Wednesday 25 September 2013

PRAISE FOR FAILURE

When I was young and innocent- not so many years ago it seems- I thought if you failed at something you would lose your job or people would shun your program or you would be required to do a redo or SOMETHING. It certainly never occurred to me that failure would bring PRAISE upon you, or that you would PRAISE YOURSELF AND PAT YOURSELF ON THE BACK, or that you would get to double down on what you were doing even while admitting you were a failure !

Back in the days of my innocence and naivete, when the federal government grabbed control of the schools under the guise of "school reform" and called their program "Goals 2000", I was very distraught, but I thought, well, this can't succeed, and twenty years from now I will be proved right and all of this will go away because it will FAIL. Wrong again my dear. I sat, almost gaping in astonishment, through an education interim committee on Common Core as the SAME EXACT PEOPLE who had advocated for Goals 2000, praised themselves over and over in their testimony (27 years in the field of education, teacher of the year- yada yada yada- you get the idea), advocated for Common Core BECAUSE OUR STUDENTS ARE AT A SIXTY PERCENT REMEDIATION RATE WHEN THEY REACH COLLEGE!! That's right, because of their failed programs our Montana schools are now sending students to college who NEED TO BE REMEDIATED at a SIXTY PERCENT RATE!!

Do these people get chastised for bringing our Montana schools to this disastrous state? Why no, they are praised as experts and given the floor to advocate for another top down program with the same goals!!

I knew dancing through math (this is a real program-not made up) and gardening and whiling away our days with artists in residency would bring us to this disastrous state, BUT I NEVER DREAMED THEY WOULD JUST KEEP ON DOING IT!! The only thing that has saved our schools even a little bit is the dreaded NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT. At least the schools have to do SOME actual teaching and be accountable on tests. BUT WAIT A MINUTE- THE NEW COMMON CORE TESTS WILL LET KIDS WORK IN GROUPS TO PASS TESTS, AND HAVE FORTY PERCENT OPEN ENDED QUESTIONS. Good bye to accountability, and much more tragically, David Coleman ( the Common Core "architect") has gotten himself appointed president of the SAT board with the express purpose of changing college entrance exams to the Common Core way of doing things.

I don't know what the end of this tragedy will be. Kids are sucking on water bottles in class and eating snacks all day, twenty-five percent of them are not graduating, schools are being turned into mental health centers, day care centers and restaurants, as mentioned above colleges are having to remediate the kids that do graduate. How can the federal government expect success when they are doing the same things that continue to cause failure? I knew when they moved the home for unwed mothers next to the high school so all the pregnant girls could go to high school that we were on a real down hill slide- but how can these people PRAISE THEMSELVES AND KEEP RIGHT ON GOING DOWN THE SAME PATH? When will the American public stand up and take back our schools? REMEMBER THE TENTH AMENDMENT TO OUR CONSTITUTION? SCHOOLS ARE A STATES RIGHT!!!


Friday 20 September 2013

EDUCATION ROBOTS

I read a lot of material on Common Core and inevitably the writer will feel compelled to report the comments of some education experts such as the state superintendent of public instruction or the school superintendent of public instruction.THEY ALWAYS SAY THE SAME THINGS!! When you go to the doctor or to a lawyer or a contractor or an accountant or any other number of experts you expect expert advice. You go to these people because they are EXPERTS and should know more about the subject than you do. If you get legal advice or medical advice the expert giving you this advice will explain exactly what the problem is and if there is a solution. Do you think these education experts have even read the volumes of Common Core Standards? I highly doubt that most of them have read any of it.Why do they always come out for it and why are they all saying the same things?

It's very sad to say but I would venture to guess that if the Federal Government came up with a new ethos that all children will get the best education by rolling around on the floor, and put out propaganda statements for superintendents to use to back this up- the superintendents would use these statements stridently and vociferously in the press and at every opportunity. They are ROBOTS who do what they are told to do. Let's look at a few of their statements and see if these EDUCATION ROBOTS have any idea what they are talking about.

One of their favorite propaganda statements is that Common Core will be more "rigorous". Many states, including Massachusetts, have researched and found that in fact the Common Core standards do not compare favorably to the state standards they have now. What if you asked these EDUCATION ROBOTS to explain where in the Common Core document there is more rigor? They wouldn't know because they haven't read it and they don't really care- they see their future and their paycheck as being dependent on GOING ALONG- SAYING WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO!! So they would come up with this statement "Common Core is teaching higher level thinking skills". If you probed much further ( which you inevitably would be stopped from doing) and asked what the higher level thinking skills were and how they are being taught and how young children with NO INFORMATION could do higher level thinking in any case, they would not have an answer. We might expect our "free press" to ask these questions- to hold the education officials accountable- but one would die of lack of oxygen holding your breath waiting for that to happen. One young teacher thought taking children to a holocaust museum after they read a book about bullying was teaching higher level thinking skills! WHAT? I'm sure the holocaust museum must be very prescient but it is there with a point of view- they aren't there to have children question whether abusing others is a good idea- they are there to teach the consequences. They are there to teach one point of view only. Guiding children morally is a good idea, I advocate for it on this blog, but it is not higher level thinking skills, it is adult GUIDANCE.The EDUCATION ROBOTS that are advocating for Common Core don't even know the definition of what they are supposedly talking about.

In Montana ,where I live, we have a state superintendent who is Native American. She thinks putting Indian Education in every subject proves that Montana is independent!! So we teach math and reading with the materials Common Core tells us to use and we teach in the project learning style and open ended questions and tests and all the other dictates from Common Core, but we are independent because we throw in a little Indian Education? Seriously??

The EDUCATION ROBOTS should be ashamed of themselves. They aren't experts at all. They have no integrity and no backbone. They don't use HIGHER LEVEL THINKING SKILLS themselves in their own profession, they just do what they are told.Shame on all of them. Our children will have a chance at GOOD EDUCATION when we have EXPERTS that are really experts- people who will research and think for themselves instead of FOLLOWING AND SAYING WHAT THEY ARE TOLD TO SAY!! The American public that pays 67% of their property taxes and the lions share of their state income taxes for public schools deserves better representation from the "education experts" that they are paying for.

Friday 13 September 2013

THE PROPAGANDA CULTURE

The world is full of communication these days- webs, blogs, 24 hour news, media,media, media. The question is, has our society advanced enough to think for themselves? One mother was questioned the other day about teaching sex education to Kindergartners and she gave the response she was PROPAGANDIZED to give " Well, in the world today children need protection". Does she really believe that teachers or school nurses teaching her five year old about the proper names "penis" and "vagina" are going to protect him/her from an over sexualized culture? Does she think sexualizing her child too young will make him/her LESS susceptible to a society that has lost control of its moral boundaries? Why would she think that? If you tried to get her to explain this she wouldn't be able to- she would probably get mad and go to the old "you're a right wing extremist" tact of one kind or another.

The truth about this "global" sex education that is in Common Core (Health Enhancement), is that it was written by SEICUS ( Sex Information Council of the United States) that was founded by Alfred Kinsey the renowned sex pervert that thought pedophilia and rape weren't so bad. He had sex tapes of little children being sexually abused that he used as his "research". Does this mother know this? I doubt it. She knows what the PROPAGANDA media is spewing out and that is all. Maybe she should start to think about what she is saying instead of accepting the media PROPAGANDA.

Every new program that the left comes out with is vetted by Public Relations experts so that the right slogans and words are used to ADVERTISE and PROPAGANDIZE.Common Core has not been tested or vetted or researched to find out if it will be effective- but you can bet the PROPAGANDA ARTISTS were brought in right away to MAKE THE SELL.Certain people on the left just look for the PROPAGANDA and spew it out.These are the same people who know what you should eat and how you should live and raise your children- they're sure there is global warming though they haven't seen the results of that for 20 years and the latest reports are that the Glaciers are INCREASING in size.They feel secure and smart in their world where they just listen and go along.Unfortunately these people CAN VOTE!!

Common Core immediately came out with the slogans about the 21st century, rigor, and "college and career" ready. They didn't mention vocational skills but used "college" because it polled so much better- they found every parent wants to think their child will go to college.The PUBLIC RELATIONS EXPERTS ARE USING THE AMERICAN PUBLIC AS SUCKERS!! Yes, students are coming to college unprepared, but what would make anyone think that Common Core is what is needed?!! In seat time LEARNING instead of all the experiments would be a good start in really teaching and getting results.Why would anyone think knowing WHY math works is more important than being able to do it- especially when you're eight years old?

The left is out of ideas and keeps repackaging the old ones that have never worked with new PROPAGANDA messages.Alfred Kinsey's influence has been around since the 50's- the same old open sexuality stuff that has RUINED THIS SOCIETY AND LED TO DEPRESSION IN OUR YOUTH AND CHILDREN BEING RAISED IN SINGLE PARENT HOUSEHOLDS.The Montessori open classroom junk- teach a little of this and a little of that because it's more creative and the kids like it- has been around since the 60's and gives our colleges the illiterate students they have today. Group project learning a.k.a. cooperative learning has been around pathetically without success for the same number of years.This is Common Core folks- replete with the higher level thinking skills and critical thinking- not new at all.They haven't reached their goal of critical thinking for five year olds in fifty years- do they think five or eight year olds are suddenly more cognitively prescient? Give the kids a pretest and then send them to fish or garden or play with computers or community service or cook or art or whatever- that's the new norm that is producing illiterate students.

And by the way, as in every communist agenda, EVERYONE WILL BE THE SAME!!SERIOUSLY? What about English as a second language kids or Special Education students? If America is to regain its' footing the people will have to become media savvy in a big way- they will have to recognize all the hype and PROPAGANDA for what it is and just require real answers to real questions.And by the way- flu shots don't really work either- drug companies are making lots of money but studies have shown that for older people only SEVEN PERCENT were actually helped by a flu shot.The advertisements go on incessantly none the less. Cut the hype America and get back to your principles.YES, America Is exceptional in every way. We are exceptional because our system of government from our CONSTITUTION and our FREE MARKET ECONOMY actually DO work. Every tin horn dictator (including ours) just hates that freedom and free markets work superiorly to their top down dreams.They need PROPAGANDA to convince you to listen to THEM.Just"DON'T LET THEM".

Wednesday 4 September 2013

VISIONS

I gave a speech about Common Core at our Republican central committee the other night and though I was well received by the majority there- the president kept popping up at my side as if I needed to wrap it up and there was one member who challenged me that "they need to hear the other side"- that what I told them was "my opinion". This lady had been on the Gates Foundation "Excellence in Education" sight that was organized to propagandize for Common Core. I told her exactly what the other side would say "21st century thinking skills and college and career ready ad nauseam" - with absolutely no research or proof to back up any of their outlandish claims. So be it- but why in the world would REPUBLICANS try to help the radical left in their power struggle to diminish and change America into their socialist world government control? Why would they work for UNESCO ( United Nations Education and Security Council that is behind the global education that Bill Gates signed on to)?


Randi Weingartner president of the national teachers union has asked Arnie Duncan our vaunted Federal Education Secretary to give her dispensation from having teachers evaluated on the Common Core Tests. My, My, I thought Common Core was a states initiative, how could it be that the head of the NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION must give Randi a dispensation? These people are lying like crazy and playing the right for fools- and they get some people on the right to go along with it!! I told this particular virulent woman ( from the central committee) at one point, that there were some of us who would not like to have our schools dictated to from a central authority- this shut her up for a moment.This whole Common Core thing is dangerous and preposterous (could be the END OF PUBLIC EDUCATION AS RANDI WEINGARTNER STATED) but some of our own allies on the right in this struggle for the hearts and minds of our children- will go along with the ridiculous propaganda.

How do you win a war when your own soldiers don't get it? Common Core teaches consensus rather than the individual- children are taught to go along with group decisions rather than their own.I would like to point out to the UNESCO people(most of whom are not Americans anyway) that group think brings about totalitarianism-not peace. Russia has had group think for centuries and look where it has gotten THEM.Great individuals bring about great countries like the United States.Under Common Core our children are taught to dispassionately tear apart their country and its' heroes and documents like THE CONSTITUTION.They are not taught in depth history and are taught to "critical" think and give "their opinions" way before they have any capacity to do these things. Clearly this is propaganda.Clearly this is an attempt to tear down loyalties to family and country- do the UNESCO people want this loyalty channeled somewhere else- who will fill the void? Who will direct the group think? Maybe the elitist UNESCO members will decide what the charges they are educating will think.

If this country is to be saved the right has to KNOW where all this (Common Core) is coming from and where it is headed. They need to confront the creators head on and STOP THEM DEAD IN THEIR TRACKS.This can and will be done- for one thing the program (like Obama Care) will not work. The left has grabbed their two golden rings- national health care and national curriculum- but they have no scaffolding in place- America, even the liberals, don't really believe in socialism- just try to get their private property or ask them how they feel about higher taxes!! The left is out of ideas, out of time , and OUT OF MONEY. They will implode on their own- but the right needs to understand their VISION of a free America and STOP helping the leftist propaganda machine!!