Smart School Uniforms

Long-time readers will recall that I support reasonable dress codes for students (and yes, even for staff) at school.  I heard the following a long time ago, and it applies as well to schools as it does to the business world:  if, when you get home, you don't change into something more comfortable, then you weren't dressed appropriately.  No, I'm not saying that people should be uncomfortable, rather that they shouldn't dress as if every place were the beach or gym.

Not all school dress codes are reasonable, and I've spilled many electrons on this blog opposing them.  I believe in personal autonomy within reasonable limits; of course, the definition of "reasonable" is the devil in the details.

The campus at which I work has security cameras.  They've come in handy in identifying many miscreants; on the other hand, I despise the CCTV surveillance culture of, in particular, London.  I don't know where the appropriate line is to be drawn, but I believe that my school is on the OK side of the line and London is on the other.

A few schools in China, though, are (surprise! surprise!) taking surveillance a bit too far:

Ten schools in China have new "intelligent uniforms" that will track students' whereabouts with embedded computer chips.

The uniforms, which are equipped with GPS devices developed by a local tech firm, are meant to ensure that students don't skip class. Alarms are set to go off if a student walks out of the school building or falls asleep during a lesson...

The chips can also reportedly be used as a cashless payment system for snacks bought on school grounds, although parents and the school would see everything a student buys.

In addition, if students try to swap uniforms in order to leave the campus, the system is designed to prevent that: Facial recognition scanners at school gates match the chips with the correct student, reports the Telegraph.

I tolerate controls on children that I wouldn't tolerate on adults, as children are still learning, but such uniforms are going way too far.  Rather than training students to dress appropriately, they train students to accept ubiquitous surveillance.  Shocking, I know, in a one-party state.

Welcome Home, Brave Warrior

This has been making the rounds through the internet recently.  If you want to see honor, respect, and dignity on display at the Billings, MT airport, then click on the link.

What pride must be welling up in that soldier.

I Didn't Make The List

Top 50 Conservative Websites for 2018

Christmas Break Is Already Half Over

Where has the time gone?  Usually breaks don't seem to go by this fast for me, but this one's flying.

What Math Should Teachers Know?

This is a post with an evergreen subject.  I know, because I wrote a June 2005 post on the same topic.  Fast-forward 13 1/2 years, and Joanne has a similar post.  The same problem is identified, the same reasons given for why teacher candidates, college graduates all, should not have to demonstrate even the most basic numeracy.

As is so often the case, the comments are as entertaining as the blog post itself is interesting.  My favorite one from Joanne's post:

It wasn’t OK for Teen Talk Barbie to say “Math class is tough!”, so I’m not buying “math is hard” from grown adults.

Update: Just stumbled across this post from earlier this year.  It's related to the above only in that it discusses math, but this sentence is revealing:  "I'm tired of being told how to teach math by people who weren't (or aren't) good at math."  I closed with the following:

No one suggests teaching music like this.  No one says that learning scales is too boring, that young musicians should dig into concertos.  No one suggests coaching football like this.  No one says that drills are too boring, that players should go straight to touchdown-making plays.  No one suggests that a student's first time behind the wheel should be during rush hour traffic.  In fact, I'm hard-pressed to come up with examples of areas outside of math where such recommendations are expected to be taken seriously.  Why do you think that is? 

Maybe Teen Talk Barbie was right after all.

I'm Considering It

I still can't ascertain why, but I haven't been truly happy teaching for a long time.

It's not that I don't like the kids, because I do.  I don't think the Common Core math standards are the reason, but possibly many of the absolutely stupid decisions my district has made over the past several years are contributing factors.  I really think that the latter is a large part of what has stripped so much of the joy out of teaching.

I've been unemployed 3 times in life, the longest stretch for about 6 months, and I don't want to go through that again.  Thus, I'm a little gun shy about jumping ship, to mix some metaphors.  After all, this is what I've done for 21 1/2 years now, making me not the most sought after potential employee.

Others, though, are cutting the cord:

Teachers and other public education employees, such as community-college faculty, school psychologists and janitors, are quitting their jobs at the fastest rate on record, government data shows.

A tight labor market with historically low unemployment has encouraged Americans in a variety of occupations to quit their jobs at elevated rates, with the expectation they can find something better. But quitting among public educators stands out because the field is one where stability is viewed as a key perk and longevity often rewarded...

In the first 10 months of 2018, public educators quit at an average rate of 83 per 10,000 a month, according to the Labor Department. While that is still well below the rate for American workers overall—231 voluntary departures per 10,000 workers in 2018—it is the highest rate for public educators since such records began in 2001...

In the 12 months ended in October, one million workers quit public-education positions, according to the most recent Labor Department data. More than 10 million Americans work in the field.

Moral Psychology

I'm rereading (ok, listening to the audiobook of) self-described leftie author Jonathan Haidt's book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided By Politics and Religion.  Love love love this book.

Haidt--yes, the same Haidt who's been in the press recently talking about the coddling of the American mind on university campuses--studies moral psychology, trying to ascertain where human morality comes from.  He's very fair-minded when describing moralities and cultures that are not his own.  Anyway, in this book, Haidt posits that there are 6 moral foundations, and that conservatives use all 6 of them and liberals primarily use 3 of them.  These foundations have done a lot to help me understand why people think the way they do.

If you'd like to learn about these 6 foundations, visits Haidt's web site at moralfoundations.org.  If you'd like to understand your own moral foundations, visit his yourmorals.org site.

I've written about Haidt a lot, just type his name into the search box at the top or bottom of this page to see more.

They Shall Not Grow Old

Who pays $17 to see a documentary about World War I?  I do.  And it was fantastic.  Highly recommended.  Worth buying on blu-ray.

After the credits was a 30 minute behind-the-scenes video on how the archival footage was made realistic.  Peter Jackson talked about how there were entire components of the war--at sea, in the air, on the home front--that he just didn't have time to address.  I hope someone finds that time.

It's All About the Feelz. And The Compulsion.

California has some fairly stringent firearms laws, with more coming into effect on January 1st. How have our laws been working so far?  Is California a true utopia yet?

A new academic study has found that, once again, gun laws are not having their desired effect.

A joint study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of California at Davis Violence Prevention Research Program found that California’s much-touted mandated background checks had no impact on gun deaths, and researchers are puzzled as to why.

A major law was passed in 1991.

More than a quarter of a century later, researchers at Johns Hopkins and UC Davis dug into the results of the sweeping legislation. Researchers compared yearly gun suicide and homicide rates over the 10 years following implementation of California’s law with 32 control states that did not have such laws.

They found “no change in the rates of either cause of death from firearms through 2000.”

The findings, which run counter to experiences in Missouri and Connecticut that did show a link between background checks and gun deaths, appear to have startled the researchers.

When the facts contradict your expectations, believe the facts, right? I mean, science!  Well, statistics, anyway.

“We know at the individual level that comprehensive background check policies work, that they prevent future firearm violence at this level," said Nicole Kravitz-Wirtz, a researcher who led the survey...

Apparently, to the Washington Post, California’s failure to effectively enforce background checks that had no discernible impact on gun deaths is evidence that more gun control laws are needed.

Essentially, the study’s authors, the AMA, and the Post appear incapable of seriously entertaining the possibility that sweeping gun control legislation might not have produced the results desired and expected: fewer deaths.

Any article that quotes Milton Friedman gets my attention:

California’s failed gun control law appears to be yet another example of experts, to quote the great Milton Friedman, judging “policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.”

Liberals refuse to accept human nature, and the liberty foundation of moral psychology, when they bob their heads in unison and squeal for more gun control.  Those of us on the right know that gun control is far less about the gun and far more about the control.

Update:  And on a related note:

“Sugar taxes have not reduced obesity rates anywhere in the world and smoking is much more prevalent among the poor than among the rich, despite decades of high taxes on tobacco. There is precious little evidence that poor people benefit from being taxed. On the contrary, sin taxes drive them further into poverty.”

Education Levels

California doesn't look too good.  Neither does Texas.  Or Arizona or New Mexico.  Are these results because of illegal immigration, or is it raaaaaaacist even to ask the question?

California ranks No. 1 among the 50 states for the percentage of its residents 25 and older who have never completed ninth grade and 50th for the percentage who have graduated from high school, according to new data from the Census Bureau.

Texas ranks No. 2 for the percentage of its residents 25 and older who have never completed ninth grade and 49th for the percentage who have graduated from high school.

9.7 percent of California residents 25 and older, the Census Bureau says, never completed ninth grade. Only 82.5 percent graduated from high school.

8.7 percent of Texas residents 25 and older never completed ninth grade, and only 82.8 percent graduated from high school...

Nationwide, 5.4 percent of residents 25 and older have never finished ninth grade, according to the latest five-year estimates...

In seventeen states, the percentage of residents 25 and older who at least graduated from high school was less than the nationwide percentage of 87.3 percent.

These seventeen states included: California (82.5 percent), Texas (82.8 percent)...

School Discipline

While reading yet another article about how schools need to have alternative methods of dealing with students who don't follow reasonable rules, I came across this thought:

School leaders spoke about the need to change the cultural norms in schools from punitive to positive.

Why don't we try changing cultural/community norms from ones that don't value education, don't value following rules, and don't lead to success in our country's larger culture, to norms that do?  An idea so crazy it just might work.

California DMV--A Symptom of a Very Big Problem

Starting October 2020, travel on a domestic flight will require a so-called Real ID, one with all the bells and whistles that the feds require.  California has really kicked the can down the road on issuing Real ID's, and blamed them on last summer's lines that proceeded at a Wagnerian pace.  I didn't even apply for a Real ID then, I can just use my passport if I need to fly somewhere.  But not everyone has a passport, some want a Real ID, and the DMV just can't get it right:

The California Department of Motor Vehicles issued 2.3 million new IDs this year using a process that doesn’t meet the federal government’s standards, the DMV was told last month.

The development means Californians who got those Real IDs will need to provide a second form of documentation to prove their residency when their ID comes up for renewal. DMV spokesman Armando Botello said the federal government told the DMV during phone conversations about the issue that it would still accept IDs that didn’t meet the requirement in the meantime.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent DMV director Jean Shiomoto a letter on Nov. 21 saying California’s process for verifying ID applicants’ residency didn’t meet federal requirements.

How long has California known about the Real ID requirement?

The Real ID law was passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and requires new ID cards to carry special markings.

It would seem a very long time.

A Class Act

I'll admit it, I got a tear in my eye as I read this story:

A high school senior from Hanahan, South Carolina, had a major decision to make on Wednesday, so he had a good friend come along and help. High school football star Cooper Dawson was revealing his college choice on National Signing Day and had his friend with cerebral palsy make the announcement in the heartwarming ceremony, CBS affiliate WCSC reports.

Dawson suffered a knee injury before football season began and had to sit out this season. But local paper The Post and Courier reports he was still recruited by top schools including Clemson, Tulane, Army and UCLA.

While he sat out the season, he became close with his classmate Kingsley Feinman, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. Feinman inspired Dawson as his torn ACL healed.

"He's inspired me a lot through the torn ACL process," Dawson said at the signing ceremony, CBS Sports reports. "He taught me that the only disability is a bad attitude. And if he can come around with this big old smile on, I can do it just the same."

That's why Dawson included his friend in the special ceremony. "I told Kingsley I'd announce it to him before I told anyone else," Dawson said. "So I'm going to tell him and I'll let him announce it to y'all."

Dawson whispered his school choice in Feinman's ear. "He's going to Syracuse!" Feinman announced to the waiting crowd.

The crowd cheered and Dawson put a Syracuse hat on Feinman's head before putting one on himself. The announcement is one to top – not every recruited player brings their inspiration with them on National Signing Day. But Feinman made a lasting impact on Dawson and taught him a valuable lesson: keep a smile on your face, no matter what.

Dawson's parents did well. I have no doubt they're very proud of the man he's becoming.  Feinman's parents can justifiably be just as proud of their son.

Merry Christmas From Your Union!

A story from Boston, not what you'd call a conservative stronghold:

Sheila O’Malley of Charlestown couldn’t believe it when she opened her paycheck from her seasonal job at UPS. “I was shocked,” she told the I-Team. She worked 41 hours that week, many of them during the overnight, and ended up with just $14.52.

Sheila assumed it was a mistake and the money would be refunded. In part, because Sheila, like other thousands of other seasonal part time UPS workers, signed an agreement to pay the $500 Teamsters union initiation fee in $32.00 weekly installments. But UPS told her it wasn’t a mistake. A spokesperson for UPS told the I-Team, “Local 25 reversed this long standing practice by rescinding this policy.”

For the new hires, that meant the balance of the union initiation fees and dues would be deducted in one lump sum. For Sheila, that was $490.00- nearly her entire week’s pay.

“I cried and tried to plead my case with them. But there was no wiggle room. He [union representative] said ‘You’re a part of the union now and you won’t have to worry about that coming out of your check,’” she said...

The I-Team has learned the National Labor Relations Board is now investigating charges of unfair labor practices against the Teamsters Local 25.

Ya think?

Back Home

Took off after work on Friday, headed south to meet up with a cousin of mine from Phoenix and some of her family.  On Saturday we spent 8 hours at Magic Mountain in Valencia--hadn't been there since I was a kid.  All of us "got our steps in" on Saturday!

Visited some friends in Stevenson Ranch yesterday, friends that I hadn't seen in years, and then got on I-5 North and headed home.  It was nice to sleep in my own bed.

Update:  We did lunch in a sports bar at Magic Mountain, and during lunch I think I watched Army score 21 points in the Armed Forces Bowl.   After lunch we waited in a long line for a roller coaster, during which I watched Army score a few more times.  I've never seen Army play a game like they did on Saturday!  The final shot from the ESPN app on my phone:

For a ball control, running team like Army, this was phenomenal!  Made the day even better than it was already shaping up to be.

Here's me after our last roller coaster ride:

A Smart Lady

You've gotta admire her honesty, as well as her ability to twist the knife a little:

Over 500 guns were surrendered to Baltimore police within the first hour and a half of a citywide gun buyback program this week. Participants received anywhere from $25 to $500 for their unwanted firearms...

Kathleen Cairns, a WBFF Baltimore journalist, tweeted a picture of a woman who was surrendering a 9mm. She hoped to use the money from the program to buy an even bigger gun.

By the way, how can the city buy "back" a firearm they never owned in the first place?

200 Years of Silent Night

I have a hanging clock that plays music on the hour.  Its current setting is Christmas music, and a few days ago I noticed that I was singing along to Silent Night in German--part of the residual knowledge I retain from taking Herr Dobbert's German class in high school back in the early 80s.

Did you know that Silent Night was originally written in German?

Every Christmas Eve, hundreds of people from all over the world crowd outside the octagonal-shaped chapel in Oberndorf, Austria, to sing along to one of the world’s most-beloved Christmas carols: Silent Night.

Amid sparkling white lights on a December night, two men, one strumming a guitar, stand in front of the small chapel and sing, in German, Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht, much like the song was first performed on Christmas Eve in 1818. And then carollers, bundled against the cold, sing the song in various languages.

It’s a scene especially poignant this holiday season, as 24 December 2018 marks the 200th anniversary of the song’s humble origins in Oberndorf.

Silent Night’s bicentennial is being celebrated in Oberndorf and other villages in the province of Salzburg throughout the holiday season. Exhibits in small museums explore the song’s origins and the lives of the two men behind its creation: Joseph Mohr, a priest, and Franz Xaver Gruber, an organist and teacher.

Go read the whole thing--as blogging will be light the next few days!

Before They Became Anti-American, Did The Left Believe In Due Process?

When did the Left jettison due process in pursuit of its goals?

Five fraternities at West Virginia University claim they are being sanctioned for behavior that had already been punished, and a civil-liberties group is warning the school its treatment of the groups is unconstitutional.

At least one of the fraternities claims that several officials have told the group that it has no due process rights. One WVU official was caught on tape explicitly telling multiple Greek-letter organizations that “student organizations do not have due process rights.”

This treatment from the administration led the five fraternities to split off from the university and form an Independent Interfraternity Council, which was followed by a public denouncement from President E. Gordon Gee.

Conor Wischmann, president of the IIFC, told The College Fix that his fraternity Sigma Chi “was never given the opportunity” to meet with the working group that imposed the new sanctions “for events that had already been adjudicated years prior.”

It was “a clear example of WVU’s disregard for a fair and equitable due process,” he wrote in an email.

When they say "by any means necessary", they seem to mean it literally.

Countdown

Finals start tomorrow, Christmas break starts Friday afternoon.  Life is good!

Netflix Binges

I've watched none of these "10 most binge-watched" shows on Netflix; in fact, I've heard of only a couple of them.  My 10 current and recent-past Netflix binges have been, in no particular order:

Travelers
Continuum
Lost In Space
American Vandal
Stranger Things
3%
Glitch
Kim's Convenience
Black Lightning
Shameless