Internet Access "For The Children"

Samizdata, a UK-based libertarian site, has about as clear an exposition of my small government principles as I've ever heard/seen expounded:

I am prepared to believe that there may be some things (though not many of them) that are of such public benefit that they should be provided at the general expense. That is not to say that I think that if something is good it should be compulsory. Let alone that if it sounds like a good, that is justification for its being compulsory.

But when you are dealing with the state, "free" does not mean 'free as in free speech', nor does it mean 'free as in free beer'. It means 'compulsory'.

So what is being suggested in Britain? Why, that every child be provided internet access! With national health care, everyone pays for least-common-denominator coverage through taxes. What's being proposed regarding the internet is a little more honest:

Parents could be required to provide their children with high-speed internet access under plans being drawn up by ministers in partnership with some of the country's leading IT firms.

It's "for the children", so it must be good.

When a socialist government says you must have something, then you must. There is no freedom under such a government.

How To Study

Via CastingOutNines I came to this post on how to study. Good stuff, especially for you college-student-wannabes (or even you current college students!). Listed below are some things to avoid:

Bad Habit #1: Studying Without a Plan
Bad Habit #2: Skipping Classes
Bad Habit #3: Using Rote Review
Bad Habit #4: Studying After Midnight
Bad Habit #5: Not Taking Notes on Your Reading

The week after next is finals week at my school. Here are the two rules by which I lived during finals when I was an undergraduate:

Well rested, well tested.
Study too long, you're wrong.

The first of those is intuitively obvious to the most casual observer, but the second needs a brief explanation. The second assumes that the purpose of studying is to review material you had previously learned, not to learn new material. If you're trying to learn new material while studying for a final, you've probably already lost that battle. Make sure you know, extremely well, what you've already learned. Eat, sleep, study. Don't overburden your mind. Relax as much as you can.

Do well.

Greenland and Global Warming

I keep telling you, it's cyclical.

The Greenland Norse colonized North America 500 years before Christopher Columbus "discovered" it, establishing farms in the sheltered fjords of southern Greenland, exploring Labrador and the Canadian Arctic, and setting up a short-lived outpost in Newfoundland.

But by 1450, they were gone, posing one of history's most intriguing mysteries: What happened to the Greenland Norse?

There are many theories: They were starved off by a cooling climate, wiped out by pirates or Inuit hunters, or perhaps blended into Inuit society as their own came unglued.

Now scientists are pretty sure they have the answer: They simply up and left.

"When the climate deteriorated, and their way of life became more difficult, they did what people have done throughout the ages: They looked for a more opportune place to live," says Niels Lynnerup, a forensic anthropologist at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark who studies the Norse.

Climate change was clearly driving the Norse, with their sheep- and cattle-farming traditions, to the edge of survival. With the onset of the Little Ice Age (from 1300 to 1850), conditions deteriorated across the Norse lands, particularly for people living on marginal farmland in Iceland, northern Norway, and Greenland.

Today, Greenland is warming up, with residents witnessing dramatic changes over the past five years. Winter sea ice, which the indigenous Inuit people in north Greenland traditionally relied on for sled dog transportation and seal hunting, has stopped forming reliably and robustly. Meanwhile, farmers in southerly communities like Qassiarsuk have enjoyed a markedly expanded growing area and season. Potatoes, previously confined to the far south, now grow as far north as the capital, Nuuk, 185 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

Yet some refuse to believe the evidence because it doesn't comport to their political beliefs.

Update: Here's more.

Idiots Who Would Be Teachers

There are many hoops through which one must jump before becoming a California teacher. The first is a bachelor's degree, and the second is passing the dreaded California Basic Educational Skills Test, or CBEST. The CBEST has three parts: reading comprehension, essay writing (when I took it, my essay prompt was to write a letter to the editor of a newspaper), and math. The math is at most at the 7th grade level, which is even lower than that required for California's high school exit exam. I know this sounds harsh, but anyone with a bachelor's degree who can't pass that test is an idiot. Yet there are plenty of people who don't pass it, and they get to take it over and over until they do. In fact, they only have to retake those portions of the test that they previously failed--yet they get the full 5 hours (or whatever) to retake only those portions. If I had my way, I'd impose the following rule: fail any part of the CBEST, and you cannot retake it for one year--and then, you must retake the entire test. Again, allow me to be blunt: do you really want people who perform at a level lower than the high school exit exam potentially teaching students? Do you really want to justify why an English teacher with a bachelor's degree (someone who in theory, at least, passed Algebra 2) can't pass 7th grade math? Do you want a math teacher who can't string coherent sentences together, or who can't spell? Do you want these same people teaching elementary students? If you truly value children and their education, you must come to the conclusion that my suggestion above isn't draconian at all. In fact, it should be a bare minimum. Then you must marvel at the greed and cynicism that inspires a CBEST-prep workshop put on by the teachers union. 

Update, 8/5/21: If you're reading this for the first time, please don't freak out at my directness.  As I said in a comment several years ago:

If I were to rewrite this post, I wouldn't use the term idiot. That's a harsher term than is deserved. Something akin to "unqualified" would be more in line with what I was thinking. 

Fast-forward to 2021, when Joanne has a post in which a teacher candidate only became a teacher because the state lowered the requirements--she couldn't pass the math portion of the test.  Someone with a master's degree, who studied, couldn't pass the math component of an elementary teacher licensing test. 

Sure, I'd be interested in learning what kind of math was on that test, but this comment struck home for me:

She’s teaching math, but hasn’t taken a math course since at least high school. She says she’s had math anxiety and has avoided math classes, so we can infer that her last math class was probably in tenth grade.

Don’t the children from underserved populations in challenging schools deserve better than this? How is someone who fears and hates math supposed to convey the magic and wonder of mathematics? Will she instill a love of learning mathematics in her students, or just transfer her own fear and loathing to them?

December 2007 California Educator

I have no objection when people speak their home language at school, or in the mall, or whenever--it's not my business. I would no more tell someone what language they must speak than I would tell them what kind of car they must buy.

And neither do I have a problem with someone's recognizing his own cultural or ethnic heritage. But honestly, I don't want to be reminded of *your* cultural or ethnic heritage every time I hear from you, and that's what CTA's new president does in every single issue of California Educator--by renaming the president's column "Si se puede! Por que no?" which translates to, "Yes, it can be done! Why not?"

What benefit is derived from reminding all of us of his Hispanic heritage, something we couldn't already figure out from his picture and last name (Sanchez)? Is he so "brown and proud" that he needs to toss in a little Spanish just because he can?

And with that out of the way, let's get into the articles (link good probably till next issue). Most of stories are about teachers doing great things for students. Much of what they do looks silly to me, but if they're getting standards-based results--as opposed to "my kids are learning so much"--then more power to them. Unfortunately the articles don't provide much in the way of evidence that the kids are learning what they're supposed to be, but I'll be generous and chalk that up to writers who wouldn't know evidence if it bit them on the nose. They work for a union rag, after all, so evidence probably isn't a concept that appeals to them anyway.

I'll only pick a few points on which to comment. First, in his Spanish-titled piece ending in Prospero Ano Nuevo (I'm not going to try for the accents, etc. here), Sanchez states

To make sure you have the latest about these initiatives and other election happenings, visit www.cta.org, where you can find talking points, register to vote, and print a CTA Voter Guide.

Of course the "register to vote" part concerned me. I just know that CTA wouldn't help a Republican register to vote. So I went to the web site (very poor layout, btw) and clicked on the Campaign 2008 link--and was taken to the California Secretary of State's web site. I'm now somewhat relieved, as I trust government more than I trust a state union.

Then, the so-called talking points. Fair and balanced, no doubt, so that teachers can make informed decisions. Oh that's right, helping teachers make informed decisions is the mission of the California Teachers Empowerment Network, not the CTA. My bad.

Moving on, I came to a short piece on Proposition 93, an initiative that would modify (not really reform) California's term limits law. The rag's title is "Vote yes on term limits", a title that is a little bit misleading but isn't an outright falsehood. In the 2nd column of the article we learn what what Prop 93 would do:

Prop. 93 would reform the current system to reduce from 14 to 12 the number of years a legislator can serve in the state Legislature; all 12 years could be served in one house. Currently, legislators can serve three two-year terms in the state Assembly and two four-year terms in the state Senate. As a result, 32 of the 80 members of the Assembly are new on the job at any given time.

As for the last part, that's not a bug, that's a feature!

The current system of term limits in the state Legislature "makes it difficult for lawmakers to gain the experience and knowledge they need to really help our public schools and students," says CTA President David A. Sanchez.

I'm sure it does--by design. So why does the CTA really want this law modified? I assure you, it's not for reasons of better democracy. There are two reasons: it's harder to bribe "rookies", because they don't know all the ins-and-outs of the system, and (here's what CTA doesn't say in its article) this proposition grandfathers in many of the people currently serving in the legislature--and currently in the pockets of the CTA. 'Nuff said.

In the last piece I'll nitpick, we're given this:

Awards honor King, Chavez
A scholarship program and an arts/essay contest are designed to keep alive the values of two great leaders.

So far, so good. But what are these awards for?

The goal of the CTA Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Scholarship Fund is to encourage ethnic minority students to become educators and to promote professional growth for ethnic minority educators.

And just how is that judging people not on the color of their skin, but by the content of their character? Race pimps have twisted Dr. King's ideals beyond all recognition, and in a mere 40 years. It's sickening, really.

CTA's Cesar E. Chavez Memorial Education Awards Program for 2008 will provide recognition for students and their teachers who demonstrate an understanding of the vision and guiding principles by which Chavez lived his life.

Chavez was a good man, and did great work to improve the lot of migrant farm workers. Here's what we're not told today, though: Chavez was against illegal immigration, because he knew that such immigration depresses wages for the very people he was fighting for. Many today conveniently forget that important little tidbit--and make no mistake about it, it is an important point.

All in all, it's nowhere near the worst issue of California Educator I've ever seen. I know they'll get worse, though, as the November election approaches.

Threading The Needle

For a Christmas gift I opted to take my dad to Reno for a couple days.

click pictures to enlarge

For the first time I stayed at Harrah's downtown. Here's the view out our 16th floor window. It's no Vegas, but then again, everything's in walking distance. And the room was quite nice.


Here's the daytime view; notice how desolate the surrounding real estate is. Also note the blue sky!


My dad didn't want to gamble away all his money, so we went to Virginia City--home of the Comstock Lode. This view is from on the way there looking back towards Reno; Atlantis is the closest casino you can see, and downtown is visible but is enveloped by the cloud shadow. This cloud is from the first of three storms expected to hit the Sierra over the next couple days, and is one of the few clouds from that storm to make it as far as Reno.


And this is Virginia City, where over $1,000,000,000 in silver was pulled out of the ground in the mid-to-late 1800's. Only about 800 people live there full-time now.


I don't know why, but I liked this house. Again, look how desolate the area is. Virginia City is at about 6200' elevation, and I'm sure there's plenty of snow there even as I type this--storm #2 was expected to move past the Sierra crest.


Gotta love the union building, if nothing else.


That sign is one of the reasons I love Nevada.


On our drive back from Virginia City the news reports about the coming storm were getting more and more alarmist. I told my dad that we can't go anywhere until we take a look through the National Automobile Museum, the cars in which used to be owned by Bill Harrah. Above, your erstwhile blogger since in a mid-1920's Ford, the only car in the museum in which you're allowed to sit.


Not a lot of controls or amenities.


How about this 1921 Rolls Royce, the body of which is made entirely from copper sheet?

After the Car Museum we watched the local news, and the first of three successive storms was already hitting the western slope of the Sierra. Chains were already required over the summit. We weren't scheduled to leave until this morning, but potential blizzard conditions made a good possibility that I-80 would be closed down today.

My dad wanted to leave immediately, but I'd have nothing of it--we were going to put on chains, in the dark, no matter what, so we may as well go get a good buffet dinner beforehand! A short walk to Circus Circus satisfied that need, and then we checked out and headed upward and westward.

By the time we had to put on chains the first storm had already worn out. There was some snow and plenty of ice on the road, and we drove with chains for about 15 miles. At no time did we ever see one drop of moisture fall from the sky, and we got home in less than 3 hours (my normal driving time is 2 hrs).

This morning, though, I awoke to a fairly powerful storm here in the Valley, which means the Sierra is taking a pounding. A quick look at Yahoo Weather shows, though, that the storm isn't as bad as was predicted and we probably could have gotten over the summit this morning, but the CalTrans web site shows that westbound 80 is closed as of noon near the summit due to spinouts.

Our trip was cut short, but it was a great one nonetheless. We threaded the needle, getting over the summit between the storms. Should make for some excellent skiing next weekend!

Back From Reno

Today, the first of three storms hit California and the Sierra. Two more are expected before early next week, and one news report said this succession could be among the worst Sierra storms in recorded history--10 feet of snow by early next week. There's talk of blizzard conditions on Friday, with no visibility.

We watched the 5pm local news, and already chains were required over Donner Summit. My dad wanted to leave then, but I told him that we'd have to put chains on in the dark anyway, so we may as well go enjoy a good buffet dinner before leaving. The buffet at Circus Circus fit the bill. We left Reno at 7:17 pm.

Under ideal driving conditions I can get to/from Reno in 2 hrs. We had to put on chains over the summit, for maybe 15 miles, but still got home in under 3 hrs.

Great trip, nice pictures--to be posted tomorrow!

Off To Reno

Housesitter's been arranged, room is booked, chains fit the car--and I'll be back on Friday.

Carnival of Education

This week's is posted here, and includes my post about what reasonable restrictions can be placed on student attire at school.

College Debt

Here's an interesting thought about student loans:

Yet, even if all colleges could afford to eliminate loans, several admissions and financial aid directors say they would be reluctant to change a long-held tradition of holding students and their families responsible for part of college costs if they can afford to contribute.

"Philosophically, one of the dangers is we've made debt a four-letter word," said Lee Coffin, the dean of admissions at Tufts, which this fall eliminated loans for students from families making less than $40,000 a year and will not extend the offer to higher-income families. "I wonder what it will do to a generation that will go to college without any personal sacrifice. You start taking loans away, and you start saying, 'Here's a free ride.' "

I wonder how Mr. Coffin feels about socialized health care.

University Refuses To Fund Christian Group

Here we go again.

To me the essential questions are:
1. Can a university group/club reasonably set membership requirements? If not, what's to stop the Carnivore Club for taking over the student chapter of PETA?
2. Should universities take fees from all students to fund these clubs?
3. How should universities decide which organizations to fund, and which not to?
4. Is withholding funds to this Christian organization because of its religious views a 1st Amendment issue?

Because of all these questions, I agree with this comment posted at the above link:

Its time to stop taking funds coercively from students to fund all these groups. Let the Gay-Lesbian-Transgendered Law Students, the Palestian Law Students, the PETA students and the Christian groups equally find funds among their supporters. Survival of the fittest.

The Very Definition of an Instalanche

This is what happened when Instapundit linked to one of my posts.

I'm hoping my daily hits will go back up to "normal" once Christmas vacation is over.

The Teenage Brain

This is one reason why I think teenagers shouldn't be allowed to have an abortion without parental consent. It's the same reason that we don't allow most of them to drive, or to vote, or to drink.

The teenage brain, Laurence Steinberg says, is like a car with a good accelerator but a weak brake. With powerful impulses under poor control, the likely result is a crash.

This is not to disparage teenagers--far from it. I enjoy working with them, and so many of them are good people. But they're not biologically/developmentally/mentally ready to make some of the decisions we expect adults to make.

"It doesn't mean adolescents can't make a rational decision or appreciate the difference between right and wrong," he said. "It does mean, particularly when confronted with stressful or emotional decisions, they are more likely to act impulsively, on instinct, without fully understanding or analyzing the consequences of their actions."

I can't imagine that's a surprise to anyone.

The inexplicable behavior and poor judgments teens are known for almost always happen when teens are feeling high emotion or intense peer pressure, conditions that overwhelm the still-maturing circuitry in the front part of brain, Giedd said.

Again, not a surprise.

There's much good information in the linked article. I recommend it to all high school teachers and parents!

Mathemagic

This guy is part Rain Man, part Jack from Will and Grace--but his math skills are pretty darn good.

FIRE Them All!

Everyone involved in creating Orwellian speech codes, FIRE them! Everyone involved in wrongfully persecuting college students for exercising their 1st Amendment freedoms, FIRE them! Everyone who creates ideological litmus tests for participation in school programs, FIRE them! Everyone using public money and/or student fees to violate the 1st Amendment, FIRE them!

As I've said before, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is what the ACLU would be if the ACLU weren't so unabashedly liberal. FIRE has compiled a 2007 Year in Review, detailing many of their accomplishments in the name of freedom over the past year--go take a read.

Then consider doing what I'm going to do--write them a check. It's tax deductible--consult your tax professional for details.

Liberal Fascism

I lift the following from Instapundit:

HEIL, WOODROW! That's the title of David Oshinsky's surprisingly positive review of Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism in Sunday's New York Times. Excerpt:

Coming of age in the 1960s, I heard the word “fascist” all the time. College presidents were fascists, Vietnam War supporters were fascists, policemen who tangled with protesters were fascists, on and on. To some, the word smacked of Hitler and genocide. To others, it meant the oppression of the masses by the privileged few. But one point was crystal clear: the word belonged to those on the political left. It was their verbal weapon, and they used it every chance they got. . . .

Leftists still drop the “f word” to taint their opponents, be they global warming skeptics or members of the Moral Majority. The sad result, Goldberg says, is that Americans have come to equate fascism with right-wing political movements in the United States when, in fact, the reverse is true. To his mind, it is liberalism, not conservatism, that embraces what he claims is the fascist ideal of perfecting society through a powerful state run by omniscient leaders. And it is liberals, not conservatives, who see government coercion as the key to getting things done.

“Liberal Fascism” is less an exposé of left-wing hypocrisy than a chance to exact political revenge. Yet the title of his book aside, what distinguishes Goldberg from the Sean Hannitys and Michael Savages is a witty intelligence that deals in ideas as well as insults — no mean feat in the nasty world of the culture wars.

Read the whole thing. Our podcast interview with Jonah is here.

The boldface is mine.

Update, 12/30/07: Here's more on the book. Apparently some lefties don't like this book and want to try to Googlebomb it. This first two comments pretty much sum up my views:

• Doesn't the fact that Kos is trying this tactic prove the thesis of liberal fascism?
• "How dare he call us fascists. Let's crush his dissent!"

Gay Pride T-shirts At School?

The girl wore a t-shirt a teacher didn't like, the school threatens suspension, the ACLU threatens suit. (Yes, the teacher's a ninny, for lack of a better term, but that isn't germane to this discussion.)

What happens when religious students wear "homosexuality is a sin" shirts to school? Hint: the ACLU doesn't take up their case.

What's the difference in these two cases? Either they're both protected by the 1st Amendment, or neither is. I need someone to try to parse this so that one is OK at school and the other isn't, because I just don't see it.

Update, 12/31/07: I'd like to keep this a "dress code" post, not a "homosexuality" post.

Update, 1/1/08: Here's a dress code post I wrote over a year ago.

Online High School

I see a future in this. Yes, there are some bugs to be worked out, but we'll see a lot more of this in years to come.

Stupidest Academic Research Ever

I agree with Rightwingprof on this one.

That’s right. Israeli soldiers are baaaaaad because they don’t rape women.

A Little Out Of The Ordinary

This struck home with me:

Some people can smell sounds, see smells or hear colors, according to researchers Juan Lupiáñez Castillo and Alicia Callejas Sevilla of the University of Granada in Spain...

"There are people for whom time units evoke colors," Callejas wrote in his research. "It is also common for a synaesthete to see colors when listening to words, sounds in general or music notes (people who can see music, for instance). There are also cases, although fewer, where people can see colors in flavors, others perceive flavors or experience touch sensations when listening to different sounds, some link flavors to touch sensations, etc."

As late as my teenage years I used to see music. Actually, it's a little more obscure than that. I would "sense" colors, sometimes in 3-D, in music. I might not see the color blue, but a song would be "blue" while another might be "orange". Sometimes a song would evoke more than one color--again, I wouldn't see the color or pattern with my eyes, rather I sensed them somehow.

It's somehow comforting to know that others could use their senses in non-standard ways.