A PERFORMANCE OF THEIR OWN INEPTITUDE:The MSM will try to frame the results-fudging problem in Alois' post above as the fault of No Child Left Behind, not of the school districts (or individual schools) themselves.The bottom line is this: The Teachers' Unions are to blame. I can almost guarantee you that there have been behind-closed-doors meetings with union reps and teachers, during which teachers were "taught" how to do this. We all know the only purpose the Unions serve anymore is to find loopholes to get their members out of work more often, while simultaneously promoting sucky teachers (sucky as in those who suck Union you-know-what more often) and frustrating or embarrassing the ones who care (like yours truly, I only taught P.S. for one year) so much that they quit.The real coup d'etat would be to find a whistleblower who would own up to that, who could provide documentation to back it up, and perhaps then we could show the people of this nation just how little the Democrats (who might as well admit they are owned by the parent 'company' knows as the Teachers' Unions) truly care about their kids.In fact, one of the main reasons I will never, ever, EVER vote Democratic in any national election is that I believe 100% that the leadership of that party today is purposely trying to keep its constituents poor and stupid. This is one of the key ways they do it, by ensuring that any education reform that makes teachers accountable FAILS. Yes, part of their game plan is ensuring that Bush's plan fails, but that just shows how pathological their Bush hatred is. No Child Left Behind is working where it's honestly being tried, in districts not under the iron fist of the Unions (a.k.a., predominantly Republican districts, or smaller districts where the parents don't constitute a valuable voting block in major elections). If you look at these statistics, where this cover-up is going on, the political connection is so blatantly obvious that it hurts. My heart breaks for these kids, they don't stand a snowball's chance in hell of being properly educated, of ever escaping the tyranny of poverty and street justice. It makes me want to scream.President Bush may have abandoned school choice as a pet issue (Lord knows he has bigger fish to fry—he's got to worry about whether our kids will all be attending madrassas someday), but this kind of blatant end-run around his program to help fix public schools is proof positive that it's an issue that still needs addressing.It may not be a popular opinion, but my firm belief is that a democracy "owes" its population a 12th grade education far more than it "owes" it free healthcare. You can get up and go to work at a job, even a minimum wage job, and afford (provided you take good care of yourself and aren't afflicted with some debilitating crippling disease, in which case I make an exception) to buy catastrophic coverage. What you cannot do is spend your time working to do that while educating your own children (and that's assuming you have the education yourself to even try).If we assume that the right to vote is pretty much the crux of the whole "democracy" appeal, then it certainly seems an extension of that right (in my view) to be LITERATE enough to be able to exercise that right (witness what happened in Florida in 2000 when people were too stupid to cast their vote properly—you'd think the Dims would get this!).I do not think the government owes anyone a college degree or any other advanced degree, but I do think a democracy that hopes to survive in perpetuity owes its citizenry a good 12th grade education. If it were up to me, that education would focus on a few basic subjects: - Reading- Writing (expository AND grammar, not filling out job apps. at McDonalds and not "texting")Both of the above should be part of a kid's grade in every other subject (no more multiple-choice-only history tests)- American History (this should be taught to EVERY GRADE, not just 5th, 7th and 10th). We've been around long enough that there's enough material to cover.- Civics (Where the hell did this go anyway??? How can you vote if you don't what it all means? Trying to cram this into History classes is absurd—schools have enough trouble trying to cram coverage of the vital role every shade-of-tan person played in our history, without having to explain what rights these kids do and do NOT have at the same time)- Math (duh)- Science- Phys. Ed (THIS is the class that should get the crap like sex-ed, nutrition, team sports, square dancing, etc... And for the love of God, please bring back dodgeball! Having a populace that is softer than dogshit when it comes to facing down bullies is not going to do any of us any good)- A class I call "Life, 101" - This is the course in which kids learn about mortgages and personal finance/budgeting/value of money/life insurance needs, basic law (no, it is NOT legal to consume a kegger and drive your buddy home, the wrong way on the freeway...), how to select a career path, etc... This would be the class (and it should be offered every grade from 5th grade on if you ask me, covering more and more sophisticated topics each year until graduation) that answers all the key factual questions most kids graduate without knowing the answers to! Stop the average recent grad on the street and ask him or her what "interest compounded daily" means. Ask them how many hours they'd have to work at minimum wage to afford a $1000/month mortgage. Then ask them what you have to do to build credit, what it takes to hurt credit, etc... Kids don't know this, yet they persist in living like it doesn't matter, like they'll always have a home, always have money streaming into their pockets, like they can LIVE on what Chik-Fil-A pays them.As for all those "electives" the touchy-feely crowd wants them to have, I say let the best and brightest get to take those. Make them the carrot on the end of the stick. Want to take that cushy comparitive Navajo poetry class? Get a 4.0 in everything else first. Want to do "independent study" in fashion design of the 1970s Disco Era? Show us you can balance your checkbook, know the Bill of Rights cold and identify your state and federal representatives by name and most recent legislation (passed or pushed). Then maybe...If we are not going to have choice as to where our education tax dollars go, then by golly we ought to have more of a say in how they are spent where they DO go. And if the schools are going to insist they know better than we do how to raise our kids, then by all means, let them RAISE them! Let them teach wrong from right, good from evil, condoms from the pill, fixed from variable interest rates. The government should not demand the presence of our children at a performance of their own ineptitude, day after wasted day. If they want us to believe this isn't the height of arrogance (as well as the definition of tyranny), they're going to have to come up with something better than cheating. If not, we can expect a generation of kids hell-bent on doing the same.Posted by Deb on
I'm totally on board with this education plan, except for the dodgeball part.
While I was in Junior High in my hometown of La Mirada, the local school district decided to close down all the junior highs and consolidate the classes by moving 7th grade to elementary and 8th grade to high school.
Mine was the first class to experience high school while in the 8th grade. First day of class, I'm in the gym for PE when this coach person decides that we're all going to play dodgeball.
Now, I'm 13 at this stage (I think). It's 1978 or thereabouts. And I'm playing dodgeball with guys who can drive, who are about 2 and a half feet taller than me and who (remember the time) have figgin beards.
One of them throw the ball in my face while I'm asking the coach a question.
The result: broken glasses, which then cost around $400, a price my family couldn't pay.
The good news: the asshole who did that to me joined the Army after graduation and died in a freak kitchen accident at a base in Korea some 9 months later.
Call me evil, but I laughed and I laughed...
Posted by: KevinV | 04/19/2006 at 03:52 PM
Fair 'nuff, but MY big sports injury in HS came while playing America's new darling sport,
SuckerSoccer.The neo-Nazi mayor's son didn't like me and kicked the ball into my nads at point-blank range. That was two days in the hospital. Don't even ask about the pain.
They said I'd never reproduce, but (heh) they were wrong about that...
Posted by: Alois | 04/19/2006 at 04:01 PM
Damn, Alois, that hurt just reading that....sooooo sorry that happened to you.
Hey, did the mayor's son end up dying in a freak kitchen accident by any chance? I have this freak kitchen accident/cosmic karma theory I've been testing out....
Posted by: KevinV | 04/19/2006 at 05:25 PM
Nah, but he did get all of his pouffy jock haircut removed courtesy of myself, my friend Charlie Zimmermann, and a large can of Nair (we jumped him outside his house when he was coming home from a party one night).
Last I heard, Ricky was some kinda bigwig in an insurance company (go figure). Charlie OD'd in San Francisco during the late seventies.
And as for reproduction... my son Michael is one of the bloggers on Jewlicious, when he's not busy breaking computers.
Posted by: Alois | 04/19/2006 at 07:20 PM
It is so depressing to see, and I have seen, kids "graduating" from high school who are functionally illiterate. To watch the Demon-crats sacrifice our youth so that they will become an easily manipulated constituency, and pander to illegal f---ing aliens just to garner votes is nauseating, it is deeply infuriating. For the sake of nothing more than political gain, they are literally willing to sacrifice the future and very survival of the United States of America. These people, and "journalists" of their ilk who publicize classified information should be PROSECUTED FOR TREASON and be either locked up for life or , better, executed. They are in league with the enemy while we are at war, a war which has the potential to swallow the United States.
The horror of September 11 will be a mere horderve compared to the smorgasbord of terror ahead if we do not all WAKE UP and take this world war seriously before it is too late.
I think everyone on this God-forsaken planet should take a few quiet moments to contemplate what this world would be without the United States of America.
JDAM the mullahs.
Posted by: Klaus | 04/19/2006 at 09:02 PM
This is a very hard blow, to see these lawbrakers get all these privileges above all us Americans! The Privileged People. I agree if we don't wake up real soon! I couldn't believe Napolitano-gov of Az. did not sign that bill. If an illegal gets arrested for anything-deport! Can round them up and deport! Instead they want the votes-cheap sell out. I saw on tv all these people in other countries waiting in such worse conditions.The Caliphate people are here too. People I agree should be arrested for tearing our structure down. Treason! I cannot figure out what there is to debate!? Sounds like the demo-s liberals have had to much koolaid. What are they thinking and do they realize who they face? What they face? Their children face? They busted illegals and the job place for hiring them in Az. makes sense. Now what ya got? A million protestors! Yes, I believe we have alot of bad "johnnys" here. Just like Palistine they want the land. Claiming it is theirs! All these children (teens) must be really confused at what the heck is going on? Besides be tuff to be ready for guard. Alot are copy cats though. Not good! It is sad what America is turning into. We do need a 101 lesson for them! I don't think they need to know all the positions! I think they need to learn history-including creatism-including-the "ideas of the islam faith" the crusuades then alot would be understood better. They don't cover alot alot! The teachers turn their room into a podium of their beliefs! Of coarse in 101 you will still learn all your other stuff in life too, that's not taught! First thing I want children to know- is, it is My Mom and I not Me and my mom. You come last!!! Can ya handle it? It burns my ears every time I hear it! Well, were on the right coarse! Me and Myself, Myself and I. Peg
Posted by: Peg | 04/21/2006 at 01:24 AM
OH lESSON "101"! dANG ALOIS, I hope they don't have to learn that-2days! Is that when you went off the oxygen and could breath again? Are ya glad it hurt? 101 could be alot of things. Learn to have humor! Things get so serious I just have to laugh sometimes. It is better than going crazy or crying or dieing. God has a sense of humor. He made us funny ceatures! Another lesson 101 how can the kids confide if there is no one to confide in? They are using tazers on teens at school by N.Y. now. I learned in lesson 101 in 5th grade always check your dress leaving the ladies room. For I was called in front of class to show everyone where Africa was drawing it on the board. As laughter broke out I realized my dress was tucked in my underwear! That was cute. Looked like prickly bubble butt!!
Posted by: Peg | 04/22/2006 at 03:45 PM
101 for Hillary, it takes a village. The closest village I know is in Africa. Outport our students? They don't care if they speak spanish do they?
Posted by: Peg | 04/22/2006 at 04:31 PM