social justice and equality, but equality of rights, of opportunities, not of income," the 77-year-old president said in a speech that was taped and later aired on national television. "Equality is not egalitarianism."

That sentiment marks a break with his brother, who spent decades saying Cuba was building an egalitarian society.

So what's left of communist countries after you take away the communism? Just the police state.

Hat tip to NewsAlert.

Math And Engineering Still Lead To Lucrative Jobs

Engineering tops Forbes’ list of lucrative college majors with psychology and criminal justice on the low end of the scale. (Majors that typically lead to public-sector employment, such as education and social work, are excluded from the PayScale study.)

Joanne has more.

Slurpees!

Did you know that today, 7/11, is National Slurpee Day? Me either! Go here to check out some cool facts about 7-11 stores and Slurpees.

High Gas Prices--Good For Children

I'm waiting for someone in the "it's for the children" crowd to seize upon this report:

High gas prices could turn out to be a lifesaver for some drivers. The authors of a new study say gas prices are causing driving declines that could result in a third fewer auto deaths annually, with the most dramatic drop likely to be among teen drivers.

If higher gas prices save just one life, then they're worth it. Right?

How Can We Get Good Teachers In Schools?

The teachers unions won't like this Slate piece, but it makes sense to me.

Firing bad teachers may seem like a rather obvious solution, but it requires some gumption to take on a teachers union. And cleaning house isn't necessarily the only answer. There are three basic ways to improve a school's faculty: take greater care in selecting good teachers upfront, throw out the bad ones who are already teaching, and provide training to make current teachers better. In theory, the first two should have more or less the same effect, and it might seem preferable to focus on never hiring unpromising instructors—once entrenched, it's nearly impossible in most places to remove teachers from their union-protected jobs. But that's assuming we're good at predicting who will teach well in the first place.

It turns out we aren't.

Schools and Parents

Should parents be allowed to teach their children un-PC values? Should school employees who discover such un-PC values notify the local equivalent of Child Protective Services? Should children be removed from their parents' custody merely for being taught such un-PC values?

I'd rather err on the side of having a few kooks' teaching their kids to be racists than having government decide what values parents must teach to their children.

Student Booted From School For Creating An Online Map Of His School For A Video Game

This story's a year old but was just brought to my attention (thank you to reader/commenter/former student Eric W).

Let's see if I can cut to the chase in this story. A high school student like to play an online version of a first-person shooting game. He created an online map of his school so he and his friends could have these battles in an environment they know and love.

One parent found out about this, raised a stink, and school officials got involved. His parents consented to a search of their house where a hammer (weapon!!!) was found in the boy's room. The boy was identified as a potential terrorist, sent to the district's alternative school, and told he couldn't graduate with his friends. No criminal charges were filed.

The parent complaint coincidentally was made the day after the Virginia Tech shootings, raising the emotional stakes, but there was no indication that this kid wanted to fire up his schoolmates. I mean, really--I think it would be much more fun to play a videogame centered on somewhere I know rather than on some random location. Administrators way overreacted here, which seems to be something they teach in administrator school.

Lawyers got involved and the district backpedaled somewhat by allowing him to graduate with his class, but tried to cover their tracks by adding more layers of stupidity.

A Clements High School senior, disciplined and removed from his campus after officials learned he'd made a 3D computer game map resembling the school, will be allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies if he and his parents agree in writing to several conditions (to show they've done something). (boldface mine--Darren)

But Michael McKie, Fort Bend Independent School District assistant superintendent for high schools, told the boy's parents and attorney he won't grant their request that records calling the boy a "terroristic threat" be cleared, or that the boy be allowed to return to classes at Clements...

McKie said the district will allow the boy to participate in graduation ceremonies "conditioned on my receipt of your written assurance that you have custody of all weapons in your household, that (the boy) has no violent tendencies, that he would not cause harm to himself or others during the graduation ceremonies and that he will behave in an appropriate and dignified manner at graduation."

Neither Cease nor the boy's parents could be reached for comment Monday morning. FBISD spokeswoman Mary Ann Simpson said "we have received a letter from the parents and the young man, agreeing to the terms in the letter from Mr. McKie."

"They have no choice. They are not happy about it," said Naomi Lam, a former FBISD board member and a friend of the boy's family. "I'm not very happy with the decision either."

If the injustice here isn't clear yet, try this:

The school police department's threat assessment office concluded no crime had taken place. And, according to the police report, Fort Bend County Assistant District Attorney Paul Tu told campus police “he knew of no criminal offense that had occurred; there were no threats on any specific person or people; there was no evidence found to pursue the case any further.”

Yet the boy was still sent to an alternative school for the end of his senior year.

Is common sense really not so common?

8th Grade Algebra 1

There's been a big row here in California in the last week. Even though our state standards have said, since 1997, that 8th graders should be in Algebra 1, not all of them are. In fact, even though 8th grade algebra percentages have risen dramatically since 97, to the point where (if I'm not mistaken) just over half of 8th graders statewide take algebra, we're not where our standards say we should be.

Enter the No Child Left Behind Act. Apparently we're not following it because we're not testing all 8th graders in Algebra 1.

Here's some background information from the local fishwrapper: link, link, and link.

I'll be honest, I'm having a hard time getting worked up over this. While much of the rest of the developed world does have kids taking algebra in 8th grade, we have some cultural differences here and I wouldn't have any problem at all if California moved algebra back to 9th grade. Until that's done, though, we need to try to get our students to meet our high standards.

Yes, I know the world needs ditchdiggers, too. However, I don't like the idea of closing all doors but ditchdigging on a 14-year-old because we think that the kid can't achieve. When the President talked about the soft bigotry of low expectations, that's exactly the attitude he was talking about.

Some People Are More Equal Than Others

One thing about socialist and/or communist countries, the people in charge don't have to live under the rules and regulations that the little people do. Do you think government officials in Britain wait months for treatment from the NHS, or pull their own teeth because they can't get to a dentist? How many workplace rules that "mom and pop small business" has to abide by does our own Congress exempt itself from?

Here are two stories if you're interested in getting your blood pressure up.

Our first story comes from the People's Republic of Massachusetts:

MBTA general manager Dan Grabauskas is spending tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars urging suburban commuters to “Dump the Pump,” brave the heat and take the T, yet the transit boss continues to drive to work from Ipswich to Boston in the cool comfort of his T-owned SUV.

Our next story comes from New York and contains congressional clown Charlie Rangel (embedded link to the NYT, but I'm not going to register):

While aggressive evictions are making rent-stabilized apartments increasingly scarce in New York, Representative Charles B. Rangel is enjoying four of them, including three adjacent apartments in a sprawling penthouse overlooking Upper Manhattan, courtesy of one of New York’s premier real estate developers.

Mr. Rangel, the powerful Democrat who is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, uses his fourth apartment, six floors below, as a campaign office, despite state and city regulations that require rent-stabilized apartments to be used as a primary residence.

Remember, these are rent-stabilized apartments, which means that rent increases are controlled by government so that poorer people can afford them. Why does a Congressman have a rent-stabilized apartment at all, much less four of them? Because he can. Screw the little people.

Humor With Some Truth In It

Tiger Woods is on track to become the first, perhaps second, athlete to be worth a billion.

Does he deserve that money? Hell yes, he does; he makes far more than that for other people and corporations. Is it right that he deserves that money? Well, that's the foundation of a capitalistic society, isn't it? Like it or not. (Yes, teachers and doctors deserve more, but they don't get it.) So, bottom line: If you don't think Tiger deserves to be rich, you're a communist. Plain and simple.

Who faults Tiger for earning his money? Who thinks he doesn't deserve it? Who thinks that he has enough, and that the government should confiscate it for people who don't have as much?

Donating to the Troops To College Program

In this post I wrote about Sacramento State's Troops To College Program. Here's how you, too, can donate to this worthy project:

Check donations may be made to Troops to College by making your check payable to the University Foundation at Sacramento State and writing Troops to College on the memo line. Please mail it to my attention and I’ll make sure that its deposited to the proper account—my mailing information is below.

Following the receipt of your contribution, a letter from Sac State will be mailed to you with our Tax ID # and amount of gift, which you may use for tax purposes at the end of the year.

Jody Policar

Director of Development

Sacramento State

6000 J Street- Sacramento Hall 118

Sacramento, CA 95819-6030

Patriotism Post Has Been Updated

If the topic interests you, please take a look at the updates to this post.

How's That Kyoto Protocol Doing?

Good thing India isn't included:

Last month, India likewise issued its National Action Plan on Climate Change, and also rejected Rudd-style cuts.

The plan's authors, the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change, said India would rather save its people from poverty than global warming, and would not cut growth to cut gases.

"It is obvious that India needs to substantially increase its per capita energy consumption to provide a minimally acceptable level of wellbeing to its people."

A country can't tax itself into prosperity. There's no "royal road" to geometry. And we aren't going to raise the standard of living for the world's poor without electricity.

As I read somewhere today: reality sucks, but it's all we have to work with.

Let's Soak The Rich!

If you're one of those people who think the rich should pay even *more* taxes--probably because you're coveting what they have and therefore want them to suffer--note this from today's Wall Street Journal:

New data from the IRS will be out in a few weeks on who pays how much in taxes. My contacts at the Treasury Department tell me that for the first time in decades, and perhaps ever, the richest 1% of tax filers will have paid more than 40% of the income tax burden. The top 50% will account for 97% of all federal income taxes, while the bottom 50% will have paid just 3%.

If you think the rich should pay more because they can afford to, or because you're jealous that they have more than you, you're a socialist.

I don't know if I'm in the top or bottom 50%.

Michelle Rhee Means Business

I've written before about my professional crush on DC Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. Here's another story that shows her fortitude:

D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee announced yesterday that she plans to fire 250 teachers and 500 teacher's aides who were unable to meet a June 30 deadline to obtain certification...

By firing the 750 educators, she said, the school system now is in compliance with the law (NCLB). Rhee's spokeswoman said the firings are not expected to disrupt the upcoming school year because none of the educators were assigned to classrooms since they were not expected to make the deadline.

I skipped a lot of information there--such as the fact that these people were first told they'd be fired in 2005, but the "drop dead date" got extended. Chancellor Rhee even gave them one more year after she got hired, but they didn't get certified--and now they're out the door.

We Shall Overcome

Because of the bravery shown by these students, known as the Norfolk 17, and others like the Little Rock 9, America is a better place today.

NORFOLK, Va. - The "Norfolk 17" were honored Sunday at the church that educated them 50 years ago when six of the city's all-white public schools closed under Virginia's defiant response to court-ordered desegregation...

The 17 were among thousands of black students denied a place in the classroom during "Massive Resistance," Virginia's state-sponsored answer to the Supreme Court's 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling that declared school segregation unconstitutional...

Schools were closed and private academies were created to educate white students who could afford the tuition. The policy primarily affected schools in Charlottesville, Norfolk and Prince Edward County, which continued its own homegrown version of school segregation until 1964.

In Norfolk, three all-white high schools and three junior high schools closed between September 1958 and February 1959 rather than accept black students.

The Norfolk 17 were turned away from those six schools. At First Baptist Church, the 17 said they found loving, attentive and demanding teachers.

In January 1959, state and federal courts declared that the school closings were unconstitutional. The Norfolk schools reopened in Feb. 2, 1959, and the 17 went on to attend the white schools, ending the era of Massive Resistance.

People like Jeremiah Wright still live in those times mentioned above, times before I was born. I see America as that shining city on a hill, getting shinier all the time.

My Heart Is American, My Soul Is British

I often say that; it expresses my love for my country and my reverence for the island that was home to my forefathers.

Here's an interesting British view on the 4th of July, one that I find exceedingly satisfying:

We call them Americans now, but at the time they were Brits in America, fighting for their rights. Many people in Britain supported them. They shared a radical idea...

As I head out to a parade and fireworks, I hope the Fourth is forever a day of celebration for a country and for an idea, the radical idea established by Brits in Britain and America that NO GOVERNMENT ON EARTH GIVES US OUR RIGHTS. OUR RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS ARE OURS. WE WERE ENDOWED WITH THEM FROM BIRTH. GOVERNMENT EXISTS ONLY TO PROTECT THEM.

My heart is American, my soul is British.

Sadly, socialism is changing what it means to be British. When my son is my age, will he be able to feel as I do now?

Government As Parent, Part 2

In Part 1, I point out for the umpteenth time why I want government to get out of the role of parenting. I don't like what I see happening in Britain, and I don't want to see it happening here. Former student and current blog commenter Ronnie disagrees with me:

I'm not saying the government is ever going to be better than the average parent, but it should at least be better than the worst, and I happen to feel that if such programs could help any child they are worth it.

He also said this:

My position isn't that they should be told things by *my* people or *your* people, but be told facts by doctors or at least specifically trained professionals.

In Part 1 the "trained professionals" were pushing for mandatory sex education for children as young as 4 in an attempt to curb teenage pregnancies and STDs. Let's see what they're pushing for today:

Children should be locked inside school grounds to stop them buying unhealthy food from shops and takeaways, a minister said yesterday.

The proposal comes amid new evidence that the Jamie Oliver-inspired drive to make school kitchens offer more nutritious meals is being shunned by pupils in favour of junk food.

It's not a stretch of the imagination to foresee a time when students will not be allowed to bring certain foods at all to school--in fact, it's already happening.

It may come as a surprise to my recent students, many of whom probably have lived under "closed campuses" their entire school lives, but I lived my entire school life in an "open campus" environment--even in elementary school. All it took was a note from home and we could leave school at lunchtime; of course, we went home to eat lunch, and got back in time, but it wasn't the school's business at all what we ate. In high school, we could leave campus any time we weren't in class.

California already has some law on the books about schools' not selling so-called junk foods to students. What's next, telling parents what they can and can't send to school in their children's lunches, and then inspecting those lunches to ensure parents comply? It's happening, and I wrote about it in a post called Lunchbox Voyeur.

So why, exactly, are so many students wanting to eat away from school? Let's return to the Mail Online article:

Virtually all the children who were allowed out bought food from local shops, mainly fizzy drinks, chocolate, sweets, crisps, cakes, biscuits and chips.

The researchers found it was not the healthy menus in school canteens that were deterring the pupils so much as long queues, poor facilities and high prices. (emphasis mine--Darren)

Interesting. Looks like the free market is providing a service that the government isn't, and at a more reasonable price. If you want to see more free market responses to these nanny-staters, look at the picture in the article, as well as its caption. It's a hoot!

One of my earliest blog posts was called School Lunches and the Nanny State. Government compulsion is alive and well in our schools, and it's pushing its way into what we teachers and students get to eat for lunch. Do you really want a government that intrusive, even if it's "good for you" or dictated by "specifically trained professionals"? I don't.

Update: if your children don't like the food that the government nutritionist thinks they should try, perhaps your kids are racists.

Toddlers who turn their noses up at spicy food from overseas could be branded racists by a Government-sponsored agency.

Some might suggest I'm being alarmist. After reading these stories about what socialist governments are doing, tell me I don't have a reason to be.

Update #2, 7/9/08: Drew Carey has an interesting take in this video, called Nanny State Nation: "Every little thing the government does is backed up by guns and force." That's part of the reason I don't want to give the government too much power, and part of the reason I've changed my mind over the past two decades and now firmly support the 2nd Amendment.

Met Yet Another Fellow Blogger

Today I had lunch with Law And Order Teacher and his wife. They're visiting family here in the Capitol region and we met in Old Sacramento for some delicious hot sandwiches.

It's always nice to meet a fellow edublogger.

Abuse of Government Credit Cards

Via NewsAlert we learn about this Washington Post article about US Department of Education employees who have gone to town, literally, at taxpayer expense.

U.S. Department of Education employees inappropriately used government credit cards to purchase $49,500 worth of goods and services, including meals, items at clothing stores and rental cars, for personal use, according to a review by the department's inspector general.

I'm sure this is nothing new. When I was in the army our battalion (a unit with 500-600 men) had a credit card. I never understood why, as I couldn't fathom what we would need that the army wouldn't provide for us. Perhaps travel expenses, so the colonel wouldn't have to pay out of his own pocket if he needed to go to Fort Bliss or the Pentagon for official business? Maybe something like that.

For a time I held the job that made me responsible for reconciling the credit card statement. Turns out that I got that job at about the time our command sergeant major retired, and as I looked at the statement, I saw all these strange charges--for example, at golf courses--in places nowhere near our post. And each successive charge was further from post than the previous one, all in the direction that our command sergeant major was heading. When I brought this abuse up to the colonel, he said that the charges were authorized and to leave it at that.

So I left it at that. A few months later I was out of the army anyway.

Government as Parent

Parents, or government. Which do you want raising children?

Mandatory sex and relationship education for children as young as four is needed to reduce the rising teenage STI and abortion rate, according to two leading sexual health charities.

Brook and Family Planning Association (FPA) claim the government is failing young people because they're not giving them enough information about the emotional side of sex and relationships.

Chief Executive of Brook Simon Blake says the government need to "make it part of the curriculum, signal to people that you (the government) really are serious and we will see some impact on teenage pregnancy, on abortion rates, on access to contraception".

This is exactly what happens when you expect government to "take care of people" as opposed to giving people the freedom and responsibility to take care of themselves. Notice that in the paragraphs above there wasn't one word about parents. "Mandatory" was mentioned once, though, and "government" was mentioned three times.

The Reason Students Are Required To Tuck In Their Shirts

The video (via Joanne Jacobs) would have been more effective if we'd seen the student walk normally dressed as he was.

Serious, or not? Well, "comedy" is the category under which this video is filed.

7th Graders Get Detention For Refusing To Pray To Allah

I can't make this stuff up. Sadly, it happened in Britain.

Two schoolboys were given detention after refusing to kneel down and 'pray to Allah' during a religious education lesson.

Parents were outraged that the two boys from year seven (11 to 12-year-olds) were punished for not wanting to take part in the practical demonstration of how Allah is worshipped.

They said forcing their children to take part in the exercise at Alsager High School, near Stoke-on-Trent - which included wearing Muslim headgear - was a breach of their human rights...

"But if Muslims were asked to go to church on Sunday and take Holy Communion there would be war."

You don't say.

Deputy headmaster Keith Plant said: "It's difficult to know at the moment whether this was part of the curriculum or not. I am not an RE (religious education?) teacher, I am an English teacher.

If you can't answer something that simple, then you shouldn't be talking to the press. And if it is part of the curriculum, I recommend marching with pitchforks whilst getting the tar and feathers ready. Seriously.

"The particular member of staff you need to speak to isn't around. I think that it is a shame that so many parents have got in touch with the Press before coming to me.

"I have spoken to the teacher and she has articulately given me her version of events, but that is all I can give you at the moment."

This particular administrator is an idiot. As was sung on that oh-so-famous Pink Floyd album, "Get him up against the Wall."

Double Stupidity

A University of Minnesota student has been charged with trying to sell his presidential vote on eBay. To compound matters, he doesn't seem to know much about correct English: “You’re (sic) country depends on You!”

Have a happy 4th of July.

Worried About Anthropogenic Global Warming?

Then give up your flat-screen tv.

Now we'll see who's serious :-)

Have a happy 4th of July.

More NEA Hypocrisy

From EIA, reporting from the NEA's annual Rep Assembly in Washington, DC:

North Carolina Gov. Michael Easley received NEA's first "America's Greatest Education Governor Award." The lesson is clear: Ban teacher collective bargaining in your state and you might have a chance to take the title.

Probably sent his kids to private school, too.

Perhaps you want to look up North Carolina in this post.

Have a happy 4th of July.

A Short History of Racism and Unionism

It's a short read.

Have a happy 4th of July.

A Mind-Boggling Attempt At Teaching Reform

From the Washington Post:

D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee is proposing a contract that would give mid-level teachers who are paid $62,000 yearly the opportunity to earn more than $100,000 -- but they would have to give up seniority and tenure rights, two union members familiar with the negotiations said yesterday.

Under the proposal, the school system would establish two pay tiers, red and green, said the union members, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are confidential. Teachers in the red tier would receive traditional raises and would maintain tenure. Those who voluntarily go into the green tier would receive thousands of dollars in bonuses and raises, funded with foundation grants, for relinquishing tenure.

Teachers in the green tier would be reviewed yearly and would be allowed to continue in their jobs only if they passed an evaluation and boosted students' test scores, the union members said.

Now there's an interesting idea. It would be interesting to see if and how it gets implemented.

Under Rhee's proposal, raises to the green tier would be more than the 19 percent increase over five years she is proposing for all teachers, the union members said.

Not a bad raise, especially considering that the sheeple of my local union approved, 92%-8%, a contract that provides a 0% raise this year.

Rhee, who declined to comment yesterday because of the ongoing negotiations, has said she wants a contract that would "revolutionize education as we know it." She also has said she wants to improve instruction by ensuring that the District "has the most highly compensated and competent" teachers in the country.

My respect for the chancellor continues to grow. Read more about her here.

Have a happy 4th of July.

Told Ya So

I was reading an old post, one in which I defended the president's decision to invade Iraq, and the first comment jumped out at me. Who, oh who, will step forward and take ownership of it?

Play nice Darren. Remember, you need me. You'll need someone to blame in the years to come after U.S. forces are defeated and Bush supporters are wiped off the face of the earth forever.

You'll need me in the end.

I wonder who will come clean--now that our forces have been defeated, and all.

Have a happy 4th of July.

Why We Went To War In Iraq

By a man who participated in the meetings. Some excerpts:

• As a participant in the confidential, top-level administration meetings about Iraq, it was clear to me at the time that, had there been a realistic alternative to war to counter the threat from Saddam, Mr. Bush would have chosen it.

• On July 27, 2001, Mr. Rumsfeld sent a memo to Mr. Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney that reviewed U.S. options: "The U.S. can roll up its tents and end the no-fly zones before someone is killed or captured. . . . We can publicly acknowledge that sanctions don't work over extended periods and stop the pretense of having a policy that is keeping Saddam 'in the box,' when we know he has crawled a good distance out of the box and is currently doing the things that will ultimately be harmful to his neighbors in the region and to U.S. interests – namely developing WMD and the means to deliver them and increasing his strength at home and in the region month-by-month. Within a few years the U.S. will undoubtedly have to confront a Saddam armed with nuclear weapons."

• The Iraq policy debate remained unresolved when the September 11 attacks occurred. Like all major national security issues, Iraq policy was re-examined in light of our post-9/11 sense of vulnerability and the heightened worries about terrorism and, especially, about the danger that terrorists might obtain WMD from a nation state.

• The threat of renewed aggression by Saddam was more troubling and urgent after 9/11. Though Saddam's regime was not implicated in the 9/11 operation, it was an important state supporter of terrorism. And President Bush's strategy was not simply retaliation against the group responsible for 9/11. Rather it was to prevent the next major attack.

• The U.S. did not rush to war. Working mainly through the U.N., we tried a series of measures to contain the Iraqi threat: formal diplomatic censure, weapons inspections, economic sanctions, no-fly zones, no-drive zones and limited military strikes. A defiant Saddam, however, dismantled the containment strategy and the U.N. Security Council had no stomach to sustain its own resolutions, let alone compel Saddam's compliance.

• The CIA was mistaken, we all now know, in its assessment that we would find chemical and biological weapons stockpiles in Iraq. But after the fall of the regime, intelligence officials did find chemical and biological weapons programs structured so that Iraq could produce stockpiles in three to five weeks. They also found that Saddam was intent on having a nuclear weapon. The CIA was wrong in saying just before the war that his nuclear program was active; but Iraq appears to have been in a position to make a nuclear weapon in less than a year if it purchased fissile material from a supplier such as North Korea.

• Thoughtful, patriotic Americans differed then and now on whether the risk of leaving Saddam in power outweighed the risk of war. But Mr. Bush concluded that it did, and that war therefore was necessary.

Some may claim that this is spin, or rewriting history, but that's their spin, their rewrite. The AUMF (authorization for use of military force) listed almost two dozen reasons for the authorization--and let's not forget that we didn't invade Iraq until 2003, over a year and a half after September 11th. The Kay and Duelfer reports to Congress, on which I've posted several times, confirm Saddam's intent to reestablish his WMD programs as soon as the sanctions were lifted.

The war went swimmingly. The occupation and defeat of the insurgency haven't gone as well as anyone would have liked, but there's no denying that significant progress has been made.

I still support this country, this war, and this president. Have a happy 4th of July.

Did Anyone Think To Ask If The Trees Like These Parasites?

The Berkeley tree sitters are still at it. And it's not like I haven't written about them before, around a half a year ago. Is there no one in Berkeley with enough cojones to just drag the losers out of the trees and arrest them?

Seriously, would you really feel bad doing that to people who call themselves Dumpster Muffin, RunningWolf, Mizzo, and Olive?

Some Berkeley official must be waiting for an embossed, written invitation before actually doing something. Taxpayers are getting their money's worth in Berkeley, that's for darn sure. Not.

What The Heck Does This Mean?

Some folks don't like Senator Obama's recent tacking to the center.

Barack Obama is facing a rebellion from the liberal blogosphere that helped him lock up the Democratic presidential nomination.

In recent days, Obama has criticized the Supreme Court for saying that child rapists cannot be executed and refused to oppose a decision knocking down a handgun ban. He announced a plan to support faith-based social work and said he would vote for a bill giving immunity to telephone companies that allowed warrantless wiretapping of their customers.

Those centrist positions may help woo swing voters, but they infuriated some of Obama's core supporters. Nearly 12,000 of them have formed an online group on Obama's presidential campaign website, urging him to vote against the domestic wiretapping bill.

You'd think that after the Joe Lieberman fiasco, the MoveOn.org wing would realize that they're not quite as powerful or important as they think they are.

They're apparently not as bright as they think they are, either. Can anyone explain this bit of genius to me?

"When a candidate decides to move to the center, he shouldn't move away from us," said Mike Stark, a University of Virginia law student who started the online mutiny.

Law student. Great.

McCain Bumper Stickers

Longtime friend and loyal reader MikeAT sent these bumper stickers to me. I haven't decided to vote for McCain yet, but if I were to, the sentiments above would explain why--especially the 2nd one.

Troops To College

I don't often say nice things about CSU Sacramento so I'm pleased to have the opportunity to do so now. Allow me to quote from the Summer 2008 issue of Sac State Magazine:

"Through the recently established Troops to College initiative, Sac State officials are working to ensure that military service people, veterans and their families have the opportunity to go to college. The California State University system-led effort is designed to streamline access to the GI Bill and other tuition programs as well as provide guidance with benefit requirements and transferring military credits to college credits."

The page-long article goes on to state that:

*military enrollment at Sac State is up 20% over last year
*the (Sac State) University Foundation is working on a fundraising initiative, as the system-wide initiative had no dollars attached to it
*veterans are being given priority when registering for classes

I've already emailed to inquire how to donate to this worthy cause. When I receive that information from the university or from the University Foundation, I'll post it here. Details about veterans' services available at Sac State can be found here.

Update, 7/10/08: Donation information can be found here.

Carnival of Education

This week's is hosted at An (aspiring) Educator's Blog and includes my post about the teacher who was suspended/fired for assigning a book she was told not to.

Inflation

I'm a coin collector, but I have a few banknotes that I found of interest. In addition to one from the French revolution I have a few from 1923 Germany, during a time of horrendous inflation. My largest such note is 100 million marks, although inflation was so high that there's no telling how much that note was worth in US$ on the day it was made. Probably a few cents.

We've heard stories of needing a wheelbarrow-load of paper money to buy a loaf of bread? 1923 Germany.

So I'd love to be able to get ahold of a few current notes from Zimbabwe.

A German company that has been supplying paper used by Zimbabwe's central bank to print bank notes said Tuesday it is stopping shipments immediately at the request of Germany's government.

The move could be a new problem for the regime of President Robert Mugabe, which has been churning out currency amid skyrocketing inflation that forces Zimbabweans to shop with bundles of cash. A pint of milk can cost 3 billion Zimbabwe dollars, or about 30 U.S. cents...

Zimbabwe's currency needs have spiraled upward as a shattered economy spurs overheated inflation. Prices rose 165,000 percent in February, according to government figures, but independent experts say the real inflation rate is closer to 4 million percent.

Pre-algebra question of the day: given the information in the article, how many Zimbabwe dollars to a US dollar? We could also talk about prices rising 165,000%, and what that means.

Good Riddance To A Piece Of Local History

At the stroke of midnight last night, four local school districts that have existed for decades ceased to exist, and one new combined K-12 district arose like the phoenix from their ashes.

Will student performance change? Not immediately, and certainly not because the name of their school district changes. But three of those four districts were dysfunctional ratholes; I've been told to "never dare worse", but I doubt if this new district could be worse than those it replaces. And if nothing else it'll take time for the new district to become as bad as the old ones were.

Three elementary districts and one 7-12 district merged.

Full disclosure: I spent kindergarten to half of 6th grade in one of those K-6 districts, and grades 8-12 in the high school district. I taught 4 years in the high school district, working alongside some of the people who had taught me. The elementary district I attended was the only one of the four that was worth anything.

It's Rough Being Will Smith

I have to agree with the author of this piece. Boo freakin' hoo.

Employers Crossing The Line With Health Insurance?

Do you know why most Americans get their health insurance from their employers? It's a historical fluke.

You see, back in the days of the Great Depression and World War II, budding socialist President Roosevelt instituted wage and price controls. If companies wanted to attract the best employees, they couldn't just offer more money, so they had to get creative. They could offer non-financial perks, and health insurance was one such perk. Shipbuilder Henry Kaiser was a pioneer in this field, and he's not known for shipbuilding today.

Eventually, it became standard for employers to offer some form of health insurance. Laws were passed, mandating certain requirements for employers who provide health insurance to employees.

And today, many people agree the system is broken. I won't go that far, but it's certainly not ideal.

Why, in this day and age, should employers be the source of health insurance? Because it's expensive, and we need it? Gas, housing, and food are expensive, too, and I need each of them more immediately than I need health insurance, but I don't expect my employer to provide me with any of them. In fact, it would seem silly to expect my employer to provide any of those. But health insurance? That's almost a requirement.

It's not surprising, then, with our health care industry operated the way it is (with entirely too much government intrusion, I might add), that prices are out of control. What's the "solution"?

To some, it's a single payer (government) system, like the failing systems of the UK or Canada. Of course, government intervention in WWII got us into this predicament in the first place! Why would we expect government to be able to solve this?

It's not politically feasible for companies to stop providing health insurance for employees--it's seen almost as an entitlement. So what can companies do to lower costs?

They might try to force you to be healthy.

Some people, however, bristle at what they perceive as having lifestyle choices dictated by an employer.

This May, for example, the University of Massachusetts Medical School banned all tobacco use from their campus and hospital, including parking lots. If an employee is caught smoking, they risk being fired.

"They won't even allow people to smoke in their cars," says James LeBlanc, 45, an employee at the university and himself an ex-smoker who kicked the habit prior to the ban. "We all know smoking is bad for you, but last time I checked it was still legal in this country."

Some companies forbid their employees to light up at all -- even at home. There are at least 20 states that allow for this type of work policy, including Ohio, where the state's second-largest employer, the Cleveland Clinic, stopped hiring smokers in September.

Smokers aren't (yet) a protected class like women, minorities, or homosexuals, so perhaps companies are free to discriminate against them all they want. They'd have much less of a leg to stand on, though, if they weren't footing the bill for health insurance.

I call for a wall of separation between employer and health insurance. And a libertarian philosophy that doesn't have one group of grown adults telling another group of grown adults what they can and can't do on their own time.

Teachers Must Not Make Much In Mississippi

At Moyer's (catfish) farm on a recent afternoon, a worker stood waist-deep in a pond helping two others in a boat trap fingerlings with a big net and put them in buckets. Two other workers on the back of a truck parked next to the pond unloaded the fingerlings — hundreds of pounds, one bucket at a time — into tanks for transport to ponds where the fish will grow to market size.

Calvin Jones, a former school teacher working at Moyer's farm, said he makes more money as a contract employee at fish farms than he did in the classroom.

"You raise fish. You get them out of the pond and you sell them. That's pretty much all you do. There's no genius to it," Jones said.

That's pretty bad.

The Reprisals Begin

"You didn't support Obama."

Brooklyn’s 10th Congressional District, home to more African-Americans than any other in New York, gave Senator Barack Obama his highest margin of victory in the state. But the district’s longtime congressman, Edolphus Towns, did not share his constituency’s preference for Mr. Obama. Now some of those voters are pushing to oust him...

Patrice C. Queen, a freelance writer from East New York, Brooklyn, and a volunteer for Mr. Powell’s campaign, was especially upset that Mr. Towns had continued to back Mrs. Clinton even after her supporters made what she said were racially charged comments about Mr. Obama.

To her, the reason black leaders like Mr. Towns stuck with Mrs. Clinton was obvious. “Racial self-hatred,” said Ms. Queen, who is black. “It was as if they were saying: ‘We people of color are not ready yet. We’re not ready to be in the White House.’ Self-hatred does that to you.”

The Left's Version of Democracy

Referring to an anti-affirmative action ballot initiative:

"The key to defeating the initiative is to keep it off the ballot in the first place. That's the only way we're going to win.” The Left, as you know, favors democracy, power to the people, and nondiscrimination, except when it doesn’t.

At least she's honest.

Save The World On Your Own Time

Now here's a book I can get into. I'll have to add this to my list, along with The Fountainhead and Liberal Fascism.

What should be the role of our institutions of higher education? To promote good moral character? To bring an end to racism, sexism, economic oppression, and other social ills? To foster diversity and democracy and produce responsible citizens?

In Save the World On Your Own Time, Stanley Fish argues that, however laudable these goals might be, there is but one proper role for the academe in society: to advance bodies of knowledge and to equip students for doing the same. When teachers offer themselves as moralists, political activists, or agents of social change rather than as credentialed experts in a particular subject and the methods used to analyze it, they abdicate their true purpose.

Reception Day at West Point

Reception Day, a new cadet's first day at West Point. R-Day, in the vernacular of the Military Academy. My own was 25 years ago today.

Here's a post about last year's R-Day, which includes a link to an aerial photo of new cadets marching. And here's an R-Day post I wrote 2 years ago, with a picture of yours truly "welcoming" a new cadet to West Point.

And here are a couple dozen pictures taken of yesterday's R-Day by a staff reporter for the Times Herald-Record, a local newspaper near West Point.

The Long Gray Line continues to grow....