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!!
Wednesday 13 May 2015
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!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)