School-spending: Race to top (bottom?)

THE WEEK AHEAD IN WINGNUT-LAND!

Monday:
After thousands of demoralized callers overwhelm the phone lines during his radio show, Glenn Beck manages to convince them that Friday's presidential drubbing of Congressional Republicans was an elaborate hoax orchestrated by George Soros, ACORN and America's cable companies. Later that day he informs his TV viewers that "...only Fox News was smart enough to cut away from the event when the hoax---not unlike the staged moon landing---revealed itself." His listeners breathe a sigh of relief and memorize the talking point for use during the next teabag rally.

Tuesday:
Three days after judging the Miss America Pageant, Rush Limbaugh is asked if it's still fair to compare women to his cat, like the time he said, "[S]he's smart enough to know she can't feed herself. She's actually [a] very smart cat. She gets loved. She gets adoration. She gets petted. She gets fed. And she doesn't have to do anything for it, which is why I say this cat's taught me more about women than anything my whole life." Limbaugh oinks once for Yes.

Wednesday:
Fox News quietly scales back correspondent Sarah Palin's appearances on the network when it slowly dawns on the rest of the on-air staff that no one really knows what the hell she's saying and therefore might be making sense.

Thursday:
Congresswoman Vivian Foxx (R-NC), who criticized the president in a tweet Friday and then gushed that she "got autograph," finally looks at what Obama wrote on her cocktail napkin: "TP stuck on ur shoe."

Friday:
Congressional Republicans conduct their business from an undisclosed location to ensure Barack Obama won’t ambush them with an impromptu televised debate. Their plan succeeds when no one notices them hiding among the dinosaurs at the Natural History museum.

Republicans don't support educational funding because without dumb people they'd have no one to vote for them.

99.9% of the sad sack illiterates in this country "graduate" to being lifetime members of the Republican party (the base) - without the low IQ goobers, Republican leadership wouldn't be able to dupe anyone into voting for their tax cuts for Billionaires proposals because they would know better.

Exhibit A:
______________
*
http://community.livejournal.com/ontd_political/3983339.html#cutid1
*

BUSH FAMILY PROFITS OFF NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT

"A company headed by President Bush's brother and partly owned by his parents is benefiting from Republican connections and federal dollars targeted for economically disadvantaged students under the No Child Left Behind Act. With investments from his parents, George H.W. and Barbara Bush, and other backers, Neil Bush's company, Ignite! Learning, has placed its products in 40 U.S. school districts and now plans to market internationally. At least 13 U.S. school districts have used federal funds available through the president's signature education reform, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, to buy Ignite's portable learning centers at $3,800 apiece. The law provides federal funds to help school districts better serve disadvantaged students and improve their performance, especially in reading and math. But Ignite does not offer reading instruction, and its math program will not be available until next year."

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1022-02.htm
.

While many on the right wish to blame teachers for the problems, NCLB was terrible for education. The name sounds great but from conception on it was underfunded to produce any real results. As stated, it has a dumbing down of the students. The main fault lies with the parents. My wife taught here in the south for 18 years and can tell you the lack of parental help with their school work and many who live in the worst of situations at home.

Hey bill r.

I was in Education World for two miserable years as a math teacher. “No Child Left Behind” was intended to bring measurement and accountability to the public school system. As teachers, we hated NCLB because none of this accountability business was ever imposed on the student. That burden is on maybe the school, maybe the school district, maybe the state, but always the teacher first. Of the alliance of the guilty, the teacher is held as the single point of focus for all blame and all cumulative student failure up to that point. And beyond.

The student is not held responsible for anything, including the cost of a pencil or even bringing a textbook to class. A textbook that relates to the subject at hand, and is provided by the state for free. I would not say that NCLB suddenly ruined education. It was already in ruin. NCLB just does next to nothing to make it better.

I would agree that home situations are probably less than ideal and parents are, in general, not the influence for good that they should be. From my perspective as an ex-teacher, the biggest culprit is this idea in Education World that learning has to be FUN. Fun, I say unto you, ~ RUN. It is not fun. For a subject that is not particularly likeable or intuitively understandable, learning is difficult and it is painful if not very painful. If you turn it into a game, you will have only learned how to play a game.

Ask your wife about Bloom’s Taxonomy. No argument here that Benjamin Bloom is the Learning Master, but his ingenious taxonomy is a mis-applied license to abuse the entire cognitive process of learning.

No amount of money is ever going to fix anything until the progressives in Education World can acknowledge their “systemic failures” and their contribution to this miserable system where the wine and the chaff are encouraged to enter into ruin together, every step of the way.

I leave accounting to Terry and his abacus, but doesn't $50B come to about $4K per student? Why don't we just bribe them to stay in school and graduate? For $4K, you can bet that the parents/guardians would keep a watchful eye. Just my Moynihan thought of the evening...

====================================
No amount of money is ever going to fix anything until the progressives in Education World can acknowledge their “systemic failures”
Posted by: Django - N Exile In/Around the 30th Parallel | February 1, 2010 6:27 PM
=================================

Bill R,
Don't listen to Tex (see above), Just like his fellow Bushian right wing fringers, he thinks education is all about Dinosaur wranglin' and staying away from the edge of the Earth....so you don't fall off the edge.

Creation Museum: Because Our Kids Aren’t Stupid Enough.
.
.
http://carlreyes.com/?p=5
.

Why is the federal gov't involved in K-12 in the first place?

hey...this is bill r.' wife...i was kind of confused about your reference to Bloom's Taxonomy...to me it pretty much outlines learning and the application of same. i have taught in the classroom, ag children, ld children, & cross categorical...the thing that hurt most about the nclb act was that it didn't acknowledge the fact that we are different...how does it feel to tell a child to do his/her best and then they keep "failing"? education swings back and forth with the appropriate way to teach...from phonics to whole language, etc. fun? i try to incorporate some fun in my classroom...do a lot of positive reinforcement...but do i run a fun classroom? i don't think so...on the downside, due to the nclb act, i have abandoned some activities that could be considered fun but were also educational, particularly in science and social studies, since we have the eog's hanging over our head...actually, even my reading is not geared to higher level thinking any longer due to eog's...can you say "teaching to the test"?
A lot does have to do with the home life and support of the parents...i taught in a rural county for 13 years and the parents overall were great...we are now in a different area &, in general, it seems that many parents are not all that involved or the home situation is complicated...i am always there when a parent calls because that means they are concerned and trying to help.

Yes, Arne (or is that Ernie, which Obama called him last week?) Duncan knows so much about improving the education system. I mean he did a whale of job of improving the Chicago public school system, didn't he?
Anyway, speaking of dumbing down the education system, hasn't that been the liberal doctrine for schools for several decades now?
And while education spending continues to spiral out of control, students are learning less and doing worse. So, let's throw more money at it!

My sister worked very hard to put herself through college and upon receiving her teaching degree, took a job in the Alabama Public School System. She knew the pay wasn't going to be great, and is still behind most professions in which you've worked for over 20 years, but she felt that she wanted to try to make a difference. She's hated NCLB from the beginning, as most educators do, and now counts the time until she can retire. Bush should have campaigned to end the low expectations of the Republican party.

Worst president ever

Ya know what else is racing to the bottom? yup BOs approval rating I guess the gullible are starting to see the error of their ways. Barry enjoy the 4 yr vacation and try not to wreck the country any further.

Education and domestic improvement need to have higher priority than military growth. Mexico now ranks higher in math aptitude than the U.S.

Maybe we're not trying to educate kids; just teaching them to obey orders and be good soldiers,

Worst president ever

Posted by: ComicBookGuy | February 1, 2010 10:20 PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ya know what else is racing to the bottom? yup BOs approval rating I guess the gullible are starting to see the error of their ways. Barry enjoy the 4 yr vacation and try not to wreck the country any further.

Posted by: ComicBookGuy | February 1, 2010 10:53 PM

Talking of education, out pops ComicBookGuy to show how some suffer from a.d.d. or r.r.s........rabid republican syndrome. Where one can't overcome his emotions to stay on topic.

@ Jimi Jagger

You are a prime example of how ignorant liberals are.

Chicago has a 60% drop out rate, and votes 90% for Obama and other liberals.

Detroit has a 75% High School drop out rate, and votes 95% for Democrats.

DC has a 65% High School drop out rate and votes 95% for Democrats.

It is repeated again and again; the worst schools systems adore Democrats and vote in lock step for liberals who continue to perpetuate the total failures that these schools systems have become.

@ Dan C............Dan, don't be blinded by politics, failing schools know no boundaries or geography. Here in the south, a republican stronghold, there are the same failures. There are many reason's for the failure, but the answer isn't in politics.

hey...this is bill r.' wife...i was kind of confused about your reference to Bloom's Taxonomy...to me it pretty much outlines learning and the application of same. i have taught in the classroom, ag children, ld children, & cross categorical...the thing that hurt most about the nclb act was that it didn't acknowledge the fact that we are different...how does it feel to tell a child to do his/her best and then they keep "failing"? education swings back and forth with the appropriate way to teach.....

Posted by: bill r. | February 1, 2010 7:30 PM
---------------------

Mrs. Bill,
This is my point. Bloom’s Taxonomy outlines levels of thinking and learning most precisely. However, very few students are ready to operate on that 5th tier of Synthesis or the 6th tier ~ Evaluation that Education World insists upon targeting. If a young Duke Ellington was in the class, they would have him to "build" a piano. The lower levels of Knowledge and Understanding are discounted. In math classes, high school sophomores and juniors are still operating at the 5th grade level. There is NO Way that anyone can build upon that.

Linear Algebra calls me to duty, in this hour. Thanx.

BillyR,

I see you married up. :)

Ask rthe Mrs. if she would like to have the feds out of her classroom, but it might mean less funding.

What really ticks me off is how teachers play it off that it's none of their fault that children are not learning. I know good teachers but, they are being stifled by the system. And I hate when teachers say parents need to be involved and I also will admit that there are a lot of parents that can do a he1 1 of a lot more. But I will tell you this in instances where I've had to deal with the schools and teachers my involvement was frowned upon. I was basically told they knew better than I did when my child needed. It is this arrogance that turned me against public schools. That is why I believe a voucher system similar to the one that was running in Washington DC until the liberals in Congress pulled the plug this past summer. A voucher system would actually put pressure on the public school system, the administrators, and the teachers to do a better job or lose their job. Now I know most liberals do not want this why you would ask because most public school systems are a bastion for liberal thank, not the free exchange of ideals among peers or basic educational needs. In the private system schools along with the workers are held to a higher standard and accountable by the people paying the bill. In the public system no one is really held accountable and to prove this point all you have to do is look at Obama's Secretary of Education who left a system with the dropout rate of over 60%. Would you hire somebody whose accomplishment is he got less than 40% done. And since the creation of the Department of Education most public school systems have been in decline. And since the teachers unions have grown powerful enough to buy their congresspersons they no longer care about the student. Can anybody name one student that the Department of Education has educated, has taught them to spell one word, show them how to solve one mathematics equation, or taught them real US history. Just one that's all I'm asking name just one.

Of course you hate all that. Even though you haven't a rat's a$$ clue as to what it is like to be a teacher, you certainly hate it. Reality be damned. I would lay odds you wouldn't last a year as a teacher, and if you know better, home school them. Talk of arrogance! You have not one clue of the dedication teachers have.

The voucher system was a sleazy, under the table hand out to religious schools. Bush's Secretary of Education flunked out on Celebrity Jeopardy. Bush laughed about being a C student. Then laughed about not being able to speak the English language. We all know that Republicans don't value Science (to you guys, VooDoo), History (unless you can lie about it to make yourselves look noble), or Rational Thought (that one needs no explaining). Reality is that we're living in a tough economy and most kids can't go to an expensive, private school. Public school teachers are worked to the bone for little rewards, other than knowing they've made a difference. And Crooks_in_DC. Sarah Palin, Scott Brown, Rush Limbaugh... they ALL went to public school. I think you proved your point, for once.

Mrs. Jesus,

Hate to inform you that federal money already goes to K-12 schools, so the your "voucher money to religious schools" holds no water.
http://durbin.senate.gov/showRelease.cfm?releaseId=264581

BillyR,

I see you married up. :)

Ask rthe Mrs. if she would like to have the feds out of her classroom, but it might mean less funding.

Posted by: Terry | February 2, 2010 10:38 AM

Terry....I meant to thank you. I no doubt "married up". She has been a wonderful partner and has a heart of gold. Hence the anger over the blanket charges about teachers. I can tell you over the years I have first hand knowledge of the frustrations of trying to give children a good education. Many teachers spend nights crying over the difficulties they face and have NO TOLERANCE for slugs like crooks who doesn't have one bit of knowledge or understanding of the heartships teaching brings.

====================================
No amount of money is ever going to fix anything until the progressives in Education World can acknowledge their “systemic failures”

Posted by: Django - N Exile In/Around the 30th Parallel | February 1, 2010 6:27 PM
=================================

Bill R,
Don't listen to Tex (see above), Just like his fellow Bushian right wing fringers, he thinks education is all about Dinosaur wranglin' and staying away from the edge of the Earth....so you don't fall off the edge.

Creation Museum: Because Our Kids Aren’t Stupid Enough.

Posted by: Mariano | February 1, 2010 7:11 PM
--------------------

Mariano is actually John E. or John EE. This post is not of any real consequence. Neither is the riposte which follows. But what the hell. It’s still a damn swamp.

For The Despondent Education of John E or EE – Django’s Reading List, by me ~ Django

“1920” by David Pietrusza, 454 pages

“1920” is about the presidential election of 1920 and the six once and future presidents that had some or a lot of influence during that period in American history. Django has finished this book. Swamp Folks, I recommend this well-written book to EVERYONE that has any interest at all in American history, and can also read. I don’t doubt that John E or EE can possibly read.

“Treason” by the brilliant Ann Coulter, 292 pages

“Treason” is about liberal / democrat treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism. Django is on page 277.

“America, A Narrative History” by George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shi, 1391 damn pages

Amazingly, this is a narrative history of America. Django is on page 695, The Grant Years.

“Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics” by J.M. Smith and H.C. Van Ness, 443 pages not counting the nice Steam Tables in the back

This is a treatment of thermodynamics from a chemical engineering viewpoint. Django is now outlining Chapter 2, The First Law and Other Basic Concepts, using index cards. In order to have a slim chance of surviving Obamanomics, Django needs to obtain a professional engineering license. If any Swamp denizen knows of, or is responsible for anyone engaged in the study of chemical engineering or petroleum engineering, please advise them to get out NOW! On November 4th 2008 a sharp wooden stake was driven through the heart of this particular line of work. Django, unfortunately, already has too much invested to follow this sagacious advice.

“Linear Algebra and its Applications” by David C. Lay, 491 pages

Linear Algebra is the computational mathematics that allows industries to optimize whatever it is that they plan to manufacture each and every day. Anytime that you find what you want versus what you don’t want in Wal-Mart or whatever, Mr. Linear Algebra had something to do with the outcome of that particular adventure. Django is on page121 ~ The Inverse of a Matrix. Somewhere, somehow, there is a painful Master's degree to be had.

“Deluxe Scale Book” by Mel Bay, a mere 72 pages

Scales, all about scales. Django is amazingly weak on scales, particularly the harmonic minor and gypsy minor scale. Have to “think” about them too hard when playing in those strange keys. You can’t have to “think” through this stuff. You just gotta, in the moment, let it fly, if you can latch upon my drift here.

No flag burnings, or George Bush effigy burnings, John E. or EE. I leave those up to u. Just a little lite/required reading to get through another day in Obama’s Amerika N Transition.

Mrs. Jesus and why was the system in DC praise so much from both sides? why were the parents that had kids on a waiting list in tears? No you need to get a clue with the liberal want to hold down as many people will as they can in their cesspools of of liberal thank. We should get the politicians out of the classroom and sorry science was taught in schools I went to. And we all know today that the English language is not required by all students today which is a disgrace. And history has been what h will re-written in a lot of the textbooks leaving out important periods of history. Go and ask a teenager on what date was D-Day launched or the history of Memorial Day. I was taught this in school but now it is not in most cases. I know there are a lot of dedicated teachers and a lot of parents who could do more. But I also know that the school systems themselves have become bloated with driftwood. It is this driftwood that stifles the effects of the lot of good teachers. And you cannot blame this on a bad economy because this has been going on for a lot longer, nice try with the liberal propaganda on that. I am just thankful that liberals like yourself only account for 20% of the population but, 80% of the people working in public education are liberal and that is scary.

bill r I think I could handle it in a classroom, I made it three years in a submarine in the 70s and 80s. I grew up in Logan Square in the city and went to city schools. I can remember when a teacher could grab you by your collar and throw you out of their classroom. Take the punks and the gang bangers and baby mamas out of the classrooms and into boot camps and training facilities in the middle of nowhere. Bring back the paddle and true discipline in the schools. And if a child's parent will not deal with the problem moves the kid to the boot camp or training facility. And before all you weak kneed liberals condemn me because I mention the paddle know this all it took was hearing one other getting the paddle to straighten out a few others. And not only did I feared the paddle (in Kentucky schools which at the time were better than Chicago schools) I did not want my father to discipline me either. That was the time when schools for still trying to teach. But a lot had changed by the time my son was school age. And yes we had to supplement my son's education due to the fact that schools would not teach him properly. We had to basically teach him American history because the school did a poor job of it. I met his teacher in high school who taught history and he pretty much had his hands tied and did not agree with the way he was allowed to run his class. I also did not believe in somebody who came in fifth place getting a ribbon talk about tied to your mommies apron. And my son is doing just fine living in the village in New York City after doing four years of college on a full academic scholarship. I credit that to pulling him out of poor performing schools systems (none of which took place in Chicago) and selecting the schools he attended until high school. I made sure he never went to a Chicago school like I had to. One of the biggest ways besides parents involvement to help the truly dedicated and talented teachers is to cut away the driftwood that entangles them and held them and their students back. When a school janitor is making as much as some teachers tell me how that is right. And how in some school systems do the bureaucrats equal the number of teachers in that system, how is that right.