I remember when the Strategic Plan came out under the Clinton's in the early nineties. As teachers we sat in stunned silence as we were told we didn't have an education plan in our schools and so they were going to give us one. Of course at that time they at least pretended that these were state standards which would comply with the United States Constitution which DOES NOT GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE SCHOOLS TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. We of course investigated and found that -lo and behold- every state had almost identical standards!Today though, they are hiding behind the States Governors Association and the School Chiefs Association, they come right out and say that every school district in the United States and in the WORLD will have exactly the same standards. But let's get back to this idea that we didn't have a plan in the schools before the Federal Government socialists took over.
The teachers were stunned because, of course, we had a plan, a very detailed scope and sequence that was updated every 5 years. We had curriculum committees for every academic area and we reviewed and updated curriculum constantly, along with updating curriculum materials in this 5 year time frame. The Carnegie standards required a certain number of credits in major academic areas such as Science, Math, English, and Social Studies, to be accomplished before a student could graduate from high school. Now the same people, under Common Core, are at it again. Our standards are too muddied, we need them to "streamline" our standards. REALLY?? In New York educators are finding that 4 standards are being "streamlined" to fifty under Common Core. And guess what? There's no mechanism in place for review and updating as we always had before with our scope and sequence. Do the authors of these standards think they will just be good forever?? But let's talk about muddied education.
How about mainstreaming? This was an idea from the Federal Government. So now, children with IQs of 60 are in regular classrooms, often against the wishes of their parents who know they are not being served well there. The schools are operating under the burden of hiring full time staff for each disabled child. Here's another idea from the school reform crowd ,"individualized" instruction. SERIOUSLY? The teacher is going to teach to the strengths and weaknesses and learning styles of 25 students at a time all individually?? Talk about muddying the water. I have news for you, this is not "straight forward education". But let's talk about curriculum.
What has happened to curriculum since the school reformers took over. Well you don't just teach basic academics anymore,I can tell you that.The Federal Government geniuses with their nanny state mind set have eliminated a good deal of the time that was supposed to be spent learning to read and write. Mental health is a big item now and children who don't behave in class are LABELED AS MENTALLY ILL!!! ALL students get mental health intervention as counselors have once a week programs to train children in anti-bullying programs. Students leave their classes regularly for Buddy programs, going to other classes in the building and sometimes to other schools.Breakfast at Title one schools is served AFTER THE BELL RINGS and the teacher must set aside time for government healthy snacks too.Many schools have community service programs so students are taught this program and often have to leave school to do service. Artists in residency come in and take over classes sometimes for an hour a day for a week or more. Elementary schools have gardening programs now too. Then there's the Dare program and the Sex Ed program which is mandatory for 7th and 8th graders for one class for a whole semester each year. Who's MUDDYING THE CURRICULUM here? It's a wonder students can learn anything at all at school. And yes, the teacher trying to "individualize" to every student is dumbing down the curriculum. First reports from students about Common Core English texts is that they "didn't learn anything". Parents are up in arms about kids reading one novel a year and spending lots of time on Movie clips that are PG13 and have very dubious subject matter. Some teachers have commented that we are gradually destroying 200 years of education building in the United States.
It sounds like the only people who are really set to gain from Common Core are the EDUCATION INDUSTRY. That's right we have an EDUCATION INDUSTRY now like we used to have an Airline Industry or a Banking Industry. The tech people (you see why Bill Gates funded this) and the textbook people and the consultants are already cashing in and they are so happy because it's all centralized now- no more catering to states and locales or having to worry about all that pesky competition. The amount of bureaucracy is mind numbing. Schools now have academic officers and support officers and innovation offices and instructional specialists and instructional coaches and student program divisions - need I say more? WHOSE MUDDYING THE WATER HERE??
One teacher described it this way - it's kind of like that miniseries Deadwood about the Black HIlls Gold Rush, "There's gold in them thar hills!""The miniseries would prepare those in the education field for the likely eventual outcome- one or two big winners holding most of the gold, scores of others working for these winners, and a devastated landscape pocked with the scars of enterprise." Let's really unmuddy these waters- TEACHING IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE AND STATES CAN DO IT JUST FINE WITHOUT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. In fact, achievement in our public schools has been flat since the Federal Government got involved. I, for one,am tired of the excuses, lies and manipulations of control mongers that want our schools. Don't listen to them America, nothing they say is true and you can run your own schools just fine WITHOUT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OR ANY CENTRALIZED CONTROLS!! Get our schools and our curriculums out of the muddy water by giving the centralized planners their PINK SLIP!
Monday, 16 July 2012
Saturday, 7 July 2012
CHICANERY
From Webster's Dictionary- Chicanery: mean or unfair artifice to perplex a cause and obscure the truth;stratagem. Why would anyone use chicanery? Why would the Obama Oligarchy use Chicanery? Are they using it because they're too clever by half? Are they using it because they are in the minority and have no hope of doing the things they want to do by being honest? Are they doing it because they have no respect for our constitution, our government, our culture, our capitalist economy or our founding fathers? Maybe they are doing it, as Jonah Goldberg so eloquently explained in his book LIBERAL FACISM, because, they believe, as all fascists do, that they are so absolutely right that their ends justify their means. Law in this case, or morals, or patriotism, or righteousness, or anything at all, simply does not matter, because their cause is so absolutely right that they respect nothing except their cause and they believe they are justified in doing whatever they think they need to do. It's frightening to realize that this is how Hitler justified his lies and his murders. Where does this kind of lawless thinking end? Perhaps Obama's Oligarchy's purpose in acting the way they do, is caused by all of the above. Let's look at some of the Chicanery. No one knows all of it, certainly I don't, but I know some, particularly as it relates to the schools, and I will share what I know.
Under the Dodd Frank bill that the democrats passed, acting at the behest of the radicals that have taken their party, the FEDERAL RESERVE will have ALL FUNDING POWER OVER THE ENACTMENT OF THE LAW. Congress is not necessary. There will be no need to worry about money bills initiating in the House of Representatives as decreed by our constitution. No need to worry about the congress at all, it will all be taken care of by the obscure Federal Reserve, OUT OF THE PUBLIC EYE , OUT OF THE PUBLIC CONTROL, AND OUTSIDE OF THE CONTROL OF OUR LAWFULLY ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES AND OUR CONSTITUTION, WHICH IS THERE TO PROTECT OUR FREEDOMS. And who will put controls on what the Federal Reserve decides is under it's jurisdiction inside of this law?
This is only the beginning. I guess everyone who pays attention at all knows that the Obama Oligarchy has told the governor of Arizona that the Federal government WILL NOT obey the law as approved by the State of Arizona and THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, as regards controlling immigration. Arizona will not even be allowed to share data bases to determine citizenship, as other states do, and as has been the practice. WOW. I guess the left is really scratching for those illegal votes these days, they may just need them to send them over the top on election night, if ACORN ( or whatever their new name is) can't cheat quite enough. The Obama Oligarchy WILL NOT recognize the defense of marriage act which was LAWFULLY passed by congress. The new Obama Oligarchy Health Bill gives one unelected woman, Kathleen Sibelius, staggering powers to MAKE LAW regarding what our health care will be and what we will pay. Cass Sunstein (part of the oligarchy) couldn't wait to become the regulations czar. In a huge government like we have today, he can control almost anything through his regulatory controls. The United States Attorney General Eric Holder has been voted in contempt of congress and the justice department will do nothing at all to stop his cover up, his refusal to turn documents over to the congress giving full disclosure of what he's been up to. Our Attorney General who is supposed to uphold the law of the whole United States, refuses to obey the law, and his department will not prosecute him. They won't investigate the national security leaks that have put our country at risk either.
But let's talk about the schools. The Obama Oligarchy couldn't get a national curriculum passed now that the Republicans hold the house, so they just had the School Chiefs Association and the National Governors Association sponsor it. Then they went ahead and made grants out of their huge slush funds from the "stimulus package", no need for action by congress.They even have the gall to lie about it, laughing all the way I'm sure (They certainly tricked stupid old Jeb Bush), "This isn't a federal government action, why we have nothing at all to do with it!" ha, ha, ha. They can't believe how easy it is to just circumvent the law. But where else are they getting the money to fund this CHICANERY? How about $18,000,000 from GE for David Coleman just to get started. Then, another $8,700,000 just recently to Erie Pennsylvania. Remember Jeffrey Immelt? He's the CEO of GE and the Obama Oligarchy's good buddy. The money comes from the GE FOUNDATION. GE made 14.2 BILLION dollars in 2010 and they have laid off 19,000 people since 2000. GE stock is down 60% since 2000 but they still have money in the FOUNDATION to keep their friends in high places happy. What do they get for spending money on the National Curriculum (Common Core)? They paid NO TAXES in 2010 on 14.2 billion dollars in PROFIT. I guess that's what you call CORPORATISM.
Meanwhile the National Curriculum (Common Core) propaganda fest rolls on. Parents are up in arms with new English texts that teach children the "Social Justice" nonsense with NO OPPOSING VIEW!!WOW. This is higher level thinking skills?? The baloney coming from the smarter than the rest of us by half Obama Oligarchy is that this is "academic rigor" that will magically make ALL students college and career ready. Give me a break. A mom teaching at home could do, and does do, better than these socialists with all their cash. One of the National Curriculum (Common Core) standards is that 4th graders will do RESEARCH. I taught 4th grade for many years, and we did assign reports. This wasn't integrated research, this was a report, and it was hard to get a page or two out of them. Plagiarism was a word we had to teach over and over. One blogger had a wonderful point " Hey David, if you want these kids to do evidentiary research where's your evidence that any of this is going to work?" Ya David, you came up with all this nonsense pretty fast, where are your trials and research? This is the same old game that public schools have done from time immemorial, new programs with NO PROOF. Can you imagine your doctor acting this way, offering you a cure that no one had ever proven ACTUALLY WORKED ?!! Maybe now that the Federal Government controls your health care this will happen,just like in the public schools. Socialists don't need proof, remember they are just right because they say so. Have you seen any of the books they write as NON FICTION with NO FOOTNOTES !! Quite amazing, but nothing seems to stun anymore, it's all so crazy.
I'm just reading about Mary Queen of Scots once again this summer. When the Northern Lords rose up in revolt against Queen Elizabeth , and the Spanish Armada, which had promised to support the Lords effort, failed to show up, the Northern Lords QUIT. They were far and away the majority but they got scared and Elizabeth held her throne. The conservatives are the majority in this country and the Obama Oligarchy in all their smartness know it. That's why they have to cheat at the voting booth, circumvent the law, and lie to you. Stand up, Say the truth, DON'T BE BACKED DOWN, get the word out, and VOTE. Let's end the CHICANERY and get our country back. This country is NOT ABOUT HANDING OUT FREE COATS, OR A FREE LUNCH, no matter how many socialist organizations call themselves, "The American Way". This country is about having the opportunity to get your own coat and feed your own family. FIGHT BACK AMERICA, DON'T LET CHICANERY WIN!
Under the Dodd Frank bill that the democrats passed, acting at the behest of the radicals that have taken their party, the FEDERAL RESERVE will have ALL FUNDING POWER OVER THE ENACTMENT OF THE LAW. Congress is not necessary. There will be no need to worry about money bills initiating in the House of Representatives as decreed by our constitution. No need to worry about the congress at all, it will all be taken care of by the obscure Federal Reserve, OUT OF THE PUBLIC EYE , OUT OF THE PUBLIC CONTROL, AND OUTSIDE OF THE CONTROL OF OUR LAWFULLY ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES AND OUR CONSTITUTION, WHICH IS THERE TO PROTECT OUR FREEDOMS. And who will put controls on what the Federal Reserve decides is under it's jurisdiction inside of this law?
This is only the beginning. I guess everyone who pays attention at all knows that the Obama Oligarchy has told the governor of Arizona that the Federal government WILL NOT obey the law as approved by the State of Arizona and THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, as regards controlling immigration. Arizona will not even be allowed to share data bases to determine citizenship, as other states do, and as has been the practice. WOW. I guess the left is really scratching for those illegal votes these days, they may just need them to send them over the top on election night, if ACORN ( or whatever their new name is) can't cheat quite enough. The Obama Oligarchy WILL NOT recognize the defense of marriage act which was LAWFULLY passed by congress. The new Obama Oligarchy Health Bill gives one unelected woman, Kathleen Sibelius, staggering powers to MAKE LAW regarding what our health care will be and what we will pay. Cass Sunstein (part of the oligarchy) couldn't wait to become the regulations czar. In a huge government like we have today, he can control almost anything through his regulatory controls. The United States Attorney General Eric Holder has been voted in contempt of congress and the justice department will do nothing at all to stop his cover up, his refusal to turn documents over to the congress giving full disclosure of what he's been up to. Our Attorney General who is supposed to uphold the law of the whole United States, refuses to obey the law, and his department will not prosecute him. They won't investigate the national security leaks that have put our country at risk either.
But let's talk about the schools. The Obama Oligarchy couldn't get a national curriculum passed now that the Republicans hold the house, so they just had the School Chiefs Association and the National Governors Association sponsor it. Then they went ahead and made grants out of their huge slush funds from the "stimulus package", no need for action by congress.They even have the gall to lie about it, laughing all the way I'm sure (They certainly tricked stupid old Jeb Bush), "This isn't a federal government action, why we have nothing at all to do with it!" ha, ha, ha. They can't believe how easy it is to just circumvent the law. But where else are they getting the money to fund this CHICANERY? How about $18,000,000 from GE for David Coleman just to get started. Then, another $8,700,000 just recently to Erie Pennsylvania. Remember Jeffrey Immelt? He's the CEO of GE and the Obama Oligarchy's good buddy. The money comes from the GE FOUNDATION. GE made 14.2 BILLION dollars in 2010 and they have laid off 19,000 people since 2000. GE stock is down 60% since 2000 but they still have money in the FOUNDATION to keep their friends in high places happy. What do they get for spending money on the National Curriculum (Common Core)? They paid NO TAXES in 2010 on 14.2 billion dollars in PROFIT. I guess that's what you call CORPORATISM.
Meanwhile the National Curriculum (Common Core) propaganda fest rolls on. Parents are up in arms with new English texts that teach children the "Social Justice" nonsense with NO OPPOSING VIEW!!WOW. This is higher level thinking skills?? The baloney coming from the smarter than the rest of us by half Obama Oligarchy is that this is "academic rigor" that will magically make ALL students college and career ready. Give me a break. A mom teaching at home could do, and does do, better than these socialists with all their cash. One of the National Curriculum (Common Core) standards is that 4th graders will do RESEARCH. I taught 4th grade for many years, and we did assign reports. This wasn't integrated research, this was a report, and it was hard to get a page or two out of them. Plagiarism was a word we had to teach over and over. One blogger had a wonderful point " Hey David, if you want these kids to do evidentiary research where's your evidence that any of this is going to work?" Ya David, you came up with all this nonsense pretty fast, where are your trials and research? This is the same old game that public schools have done from time immemorial, new programs with NO PROOF. Can you imagine your doctor acting this way, offering you a cure that no one had ever proven ACTUALLY WORKED ?!! Maybe now that the Federal Government controls your health care this will happen,just like in the public schools. Socialists don't need proof, remember they are just right because they say so. Have you seen any of the books they write as NON FICTION with NO FOOTNOTES !! Quite amazing, but nothing seems to stun anymore, it's all so crazy.
I'm just reading about Mary Queen of Scots once again this summer. When the Northern Lords rose up in revolt against Queen Elizabeth , and the Spanish Armada, which had promised to support the Lords effort, failed to show up, the Northern Lords QUIT. They were far and away the majority but they got scared and Elizabeth held her throne. The conservatives are the majority in this country and the Obama Oligarchy in all their smartness know it. That's why they have to cheat at the voting booth, circumvent the law, and lie to you. Stand up, Say the truth, DON'T BE BACKED DOWN, get the word out, and VOTE. Let's end the CHICANERY and get our country back. This country is NOT ABOUT HANDING OUT FREE COATS, OR A FREE LUNCH, no matter how many socialist organizations call themselves, "The American Way". This country is about having the opportunity to get your own coat and feed your own family. FIGHT BACK AMERICA, DON'T LET CHICANERY WIN!
Sunday, 1 July 2012
COMMON CORE EQUALS SOVIET GROUP THINK
I read a comment on a blog about our new national curriculum "Common Core" and it was one of those aha! moments. The moment when you finally really realize something. I retired from teaching in 2005, NOT BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT TO DO IT ANYMORE, but because I COULDN'T STAND working in the new system. Virtually every teacher I talked to said the same thing "It's not the kids, it's the administration". The comment on the blog said that our schools have become a dictatorship and that our best teachers are retiring or quitting as soon as they can. This comment was dead on target, our teachers now work in a dictatorship.
When I was behind the wall in Romania in 1975 they had a little joke that went something like this "The Russians can't even go to the toilet alone". The Soviets did not believe in the individual. The individual had no value to them. In fact, their purpose was to stamp out any individualism at all (remember the uniforms?), and coerce everyone to think the same ( remember the reeducation camps?). Karl Marx represented these ideas of sameness . How are our schools falling into this world of Marxist coercion to sameness?
Let's look at the Common Core. In Bedford, Massachusetts - "Bedford schools will see changes in how teachers are evaluated.These revisions are due to the new national Common Core Standards....". The new regulations require school "committees" to "establish evaluation systems and performance standards for ALL teachers" in order to sic "promote teacher growth and development and to place student learning at the center of education." ALL TEACHERS need growth and development? The best teachers in the school that everyone loves need to have a committee to tell them how to teach? What makes this committee so special and where did they get their training to all of a sudden become the experts? What a bold statement to say this committee will teach these teachers to PLACE STUDENT LEARNING AT THE CENTER OF EDUCATION!!! Are you seriously kidding me- ALL hardworking teachers of whatever number of years, need a committee to ensure that they put student learning at the center of education?? Who determines what "putting student learning at the center of education" is? Come on David Coleman, is this you and your behind closed doors committee again? Did your benefactor Bill Gates or Charles Johnson put you up to this, or was it Barrack Obama and all his billions from Washington ($250,000,000 just to Massachusetts here) and his minions (Bill Ayers, Bernadette Doran, Cass Sunstein) that gave you the crown of educator in chief?
The evaluations are also intended to "recognize excellence in teachers and 'educational leaders', to set a high bar for professional status and to shorten timelines for improvement". If you are a good boy or girl you get a lollipop , but if you're not, you better watch out! ALL TEACHERS, PRINCIPALS, AND ADMINISTRATORS MUST ATTAIN A RATING OF PROFICIENT, AT LEAST. Everyone's on a short leash now- you better do everything we say just the way we say it- or else!
The schools have been pushing "collaboration" for a long time. Teachers had to do things the same, the individual who goes rogue is not accepted- take it from me- the rogue teacher was the good one. Teaching is an art and a lot of it comes from the heart, it's more a vocation than a profession if you're a good teacher. There are as many good ways to teach as there are good teachers. No matter how much the federal government tries to make this one size fits all approach, people are still individuals and they always will be. It's just that the teachers who are good at compromising all their standards will be the only ones left standing in public education when all of this is done.
In case you think all this Soviet Style group think is for the best here's a comment from an educator of more than 50 years from Kansas "Over my more that 50 years in public education I've come to know young children pretty well, and I am sure that 8-9 years olds are not ready to 'describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect' as decreed by one of the standards for third-grade readers informational text." I think I would have liked that lady as my teacher. I'm sure she's retired now too. How will public education attract the best and brightest among us when this is how teachers are treated? One comment to the blog was that "Everything must be done in stealth, except the teacher bashing". Haven't the communists always done things stealthily?
Soviet Group Think is not the way to run our schools. Let freedom ring in our schools. Go back to the constitution and put control of our schools back to the states where it belongs. The federal government doesn't run schools any better than it runs economies. Free markets work and so do free schools. Governor Romney, trash your "education plan"and simply refuse to reenact the ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act). The Soviets never did have any good ideas!
When I was behind the wall in Romania in 1975 they had a little joke that went something like this "The Russians can't even go to the toilet alone". The Soviets did not believe in the individual. The individual had no value to them. In fact, their purpose was to stamp out any individualism at all (remember the uniforms?), and coerce everyone to think the same ( remember the reeducation camps?). Karl Marx represented these ideas of sameness . How are our schools falling into this world of Marxist coercion to sameness?
Let's look at the Common Core. In Bedford, Massachusetts - "Bedford schools will see changes in how teachers are evaluated.These revisions are due to the new national Common Core Standards....". The new regulations require school "committees" to "establish evaluation systems and performance standards for ALL teachers" in order to sic "promote teacher growth and development and to place student learning at the center of education." ALL TEACHERS need growth and development? The best teachers in the school that everyone loves need to have a committee to tell them how to teach? What makes this committee so special and where did they get their training to all of a sudden become the experts? What a bold statement to say this committee will teach these teachers to PLACE STUDENT LEARNING AT THE CENTER OF EDUCATION!!! Are you seriously kidding me- ALL hardworking teachers of whatever number of years, need a committee to ensure that they put student learning at the center of education?? Who determines what "putting student learning at the center of education" is? Come on David Coleman, is this you and your behind closed doors committee again? Did your benefactor Bill Gates or Charles Johnson put you up to this, or was it Barrack Obama and all his billions from Washington ($250,000,000 just to Massachusetts here) and his minions (Bill Ayers, Bernadette Doran, Cass Sunstein) that gave you the crown of educator in chief?
The evaluations are also intended to "recognize excellence in teachers and 'educational leaders', to set a high bar for professional status and to shorten timelines for improvement". If you are a good boy or girl you get a lollipop , but if you're not, you better watch out! ALL TEACHERS, PRINCIPALS, AND ADMINISTRATORS MUST ATTAIN A RATING OF PROFICIENT, AT LEAST. Everyone's on a short leash now- you better do everything we say just the way we say it- or else!
The schools have been pushing "collaboration" for a long time. Teachers had to do things the same, the individual who goes rogue is not accepted- take it from me- the rogue teacher was the good one. Teaching is an art and a lot of it comes from the heart, it's more a vocation than a profession if you're a good teacher. There are as many good ways to teach as there are good teachers. No matter how much the federal government tries to make this one size fits all approach, people are still individuals and they always will be. It's just that the teachers who are good at compromising all their standards will be the only ones left standing in public education when all of this is done.
In case you think all this Soviet Style group think is for the best here's a comment from an educator of more than 50 years from Kansas "Over my more that 50 years in public education I've come to know young children pretty well, and I am sure that 8-9 years olds are not ready to 'describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect' as decreed by one of the standards for third-grade readers informational text." I think I would have liked that lady as my teacher. I'm sure she's retired now too. How will public education attract the best and brightest among us when this is how teachers are treated? One comment to the blog was that "Everything must be done in stealth, except the teacher bashing". Haven't the communists always done things stealthily?
Soviet Group Think is not the way to run our schools. Let freedom ring in our schools. Go back to the constitution and put control of our schools back to the states where it belongs. The federal government doesn't run schools any better than it runs economies. Free markets work and so do free schools. Governor Romney, trash your "education plan"and simply refuse to reenact the ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act). The Soviets never did have any good ideas!
Wednesday, 27 June 2012
VOTING FOR RADICALS
Your vote matters, and your failure to vote matters. Only forty nine percent of eligible voters voted in the last school board election. Fifty one percent of the votes sat it out and let the radicals take our schools once again. I'm now going to tell you what that means in our schools.
Last night I was at a board meeting that had five radicals that rammed through having "domestic partners" on the school district health plan. What does this mean to you? Well, right now you're paying about a thousand dollars a month for each couple that is insured under the district health plan, which is way over what private companies charge. You are paying this much because the district wants to be self insured so they can do things like wellness plans and actions like accepting domestic partners with no fiscal note and no thought of cost.
These five radicals (one was patched in on the phone so they could get their majority) voted for domestic partners WITHOUT the recommendation of the HEALTH COMMITTEE, WITHOUT the recommendation of the SUPERINTENDENT, WITHOUT the support of the UNION, WITHOUT a fiscal note determining what this would cost, WITHOUT a legal document determining the definition of what a domestic partner will be determined to be , AND WITHOUT ALLOWING THE FULL BOARD AND THE PUBLIC TO HEAR WHY THE HEALTH COMMITTEE ,WHO HAD RESEARCHED IT FULLY, DID NOT RECOMMEND THIS ACTION. Three trustees just didn't show up. The vote was held at five o'clock and the only notice to the public was BURIED in a news story written the day before the vote. Essentially there was no notice, the vote was held while people were still at work, and once again, like in the sex standards debate, was held in the summer when the radicals think people might be on vacation and not paying attention. This is what happens when you vote for radicals. They believe their ends justify their means and they do not govern with care and common sense.
This vote hurts a lot of people. Let's start with the tax payers. Our state legislature has not recognized domestic partners so there is no legal standing here. The school board is the lowest level of governance and they have taken it upon themselves to recognize domestic partners. There will be no legal documents determining what partnership is allowed to be paid for under the district plan. One board member mentioned that "maybe" you could determine it by a shared bank account! SERIOUSLY- all I have to do is deposit a few bucks in a bank account and the district is on the hook for who knows what serious illnesses and long term care? This puts the district plan, and the taxpayers who pay for it, at great risk of increased liabilities. What happens when these costs go up as they inevitably will? Retirees who live on a fixed income and have to pay in full for this terrible plan will be forced to pay more. They already pay about a thousand dollars a month on the premium plan (which they also pay for, for the employees in their taxes) and almost eight hundred dollars for the standard plan which is major medical (does not cover dental,tests,doctor visits etc.).
The school board is there for the students but I do not think they voted for the best interests of the students in this case.. What happens when the health care costs go up? Someone has to pay. First the school board will inevitably go to the taxpayers saying they need more money, can't pay for kids (no mention of their irresponsible behavior). The people who don't pay attention will just think the costs for the students have gone up. The taxpayers will pay for awhile but then that will come to an end. Taxpayers have bills and obligations in their lives too, I'd like to let the radicals on the school board in on this little secret. So what then? Teachers will not get raises, teachers will have to contribute more for their health care, and teachers may get laid off because the district can't continue meeting the payroll and the cost of benefits.
But lets talk about what is REALLY important, really important to you and to me. Let me put my heart on my sleeve here, THIS IS GOING TO HURT THE MOST INNOCENT AMONG US, THE CHILDREN.This is not an ad or a political slogan, this is real life. Less teachers means crowded classrooms. Closed schools mean kids can't go to their neighborhood school. But much more than that, what kind of environment are we encouraging and building in our schools? One young lady who testified (NOT a student but had been the founder of the LGBT club on campus, NO STUDENTS TESTIFIED), said teachers talk to students about these things and the district needed to model
FAIRNESS. SERIOUSLY? Teachers are telling students what their living arrangements are? This is what pedophiles do, they tell young children about their private lives and intimacy. DO YOU WANT TEACHERS TALKING TO YOUR YOUNG STUDENTS AND TELLING THEM WHAT THEIR PRIVATE LIVING ARRANGEMENTS ARE? One woman who testified for domestic partners said this was "progressive". I have news for her, this is her values and her opinion, but her opinion has no more weight than anyone else's. This may be how she wants the future to look but it's not how many other people want the future to look. I'd like a future where children are taught modesty, respect and sexual restraint rather than being taught there is no morality, anything goes, and they can just make up their mind when they are ready. We've seen where that philosophy has gotten us- unwed pregnancies and huge dropout rates.
VOTE in the next school board election . FIND responsible people to run. STOP this travesty before kids get hurt.
Last night I was at a board meeting that had five radicals that rammed through having "domestic partners" on the school district health plan. What does this mean to you? Well, right now you're paying about a thousand dollars a month for each couple that is insured under the district health plan, which is way over what private companies charge. You are paying this much because the district wants to be self insured so they can do things like wellness plans and actions like accepting domestic partners with no fiscal note and no thought of cost.
These five radicals (one was patched in on the phone so they could get their majority) voted for domestic partners WITHOUT the recommendation of the HEALTH COMMITTEE, WITHOUT the recommendation of the SUPERINTENDENT, WITHOUT the support of the UNION, WITHOUT a fiscal note determining what this would cost, WITHOUT a legal document determining the definition of what a domestic partner will be determined to be , AND WITHOUT ALLOWING THE FULL BOARD AND THE PUBLIC TO HEAR WHY THE HEALTH COMMITTEE ,WHO HAD RESEARCHED IT FULLY, DID NOT RECOMMEND THIS ACTION. Three trustees just didn't show up. The vote was held at five o'clock and the only notice to the public was BURIED in a news story written the day before the vote. Essentially there was no notice, the vote was held while people were still at work, and once again, like in the sex standards debate, was held in the summer when the radicals think people might be on vacation and not paying attention. This is what happens when you vote for radicals. They believe their ends justify their means and they do not govern with care and common sense.
This vote hurts a lot of people. Let's start with the tax payers. Our state legislature has not recognized domestic partners so there is no legal standing here. The school board is the lowest level of governance and they have taken it upon themselves to recognize domestic partners. There will be no legal documents determining what partnership is allowed to be paid for under the district plan. One board member mentioned that "maybe" you could determine it by a shared bank account! SERIOUSLY- all I have to do is deposit a few bucks in a bank account and the district is on the hook for who knows what serious illnesses and long term care? This puts the district plan, and the taxpayers who pay for it, at great risk of increased liabilities. What happens when these costs go up as they inevitably will? Retirees who live on a fixed income and have to pay in full for this terrible plan will be forced to pay more. They already pay about a thousand dollars a month on the premium plan (which they also pay for, for the employees in their taxes) and almost eight hundred dollars for the standard plan which is major medical (does not cover dental,tests,doctor visits etc.).
The school board is there for the students but I do not think they voted for the best interests of the students in this case.. What happens when the health care costs go up? Someone has to pay. First the school board will inevitably go to the taxpayers saying they need more money, can't pay for kids (no mention of their irresponsible behavior). The people who don't pay attention will just think the costs for the students have gone up. The taxpayers will pay for awhile but then that will come to an end. Taxpayers have bills and obligations in their lives too, I'd like to let the radicals on the school board in on this little secret. So what then? Teachers will not get raises, teachers will have to contribute more for their health care, and teachers may get laid off because the district can't continue meeting the payroll and the cost of benefits.
But lets talk about what is REALLY important, really important to you and to me. Let me put my heart on my sleeve here, THIS IS GOING TO HURT THE MOST INNOCENT AMONG US, THE CHILDREN.This is not an ad or a political slogan, this is real life. Less teachers means crowded classrooms. Closed schools mean kids can't go to their neighborhood school. But much more than that, what kind of environment are we encouraging and building in our schools? One young lady who testified (NOT a student but had been the founder of the LGBT club on campus, NO STUDENTS TESTIFIED), said teachers talk to students about these things and the district needed to model
FAIRNESS. SERIOUSLY? Teachers are telling students what their living arrangements are? This is what pedophiles do, they tell young children about their private lives and intimacy. DO YOU WANT TEACHERS TALKING TO YOUR YOUNG STUDENTS AND TELLING THEM WHAT THEIR PRIVATE LIVING ARRANGEMENTS ARE? One woman who testified for domestic partners said this was "progressive". I have news for her, this is her values and her opinion, but her opinion has no more weight than anyone else's. This may be how she wants the future to look but it's not how many other people want the future to look. I'd like a future where children are taught modesty, respect and sexual restraint rather than being taught there is no morality, anything goes, and they can just make up their mind when they are ready. We've seen where that philosophy has gotten us- unwed pregnancies and huge dropout rates.
VOTE in the next school board election . FIND responsible people to run. STOP this travesty before kids get hurt.
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
END OF THE YEAR GOLD
How can it be that a school district that is in $251,000.00 deficit, as reported by the district itself and the local newspaper, suddenly comes up with hundreds of thousands of dollars at the end of the school year? Where does this money come from? Why does the newspaper have such a lack of interest in this budgeting slight of hand? My husband and I pay $250.00 a month in property taxes for our modest home. So I'm guessing most of you pony up similar amounts. Helena just passed a levy, so these taxes are all going up PERMANENTLY.That means forever,your grand children will be paying this money and their children after them. Every new levy that gets passed is FOREVER too, and each one is added to the ones from all the years before- you get the idea- accumulated paying.People vote for these levies because they think the district needs the money. They think the district is down to its last dime and can't make it without more money. But, is this really true if the school district has hundreds of thousands of dollars left at the end of the year? The newspaper has such a lack of interest in this subject it wouldn't even report about my public comment on the issue at the last board meeting.
Is there a cover up here? Maybe an actual honest budget that details all the school districts expenditures and income should be required to be sent out to each homeowner before every levy election. Do you think we have a right to see honest budgets? I do. So how much money did the district have left this year? They had $620,463.00 left in round numbers, or around four times the amount of the levy. I can understand that the district may round things up so as not to run short, and you can't budget down to the penny- but seriously, more than a half million dollars over? THIS HAPPENS EVERY YEAR. That's right, the budget is set to have hundreds of thousands of dollars left as a slush fund at the end of every year.
So how is the money spent? This year $35,675.00 is being spent on Common Core (Obama's national curriculum).$17,500.00 of that amount on who knows what- it just says Common Core in the "Proposed list of expenditures for "unexpected" budget balance". $21,175.00 of the Common Core amount for MASCD/MEI professional development Common Core. This is undoubtedly for teacher workshops. MASCD is the Montana branch of the ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development).The founder of this organization believed, and the stated objective of the organization is, that NOTHING should be taught in school that is not teaching Values. Another words, you never teach reading for example, for the sake of reading alone- you teach it with the INTENT of changing values.So, Common Core, along with being odious, is a money wagon for places like the ASCD. We get to pay for this. There are many other things on the list but one that I thought was of particular interest was the $142,600.00 for land purchased next to Lincoln School . The school is closed to our elementary students but open for programs. Now the district has purchased a new lot next door, and supposedly, they have no idea why they want the land. Is this where they will put one of there new "Family Resource Centers"( centers for job training, mental health, food, and who knows what else, in the socialist nonprofit dream world) when you pass the bond?
But here's the point- if they can't afford trailers for Jim Darcy why can they afford $142,600.00 for land that they have no purpose for? There are "No immediate plans for the property" as stated in the school board minutes. Parents who think the schools are out of money and that is why there is overcrowding in the valley are mistaken. The school district just has other plans. The principal at Rossiter stated that they could take ALL THE INCOMING KINDERGARTNERS IF THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO HAVE HEADSTART IN A CLASSROOM. Even with full day kindergarten, which took classrooms away, the valley could house all their children. The district has other plans.
Remember this when the schools come with pockets turned out begging for a big bond. You might keep in mind that apparently the city, which overspends on every Federal Grant from Urban Foresters to Complete Streets( bike paths) and is looking at funding a "non-discrimination" ordinance to control your free speech, has a proposal to raise your property taxes too.You can't stop the city (unless you finally,someday, vote for a conservative city council), but you can vote against levies and bonds. Vote against this stuff and put that year end gold in your own pocket!!
Is there a cover up here? Maybe an actual honest budget that details all the school districts expenditures and income should be required to be sent out to each homeowner before every levy election. Do you think we have a right to see honest budgets? I do. So how much money did the district have left this year? They had $620,463.00 left in round numbers, or around four times the amount of the levy. I can understand that the district may round things up so as not to run short, and you can't budget down to the penny- but seriously, more than a half million dollars over? THIS HAPPENS EVERY YEAR. That's right, the budget is set to have hundreds of thousands of dollars left as a slush fund at the end of every year.
So how is the money spent? This year $35,675.00 is being spent on Common Core (Obama's national curriculum).$17,500.00 of that amount on who knows what- it just says Common Core in the "Proposed list of expenditures for "unexpected" budget balance". $21,175.00 of the Common Core amount for MASCD/MEI professional development Common Core. This is undoubtedly for teacher workshops. MASCD is the Montana branch of the ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development).The founder of this organization believed, and the stated objective of the organization is, that NOTHING should be taught in school that is not teaching Values. Another words, you never teach reading for example, for the sake of reading alone- you teach it with the INTENT of changing values.So, Common Core, along with being odious, is a money wagon for places like the ASCD. We get to pay for this. There are many other things on the list but one that I thought was of particular interest was the $142,600.00 for land purchased next to Lincoln School . The school is closed to our elementary students but open for programs. Now the district has purchased a new lot next door, and supposedly, they have no idea why they want the land. Is this where they will put one of there new "Family Resource Centers"( centers for job training, mental health, food, and who knows what else, in the socialist nonprofit dream world) when you pass the bond?
But here's the point- if they can't afford trailers for Jim Darcy why can they afford $142,600.00 for land that they have no purpose for? There are "No immediate plans for the property" as stated in the school board minutes. Parents who think the schools are out of money and that is why there is overcrowding in the valley are mistaken. The school district just has other plans. The principal at Rossiter stated that they could take ALL THE INCOMING KINDERGARTNERS IF THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO HAVE HEADSTART IN A CLASSROOM. Even with full day kindergarten, which took classrooms away, the valley could house all their children. The district has other plans.
Remember this when the schools come with pockets turned out begging for a big bond. You might keep in mind that apparently the city, which overspends on every Federal Grant from Urban Foresters to Complete Streets( bike paths) and is looking at funding a "non-discrimination" ordinance to control your free speech, has a proposal to raise your property taxes too.You can't stop the city (unless you finally,someday, vote for a conservative city council), but you can vote against levies and bonds. Vote against this stuff and put that year end gold in your own pocket!!
Friday, 15 June 2012
IT ISN'T ABOUT THE CHILDREN
Have you noticed that every time the Schools want to pick your pocket for more money they say it's "For the children"? But is it really about the children?Schools are such a sleeper issue. It gets so frustrating for someone such as myself. The liberal left/communists know exactly what they're doing and the rest of society, for the most part, just doesn't seem to get it. Even conservative publications will say that Bill Clinton was a "moderate"or that he had good "policies". SERIOUSLY?!! Bill Clinton, under Hillary Clinton, emasculated our schools. Our schools are a nightmare for America today. The "village" concept is in full play, right down to mental health care , feeding, daycare and gardens. Today, the Obama administration has in place a national curriculum, and it seems that hardly anyone not involved in education, even knows about it, or cares. Who would have ever thought that the United States would have a centralized curriculum such as in the old Soviet Union?!! We used to be horrified at the Soviet schools that were dictated to by the Federal government and were forced to teach propaganda. It is reported that Nikita Kruschev said the Soviet Union would take over the United States without firing a shot. Eventually there would be so little difference between the United States and the Soviet Union that they would blend without a whimper. The Socialists/ Communists have put our schools on this course.
When I was behind the wall in 1975 the people had no rights, everything was for the good of all. The good of all was what the government wanted- just like here in America, public land is not for the public, it's for the government, you can't even walk on it without government permission. Everything was supposedly done because, sometime in the future, there would be this wonderful panacea. It never happened. Government does not make panaceas, government amasses power. Think of Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler or Assad- it's all the same- government power. Our schools are raising the next generation to love big government, to believe in big government more than themselves or their parents, to trust big government, to let big government determine what the truth is and not question it. Like a sick family, the sick government we have coming from the left will say the opposite of what they do. So-if they say higher level thinking skills, what they are really doing is mind control.
How are they doing this? I'll give you a few examples. My husband and I worked the polls at the recent primary election and we were in a school cafeteria. There were many posters where they served all the free food. One of them was of the Statue of Liberty and underneath it, it said JUSTICE. Were the children supposed to believe that the Statue of Liberty stands for Justice, which is FREE FOOD?Along the wall in front of our polling table were a series of posters. They said- Eat, Learn, EARTH, Friends and Play. What does EARTH have to do with eating your lunch? The Friends poster showed a peace circle. The recycling bins were there also.Our children are being taught the phony idea that justice in America is redistributive justice rather than justice under the law. They are being taught to accept socialism/communism. They are being taught to accept everything the environmental whackos come up with as truth.
Under the new Common Core , or National Curriculum, children will start learning about global warming in Kindergarten. There is no global warming, this is catastrophe politics bent on convincing the population to give up freedoms and rights over the land. Al Gore said we'd all be under water by now. If Global Warming was happening it would have happened by now. Where are you Al? Which mansion have you jetted off to in your private jet while our little ones are being fed this garbage? Twenty Six states have signed on to the Common Core, National Curriculum, science standards already. I don't know if Montana is one of them but I wouldn't be surprised. Denise Juneau and the State School Board are cooking all this up SANS the legislature. I just looked at all the bill drafts briefly, I didn't see one to repeal Common Core in Montana, but hopefully the people will demand it.
Trying to control the people by amassing power over their schools is an idea as old as time. Even in the sandbox someone wants to control others. The grand Constitution of the United States of America is one of it's kind. It was written to stop tyranny over the people. It has made America rich beyond the founders imaginations. America, the hope of the free world, what will the world be if America and it's grand constitution comes to an end because of these socialists who prey on our schools? Freedom, as it was written and has lived in America, will die out forever and tyranny and repression will return as in days of old. Will the American people allow this to happen? You see, it's not about the children, it's about America and the rights of men to live free. Children still go to school in the yellow school buses but what is happening there is a dire threat to America. If only the people will finally realize what is happening and put a stop to it. In Helena the people are so blind they just voted the president of the union's wife onto the school board! Sounds unbelievable, but it has happened here.People have only to reach out and take the vote their founders gave them and save themselves, save all of us , including the children.
When I was behind the wall in 1975 the people had no rights, everything was for the good of all. The good of all was what the government wanted- just like here in America, public land is not for the public, it's for the government, you can't even walk on it without government permission. Everything was supposedly done because, sometime in the future, there would be this wonderful panacea. It never happened. Government does not make panaceas, government amasses power. Think of Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler or Assad- it's all the same- government power. Our schools are raising the next generation to love big government, to believe in big government more than themselves or their parents, to trust big government, to let big government determine what the truth is and not question it. Like a sick family, the sick government we have coming from the left will say the opposite of what they do. So-if they say higher level thinking skills, what they are really doing is mind control.
How are they doing this? I'll give you a few examples. My husband and I worked the polls at the recent primary election and we were in a school cafeteria. There were many posters where they served all the free food. One of them was of the Statue of Liberty and underneath it, it said JUSTICE. Were the children supposed to believe that the Statue of Liberty stands for Justice, which is FREE FOOD?Along the wall in front of our polling table were a series of posters. They said- Eat, Learn, EARTH, Friends and Play. What does EARTH have to do with eating your lunch? The Friends poster showed a peace circle. The recycling bins were there also.Our children are being taught the phony idea that justice in America is redistributive justice rather than justice under the law. They are being taught to accept socialism/communism. They are being taught to accept everything the environmental whackos come up with as truth.
Under the new Common Core , or National Curriculum, children will start learning about global warming in Kindergarten. There is no global warming, this is catastrophe politics bent on convincing the population to give up freedoms and rights over the land. Al Gore said we'd all be under water by now. If Global Warming was happening it would have happened by now. Where are you Al? Which mansion have you jetted off to in your private jet while our little ones are being fed this garbage? Twenty Six states have signed on to the Common Core, National Curriculum, science standards already. I don't know if Montana is one of them but I wouldn't be surprised. Denise Juneau and the State School Board are cooking all this up SANS the legislature. I just looked at all the bill drafts briefly, I didn't see one to repeal Common Core in Montana, but hopefully the people will demand it.
Trying to control the people by amassing power over their schools is an idea as old as time. Even in the sandbox someone wants to control others. The grand Constitution of the United States of America is one of it's kind. It was written to stop tyranny over the people. It has made America rich beyond the founders imaginations. America, the hope of the free world, what will the world be if America and it's grand constitution comes to an end because of these socialists who prey on our schools? Freedom, as it was written and has lived in America, will die out forever and tyranny and repression will return as in days of old. Will the American people allow this to happen? You see, it's not about the children, it's about America and the rights of men to live free. Children still go to school in the yellow school buses but what is happening there is a dire threat to America. If only the people will finally realize what is happening and put a stop to it. In Helena the people are so blind they just voted the president of the union's wife onto the school board! Sounds unbelievable, but it has happened here.People have only to reach out and take the vote their founders gave them and save themselves, save all of us , including the children.
Saturday, 2 June 2012
CALIFORNIA SUNSHINE
I have to admit, you really have to love that California weather. I just got back from a couple of weeks in the Golden State and it gave me a much needed rest and some new perspectives.We hardly saw any bumper stickers in California - it almost seems like they're not into this whole culture war thing. Young people I talked to from San Francisco won't touch the public schools with a ten foot pole- they're going to send their children to charter schools. Why is Montana so backward? We don't even have the charter school option here. California, one of the most liberal states in the country, if not the most liberal, has beat the union and Montana can't. This is a sad state of affairs for Montana parents.
As we walked along the pier in San Francisco I thought about the Embarcadero. This freeway overpass was destroyed in the earthquake (1989). The whole pier area was a slum before the earthquake destroyed that freeway overpass. When the overpass came down businesses started moving into the area. Now it's a fun and beautiful high rent area with shops and restaurants. Who knew? Without the earthquake this area would probably still be a slum. School reform advocates like to pretend they have a corner on knowledge about the future. They don't know the future. They just want to make the future what they want it to be for all the rest of us. Like the earthquake, the future will happen as they talk and they won't know anything more about it than anyone else.
Louisiana had a hurricane. The hurricane destroyed most of the public schools in New Orleans so they were forced to go to a charter concept temporarily. When reconstruction took place, the parents, who realized their children were doing a whole lot better in the charter schools than they ever did in the public schools, demanded to keep the charter schools. Louisiana just passed a voucher program that gives all students access to private and charter education. Who could have predicted a hurricane and what it would bring? Will it take a natural disaster to provide REAL school reform in Montana?
Phyllis Schlaffley who has been in the culture wars since time began says that any time someone starts talking about school reform in public education what they really want to do is to change values. Phyllis is right. I have never seen such a shameless attempt to use children for political activism as I have seen since "Goals 2000" happened under the Clinton's in the 90's. I can't think of one lobby from arts to homosexuality which is not now represented in our schools. Children are collecting food for food share, wearing pink T- shirts, doing artists in residency, gardening (environmentalists don't like trucking in produce), advocating for their school endangered species, and learning about anal sex in 5th grade, and that's just a few examples. They are also being taught collectivist redistributive values instead of the
strong values of the rugged individual. Every lesson is supposed to encourage "collaboration", there is very little value put on, or encouragement for, independent work and thought.
The new Common Core Standards are supposed to have the answer to success in education for the WORLD. I have to wonder why the National Math and Science foundation is still doing research on how best to teach math- I thought David Coleman and his buddies already had all that figured out and that was why all the states are having to pony up billions and turn their schools and teachers inside out for this new miracle curriculum!! Do you think maybe David doesn't really have all the answers in this curriculum he turned out at warp speed for the Obama administration?
The Common Core people now have their super star advocates like Jeb Bush (they needed at least one Republican) and Exxon. Do you think these people know any more about education than Bill Gates who funded it? Of course they don't, none of them know education, and apparently they are too ignorant to realize they don't know what they're advocating for. The one worlders are no better than the socialists/liberals/progressives. They want centralized power. Jeb says each state can implement the Core Standards the way they want, but Jeb better catch up on his reading, Common Core is advertised to not only tell schools what to teach ,but how to teach it, and brags about every school in the country being exactly the same"every place in the world will be teaching the same things at the same time so students who move will not have to make any adjustments."!!!
Do you think centralized curriculums will work any better than centralized economies? NO!! Childhood goes by in a Nano second and our students don't have the time for all this nonsense. They're losing their education while these one worlders and socialists/liberals/ progressives work their politics. The best education will happen locally. Competition will allow parents to choose the best schools and eliminate those that don't work. America is the shining example of how free markets are SO SUPERIOR, OBVIOUSLY!! Free markets will work in schools too. Maybe California and I have something in common, I'm just working to get some sunshine on the subject!
As we walked along the pier in San Francisco I thought about the Embarcadero. This freeway overpass was destroyed in the earthquake (1989). The whole pier area was a slum before the earthquake destroyed that freeway overpass. When the overpass came down businesses started moving into the area. Now it's a fun and beautiful high rent area with shops and restaurants. Who knew? Without the earthquake this area would probably still be a slum. School reform advocates like to pretend they have a corner on knowledge about the future. They don't know the future. They just want to make the future what they want it to be for all the rest of us. Like the earthquake, the future will happen as they talk and they won't know anything more about it than anyone else.
Louisiana had a hurricane. The hurricane destroyed most of the public schools in New Orleans so they were forced to go to a charter concept temporarily. When reconstruction took place, the parents, who realized their children were doing a whole lot better in the charter schools than they ever did in the public schools, demanded to keep the charter schools. Louisiana just passed a voucher program that gives all students access to private and charter education. Who could have predicted a hurricane and what it would bring? Will it take a natural disaster to provide REAL school reform in Montana?
Phyllis Schlaffley who has been in the culture wars since time began says that any time someone starts talking about school reform in public education what they really want to do is to change values. Phyllis is right. I have never seen such a shameless attempt to use children for political activism as I have seen since "Goals 2000" happened under the Clinton's in the 90's. I can't think of one lobby from arts to homosexuality which is not now represented in our schools. Children are collecting food for food share, wearing pink T- shirts, doing artists in residency, gardening (environmentalists don't like trucking in produce), advocating for their school endangered species, and learning about anal sex in 5th grade, and that's just a few examples. They are also being taught collectivist redistributive values instead of the
strong values of the rugged individual. Every lesson is supposed to encourage "collaboration", there is very little value put on, or encouragement for, independent work and thought.
The new Common Core Standards are supposed to have the answer to success in education for the WORLD. I have to wonder why the National Math and Science foundation is still doing research on how best to teach math- I thought David Coleman and his buddies already had all that figured out and that was why all the states are having to pony up billions and turn their schools and teachers inside out for this new miracle curriculum!! Do you think maybe David doesn't really have all the answers in this curriculum he turned out at warp speed for the Obama administration?
The Common Core people now have their super star advocates like Jeb Bush (they needed at least one Republican) and Exxon. Do you think these people know any more about education than Bill Gates who funded it? Of course they don't, none of them know education, and apparently they are too ignorant to realize they don't know what they're advocating for. The one worlders are no better than the socialists/liberals/progressives. They want centralized power. Jeb says each state can implement the Core Standards the way they want, but Jeb better catch up on his reading, Common Core is advertised to not only tell schools what to teach ,but how to teach it, and brags about every school in the country being exactly the same"every place in the world will be teaching the same things at the same time so students who move will not have to make any adjustments."!!!
Do you think centralized curriculums will work any better than centralized economies? NO!! Childhood goes by in a Nano second and our students don't have the time for all this nonsense. They're losing their education while these one worlders and socialists/liberals/ progressives work their politics. The best education will happen locally. Competition will allow parents to choose the best schools and eliminate those that don't work. America is the shining example of how free markets are SO SUPERIOR, OBVIOUSLY!! Free markets will work in schools too. Maybe California and I have something in common, I'm just working to get some sunshine on the subject!
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