Why do you think the ACLU has made your town take down all the Christmas decorations? Why can't you have angels and stars and Creche's ? Why does your school have to call the Christmas program the "Winter program"? Why can't we pray in school anymore or sing Silent Night? Why are they against all these things? Why are they afraid of all these things?
The answer is simple if you read Karl Marx's manifesto. If you want to change a society to Socialism you can't just cut off the head (change the economy) you have to change all the scaffolding underneath - you have to change the culture!! That's right - all those things that bring us together as a nation from Christmas Carols to Religion to the English Language must be changed. We now are told not to recognize our country as a Christian English Speaking Nation. We are "Multicultural" and"Bilingual". Women go into combat in the military. Our president won an election on "Changing America". Communism is not so bad- we have now recognized a repressive Communist regime right off our own shores- Cuba.
So, this Christmas hang on to your values and your traditions. From singing Christmas Carols (Even Rudolph) to writing in cursive to going to your church, to expecting immigrants to assimilate and speak English - let America ring out!! WE DO HAVE A CULTURE AND WE SPREAD OUR CULTURE AROUND THE WORLD- FROM BLUE JEANS TO HAMBURGERS TO MUSIC AND MOVIES TO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE- WE ARE NOT ONLY A CULTURE WE ARE THE DOMINANT CULTURE IN THE WORLD. AIRLINE PILOTS AND SCIENTISTS AROUND THE WORLD MUST SPEAK GOOD ENGLISH.
The Marxist's think they can change our culture to Socialism by infiltrating our schools and social engineering our children. They think they can use the media to change you too. Don't fall for the propaganda. Charity begins at home- not with nonprofits that take government grants and pay their CEO's millions of dollars. The biggest scandal in this country is the corruption of the non profits. Charity is charity- it's what you give not what you take. Do your charity to your neighbor and your church and teach your children to do the same. Teach personal responsibility not victim hood . Teach the rugged individual attitudes and practice them yourself. A culture is a very hard thing to change. Our American culture is still very much in tact. On Sunday our churches are full.
They may teach Socialist lies at school but every single person- including the teacher- cling desperately to their house, their car and their paycheck. Capitalism and private property built this amazingly successful nation and it is nothing to be ashamed of at all. We have risen millions out of poverty and Socialism has put millions into poverty. Just think- WHY WOULD THE MOST SUCCESSFUL SYSTEM IN THE WORLD BE UNDER ATTACK? WHY WOULD THE FAILED SYSTEM BE THE ONE WE ARE ASKED TO CHANGE TO? If you know the answer to that one I would like to hear from you, I've never been able to figure it out!! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!
Friday 18 December 2015
Sunday 8 November 2015
COMMON CORE ALIGNED TEXTBOOKS
I did something that I'll bet most of you have not done. I sat down for days and read the new Common Core Aligned Social Studies and Geography texts for 7th grade through 12th. I still have not read the Elementary Texts, but I will. I'm being told they are not new. Seems funny since the excuse for not letting the books out of school, at least to one fifth grader, was that they are "brand new" and the teacher can't let the students take them home. If I was one of those parents I would demand to see those texts. I taught for thirty years and we never had a policy of not releasing textbooks!! Unfortunately, I had a great deal of trouble getting to see these new texts. I asked parents first and the excuses as to why students couldn't bring their texts home were startling- they were all on line- but with the students pass word I still couldn't get in- hmmm. Then the new books story, then one student had no book!! They just did worksheets! My, my, our district paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for a texbook adoption and this student's class isn't even using them!
So finally I went before the school board and asked what their policy was for letting the public see the textbooks. I was handed off to the curriculum director who told me I could only look at them on Thursday and Friday in the conference room at the district office because they were short on books and the teacher's might need them at any time. Even on the weekend?? Well, I went to the conference room and began reading. I read for two days (and took notes), but alas. there were too many books for me to read in two days. I came back on Monday and carried my stack of books down to the conference room , I felt like a criminal. As I began to read, suddenly there was a soft tap, tap on the door. Who could this be? I said "come in". Lo and behold it was the superintendent!! He said I could borrow the books for a few days. I was overjoyed at not having to come to detention every day!!
The point is, you own these books and have a right to see them. They should be available for you to check out from the school library. Every member of the public, but certainly the parents, should keep tabs on what these books are teaching our future generation. The fact that Pearson publishing has managed to set up a monopoly on textbook publishing should have everyone very concerned. It's interesting to read the introduction " These books are Common Core aligned. Common Core is a set of standards that determines what you SHOULD KNOW AND BE ABLE TO DO!! Hmmm- not a curriculum but only just exactly what you have to know and be able to do in every subject every day at every grade level in every school across the country. This is frightening stuff.
As you can imagine the themes were environmentalism, racism and social justice. Horace Mann, one of the founders of this school interventionism, thought that everything a child learned in school should be taught for the PURPOSE OF SOCIAL ENGINEERING THE CHILDREN!! People like Horace Mann are SO SURE they are right and superior, that they think it is their responsibility to brainwash your children. Right now, you are letting them do this.
Propaganda in these books is sometimes outright but is often just misleading. For example, Margaret Sanger was indeed the founder of Planned Parenthood and Planned Parenthood does indeed provide contraception. But wait a minute, Planned Parenthood also does abortions and sells body parts and Margaret Sanger was a eugenicist who wanted to root out what she thought were undesirable people!!This information is not mentioned. Silent Spring was indeed a book that started the environmental movement, but wait a minute- her theory was debunked and she was discredited - where is that information?!!
The U.S. History book had one chapter on World War II and FOUR CHAPTERS ON RACISM. They broke racism down into special categories of people like Blacks, Native Americans, Latin Americans and Women. Clearly It's more important that we are all racists than that we are a successful, rich and powerful nation that liberated Europe. In fact, the whole book instructed our students that they ate more and used more water and had more money than other countries in the world, and therefore it was implied, they are guilty!! Guilty of what? If I have more money does it mean that someone else will necessarily have less? Does my having money stop them from achieving? People like Andrew Carnegie started out dirt poor. The ingenutity of these people that rose thousands of others out of poverty is just not applauded. They are accused of having sweat shops. They are accused of being responsible for people living in one room flats. Where do they think these people lived before? They were better off in the flats, that's why they wrote the "America" letters home to their families in Europe encouraging them to come to America too! Our children are not made to feel proud, they are made to feel ashamed.
America as Imperialist and Colonialist goes on and on. Yes, we left troops in the Phillipines, in fact, we still have troops in Germany today. That does not mean we have colonialized their government!! Using ports in American Samoa and Puerto Rico does not make us imperialist. We left Nicaragua and the Communists took over- gee that was great. I guess the only country that gets to have a sphere of influence is Russia- works well for them. Puerto Rico can become independent anytime they want- they keep voting it down because they live on benefits from the good old U.S. of A.!! I wish we could just tell them they're independent - leave now- we've supported you long enough!!
I was surprised to learn that Geography is now Science, History, Political Science, Anthropology and Sociology. Then, if you think of Horace Mann's mission, you just can't social engineer students teaching them longitude and latitude and where the countries, mountains, seas, rivers and oceans are can you? No, Geography now teaches that some families have "same sex" parents, and "Many people believe the earth is warming because of fossil fuels" and industries create "acid rain" and developers ruin rainforests " the earth's lungs"(where's the proof for that hyperbolic statement?!!) and on and on.These are young children- they will believe this stuff!! Didn't mention the let it burn policy and all the destruction of habitat and run off that that causes - hmmm- just an oversight I guess.
We used to have a Western Civilization class in high school - now they call it World Cultures - we wouldn't want to give Western Civilization any credit would we? The name of the new book, which used to be Governent taught in 12th grade, is "Power, Politics and You". This book didn't just make me mad- it made me fighting mad- and I don't get fighting mad. They brainstormed all the ways government bureaucracy is good and listed eighteen items!! I don't recall them mentioning our almost 20 trillion dollars in debt. They didn't mention all the corruption and duplication. They praised unions but never mentioned how all the lobbying is about jobs more than it's about good government. Did you know the Peace Corps and Head Start have reduced poverty by fifty percent?!! They have to explain to the children what the word posterity means but they expect them to answer questions in every chapter like ,"Was the Civil War inevitable?", "Was World War II inevitable?", "Should our definition of rights be expanded to include new privileges?" Obviously this is the first time students have seen this material- the writers of the book know what answer they want, and they will walk the students there.
The bandwagon technique is used constantly, referring to the 2nd amendment -"Debate continues over whether this right was meant to apply to individuals or to members of a state militia." Exactly how many people are debating this? Many times they just outright lie, "Our Constitution has been so successful because it is a flexible document that changes with the times", "Conservatives are people who want to control more and Liberals are people who believe more in freedom" ( I did get a belly laugh out of that one!!). And then there's their biased opinions stated as fact, "Nevertheless, the moderate reforms that were typical of progressivism produced real benefits for society."
I really encourage you to get ahold of these books and read them.Take notes and write down the page- everyone in America should know what the radical leftists are doing to our textbooks. And everyone in America should stop them!!
So finally I went before the school board and asked what their policy was for letting the public see the textbooks. I was handed off to the curriculum director who told me I could only look at them on Thursday and Friday in the conference room at the district office because they were short on books and the teacher's might need them at any time. Even on the weekend?? Well, I went to the conference room and began reading. I read for two days (and took notes), but alas. there were too many books for me to read in two days. I came back on Monday and carried my stack of books down to the conference room , I felt like a criminal. As I began to read, suddenly there was a soft tap, tap on the door. Who could this be? I said "come in". Lo and behold it was the superintendent!! He said I could borrow the books for a few days. I was overjoyed at not having to come to detention every day!!
The point is, you own these books and have a right to see them. They should be available for you to check out from the school library. Every member of the public, but certainly the parents, should keep tabs on what these books are teaching our future generation. The fact that Pearson publishing has managed to set up a monopoly on textbook publishing should have everyone very concerned. It's interesting to read the introduction " These books are Common Core aligned. Common Core is a set of standards that determines what you SHOULD KNOW AND BE ABLE TO DO!! Hmmm- not a curriculum but only just exactly what you have to know and be able to do in every subject every day at every grade level in every school across the country. This is frightening stuff.
As you can imagine the themes were environmentalism, racism and social justice. Horace Mann, one of the founders of this school interventionism, thought that everything a child learned in school should be taught for the PURPOSE OF SOCIAL ENGINEERING THE CHILDREN!! People like Horace Mann are SO SURE they are right and superior, that they think it is their responsibility to brainwash your children. Right now, you are letting them do this.
Propaganda in these books is sometimes outright but is often just misleading. For example, Margaret Sanger was indeed the founder of Planned Parenthood and Planned Parenthood does indeed provide contraception. But wait a minute, Planned Parenthood also does abortions and sells body parts and Margaret Sanger was a eugenicist who wanted to root out what she thought were undesirable people!!This information is not mentioned. Silent Spring was indeed a book that started the environmental movement, but wait a minute- her theory was debunked and she was discredited - where is that information?!!
The U.S. History book had one chapter on World War II and FOUR CHAPTERS ON RACISM. They broke racism down into special categories of people like Blacks, Native Americans, Latin Americans and Women. Clearly It's more important that we are all racists than that we are a successful, rich and powerful nation that liberated Europe. In fact, the whole book instructed our students that they ate more and used more water and had more money than other countries in the world, and therefore it was implied, they are guilty!! Guilty of what? If I have more money does it mean that someone else will necessarily have less? Does my having money stop them from achieving? People like Andrew Carnegie started out dirt poor. The ingenutity of these people that rose thousands of others out of poverty is just not applauded. They are accused of having sweat shops. They are accused of being responsible for people living in one room flats. Where do they think these people lived before? They were better off in the flats, that's why they wrote the "America" letters home to their families in Europe encouraging them to come to America too! Our children are not made to feel proud, they are made to feel ashamed.
America as Imperialist and Colonialist goes on and on. Yes, we left troops in the Phillipines, in fact, we still have troops in Germany today. That does not mean we have colonialized their government!! Using ports in American Samoa and Puerto Rico does not make us imperialist. We left Nicaragua and the Communists took over- gee that was great. I guess the only country that gets to have a sphere of influence is Russia- works well for them. Puerto Rico can become independent anytime they want- they keep voting it down because they live on benefits from the good old U.S. of A.!! I wish we could just tell them they're independent - leave now- we've supported you long enough!!
I was surprised to learn that Geography is now Science, History, Political Science, Anthropology and Sociology. Then, if you think of Horace Mann's mission, you just can't social engineer students teaching them longitude and latitude and where the countries, mountains, seas, rivers and oceans are can you? No, Geography now teaches that some families have "same sex" parents, and "Many people believe the earth is warming because of fossil fuels" and industries create "acid rain" and developers ruin rainforests " the earth's lungs"(where's the proof for that hyperbolic statement?!!) and on and on.These are young children- they will believe this stuff!! Didn't mention the let it burn policy and all the destruction of habitat and run off that that causes - hmmm- just an oversight I guess.
We used to have a Western Civilization class in high school - now they call it World Cultures - we wouldn't want to give Western Civilization any credit would we? The name of the new book, which used to be Governent taught in 12th grade, is "Power, Politics and You". This book didn't just make me mad- it made me fighting mad- and I don't get fighting mad. They brainstormed all the ways government bureaucracy is good and listed eighteen items!! I don't recall them mentioning our almost 20 trillion dollars in debt. They didn't mention all the corruption and duplication. They praised unions but never mentioned how all the lobbying is about jobs more than it's about good government. Did you know the Peace Corps and Head Start have reduced poverty by fifty percent?!! They have to explain to the children what the word posterity means but they expect them to answer questions in every chapter like ,"Was the Civil War inevitable?", "Was World War II inevitable?", "Should our definition of rights be expanded to include new privileges?" Obviously this is the first time students have seen this material- the writers of the book know what answer they want, and they will walk the students there.
The bandwagon technique is used constantly, referring to the 2nd amendment -"Debate continues over whether this right was meant to apply to individuals or to members of a state militia." Exactly how many people are debating this? Many times they just outright lie, "Our Constitution has been so successful because it is a flexible document that changes with the times", "Conservatives are people who want to control more and Liberals are people who believe more in freedom" ( I did get a belly laugh out of that one!!). And then there's their biased opinions stated as fact, "Nevertheless, the moderate reforms that were typical of progressivism produced real benefits for society."
I really encourage you to get ahold of these books and read them.Take notes and write down the page- everyone in America should know what the radical leftists are doing to our textbooks. And everyone in America should stop them!!
Sunday 18 October 2015
STEALING FAMILIES
I was treated once again by a presentation from the Early Childhood Coalition at the Helena School Board meeting the other night. These people are deceitful and I'm assuming they know it. If they look at resesearch about strictly Head Start children they find, in their own research, that at most, children from Head Start do not do better than their peers from similar families by third grade,and at worst, by kindergarten!! Yet, the Early Chldhood Coalition continue with their montra that preschool keeps kids out of prison and graduates them from high school. They are not just measuring Head Start.
What the Early Childhood Coalition is really measuring is families,because what they are measuring is all children who go to preschool. Children who go to preschool have, by and large, educated involved parents who want the best for their children. Naturally, more of these chldren graduate from high school and do not become criminals.
When I brought my children home from the hospital I was terrified. I thought," I could make this child a drug addict or a college graduate, it's on me!" I have changed my thoughts on many things over the years, but I have not changed my opinion on what makes a healthy child. My husband and I together were very diligent and consistent in our parenting, our children were always first, they were always the center of our world. We were not perfect and our children are not perfect, but they did not do drugs and they have advanced degrees. They are able to function as healthy adults in this world.
School can not replace families. When kindergarten becomes all day, many children lose that wonderful afternoon at home. In many families parents do work, but not in all. When preschool offers free breakfast that time that children with working parents used to spend with family preparing and eating breakfast, even if it is a bowl of cereal, is gone from their day. When schools offer free lunch the pride and loyalty that comes from knowing your parents provided that lunch is gone. When schools offer daycare the parents no longer take their afternoon break to pick their child up from school and get them to daycare. That time in the car sharing what they did today or what prioblem they might have is gone from them.
Many schools now have healthcare centers. When the school takes over healthcare parents no longer take time off of work to take their children to the doctor. That time in the car, in the waiting room, in the doctors office, is stolen from that child.
The Early Childhood Coalition and all of their do gooder liberal friends, may mean well along with their desire to use government to grow their businesses, but what they are doing is really stealing from the child those things that REALLY will make them healthy, their family.
There are many kinds of families, but when you offer things for free and without hassle, many parents will accept, just because it is there. Government has shown over and over again that they can not and do not make healthy people. You have only to go to any ghetto that is hgihly subsidized by the government to see what government programs create. Government destroys. In addition, too much government will bring all of us down because WE CAN NOT PAY FOR IT AND WE RISK LOSING OUR ECONOMY.
Unfortunately, this country will always have unhealthy families. Social services and family courts will place children out of homes that do not take csre of them. These are criminally neglectful and abusive families. The average family, though not perfect, will do best to raise their own children.
Jobs and a free America, I believe, provides the best chance for kids to get the only thing that really makes them healthy individuals that stay out of trouble and graduate from high school, THEIR FAMILY.
What the Early Childhood Coalition is really measuring is families,because what they are measuring is all children who go to preschool. Children who go to preschool have, by and large, educated involved parents who want the best for their children. Naturally, more of these chldren graduate from high school and do not become criminals.
When I brought my children home from the hospital I was terrified. I thought," I could make this child a drug addict or a college graduate, it's on me!" I have changed my thoughts on many things over the years, but I have not changed my opinion on what makes a healthy child. My husband and I together were very diligent and consistent in our parenting, our children were always first, they were always the center of our world. We were not perfect and our children are not perfect, but they did not do drugs and they have advanced degrees. They are able to function as healthy adults in this world.
School can not replace families. When kindergarten becomes all day, many children lose that wonderful afternoon at home. In many families parents do work, but not in all. When preschool offers free breakfast that time that children with working parents used to spend with family preparing and eating breakfast, even if it is a bowl of cereal, is gone from their day. When schools offer free lunch the pride and loyalty that comes from knowing your parents provided that lunch is gone. When schools offer daycare the parents no longer take their afternoon break to pick their child up from school and get them to daycare. That time in the car sharing what they did today or what prioblem they might have is gone from them.
Many schools now have healthcare centers. When the school takes over healthcare parents no longer take time off of work to take their children to the doctor. That time in the car, in the waiting room, in the doctors office, is stolen from that child.
The Early Childhood Coalition and all of their do gooder liberal friends, may mean well along with their desire to use government to grow their businesses, but what they are doing is really stealing from the child those things that REALLY will make them healthy, their family.
There are many kinds of families, but when you offer things for free and without hassle, many parents will accept, just because it is there. Government has shown over and over again that they can not and do not make healthy people. You have only to go to any ghetto that is hgihly subsidized by the government to see what government programs create. Government destroys. In addition, too much government will bring all of us down because WE CAN NOT PAY FOR IT AND WE RISK LOSING OUR ECONOMY.
Unfortunately, this country will always have unhealthy families. Social services and family courts will place children out of homes that do not take csre of them. These are criminally neglectful and abusive families. The average family, though not perfect, will do best to raise their own children.
Jobs and a free America, I believe, provides the best chance for kids to get the only thing that really makes them healthy individuals that stay out of trouble and graduate from high school, THEIR FAMILY.
Saturday 26 September 2015
UGLY GOVERNMENT CONTROL IN OUR SCHOOLS
When Jeb Bush says he doesn't believe in top down control and then supports Common Core - he is either ignorant or he is lying - you choose. Jeb must know that it takes only the smallest Federal Grant or program to infiltrate our schools. Right now our school superintendents don't breathe in or breathe out without checking their direction from the government.
All the rules from the Federal Government go to the state offices of public instruction and are directed by the state superintendent (who directs the state school board). These bozos( the school district superintendents) wouldn't be able to run a school district at all without their directions on everything they do. Policies are aligned with state law. NOTHING is local at all.
If parents don't like something -like say the new sex education standards- tough. Oh they can protest. They can have meetings where 500 people get up and speak. They can be the overwhelming majority. So what? Nothing changes. You might as well just stay home and not waste your time. The rules and programs have already been set by the U.N. and all their chummy bureaucrats that are directed by special interest groups in Washington D.C. Bureaucrats that have never taught a day in their life are running your schools. Your voice means nothing.
If you feel like you are living in a dictatorship- you are. I don't recommend giving up, but before you can change something you need to admit its realities.
I just came across some notes from the Masters program I took. God speaks in many ways- it was providential. What the notes were talking about was curriculum. The professor was giving the definition of curriculum. It said curriculum is the content of what you teach in each subject. So, is Jeb Bush saying Common Core is not dictating content? Is he saying all these textbooks that are aligned to Common Core have no content? Is he saying all these Smarter Balanced and Parcc tests that all the teachers are teaching to do not test content? REALLY? Jeb, do you think at all or are you just completely controlled by the globalist big corporatists that give you all your money?
I read a fair amount of History and I've never heard of a dictatorship that did not rely heavily on PROPAGANDA. That's right, as the dictatorship grows so does the PROPAGANDA TO CONTROL THE MASSES. So, the propaganda line is that Common Core is just standards. Yes, teachers are forced into Professional Learning Groups and their complete insrtuction and instructional day is controlled by programs and tests and this is just "standards". The Parents' voice is wiped out and this is just "standards".
The Common Core "Standards" line is as phony as the global warming line. These people want to control you and everything around you. We still have the vote. The powers that be want you to believe any attempt to make our elections clean is "stopping people from voting". Oh yes, you are a racist. MORE PROPAGANDA TO CONTROL YOU!! Registering people on the street and write in voting has one purpose- easier to cheat and control the ballot box. If people on the right side of the aisle stand up for their cause "they just aren't compromising". Yeah right, kind of like the Obama Care vote that had not one single Republican vote. Where did the left compromise?
I'm not afraid of Donald Trump or any other Republican that will stand up and tell the truth. We need people that are not cowed by all this propaganda. It's like the emperor has no clothes. Say the truth and be fearless and you will find out how weak the left really is. Their programs, for the most part, are just plain stupid. We need to take our freedom back. We don't have to listen to and follow the socialist left.
It's way past time for the large majority of these government departments and grants to end. The old joke about if you want eternal life just become a Federal program is true today, but if we want our freedom back it must not be true tomorrow. We're not a country that, except for the American Revolution and the Civil War, solves its internal disputes with violence. We can solve this one without violence too. Vote for real LEADERS that will stand up and face down the PROPAGANDA MACHINE. Then support that person - period. Put the interests of freedom above your personal greed and the leftist monsters will melt away like throwing water on the witch. The left bets you won't - prove them wrong. Please.
All the rules from the Federal Government go to the state offices of public instruction and are directed by the state superintendent (who directs the state school board). These bozos( the school district superintendents) wouldn't be able to run a school district at all without their directions on everything they do. Policies are aligned with state law. NOTHING is local at all.
If parents don't like something -like say the new sex education standards- tough. Oh they can protest. They can have meetings where 500 people get up and speak. They can be the overwhelming majority. So what? Nothing changes. You might as well just stay home and not waste your time. The rules and programs have already been set by the U.N. and all their chummy bureaucrats that are directed by special interest groups in Washington D.C. Bureaucrats that have never taught a day in their life are running your schools. Your voice means nothing.
If you feel like you are living in a dictatorship- you are. I don't recommend giving up, but before you can change something you need to admit its realities.
I just came across some notes from the Masters program I took. God speaks in many ways- it was providential. What the notes were talking about was curriculum. The professor was giving the definition of curriculum. It said curriculum is the content of what you teach in each subject. So, is Jeb Bush saying Common Core is not dictating content? Is he saying all these textbooks that are aligned to Common Core have no content? Is he saying all these Smarter Balanced and Parcc tests that all the teachers are teaching to do not test content? REALLY? Jeb, do you think at all or are you just completely controlled by the globalist big corporatists that give you all your money?
I read a fair amount of History and I've never heard of a dictatorship that did not rely heavily on PROPAGANDA. That's right, as the dictatorship grows so does the PROPAGANDA TO CONTROL THE MASSES. So, the propaganda line is that Common Core is just standards. Yes, teachers are forced into Professional Learning Groups and their complete insrtuction and instructional day is controlled by programs and tests and this is just "standards". The Parents' voice is wiped out and this is just "standards".
The Common Core "Standards" line is as phony as the global warming line. These people want to control you and everything around you. We still have the vote. The powers that be want you to believe any attempt to make our elections clean is "stopping people from voting". Oh yes, you are a racist. MORE PROPAGANDA TO CONTROL YOU!! Registering people on the street and write in voting has one purpose- easier to cheat and control the ballot box. If people on the right side of the aisle stand up for their cause "they just aren't compromising". Yeah right, kind of like the Obama Care vote that had not one single Republican vote. Where did the left compromise?
I'm not afraid of Donald Trump or any other Republican that will stand up and tell the truth. We need people that are not cowed by all this propaganda. It's like the emperor has no clothes. Say the truth and be fearless and you will find out how weak the left really is. Their programs, for the most part, are just plain stupid. We need to take our freedom back. We don't have to listen to and follow the socialist left.
It's way past time for the large majority of these government departments and grants to end. The old joke about if you want eternal life just become a Federal program is true today, but if we want our freedom back it must not be true tomorrow. We're not a country that, except for the American Revolution and the Civil War, solves its internal disputes with violence. We can solve this one without violence too. Vote for real LEADERS that will stand up and face down the PROPAGANDA MACHINE. Then support that person - period. Put the interests of freedom above your personal greed and the leftist monsters will melt away like throwing water on the witch. The left bets you won't - prove them wrong. Please.
Wednesday 2 September 2015
TIME TO STOP THE ACLU
The ACLU ( American Civil Liberties Union) is having a heyday in our schools. Their latest victory is having a school district in Nebraska be stopped from having teachers sign a loyalty pledge to the United States of America. Their reasoning is that teachers have free speech!! Seriously - teachers can say anything they want in the classroom? Really ACLU? Who can say anything they want at work - anywhere anytime?
If you work for a company can you tell customers that your company is a bad company? Can you tell customers that the product is bad and they should shop somewhere else? Can you tell customers off? The answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT!! Can you share company secrets? NO!! The answer is that when you are at work your time belongs to your employer and during that time your speech is controlled by that employer.
Does the ACLU think that teachers can say anything they want at school? Can they insult children and their families? Can they use vulgar language? Do they have no responsibility to be a good role model? How does the ACLU get away with this nonsense?? Obviously teachers do have a code of conduct and control over their speech at school.
My son is quite a sports enthusiast. We were watching a baseball game the other night and he began to talk about what makes a good team. What a team needs is BUY IN. Yes indeed- if you want your players to work together and to play their best they must have LOYALTY TO THEIR TEAM!! What about the children of this nation? How can we expect them to love their country and become good citizens when they have NO BUY IN?
The bigger question is why do we allow the ACLU to take this position of power? It is time to stop the ACLU. I for one am not ready to surrender to this horrible self serving organization that is always looking for a payday by destroying this nation. They have long ago lost any credibility they ever had to protect anyone's civil liberties.
Last night I watched a movie about Stalingrad and how they fought off the Germans through a winter of terror, bombing and embargos that tried to starve them. The people won because no matter how bad thngs got they did not stop fighting back. I'm sure the American people can fight back too. This is a great nation and will coninue to be inspite of all the efforts of organizations like the ACLU.
We will teach our children to love this country and we will overwhelm the illegal immigrants who will vote for people like Barack Obama who hates this country. We will vote for good people who will lead America to greatness - both in Washington D.C. and in our cities and on our school boards. America - all we need to do is to stand up and fight back. The ACLU is really very weak - they are a bully who counts on intimidation. Vote for people who love this country and they will appoint Federal judges who love this country. The ACLU will fold like a tent.
If you work for a company can you tell customers that your company is a bad company? Can you tell customers that the product is bad and they should shop somewhere else? Can you tell customers off? The answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT!! Can you share company secrets? NO!! The answer is that when you are at work your time belongs to your employer and during that time your speech is controlled by that employer.
Does the ACLU think that teachers can say anything they want at school? Can they insult children and their families? Can they use vulgar language? Do they have no responsibility to be a good role model? How does the ACLU get away with this nonsense?? Obviously teachers do have a code of conduct and control over their speech at school.
My son is quite a sports enthusiast. We were watching a baseball game the other night and he began to talk about what makes a good team. What a team needs is BUY IN. Yes indeed- if you want your players to work together and to play their best they must have LOYALTY TO THEIR TEAM!! What about the children of this nation? How can we expect them to love their country and become good citizens when they have NO BUY IN?
The bigger question is why do we allow the ACLU to take this position of power? It is time to stop the ACLU. I for one am not ready to surrender to this horrible self serving organization that is always looking for a payday by destroying this nation. They have long ago lost any credibility they ever had to protect anyone's civil liberties.
Last night I watched a movie about Stalingrad and how they fought off the Germans through a winter of terror, bombing and embargos that tried to starve them. The people won because no matter how bad thngs got they did not stop fighting back. I'm sure the American people can fight back too. This is a great nation and will coninue to be inspite of all the efforts of organizations like the ACLU.
We will teach our children to love this country and we will overwhelm the illegal immigrants who will vote for people like Barack Obama who hates this country. We will vote for good people who will lead America to greatness - both in Washington D.C. and in our cities and on our school boards. America - all we need to do is to stand up and fight back. The ACLU is really very weak - they are a bully who counts on intimidation. Vote for people who love this country and they will appoint Federal judges who love this country. The ACLU will fold like a tent.
Sunday 26 July 2015
PRAIRIE DOGS OR BABIES?
I guess most of us have by now seen the horrifying videos of doctors discussing how to kill babies without destroying the body parts they want to save. You crush the spine in such a way as to save the brain and heart to sell. You wonder what ever happened to the hypocratic oath whereby doctors were supposed to promise to save lives to the best of their ability.
Unfortunately the same people who believe in this horrendous killing ( we used to think ancient china was uncivilized for killing little girls - we kill them all), often are screaming bloody murder that prairie dog habitat is being destroyed or snail darters. Really? You wonder how people can be so confused.
The left has a very powerful propaganda machine. This propaganda machine is everywhere. It is in our churches, in our press, on the internet, in all advertising, in movies and on television. It dominates the news everywhere, including those three minutes on the radio every hour. I remember my son saying to me ( this man is very bright and well educated - a doctor of pharmacy) that he and his wife were thinking of having only one child because of the overcrowding of the earth!! I asked him if he had driven through Nevada lately, or North Dakota, or Oklahoma, or Texas, or Wyoming, or just about any state. He thought about that for awhile. He checked with his internet. He has seen all of this empty space everywhere. He and his wife now have two children. I was surprised myself by all the open space in Europe. I was humbled, as a Montanan, by the beautiful national parks. There is one between Salzberg ,Austria and Italy, where there are views of mountains as far as the eye can see - really rivalling or surpassing Montana. I was sucked into all the propaganda myself at one point. I guess I thought if America was all full- then Europe which is so much older - must be wall to wall buildings!! As a nation we need to step back and start thinking- really thinking- for ourselves.
I often testify before the school board here. I often do it extemporaneously. It is so easy to punch holes into the lies. These are educated people but it's like shooting fish in a barrel. They are so propagandized that in many instances they have just stopped thinking and they don't even know it. I remember when Common Core came out. They advertised this program with well chosen phrases for propaganda purposes. The creators of Common Core deliliberately sought to manipulate the public. It was an advertising campaign with slogans. School districts across the states bought it all - hook line and sinker!! They are not used to thinking for themselves. If the Office of Public Instruction says it is so- they believe it. Common Core propaganda slogans were "College and career ready" and "21st century". I really felt the board was stunned ( at least one of them is a lawyer) when I asked them what exactly the 21st century learning was and how they were sure this was it. I also pointed out that schools have been graduating students and sending them into careers from the beginning. Hasn't this always been the goal of schools? They have no answer for these things but at least now they ask a few questions once in awhile.
Meanwhile we see stories in the press all the time about students punching teachers out or calling them names and it is the teacher who gets into trouble!! Are they really sure this is the way to raise children for the 21st century? We are raising entitled brats that live in the world of victimization. Only those students that have families that stop all this survive not thinking this is a rotten country and they deserve everything handed to them.I suggest that we put all that propaganda in the old round file ( the trash) and start believing in our own minds and common sense. Take from the past what is truly good ( and most of it is- tried and true values that do not change) and add new things, that really work, slowly. Be ready to get rid of new things that don't work because most of them don't. A nation and its culture and values is built over time - not by a few globalists at the U.N. that want to manage everybody. The propaganda will only stop when we quit listening - that is when it will lose all its effect. God Bless America and our Western heritage that has served us so well for thousands of years. It wasn't perfect and it is always improving itself - but no other nation or heritage was perfect either- if you think the Native Americans- for example- did not have war and slaves and abuse women - you are learning a propagandized and cleansed history. The women pulled those travois and we have the real slide pictures to prove it. Sacajawea, the guide for Lewis and Clark, was kidnapped by a Native American tribe and sold by them as a slave.
Prairie dogs or babies, you be the judge. I believe that when America stops listening to propaganda we will choose babies and jobs for our poor.
Unfortunately the same people who believe in this horrendous killing ( we used to think ancient china was uncivilized for killing little girls - we kill them all), often are screaming bloody murder that prairie dog habitat is being destroyed or snail darters. Really? You wonder how people can be so confused.
The left has a very powerful propaganda machine. This propaganda machine is everywhere. It is in our churches, in our press, on the internet, in all advertising, in movies and on television. It dominates the news everywhere, including those three minutes on the radio every hour. I remember my son saying to me ( this man is very bright and well educated - a doctor of pharmacy) that he and his wife were thinking of having only one child because of the overcrowding of the earth!! I asked him if he had driven through Nevada lately, or North Dakota, or Oklahoma, or Texas, or Wyoming, or just about any state. He thought about that for awhile. He checked with his internet. He has seen all of this empty space everywhere. He and his wife now have two children. I was surprised myself by all the open space in Europe. I was humbled, as a Montanan, by the beautiful national parks. There is one between Salzberg ,Austria and Italy, where there are views of mountains as far as the eye can see - really rivalling or surpassing Montana. I was sucked into all the propaganda myself at one point. I guess I thought if America was all full- then Europe which is so much older - must be wall to wall buildings!! As a nation we need to step back and start thinking- really thinking- for ourselves.
I often testify before the school board here. I often do it extemporaneously. It is so easy to punch holes into the lies. These are educated people but it's like shooting fish in a barrel. They are so propagandized that in many instances they have just stopped thinking and they don't even know it. I remember when Common Core came out. They advertised this program with well chosen phrases for propaganda purposes. The creators of Common Core deliliberately sought to manipulate the public. It was an advertising campaign with slogans. School districts across the states bought it all - hook line and sinker!! They are not used to thinking for themselves. If the Office of Public Instruction says it is so- they believe it. Common Core propaganda slogans were "College and career ready" and "21st century". I really felt the board was stunned ( at least one of them is a lawyer) when I asked them what exactly the 21st century learning was and how they were sure this was it. I also pointed out that schools have been graduating students and sending them into careers from the beginning. Hasn't this always been the goal of schools? They have no answer for these things but at least now they ask a few questions once in awhile.
Meanwhile we see stories in the press all the time about students punching teachers out or calling them names and it is the teacher who gets into trouble!! Are they really sure this is the way to raise children for the 21st century? We are raising entitled brats that live in the world of victimization. Only those students that have families that stop all this survive not thinking this is a rotten country and they deserve everything handed to them.I suggest that we put all that propaganda in the old round file ( the trash) and start believing in our own minds and common sense. Take from the past what is truly good ( and most of it is- tried and true values that do not change) and add new things, that really work, slowly. Be ready to get rid of new things that don't work because most of them don't. A nation and its culture and values is built over time - not by a few globalists at the U.N. that want to manage everybody. The propaganda will only stop when we quit listening - that is when it will lose all its effect. God Bless America and our Western heritage that has served us so well for thousands of years. It wasn't perfect and it is always improving itself - but no other nation or heritage was perfect either- if you think the Native Americans- for example- did not have war and slaves and abuse women - you are learning a propagandized and cleansed history. The women pulled those travois and we have the real slide pictures to prove it. Sacajawea, the guide for Lewis and Clark, was kidnapped by a Native American tribe and sold by them as a slave.
Prairie dogs or babies, you be the judge. I believe that when America stops listening to propaganda we will choose babies and jobs for our poor.
Saturday 4 July 2015
BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS
It took an Australian to say it. Our schools are teaching anti Americanism. A recent poll shows that only 54% of Americans still believe in their country. The Australian said "American schools have more blood on their hands than someone slaughtering a hemopheliac cow". YES THEY DO. Everyday more young people graduate from college HATING their country, DISDAINFUL of their country, propagandized TRAITORS.
COMMON CORE is set up to move the propaganda down to high school and even grade school. They call it "Higher Level Thinking". Little children's opinions are those of their parents and the Common Core creators know this, as we all do. Asking them their "opinion" is just an opening for the teacher to change it or get the child to question their upbringing, their faith in their country. How clever, they call it "Higher Level" thinking. The creators of Common Core just think THEIR OPINION is higher level thinking.
It's so obvious, and it's been said on this blog before, you can't do higher level thinking until you know something. I testified at the school board meeting about the new Common Core aligned Social Studies Curriculum. Some of it was just stupid like, asking the children if they can change history or if it is inevitable. Obviously history can not be changed, it already happened. We can only change the future. They referred to "Our Democracy". I had to tell them that our country is actually a Representative Republic and that the Greeks tried Democracy and it did not turn out too well. The curriculum went on to ask the children their opinion of world economics and which economic system is best. These children do not have enough knowledge to intelligently discuss this subject. They are pawns to the teacher's point of view. The school board of course did not change a thing. Though the man who got up and spoke in Indian was told they would have the curriculum director put more "Indian Education For All" into the document. They were more concerned about being politically correct than teaching the history of our country. The man testifying cared only for his culture, not this great country. I'm sure he doesn't even think it IS a great country. I don't know how you change this, though God knows I have tried. The schools have BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS.
One young man, bright and articulate, who is a school board student representative (these are ALWAYS
liberals), pointed out that they shouldn't say "World War II Victory" when speaking of our country because we did bad things too!! This young man is from Africa, he was adopted into this country. What kind of loyalty to this country is he being taught? Does he get it that this great nation SACRIFICED SO MANY BEAUTIFUL YOUNG MEN TO SAVE EUROPE FROM FACISM IN WORLD WAR II? THAT WE SAVED THE JEWS FROM CONCENTRATION CAMPS WHERE THEY WERE BEING SLAUGHTERED?!!! Obviously he does not. What a shame. The schools HAVE BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS.
I remember as a young girl, with immigrant grandparents, singing "My Country Tis of Thee" everyday before school started. We were so proud of this great country. Many years later I remember being scorned and laughed at by passing students when I had my students sing American songs. Our forefathers are long dead, they have passed the torch on to us. Will we save this country or will we let it be destroyed?
Many liberals think they ARE being patriotic when they unfairly criticize this country. One more step into the grave for this country. Most of them started down this America Bashing road in college. I have a couple of thoughts for them to ponder, here is one quote "Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants, it is the creed of slaves." William PItt, before the House of Commons, Nov. 18, 1783. Now America is almost broke and we have increased dependency and the accompanying social decay to the point that we don't know if the country will be saved. When the economy fails, and it will if things are not turned around, they won't have to just worry about the poor, all of us will suffer and many will die.
I have watched in my life time as a great nation that was so rich and powerful in the 50's has been brought to its knees by the liberal agenda from the 60's. We shouldn't have to be afraid for our futures and that of our families. We shouldn't have to listen to lies and propaganda. Once again this summer our forests are burning down and with it the habitat of so many animals. The liberals NEVER discuss this. But if we try to be productive and offer jobs, they SCREAM BLOODY MURDER because a prairie dog or two will lose their habitat. This of course is not true. The oil wells pump and the land around them is restored and the prairie dogs thrive. Managing forests provided jobs and wealth and we could breathe in the summer.
Like many of you, I have tried and tried to save this country. Perhaps we are the dead bodies that will finally build a ladder to the fresh air. Perhaps our liberal friends will finally realize what they have done and the lies will stop and the saving of America will begin.
COMMON CORE is set up to move the propaganda down to high school and even grade school. They call it "Higher Level Thinking". Little children's opinions are those of their parents and the Common Core creators know this, as we all do. Asking them their "opinion" is just an opening for the teacher to change it or get the child to question their upbringing, their faith in their country. How clever, they call it "Higher Level" thinking. The creators of Common Core just think THEIR OPINION is higher level thinking.
It's so obvious, and it's been said on this blog before, you can't do higher level thinking until you know something. I testified at the school board meeting about the new Common Core aligned Social Studies Curriculum. Some of it was just stupid like, asking the children if they can change history or if it is inevitable. Obviously history can not be changed, it already happened. We can only change the future. They referred to "Our Democracy". I had to tell them that our country is actually a Representative Republic and that the Greeks tried Democracy and it did not turn out too well. The curriculum went on to ask the children their opinion of world economics and which economic system is best. These children do not have enough knowledge to intelligently discuss this subject. They are pawns to the teacher's point of view. The school board of course did not change a thing. Though the man who got up and spoke in Indian was told they would have the curriculum director put more "Indian Education For All" into the document. They were more concerned about being politically correct than teaching the history of our country. The man testifying cared only for his culture, not this great country. I'm sure he doesn't even think it IS a great country. I don't know how you change this, though God knows I have tried. The schools have BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS.
One young man, bright and articulate, who is a school board student representative (these are ALWAYS
liberals), pointed out that they shouldn't say "World War II Victory" when speaking of our country because we did bad things too!! This young man is from Africa, he was adopted into this country. What kind of loyalty to this country is he being taught? Does he get it that this great nation SACRIFICED SO MANY BEAUTIFUL YOUNG MEN TO SAVE EUROPE FROM FACISM IN WORLD WAR II? THAT WE SAVED THE JEWS FROM CONCENTRATION CAMPS WHERE THEY WERE BEING SLAUGHTERED?!!! Obviously he does not. What a shame. The schools HAVE BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS.
I remember as a young girl, with immigrant grandparents, singing "My Country Tis of Thee" everyday before school started. We were so proud of this great country. Many years later I remember being scorned and laughed at by passing students when I had my students sing American songs. Our forefathers are long dead, they have passed the torch on to us. Will we save this country or will we let it be destroyed?
Many liberals think they ARE being patriotic when they unfairly criticize this country. One more step into the grave for this country. Most of them started down this America Bashing road in college. I have a couple of thoughts for them to ponder, here is one quote "Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants, it is the creed of slaves." William PItt, before the House of Commons, Nov. 18, 1783. Now America is almost broke and we have increased dependency and the accompanying social decay to the point that we don't know if the country will be saved. When the economy fails, and it will if things are not turned around, they won't have to just worry about the poor, all of us will suffer and many will die.
I have watched in my life time as a great nation that was so rich and powerful in the 50's has been brought to its knees by the liberal agenda from the 60's. We shouldn't have to be afraid for our futures and that of our families. We shouldn't have to listen to lies and propaganda. Once again this summer our forests are burning down and with it the habitat of so many animals. The liberals NEVER discuss this. But if we try to be productive and offer jobs, they SCREAM BLOODY MURDER because a prairie dog or two will lose their habitat. This of course is not true. The oil wells pump and the land around them is restored and the prairie dogs thrive. Managing forests provided jobs and wealth and we could breathe in the summer.
Like many of you, I have tried and tried to save this country. Perhaps we are the dead bodies that will finally build a ladder to the fresh air. Perhaps our liberal friends will finally realize what they have done and the lies will stop and the saving of America will begin.
Tuesday 2 June 2015
ON THE BACKS OF OUR CHILDREN
I go to most of the school board meetings here and my friends often ask me "How can you stand it?" Well, believe me, it is pretty hard to sit through alot of it, alot of it is pretty nauseating. But, believe it or not, it is actually getting WORSE!! It's getting worse because it is SO OBVIOUS that our superintendent is building his RESUME' ON THE BACKS OF OUR CHLDREN!!
He was just SO EXCITED at the last board meeting because he could add new positions!! Wow, not teachers of course, teachers are just so ordinary, no prospective new employer is going to care about hiring teachers!! Oh no, he wants to LOAD THOSE CLASSES UP so he can hire specialists that make him look oh so good!! Yes, he thinks 24 is a good number for kindergarten!! Of course research shows that small class sizes benefit children enormously (Eugene Lewit, Linda Baker, "Financing Schools")- but no matter- the superintendent's goal is not what's good for kids in classrooms, his goal is to build HIS OWN RESUME' !!
So What positions is he adding to our already bloated school district? He's hiring two behavior interventionists. Now these behavior interventionists will not actually work with kids - oh no. They will TELL THE TEACHERS HOW IT'S DONE!! Yes, the teachers will benefit from their expertise and the teachers will take all the repsonsibility and do all the work! How convenient. But it does look oh so good on the superintendents resume'. Yes, he brought the Helena School District into the 21st century by hiring behavior interventionists. Even our pretty numb school board members questioned him about all the multiplicity- after all, we already have social workers and counselors and psychiatrists and the Montana Behavior Initiative and the Bully Program and the Buddy Program and the Dare Program and Power School and Resource Officers (cops) in school and carry clip boards around all day and and and. Well, these "experts" will work with teachers about behaviors in the classroom too but I guess they will be "more strategic"- it was very hard to make sense of his excuses but the board bought it unanimously!! Now our poor taxpayers will have to carry these new positions on their backs - and the students will have to suffer with larger classes to accomodate paying for these experts and so many more, so that this superintendent who won't be here for long, can make himself look good on a resume'!!!
Well, unfortunately, that wasn't all. He hired new literacy coaches too. I know one of the literacy coaches, what a joke. This lady got herself elected to the school board here in the 90's and then decided to use her clout with the school district to start a new career as a teacher! She worked in our gifted and talented program for awhile and then became an EXPERT!! She's now at the middle school telling career teachers, of any number of years, how they should teach!! This is Common Core of course. Science teachers and math teachers and all other teachers that are not English teachers have to teach writing and reading now!! Put aside the subject you are supposed to be teaching, and become an English teacher,because some bozos in Washington, WHO ARE MAKING BILLIONS OFF THIS COPYRIGHT, think this is how it should be done.
He finished up by hiring reading teachers at the middle schools. Apparently, we are sending kids to middle school who are beginning readers!!
There was a time when we ran schools well. Helena was always at the top in national testing because we don't have the inner city problems that larger cities have. Superintendent's promoted a bond to build one school at a time because they were needed. Special Education students had their own classrooms and curriculums so behavior in regular classes was manageable. Schools managed salaries and had money in their budgets for maintenance and curriculum adoptions without having to ask for more taxes. Superintendents didn't have to trick the public by taking out of district tutition and hiding it in a reserve account so they could ask for more in the yearly permanent levy.
No one was running after agendas or building their resume' on a proscribed Federal plan. Schools were for kids. You know, large parking lots with big lamposts everywhere is not for the children. It looks good in the pictures you add to your resume' I guess. And then, you have parking spaces for all these unnecessary personnel who rob students of their classroom teachers. This is a very sad day in Helena and in this country. If you go to your schoolboard meetings you probably are experiencing what we are experiencing in Helena - the destruction of public education. The BUILDING OF RESUME'S ON THE BACKS OF OUR CHILDREN!!!
He was just SO EXCITED at the last board meeting because he could add new positions!! Wow, not teachers of course, teachers are just so ordinary, no prospective new employer is going to care about hiring teachers!! Oh no, he wants to LOAD THOSE CLASSES UP so he can hire specialists that make him look oh so good!! Yes, he thinks 24 is a good number for kindergarten!! Of course research shows that small class sizes benefit children enormously (Eugene Lewit, Linda Baker, "Financing Schools")- but no matter- the superintendent's goal is not what's good for kids in classrooms, his goal is to build HIS OWN RESUME' !!
So What positions is he adding to our already bloated school district? He's hiring two behavior interventionists. Now these behavior interventionists will not actually work with kids - oh no. They will TELL THE TEACHERS HOW IT'S DONE!! Yes, the teachers will benefit from their expertise and the teachers will take all the repsonsibility and do all the work! How convenient. But it does look oh so good on the superintendents resume'. Yes, he brought the Helena School District into the 21st century by hiring behavior interventionists. Even our pretty numb school board members questioned him about all the multiplicity- after all, we already have social workers and counselors and psychiatrists and the Montana Behavior Initiative and the Bully Program and the Buddy Program and the Dare Program and Power School and Resource Officers (cops) in school and carry clip boards around all day and and and. Well, these "experts" will work with teachers about behaviors in the classroom too but I guess they will be "more strategic"- it was very hard to make sense of his excuses but the board bought it unanimously!! Now our poor taxpayers will have to carry these new positions on their backs - and the students will have to suffer with larger classes to accomodate paying for these experts and so many more, so that this superintendent who won't be here for long, can make himself look good on a resume'!!!
Well, unfortunately, that wasn't all. He hired new literacy coaches too. I know one of the literacy coaches, what a joke. This lady got herself elected to the school board here in the 90's and then decided to use her clout with the school district to start a new career as a teacher! She worked in our gifted and talented program for awhile and then became an EXPERT!! She's now at the middle school telling career teachers, of any number of years, how they should teach!! This is Common Core of course. Science teachers and math teachers and all other teachers that are not English teachers have to teach writing and reading now!! Put aside the subject you are supposed to be teaching, and become an English teacher,because some bozos in Washington, WHO ARE MAKING BILLIONS OFF THIS COPYRIGHT, think this is how it should be done.
He finished up by hiring reading teachers at the middle schools. Apparently, we are sending kids to middle school who are beginning readers!!
There was a time when we ran schools well. Helena was always at the top in national testing because we don't have the inner city problems that larger cities have. Superintendent's promoted a bond to build one school at a time because they were needed. Special Education students had their own classrooms and curriculums so behavior in regular classes was manageable. Schools managed salaries and had money in their budgets for maintenance and curriculum adoptions without having to ask for more taxes. Superintendents didn't have to trick the public by taking out of district tutition and hiding it in a reserve account so they could ask for more in the yearly permanent levy.
No one was running after agendas or building their resume' on a proscribed Federal plan. Schools were for kids. You know, large parking lots with big lamposts everywhere is not for the children. It looks good in the pictures you add to your resume' I guess. And then, you have parking spaces for all these unnecessary personnel who rob students of their classroom teachers. This is a very sad day in Helena and in this country. If you go to your schoolboard meetings you probably are experiencing what we are experiencing in Helena - the destruction of public education. The BUILDING OF RESUME'S ON THE BACKS OF OUR CHILDREN!!!
Wednesday 13 May 2015
THE HAMMER
I had an amazing conversation the other day with one of the vaunted aging Hippis in town. I was at the deli counter and ran into this woman whom I had taught with. We exchanged greetings and I asked her if she was retired yet. "Oh no" she said, she loves hanging out with ten year olds. Well, yes, so did I, but things got so bad I had to leave. The conversation went on. She loves Common Core ( no surprise there). I don't like to argue with these people but I just had to ask, "Why?". Here comes the really, REALLY, shocking part. She loves Common Core because when her son was in school they didn't finish the math book and now they do!! WHAT?!! This is the person who comes from the Montessori ideology. This is the person who advocated for free school back in the day. This is the person who advocated that all children should be taught to their learning style and that conservative teachers who taught to the book were narrow minded and wrong headed!! WHAT?!! Now the hippis want everyone in lock step never veering from the book?!!
As I said, I don't like to argue with these people, but I was truly amazed. I have put up with Hippi nonsense since college days and now they are the HAMMER!! I had to ask her how she went about making her whole class learn everything well every day so they could continually go on with no stoppage for anything. She said, "We have para educators to help now". Seriously? A para educator who does not even have a teaching degree is going to make sure every student is on board every day? I did not ask that. I didn't ask how struggling students would catch up on the lessons they missed while being caught up by the para educator either. It sounds like a bit of a conundrum. We agreed that you will never have every student learning everything at the same time in the whole country and left it at that.
A parent told me that all the materials and books have to have "cc" on them now. The "cc" stands for "Common Core" but it should stand for "Continuous Cash". This is a scandal compared in size only to the Clinton Foundation. Can you imagine the amount of money the Common Core copyright holders are making when the HAMMER of state government is forcing every school IN THE COUNTRY to use their materials and books?!! I guess monopoly laws are now a thing of the past in this country. If you are on the right side of things there are no laws at all - you are free to be completely lawless.
The parent explained the testing to me as well. The teachers have to teach every page every day because EVERY student has to be tested on the material at the appointed time, no exceptions. If your whole class was out sick for a week- too bad. If the teacher doesn't give the test at the appointed time she gets a "black mark". I believe in teaching with books. I believe in this because curriculum writers do this for a living and the books should have an organized approach to learning that will build knowledge in good ways. Of course, it has to be a good book. You only get a good book by having CHOICE and trying things out. I like the book because it provides a framework for teach, practice, review and assess. I MOST CERTAINLY WOULD NOT TEACH THE BOOK EVERY DAY!! School should be fun and interesting. That's why we had ancillary projects. That's why we took field trips and made collages and diaramas and had science fairs. If my students did not understand a math concept we took an extra day to work on it. If I had a really smart class we could move along faster. If my class wasn't as sharp we took a little more time. If most of the class failed a math test we certainly didn't just go on !! I fought with the Hippis forever to say that we needed structure and you couldn't teach 25 students individually. Now, here is the HAMMER. They are in charge and academic freedom and student indivuality is ALL gone.
This is what always happens with totalitarianism. Whether it's Marxism or Communism or Facism- they start out with magnanimity and end up with the HAMMER. This situation in our nation's schools is sick and corrupt. Little children are frustrated. Even good students are feeling confused and stressed as they don't know all the questions on the test. They don't understand that the tests are designed that way, to sort of pretest their upper limits. I never believed in pretests, they confuse and upset students. Common Core is creating test anxiety in our students!! American parents and grandparents and taxpayers and citizens need to stand up and SAY NO TO THE HAMMER!! No one has the right to do this to our students and our teachers- no one!!
As I said, I don't like to argue with these people, but I was truly amazed. I have put up with Hippi nonsense since college days and now they are the HAMMER!! I had to ask her how she went about making her whole class learn everything well every day so they could continually go on with no stoppage for anything. She said, "We have para educators to help now". Seriously? A para educator who does not even have a teaching degree is going to make sure every student is on board every day? I did not ask that. I didn't ask how struggling students would catch up on the lessons they missed while being caught up by the para educator either. It sounds like a bit of a conundrum. We agreed that you will never have every student learning everything at the same time in the whole country and left it at that.
A parent told me that all the materials and books have to have "cc" on them now. The "cc" stands for "Common Core" but it should stand for "Continuous Cash". This is a scandal compared in size only to the Clinton Foundation. Can you imagine the amount of money the Common Core copyright holders are making when the HAMMER of state government is forcing every school IN THE COUNTRY to use their materials and books?!! I guess monopoly laws are now a thing of the past in this country. If you are on the right side of things there are no laws at all - you are free to be completely lawless.
The parent explained the testing to me as well. The teachers have to teach every page every day because EVERY student has to be tested on the material at the appointed time, no exceptions. If your whole class was out sick for a week- too bad. If the teacher doesn't give the test at the appointed time she gets a "black mark". I believe in teaching with books. I believe in this because curriculum writers do this for a living and the books should have an organized approach to learning that will build knowledge in good ways. Of course, it has to be a good book. You only get a good book by having CHOICE and trying things out. I like the book because it provides a framework for teach, practice, review and assess. I MOST CERTAINLY WOULD NOT TEACH THE BOOK EVERY DAY!! School should be fun and interesting. That's why we had ancillary projects. That's why we took field trips and made collages and diaramas and had science fairs. If my students did not understand a math concept we took an extra day to work on it. If I had a really smart class we could move along faster. If my class wasn't as sharp we took a little more time. If most of the class failed a math test we certainly didn't just go on !! I fought with the Hippis forever to say that we needed structure and you couldn't teach 25 students individually. Now, here is the HAMMER. They are in charge and academic freedom and student indivuality is ALL gone.
This is what always happens with totalitarianism. Whether it's Marxism or Communism or Facism- they start out with magnanimity and end up with the HAMMER. This situation in our nation's schools is sick and corrupt. Little children are frustrated. Even good students are feeling confused and stressed as they don't know all the questions on the test. They don't understand that the tests are designed that way, to sort of pretest their upper limits. I never believed in pretests, they confuse and upset students. Common Core is creating test anxiety in our students!! American parents and grandparents and taxpayers and citizens need to stand up and SAY NO TO THE HAMMER!! No one has the right to do this to our students and our teachers- no one!!
Sunday 3 May 2015
WHO KILLED FREDDIE GRAY?
Freddie Gray, for those who never watch any cable news at all, ever, is a young man who died in Baltimore in the back of a police van. The usual bad actors, irresponsible and ignorant college babies, people who make a living off of inciting violence (like Al Sharpton), and the thugs who are out to loot, took to the streets in Baltimore in protest over Freddie Gray's death. Freddie Gray's death is indeed a horrific tragedy. But who killed him? Did you kill him? Did I kill him? Did the city of Baltimore kill him? None of the above. Freddie, unfortunately killed himself. What in the world was he doing in the back of a police van? Do the police just go around picking up innocent people for the fun of it? NO THEY DON'T. Freddie had a criminal record. So Freddie is responsible for breaking the law.
I remember when I was a school teacher I would hear parents complain about their children getting in trouble when they had done nothing wrong. NO, try again. Children who are sitting quietly, earnestly trying to do their work, are not ripped up out of their seats and accused of things. The last thing a teacher wants is trouble. The teacher is very busy and just prays that everyone is good. This is the same story with police. They don't go looking for trouble. They hope it doesn't happen on their watch. So, back to Freddie Gray. The question is, why did Freddie Gray become a criminal?
Well, I didn't make him a criminal and neither did you. Freddie became a criminal because his parents did not take care of him. I don't know Freddie's parents but I just bet his dad didn't take him fishing and play ball with him and read him bedtime stories. More than likely his dad wasn't even in his home. Was Freddie a criminal because he was poor? NO!! Many people are poor. They do not become criminals. Most of us come from poor backgrounds or our grandparents did. These people by and large did not become criminals. They took personal responsibility and worked their way out of poverty. Yes, you can do that. It happens every day.
I just went to church today and once again I did not hear a sermon on personal responsibility. Each of us has a responsibility to care for ourselves and our families. If you are not making breakfast for your children shame on you. If you are using drugs to get high, shame on you. If you are on welfare you should be grateful and doing everything humanly possible to take that burden off of the rest of society.
It's not about giving back. It's about doing what you are supposed to do and understanding your responsibility and guilt when you do not do the things you are supposed to do. Unions, nonprofits, and political parties, do not make money or get power from making you responsible. They can, however, get lots of money and support for telling you you are a victim. The "victims" may lose us our freedom. Every program to help the "victims" takes money and power away from the average American. Money is power, and the more of it you give to the government, the more power the government has over you.
These righteous college babies had their signs "Black lives matter". Yes they do. One hundred and fifty innocent Black men were beheaded by the Libyans because they believed in Jesus Christ. Hundreds were thrown off a boat at sea. I just didn't see all these righteous college babies out there with their signs "Black lives matter". No, to them, Black lives only matter when the cause is making a conversation that will get votes for the Socialist/Democrat political agenda.
A headline in one of our Montana papers today said that the new political agenda was the poor and they cited the riots in Baltimore. Sorry boys. It's not education, Baltimore pays more per student (over $15,000 dollars a student!!) for education, and has a social safety net that an ox couldn't carrry. This is not about poverty, this is about responsibility for everyone. EVERYONE - from Hillary and Bill Clinton who make themselves rich off of poverty (90% of their foundation money does not go to help the poor), to politicians looking for votes out of making victims, to fathers like Freddie Gray's, to college students who live off the fat of the land and don't understand or get educated on the issues, to pastors and priests who are afraid to say the truth. Feed your own children and teach them that America is not about what you get. Make people feel responsible for themselves and ask what they are doing to help others when they ask you for a handout. Start saying the truth and the looters will understand that they, and Freddie Gray, are criminals. This is not a lynching party for the police. We do not convict police of being murderers on the whim and force of a crowd. And pray for America everyday. We have to have another revolution for our freedom, a revolution to throw off the "victims"and turn them into true patriots and American citizens once again. It all happens from a very simple thing- EXPECTATIONS!!
I remember when I was a school teacher I would hear parents complain about their children getting in trouble when they had done nothing wrong. NO, try again. Children who are sitting quietly, earnestly trying to do their work, are not ripped up out of their seats and accused of things. The last thing a teacher wants is trouble. The teacher is very busy and just prays that everyone is good. This is the same story with police. They don't go looking for trouble. They hope it doesn't happen on their watch. So, back to Freddie Gray. The question is, why did Freddie Gray become a criminal?
Well, I didn't make him a criminal and neither did you. Freddie became a criminal because his parents did not take care of him. I don't know Freddie's parents but I just bet his dad didn't take him fishing and play ball with him and read him bedtime stories. More than likely his dad wasn't even in his home. Was Freddie a criminal because he was poor? NO!! Many people are poor. They do not become criminals. Most of us come from poor backgrounds or our grandparents did. These people by and large did not become criminals. They took personal responsibility and worked their way out of poverty. Yes, you can do that. It happens every day.
I just went to church today and once again I did not hear a sermon on personal responsibility. Each of us has a responsibility to care for ourselves and our families. If you are not making breakfast for your children shame on you. If you are using drugs to get high, shame on you. If you are on welfare you should be grateful and doing everything humanly possible to take that burden off of the rest of society.
It's not about giving back. It's about doing what you are supposed to do and understanding your responsibility and guilt when you do not do the things you are supposed to do. Unions, nonprofits, and political parties, do not make money or get power from making you responsible. They can, however, get lots of money and support for telling you you are a victim. The "victims" may lose us our freedom. Every program to help the "victims" takes money and power away from the average American. Money is power, and the more of it you give to the government, the more power the government has over you.
These righteous college babies had their signs "Black lives matter". Yes they do. One hundred and fifty innocent Black men were beheaded by the Libyans because they believed in Jesus Christ. Hundreds were thrown off a boat at sea. I just didn't see all these righteous college babies out there with their signs "Black lives matter". No, to them, Black lives only matter when the cause is making a conversation that will get votes for the Socialist/Democrat political agenda.
A headline in one of our Montana papers today said that the new political agenda was the poor and they cited the riots in Baltimore. Sorry boys. It's not education, Baltimore pays more per student (over $15,000 dollars a student!!) for education, and has a social safety net that an ox couldn't carrry. This is not about poverty, this is about responsibility for everyone. EVERYONE - from Hillary and Bill Clinton who make themselves rich off of poverty (90% of their foundation money does not go to help the poor), to politicians looking for votes out of making victims, to fathers like Freddie Gray's, to college students who live off the fat of the land and don't understand or get educated on the issues, to pastors and priests who are afraid to say the truth. Feed your own children and teach them that America is not about what you get. Make people feel responsible for themselves and ask what they are doing to help others when they ask you for a handout. Start saying the truth and the looters will understand that they, and Freddie Gray, are criminals. This is not a lynching party for the police. We do not convict police of being murderers on the whim and force of a crowd. And pray for America everyday. We have to have another revolution for our freedom, a revolution to throw off the "victims"and turn them into true patriots and American citizens once again. It all happens from a very simple thing- EXPECTATIONS!!
Tuesday 28 April 2015
CONSOLIDATION
In my home town of Helena we are having a big fight over a bond to CONSOLIDATE our schools. If the school district has their way we will go from eleven elementaries to seven. Almost all of our children will have to take a bus or be driven to school. Amy Yerko from Chicago was brought here not long ago, as a consultant, to show us how wonderful these mega schools are. She had slides with pictures of these mega schools from other states, so we know this is not a Helena idea don't we?
Whose idea is this? Who wants our children going to 500 student mega institutions? I could show you the plan from the Federal Department of Education. I have a copy. In the early nineties when Hillary Clinton introduced us to Goals 2000 she said she wanted schools to become community centers. Her schools would be the central hub where all services would be offered. Now we have Common Core and Century 21 grants. It is the same thing from the same people. The globalists from the Federal Government and the United Nations are in this dream world where they think they are just so much smarter than the rest of us. In their world of dreams they will manage the masses. They will social engineer our children to "the right way" and manage us all into community consensus groups. That's why we need CONSOLIDATION. It's just so hard to manage disparate entities, CONSOLIDATED things are so much easier to control.
The first thing Hillary did in the early nineties was to CONSOLIDATE school districts. In Helena we went from three districts to one.This move to CONSOLIDATION was written into Goals 2000. Have you noticed CONSOLIDATION where you live? In Helena almost all of our private doctor businesses have been CONSOLIDATED into the hospital. It's just so much easier to CONTROL things when they are CONSOLIDATED.
That, in truth, is what the Standards movement is all about. We used to have very general standards, the Carnegie Standards, that said students should have a certain number of units in Math, Science, English, and Social Studies to graduate. What was in those courses, and how they were taught and evaluated was up to the school district and the teachers. We did pretty well under that system. We built a civilized society, even interstate highways, skyscrapers and went to the moon!! We had a reasonably moral society and people were not starving to death in our streets. We were doing better than most places in the world like India or China or Africa. But, Hillary and her friends did not like this. They knew better, there was too much freedom going on out there!! Voila, the standards movement. She would tell our schools what to teach and our teachers how to teach!! She would have grants and programs like gardening (it was in Goals 2000) and artists in residency (in Goals 2000) and so on. I don't know about your school district but ours has tanked since this all happened 20 years ago. Our schools in Helena today are in disarray and our scores have fallen alot. Our school buildings are in disrepair because money for maintenance has gone to programs and paid for Federal grants that do their disappearing act after three years. Our whole town is at each others throats. But what has happened to Hillary?
My, My, she's become a multimillionaire or billionaire and is running for president!! She's been influence peddling all over the world, even gave uranium to Russia which supplies Iran!! Her friend Jeffrey Imhelt, CEO of General Electric, got a contract with Kazikhstan from her while she was secretary of state, and gave ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS to Common Core ( who knew being secretary of state could be such a lucrative job!!)!!What a wheeler and dealer you are Hillary!! You will conrol the world!! Just take from one and give to another and you have the world on a string. Why you are so smart and so compassionate that you have made yourself a mega fortune!! Hillary Machiavelli!! Who cares what happens to America and the freedom it once had? Who cares about all the corruption and lawlessness? Who cares about the moral decay and dissarray in our schools? Who cares if our buildings are in disrepair and students lose their neighborhood schools? These people at the top know what is best for us, everything will be WONDERFUL IN THE END. No it won't. I saw this story play out before in the soviet union. I was in Romania with my relatives in 1975. Everyone was suffering because it was all going to be a panacea in the end. No it wasn't. The people finally revolted and the wall came down in 1989. Ceausescu (Romanian president) was shot dead in the street.
I don't know how long the American people will allow this to play out. How long will they take direction from Hillary while allowing her and Bill to amass their fortune? When children are small and mom says "you have to do your homework" and "you have to brush your teeth" but dad says," Hey- stay up as late as you want and I'll give you candy!", the kids go with dad! Hey- he's a great guy! But when they have a tummy ache and are tired at school and start to fail- they turn back to mom. Hillary and her friends have broken down morals "if it feels good do it!", and offered free everything, and jobs ,and contracts, and grants. As they have gone down this merry path they have enriched themselves as our great America has sighed and shuddered under the weight of debt, lawlessness and corruption, and destruction of our institutions. I don't know how you get integrity back. Some people think we never will. I, however, am an optimist. I believe in this country with all my heart and soul. I will never give up. America will notice it is tired and weak and will rise up AGAINST this monster socialism. America will DECONSOLIDATE AND GET BACK TO OUR FREEDOM!! There are no angels among men that know what it best for all. We can decide for ourselves what is best for our schools and towns and families.
Whose idea is this? Who wants our children going to 500 student mega institutions? I could show you the plan from the Federal Department of Education. I have a copy. In the early nineties when Hillary Clinton introduced us to Goals 2000 she said she wanted schools to become community centers. Her schools would be the central hub where all services would be offered. Now we have Common Core and Century 21 grants. It is the same thing from the same people. The globalists from the Federal Government and the United Nations are in this dream world where they think they are just so much smarter than the rest of us. In their world of dreams they will manage the masses. They will social engineer our children to "the right way" and manage us all into community consensus groups. That's why we need CONSOLIDATION. It's just so hard to manage disparate entities, CONSOLIDATED things are so much easier to control.
The first thing Hillary did in the early nineties was to CONSOLIDATE school districts. In Helena we went from three districts to one.This move to CONSOLIDATION was written into Goals 2000. Have you noticed CONSOLIDATION where you live? In Helena almost all of our private doctor businesses have been CONSOLIDATED into the hospital. It's just so much easier to CONTROL things when they are CONSOLIDATED.
That, in truth, is what the Standards movement is all about. We used to have very general standards, the Carnegie Standards, that said students should have a certain number of units in Math, Science, English, and Social Studies to graduate. What was in those courses, and how they were taught and evaluated was up to the school district and the teachers. We did pretty well under that system. We built a civilized society, even interstate highways, skyscrapers and went to the moon!! We had a reasonably moral society and people were not starving to death in our streets. We were doing better than most places in the world like India or China or Africa. But, Hillary and her friends did not like this. They knew better, there was too much freedom going on out there!! Voila, the standards movement. She would tell our schools what to teach and our teachers how to teach!! She would have grants and programs like gardening (it was in Goals 2000) and artists in residency (in Goals 2000) and so on. I don't know about your school district but ours has tanked since this all happened 20 years ago. Our schools in Helena today are in disarray and our scores have fallen alot. Our school buildings are in disrepair because money for maintenance has gone to programs and paid for Federal grants that do their disappearing act after three years. Our whole town is at each others throats. But what has happened to Hillary?
My, My, she's become a multimillionaire or billionaire and is running for president!! She's been influence peddling all over the world, even gave uranium to Russia which supplies Iran!! Her friend Jeffrey Imhelt, CEO of General Electric, got a contract with Kazikhstan from her while she was secretary of state, and gave ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS to Common Core ( who knew being secretary of state could be such a lucrative job!!)!!What a wheeler and dealer you are Hillary!! You will conrol the world!! Just take from one and give to another and you have the world on a string. Why you are so smart and so compassionate that you have made yourself a mega fortune!! Hillary Machiavelli!! Who cares what happens to America and the freedom it once had? Who cares about all the corruption and lawlessness? Who cares about the moral decay and dissarray in our schools? Who cares if our buildings are in disrepair and students lose their neighborhood schools? These people at the top know what is best for us, everything will be WONDERFUL IN THE END. No it won't. I saw this story play out before in the soviet union. I was in Romania with my relatives in 1975. Everyone was suffering because it was all going to be a panacea in the end. No it wasn't. The people finally revolted and the wall came down in 1989. Ceausescu (Romanian president) was shot dead in the street.
I don't know how long the American people will allow this to play out. How long will they take direction from Hillary while allowing her and Bill to amass their fortune? When children are small and mom says "you have to do your homework" and "you have to brush your teeth" but dad says," Hey- stay up as late as you want and I'll give you candy!", the kids go with dad! Hey- he's a great guy! But when they have a tummy ache and are tired at school and start to fail- they turn back to mom. Hillary and her friends have broken down morals "if it feels good do it!", and offered free everything, and jobs ,and contracts, and grants. As they have gone down this merry path they have enriched themselves as our great America has sighed and shuddered under the weight of debt, lawlessness and corruption, and destruction of our institutions. I don't know how you get integrity back. Some people think we never will. I, however, am an optimist. I believe in this country with all my heart and soul. I will never give up. America will notice it is tired and weak and will rise up AGAINST this monster socialism. America will DECONSOLIDATE AND GET BACK TO OUR FREEDOM!! There are no angels among men that know what it best for all. We can decide for ourselves what is best for our schools and towns and families.
Tuesday 14 April 2015
EDUCATION BY SPECIAL INTEREST
When you bring the Federal Government into schools what you bring with it is politics. Every lobbying effort in Washington from arts to conservation now has a seat at the table in your child's classroom. What the "experts" will tell you is that children don't need a full curriculum anymore. They don't need to memorize things because they can look them up. This is the excuse for all the classroom interruption. They will tell you that children learn through experiences and that of course, it's so important that they be socially engineered with one program after another. How could students ever live their own lives without the government telling them what to eat, what to say and not say, how and when to have sex, that they need exercise, what they should like and not like (like art), what they should believe and not believe (like global warming etc.), teach them to run the governors cup, teach them to work for nonprofits like Food Share, teach them to garden (healthy life style), manage their family with home visits and after school programs and so many other things that the "experts" haven't even thought of yet?
My son often reads the liberal nonsense on this very same internet. He read an article about education the other day hmmm-. Well, this genius he was reading had this thesis, which he did not think up himself of course, that what do you learn more from - experiencing a mountain or having a presentation about a mountain? Just think of that, this poor man wants us to go back to cave man days when all the knowledge a person had was what he experienced!! Well, I of course told my son he would learn more from a presentation- duh. If a person experienced a mountain they would know that it had plants and trees and was rocky and cold at the top. If they had a presentation they would know that mountains have altitudes in varying degrees and exist in mountain chains in countries across the world and what fossils are and the tree line and on and on. Well, he said, you could look all that up! Well, I said, I guess you would have to know how to read to look it up, and that takes an awful lot of planned learning. In addition it's really not that simple, we can understand what we are reading because we have had presentations of knowledge. I could read a medical article but this does not make me a doctor. Learning takes time and study, it takes presentation, practice, review and evaluation over and over again for years and years. Knowledge builds in a strategic and precise fashion that builds a foundation and then builds on that foundation. This is not rocket science, and it is stupid that we even have to have this converstaion because of these imbeciles in education theory who are bending to the needs of special interests who want to make money off of our schools. Instead of moving forward we are fighting for what is so obvious. My son got it immediately "oh yeah, working smarter instead of harder."
Experience that reinforces learning is fabulous, that's what science experiments and field trips are all about, but experience without presentation is not much more than a trip to Disney Land, lots of fun, but not of real consequence in building a foundation of knowledge. The Federal Department of Defense is now being used in education. They don't teach about national defense, they teach the Star Based program. Kids in 5th grade give up a whole week of education to play with computers and space simulators. The tax payers get to pay for this. This is an example of Disney Land learning. There is no foundation for this learning, it is not part of the 5th grade curriculum. There is no teach, practice, review and evaluate to it. There is no learning that becomes the foundation for the next lesson. It's just fun. So a whole week of learning in 5th grade is sacrificed just for fun. The man who presented this information to the budget committee here in Helena, an elementary principal, wants more of this. Take every non profit in town, Grand Street Theater, Exploration Works, the museum, just any place, and put the kids there according to their interests!! This man has no idea what entails a complete and good education. He has no respect for the learning process.
People often ask me what I think of Montessori. Maria Montessori based her learning theory on a Frenchman's study of how babies learn. Piaget watched babies explore their world. He noted how they repeated tasks over and over again - like buckling or fitting one thing into another. From this he deduced, or others did for him, that children should teach themselves!! This is stupid. What I tell people is that I can't speak to every Montessori class because they are not really Montessori, they are perverted- for example, in Helena they do the Walk To Read program and the Accelerated Reader Program and the Accelerated Math program (along with all the constant interruptions that every class suffers). What I will say is that I believe Maria Montessori was wrong. Babies are in an explore and discover mode of learning, they don't even have language yet. Small children may still be exploring but they have language and are beginning to do higher level things like reading and spelling. They are exploring their world at a much more complex level. They are beginning to build that foundation of knowledge that does not come from licking something. It comes from listening and reading and practicing and reviewing and evaluation and building knowledge strategically.
As I've said on this blog before, get the dollars back to the classroom and out of Washington. Send the special interests packing and make school what it should be- the opportunity for young people to build a good foundation of knowledge and skills that will allow them the opportunity to pursue their happiness without the Federal Government, in any way shape or form.
My son often reads the liberal nonsense on this very same internet. He read an article about education the other day hmmm-. Well, this genius he was reading had this thesis, which he did not think up himself of course, that what do you learn more from - experiencing a mountain or having a presentation about a mountain? Just think of that, this poor man wants us to go back to cave man days when all the knowledge a person had was what he experienced!! Well, I of course told my son he would learn more from a presentation- duh. If a person experienced a mountain they would know that it had plants and trees and was rocky and cold at the top. If they had a presentation they would know that mountains have altitudes in varying degrees and exist in mountain chains in countries across the world and what fossils are and the tree line and on and on. Well, he said, you could look all that up! Well, I said, I guess you would have to know how to read to look it up, and that takes an awful lot of planned learning. In addition it's really not that simple, we can understand what we are reading because we have had presentations of knowledge. I could read a medical article but this does not make me a doctor. Learning takes time and study, it takes presentation, practice, review and evaluation over and over again for years and years. Knowledge builds in a strategic and precise fashion that builds a foundation and then builds on that foundation. This is not rocket science, and it is stupid that we even have to have this converstaion because of these imbeciles in education theory who are bending to the needs of special interests who want to make money off of our schools. Instead of moving forward we are fighting for what is so obvious. My son got it immediately "oh yeah, working smarter instead of harder."
Experience that reinforces learning is fabulous, that's what science experiments and field trips are all about, but experience without presentation is not much more than a trip to Disney Land, lots of fun, but not of real consequence in building a foundation of knowledge. The Federal Department of Defense is now being used in education. They don't teach about national defense, they teach the Star Based program. Kids in 5th grade give up a whole week of education to play with computers and space simulators. The tax payers get to pay for this. This is an example of Disney Land learning. There is no foundation for this learning, it is not part of the 5th grade curriculum. There is no teach, practice, review and evaluate to it. There is no learning that becomes the foundation for the next lesson. It's just fun. So a whole week of learning in 5th grade is sacrificed just for fun. The man who presented this information to the budget committee here in Helena, an elementary principal, wants more of this. Take every non profit in town, Grand Street Theater, Exploration Works, the museum, just any place, and put the kids there according to their interests!! This man has no idea what entails a complete and good education. He has no respect for the learning process.
People often ask me what I think of Montessori. Maria Montessori based her learning theory on a Frenchman's study of how babies learn. Piaget watched babies explore their world. He noted how they repeated tasks over and over again - like buckling or fitting one thing into another. From this he deduced, or others did for him, that children should teach themselves!! This is stupid. What I tell people is that I can't speak to every Montessori class because they are not really Montessori, they are perverted- for example, in Helena they do the Walk To Read program and the Accelerated Reader Program and the Accelerated Math program (along with all the constant interruptions that every class suffers). What I will say is that I believe Maria Montessori was wrong. Babies are in an explore and discover mode of learning, they don't even have language yet. Small children may still be exploring but they have language and are beginning to do higher level things like reading and spelling. They are exploring their world at a much more complex level. They are beginning to build that foundation of knowledge that does not come from licking something. It comes from listening and reading and practicing and reviewing and evaluation and building knowledge strategically.
As I've said on this blog before, get the dollars back to the classroom and out of Washington. Send the special interests packing and make school what it should be- the opportunity for young people to build a good foundation of knowledge and skills that will allow them the opportunity to pursue their happiness without the Federal Government, in any way shape or form.
Monday 30 March 2015
BULLYING PROGRAMS
Shools have always had rules against bullying. What schools have not had rules against throwing rocks, hitting, calling names, or in any other way abusing others such as not taking your turn or throwing rocks etcetera? What are playground paras for if not to referee the playground and defend students who may be being treated unfairly? If you accept that schools have always had rules against bad behavior ,have taught kindness and good behavior,and have monitored bullyings and punished violators , you have to ask yourself why the Democrats here in Montana have worked so slavishly for years to get a bullying bill. They would not be deterred. This sounds like one thing to me, as much as they may deny it- it's about jobs. Maybe that's why the unions have been championing and testifying religiously for these bullying bills. Here's how I think they will try to make it work.
The unions have been adding jobs and unions in the schools like presents at Christmas for years. As the private unions have shrunk the unions have tried to recover this lost money through government unions.In the schools it's not just teachers that are unionized now, but administrators, paras and janitors too!! Special needs students often have full time paras assigned just to them. The number of paras have sky rocketed. More than ninety percent of money spent in the schools goes to salaries- in Helena it has been as high as ninety- six percent!! So when you hear people pleading for money for children- what they are really pleading for is more money for salaries. But let's talk about how this might all work with the new bullying programs.
Bills for social workers and mental health workers are not easy to pass in the legislature these days, so the easier way to do this is to force it through regulation or litigation. You find a student to say he is bullied (every teacher knows it won't be hard to find a student who claims his problems are the fault of others) and then you SUE the school district!! We have seen this with the ACLU supporting themselves by trying to get rid of the Pledge of Allegiance or Christmas Songs or even saying "Christmas Break" or "Easter Break". Just find ONE parent to complain and off you go to court, or the school buckles and obeys without even going to court. Ninety Nine percent of the parents and students wishes are ignored and the ONE PARENT gets what they want.
So I don't think it's a stretch at all to assume that the unions think they can get more paydays by forcing schools to hire more social workers and mental health workers by using litigation. A bullying bill gives them the law behind what they want to do. Perhaps they think the public will just pressure the legislature to provide money for all these new workers. Maybe the public will not buckle to more taxes and then the schools will have more mental health workers but lose teachers. I'm not against unions, but I am against greed. I am against looking for more money out of the schools all the time. Let's start putting our priority on students- really. School should not be about jobs and higher salaries.
Absolutely no one wants kids bullied, but bullying programs and legislation will not stop bullying anymore than food programs have ended hunger or housing programs have ended homelessness or welfare has ended poverty. It seems these problems get worse as govenment programs try to manage them. Keep it local, keep it reasonable, and keep the money seekers at bay. The money seekers are not do gooders, not really, and what is in their heart is not really our children first- not really.
The unions have been adding jobs and unions in the schools like presents at Christmas for years. As the private unions have shrunk the unions have tried to recover this lost money through government unions.In the schools it's not just teachers that are unionized now, but administrators, paras and janitors too!! Special needs students often have full time paras assigned just to them. The number of paras have sky rocketed. More than ninety percent of money spent in the schools goes to salaries- in Helena it has been as high as ninety- six percent!! So when you hear people pleading for money for children- what they are really pleading for is more money for salaries. But let's talk about how this might all work with the new bullying programs.
Bills for social workers and mental health workers are not easy to pass in the legislature these days, so the easier way to do this is to force it through regulation or litigation. You find a student to say he is bullied (every teacher knows it won't be hard to find a student who claims his problems are the fault of others) and then you SUE the school district!! We have seen this with the ACLU supporting themselves by trying to get rid of the Pledge of Allegiance or Christmas Songs or even saying "Christmas Break" or "Easter Break". Just find ONE parent to complain and off you go to court, or the school buckles and obeys without even going to court. Ninety Nine percent of the parents and students wishes are ignored and the ONE PARENT gets what they want.
So I don't think it's a stretch at all to assume that the unions think they can get more paydays by forcing schools to hire more social workers and mental health workers by using litigation. A bullying bill gives them the law behind what they want to do. Perhaps they think the public will just pressure the legislature to provide money for all these new workers. Maybe the public will not buckle to more taxes and then the schools will have more mental health workers but lose teachers. I'm not against unions, but I am against greed. I am against looking for more money out of the schools all the time. Let's start putting our priority on students- really. School should not be about jobs and higher salaries.
Absolutely no one wants kids bullied, but bullying programs and legislation will not stop bullying anymore than food programs have ended hunger or housing programs have ended homelessness or welfare has ended poverty. It seems these problems get worse as govenment programs try to manage them. Keep it local, keep it reasonable, and keep the money seekers at bay. The money seekers are not do gooders, not really, and what is in their heart is not really our children first- not really.
Friday 20 March 2015
WHO ARE THE NICE PEOPLE??
I just came back from a trip to California. I was once again treated to my "favorite" bumper sticker. Some old hippi had this very old and faded bumper sticker from 20 years ago when Clinton lost the house and senate- the bumper sticker says "MEAN PEOPLE SUCK"!! Hmmm- really? If mean people suck - WHO ARE THE NICE PEOPLE?
Let me think- if the mean people are the responsible tax paying indivduals the "nice" people must be the drug addicts and other totally irresponsible individuals who do nothing for anyone else and want a hand out from others. Or maybe the "nice" people are the people like Nancy Pelosi who gold plated her husbands real estate development with government favors and went on to take a private jet home to San Francisco every weekend on the public dime even though the government is floundering in debt, or Harry Reid who had all that land rezoned so his sons could make a whole bunch of money, or Barrack Obama who took essentially free land from the mob boss Rizzio, or maybe it's the all so caring Clintons that have become multimillionaires putting America up for Sale by influence peddling to any country that would give them money- including China, Saudi Arabia and Algeria - ARE THESE THE NICE PEOPLE- REALLY? I guess Martha's Vineyard is just full of all these "nice" people.
I guess the socialists are trying as hard as they can to raise "nice" children in school. We wouldn't like them to be rugged individuals who believe in themselves and work hard and are focussed. We want them to suck on water bottles all day (they need their water on demand at all times) and then run to the potty all day long (and maybe play a little in the hallway on the way- what the heck- what you miss in class isn't really all that important). We want them to give up their studies so they can help foodshare out and do a little gardening and then collect money for foodshare and cancer and so on too. Non profits aren't businesses that want to expand and have a bottom line of salaries and benefits are they? They don't have CEO's that make millions of dollars off of the public donations do they?
You know I guess "nice" people don't ask questions either. If you fill them full of a bunch of bull about global warming or how bad their country is- they will just accept that. They won't be those trouble making rugged individuals that work hard and have integrity. The "nice" people will just accept whatever the powers that be in Washington send down.
The "nice" people aren't judgemental either. Why, anything goes with them!! Have sex whenever and with whomever and take drugs too- they wouldn't want anyone to think they thought they had higher morals!! No indeed,go home mindless and watch MTV - those people on the Donna Reed show or Leave It To Beaver are just mean spirited to think there are higher morals in this world.
Well there you have it folks- raising kids the socialist way. But wait a minute- what if we all become "nice" people and there is no one left to carry the load and pay the bills? Hmmm- I guess the socialists
have an answer for that too- they control everyone and then they bring down the hammer. Don't let them America- keep fighting back- the rugged individuals will save America inspite of itself.
Let me think- if the mean people are the responsible tax paying indivduals the "nice" people must be the drug addicts and other totally irresponsible individuals who do nothing for anyone else and want a hand out from others. Or maybe the "nice" people are the people like Nancy Pelosi who gold plated her husbands real estate development with government favors and went on to take a private jet home to San Francisco every weekend on the public dime even though the government is floundering in debt, or Harry Reid who had all that land rezoned so his sons could make a whole bunch of money, or Barrack Obama who took essentially free land from the mob boss Rizzio, or maybe it's the all so caring Clintons that have become multimillionaires putting America up for Sale by influence peddling to any country that would give them money- including China, Saudi Arabia and Algeria - ARE THESE THE NICE PEOPLE- REALLY? I guess Martha's Vineyard is just full of all these "nice" people.
I guess the socialists are trying as hard as they can to raise "nice" children in school. We wouldn't like them to be rugged individuals who believe in themselves and work hard and are focussed. We want them to suck on water bottles all day (they need their water on demand at all times) and then run to the potty all day long (and maybe play a little in the hallway on the way- what the heck- what you miss in class isn't really all that important). We want them to give up their studies so they can help foodshare out and do a little gardening and then collect money for foodshare and cancer and so on too. Non profits aren't businesses that want to expand and have a bottom line of salaries and benefits are they? They don't have CEO's that make millions of dollars off of the public donations do they?
You know I guess "nice" people don't ask questions either. If you fill them full of a bunch of bull about global warming or how bad their country is- they will just accept that. They won't be those trouble making rugged individuals that work hard and have integrity. The "nice" people will just accept whatever the powers that be in Washington send down.
The "nice" people aren't judgemental either. Why, anything goes with them!! Have sex whenever and with whomever and take drugs too- they wouldn't want anyone to think they thought they had higher morals!! No indeed,go home mindless and watch MTV - those people on the Donna Reed show or Leave It To Beaver are just mean spirited to think there are higher morals in this world.
Well there you have it folks- raising kids the socialist way. But wait a minute- what if we all become "nice" people and there is no one left to carry the load and pay the bills? Hmmm- I guess the socialists
have an answer for that too- they control everyone and then they bring down the hammer. Don't let them America- keep fighting back- the rugged individuals will save America inspite of itself.
Tuesday 17 February 2015
ELITISM AND NO ACCOUNTABILITY
It is astounding to me that the United States Senate and House of Representatives is about to reenact the NCLB (No Child Left Behind)- recently called the ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act)- in other words- FUNDING FOR THE FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION!!! This department came about in 1977 when the elitists, who today call themselves progressives, were screaming like Chicken Little that the sky was falling!! American education was failing!! American education was on the brink of disaster!! We needed the Federal Government to step in and save us!!
My, My,- 38 years and billions of dollars later what do we have? Do we have improved education in America? Well if we do, it's sure funny that the homeschool movement has mushroomed everywhere and the states are screaming for vouchers and charter schools. Actually our schools are in huge dissarray. Students' dress tells you all you need to know- they respect no one, their morals allow in many cases for promiscuity and drug use. I know there are wonderful top notch students out there, but these individuals survive inspite of the dissarray, including dishes of condoms on the nurses desk and sex clubs on campus.
Even the Elitists admit there actually is a problem- that's why they came up with the new program "Common Core" that our vaunted United States Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan has been pimping for all over the country. Has this program been tried, tested, and proven? NO. The elitists are not required to have ANY ACCOUNTABILITY. They know what's best for you, just take their word for it. They get to say anything they want, like "graduation and career ready" and "21st century!" and you are just supposed to believe it. They don't have to prove anything. In fact, they get to tell you what it is appropriate for you to say and not to say. I heard the other day that to call illegal aliens, illegal aliens is racist!! The old power politics of the race card. What are we supposed to call people who are not citizens and who broke the law and are here illegally? Are we supposed to call them citizens? So much for free speech, the elitists, who call themselves progressives ,will let us know what we can say and what we can not say. They will let us know what we must believe (like that carbon emissions cause global warming) and they are not accountable to prove anything.
The American people are trying to fight back. There was a huge tsunami election of conservatives last November. But, what difference does it make? What difference does it make if our elected representatives will just reenact the old hippi programs that have not worked for 38 years? What difference does our vote make if these representatives will not require SOME ACCOUNTABILITY before reenacting the same failed programs and spending BILLIONS OF DOLLARS on them while the security of our country, our very existence, is floundering in our more than EIGHTEEN TRILLION DOLLARS OF DEBT?!!
Maurice McTigue tells of the accountability program in New Zealand. Their government was floundering in debt and bureaucracy and over regulation. They found that for every dollar spent on education, SEVENTY CENTS WENT TO BUREAUCRATS AND ONLY THIRTY CENTS WENT TO THE CLASSROOMS!!! They did away with all the bureaucracy and went to local school boards for each school that were elected only by the parents from that school. International testing showed that New Zealand students went from fifteen percent BELOW the international average to fifteen percent ABOVE the international average.
Unfortunately, people like Jeb Bush who thinks he is going to run for president, just don't get it. They call themselves Republicans but they don't get that we don't need central control over things to make them work. They don't even get that central control doesn't work and that individuals and competition DO WORK. For two hundred years this country grew and became powerful and rich with schools that made their own curriculums and chose materials from capitalist competitive pubishing companies. But people like Jeb think the 38years of destruction by the federal bureaucrats is what we really need!! He and his counterparts won't require ACCOUNTABILITY. He never even asked for the proof that Common Core worked, the tests and pilots, before he bought their whole schtick of "college and career ready" and "21st century skills". America doesn't need anymore Bozos like Jeb Bush. We need independent thinkers that are willing to REQUIRE ACCOUNTABILITY and have the strength of character to get this American government back on track, ACCOUNTABLE TO THE CONSTITUTION AND ACCOUNTABLE TO WHAT THE GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS HAVE ACCOMPLISHED!!We need a president and elected representatives that are not afraid of unions and lobbyists. We need a president who is a strong indpendent thinker who will fight for what is right for America.
Centralized authorites have a very limited number of things that they might be able to do well and they need to get back to their knitting and let the rest of us be free and have a secure country once again. We don't have to sit and be controlled by propaganda from these elitists who think that they and or their government friends should manage all of us. They call themselves progressives but what they really are, are elitists who think you need to be controlled for your own good because you are not capable of running your own life. These elitists who call themselves progressives, get their ideas from Washington. They don't ask questions and they don't require accountability. It's up to us to unmask them and their propaganda. The American people must scream for accountability and courage, starting with NOT REENACTING THE ESEA THAT IS A TOTAL FAILURE AND PUTTING THE FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OUT OF BUSINESS FOR GOOD!! WRITE YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES IN WASHINGTON TODAY!!
My, My,- 38 years and billions of dollars later what do we have? Do we have improved education in America? Well if we do, it's sure funny that the homeschool movement has mushroomed everywhere and the states are screaming for vouchers and charter schools. Actually our schools are in huge dissarray. Students' dress tells you all you need to know- they respect no one, their morals allow in many cases for promiscuity and drug use. I know there are wonderful top notch students out there, but these individuals survive inspite of the dissarray, including dishes of condoms on the nurses desk and sex clubs on campus.
Even the Elitists admit there actually is a problem- that's why they came up with the new program "Common Core" that our vaunted United States Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan has been pimping for all over the country. Has this program been tried, tested, and proven? NO. The elitists are not required to have ANY ACCOUNTABILITY. They know what's best for you, just take their word for it. They get to say anything they want, like "graduation and career ready" and "21st century!" and you are just supposed to believe it. They don't have to prove anything. In fact, they get to tell you what it is appropriate for you to say and not to say. I heard the other day that to call illegal aliens, illegal aliens is racist!! The old power politics of the race card. What are we supposed to call people who are not citizens and who broke the law and are here illegally? Are we supposed to call them citizens? So much for free speech, the elitists, who call themselves progressives ,will let us know what we can say and what we can not say. They will let us know what we must believe (like that carbon emissions cause global warming) and they are not accountable to prove anything.
The American people are trying to fight back. There was a huge tsunami election of conservatives last November. But, what difference does it make? What difference does it make if our elected representatives will just reenact the old hippi programs that have not worked for 38 years? What difference does our vote make if these representatives will not require SOME ACCOUNTABILITY before reenacting the same failed programs and spending BILLIONS OF DOLLARS on them while the security of our country, our very existence, is floundering in our more than EIGHTEEN TRILLION DOLLARS OF DEBT?!!
Maurice McTigue tells of the accountability program in New Zealand. Their government was floundering in debt and bureaucracy and over regulation. They found that for every dollar spent on education, SEVENTY CENTS WENT TO BUREAUCRATS AND ONLY THIRTY CENTS WENT TO THE CLASSROOMS!!! They did away with all the bureaucracy and went to local school boards for each school that were elected only by the parents from that school. International testing showed that New Zealand students went from fifteen percent BELOW the international average to fifteen percent ABOVE the international average.
Unfortunately, people like Jeb Bush who thinks he is going to run for president, just don't get it. They call themselves Republicans but they don't get that we don't need central control over things to make them work. They don't even get that central control doesn't work and that individuals and competition DO WORK. For two hundred years this country grew and became powerful and rich with schools that made their own curriculums and chose materials from capitalist competitive pubishing companies. But people like Jeb think the 38years of destruction by the federal bureaucrats is what we really need!! He and his counterparts won't require ACCOUNTABILITY. He never even asked for the proof that Common Core worked, the tests and pilots, before he bought their whole schtick of "college and career ready" and "21st century skills". America doesn't need anymore Bozos like Jeb Bush. We need independent thinkers that are willing to REQUIRE ACCOUNTABILITY and have the strength of character to get this American government back on track, ACCOUNTABLE TO THE CONSTITUTION AND ACCOUNTABLE TO WHAT THE GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS HAVE ACCOMPLISHED!!We need a president and elected representatives that are not afraid of unions and lobbyists. We need a president who is a strong indpendent thinker who will fight for what is right for America.
Centralized authorites have a very limited number of things that they might be able to do well and they need to get back to their knitting and let the rest of us be free and have a secure country once again. We don't have to sit and be controlled by propaganda from these elitists who think that they and or their government friends should manage all of us. They call themselves progressives but what they really are, are elitists who think you need to be controlled for your own good because you are not capable of running your own life. These elitists who call themselves progressives, get their ideas from Washington. They don't ask questions and they don't require accountability. It's up to us to unmask them and their propaganda. The American people must scream for accountability and courage, starting with NOT REENACTING THE ESEA THAT IS A TOTAL FAILURE AND PUTTING THE FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OUT OF BUSINESS FOR GOOD!! WRITE YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES IN WASHINGTON TODAY!!
Thursday 22 January 2015
INTRANSIGENT CHAMELEONS
Have you ever noticed that the liberals who are supposedly so open minded, NEVER CHANGE THEIR POSITION, NEVER CHANGE THEIR GOAL, NEVER GIVE UP GOING FOR THE SAME THINGS NO MATTER HOW WRONG HEADED IT IS PROVEN TO BE?
In Helena, our local school board and it's vaunted superintendent have been trying to set up a school bond for about five years. They hold public forums and no matter what the public tells them, they stick to their guns of 500 student institutions. Even if the people protest, make signs, put signs in their yards FOR MONTHS, they stick to their guns, we will have seven 500 student elementary schools. They say they want public input, but they stick to their guns, 500 student institutions. Why is this so? Why are they so INTRANSIGENT? They are INTRANSIGENT because these are not their ideas, these ideas come from BUREAUCRATS IN WASHINGTON THAT HAVE CONTROL OVER WHO GETS FEDERAL GRANTS!!
The idea is to make it LOOK like the "community" is participating in these decisions, but in reality the decisions have already been made in Washington. Fortunately, the public still gets to vote for these bonds so there is a slight chink in their armour. They have tried all the techniques- over and over- putting people in groups and delphiing them so the school boards wishes appear to come from the public, stacking the room with teachers and principals who will say what the superintendent wants, trying to find a few lackys in the public who may want a job with the district and having them testify, stacking the room with special interest groups so that what is reported out is that our schools need room for the homeless, early childhood, disabilities interests, poverty interests, Montessori interests, art interests and so on, none of their tricks have been successful in Helena, people on the RIGHT AND THE LEFT want their neighborhood schools.
The propaganda is of course relentless. These "experts" know what the future is going to be!! If you don't want what they want you have your head in the sand!! This is the 21st century and our schools just must be brought up to 21st century standards!! All our schools are old and decrepit and the people who support them are just hanging on to relics and stopping progress- keeping Helena in the dark ages!! Besides, we don't have the money to have neighborhood schools!! Hmmm- really? We are running those schools right now and seem to be doing alright. What, by the way, is in the future that will make 500 student institutions the answer to educational progress? For me, it is just fun to finally see the liberals stand up. These people are very smart, very knowledgeable, and very prepared when they want to be. The historical preservationists are just fit to be tied about the destruction of these beautiful historic buildings. They point out that it's not the building your in that makes a good school, it's the teacher!! Yes!! Yes!! Yes!! - but nobody makes any money over just having good teachers.
Here's where the CHAMELEON comes in. This school board that sees itself as oh just so progressive- wants to stop progress!! Yes indeed, if little school districts can have their own high schools- well- they would lose just so much money!! We can't have that change!! Growth is happening in East Helena here and they just can't have their own high school !! Things must stay as they are!! My, My, stopping the future because you don't like it are we? One liberal pointed out that trends show that people are moving into the inner cities again. What if you close all the inner city schools and then the population is not in the valley but is in town? We're not going to pay attention to that future. The CHAMELEONS want children to walk to school, but they are closing their schools. The Chameleons want home visits and children and their families to be oh so comfortable at school, but they are closing their school and their playground and their gym, and sending them away on buses to 500 student institutions. The CHAMELEONS want bike paths everywhere and think that global warming is melting all the glaciers and washing us away, but they will put all the children in Helena in buses, or their parents cars.
Be careful about listening to liberal propaganda about the future, it changes to meet their needs. No one knows the future, and they are using your willingness to think they know what no one knows, to get their agenda of top down central control that puts all of us and our children into a social engineering cage. The bureaucrats in Washington are scary people. These very malinformed elitist tyrants don't know more than anyone else, but they have government power to control you. You can stop them, vote for people who will slay this dragon. Vote for someone who is willing to cut the head off of this snarling propaganda machine.
In Helena, our local school board and it's vaunted superintendent have been trying to set up a school bond for about five years. They hold public forums and no matter what the public tells them, they stick to their guns of 500 student institutions. Even if the people protest, make signs, put signs in their yards FOR MONTHS, they stick to their guns, we will have seven 500 student elementary schools. They say they want public input, but they stick to their guns, 500 student institutions. Why is this so? Why are they so INTRANSIGENT? They are INTRANSIGENT because these are not their ideas, these ideas come from BUREAUCRATS IN WASHINGTON THAT HAVE CONTROL OVER WHO GETS FEDERAL GRANTS!!
The idea is to make it LOOK like the "community" is participating in these decisions, but in reality the decisions have already been made in Washington. Fortunately, the public still gets to vote for these bonds so there is a slight chink in their armour. They have tried all the techniques- over and over- putting people in groups and delphiing them so the school boards wishes appear to come from the public, stacking the room with teachers and principals who will say what the superintendent wants, trying to find a few lackys in the public who may want a job with the district and having them testify, stacking the room with special interest groups so that what is reported out is that our schools need room for the homeless, early childhood, disabilities interests, poverty interests, Montessori interests, art interests and so on, none of their tricks have been successful in Helena, people on the RIGHT AND THE LEFT want their neighborhood schools.
The propaganda is of course relentless. These "experts" know what the future is going to be!! If you don't want what they want you have your head in the sand!! This is the 21st century and our schools just must be brought up to 21st century standards!! All our schools are old and decrepit and the people who support them are just hanging on to relics and stopping progress- keeping Helena in the dark ages!! Besides, we don't have the money to have neighborhood schools!! Hmmm- really? We are running those schools right now and seem to be doing alright. What, by the way, is in the future that will make 500 student institutions the answer to educational progress? For me, it is just fun to finally see the liberals stand up. These people are very smart, very knowledgeable, and very prepared when they want to be. The historical preservationists are just fit to be tied about the destruction of these beautiful historic buildings. They point out that it's not the building your in that makes a good school, it's the teacher!! Yes!! Yes!! Yes!! - but nobody makes any money over just having good teachers.
Here's where the CHAMELEON comes in. This school board that sees itself as oh just so progressive- wants to stop progress!! Yes indeed, if little school districts can have their own high schools- well- they would lose just so much money!! We can't have that change!! Growth is happening in East Helena here and they just can't have their own high school !! Things must stay as they are!! My, My, stopping the future because you don't like it are we? One liberal pointed out that trends show that people are moving into the inner cities again. What if you close all the inner city schools and then the population is not in the valley but is in town? We're not going to pay attention to that future. The CHAMELEONS want children to walk to school, but they are closing their schools. The Chameleons want home visits and children and their families to be oh so comfortable at school, but they are closing their school and their playground and their gym, and sending them away on buses to 500 student institutions. The CHAMELEONS want bike paths everywhere and think that global warming is melting all the glaciers and washing us away, but they will put all the children in Helena in buses, or their parents cars.
Be careful about listening to liberal propaganda about the future, it changes to meet their needs. No one knows the future, and they are using your willingness to think they know what no one knows, to get their agenda of top down central control that puts all of us and our children into a social engineering cage. The bureaucrats in Washington are scary people. These very malinformed elitist tyrants don't know more than anyone else, but they have government power to control you. You can stop them, vote for people who will slay this dragon. Vote for someone who is willing to cut the head off of this snarling propaganda machine.
Tuesday 6 January 2015
LEARNING YOUR COLORS
A six month old child will not speak. No matter how hard you try to teach him/her to speak the baby is not developmentally prepared for language acquisition and he/she will not speak. A one year old will not learn their colors. No matter how many colors you put in front of him/her the baby will not be able to identify colors. No matter how much time you spend going over colors a one year old will not learn to identify colors because their brain is not developmentally ready to learn colors. Two year olds will not play interactively together. They play side by side because that is the developmental stage they are at. Why do present day Common Core creators think that all brain development restrictions disappear when a child is three years old, or five years old ?
The new early childhood standards, as I have mentioned on this blog before, require higher level analytical thinking of 3 year olds. They also require scientific and algebraic reasoning to be taught to these 3 year olds. They are also going to learn the planets and that buildings are engineered. Why would you write standards like this for babies? Any person who works with three year olds, or any person who has a modicum of common sense, would know that these standards are nonsense. This is like thinking that if you start your baby on reading skills in the cradle he/she will learn to read earlier and be a better reader. This is not going to happen. Learning will happen when the student is developmentally ready to accept and use the information.
Before the current push into preschool, the Common Core geniuses (self appointed) produced the English/ Language Arts standards for k-12. In those standards five year olds will spend their time discussing their opinions with one another and comparing different stories. This is teaching the baby in the cradle to read again. Not only are five year olds not developmentally ready to extract and synthesize information while coming up with conclusions that they can defend with facts, the time that they are spending doing things that are of no value to them, is time they should be spending doing more concrete things that they are ready for like actually learning their letters and numbers and playing with their peers. Five year olds are discoverers, they need to be able to play with concrete things and work with clay and sand and so on.
It's wrong for the Federal Government or their supported central authority to force schools to do their bidding, whether you want to call it a curriculum or not. No central authority is so smart that they know what every school in America should be teaching in every grade. This group of yo yo's is particularly off course, but even if they were closer to a good curriculum, should they have the right to force a particular type of learning into our schools? This is what dictators do. This is certainly what they did in the Soviet Bloc. In America our teachers should be allowed to pick instructional materials and curriculums and teaching strategies from a myriad of private sources.
Under this system of choice, like under capitalism, bad ideas will die almost immediately and good ideas will be used and blossom. Teachers of many years are better teachers because they know what is tried and true. They have experienced things that don't work and perfected those things that do work. This is where curriculum decision making should take place, at the school level. Companies that write textbooks do this as a full time job. As they try to do well in their business they should be trying to be the best at what they do so that the teachers will choose their materials. They should not be successful by conforming to central authorities, bureaucracies. Good schools and good curriculums are not created by bureaucrats, they are created in the free forum of the schools.
As we all know, programs that are created by bureaucrats take on a life of their own and they are very hard to get rid of. No matter how bad they are, they just go on and on. That is what is happening in our schools. The whole child concept has been a complete and utter failure but the school boards go on following these programs and mandates as their schools fall lower and lower in academic success. We used to have excellent schools in Helena. Today we are at the bottom in comparison to other AA schools in the state. The whole child concept was innitiated under Goals 2000 (Hillary Clinton) in the early nineties. More than twenty years later our schools are struggling more than ever, yet no one will admit, or even look at the fact, that the whole child concept is a failure. The schools were doing better before all their whole child concept programs. The whole child concept nonsense said that children couldn't learn when they were hungry. Well, they've found out that the problem in school was obiviously not that children were hungry.
This country was built with the ideas that the Democrats say the Republicans don't have. This country
was built with students in rows and using direct instruction. Maybe everything wasn't perfect, but it was better than what is happening today!! Good change comes slowly and it doesn't come from bureaucrats.Change comes from hard work and trial and error.America needs to get rid of bureaucrats and put their trust in themselves. Students will LEARN THEIR COLORS and everything else they should know better when America goes back to freedom instead of bureaucratic top down control.
The new early childhood standards, as I have mentioned on this blog before, require higher level analytical thinking of 3 year olds. They also require scientific and algebraic reasoning to be taught to these 3 year olds. They are also going to learn the planets and that buildings are engineered. Why would you write standards like this for babies? Any person who works with three year olds, or any person who has a modicum of common sense, would know that these standards are nonsense. This is like thinking that if you start your baby on reading skills in the cradle he/she will learn to read earlier and be a better reader. This is not going to happen. Learning will happen when the student is developmentally ready to accept and use the information.
Before the current push into preschool, the Common Core geniuses (self appointed) produced the English/ Language Arts standards for k-12. In those standards five year olds will spend their time discussing their opinions with one another and comparing different stories. This is teaching the baby in the cradle to read again. Not only are five year olds not developmentally ready to extract and synthesize information while coming up with conclusions that they can defend with facts, the time that they are spending doing things that are of no value to them, is time they should be spending doing more concrete things that they are ready for like actually learning their letters and numbers and playing with their peers. Five year olds are discoverers, they need to be able to play with concrete things and work with clay and sand and so on.
It's wrong for the Federal Government or their supported central authority to force schools to do their bidding, whether you want to call it a curriculum or not. No central authority is so smart that they know what every school in America should be teaching in every grade. This group of yo yo's is particularly off course, but even if they were closer to a good curriculum, should they have the right to force a particular type of learning into our schools? This is what dictators do. This is certainly what they did in the Soviet Bloc. In America our teachers should be allowed to pick instructional materials and curriculums and teaching strategies from a myriad of private sources.
Under this system of choice, like under capitalism, bad ideas will die almost immediately and good ideas will be used and blossom. Teachers of many years are better teachers because they know what is tried and true. They have experienced things that don't work and perfected those things that do work. This is where curriculum decision making should take place, at the school level. Companies that write textbooks do this as a full time job. As they try to do well in their business they should be trying to be the best at what they do so that the teachers will choose their materials. They should not be successful by conforming to central authorities, bureaucracies. Good schools and good curriculums are not created by bureaucrats, they are created in the free forum of the schools.
As we all know, programs that are created by bureaucrats take on a life of their own and they are very hard to get rid of. No matter how bad they are, they just go on and on. That is what is happening in our schools. The whole child concept has been a complete and utter failure but the school boards go on following these programs and mandates as their schools fall lower and lower in academic success. We used to have excellent schools in Helena. Today we are at the bottom in comparison to other AA schools in the state. The whole child concept was innitiated under Goals 2000 (Hillary Clinton) in the early nineties. More than twenty years later our schools are struggling more than ever, yet no one will admit, or even look at the fact, that the whole child concept is a failure. The schools were doing better before all their whole child concept programs. The whole child concept nonsense said that children couldn't learn when they were hungry. Well, they've found out that the problem in school was obiviously not that children were hungry.
This country was built with the ideas that the Democrats say the Republicans don't have. This country
was built with students in rows and using direct instruction. Maybe everything wasn't perfect, but it was better than what is happening today!! Good change comes slowly and it doesn't come from bureaucrats.Change comes from hard work and trial and error.America needs to get rid of bureaucrats and put their trust in themselves. Students will LEARN THEIR COLORS and everything else they should know better when America goes back to freedom instead of bureaucratic top down control.
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