I had an amazing conversation the other day with one of the vaunted aging Hippis in town. I was at the deli counter and ran into this woman whom I had taught with. We exchanged greetings and I asked her if she was retired yet. "Oh no" she said, she loves hanging out with ten year olds. Well, yes, so did I, but things got so bad I had to leave. The conversation went on. She loves Common Core ( no surprise there). I don't like to argue with these people but I just had to ask, "Why?". Here comes the really, REALLY, shocking part. She loves Common Core because when her son was in school they didn't finish the math book and now they do!! WHAT?!! This is the person who comes from the Montessori ideology. This is the person who advocated for free school back in the day. This is the person who advocated that all children should be taught to their learning style and that conservative teachers who taught to the book were narrow minded and wrong headed!! WHAT?!! Now the hippis want everyone in lock step never veering from the book?!!
As I said, I don't like to argue with these people, but I was truly amazed. I have put up with Hippi nonsense since college days and now they are the HAMMER!! I had to ask her how she went about making her whole class learn everything well every day so they could continually go on with no stoppage for anything. She said, "We have para educators to help now". Seriously? A para educator who does not even have a teaching degree is going to make sure every student is on board every day? I did not ask that. I didn't ask how struggling students would catch up on the lessons they missed while being caught up by the para educator either. It sounds like a bit of a conundrum. We agreed that you will never have every student learning everything at the same time in the whole country and left it at that.
A parent told me that all the materials and books have to have "cc" on them now. The "cc" stands for "Common Core" but it should stand for "Continuous Cash". This is a scandal compared in size only to the Clinton Foundation. Can you imagine the amount of money the Common Core copyright holders are making when the HAMMER of state government is forcing every school IN THE COUNTRY to use their materials and books?!! I guess monopoly laws are now a thing of the past in this country. If you are on the right side of things there are no laws at all - you are free to be completely lawless.
The parent explained the testing to me as well. The teachers have to teach every page every day because EVERY student has to be tested on the material at the appointed time, no exceptions. If your whole class was out sick for a week- too bad. If the teacher doesn't give the test at the appointed time she gets a "black mark". I believe in teaching with books. I believe in this because curriculum writers do this for a living and the books should have an organized approach to learning that will build knowledge in good ways. Of course, it has to be a good book. You only get a good book by having CHOICE and trying things out. I like the book because it provides a framework for teach, practice, review and assess. I MOST CERTAINLY WOULD NOT TEACH THE BOOK EVERY DAY!! School should be fun and interesting. That's why we had ancillary projects. That's why we took field trips and made collages and diaramas and had science fairs. If my students did not understand a math concept we took an extra day to work on it. If I had a really smart class we could move along faster. If my class wasn't as sharp we took a little more time. If most of the class failed a math test we certainly didn't just go on !! I fought with the Hippis forever to say that we needed structure and you couldn't teach 25 students individually. Now, here is the HAMMER. They are in charge and academic freedom and student indivuality is ALL gone.
This is what always happens with totalitarianism. Whether it's Marxism or Communism or Facism- they start out with magnanimity and end up with the HAMMER. This situation in our nation's schools is sick and corrupt. Little children are frustrated. Even good students are feeling confused and stressed as they don't know all the questions on the test. They don't understand that the tests are designed that way, to sort of pretest their upper limits. I never believed in pretests, they confuse and upset students. Common Core is creating test anxiety in our students!! American parents and grandparents and taxpayers and citizens need to stand up and SAY NO TO THE HAMMER!! No one has the right to do this to our students and our teachers- no one!!
Wednesday, 13 May 2015
Sunday, 3 May 2015
WHO KILLED FREDDIE GRAY?
Freddie Gray, for those who never watch any cable news at all, ever, is a young man who died in Baltimore in the back of a police van. The usual bad actors, irresponsible and ignorant college babies, people who make a living off of inciting violence (like Al Sharpton), and the thugs who are out to loot, took to the streets in Baltimore in protest over Freddie Gray's death. Freddie Gray's death is indeed a horrific tragedy. But who killed him? Did you kill him? Did I kill him? Did the city of Baltimore kill him? None of the above. Freddie, unfortunately killed himself. What in the world was he doing in the back of a police van? Do the police just go around picking up innocent people for the fun of it? NO THEY DON'T. Freddie had a criminal record. So Freddie is responsible for breaking the law.
I remember when I was a school teacher I would hear parents complain about their children getting in trouble when they had done nothing wrong. NO, try again. Children who are sitting quietly, earnestly trying to do their work, are not ripped up out of their seats and accused of things. The last thing a teacher wants is trouble. The teacher is very busy and just prays that everyone is good. This is the same story with police. They don't go looking for trouble. They hope it doesn't happen on their watch. So, back to Freddie Gray. The question is, why did Freddie Gray become a criminal?
Well, I didn't make him a criminal and neither did you. Freddie became a criminal because his parents did not take care of him. I don't know Freddie's parents but I just bet his dad didn't take him fishing and play ball with him and read him bedtime stories. More than likely his dad wasn't even in his home. Was Freddie a criminal because he was poor? NO!! Many people are poor. They do not become criminals. Most of us come from poor backgrounds or our grandparents did. These people by and large did not become criminals. They took personal responsibility and worked their way out of poverty. Yes, you can do that. It happens every day.
I just went to church today and once again I did not hear a sermon on personal responsibility. Each of us has a responsibility to care for ourselves and our families. If you are not making breakfast for your children shame on you. If you are using drugs to get high, shame on you. If you are on welfare you should be grateful and doing everything humanly possible to take that burden off of the rest of society.
It's not about giving back. It's about doing what you are supposed to do and understanding your responsibility and guilt when you do not do the things you are supposed to do. Unions, nonprofits, and political parties, do not make money or get power from making you responsible. They can, however, get lots of money and support for telling you you are a victim. The "victims" may lose us our freedom. Every program to help the "victims" takes money and power away from the average American. Money is power, and the more of it you give to the government, the more power the government has over you.
These righteous college babies had their signs "Black lives matter". Yes they do. One hundred and fifty innocent Black men were beheaded by the Libyans because they believed in Jesus Christ. Hundreds were thrown off a boat at sea. I just didn't see all these righteous college babies out there with their signs "Black lives matter". No, to them, Black lives only matter when the cause is making a conversation that will get votes for the Socialist/Democrat political agenda.
A headline in one of our Montana papers today said that the new political agenda was the poor and they cited the riots in Baltimore. Sorry boys. It's not education, Baltimore pays more per student (over $15,000 dollars a student!!) for education, and has a social safety net that an ox couldn't carrry. This is not about poverty, this is about responsibility for everyone. EVERYONE - from Hillary and Bill Clinton who make themselves rich off of poverty (90% of their foundation money does not go to help the poor), to politicians looking for votes out of making victims, to fathers like Freddie Gray's, to college students who live off the fat of the land and don't understand or get educated on the issues, to pastors and priests who are afraid to say the truth. Feed your own children and teach them that America is not about what you get. Make people feel responsible for themselves and ask what they are doing to help others when they ask you for a handout. Start saying the truth and the looters will understand that they, and Freddie Gray, are criminals. This is not a lynching party for the police. We do not convict police of being murderers on the whim and force of a crowd. And pray for America everyday. We have to have another revolution for our freedom, a revolution to throw off the "victims"and turn them into true patriots and American citizens once again. It all happens from a very simple thing- EXPECTATIONS!!
I remember when I was a school teacher I would hear parents complain about their children getting in trouble when they had done nothing wrong. NO, try again. Children who are sitting quietly, earnestly trying to do their work, are not ripped up out of their seats and accused of things. The last thing a teacher wants is trouble. The teacher is very busy and just prays that everyone is good. This is the same story with police. They don't go looking for trouble. They hope it doesn't happen on their watch. So, back to Freddie Gray. The question is, why did Freddie Gray become a criminal?
Well, I didn't make him a criminal and neither did you. Freddie became a criminal because his parents did not take care of him. I don't know Freddie's parents but I just bet his dad didn't take him fishing and play ball with him and read him bedtime stories. More than likely his dad wasn't even in his home. Was Freddie a criminal because he was poor? NO!! Many people are poor. They do not become criminals. Most of us come from poor backgrounds or our grandparents did. These people by and large did not become criminals. They took personal responsibility and worked their way out of poverty. Yes, you can do that. It happens every day.
I just went to church today and once again I did not hear a sermon on personal responsibility. Each of us has a responsibility to care for ourselves and our families. If you are not making breakfast for your children shame on you. If you are using drugs to get high, shame on you. If you are on welfare you should be grateful and doing everything humanly possible to take that burden off of the rest of society.
It's not about giving back. It's about doing what you are supposed to do and understanding your responsibility and guilt when you do not do the things you are supposed to do. Unions, nonprofits, and political parties, do not make money or get power from making you responsible. They can, however, get lots of money and support for telling you you are a victim. The "victims" may lose us our freedom. Every program to help the "victims" takes money and power away from the average American. Money is power, and the more of it you give to the government, the more power the government has over you.
These righteous college babies had their signs "Black lives matter". Yes they do. One hundred and fifty innocent Black men were beheaded by the Libyans because they believed in Jesus Christ. Hundreds were thrown off a boat at sea. I just didn't see all these righteous college babies out there with their signs "Black lives matter". No, to them, Black lives only matter when the cause is making a conversation that will get votes for the Socialist/Democrat political agenda.
A headline in one of our Montana papers today said that the new political agenda was the poor and they cited the riots in Baltimore. Sorry boys. It's not education, Baltimore pays more per student (over $15,000 dollars a student!!) for education, and has a social safety net that an ox couldn't carrry. This is not about poverty, this is about responsibility for everyone. EVERYONE - from Hillary and Bill Clinton who make themselves rich off of poverty (90% of their foundation money does not go to help the poor), to politicians looking for votes out of making victims, to fathers like Freddie Gray's, to college students who live off the fat of the land and don't understand or get educated on the issues, to pastors and priests who are afraid to say the truth. Feed your own children and teach them that America is not about what you get. Make people feel responsible for themselves and ask what they are doing to help others when they ask you for a handout. Start saying the truth and the looters will understand that they, and Freddie Gray, are criminals. This is not a lynching party for the police. We do not convict police of being murderers on the whim and force of a crowd. And pray for America everyday. We have to have another revolution for our freedom, a revolution to throw off the "victims"and turn them into true patriots and American citizens once again. It all happens from a very simple thing- EXPECTATIONS!!
Tuesday, 28 April 2015
CONSOLIDATION
In my home town of Helena we are having a big fight over a bond to CONSOLIDATE our schools. If the school district has their way we will go from eleven elementaries to seven. Almost all of our children will have to take a bus or be driven to school. Amy Yerko from Chicago was brought here not long ago, as a consultant, to show us how wonderful these mega schools are. She had slides with pictures of these mega schools from other states, so we know this is not a Helena idea don't we?
Whose idea is this? Who wants our children going to 500 student mega institutions? I could show you the plan from the Federal Department of Education. I have a copy. In the early nineties when Hillary Clinton introduced us to Goals 2000 she said she wanted schools to become community centers. Her schools would be the central hub where all services would be offered. Now we have Common Core and Century 21 grants. It is the same thing from the same people. The globalists from the Federal Government and the United Nations are in this dream world where they think they are just so much smarter than the rest of us. In their world of dreams they will manage the masses. They will social engineer our children to "the right way" and manage us all into community consensus groups. That's why we need CONSOLIDATION. It's just so hard to manage disparate entities, CONSOLIDATED things are so much easier to control.
The first thing Hillary did in the early nineties was to CONSOLIDATE school districts. In Helena we went from three districts to one.This move to CONSOLIDATION was written into Goals 2000. Have you noticed CONSOLIDATION where you live? In Helena almost all of our private doctor businesses have been CONSOLIDATED into the hospital. It's just so much easier to CONTROL things when they are CONSOLIDATED.
That, in truth, is what the Standards movement is all about. We used to have very general standards, the Carnegie Standards, that said students should have a certain number of units in Math, Science, English, and Social Studies to graduate. What was in those courses, and how they were taught and evaluated was up to the school district and the teachers. We did pretty well under that system. We built a civilized society, even interstate highways, skyscrapers and went to the moon!! We had a reasonably moral society and people were not starving to death in our streets. We were doing better than most places in the world like India or China or Africa. But, Hillary and her friends did not like this. They knew better, there was too much freedom going on out there!! Voila, the standards movement. She would tell our schools what to teach and our teachers how to teach!! She would have grants and programs like gardening (it was in Goals 2000) and artists in residency (in Goals 2000) and so on. I don't know about your school district but ours has tanked since this all happened 20 years ago. Our schools in Helena today are in disarray and our scores have fallen alot. Our school buildings are in disrepair because money for maintenance has gone to programs and paid for Federal grants that do their disappearing act after three years. Our whole town is at each others throats. But what has happened to Hillary?
My, My, she's become a multimillionaire or billionaire and is running for president!! She's been influence peddling all over the world, even gave uranium to Russia which supplies Iran!! Her friend Jeffrey Imhelt, CEO of General Electric, got a contract with Kazikhstan from her while she was secretary of state, and gave ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS to Common Core ( who knew being secretary of state could be such a lucrative job!!)!!What a wheeler and dealer you are Hillary!! You will conrol the world!! Just take from one and give to another and you have the world on a string. Why you are so smart and so compassionate that you have made yourself a mega fortune!! Hillary Machiavelli!! Who cares what happens to America and the freedom it once had? Who cares about all the corruption and lawlessness? Who cares about the moral decay and dissarray in our schools? Who cares if our buildings are in disrepair and students lose their neighborhood schools? These people at the top know what is best for us, everything will be WONDERFUL IN THE END. No it won't. I saw this story play out before in the soviet union. I was in Romania with my relatives in 1975. Everyone was suffering because it was all going to be a panacea in the end. No it wasn't. The people finally revolted and the wall came down in 1989. Ceausescu (Romanian president) was shot dead in the street.
I don't know how long the American people will allow this to play out. How long will they take direction from Hillary while allowing her and Bill to amass their fortune? When children are small and mom says "you have to do your homework" and "you have to brush your teeth" but dad says," Hey- stay up as late as you want and I'll give you candy!", the kids go with dad! Hey- he's a great guy! But when they have a tummy ache and are tired at school and start to fail- they turn back to mom. Hillary and her friends have broken down morals "if it feels good do it!", and offered free everything, and jobs ,and contracts, and grants. As they have gone down this merry path they have enriched themselves as our great America has sighed and shuddered under the weight of debt, lawlessness and corruption, and destruction of our institutions. I don't know how you get integrity back. Some people think we never will. I, however, am an optimist. I believe in this country with all my heart and soul. I will never give up. America will notice it is tired and weak and will rise up AGAINST this monster socialism. America will DECONSOLIDATE AND GET BACK TO OUR FREEDOM!! There are no angels among men that know what it best for all. We can decide for ourselves what is best for our schools and towns and families.
Whose idea is this? Who wants our children going to 500 student mega institutions? I could show you the plan from the Federal Department of Education. I have a copy. In the early nineties when Hillary Clinton introduced us to Goals 2000 she said she wanted schools to become community centers. Her schools would be the central hub where all services would be offered. Now we have Common Core and Century 21 grants. It is the same thing from the same people. The globalists from the Federal Government and the United Nations are in this dream world where they think they are just so much smarter than the rest of us. In their world of dreams they will manage the masses. They will social engineer our children to "the right way" and manage us all into community consensus groups. That's why we need CONSOLIDATION. It's just so hard to manage disparate entities, CONSOLIDATED things are so much easier to control.
The first thing Hillary did in the early nineties was to CONSOLIDATE school districts. In Helena we went from three districts to one.This move to CONSOLIDATION was written into Goals 2000. Have you noticed CONSOLIDATION where you live? In Helena almost all of our private doctor businesses have been CONSOLIDATED into the hospital. It's just so much easier to CONTROL things when they are CONSOLIDATED.
That, in truth, is what the Standards movement is all about. We used to have very general standards, the Carnegie Standards, that said students should have a certain number of units in Math, Science, English, and Social Studies to graduate. What was in those courses, and how they were taught and evaluated was up to the school district and the teachers. We did pretty well under that system. We built a civilized society, even interstate highways, skyscrapers and went to the moon!! We had a reasonably moral society and people were not starving to death in our streets. We were doing better than most places in the world like India or China or Africa. But, Hillary and her friends did not like this. They knew better, there was too much freedom going on out there!! Voila, the standards movement. She would tell our schools what to teach and our teachers how to teach!! She would have grants and programs like gardening (it was in Goals 2000) and artists in residency (in Goals 2000) and so on. I don't know about your school district but ours has tanked since this all happened 20 years ago. Our schools in Helena today are in disarray and our scores have fallen alot. Our school buildings are in disrepair because money for maintenance has gone to programs and paid for Federal grants that do their disappearing act after three years. Our whole town is at each others throats. But what has happened to Hillary?
My, My, she's become a multimillionaire or billionaire and is running for president!! She's been influence peddling all over the world, even gave uranium to Russia which supplies Iran!! Her friend Jeffrey Imhelt, CEO of General Electric, got a contract with Kazikhstan from her while she was secretary of state, and gave ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS to Common Core ( who knew being secretary of state could be such a lucrative job!!)!!What a wheeler and dealer you are Hillary!! You will conrol the world!! Just take from one and give to another and you have the world on a string. Why you are so smart and so compassionate that you have made yourself a mega fortune!! Hillary Machiavelli!! Who cares what happens to America and the freedom it once had? Who cares about all the corruption and lawlessness? Who cares about the moral decay and dissarray in our schools? Who cares if our buildings are in disrepair and students lose their neighborhood schools? These people at the top know what is best for us, everything will be WONDERFUL IN THE END. No it won't. I saw this story play out before in the soviet union. I was in Romania with my relatives in 1975. Everyone was suffering because it was all going to be a panacea in the end. No it wasn't. The people finally revolted and the wall came down in 1989. Ceausescu (Romanian president) was shot dead in the street.
I don't know how long the American people will allow this to play out. How long will they take direction from Hillary while allowing her and Bill to amass their fortune? When children are small and mom says "you have to do your homework" and "you have to brush your teeth" but dad says," Hey- stay up as late as you want and I'll give you candy!", the kids go with dad! Hey- he's a great guy! But when they have a tummy ache and are tired at school and start to fail- they turn back to mom. Hillary and her friends have broken down morals "if it feels good do it!", and offered free everything, and jobs ,and contracts, and grants. As they have gone down this merry path they have enriched themselves as our great America has sighed and shuddered under the weight of debt, lawlessness and corruption, and destruction of our institutions. I don't know how you get integrity back. Some people think we never will. I, however, am an optimist. I believe in this country with all my heart and soul. I will never give up. America will notice it is tired and weak and will rise up AGAINST this monster socialism. America will DECONSOLIDATE AND GET BACK TO OUR FREEDOM!! There are no angels among men that know what it best for all. We can decide for ourselves what is best for our schools and towns and families.
Tuesday, 14 April 2015
EDUCATION BY SPECIAL INTEREST
When you bring the Federal Government into schools what you bring with it is politics. Every lobbying effort in Washington from arts to conservation now has a seat at the table in your child's classroom. What the "experts" will tell you is that children don't need a full curriculum anymore. They don't need to memorize things because they can look them up. This is the excuse for all the classroom interruption. They will tell you that children learn through experiences and that of course, it's so important that they be socially engineered with one program after another. How could students ever live their own lives without the government telling them what to eat, what to say and not say, how and when to have sex, that they need exercise, what they should like and not like (like art), what they should believe and not believe (like global warming etc.), teach them to run the governors cup, teach them to work for nonprofits like Food Share, teach them to garden (healthy life style), manage their family with home visits and after school programs and so many other things that the "experts" haven't even thought of yet?
My son often reads the liberal nonsense on this very same internet. He read an article about education the other day hmmm-. Well, this genius he was reading had this thesis, which he did not think up himself of course, that what do you learn more from - experiencing a mountain or having a presentation about a mountain? Just think of that, this poor man wants us to go back to cave man days when all the knowledge a person had was what he experienced!! Well, I of course told my son he would learn more from a presentation- duh. If a person experienced a mountain they would know that it had plants and trees and was rocky and cold at the top. If they had a presentation they would know that mountains have altitudes in varying degrees and exist in mountain chains in countries across the world and what fossils are and the tree line and on and on. Well, he said, you could look all that up! Well, I said, I guess you would have to know how to read to look it up, and that takes an awful lot of planned learning. In addition it's really not that simple, we can understand what we are reading because we have had presentations of knowledge. I could read a medical article but this does not make me a doctor. Learning takes time and study, it takes presentation, practice, review and evaluation over and over again for years and years. Knowledge builds in a strategic and precise fashion that builds a foundation and then builds on that foundation. This is not rocket science, and it is stupid that we even have to have this converstaion because of these imbeciles in education theory who are bending to the needs of special interests who want to make money off of our schools. Instead of moving forward we are fighting for what is so obvious. My son got it immediately "oh yeah, working smarter instead of harder."
Experience that reinforces learning is fabulous, that's what science experiments and field trips are all about, but experience without presentation is not much more than a trip to Disney Land, lots of fun, but not of real consequence in building a foundation of knowledge. The Federal Department of Defense is now being used in education. They don't teach about national defense, they teach the Star Based program. Kids in 5th grade give up a whole week of education to play with computers and space simulators. The tax payers get to pay for this. This is an example of Disney Land learning. There is no foundation for this learning, it is not part of the 5th grade curriculum. There is no teach, practice, review and evaluate to it. There is no learning that becomes the foundation for the next lesson. It's just fun. So a whole week of learning in 5th grade is sacrificed just for fun. The man who presented this information to the budget committee here in Helena, an elementary principal, wants more of this. Take every non profit in town, Grand Street Theater, Exploration Works, the museum, just any place, and put the kids there according to their interests!! This man has no idea what entails a complete and good education. He has no respect for the learning process.
People often ask me what I think of Montessori. Maria Montessori based her learning theory on a Frenchman's study of how babies learn. Piaget watched babies explore their world. He noted how they repeated tasks over and over again - like buckling or fitting one thing into another. From this he deduced, or others did for him, that children should teach themselves!! This is stupid. What I tell people is that I can't speak to every Montessori class because they are not really Montessori, they are perverted- for example, in Helena they do the Walk To Read program and the Accelerated Reader Program and the Accelerated Math program (along with all the constant interruptions that every class suffers). What I will say is that I believe Maria Montessori was wrong. Babies are in an explore and discover mode of learning, they don't even have language yet. Small children may still be exploring but they have language and are beginning to do higher level things like reading and spelling. They are exploring their world at a much more complex level. They are beginning to build that foundation of knowledge that does not come from licking something. It comes from listening and reading and practicing and reviewing and evaluation and building knowledge strategically.
As I've said on this blog before, get the dollars back to the classroom and out of Washington. Send the special interests packing and make school what it should be- the opportunity for young people to build a good foundation of knowledge and skills that will allow them the opportunity to pursue their happiness without the Federal Government, in any way shape or form.
My son often reads the liberal nonsense on this very same internet. He read an article about education the other day hmmm-. Well, this genius he was reading had this thesis, which he did not think up himself of course, that what do you learn more from - experiencing a mountain or having a presentation about a mountain? Just think of that, this poor man wants us to go back to cave man days when all the knowledge a person had was what he experienced!! Well, I of course told my son he would learn more from a presentation- duh. If a person experienced a mountain they would know that it had plants and trees and was rocky and cold at the top. If they had a presentation they would know that mountains have altitudes in varying degrees and exist in mountain chains in countries across the world and what fossils are and the tree line and on and on. Well, he said, you could look all that up! Well, I said, I guess you would have to know how to read to look it up, and that takes an awful lot of planned learning. In addition it's really not that simple, we can understand what we are reading because we have had presentations of knowledge. I could read a medical article but this does not make me a doctor. Learning takes time and study, it takes presentation, practice, review and evaluation over and over again for years and years. Knowledge builds in a strategic and precise fashion that builds a foundation and then builds on that foundation. This is not rocket science, and it is stupid that we even have to have this converstaion because of these imbeciles in education theory who are bending to the needs of special interests who want to make money off of our schools. Instead of moving forward we are fighting for what is so obvious. My son got it immediately "oh yeah, working smarter instead of harder."
Experience that reinforces learning is fabulous, that's what science experiments and field trips are all about, but experience without presentation is not much more than a trip to Disney Land, lots of fun, but not of real consequence in building a foundation of knowledge. The Federal Department of Defense is now being used in education. They don't teach about national defense, they teach the Star Based program. Kids in 5th grade give up a whole week of education to play with computers and space simulators. The tax payers get to pay for this. This is an example of Disney Land learning. There is no foundation for this learning, it is not part of the 5th grade curriculum. There is no teach, practice, review and evaluate to it. There is no learning that becomes the foundation for the next lesson. It's just fun. So a whole week of learning in 5th grade is sacrificed just for fun. The man who presented this information to the budget committee here in Helena, an elementary principal, wants more of this. Take every non profit in town, Grand Street Theater, Exploration Works, the museum, just any place, and put the kids there according to their interests!! This man has no idea what entails a complete and good education. He has no respect for the learning process.
People often ask me what I think of Montessori. Maria Montessori based her learning theory on a Frenchman's study of how babies learn. Piaget watched babies explore their world. He noted how they repeated tasks over and over again - like buckling or fitting one thing into another. From this he deduced, or others did for him, that children should teach themselves!! This is stupid. What I tell people is that I can't speak to every Montessori class because they are not really Montessori, they are perverted- for example, in Helena they do the Walk To Read program and the Accelerated Reader Program and the Accelerated Math program (along with all the constant interruptions that every class suffers). What I will say is that I believe Maria Montessori was wrong. Babies are in an explore and discover mode of learning, they don't even have language yet. Small children may still be exploring but they have language and are beginning to do higher level things like reading and spelling. They are exploring their world at a much more complex level. They are beginning to build that foundation of knowledge that does not come from licking something. It comes from listening and reading and practicing and reviewing and evaluation and building knowledge strategically.
As I've said on this blog before, get the dollars back to the classroom and out of Washington. Send the special interests packing and make school what it should be- the opportunity for young people to build a good foundation of knowledge and skills that will allow them the opportunity to pursue their happiness without the Federal Government, in any way shape or form.
Monday, 30 March 2015
BULLYING PROGRAMS
Shools have always had rules against bullying. What schools have not had rules against throwing rocks, hitting, calling names, or in any other way abusing others such as not taking your turn or throwing rocks etcetera? What are playground paras for if not to referee the playground and defend students who may be being treated unfairly? If you accept that schools have always had rules against bad behavior ,have taught kindness and good behavior,and have monitored bullyings and punished violators , you have to ask yourself why the Democrats here in Montana have worked so slavishly for years to get a bullying bill. They would not be deterred. This sounds like one thing to me, as much as they may deny it- it's about jobs. Maybe that's why the unions have been championing and testifying religiously for these bullying bills. Here's how I think they will try to make it work.
The unions have been adding jobs and unions in the schools like presents at Christmas for years. As the private unions have shrunk the unions have tried to recover this lost money through government unions.In the schools it's not just teachers that are unionized now, but administrators, paras and janitors too!! Special needs students often have full time paras assigned just to them. The number of paras have sky rocketed. More than ninety percent of money spent in the schools goes to salaries- in Helena it has been as high as ninety- six percent!! So when you hear people pleading for money for children- what they are really pleading for is more money for salaries. But let's talk about how this might all work with the new bullying programs.
Bills for social workers and mental health workers are not easy to pass in the legislature these days, so the easier way to do this is to force it through regulation or litigation. You find a student to say he is bullied (every teacher knows it won't be hard to find a student who claims his problems are the fault of others) and then you SUE the school district!! We have seen this with the ACLU supporting themselves by trying to get rid of the Pledge of Allegiance or Christmas Songs or even saying "Christmas Break" or "Easter Break". Just find ONE parent to complain and off you go to court, or the school buckles and obeys without even going to court. Ninety Nine percent of the parents and students wishes are ignored and the ONE PARENT gets what they want.
So I don't think it's a stretch at all to assume that the unions think they can get more paydays by forcing schools to hire more social workers and mental health workers by using litigation. A bullying bill gives them the law behind what they want to do. Perhaps they think the public will just pressure the legislature to provide money for all these new workers. Maybe the public will not buckle to more taxes and then the schools will have more mental health workers but lose teachers. I'm not against unions, but I am against greed. I am against looking for more money out of the schools all the time. Let's start putting our priority on students- really. School should not be about jobs and higher salaries.
Absolutely no one wants kids bullied, but bullying programs and legislation will not stop bullying anymore than food programs have ended hunger or housing programs have ended homelessness or welfare has ended poverty. It seems these problems get worse as govenment programs try to manage them. Keep it local, keep it reasonable, and keep the money seekers at bay. The money seekers are not do gooders, not really, and what is in their heart is not really our children first- not really.
The unions have been adding jobs and unions in the schools like presents at Christmas for years. As the private unions have shrunk the unions have tried to recover this lost money through government unions.In the schools it's not just teachers that are unionized now, but administrators, paras and janitors too!! Special needs students often have full time paras assigned just to them. The number of paras have sky rocketed. More than ninety percent of money spent in the schools goes to salaries- in Helena it has been as high as ninety- six percent!! So when you hear people pleading for money for children- what they are really pleading for is more money for salaries. But let's talk about how this might all work with the new bullying programs.
Bills for social workers and mental health workers are not easy to pass in the legislature these days, so the easier way to do this is to force it through regulation or litigation. You find a student to say he is bullied (every teacher knows it won't be hard to find a student who claims his problems are the fault of others) and then you SUE the school district!! We have seen this with the ACLU supporting themselves by trying to get rid of the Pledge of Allegiance or Christmas Songs or even saying "Christmas Break" or "Easter Break". Just find ONE parent to complain and off you go to court, or the school buckles and obeys without even going to court. Ninety Nine percent of the parents and students wishes are ignored and the ONE PARENT gets what they want.
So I don't think it's a stretch at all to assume that the unions think they can get more paydays by forcing schools to hire more social workers and mental health workers by using litigation. A bullying bill gives them the law behind what they want to do. Perhaps they think the public will just pressure the legislature to provide money for all these new workers. Maybe the public will not buckle to more taxes and then the schools will have more mental health workers but lose teachers. I'm not against unions, but I am against greed. I am against looking for more money out of the schools all the time. Let's start putting our priority on students- really. School should not be about jobs and higher salaries.
Absolutely no one wants kids bullied, but bullying programs and legislation will not stop bullying anymore than food programs have ended hunger or housing programs have ended homelessness or welfare has ended poverty. It seems these problems get worse as govenment programs try to manage them. Keep it local, keep it reasonable, and keep the money seekers at bay. The money seekers are not do gooders, not really, and what is in their heart is not really our children first- not really.
Friday, 20 March 2015
WHO ARE THE NICE PEOPLE??
I just came back from a trip to California. I was once again treated to my "favorite" bumper sticker. Some old hippi had this very old and faded bumper sticker from 20 years ago when Clinton lost the house and senate- the bumper sticker says "MEAN PEOPLE SUCK"!! Hmmm- really? If mean people suck - WHO ARE THE NICE PEOPLE?
Let me think- if the mean people are the responsible tax paying indivduals the "nice" people must be the drug addicts and other totally irresponsible individuals who do nothing for anyone else and want a hand out from others. Or maybe the "nice" people are the people like Nancy Pelosi who gold plated her husbands real estate development with government favors and went on to take a private jet home to San Francisco every weekend on the public dime even though the government is floundering in debt, or Harry Reid who had all that land rezoned so his sons could make a whole bunch of money, or Barrack Obama who took essentially free land from the mob boss Rizzio, or maybe it's the all so caring Clintons that have become multimillionaires putting America up for Sale by influence peddling to any country that would give them money- including China, Saudi Arabia and Algeria - ARE THESE THE NICE PEOPLE- REALLY? I guess Martha's Vineyard is just full of all these "nice" people.
I guess the socialists are trying as hard as they can to raise "nice" children in school. We wouldn't like them to be rugged individuals who believe in themselves and work hard and are focussed. We want them to suck on water bottles all day (they need their water on demand at all times) and then run to the potty all day long (and maybe play a little in the hallway on the way- what the heck- what you miss in class isn't really all that important). We want them to give up their studies so they can help foodshare out and do a little gardening and then collect money for foodshare and cancer and so on too. Non profits aren't businesses that want to expand and have a bottom line of salaries and benefits are they? They don't have CEO's that make millions of dollars off of the public donations do they?
You know I guess "nice" people don't ask questions either. If you fill them full of a bunch of bull about global warming or how bad their country is- they will just accept that. They won't be those trouble making rugged individuals that work hard and have integrity. The "nice" people will just accept whatever the powers that be in Washington send down.
The "nice" people aren't judgemental either. Why, anything goes with them!! Have sex whenever and with whomever and take drugs too- they wouldn't want anyone to think they thought they had higher morals!! No indeed,go home mindless and watch MTV - those people on the Donna Reed show or Leave It To Beaver are just mean spirited to think there are higher morals in this world.
Well there you have it folks- raising kids the socialist way. But wait a minute- what if we all become "nice" people and there is no one left to carry the load and pay the bills? Hmmm- I guess the socialists
have an answer for that too- they control everyone and then they bring down the hammer. Don't let them America- keep fighting back- the rugged individuals will save America inspite of itself.
Let me think- if the mean people are the responsible tax paying indivduals the "nice" people must be the drug addicts and other totally irresponsible individuals who do nothing for anyone else and want a hand out from others. Or maybe the "nice" people are the people like Nancy Pelosi who gold plated her husbands real estate development with government favors and went on to take a private jet home to San Francisco every weekend on the public dime even though the government is floundering in debt, or Harry Reid who had all that land rezoned so his sons could make a whole bunch of money, or Barrack Obama who took essentially free land from the mob boss Rizzio, or maybe it's the all so caring Clintons that have become multimillionaires putting America up for Sale by influence peddling to any country that would give them money- including China, Saudi Arabia and Algeria - ARE THESE THE NICE PEOPLE- REALLY? I guess Martha's Vineyard is just full of all these "nice" people.
I guess the socialists are trying as hard as they can to raise "nice" children in school. We wouldn't like them to be rugged individuals who believe in themselves and work hard and are focussed. We want them to suck on water bottles all day (they need their water on demand at all times) and then run to the potty all day long (and maybe play a little in the hallway on the way- what the heck- what you miss in class isn't really all that important). We want them to give up their studies so they can help foodshare out and do a little gardening and then collect money for foodshare and cancer and so on too. Non profits aren't businesses that want to expand and have a bottom line of salaries and benefits are they? They don't have CEO's that make millions of dollars off of the public donations do they?
You know I guess "nice" people don't ask questions either. If you fill them full of a bunch of bull about global warming or how bad their country is- they will just accept that. They won't be those trouble making rugged individuals that work hard and have integrity. The "nice" people will just accept whatever the powers that be in Washington send down.
The "nice" people aren't judgemental either. Why, anything goes with them!! Have sex whenever and with whomever and take drugs too- they wouldn't want anyone to think they thought they had higher morals!! No indeed,go home mindless and watch MTV - those people on the Donna Reed show or Leave It To Beaver are just mean spirited to think there are higher morals in this world.
Well there you have it folks- raising kids the socialist way. But wait a minute- what if we all become "nice" people and there is no one left to carry the load and pay the bills? Hmmm- I guess the socialists
have an answer for that too- they control everyone and then they bring down the hammer. Don't let them America- keep fighting back- the rugged individuals will save America inspite of itself.
Tuesday, 17 February 2015
ELITISM AND NO ACCOUNTABILITY
It is astounding to me that the United States Senate and House of Representatives is about to reenact the NCLB (No Child Left Behind)- recently called the ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act)- in other words- FUNDING FOR THE FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION!!! This department came about in 1977 when the elitists, who today call themselves progressives, were screaming like Chicken Little that the sky was falling!! American education was failing!! American education was on the brink of disaster!! We needed the Federal Government to step in and save us!!
My, My,- 38 years and billions of dollars later what do we have? Do we have improved education in America? Well if we do, it's sure funny that the homeschool movement has mushroomed everywhere and the states are screaming for vouchers and charter schools. Actually our schools are in huge dissarray. Students' dress tells you all you need to know- they respect no one, their morals allow in many cases for promiscuity and drug use. I know there are wonderful top notch students out there, but these individuals survive inspite of the dissarray, including dishes of condoms on the nurses desk and sex clubs on campus.
Even the Elitists admit there actually is a problem- that's why they came up with the new program "Common Core" that our vaunted United States Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan has been pimping for all over the country. Has this program been tried, tested, and proven? NO. The elitists are not required to have ANY ACCOUNTABILITY. They know what's best for you, just take their word for it. They get to say anything they want, like "graduation and career ready" and "21st century!" and you are just supposed to believe it. They don't have to prove anything. In fact, they get to tell you what it is appropriate for you to say and not to say. I heard the other day that to call illegal aliens, illegal aliens is racist!! The old power politics of the race card. What are we supposed to call people who are not citizens and who broke the law and are here illegally? Are we supposed to call them citizens? So much for free speech, the elitists, who call themselves progressives ,will let us know what we can say and what we can not say. They will let us know what we must believe (like that carbon emissions cause global warming) and they are not accountable to prove anything.
The American people are trying to fight back. There was a huge tsunami election of conservatives last November. But, what difference does it make? What difference does it make if our elected representatives will just reenact the old hippi programs that have not worked for 38 years? What difference does our vote make if these representatives will not require SOME ACCOUNTABILITY before reenacting the same failed programs and spending BILLIONS OF DOLLARS on them while the security of our country, our very existence, is floundering in our more than EIGHTEEN TRILLION DOLLARS OF DEBT?!!
Maurice McTigue tells of the accountability program in New Zealand. Their government was floundering in debt and bureaucracy and over regulation. They found that for every dollar spent on education, SEVENTY CENTS WENT TO BUREAUCRATS AND ONLY THIRTY CENTS WENT TO THE CLASSROOMS!!! They did away with all the bureaucracy and went to local school boards for each school that were elected only by the parents from that school. International testing showed that New Zealand students went from fifteen percent BELOW the international average to fifteen percent ABOVE the international average.
Unfortunately, people like Jeb Bush who thinks he is going to run for president, just don't get it. They call themselves Republicans but they don't get that we don't need central control over things to make them work. They don't even get that central control doesn't work and that individuals and competition DO WORK. For two hundred years this country grew and became powerful and rich with schools that made their own curriculums and chose materials from capitalist competitive pubishing companies. But people like Jeb think the 38years of destruction by the federal bureaucrats is what we really need!! He and his counterparts won't require ACCOUNTABILITY. He never even asked for the proof that Common Core worked, the tests and pilots, before he bought their whole schtick of "college and career ready" and "21st century skills". America doesn't need anymore Bozos like Jeb Bush. We need independent thinkers that are willing to REQUIRE ACCOUNTABILITY and have the strength of character to get this American government back on track, ACCOUNTABLE TO THE CONSTITUTION AND ACCOUNTABLE TO WHAT THE GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS HAVE ACCOMPLISHED!!We need a president and elected representatives that are not afraid of unions and lobbyists. We need a president who is a strong indpendent thinker who will fight for what is right for America.
Centralized authorites have a very limited number of things that they might be able to do well and they need to get back to their knitting and let the rest of us be free and have a secure country once again. We don't have to sit and be controlled by propaganda from these elitists who think that they and or their government friends should manage all of us. They call themselves progressives but what they really are, are elitists who think you need to be controlled for your own good because you are not capable of running your own life. These elitists who call themselves progressives, get their ideas from Washington. They don't ask questions and they don't require accountability. It's up to us to unmask them and their propaganda. The American people must scream for accountability and courage, starting with NOT REENACTING THE ESEA THAT IS A TOTAL FAILURE AND PUTTING THE FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OUT OF BUSINESS FOR GOOD!! WRITE YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES IN WASHINGTON TODAY!!
My, My,- 38 years and billions of dollars later what do we have? Do we have improved education in America? Well if we do, it's sure funny that the homeschool movement has mushroomed everywhere and the states are screaming for vouchers and charter schools. Actually our schools are in huge dissarray. Students' dress tells you all you need to know- they respect no one, their morals allow in many cases for promiscuity and drug use. I know there are wonderful top notch students out there, but these individuals survive inspite of the dissarray, including dishes of condoms on the nurses desk and sex clubs on campus.
Even the Elitists admit there actually is a problem- that's why they came up with the new program "Common Core" that our vaunted United States Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan has been pimping for all over the country. Has this program been tried, tested, and proven? NO. The elitists are not required to have ANY ACCOUNTABILITY. They know what's best for you, just take their word for it. They get to say anything they want, like "graduation and career ready" and "21st century!" and you are just supposed to believe it. They don't have to prove anything. In fact, they get to tell you what it is appropriate for you to say and not to say. I heard the other day that to call illegal aliens, illegal aliens is racist!! The old power politics of the race card. What are we supposed to call people who are not citizens and who broke the law and are here illegally? Are we supposed to call them citizens? So much for free speech, the elitists, who call themselves progressives ,will let us know what we can say and what we can not say. They will let us know what we must believe (like that carbon emissions cause global warming) and they are not accountable to prove anything.
The American people are trying to fight back. There was a huge tsunami election of conservatives last November. But, what difference does it make? What difference does it make if our elected representatives will just reenact the old hippi programs that have not worked for 38 years? What difference does our vote make if these representatives will not require SOME ACCOUNTABILITY before reenacting the same failed programs and spending BILLIONS OF DOLLARS on them while the security of our country, our very existence, is floundering in our more than EIGHTEEN TRILLION DOLLARS OF DEBT?!!
Maurice McTigue tells of the accountability program in New Zealand. Their government was floundering in debt and bureaucracy and over regulation. They found that for every dollar spent on education, SEVENTY CENTS WENT TO BUREAUCRATS AND ONLY THIRTY CENTS WENT TO THE CLASSROOMS!!! They did away with all the bureaucracy and went to local school boards for each school that were elected only by the parents from that school. International testing showed that New Zealand students went from fifteen percent BELOW the international average to fifteen percent ABOVE the international average.
Unfortunately, people like Jeb Bush who thinks he is going to run for president, just don't get it. They call themselves Republicans but they don't get that we don't need central control over things to make them work. They don't even get that central control doesn't work and that individuals and competition DO WORK. For two hundred years this country grew and became powerful and rich with schools that made their own curriculums and chose materials from capitalist competitive pubishing companies. But people like Jeb think the 38years of destruction by the federal bureaucrats is what we really need!! He and his counterparts won't require ACCOUNTABILITY. He never even asked for the proof that Common Core worked, the tests and pilots, before he bought their whole schtick of "college and career ready" and "21st century skills". America doesn't need anymore Bozos like Jeb Bush. We need independent thinkers that are willing to REQUIRE ACCOUNTABILITY and have the strength of character to get this American government back on track, ACCOUNTABLE TO THE CONSTITUTION AND ACCOUNTABLE TO WHAT THE GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS HAVE ACCOMPLISHED!!We need a president and elected representatives that are not afraid of unions and lobbyists. We need a president who is a strong indpendent thinker who will fight for what is right for America.
Centralized authorites have a very limited number of things that they might be able to do well and they need to get back to their knitting and let the rest of us be free and have a secure country once again. We don't have to sit and be controlled by propaganda from these elitists who think that they and or their government friends should manage all of us. They call themselves progressives but what they really are, are elitists who think you need to be controlled for your own good because you are not capable of running your own life. These elitists who call themselves progressives, get their ideas from Washington. They don't ask questions and they don't require accountability. It's up to us to unmask them and their propaganda. The American people must scream for accountability and courage, starting with NOT REENACTING THE ESEA THAT IS A TOTAL FAILURE AND PUTTING THE FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OUT OF BUSINESS FOR GOOD!! WRITE YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES IN WASHINGTON TODAY!!
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