I really feel sorry for our legislators here in Montana- really. They come in for ninety days (only ninety days thank goodness!!) and they have to be experts on everything from finance to oil drilling and water quality to education. Education, which takes the lions share of our budgets and prepares our children to be the citizens that will run this country, is always a sleeper issue. Most people don't know what goes on in school so they are easily manipulated.
So who's competent to run our schools? Who's competent to run our cities? Who's competent to protect our environment? Who's competent to handle poverty? Who's competent to handle police and fire and disaster relief? Ask the experts- that's who testifies at the legislature for the most part. Their answer will always be the Federal Government- that's where those grants come from.But is the Federal Government really that much smarter than all of us? Do we really need the Federal Government to run our cities and schools, take care of our poor and rescue us in a disaster? Really? There was a day, not so long ago, when we handled our problems locally- hired our own teachers and police and firemen- even had county hospitals for the poor and county welfare programs too. This blog is about schools so I'll just address the train wreck of allowing Federal "experts" to run our schools.
The Common Core folks are pulling off an amazing propaganda feat. Working with legislators that don't know- they are telling them that they need "21st century skills taught for the new work world". It just so happens that those 21st century skills are the world peace ideas of the hippies- the same free school ideas they've been pushing since the 70's- open classrooms- collaboration- project learning- open ended questions. You have to ask - WHAT MAKES THESE SKILLS THE ONES THAT WILL PREPARE WORKERS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY?? These are skills that will definitely teach children to "question authority"- but will they teach children focus, responsibility,and discipline that are at the core of the work ethic? Will they teach the best of western civilization and all that has been created in literature and scientific thought?
Common Core,according to its own writers, IS TAKING INFORMATION OUT OF OUR CURRICULUMS.The Common Core folks disdain those fill in the bubble tests where you demonstrate that you actually have knowledge. They will determine what knowledge is when they grade those subjective group project answers. WOW. You will qualify for college and demonstrate your achievement levels in groups now if they get their way!
So there it is- Common Core advocates have convinced a fair number of unawares legislators that their world peace open classroom teaching is what the workers of tomorrow must have.The students of yesteryear are busy making new aps by the day- running the internet and developing things like google and Facebook. They are the lawyers and doctors and researchers that are discovering cures and new drugs and technology and prosthetic devices of all kinds. They didn't need the open classroom to become competent- they didn't need the federal government at all- maybe student loans helped but they could have gotten those at the bank in most cases.
Who's competent? WE ARE COMPETENT!!! WE DON'T NEED THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO RUN OUR SCHOOLS!! I HOPE OUR LEGISLATORS, THOUGH THEY ARE VERY BUSY IN THESE NINETY DAYS, WILL SIT DOWN AND THINK FOR A MINUTE WHAT A SCAM THESE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RADICALS ARE RUNNING. I HOPE THEY WILL LEARN TO TRUST THEIR LOCAL EXPERTS AND TEACHERS AGAIN- THAT'S WHO'S COMPETENT!!!
Sunday, 24 February 2013
Monday, 18 February 2013
NOT ONE BROKEN WINDOW
When New York City with all its liberals had finally had enough- they couldn't even walk in the streets anymore, panhandlers were everywhere-and filth and garbage and graffiti and crime- they had a police chief that decided they would not tolerate ONE BROKEN WINDOW. He realized that one broken window leads to others, and broken windows give a message about tolerance for destruction and crime. Our schools and our society need to go back, to go back to NOT ONE BROKEN WINDOW.
When I talk to teachers who are retiring this year, very sadly for me, they are not saying the usual"I love my kids it's just that darn administration"- they are saying IT IS THE KIDS!! The school board just says "kids have changed so we need to take EVERY federal grant and EVERY new social emotional program". Yes, kids have changed, but lets face it- they didn't come out of the womb that way!! It's not as if social emotional problems happen in the womb!!
When the Federal Government took over the schools in the 90's (The bureaucrats are finally ADMITTING it was Federal take over as they make excuses for Common Core "The Federal Government ALREADY HAS CONTROL SO IT'S NOTHING NEW!!), I was really upset about it because I knew what would happen. I said to myself well, I (and many others) couldn't stop this train wreck, but in twenty years we will know who was right about these federal programs. It's been twenty years and now teachers are retiring BECAUSE of the children.Even the school board liberal whackos admit- the children have changed- of course they can't see the correlation with what they've done and the discipline problems they have- I guess it's all the parents fault!!
I've spoken on this blog before about my time at the poorest school in our district, Bryant. I loved that school. For most of my time there we all- children,parents and teachers alike- respected each other. I taught kids self discipline and fortitude and focus- I taught them the skills they needed to climb the ladder of success- and the parents appreciated that. One of my parents from those days recently told me I "Changed her child's life- he learned to get organized and work hard and care about school". Today he's a successful nurse anesthetist and he passed out of his program with a four point!! I'm not a genius and I didn't have to use any fancy federal program. As teachers from forever- I just taught the good old American values- worked hard and loved my kids. It works. No matter what the snarky liberals think, it's really not that complicated and they and their beloved federal government really do not have all the answers. Not only don't they have all the answers, what they have done to our society and to our schools has not improved things- it has made things oh so much worse- teachers are now retiring BECAUSE of the children!! When the Federal Government brought in their "broken windows" to our school, discipline broke down and kids began to change over night. Children look to adults for leadership- if they are a victim they act like a victim - if they are an American rugged individual upon whom responsibility is inherent- they take their responsibility.When the water bottles and snacks came in the discipline went out. When the free lunch and free snacks and free coats and free school supplies and programs that interrupted the academic day took precedence- children's attitudes toward the value of their education and their responsibility within that discipline changed.
Liberals have been making fun of our successful American culture for a long time. I remember in Berkley how they would make fun of shows like Leave It To Beaver and The Donna Reed Show "because they were not realistic". Kids going home from school and seeing shows that gave them an ideal to strive for and showed them the best of what a healthy family would be like- modeled good behavior and good values for them- was "bad". I guess going home and watching MTV or playing kindergarten assassin on your computer is better. Modesty was out and now soft porn is in at the drugstore as basically naked women with huge breast implants frequent the covers of magazines and sell their sex to children and everyone else who comes into the store. Gee- I wonder why children have changed?"Free love" was in with the hippies- modesty and waiting for marriage was "so stifling", so "not sexually liberating". The hippies brought in the drug culture too- what's wrong with a little LSD it's all"cool man". And everything is relative- "Just because you have an intact family and your parents don't do drugs doesn't make your family any better!"
I'm just going to say this to the conservatives- quit being afraid of these whackos. NOT ONE BROKEN WINDOW!! Children will change when society changes! No porn at the grocery store- put it behind the counter if you have to have it and that definitely includes Cosmopolitan Magazine with the big breast girls on the cover. No half time shows at the Super Bowl where the actors have to use sex to attract because they have no talent. In school you cover up- no low tops- and boys can wait until college to grow their beards. No pregnant girls running around school- if you have to live your life that way I guess you'll just have to do Digital Academy or have a teacher come to your house. No graffiti anywhere- especially in the parking lot where the kids here in Helena are now allowed to paint their parking standards with graffiti- the graffiti came and then the garbage. No more relativity- there is good and bad and right and wrong-period. Things will change when the American population finally demands it - NOT ONE BROKEN WINDOW!!
When I talk to teachers who are retiring this year, very sadly for me, they are not saying the usual"I love my kids it's just that darn administration"- they are saying IT IS THE KIDS!! The school board just says "kids have changed so we need to take EVERY federal grant and EVERY new social emotional program". Yes, kids have changed, but lets face it- they didn't come out of the womb that way!! It's not as if social emotional problems happen in the womb!!
When the Federal Government took over the schools in the 90's (The bureaucrats are finally ADMITTING it was Federal take over as they make excuses for Common Core "The Federal Government ALREADY HAS CONTROL SO IT'S NOTHING NEW!!), I was really upset about it because I knew what would happen. I said to myself well, I (and many others) couldn't stop this train wreck, but in twenty years we will know who was right about these federal programs. It's been twenty years and now teachers are retiring BECAUSE of the children.Even the school board liberal whackos admit- the children have changed- of course they can't see the correlation with what they've done and the discipline problems they have- I guess it's all the parents fault!!
I've spoken on this blog before about my time at the poorest school in our district, Bryant. I loved that school. For most of my time there we all- children,parents and teachers alike- respected each other. I taught kids self discipline and fortitude and focus- I taught them the skills they needed to climb the ladder of success- and the parents appreciated that. One of my parents from those days recently told me I "Changed her child's life- he learned to get organized and work hard and care about school". Today he's a successful nurse anesthetist and he passed out of his program with a four point!! I'm not a genius and I didn't have to use any fancy federal program. As teachers from forever- I just taught the good old American values- worked hard and loved my kids. It works. No matter what the snarky liberals think, it's really not that complicated and they and their beloved federal government really do not have all the answers. Not only don't they have all the answers, what they have done to our society and to our schools has not improved things- it has made things oh so much worse- teachers are now retiring BECAUSE of the children!! When the Federal Government brought in their "broken windows" to our school, discipline broke down and kids began to change over night. Children look to adults for leadership- if they are a victim they act like a victim - if they are an American rugged individual upon whom responsibility is inherent- they take their responsibility.When the water bottles and snacks came in the discipline went out. When the free lunch and free snacks and free coats and free school supplies and programs that interrupted the academic day took precedence- children's attitudes toward the value of their education and their responsibility within that discipline changed.
Liberals have been making fun of our successful American culture for a long time. I remember in Berkley how they would make fun of shows like Leave It To Beaver and The Donna Reed Show "because they were not realistic". Kids going home from school and seeing shows that gave them an ideal to strive for and showed them the best of what a healthy family would be like- modeled good behavior and good values for them- was "bad". I guess going home and watching MTV or playing kindergarten assassin on your computer is better. Modesty was out and now soft porn is in at the drugstore as basically naked women with huge breast implants frequent the covers of magazines and sell their sex to children and everyone else who comes into the store. Gee- I wonder why children have changed?"Free love" was in with the hippies- modesty and waiting for marriage was "so stifling", so "not sexually liberating". The hippies brought in the drug culture too- what's wrong with a little LSD it's all"cool man". And everything is relative- "Just because you have an intact family and your parents don't do drugs doesn't make your family any better!"
I'm just going to say this to the conservatives- quit being afraid of these whackos. NOT ONE BROKEN WINDOW!! Children will change when society changes! No porn at the grocery store- put it behind the counter if you have to have it and that definitely includes Cosmopolitan Magazine with the big breast girls on the cover. No half time shows at the Super Bowl where the actors have to use sex to attract because they have no talent. In school you cover up- no low tops- and boys can wait until college to grow their beards. No pregnant girls running around school- if you have to live your life that way I guess you'll just have to do Digital Academy or have a teacher come to your house. No graffiti anywhere- especially in the parking lot where the kids here in Helena are now allowed to paint their parking standards with graffiti- the graffiti came and then the garbage. No more relativity- there is good and bad and right and wrong-period. Things will change when the American population finally demands it - NOT ONE BROKEN WINDOW!!
Monday, 11 February 2013
SCHOOLS- A PLAYGROUND FOR GROWNUPS
Centralized governments don't work because they always get down to fighting for power and self interests- they always get dictatorial and corrupt. Our founders tried to protect states rights in our constitution for this reason. In the 10th amendment they left all powers not SPECIFICALLY DESIGNATED, to the states. They did not mention education for a very important reason- the states have that power- not the Federal Government.We should have realized in the 70's when the hippies started saying our schools were in crisis- that they wanted control of them. We should have realized when they wanted the FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION that this was because they wanted FEDERAL CONTROL of our schools. We should have listened to our founders but we didn't- and look where we are now- the playground for grown-ups.
As the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT has gotten control of our schools the percentage of the school budgets that have gone to salaries has increased dramatically (property taxes have increased dramatically as a consequence of this school spending).In Helena NINETY-TWO PERCENT of our elementary budgets goes to salaries and EIGHTY-EIGHT PERCENT of our high school budgets go to salary. Schools are labor intensive and have always had large salary costs- but not NINETY TWO PERCENT!!Helena is now planning to add MORE SALARIES. Yes, a FEDERAL program called Success will add ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY THOUSAND DOLLARS of NEW SALARY COSTS to our high school budgets- these Success Counselors (drug counselors) are now on a grant- but that grant is going away.That's how they work it - grants that go away and leave the local schools holding the costs ( as well as the school budgets having to afford matching money up front.) No one wants to LOSE THEIR JOB!! So- on it goes- the schools are the playground for grown-ups- everyone fighting over that MONEY!! We have many hard working and dedicated people working in our schools- but the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT- has made school budgets a grab fest for non-profits, special agendas, and programs of every sort. When I was teaching- and that was seven years ago now- it was beginning to feel like classroom teaching was a side light and the teachers were working for the non-profits!
We all know that unions get THEIR MONEY from salaries- not from benefits or a good working environment. So what do the unions WANT? THEY WANT MORE SALARIES- MORE WORKERS- AT HIGHER SALARIES.The children get lost in this whole thing- everyone fighting for the MONEY!! When I went to speak to the joint legislative committee on Common Core, I got maybe ten minutes- as an after thought. Silver Back Technology that wants to get into all that Common Core money- got ONE AND ONE HALF HOURS!! I was just the public without a money interest- why didn't I just go away? There's business to do and I was just gumming up the works!! Who cares about the kids anymore?
Teachers are afraid to speak up- sometimes even afraid to speak to me in public.They have to support the program- go along. It's all about the paycheck. That's it period. Don't think, don't question, and don't worry about what's going on- just shut up and you'll be on the right side of things. Our patriotism and sometimes even our morals ( sex education for example) are put aside for job security. The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT has us all over a barrel. Sometimes I go to Home Town Helena at the Montana Club here- one time I spoke there. It was very quiet. These are business leaders- their only goal is to stay on the right side of things and get their share of the MONEY. Who was worried about the children or what was RIGHT for our schools? Our schools have become a playground for grownups who want money and to promote agendas in school (environmental, animal rights, gay rights- and so on). This is what happens with centralized control.GET THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS-and schools will once again become the playground for children instead of adults!!!
As the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT has gotten control of our schools the percentage of the school budgets that have gone to salaries has increased dramatically (property taxes have increased dramatically as a consequence of this school spending).In Helena NINETY-TWO PERCENT of our elementary budgets goes to salaries and EIGHTY-EIGHT PERCENT of our high school budgets go to salary. Schools are labor intensive and have always had large salary costs- but not NINETY TWO PERCENT!!Helena is now planning to add MORE SALARIES. Yes, a FEDERAL program called Success will add ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY THOUSAND DOLLARS of NEW SALARY COSTS to our high school budgets- these Success Counselors (drug counselors) are now on a grant- but that grant is going away.That's how they work it - grants that go away and leave the local schools holding the costs ( as well as the school budgets having to afford matching money up front.) No one wants to LOSE THEIR JOB!! So- on it goes- the schools are the playground for grown-ups- everyone fighting over that MONEY!! We have many hard working and dedicated people working in our schools- but the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT- has made school budgets a grab fest for non-profits, special agendas, and programs of every sort. When I was teaching- and that was seven years ago now- it was beginning to feel like classroom teaching was a side light and the teachers were working for the non-profits!
We all know that unions get THEIR MONEY from salaries- not from benefits or a good working environment. So what do the unions WANT? THEY WANT MORE SALARIES- MORE WORKERS- AT HIGHER SALARIES.The children get lost in this whole thing- everyone fighting for the MONEY!! When I went to speak to the joint legislative committee on Common Core, I got maybe ten minutes- as an after thought. Silver Back Technology that wants to get into all that Common Core money- got ONE AND ONE HALF HOURS!! I was just the public without a money interest- why didn't I just go away? There's business to do and I was just gumming up the works!! Who cares about the kids anymore?
Teachers are afraid to speak up- sometimes even afraid to speak to me in public.They have to support the program- go along. It's all about the paycheck. That's it period. Don't think, don't question, and don't worry about what's going on- just shut up and you'll be on the right side of things. Our patriotism and sometimes even our morals ( sex education for example) are put aside for job security. The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT has us all over a barrel. Sometimes I go to Home Town Helena at the Montana Club here- one time I spoke there. It was very quiet. These are business leaders- their only goal is to stay on the right side of things and get their share of the MONEY. Who was worried about the children or what was RIGHT for our schools? Our schools have become a playground for grownups who want money and to promote agendas in school (environmental, animal rights, gay rights- and so on). This is what happens with centralized control.GET THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS-and schools will once again become the playground for children instead of adults!!!