I have posted ad nauseum on the background of our educational system as an off-shoot of the Prussion model designed to indoctrinate in the guise of education, so I will not repeat that here. But there is a story in the news that not only supports the continuation of that emphasis in the public schools of today, but also provides still more evidence on how completely the Progressive Ideologues have taken over control of our schools
Consider the case of Liberty Middeschool in Fairfax County, Virginia, where early in January a Conservative who found himself in the back of the eighth-grade class being taught by one Mr. Michael Denman might have been excused for hearing etherial music and thinking he had been transported to the Twilight Zone, either into some point in the far future or into a 1930's classroom in Germany. Because, Mr Denman was in the process of assigning, as a learning (dare I suggest, "training") project the following: You will devide yourselves into 4 groups; each will choose one of the Republican's currently running for the nomination to run against President Obama in the fall and research the flaws and weaknesses of your chosen candidate; you will then determine how to best attack those weaknesses; and finally, you will research who in the Obama campaign would be the right person to send your findings to as well as how to accomplish that.
Public School children 1)being trained and indoctrinated to investigate non-Democrat seekers of public office, 2)trained how to look for and exploit perceived weaknesses for the purpose of attacking the candidacy, including contacting operatives in the actual Democrat campaign with that information and, most importantly, 4) no consideration of investigating corresponding matters and the manner of exploiting them on the part of the current office holder.
It was only when some parents expressed concern and the matter was made public that the Superintendent and the Principal claim that they had conversation with Mr. Denman and indicated he should have made Mr. Obama available as a person of interest as well. Now, curiously, there is a policy that no teacher should further any political point of view in class but this policy was not deemed to have been violated to a degree that resulted in anything more than an alleged direction for future assignments. Absent nothing more than this (which, it should be noted, is merely claimed by the Superintendent but not confirmed by either the Principal or Mr. Denman [both of whom refused to comment]), apparently there are no consequences for violation of the stated policy...which suggests that if there is no public outcry, the policy is not enforced.
Why am I not surprised.
Showing posts with label Department of Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Department of Education. Show all posts
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Thursday, December 15, 2011
One main reason that todays schools fail miserably...
I cannot remember not being able to read. My mother told me that I could read before I was two, but I take that claim on faith...and it doesn't matter. But, without an age reference, I can recall my mother insisting that I learn the alphabet and learn to sound out words. And then she insisted that I learn the definition of every new word. As I got a bit better, she taught me how to look up the definitions in a dictionary that I always had handy when I was reading. I was taught how to read using phonetics, although I only learned this later.
Reading was my key to the world. I could pick up a book and travel all around the world. I could even travel to the stars and in time. It was not just learning...it was entertainment. If I had a book, I was King; I was the master of my own mental destiny.
Reading was power. Reading was the vehicle for success and for achievement of my goals, regardless of how I define that at any given moment.
If I didn't fully grasp what a teacher had attempted to teach me in class, I could read the textbook and think it through again...or go to the library and look for additional information...and, in a sense, become my own "extra help" provider. When I got older, I could get a book to tell me how to fix my beat-up used car, could get a book that would tell me how to properly fix a household appliance, repair a hole in the wall, or even take down or put one up. Reading has always been the key. Without it, I would be no better off than an uneducated person in what we call a third-world country.
All of this is merely a premise to my main point: our schools are failing to educate kids today, and the primary reason is a failure to teach them to read. Yet these blameless illiterates are graduated from High School, many go to college and the illiteracy is indulged and they get higher degrees. Why? You will have to decide that...I cannot know the hearts, souls and minds of those who caused and now continue to enable this failure to qualify our children for success. But it is undeniable that this had gone on for so long that it is not possible that this is accidental...it is done with full knowledge of the results...failure. Our children are not equiped to be self-reliant, to achieve on their own, to learn for themselves. They are doomed to be dependent on Television, DVDs, CDs, and real life in person direction by others, and thereafter on the ability to remember what they were told. There is no way they can do independent research, checking or learning...they lack the tools.
In the middle of the last century the schools for reasons unfathomable to me moved away from the phonetic teaching of language to an approach called "whole word" reading which, as close as I can understand, depends on memorization of whole words, and filling in unknown word meaning by using the context of the sentence or paragraph in which it appears...in other words, guess. No dictionary skills, no sounding out the word, no study of the origin of the word in another language that might give you a better grasp of what was meant by the word. And certainly no test or requirement that you ever learn that unknown word or its real life meaning.
And we wonder why even come college graduates are illiterate.
Yet, our educational system and our governmental powers never question this failure. All they do is claim that we must throw more money at the problem. Not only doesn't it help, most cannot even do the math to evaluate how much money per student we are wasting by such illogical action. They cannot do basic math either...without a calculator. But that another problem for another discussion. Just consider...no one has asked why Johnny or Carol cannot read.
Isn't it time that we demand that Educators and those that fund and rule them answer that question?
And for those of you who would like to read more on the subject from someone with some logical thought on the subject, I recommend the following link: http://www.rightsidenews.info/2011121515165/life-and-science/health-and-education/fake-reading-theory-is-the-slave-trade-of-our-era.html?utm_source=Right%20Side%20News&utm_campaign=c1d5ba69ec-daily-rss-newsletter&utm_medium=email
Reading was my key to the world. I could pick up a book and travel all around the world. I could even travel to the stars and in time. It was not just learning...it was entertainment. If I had a book, I was King; I was the master of my own mental destiny.
Reading was power. Reading was the vehicle for success and for achievement of my goals, regardless of how I define that at any given moment.
If I didn't fully grasp what a teacher had attempted to teach me in class, I could read the textbook and think it through again...or go to the library and look for additional information...and, in a sense, become my own "extra help" provider. When I got older, I could get a book to tell me how to fix my beat-up used car, could get a book that would tell me how to properly fix a household appliance, repair a hole in the wall, or even take down or put one up. Reading has always been the key. Without it, I would be no better off than an uneducated person in what we call a third-world country.
All of this is merely a premise to my main point: our schools are failing to educate kids today, and the primary reason is a failure to teach them to read. Yet these blameless illiterates are graduated from High School, many go to college and the illiteracy is indulged and they get higher degrees. Why? You will have to decide that...I cannot know the hearts, souls and minds of those who caused and now continue to enable this failure to qualify our children for success. But it is undeniable that this had gone on for so long that it is not possible that this is accidental...it is done with full knowledge of the results...failure. Our children are not equiped to be self-reliant, to achieve on their own, to learn for themselves. They are doomed to be dependent on Television, DVDs, CDs, and real life in person direction by others, and thereafter on the ability to remember what they were told. There is no way they can do independent research, checking or learning...they lack the tools.
In the middle of the last century the schools for reasons unfathomable to me moved away from the phonetic teaching of language to an approach called "whole word" reading which, as close as I can understand, depends on memorization of whole words, and filling in unknown word meaning by using the context of the sentence or paragraph in which it appears...in other words, guess. No dictionary skills, no sounding out the word, no study of the origin of the word in another language that might give you a better grasp of what was meant by the word. And certainly no test or requirement that you ever learn that unknown word or its real life meaning.
And we wonder why even come college graduates are illiterate.
Yet, our educational system and our governmental powers never question this failure. All they do is claim that we must throw more money at the problem. Not only doesn't it help, most cannot even do the math to evaluate how much money per student we are wasting by such illogical action. They cannot do basic math either...without a calculator. But that another problem for another discussion. Just consider...no one has asked why Johnny or Carol cannot read.
Isn't it time that we demand that Educators and those that fund and rule them answer that question?
And for those of you who would like to read more on the subject from someone with some logical thought on the subject, I recommend the following link: http://www.rightsidenews.info/2011121515165/life-and-science/health-and-education/fake-reading-theory-is-the-slave-trade-of-our-era.html?utm_source=Right%20Side%20News&utm_campaign=c1d5ba69ec-daily-rss-newsletter&utm_medium=email
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Today's America leaves me exhausted
I had to stop writing blogs for awhile. Focusing on the idiocy of the political and the educational world in particular left me depressed and drained. There are real problems. None of them are incapable of being solved. But no one wants to eliminate them unless they can garner some personal or ideological gain...and under no circumstances do they want to "fix" anything if it involves diminishing in any combination their power or wealth.
Today I read that the SAT scores hit a new low this past year. And the first comment by the testers was that no one should worry because it was due to more "students" (whatever that means these days) were taking the test than ever before and to the increased "diversity" of the pool taking the test. Huh? Right...and it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summertime.
Our Government is to blame for this idiocy. The entire Federal Government, including Congress, every President, and the Supreme Court. Because it all goes back to an unwillingness (or inability) to accurately evaluate and then design a way to correct the results of racial prejudice.
Rather than recognize that the in-equality of the past needed to be corrected substantively, the Government forces determined instead to institute the appearance of equality, rather than make it a fact.
For the most part, life has consequences...at least it used to. It was results that counted, not excuses. If you failed a test, you flunked. If you did that enough, you got "left back a grade" and some actually left school at the earliest permissible age because they just didn't want to study...or couldn't. Schools were for learning. So were Colleges and Universities. Your performance got you entrance and progress and a degree. The degree meant something...it vouched for your achievement.
But, instead of focusing on the opportunity for all to learn and thus achieve according to that achievement, the Government dictated that minorities were now to be granted entrance, and degrees because of their minority status rather than their competitive achievement. The decision was to make the world look as if all was well and, in fact, guarantee that minorities would have the appearance of success whether it was earned...or not.
This has had enormous consequences to our nation...well, actually, no longer a nation but a country. Because the damage is multifaceted. First, minorities have not been helped by the program. Everyone, including the minorities, knows that the "achievements" are bogus...or at the very least, are suspect...regardless of the piece of paper. The same goes for hiring, due to Federal requirements that once again throw out achievement in favor of appearances. If people want all to strive for knowledge and achievement, you must make the opportunity equal...but you must require the equal achievement of learning and ability on an equal basis as well. To act as the Government has done is to subtly (well, maybe not so much) suggest that minorities actually cannot compete...at least not on an equal basis. How totally insulting, demeaning...and stupid.
But that is only the start of the damage. All who have grown up in this atmosphere of selective granting of artificial status see that it ISN'T achievement that is rewarded...and hard work and study is not the key to a better life. They have watched as consequences of non-performance or under-performance have been either eliminated or lowered. So...they demand the same. And, in the prevailing sense of "equality" they have been granted the same "pass" to avoid being left back in school, or denied admission to college, or denied their diploma just because they didn't do the work.
Students today will, it appears, not have to learn how to write cursive because, I am told, they all use computers or "text" or some such. I have no idea what they will do if the power fails, or someone sets of a neutron bomb that takes out all the cell towers and crashes the power grid. I suppose it will inspire a whole new set of cave paintings. And I refuse to even consider how they will sign their names to any legal documents...I suppose there wont be any need for them, as no one will be held to whatever "thought" was a binding agreement.
Young people coming out of school at any level today already can't add or subtract without a calculator or some sort. If a scanner breakes in a store, the clerks cannot tell you what to pay if you are buying more than two items...and if the scanner malfunctions, have no concept from the illogic of the inaccurate total that it is, in fact, inaccurate. No wonder people find it hard to get jobs...they think their piece of paper means something while they are functionally both illiterate and untrainable except for the most mundane of tasks. Yet they insist on benefits, pay, and treatment as "entitled."
So of course the SAT scores are down. Why bother to work to learn all those things that get you higher scores; they don't matter. These poor disillusioned souls have been led, trained and indoctrinated to expect that achievement not only doesn't matter...it isn't even to be considered.
The Government, the Educational (so-called) community, and all forms of authority have determined that thou shall not say "no" to anyone...even parents are prevented from requiring and enforcing their own children's upbringing.
No wonder the United States is populated in this century by narcissists. It is how they have been raised.
Today I read that the SAT scores hit a new low this past year. And the first comment by the testers was that no one should worry because it was due to more "students" (whatever that means these days) were taking the test than ever before and to the increased "diversity" of the pool taking the test. Huh? Right...and it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summertime.
Our Government is to blame for this idiocy. The entire Federal Government, including Congress, every President, and the Supreme Court. Because it all goes back to an unwillingness (or inability) to accurately evaluate and then design a way to correct the results of racial prejudice.
Rather than recognize that the in-equality of the past needed to be corrected substantively, the Government forces determined instead to institute the appearance of equality, rather than make it a fact.
For the most part, life has consequences...at least it used to. It was results that counted, not excuses. If you failed a test, you flunked. If you did that enough, you got "left back a grade" and some actually left school at the earliest permissible age because they just didn't want to study...or couldn't. Schools were for learning. So were Colleges and Universities. Your performance got you entrance and progress and a degree. The degree meant something...it vouched for your achievement.
But, instead of focusing on the opportunity for all to learn and thus achieve according to that achievement, the Government dictated that minorities were now to be granted entrance, and degrees because of their minority status rather than their competitive achievement. The decision was to make the world look as if all was well and, in fact, guarantee that minorities would have the appearance of success whether it was earned...or not.
This has had enormous consequences to our nation...well, actually, no longer a nation but a country. Because the damage is multifaceted. First, minorities have not been helped by the program. Everyone, including the minorities, knows that the "achievements" are bogus...or at the very least, are suspect...regardless of the piece of paper. The same goes for hiring, due to Federal requirements that once again throw out achievement in favor of appearances. If people want all to strive for knowledge and achievement, you must make the opportunity equal...but you must require the equal achievement of learning and ability on an equal basis as well. To act as the Government has done is to subtly (well, maybe not so much) suggest that minorities actually cannot compete...at least not on an equal basis. How totally insulting, demeaning...and stupid.
But that is only the start of the damage. All who have grown up in this atmosphere of selective granting of artificial status see that it ISN'T achievement that is rewarded...and hard work and study is not the key to a better life. They have watched as consequences of non-performance or under-performance have been either eliminated or lowered. So...they demand the same. And, in the prevailing sense of "equality" they have been granted the same "pass" to avoid being left back in school, or denied admission to college, or denied their diploma just because they didn't do the work.
Students today will, it appears, not have to learn how to write cursive because, I am told, they all use computers or "text" or some such. I have no idea what they will do if the power fails, or someone sets of a neutron bomb that takes out all the cell towers and crashes the power grid. I suppose it will inspire a whole new set of cave paintings. And I refuse to even consider how they will sign their names to any legal documents...I suppose there wont be any need for them, as no one will be held to whatever "thought" was a binding agreement.
Young people coming out of school at any level today already can't add or subtract without a calculator or some sort. If a scanner breakes in a store, the clerks cannot tell you what to pay if you are buying more than two items...and if the scanner malfunctions, have no concept from the illogic of the inaccurate total that it is, in fact, inaccurate. No wonder people find it hard to get jobs...they think their piece of paper means something while they are functionally both illiterate and untrainable except for the most mundane of tasks. Yet they insist on benefits, pay, and treatment as "entitled."
So of course the SAT scores are down. Why bother to work to learn all those things that get you higher scores; they don't matter. These poor disillusioned souls have been led, trained and indoctrinated to expect that achievement not only doesn't matter...it isn't even to be considered.
The Government, the Educational (so-called) community, and all forms of authority have determined that thou shall not say "no" to anyone...even parents are prevented from requiring and enforcing their own children's upbringing.
No wonder the United States is populated in this century by narcissists. It is how they have been raised.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Still another comment on America's Educational system...
While I have known plenty of teachers in my life who were dedicated to their students and their futures, the majority of teachers chose that line of work because when in college the idea of a 9 or 10 month work year with summers off plus a guaranteed job after 3 years (tenure) seemed like a safe and desirable alternative to working for a full year with two weeks off and the prospect of having to prove yourself every day or get fired.
All of these people found that it was harder than it appeared: you had to use your summers to get advanced training and degrees; the hours were often 12 in length because of the need to grade papers and prepare lesson plans. It didn't turn out to be the utopia that it seemed in the callow days of their youth. And many did not have that drive to be educators...but now they were locked into the job. But...how to improve pay? Unionize. To a professional, that was the wrong way to go; better to start a professional society and mandate performance that would lead to competition for better pay. But remember that most teachers were disillusioned with no concept of "professionalism"; they just wanted more money to pay for the unexpected working conditions. Logical, really. But this failure to see teaching as a profession has led our educational system into the morass which exists today.
Get rid of tenure and cut the power of unions and demand that there be some evaluation of dedication to TEACHING for someone to get into and REMAIN in the PROFESSION.
All of these people found that it was harder than it appeared: you had to use your summers to get advanced training and degrees; the hours were often 12 in length because of the need to grade papers and prepare lesson plans. It didn't turn out to be the utopia that it seemed in the callow days of their youth. And many did not have that drive to be educators...but now they were locked into the job. But...how to improve pay? Unionize. To a professional, that was the wrong way to go; better to start a professional society and mandate performance that would lead to competition for better pay. But remember that most teachers were disillusioned with no concept of "professionalism"; they just wanted more money to pay for the unexpected working conditions. Logical, really. But this failure to see teaching as a profession has led our educational system into the morass which exists today.
Get rid of tenure and cut the power of unions and demand that there be some evaluation of dedication to TEACHING for someone to get into and REMAIN in the PROFESSION.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Sometimes Renovation doesn't work, You have to demolish and rebuild.
There is more talk these days of allowing Universal choice for parents to take their tax money to the schools that they feel will best educate their children, particularly in light of the ongoing failure of most public school students to perform as well as students in other countries.
Nonsense. The concept of Universal choice is like choosing a way to make the Edsel into a good car...an inefficient way to try to accomplish the impossible. In this case, the Edsel is the Federal Department of Education...and it's partners, the Teachers' Unions. There is lack of local community accountability and control. Local School Boards are rubber stamps for Federal Mandates and Teachers' Unions.
For almost a century, communities have seen the power to control and hold their school personnel accountable for successfully teaching their children taken away and put in the hands of the monolithic Federal Government and National Teachers' Unions. And these organizations aren't about education, they are about power...and protecting that power.
Do you want good schools? Want your kids and grandchildren to be able to read? If a child can read, they can be their own assistant teacher...they can read their texts and remind themselves of just what the teacher had explained to them earlier that day...or even last week...it gives them second and third chances to both learn and review, which make them better taught. Without reading, they have only that one shot to learn...that one period when the teacher is actively explaining and teaching the complexities of whatever element is in the lesson plan for that day. Extra help after school? Sure, but how many kids voluntarily admit that they didn't get it the first time by going for extra help? Only those that are going to succeed in spite of the situation anyway...the one's that we should value more but not worry over.
Want you kids to be able to make change without the help of a machine? Able to create and understand a budget and use it in their lives? Most importantly, do you want your children to be taught HOW to think, rather than WHAT to think? Yeah...me too. But...the ONLY way you are going to get that is if you take your schools back; demand the power to continually evaluate your teachers and explain and demand the results you want.
Are there good teachers in our schools? Of course. And they should be be given both the opportunity and the obligation to shine at their craft...and rewarded for it. And those who are there for the Union benefits should likewise be made to find a line of work more befitting their skills, whatever they may be.
That means abolishing the Federal Department of Education. And if that proves impossible, it should be emasculated and reduced to census type operation providing statistical support absent any funding or enforcement powers...sort of a country-wide report card, but without the power to interpret or enforce its findings and opinion.
I can hear a cry now, "Isn't that a bit extreme?"
Was it your community that decided to stop using phonics to teach children to read, moving to the unworkable concept called "whole word" recognition and insisting on continuing to claim that its use was teaching students to read adequately...even to this day? No? Mine neither. Who made that decision and who endorsed its implementation and continued use even in the light of proof that it was not working? Your community? Nope...it was the Department of Education supported by the Teachers' Unions.
If the government, supposedly acting on our behalf, could take control of GM and, in order to prevent it's failing, throw out Union Contracts and Pension Plans, legally defraud bond holders...all in the interest of "too big to fail," how much more justified is it for our communities to take back control of our schools under the aegis of "Too Important to Fail." Seriously.
Like Home Improvement, sometimes you cannot renovate...you have to demolish and rebuild. This is one of those times.
Nonsense. The concept of Universal choice is like choosing a way to make the Edsel into a good car...an inefficient way to try to accomplish the impossible. In this case, the Edsel is the Federal Department of Education...and it's partners, the Teachers' Unions. There is lack of local community accountability and control. Local School Boards are rubber stamps for Federal Mandates and Teachers' Unions.
For almost a century, communities have seen the power to control and hold their school personnel accountable for successfully teaching their children taken away and put in the hands of the monolithic Federal Government and National Teachers' Unions. And these organizations aren't about education, they are about power...and protecting that power.
Do you want good schools? Want your kids and grandchildren to be able to read? If a child can read, they can be their own assistant teacher...they can read their texts and remind themselves of just what the teacher had explained to them earlier that day...or even last week...it gives them second and third chances to both learn and review, which make them better taught. Without reading, they have only that one shot to learn...that one period when the teacher is actively explaining and teaching the complexities of whatever element is in the lesson plan for that day. Extra help after school? Sure, but how many kids voluntarily admit that they didn't get it the first time by going for extra help? Only those that are going to succeed in spite of the situation anyway...the one's that we should value more but not worry over.
Want you kids to be able to make change without the help of a machine? Able to create and understand a budget and use it in their lives? Most importantly, do you want your children to be taught HOW to think, rather than WHAT to think? Yeah...me too. But...the ONLY way you are going to get that is if you take your schools back; demand the power to continually evaluate your teachers and explain and demand the results you want.
Are there good teachers in our schools? Of course. And they should be be given both the opportunity and the obligation to shine at their craft...and rewarded for it. And those who are there for the Union benefits should likewise be made to find a line of work more befitting their skills, whatever they may be.
That means abolishing the Federal Department of Education. And if that proves impossible, it should be emasculated and reduced to census type operation providing statistical support absent any funding or enforcement powers...sort of a country-wide report card, but without the power to interpret or enforce its findings and opinion.
I can hear a cry now, "Isn't that a bit extreme?"
Was it your community that decided to stop using phonics to teach children to read, moving to the unworkable concept called "whole word" recognition and insisting on continuing to claim that its use was teaching students to read adequately...even to this day? No? Mine neither. Who made that decision and who endorsed its implementation and continued use even in the light of proof that it was not working? Your community? Nope...it was the Department of Education supported by the Teachers' Unions.
If the government, supposedly acting on our behalf, could take control of GM and, in order to prevent it's failing, throw out Union Contracts and Pension Plans, legally defraud bond holders...all in the interest of "too big to fail," how much more justified is it for our communities to take back control of our schools under the aegis of "Too Important to Fail." Seriously.
Like Home Improvement, sometimes you cannot renovate...you have to demolish and rebuild. This is one of those times.
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