TO BE OR NOT TO BE? THAT IS THE QUESTION. I will borrow this wonderful quote from Shakespeare. Another way to put this question is - what will become of America?
We always think of the Germans as a hardworking and frugal people. People you can depend on. When it looks like Germany might go back into recession the stock market quakes and shivers- if the Germans are going down then what will happen to the rest of us who are not nearly as reliable? THE WORK ETHIC MATTERS!!
Many of us might remember when we were growing up that lying on the couch reading a book was not considered work. I remember my old German grandmother- if you weren't participating in the work- what were you doing? Did these people have failings and hang ups - most certainly. Did they over come them ? Yes, they did. Man has his good side and his bad side. Everything depends on which side you want to nourish and encourage.
I would argue that America is in a mess today because the Democrat party has encouraged the wrong values. A professor from Louisiana provided me with an aha! moment the other night. It was one of those moments when something so obvious, becomes clear to me. He said the Democrat party used to be the party for robust economic growth. TODAY THE DEMOCRAT PARTY IS THE PARTY OF REDISTRIBUTION. Yes! Yes! and Yes!
Everywhere you look the Democrats are teaching dependency and victimhood. Lawyers use class action suits to get their booty from large corporations. The justice system is just as embroiled in this redistribution ethos as the poorer classes are. Corporations are not seen as magnificent achievements that provide for the benefits of all of us, from low cost goods to jobs to the tax base - they are seen as evil, and everyone has the right to pillage them. Success is not rewarded with honor - it is despised.
In school our children are being carefully taught with free things they really don't need - free coats, when they all have perfectly good ones that they leave on the playground and won't even claim in lost and found- the schools contribute these coats to thrift stores every year, free food all day long when their parents can easily give them a bowl of cereal and a peanut butter sandwich, collecting for Food Share which gives food to people without proof of income status, that everyone is a dependent. The idea of the rugged individual is denigrated while the idea of victimhood reigns supreme. Under the Bully Program you can turn someone in for "Making you feel inferior". Nebulous things that set up a culture of victimhood. Children are not taught that through hard work and personal fortitude they can become anything they want to be because AMERICA IS THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY. They are taught about the poor and downtrodden and told that THIS IS ALL THE FAULT OF AMERICA. Any race that has not achieved everything they could and should, gets to blame our country, never themselves.
Government grants and government programs set up corporatism and greed everywhere- from non-profits that work to keep their head count up for grants and care more for their bottom line than what they are contributing to the actual charity, to corporations that set up on K Street in Washington D.C. to farmers that don't plant crops. Everyone's looking for an angle from disabilities to class action suits. BUT WHO IS LOOKING OUT FOR AMERICA? WHO CARES THAT THE CHARACTER OF OUR PEOPLE WILL BRING DOWN OUR NATION?
Man can achieve greatness and man can destroy himself. What will it be for America? Will we stop this insanity and teach our children the values they need to succeed in this world? Will we teach our children to be proud and resilient or will we continue down this path of dependency that is drowning this country in corruption and debt? TO BE OR NOT TO BE? THAT IS THE QUESTION.
Tuesday, 21 October 2014
Sunday, 12 October 2014
IDEOLOGY OVER EDUCATION
A news caster hit the nail on the head the other night when he said the problem with the Obama administration is that they CHOOSE IDEOLOGY OVER COUNTRY every time. That's right. When it comes to the border Obama chooses letting all the people from Central America come here illegally, and giving them services, to protecting the American people from terror and disease, by CLOSING THE BORDER. Why won't he close the border? The people who elected him think our country isn't diverse enough and that everyone is ENTITLED to be in this country. This is choosing ideology over NATIONAL INTEREST. When it comes to foreign affairs he lets extremely dangerous terrorists out of Gitmo and won't leave boots on the ground in Iraq. The result is ISIS. Why wouldn't he do the prudent thing that his generals recommended in Iraq? Because the ideology of his political base just wanted out of Iraq- the Code Pink ideology, over what was best for the country. Why won't he cut out government waste? Why does he GROW the government exponentially when we are eighteen trillion dollars in debt? Why does he leave our country vulnerable with unsustainable debt? Ideology again - more government is always better - no matter the consequences to our nation,our people, and our national economy. Why won't he stop the flights from West Africa, as the Europeans have done, to protect the American people from Ebola ? Ideology- everything for Africa - forget the needs and rights of America.
So now let's talk about our schools. Nobody wants to talk about it, but Goals 2000,the Clinton school reform movement, has been a total failure. The Common Core advocates talk about the failure of our schools all the time alright, but they have a REAL MEMORY LOSS, as to where that failure came from. The Federal Government shouldn't be involved in education at all, what they do is IDEOLOGY OVER EDUCATION!! Any time a national government gets involved in education, politics and ideology take over. That's why the founders of our country LEFT EDUCATION UP TO THE STATES!! Why do we have "Walk to School Day"? Is this to read better? Why do we have empathy skills training? Is this to improve math?Why do we have gardens? Is this helping the students learn to write? Is the DARE program teaching Social Studies or Science? How about the Buddy program and the Bully program - what academic skill are THEY teaching? This goes on all day- but let's talk about teaching strategies.
I admit I am guilty of listening to all this nouveau crap, I tried it all. It took me a while to get that these ideas and strategies had an agenda- and it wasn't best teaching practices. I tried putting the kids desks, in a circle, in paired groups, and in pods of four. Guess what happened? What would you do if you were sitting right next to someone and had no space of your own all day- you'd probably talk to your neighbor-and that's what they did!!One day the DARE officer came in and said he needed the desks moved into rows when he was there because in these other arrangements all the kids did was talk! I was stunned- he noticed it too!! I moved my desks permanently back into rows starting on that day in 1989. Is putting students next to each other with no personal space done so that they can pay attention better, focus better, learn better? Is there data somewhere for this? If there is, I have never seen it. This is IDEOLOGY OVER EDUCATION. The real reason for the nouveau seating arrangements is to teach the "village concept", the "community concept" , connectedness- we're all in this together-Socialism for the 21st century in America. Well, it doesn't teach any of that, but it does destroy many students chances to get a good education, and makes many teachers days very long.
Fifth graders walking down the hall and listening to kindergartners read instead of having their science lesson is for the village concept too. It certainly doesn't teach the kids any academics. At one point all the program people tried to say that programs like the endangered species program were academics!! NO THEY ARE NOT!! That little attempt died like a deflated balloon- no one would believe that!!
Teaching is not rocket science- break down skills and practice. Teach at a good pace, work with all the modalities, and keep the kids on task. Help kids that need help, shorten or add to assignments for students when needed. It doesn't take billions of dollars, millions of programs, and one full time paid job per student. Private schools do it all the time, so do moms. We did it for generations in this country very successfully- even built an industrial complex and went to the moon. Kick the ideology and the Federal Government out of our schools and the private sector will compete with good curriculum materials as they did in the past. Teachers will choose good curriculums that work. Project learning is not for good teaching folks, it's for lessons in "we're all in this together". How many of you ever learned to read in a project? How many of you were in groups and wasted your time? Enough said- Montessori has no data- after all these years- to prove that the "village concept" makes their learning superior. I would argue that it isn't even as good- I had two fourth graders from Montessori once that couldn't read at all. The Montessori teachers finally figured these kids weren't going to choose reading.
Time to kick out the ideology and CHOOSE EDUCATION, CHOOSE A SUCCESSFUL AMERICA!!
So now let's talk about our schools. Nobody wants to talk about it, but Goals 2000,the Clinton school reform movement, has been a total failure. The Common Core advocates talk about the failure of our schools all the time alright, but they have a REAL MEMORY LOSS, as to where that failure came from. The Federal Government shouldn't be involved in education at all, what they do is IDEOLOGY OVER EDUCATION!! Any time a national government gets involved in education, politics and ideology take over. That's why the founders of our country LEFT EDUCATION UP TO THE STATES!! Why do we have "Walk to School Day"? Is this to read better? Why do we have empathy skills training? Is this to improve math?Why do we have gardens? Is this helping the students learn to write? Is the DARE program teaching Social Studies or Science? How about the Buddy program and the Bully program - what academic skill are THEY teaching? This goes on all day- but let's talk about teaching strategies.
I admit I am guilty of listening to all this nouveau crap, I tried it all. It took me a while to get that these ideas and strategies had an agenda- and it wasn't best teaching practices. I tried putting the kids desks, in a circle, in paired groups, and in pods of four. Guess what happened? What would you do if you were sitting right next to someone and had no space of your own all day- you'd probably talk to your neighbor-and that's what they did!!One day the DARE officer came in and said he needed the desks moved into rows when he was there because in these other arrangements all the kids did was talk! I was stunned- he noticed it too!! I moved my desks permanently back into rows starting on that day in 1989. Is putting students next to each other with no personal space done so that they can pay attention better, focus better, learn better? Is there data somewhere for this? If there is, I have never seen it. This is IDEOLOGY OVER EDUCATION. The real reason for the nouveau seating arrangements is to teach the "village concept", the "community concept" , connectedness- we're all in this together-Socialism for the 21st century in America. Well, it doesn't teach any of that, but it does destroy many students chances to get a good education, and makes many teachers days very long.
Fifth graders walking down the hall and listening to kindergartners read instead of having their science lesson is for the village concept too. It certainly doesn't teach the kids any academics. At one point all the program people tried to say that programs like the endangered species program were academics!! NO THEY ARE NOT!! That little attempt died like a deflated balloon- no one would believe that!!
Teaching is not rocket science- break down skills and practice. Teach at a good pace, work with all the modalities, and keep the kids on task. Help kids that need help, shorten or add to assignments for students when needed. It doesn't take billions of dollars, millions of programs, and one full time paid job per student. Private schools do it all the time, so do moms. We did it for generations in this country very successfully- even built an industrial complex and went to the moon. Kick the ideology and the Federal Government out of our schools and the private sector will compete with good curriculum materials as they did in the past. Teachers will choose good curriculums that work. Project learning is not for good teaching folks, it's for lessons in "we're all in this together". How many of you ever learned to read in a project? How many of you were in groups and wasted your time? Enough said- Montessori has no data- after all these years- to prove that the "village concept" makes their learning superior. I would argue that it isn't even as good- I had two fourth graders from Montessori once that couldn't read at all. The Montessori teachers finally figured these kids weren't going to choose reading.
Time to kick out the ideology and CHOOSE EDUCATION, CHOOSE A SUCCESSFUL AMERICA!!
Monday, 29 September 2014
SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF OUR TEACHERS
It's interesting how every new program creates experts like leaves falling from the trees in the fall. Common Core, which has only been around for a couple of years, has more superior experts than you can even imagine. I met one today. Unfortunately, she doesn't use a mike and had her face right in the face of the school board- standing right at their name plates ( I wonder who taught her that technique?).
So I only got to hear a small portion of Janel's schtick because the superintendent, once again, changed the printed agenda. I begin to wonder if this disrespect and disservice and violation of the open meeting laws is planned. But, I did get to hear her, though I had to strain to do so, and I did get to talk to this self proclaimed superior teacher trainer. The first thing that impressed me was her total disrespect for and trust of TEACHERS. You see, our teachers are just not good teachers and they don't make kids college and career ready. I questioned her about this. Was not college and career ready always the goal of our schools? Well--- no, she said. I was astonished. Then what would the goal of schools have been? Well-- the teachers just weren't doing it or couldn't do it- so she- the expert- is making sure they get in Professional Learning Communities so she can MAKE them do it!!
"Any time you have change there will be push back", she said. Here we go again- if you don't think I'm right all the time it's just because you're afraid of change!! I asked her about her "guaranteed and viable" curriculum . How could she guarantee a curriculum and what made it viable? Her curriculum is guaranteed and viable because it matches the test!! I wonder if she has ever heard of "garbage in garbage out"? Well, she said, students were dropping out before, but now everyone will leave school college and career ready, and that will prove the viability of Common Core.
Do you think 100% of students will walk out into this world and be successful under any curriculum? If you do, I have a bridge to Hawaii to sell you. This is nonsense. It makes about as much sense as Obama being able to settle all our foreign affairs problems just by talking to people! It's about as destructive too. She said when these (inferred inferior people afraid of change), come up to her with objections she just says " What can I do for you?". Let me answer that question for all these misused and frustrated teachers- Lady, you can quit being so damn superior and try working in the trenches yourself!! You can quit wasting our time and let us do the job we know how to do and you don't!! YOU CAN QUIT SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF OUR TEACHERS!!
I went to what I, and many others , call the "dog and pony" show at one of our schools the other day. This is when the school board forces schools to show them their stuff every year. This is an advertisement for school reform-makes the board feel good- even if most of it is wrong, mischaracterized or just plain terrible. The board is told everything is wonderful and THEY FEEL PROUD OF THEMSELVES. They are suckers. This presentation was so bad, I would have cried or laughed, if it just didn't make me so downright mad!! The teachers sat there in a row looking terrified and the principal and one other teacher did the show. This principal, with this very southern accent, that was continually addressing herself "I said SarahBeth"- you get the idea, was not even in school for at least part of the first week of school!! She was on an airplane going to Texas!! She made sure the kids got their charm for showing up though. Do as I say not as I do. Meanwhile we'll be out 45 minutes early every Monday, but darn it, you take attendance seriously when we are here!!
Meanwhile the students and teachers spent the week doing disaster drills and orientations!! By the way, just to ease your fears about all these starving children, apparently 100% of the kindergarten parents showed up for home visits at school. My, my- they won't feed them but they all show up- hmmm.
But here's the really sad part. I listened to all this crap and I realized why I had to leave that district. I just couldn't be treated like these teachers are being treated. I'm way too much of a self directed proud individual to subvert who I am, humble myself ,and submit to the treatment these teachers are being subjected to. One Common Core video I watched said the teachers had to find their "niche". REALLY? The teachers are just a niche now? I'll show you some of the ways teachers are being put into a little subservient niche.
First of all, this school just got it's vaunted Title I status recently. The superintendent was so proud and he just smiled and practically gave them a medal last year at a board meeting for getting it! Whoopee- the secretary made a mad dash to the phone when she realized that they had over 40% free and reduced lunch -at least for one day!! Remember, they prove income by having the secretary check up on a few, not very exact. So now they are a "poor" school and the teachers are pressured to go to a "book club" !! Yes indeed, they are reading "Framework for Poverty" !! I could get an A+ in that class- we've all done it in college- just tell them what they want to hear folks!! Don't spend your time on your work-like grading papers or doing lesson plans- go to the "book club" so they can tell you what and how to think.Meanwhile one of the board members I really do enjoy, asked if the school had changed now that they are Title. Answer- "no".
Moving right along, the teachers are forced to give up their classes to psychs and social workers teaching "empathy" skills. They used to do this when I taught too- a real barf session. Just teaching the kids what the teachers are supposed to be learning in the "book club". I guess parents can't be trusted to teach their kids not to be sociopaths.
Now, when the teachers do get a little time to teach- that will be directed too. Not only do they have to teach to the test, teach the units in the order proscribed by their "professional learning community" and report, and teach in the manner proscribed by said community, they have to give their teaching over to para professionals who are usually not even college graduates much less credentialed!! That's right, the teachers will work with a student or two who is struggling and the para will take over the teachers" class!! If that isn't bad enough, the school is working on empowering the paras to grab kids out of class if they think they are misbehaving!! The teacher's authority over the classroom is being undermined.
We are all individuals with different teaching styles and different ideas about classroom discipline. Just as we are individuals in our parenting we are different teachers. Teachers are not robots. There is no panacea in this world. Common Core is SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF OUR TEACHERS AND SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF EDUCATION!! This unproven experiment is single handedly DESTROYING EDUCATION in America - just as the teachers union president Randi Weingartner predicted.
I went away from this meeting sad and mad- it appeared to me that every bit of joy in teaching- from personal motivation, personal ingenuity, personal creativity, personal pride, individuality, spontaneity, and originality, was being sucked out of these teachers and the teaching profession. The bureaucrats, who do nothing, have taken over.
And if you want to see how these government programs work out, look no further than the military's RCI program ( we don't have enough forces in the field but we have troops to be nannys to wayward youth). I saw them up close and personal at the skateboard park by the YMCA where I work out. Some were skateboarding, some were making out with their girlfriends, some were smoking, and the military personnel in charge of this mess (soldiers) were in the lobby of the YMCA chatting with the desk clerk. Hey Janel, these are not "guaranteed and viable" curriculums. And one last shout out to the teachers union- what are you getting paid for? Have you ever heard of ACADEMIC FREEDOM?!!
So I only got to hear a small portion of Janel's schtick because the superintendent, once again, changed the printed agenda. I begin to wonder if this disrespect and disservice and violation of the open meeting laws is planned. But, I did get to hear her, though I had to strain to do so, and I did get to talk to this self proclaimed superior teacher trainer. The first thing that impressed me was her total disrespect for and trust of TEACHERS. You see, our teachers are just not good teachers and they don't make kids college and career ready. I questioned her about this. Was not college and career ready always the goal of our schools? Well--- no, she said. I was astonished. Then what would the goal of schools have been? Well-- the teachers just weren't doing it or couldn't do it- so she- the expert- is making sure they get in Professional Learning Communities so she can MAKE them do it!!
"Any time you have change there will be push back", she said. Here we go again- if you don't think I'm right all the time it's just because you're afraid of change!! I asked her about her "guaranteed and viable" curriculum . How could she guarantee a curriculum and what made it viable? Her curriculum is guaranteed and viable because it matches the test!! I wonder if she has ever heard of "garbage in garbage out"? Well, she said, students were dropping out before, but now everyone will leave school college and career ready, and that will prove the viability of Common Core.
Do you think 100% of students will walk out into this world and be successful under any curriculum? If you do, I have a bridge to Hawaii to sell you. This is nonsense. It makes about as much sense as Obama being able to settle all our foreign affairs problems just by talking to people! It's about as destructive too. She said when these (inferred inferior people afraid of change), come up to her with objections she just says " What can I do for you?". Let me answer that question for all these misused and frustrated teachers- Lady, you can quit being so damn superior and try working in the trenches yourself!! You can quit wasting our time and let us do the job we know how to do and you don't!! YOU CAN QUIT SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF OUR TEACHERS!!
I went to what I, and many others , call the "dog and pony" show at one of our schools the other day. This is when the school board forces schools to show them their stuff every year. This is an advertisement for school reform-makes the board feel good- even if most of it is wrong, mischaracterized or just plain terrible. The board is told everything is wonderful and THEY FEEL PROUD OF THEMSELVES. They are suckers. This presentation was so bad, I would have cried or laughed, if it just didn't make me so downright mad!! The teachers sat there in a row looking terrified and the principal and one other teacher did the show. This principal, with this very southern accent, that was continually addressing herself "I said SarahBeth"- you get the idea, was not even in school for at least part of the first week of school!! She was on an airplane going to Texas!! She made sure the kids got their charm for showing up though. Do as I say not as I do. Meanwhile we'll be out 45 minutes early every Monday, but darn it, you take attendance seriously when we are here!!
Meanwhile the students and teachers spent the week doing disaster drills and orientations!! By the way, just to ease your fears about all these starving children, apparently 100% of the kindergarten parents showed up for home visits at school. My, my- they won't feed them but they all show up- hmmm.
But here's the really sad part. I listened to all this crap and I realized why I had to leave that district. I just couldn't be treated like these teachers are being treated. I'm way too much of a self directed proud individual to subvert who I am, humble myself ,and submit to the treatment these teachers are being subjected to. One Common Core video I watched said the teachers had to find their "niche". REALLY? The teachers are just a niche now? I'll show you some of the ways teachers are being put into a little subservient niche.
First of all, this school just got it's vaunted Title I status recently. The superintendent was so proud and he just smiled and practically gave them a medal last year at a board meeting for getting it! Whoopee- the secretary made a mad dash to the phone when she realized that they had over 40% free and reduced lunch -at least for one day!! Remember, they prove income by having the secretary check up on a few, not very exact. So now they are a "poor" school and the teachers are pressured to go to a "book club" !! Yes indeed, they are reading "Framework for Poverty" !! I could get an A+ in that class- we've all done it in college- just tell them what they want to hear folks!! Don't spend your time on your work-like grading papers or doing lesson plans- go to the "book club" so they can tell you what and how to think.Meanwhile one of the board members I really do enjoy, asked if the school had changed now that they are Title. Answer- "no".
Moving right along, the teachers are forced to give up their classes to psychs and social workers teaching "empathy" skills. They used to do this when I taught too- a real barf session. Just teaching the kids what the teachers are supposed to be learning in the "book club". I guess parents can't be trusted to teach their kids not to be sociopaths.
Now, when the teachers do get a little time to teach- that will be directed too. Not only do they have to teach to the test, teach the units in the order proscribed by their "professional learning community" and report, and teach in the manner proscribed by said community, they have to give their teaching over to para professionals who are usually not even college graduates much less credentialed!! That's right, the teachers will work with a student or two who is struggling and the para will take over the teachers" class!! If that isn't bad enough, the school is working on empowering the paras to grab kids out of class if they think they are misbehaving!! The teacher's authority over the classroom is being undermined.
We are all individuals with different teaching styles and different ideas about classroom discipline. Just as we are individuals in our parenting we are different teachers. Teachers are not robots. There is no panacea in this world. Common Core is SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF OUR TEACHERS AND SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF EDUCATION!! This unproven experiment is single handedly DESTROYING EDUCATION in America - just as the teachers union president Randi Weingartner predicted.
I went away from this meeting sad and mad- it appeared to me that every bit of joy in teaching- from personal motivation, personal ingenuity, personal creativity, personal pride, individuality, spontaneity, and originality, was being sucked out of these teachers and the teaching profession. The bureaucrats, who do nothing, have taken over.
And if you want to see how these government programs work out, look no further than the military's RCI program ( we don't have enough forces in the field but we have troops to be nannys to wayward youth). I saw them up close and personal at the skateboard park by the YMCA where I work out. Some were skateboarding, some were making out with their girlfriends, some were smoking, and the military personnel in charge of this mess (soldiers) were in the lobby of the YMCA chatting with the desk clerk. Hey Janel, these are not "guaranteed and viable" curriculums. And one last shout out to the teachers union- what are you getting paid for? Have you ever heard of ACADEMIC FREEDOM?!!
Tuesday, 16 September 2014
TRUST
Trust, an interesting thought. Whom do you trust? Do you trust your government? Do you trust your school superintendent not to lie to you? Do you trust that your school board is doing what's in the best interest of your child? When you think about it, there's not really a lot of trust out there anymore.
Why can't you trust your superintendent of schools not to lie to you? Maybe it's because this country was FOUNDED on TRUST and the superintendent is trying to pretend that nothing has changed, but it has. This country was FOUNDED TO PUT TRUST IN THE PEOPLE. That is why we have a vote. Many people at the time did not trust that people could govern themselves. If you think about it, liberals, still today, do not believe that people can govern themselves. They TRUST the government, not you. So, your superintendent has to lie to you. He has to tell you that the building programs he is representing are a LOCAL idea. He has to tell you that Common Core does not take away LOCAL CONTROL. You see, our Federal Government is not supposed to be involved in Education at all. They have no mandate to do what they are doing so your superintendent has to lie to you, AND in most cases, to bring the school board along with those lies ( Believe it or not, there actually are many school board members that don't realize they are being directed from the Federal Government).
As the programs go forward the LACK OF TRUST IN THE PUBLIC gets worse and worse. We are told that schools need 100% free and reduced breakfast, lunch and snacks because "People just won't feed their children". Do you believe that, or do you think this is a MANUFACTURED CRISES to get you to support FEDERAL TAKE OVER OF FOOD AT SCHOOL? I can tell you that I went to school in the 50's and no one was starving. I can tell you that I never, not even one time, had a student pass out from hunger at school in all the 30 years that I taught.
We used to TRUST teachers. If the English teachers at a high school gave a student A's in English we believed that that student could write and the colleges accepted that. We believed that our elementary and middle school teachers were able to teach writing without Federal intervention. Today we have Common Core and writing programs and tests because there is no TRUST that the teachers can do this on their own. Under the TRUST system (otherwise known as freedom), we built this great country that people from around the world want to come to and that the "dreamers" from Mexico and Central America enter illegally. We went to the moon and developed an amazing industrial complex. We didn't need a Federal Department of Education to do these things. Freedom actually does work.
Our grand experiment with freedom is being destroyed by people who put their TRUST in the Federal Government and can't believe that we don't need standardized health (government controlled) and standardized curriculums and standardized welfare and standardized child rearing and standardized everything else. These people just can't believe that our states, counties, cities and school boards can operate without the Federal Government controlling them. They can't believe that parents and teachers can do their jobs without the help of the Federal Government. We are on the road to tyranny because we are letting these nonbelievers turn our successful nation into huge bureaucratic interventions that never work and always destroy.
The schools have not improved under Federal Government Reform that started with Goals 2000 in the nineties. Our test scores are flat. In my hometown of Helena our scores have deteriorated. FREEDOM actually does work folks. Put your TRUST back in yourself and your local governance and maybe we can begin believing and respecting our representatives once again. Maybe school boards and school superintendents will begin doing what is right for their local district again, instead of what the Federal Government wants, and they won't have to lie to you. The Federal Government is a wasteland of ineptitude and their march to control you has got to be stopped. STOP THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND YOU CAN STOP THE LIEING. WE CAN START TRUSTING ONE ANOTHER ONCE AGAIN.
Why can't you trust your superintendent of schools not to lie to you? Maybe it's because this country was FOUNDED on TRUST and the superintendent is trying to pretend that nothing has changed, but it has. This country was FOUNDED TO PUT TRUST IN THE PEOPLE. That is why we have a vote. Many people at the time did not trust that people could govern themselves. If you think about it, liberals, still today, do not believe that people can govern themselves. They TRUST the government, not you. So, your superintendent has to lie to you. He has to tell you that the building programs he is representing are a LOCAL idea. He has to tell you that Common Core does not take away LOCAL CONTROL. You see, our Federal Government is not supposed to be involved in Education at all. They have no mandate to do what they are doing so your superintendent has to lie to you, AND in most cases, to bring the school board along with those lies ( Believe it or not, there actually are many school board members that don't realize they are being directed from the Federal Government).
As the programs go forward the LACK OF TRUST IN THE PUBLIC gets worse and worse. We are told that schools need 100% free and reduced breakfast, lunch and snacks because "People just won't feed their children". Do you believe that, or do you think this is a MANUFACTURED CRISES to get you to support FEDERAL TAKE OVER OF FOOD AT SCHOOL? I can tell you that I went to school in the 50's and no one was starving. I can tell you that I never, not even one time, had a student pass out from hunger at school in all the 30 years that I taught.
We used to TRUST teachers. If the English teachers at a high school gave a student A's in English we believed that that student could write and the colleges accepted that. We believed that our elementary and middle school teachers were able to teach writing without Federal intervention. Today we have Common Core and writing programs and tests because there is no TRUST that the teachers can do this on their own. Under the TRUST system (otherwise known as freedom), we built this great country that people from around the world want to come to and that the "dreamers" from Mexico and Central America enter illegally. We went to the moon and developed an amazing industrial complex. We didn't need a Federal Department of Education to do these things. Freedom actually does work.
Our grand experiment with freedom is being destroyed by people who put their TRUST in the Federal Government and can't believe that we don't need standardized health (government controlled) and standardized curriculums and standardized welfare and standardized child rearing and standardized everything else. These people just can't believe that our states, counties, cities and school boards can operate without the Federal Government controlling them. They can't believe that parents and teachers can do their jobs without the help of the Federal Government. We are on the road to tyranny because we are letting these nonbelievers turn our successful nation into huge bureaucratic interventions that never work and always destroy.
The schools have not improved under Federal Government Reform that started with Goals 2000 in the nineties. Our test scores are flat. In my hometown of Helena our scores have deteriorated. FREEDOM actually does work folks. Put your TRUST back in yourself and your local governance and maybe we can begin believing and respecting our representatives once again. Maybe school boards and school superintendents will begin doing what is right for their local district again, instead of what the Federal Government wants, and they won't have to lie to you. The Federal Government is a wasteland of ineptitude and their march to control you has got to be stopped. STOP THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND YOU CAN STOP THE LIEING. WE CAN START TRUSTING ONE ANOTHER ONCE AGAIN.
Sunday, 7 September 2014
F O C U S
Thomas Jefferson had F O C U S when it came to our country. He had a VISION. He knew what he wanted for America and how he would get there. He wanted a strong and free America. To this end he wrote the Declaration of Independence, participated in the Constitutional Convention and, as president, accomplished the Louisiana Purchase. Many of America's leaders had this kind of F O C U S. George Washington fought the Revolutionary war against all odds and Abraham Lincoln never gave up on the Civil War. General Dwight Eisenhower fought his way across Europe. These people didn't lose their
F O C U S in what they wanted for our country. They weren't distracted by every faction, every squabble, every problem, every special interest group. They fought for our American ideals and built a great nation.
Today our Common Core educators mock anyone wanting to teach an accumulation of events and facts. They claim that students can just look things up!! This is the kind of distracted learning that leads to a lack of F O C U S. I wonder, how can anyone have any clarity of thought about events, when they do not have the continuum of historical facts IN THEIR MIND. You might be able to bake a cake by referring to a recipe, one step at a time, but you can't think that way. YOU HAVE TO KNOW THINGS. The Common Core folks love to say that they are teaching "higher level thinking skills" and "critical thinking". Yeah right, critical thinking by children who do not have an accumulation of events, facts, and information in their brains. This is indoctrination, not "higher level" thinking.
Our great nation is under attack from these non- thinkers. They have broken our country into a thousand special interests and factions and in the process our leaders have lost all F O C US on what is in America's interest, what we need to do to protect our country and our future. From terrorism to open borders to financial crisis, this country goes forward with no F O C U S on what is right for America. We are supposed to care more for the needs of the illegal immigrants than for the security and defense of our own country.
It's my suspicion that the great propaganda artists somewhere have a design to dismantle the American dream by turning our people into factions that lose all vision, all F O C U S of what we need to do to protect, maintain and build our great country which is built on FREEDOM- THAT MEANS PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS AND FREE MARKETS.
Any thief in the night knows that they have to distract the guards to get to the compound. Let's quit being distracted. Let's quit electing leaders that have no F O C U S on America's interests. Let's get rid of this ridiculous education philosophy and centralized Common Core that is distracting our schools from teaching full curriculums of real information that builds real knowledge. Our children will only be able to F O C U S on what is right for our great country when they know REAL PROVEN SCIENCE and FULL HISTORICAL UNDERSTANDINGS. Let's F O C U S on what we want and need , let's F O C U S on our nations vital interests and make a better tomorrow for all of the citizens of this great land.
F O C U S in what they wanted for our country. They weren't distracted by every faction, every squabble, every problem, every special interest group. They fought for our American ideals and built a great nation.
Today our Common Core educators mock anyone wanting to teach an accumulation of events and facts. They claim that students can just look things up!! This is the kind of distracted learning that leads to a lack of F O C U S. I wonder, how can anyone have any clarity of thought about events, when they do not have the continuum of historical facts IN THEIR MIND. You might be able to bake a cake by referring to a recipe, one step at a time, but you can't think that way. YOU HAVE TO KNOW THINGS. The Common Core folks love to say that they are teaching "higher level thinking skills" and "critical thinking". Yeah right, critical thinking by children who do not have an accumulation of events, facts, and information in their brains. This is indoctrination, not "higher level" thinking.
Our great nation is under attack from these non- thinkers. They have broken our country into a thousand special interests and factions and in the process our leaders have lost all F O C US on what is in America's interest, what we need to do to protect our country and our future. From terrorism to open borders to financial crisis, this country goes forward with no F O C U S on what is right for America. We are supposed to care more for the needs of the illegal immigrants than for the security and defense of our own country.
It's my suspicion that the great propaganda artists somewhere have a design to dismantle the American dream by turning our people into factions that lose all vision, all F O C U S of what we need to do to protect, maintain and build our great country which is built on FREEDOM- THAT MEANS PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS AND FREE MARKETS.
Any thief in the night knows that they have to distract the guards to get to the compound. Let's quit being distracted. Let's quit electing leaders that have no F O C U S on America's interests. Let's get rid of this ridiculous education philosophy and centralized Common Core that is distracting our schools from teaching full curriculums of real information that builds real knowledge. Our children will only be able to F O C U S on what is right for our great country when they know REAL PROVEN SCIENCE and FULL HISTORICAL UNDERSTANDINGS. Let's F O C U S on what we want and need , let's F O C U S on our nations vital interests and make a better tomorrow for all of the citizens of this great land.
Friday, 29 August 2014
HOW TO DESTROY A POWERFUL NATION
Well, the first thing you have to do if you want to destroy a powerful nation is to destroy its CULTURE, this includes its religions , traditions, and languages. You do this by undermining the peoples beliefs. This you can do by changing school curriculums to teach the children to question their countries beliefs and founding. You have to look no farther than the current Common Core "Next Generation Standards" for history to see how America is being destroyed. Teachers who teach real facts and events are dismissed, those that "evaluate the accuracy of current and previous schools of historical interpretation to develop a personal philosophy of the past" are promoted.
America has sat by while actual communists and radical murderers like Bill Ayers were hired to teach their children in colleges across the nation. We, as a nation, believe in free thought and speech, we are extremely tolerant, so we were easy game. But the Communists that wanted to destroy this country were not satisfied with just taking over the colleges, it must not have been working WELL ENOUGH, so they had to centralize and take over every little school in America- voila- Common Core.
One high school history assignment from StudySync, a private corporation that provides teachers with "assistance" for Common Core requirements, requires students to offer a critical response to Ronald Reagan's address to the students at Moscow University. They must argue in 300 words why Reagan's speech was ineffective and/or false. They must cite specific points and arguments from Reagan's speech and offer counterarguments against each. This is teaching liberalism folks. This is teaching children to question free markets and freedom. And I do say children, high school students are not adults. They aren't old enough to drink but, according to Common Core ,they are old enough to be propagandized AGAINST their country and what it stands for. Is anyone surprised that American children are joining the terrorists in their fight for an Islamic Caliphate?
If you want to have a strong country you must fight for the right to teach your children to love it. That's called patriotism and loyalty to your country. That's why we say the Pledge of Allegiance and have a national anthem. People have the right to raise their children as they choose, but do they have the right to use our public schools to teach children to criticize and ultimately not believe in their own country? Do they have the right to lie and obfuscate information, telling children that slavery was the defining character of our founding fathers when children probably don't know that slavery was almost universal at that time and our constitution was written to end slavery within 20 years, because they couldn't end it immediately? Do they teach children that we are the only country that fought a civil war to end slavery, that white men died to free their Black brothers and sisters? Meanwhile, are our children being taught about the wonder of the first nation to define universal human rights FROM GOD? Are they taught about our leadership of the free world that stopped Hitler, a brutal dictator, and freed the Jews from concentration camps?
Students are taught about the internment of the Japanese here. This was obviously an overreaction to the Japanese attack, it was wrong and unfair. But the children are not carefully taught THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMPS AND WHAT HAPPENED IN AMERICA. Disloyalty against our nation could not be taught better in our public schools if it was taught by any of our enemies, including the Communists from Russia.
And let us be clear about the so called "Communists"- these are brutal dictators not altruistic Marxists that make everything fair- Marx's ideology has never worked anywhere, anytime.
America is a nation of immigrants so it is doubly important to teach our culture and our ideas to our young. America needs to stand up to Howard Zinn and his shaming of America- this man writes textbooks!! America has laid down for a long time and allowed our enemies to freely try to destroy us, from taking away our right to use our natural resources to actually destroying our forests with fires, to destroying our American spirit with drugs and dependency programs, to destroying our national beliefs.
Our last chance to fight back, the last battle for our country, might be right here, right now, in our public schools.People come to America from all over the world because of our ideas, our ideas of freedom that have built a prosperous, safe, and free America that believes in the rights of the individual. We MUST DEMAND THAT THE TRUTH ABOUT AMERICA'S SUCCESS BE TAUGHT TO OUR CHILDREN. We no longer have the luxury of sitting by, we must fight back and stop our enemies, we must keep our enemies out of the White House. We must vote for people who ACTUALLY BELIEVE IN AND LOVE OUR COUNTRY. We must stop this DESTRUCTION OF A POWERFUL NATION- ours.
America has sat by while actual communists and radical murderers like Bill Ayers were hired to teach their children in colleges across the nation. We, as a nation, believe in free thought and speech, we are extremely tolerant, so we were easy game. But the Communists that wanted to destroy this country were not satisfied with just taking over the colleges, it must not have been working WELL ENOUGH, so they had to centralize and take over every little school in America- voila- Common Core.
One high school history assignment from StudySync, a private corporation that provides teachers with "assistance" for Common Core requirements, requires students to offer a critical response to Ronald Reagan's address to the students at Moscow University. They must argue in 300 words why Reagan's speech was ineffective and/or false. They must cite specific points and arguments from Reagan's speech and offer counterarguments against each. This is teaching liberalism folks. This is teaching children to question free markets and freedom. And I do say children, high school students are not adults. They aren't old enough to drink but, according to Common Core ,they are old enough to be propagandized AGAINST their country and what it stands for. Is anyone surprised that American children are joining the terrorists in their fight for an Islamic Caliphate?
If you want to have a strong country you must fight for the right to teach your children to love it. That's called patriotism and loyalty to your country. That's why we say the Pledge of Allegiance and have a national anthem. People have the right to raise their children as they choose, but do they have the right to use our public schools to teach children to criticize and ultimately not believe in their own country? Do they have the right to lie and obfuscate information, telling children that slavery was the defining character of our founding fathers when children probably don't know that slavery was almost universal at that time and our constitution was written to end slavery within 20 years, because they couldn't end it immediately? Do they teach children that we are the only country that fought a civil war to end slavery, that white men died to free their Black brothers and sisters? Meanwhile, are our children being taught about the wonder of the first nation to define universal human rights FROM GOD? Are they taught about our leadership of the free world that stopped Hitler, a brutal dictator, and freed the Jews from concentration camps?
Students are taught about the internment of the Japanese here. This was obviously an overreaction to the Japanese attack, it was wrong and unfair. But the children are not carefully taught THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMPS AND WHAT HAPPENED IN AMERICA. Disloyalty against our nation could not be taught better in our public schools if it was taught by any of our enemies, including the Communists from Russia.
And let us be clear about the so called "Communists"- these are brutal dictators not altruistic Marxists that make everything fair- Marx's ideology has never worked anywhere, anytime.
America is a nation of immigrants so it is doubly important to teach our culture and our ideas to our young. America needs to stand up to Howard Zinn and his shaming of America- this man writes textbooks!! America has laid down for a long time and allowed our enemies to freely try to destroy us, from taking away our right to use our natural resources to actually destroying our forests with fires, to destroying our American spirit with drugs and dependency programs, to destroying our national beliefs.
Our last chance to fight back, the last battle for our country, might be right here, right now, in our public schools.People come to America from all over the world because of our ideas, our ideas of freedom that have built a prosperous, safe, and free America that believes in the rights of the individual. We MUST DEMAND THAT THE TRUTH ABOUT AMERICA'S SUCCESS BE TAUGHT TO OUR CHILDREN. We no longer have the luxury of sitting by, we must fight back and stop our enemies, we must keep our enemies out of the White House. We must vote for people who ACTUALLY BELIEVE IN AND LOVE OUR COUNTRY. We must stop this DESTRUCTION OF A POWERFUL NATION- ours.
Thursday, 21 August 2014
WHAT IS THIS ALL REALLY ABOUT?
Like most of you I suppose, I am dead tired of politics. Like you, I remember the days when we only thought about politics right before we had to vote. It did not consume our lives everyday. I was just wondering if the reason Barrack Obama is in Martha's Vineyard golfing is because he just - aw shucks- thinks we need to share our wealth? Is he buying land in Palm Springs while in office just for fairness?Have the Clinton's become multimillionaires because they are passionate for the poor? Or just maybe, is this about what it is always about, POWER AND MONEY.
These communist wannabes may have started out ardent about social justice, but I don't see them practicing it today. When Harry Truman left office he got in the car with Bess and went home. We never heard from him again. He didn't die a millionaire or go on the speaking circuit to make hundreds of thousands of dollars a speech. He had served his country and then he went home.
So why do the communist wannabes want to control the schools and the voting booth? Is it to make a "better America", or is it like every tinhorn dictator that ever lived, to gain and keep control over the "masses". Dictators like Hitler or Mussolini were rather crude about it, they didn't have a constitution to frustrate their move to control. They just killed people who spoke against them and went right into the schools and took over. The communist wannabes have to be a little more clever, they have to obfuscate their moves- you see- Common Core "is not really a curriculum" and "it's not from the government- after all, the STATES HAVE THE RIGHT OVER EDUCATION!" Yeah right, the states rights over education is no longer anything but a pretense. Common Core is the nail in the coffin, Common Core even controls national testing and college entrance exams.
If you want to take control, you have to change things. You have to have people listening to you so that you can control them. What shall I believe master? What shall I do master? You are always right master and I am just waiting to be your servant. The communist wannabes know what we should eat or not eat, they know how we should sit in our car, they know what kinds of cars we should be able to drive, they know that we can't burn leaves in our gutter anymore or throw rice at weddings. They know that we shouldn't be able to smoke even in our own homes. They know everything and all they need is an ad campaign to make their desires become public policy. To keep this going they need control of the masses. They need to control minds. They don't want children that question them, they want children that LISTEN TO THEM.
Our children are having "information taken out" of their curriculums. They are being taught that the most important thing about our founding fathers is that they had slaves. They are being taught to "have opinions" before they have any information to make opinions with. Our children are being raised under Common Core to have the opinion that everything is relative and that their country and its founding beliefs are flawed. These dumbed down individuals are being primed to believe whatever the communist wannabes need them to believe at any moment.
People with power want to keep it and that is what Common Core is all about- creating a future generation that will submit and allow the power brokers to continue their corruption, graft and pilfering. If you make waves you are an extremist according to these very corrupt people. America needs to break away from all of this propaganda and rely on the wisdom of their founding fathers in the Constitution of The United States of America. This document frustrates the accumulation of power as its PLAN. It protects the people from the power of government- very frustrating for communist wannabes.
Who among us was not a "liberal" at one time? Not too many I guess. People need to think straight and break away from the confusion and disarray of the present day power brokers that are trying to undermine everything this country stands for. I broke away a long time ago. People who have been taken in by the propaganda that keeps the present power mongers at their dynastic peak need to break away- there's no shame in it- as I said, most of us had to break away at some point. Some of the greatest intellectuals among us - like David Horowitz- were taken in by this high powered propaganda at some point. We can't save our children until we save ourselves.
This is all really about power and money and taking our constitution and our country from us - the jig is up- don't let them.
These communist wannabes may have started out ardent about social justice, but I don't see them practicing it today. When Harry Truman left office he got in the car with Bess and went home. We never heard from him again. He didn't die a millionaire or go on the speaking circuit to make hundreds of thousands of dollars a speech. He had served his country and then he went home.
So why do the communist wannabes want to control the schools and the voting booth? Is it to make a "better America", or is it like every tinhorn dictator that ever lived, to gain and keep control over the "masses". Dictators like Hitler or Mussolini were rather crude about it, they didn't have a constitution to frustrate their move to control. They just killed people who spoke against them and went right into the schools and took over. The communist wannabes have to be a little more clever, they have to obfuscate their moves- you see- Common Core "is not really a curriculum" and "it's not from the government- after all, the STATES HAVE THE RIGHT OVER EDUCATION!" Yeah right, the states rights over education is no longer anything but a pretense. Common Core is the nail in the coffin, Common Core even controls national testing and college entrance exams.
If you want to take control, you have to change things. You have to have people listening to you so that you can control them. What shall I believe master? What shall I do master? You are always right master and I am just waiting to be your servant. The communist wannabes know what we should eat or not eat, they know how we should sit in our car, they know what kinds of cars we should be able to drive, they know that we can't burn leaves in our gutter anymore or throw rice at weddings. They know that we shouldn't be able to smoke even in our own homes. They know everything and all they need is an ad campaign to make their desires become public policy. To keep this going they need control of the masses. They need to control minds. They don't want children that question them, they want children that LISTEN TO THEM.
Our children are having "information taken out" of their curriculums. They are being taught that the most important thing about our founding fathers is that they had slaves. They are being taught to "have opinions" before they have any information to make opinions with. Our children are being raised under Common Core to have the opinion that everything is relative and that their country and its founding beliefs are flawed. These dumbed down individuals are being primed to believe whatever the communist wannabes need them to believe at any moment.
People with power want to keep it and that is what Common Core is all about- creating a future generation that will submit and allow the power brokers to continue their corruption, graft and pilfering. If you make waves you are an extremist according to these very corrupt people. America needs to break away from all of this propaganda and rely on the wisdom of their founding fathers in the Constitution of The United States of America. This document frustrates the accumulation of power as its PLAN. It protects the people from the power of government- very frustrating for communist wannabes.
Who among us was not a "liberal" at one time? Not too many I guess. People need to think straight and break away from the confusion and disarray of the present day power brokers that are trying to undermine everything this country stands for. I broke away a long time ago. People who have been taken in by the propaganda that keeps the present power mongers at their dynastic peak need to break away- there's no shame in it- as I said, most of us had to break away at some point. Some of the greatest intellectuals among us - like David Horowitz- were taken in by this high powered propaganda at some point. We can't save our children until we save ourselves.
This is all really about power and money and taking our constitution and our country from us - the jig is up- don't let them.
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