Central planning does not work. Central planning has never worked. Central planning creates a nightmare in mismanagement. Central planning has created THE MONSTER!! in America's cities and schools. Every morning I look out my window at my street. I live on the upper west side of Helena, a very nice address. My street looks like a war zone. The pot holes can't even be patched to much effect anymore. We are on a 22 year turnaround now for street repair. My street is not unlike many others, it is symptomatic of what is happening to local governance.Local governance is servicing CENTRAL PLANNING and losing all sense of care taking for the management of their charge, be it schools or cities.
When you think about it there is so much that goes into planning just for your home and family. What will you have for dinner tonight? Did you go to the store? Did you shop the sales to get good deals and protect your family budget? How about the laundry- do you need clean sheets or have the towels been washed- do you have clean clothes for work and school tomorrow? Does your wardrobe need replacements? Have you weeded out old clothes? How about cleaning and maintaining your house? How about maintaining your yard? How about your vehicles-have they been serviced? Do you need gas?Have you paid your bills and managed your budget? The list goes on. Now think- what if Aunt Mildred moved in with her two kids and cousin Alfred took over the basement.More mouths to feed. More problems to solve. More needs to be met. Would you be able to manage it all? And then the kids bring home a stray dog and two stray cats. Hmmm- could you manage it all? Would you at some point have to say "I can't do all this!!". Probably. This is what is happening to your cities and schools.
In Helena our school district is under great stress- and the public- which was never brought into the decision of adding all these programs- is getting tired of the mess and confusion and cost. The public here just refused to pass the building levy- I think their message is "We can't do all this!!". There was an article in the local paper today that listed some of the programs that are being housed in distressed building arrangements- we now have our public schools responsible for making space for "Head Start", "Literacy Council", "Youth Connections", "Vista", "Safe School/Healthy Student grant","School aged child care" an Alternative High School and Montessori classrooms. Meanwhile we can no longer maintain our buildings out of our general fund, we have hired so much staff and raised salaries so much that we can't even operate our schools properly and we don't have money to operate new buildings. Students will have to be in larger class sizes so that the general fund can continue to service programs.
Meanwhile, we have boilers in our high school that are about to explode they are so old. INSTEAD OF REPLACING BOILERS OUT OF BUILDING RESERVE MONEY WE ARE BUILDING NEW TEMPORARY SPACE- $500,000 worth!! I envision our superintendent as the great juggler- he keeps smiling and jumping from one forum to the next assuring everyone he can do it all. NO HE CAN'T!!
We have a great historic school that one board member told me they are planning to raze to the ground. He wants to replace it because they are not in the business of "Historical Schools". O.K.- but what business are you in? Are you in the food business? The mental health business? The daycare business? The meet the needs of every non profit that comes in under a federal grant business?Maybe if you went back to the SCHOOL BUSINESS we could once again have sound buildings and teacher's that could teach school instead of giving up their classrooms to mental health and bully programs and food and every other darn thing than teaching their curriculum. Maybe space could be used for classrooms instead of offices for federal programs that need a home.Let's move cousin Alfred out of the basement and Aunt Mildred and her two kids out of our house and start managing our resources for what they were intended for- free basic education for children in K-12, then maybe the public would once again have faith in public schools.In other words- we need the FEDS OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS!! PACK UP YOUR PROGRAMS AND LEAVE HELENA ALONE!!
Wednesday, 29 May 2013
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
GOLD MEDAL LIARS
I was raised as an AMERICAN. I'm not a fool and I know a liar when I see one. I just wish we could get this message to the political left- we are Americans and we don't truck with liars.
Somehow the political left has the idea that they can just manipulate and run over the American people. Any liar can get away with it for awhile- especially when they are working in secret. Heck, no one in this country knew the Common Core train was barreling down the track until they had blasted through our schools. That's what the GOLD MEDAL LIARS do- they sneak around until you find out- then they go to the obfuscation and manipulation tact- saying any ridiculous thing they think they can use.
The thing is, if you are an honest person with an honest agenda- you don't have to sneak around and you don't have to lie. There it is- these Common Core developers are playing the American people for fools. Does that make you mad? It should make you mad. It should also make you scared- look how far they have come OUTSIDE OF THE LAW, OUTSIDE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, AND OUTSIDE OF THE TRUTH. The Common Core dictators think, as the Obama Care dictators think, that once they've got their garbage in- YOU CAN'T STOP IT! But we've got news for them haven't we? There isn't anything under the sun that was started that can't be stopped, or put another way, everything ends eventually and Common Core will just end much sooner than they planned.
Let's talk about how they played like a mouse. The State Board of Education in Montana is REQUIRED BY LAW to hold public meetings- and these meetings are supposed to be publicly noticed- before they make a mandate that costs money. Heck, they aren't even supposed to mandate curriculums-our constitution says regulate K-12 education- not create it!! But back to the sneaky part- all the meetings these GOLD MEDAL LIARS held were meetings for teachers and administrators!! They don't consider the parents and taxpayers part of the public!! And public notice?? One lady from the Office of Public Instruction told us at a meeting in Big Sandy that we should have all just gone to the OPI website!! Well- the State School Board had the legal obligation- and the last I checked websites are not "public notice". They deliberately kept not only you and me out of the loop but all of our elected representatives ( except superintendent Juneau of course- she stated at a meeting at the Montana Club over two years ago - let it slip- that all our schools would be going to FEDERAL TESTS LIKE THE NAEP- NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS- but wait a minute- Common Core isn't Federal- but then again Denise- I guess it is- like I said-GOLD MEDAL LIARS.)
AND WHY DIDN'T THEY TAKE THEIR PROGRAM TO OUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES IN THE LEGISLATURE? They didn't want it debated in the light of day. You may have found out about it!! The orchestrators of this grand design over our children did it this way in every state they could- just used State School Boards so they could get around the legal processes of every state-the legal processes that are controlled by state constitutions and laws and have representatives that are voted for by the people.Dictators find constitutions and legislatures so cumbersome- so restrictive- it stops them from just doing what they want.
I don't like to call people liars- but there comes a time. We are the American public and we ARE NOT STUPID!! Quit telling us these are standards- it's insulting to our intelligence. We know exactly what you're doing so give up the lie. Standards don't have tests. Standards don't have to train teachers for specific teaching strategies. Standards don't specify exactly what must be learned. Denise Juneau had the gall to say at a joint legislative hearing this session that "The old idea of teachers having control over their own classrooms is going by the wayside". Yep- teachers have to collaborate to make sure they are doing what they are told.
Another way to lie to a person is to OBFUSCATE. You see- you're just too stupid and you don't understand- just don't worry your pretty little head about it- we'll take care of everything because we know everything and you don't. We have control of the vocabulary too- so we can make up new words and you'll really feel like you don't know what's going on.TEACHING IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!! WE ALL KNOW HOW TO DO IT- EVEN US HICKS HERE IN MONTANA!!" Oh, but this is for the"21st century"- and so what do you know about the 21st century that no one else does? "But we're trying to make your children college and career ready." YOU THINK? What have schools been doing prior to the new Common Core if not making kids college and career ready?"Yes, but we have the secret on how to make kids higher level thinkers who can work on committees for the 21st century". Baloney- 1) you don't do higher level thinking until you know something and little kids need to learn A WHOLE LOT OF SOMETHING before they are going to be higher level thinkers- they also have to have brain maturity for higher cognition 2) you don't have to LEARN in committees to be able to participate on one !!!
Every American should be on alert about these GOLD MEDAL LIARS. Tell your friends and neighbors what is happening because- OUR UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION RESERVES CONTROL OVER EDUCATION FOR THE STATES!! These GOLD MEDAL LIARS are using bureaucracies to circumvent our CONSTITUTION- this is the road to tyranny.
Somehow the political left has the idea that they can just manipulate and run over the American people. Any liar can get away with it for awhile- especially when they are working in secret. Heck, no one in this country knew the Common Core train was barreling down the track until they had blasted through our schools. That's what the GOLD MEDAL LIARS do- they sneak around until you find out- then they go to the obfuscation and manipulation tact- saying any ridiculous thing they think they can use.
The thing is, if you are an honest person with an honest agenda- you don't have to sneak around and you don't have to lie. There it is- these Common Core developers are playing the American people for fools. Does that make you mad? It should make you mad. It should also make you scared- look how far they have come OUTSIDE OF THE LAW, OUTSIDE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, AND OUTSIDE OF THE TRUTH. The Common Core dictators think, as the Obama Care dictators think, that once they've got their garbage in- YOU CAN'T STOP IT! But we've got news for them haven't we? There isn't anything under the sun that was started that can't be stopped, or put another way, everything ends eventually and Common Core will just end much sooner than they planned.
Let's talk about how they played like a mouse. The State Board of Education in Montana is REQUIRED BY LAW to hold public meetings- and these meetings are supposed to be publicly noticed- before they make a mandate that costs money. Heck, they aren't even supposed to mandate curriculums-our constitution says regulate K-12 education- not create it!! But back to the sneaky part- all the meetings these GOLD MEDAL LIARS held were meetings for teachers and administrators!! They don't consider the parents and taxpayers part of the public!! And public notice?? One lady from the Office of Public Instruction told us at a meeting in Big Sandy that we should have all just gone to the OPI website!! Well- the State School Board had the legal obligation- and the last I checked websites are not "public notice". They deliberately kept not only you and me out of the loop but all of our elected representatives ( except superintendent Juneau of course- she stated at a meeting at the Montana Club over two years ago - let it slip- that all our schools would be going to FEDERAL TESTS LIKE THE NAEP- NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS- but wait a minute- Common Core isn't Federal- but then again Denise- I guess it is- like I said-GOLD MEDAL LIARS.)
AND WHY DIDN'T THEY TAKE THEIR PROGRAM TO OUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES IN THE LEGISLATURE? They didn't want it debated in the light of day. You may have found out about it!! The orchestrators of this grand design over our children did it this way in every state they could- just used State School Boards so they could get around the legal processes of every state-the legal processes that are controlled by state constitutions and laws and have representatives that are voted for by the people.Dictators find constitutions and legislatures so cumbersome- so restrictive- it stops them from just doing what they want.
I don't like to call people liars- but there comes a time. We are the American public and we ARE NOT STUPID!! Quit telling us these are standards- it's insulting to our intelligence. We know exactly what you're doing so give up the lie. Standards don't have tests. Standards don't have to train teachers for specific teaching strategies. Standards don't specify exactly what must be learned. Denise Juneau had the gall to say at a joint legislative hearing this session that "The old idea of teachers having control over their own classrooms is going by the wayside". Yep- teachers have to collaborate to make sure they are doing what they are told.
Another way to lie to a person is to OBFUSCATE. You see- you're just too stupid and you don't understand- just don't worry your pretty little head about it- we'll take care of everything because we know everything and you don't. We have control of the vocabulary too- so we can make up new words and you'll really feel like you don't know what's going on.TEACHING IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!! WE ALL KNOW HOW TO DO IT- EVEN US HICKS HERE IN MONTANA!!" Oh, but this is for the"21st century"- and so what do you know about the 21st century that no one else does? "But we're trying to make your children college and career ready." YOU THINK? What have schools been doing prior to the new Common Core if not making kids college and career ready?"Yes, but we have the secret on how to make kids higher level thinkers who can work on committees for the 21st century". Baloney- 1) you don't do higher level thinking until you know something and little kids need to learn A WHOLE LOT OF SOMETHING before they are going to be higher level thinkers- they also have to have brain maturity for higher cognition 2) you don't have to LEARN in committees to be able to participate on one !!!
Every American should be on alert about these GOLD MEDAL LIARS. Tell your friends and neighbors what is happening because- OUR UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION RESERVES CONTROL OVER EDUCATION FOR THE STATES!! These GOLD MEDAL LIARS are using bureaucracies to circumvent our CONSTITUTION- this is the road to tyranny.
Monday, 13 May 2013
IS THE POLITICAL LEFT OUR GOD?
Many people on the left think that there is no God or that "God is dead". The truth is they think THEY are God. They know best what you should believe and how you should live your life.They know best what your CHILDREN should believe and how they should be raised!! Don't worry your pretty little head about it- they'll take care of everything. Just don't be one of those trouble makers- they will take care of everything because they know best and you should just shut up and follow. Their religion is to remake the world in their image- the new world order social democracy.
In following their religion they do not have to obey laws- they are above laws. The new Common Core was slammed in across the nation without having to worry about those pesky legislatures and all those pesky representatives that the inferior ones voted for. They just used the state boards of education to mandate it, and often those mandates didn't even follow the law! Laws are for us inferior beings that must be led to the light- not for these Gods who know what is best for EVERYONE.
But let's look at what kind of experts these wonderful Gods really are. The new push is suicide prevention. Who wants kids to commit suicide right? This is the perennial box they put people in - if you're not for my idea you want kids to commit suicide!! What elected representative wants to get tagged with that- so they give in. Who would want to be tagged with not caring about education or abused children or starving children etc.? To this date our elected representatives have given in to the point that this country is in seventeen TRILLION dollars of debt and has had its credit rating downgraded!!Even Randi Weingartner from the national teacher's union recognizes that we may be witnessing the distruction of public education in America, (glad you finally recognize this Randi).
But have these Gods created wonderful schools for our children? Have they eliminated hunger or poverty? Do you think they will prevent suicide? Reports are that as usual with these Gods- when the suicide programs come in the problem INCREASES. Suicide prevention classes in California have been reported to have depressed children and in at LEAST one case caused a child in a fragile state to commit suicide, and in one case to have caused a young child to experiment and to die as a result.And who are the experts they are hiring here in Helena to teach all the middle and high school teachers about suicide? At least one of the trainers, not very long ago, was our DRUG PREVENTION expert!! So- people jump around becoming experts wherever the Gods have placed the current money. And- after this training- will all our middle school and high school teachers be experts in suicide prevention? OF COURSE NOT- they will be fingering children as suicide risks when they don't know a thing about it- hmmm- sounds like lots of work for all those unqualified "mental health" counselors the schools are hiring.In other words- lots of work for social workers!! Meanwhile- the kids are out of class and are receiving care from people practicing without a license.
This country had a wonderful founding and is using every piece of ammunition our forefathers gave us in our constitution to fight these Gods who are nothing more than propagandized socialists with the usual vision of panacea that they will never create. The road these Gods have taken this country on has led us to disaster- culturally and fiscally. It's time to return to our founding and turn these Gods out- America will return to greatness when we return to our constitution and our founding principles of freedom. This can happen much easier than you think. In Montana we reduced the number of people who were registered users of pot by SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT just by enacting tougher laws and having the Feds arrest the perpetrators.We know what to do to stop these Gods- the question is- will we do it?? They will be turned out eventually- but how far down will they drag this country before they are turned out? Fight on America.
In following their religion they do not have to obey laws- they are above laws. The new Common Core was slammed in across the nation without having to worry about those pesky legislatures and all those pesky representatives that the inferior ones voted for. They just used the state boards of education to mandate it, and often those mandates didn't even follow the law! Laws are for us inferior beings that must be led to the light- not for these Gods who know what is best for EVERYONE.
But let's look at what kind of experts these wonderful Gods really are. The new push is suicide prevention. Who wants kids to commit suicide right? This is the perennial box they put people in - if you're not for my idea you want kids to commit suicide!! What elected representative wants to get tagged with that- so they give in. Who would want to be tagged with not caring about education or abused children or starving children etc.? To this date our elected representatives have given in to the point that this country is in seventeen TRILLION dollars of debt and has had its credit rating downgraded!!Even Randi Weingartner from the national teacher's union recognizes that we may be witnessing the distruction of public education in America, (glad you finally recognize this Randi).
But have these Gods created wonderful schools for our children? Have they eliminated hunger or poverty? Do you think they will prevent suicide? Reports are that as usual with these Gods- when the suicide programs come in the problem INCREASES. Suicide prevention classes in California have been reported to have depressed children and in at LEAST one case caused a child in a fragile state to commit suicide, and in one case to have caused a young child to experiment and to die as a result.And who are the experts they are hiring here in Helena to teach all the middle and high school teachers about suicide? At least one of the trainers, not very long ago, was our DRUG PREVENTION expert!! So- people jump around becoming experts wherever the Gods have placed the current money. And- after this training- will all our middle school and high school teachers be experts in suicide prevention? OF COURSE NOT- they will be fingering children as suicide risks when they don't know a thing about it- hmmm- sounds like lots of work for all those unqualified "mental health" counselors the schools are hiring.In other words- lots of work for social workers!! Meanwhile- the kids are out of class and are receiving care from people practicing without a license.
This country had a wonderful founding and is using every piece of ammunition our forefathers gave us in our constitution to fight these Gods who are nothing more than propagandized socialists with the usual vision of panacea that they will never create. The road these Gods have taken this country on has led us to disaster- culturally and fiscally. It's time to return to our founding and turn these Gods out- America will return to greatness when we return to our constitution and our founding principles of freedom. This can happen much easier than you think. In Montana we reduced the number of people who were registered users of pot by SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT just by enacting tougher laws and having the Feds arrest the perpetrators.We know what to do to stop these Gods- the question is- will we do it?? They will be turned out eventually- but how far down will they drag this country before they are turned out? Fight on America.
Friday, 3 May 2013
DOWN WITH THE TRAITORS- LONG LIVE THE UNION
I just did the thing I should never do- I read a blog by a man named Don Pogreba. Don is against our American Constitution- but much worse- he is a school teacher!! I would hope he is not teaching his anti- Americanism to his students- but my guess is that he probably is.
Isn't it sad that we can't count on the teachers of our students to support and defend our Constitution? Don thinks our constitution had slavery written into it!! I wonder if he has ever even read the document. Our Constitution was written to defend the people from the government.Our wise founders knew that governments strive for power, that they are controlled by PEOPLE who have that natural urge to want to control, they divided up powers and gave us a vehicle for amendments to make changes where that became necessary. The 13th and 14th amendments add protections of rights because it became necessary- some PEOPLE in the country were not respecting the GOD GIVEN rights of all men.Don thinks rights are given from the GOVERNMENT!! He has a whole page for people to put in all the rights they want listed in the Constitution.
Our natural rights, as so eloquently written in the Declaration of Independence, are the right to LIFE,LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.The frame that holds those rights in place is our Constitution- as we ALLOW our government to move away from the restrictions in the constitution- we weaken the frame and risk losing our natural rights- our FREEDOM.
I was just sad after I read Don's blog. I used to think, a long time ago, that all American citizens believed in and loved their country as it was founded. This country is in a war today to save itself from people like Don who would destroy our constitution and put us at the mercy of a huge bureaucratic government.Most of these people have not seen what communism is, up close and personal, like I did. There was a lawyer, not long ago, that came up to a performer who was singing about the dictator Hugo Chavez, and asked her what was so bad about Hugo Chavez!! Kind of like wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt- the man was a MASS murderer!!
I've watched the attempt to compromise with Marxist's my whole life. I've learned one thing- there is no compromising with these people- you have to defeat them. Perhaps people like Don will never understand that government can not be used to make things fair. If you use government force to take from one to give to another,the first person has lost their right to their private property. If you use government force to make one person associate with another, you have taken away the first person's right to associate with whom they choose.As governments try to control economies they fail. As governments try to meet all the needs of individuals they go broke and collapse. All of Europe and America are on this course. As these governments fail they become totalitarian dictatorships- they consolidate their power as they try to control the people so that they can KEEP THEIR POWER in the face of defeat. This is history- and those that will not learn from it are bound to repeat it.
The first compromise was public schools- it seemed like a good idea- and for a long time it worked- but then when the Marxist/Communist/Socialist types took over in the sixties they wanted to use the schools for revolution (Bill Ayers is on record as saying "the revolution starts in the schools"). NEVER up front, NEVER telling their TRUE intentions- they were able to get a federal department of education.THEN they gradually consolidated their control. Today they have COMMON CORE- snuck in using the bureaucracies they have created- bypassing the people (the legislatures!!).
Their lies are continuous- there's no point in getting frustrated. We are in a war and they are lying- we will stop them- end of story.Common Core does cost money- lots of it- 125 million already in New York. Common Core IS a curriculum- obviously telling teachers what to teach, how to teach, and making them teach to the tests- they better teach to the tests because their job evaluation will depend on how their students do on these tests!!
The American idea has made us the richest, most successful and most powerful country in the world.We have fought for our freedom before and for our nation. We won the Revolutionary War and we won the Civil War- we will win this war too. Just recognize that it IS a war and that the Marxist/Communist/ Socialists are liars. Ignore the lies and stop them at every turn.The American dream will not die on this battlefield.Fight Obama's attempts at consolidating Federal power in your schools, in your cities, in your states and in your healthcare.No compromises- look where compromising has gotten us- failing schools and 17 trillion dollars in debt.We must consolidate our plans-like what good schools and good teachers colleges really look like. We must stand up for the principles of private property and capitalism. We must know who we are - AND NEVER BACK DOWN. It's not a Republican thing it's an American thing. We must stop our colleges from being reeducation camps that turn our citizens away from the principles of freedom. I believe in America and I see wonderful people everyday organizing and working hard. Maybe Don will never understand and love the freedom and God given rights that we enjoy in this country- but America will survive and the Marxist/Socialist/ Communists will lose in their attempt to take over this country.
Isn't it sad that we can't count on the teachers of our students to support and defend our Constitution? Don thinks our constitution had slavery written into it!! I wonder if he has ever even read the document. Our Constitution was written to defend the people from the government.Our wise founders knew that governments strive for power, that they are controlled by PEOPLE who have that natural urge to want to control, they divided up powers and gave us a vehicle for amendments to make changes where that became necessary. The 13th and 14th amendments add protections of rights because it became necessary- some PEOPLE in the country were not respecting the GOD GIVEN rights of all men.Don thinks rights are given from the GOVERNMENT!! He has a whole page for people to put in all the rights they want listed in the Constitution.
Our natural rights, as so eloquently written in the Declaration of Independence, are the right to LIFE,LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.The frame that holds those rights in place is our Constitution- as we ALLOW our government to move away from the restrictions in the constitution- we weaken the frame and risk losing our natural rights- our FREEDOM.
I was just sad after I read Don's blog. I used to think, a long time ago, that all American citizens believed in and loved their country as it was founded. This country is in a war today to save itself from people like Don who would destroy our constitution and put us at the mercy of a huge bureaucratic government.Most of these people have not seen what communism is, up close and personal, like I did. There was a lawyer, not long ago, that came up to a performer who was singing about the dictator Hugo Chavez, and asked her what was so bad about Hugo Chavez!! Kind of like wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt- the man was a MASS murderer!!
I've watched the attempt to compromise with Marxist's my whole life. I've learned one thing- there is no compromising with these people- you have to defeat them. Perhaps people like Don will never understand that government can not be used to make things fair. If you use government force to take from one to give to another,the first person has lost their right to their private property. If you use government force to make one person associate with another, you have taken away the first person's right to associate with whom they choose.As governments try to control economies they fail. As governments try to meet all the needs of individuals they go broke and collapse. All of Europe and America are on this course. As these governments fail they become totalitarian dictatorships- they consolidate their power as they try to control the people so that they can KEEP THEIR POWER in the face of defeat. This is history- and those that will not learn from it are bound to repeat it.
The first compromise was public schools- it seemed like a good idea- and for a long time it worked- but then when the Marxist/Communist/Socialist types took over in the sixties they wanted to use the schools for revolution (Bill Ayers is on record as saying "the revolution starts in the schools"). NEVER up front, NEVER telling their TRUE intentions- they were able to get a federal department of education.THEN they gradually consolidated their control. Today they have COMMON CORE- snuck in using the bureaucracies they have created- bypassing the people (the legislatures!!).
Their lies are continuous- there's no point in getting frustrated. We are in a war and they are lying- we will stop them- end of story.Common Core does cost money- lots of it- 125 million already in New York. Common Core IS a curriculum- obviously telling teachers what to teach, how to teach, and making them teach to the tests- they better teach to the tests because their job evaluation will depend on how their students do on these tests!!
The American idea has made us the richest, most successful and most powerful country in the world.We have fought for our freedom before and for our nation. We won the Revolutionary War and we won the Civil War- we will win this war too. Just recognize that it IS a war and that the Marxist/Communist/ Socialists are liars. Ignore the lies and stop them at every turn.The American dream will not die on this battlefield.Fight Obama's attempts at consolidating Federal power in your schools, in your cities, in your states and in your healthcare.No compromises- look where compromising has gotten us- failing schools and 17 trillion dollars in debt.We must consolidate our plans-like what good schools and good teachers colleges really look like. We must stand up for the principles of private property and capitalism. We must know who we are - AND NEVER BACK DOWN. It's not a Republican thing it's an American thing. We must stop our colleges from being reeducation camps that turn our citizens away from the principles of freedom. I believe in America and I see wonderful people everyday organizing and working hard. Maybe Don will never understand and love the freedom and God given rights that we enjoy in this country- but America will survive and the Marxist/Socialist/ Communists will lose in their attempt to take over this country.
Friday, 26 April 2013
SCHOOL REFORM
We've heard a lot about school reform over these last twenty years, but what is school reform? To hear the left describe it you would think it was about EDUCATION.They started with a report, "A NATION AT RISK" (supposedly our schools were SO BAD that the WHOLE NATION was at risk), which was put out in the early seventies. This report, that I'm sure our buddies on the left wrote, eventually got them the Federal Department of Education in 1979.By the early nineties, under the Clintons,they came out with Goals 2000 which became what the people in education call the "standards movement".As usual, this huge master mind to control society, was called "States initiatives". Many people happened to notice that coincidentally, all the state standards were the same!!Hmmm- I wonder why they were all the same? Were they being directed by a central authority? The answer to this question is that OF COURSE THEY WERE. Speed forward to today- now we have "Common Core", and once again the radical left is calling this a "States Initiative". All the states got together and just wanted the same thing. REALLY? The states didn't write any of this- they just aligned their state standards to what they were told to do from the ACHIEVE organization in Washington that wrote all this.But the real question is, is school reform about REFORM OF SCHOOLS or REFORM OF SOCIETY.
Until George Bush came out with No Child Left Behind, there wasn't even any testing attached to school reform. I remember a principal from Butte who interviewed for the job of superintendent in Helena. She told the story about how her school in Los Angeles was receiving awards and accolades as the TOP SCHOOL- until No Child Left Behind came along and they actually tested the kids- uh oh- they were last ACADEMICALLY!! So, No Child Left Behind at least put some accountability into this wonderland of social programs- and boy did we here about it from the left- they hated those tests!!I have news for them- THEY AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN YET- COMMON CORE WILL TEST UP TO 7 TIMES A YEAR AND THESE TESTS WILL BE USED IN PART TO EVALUATE THE TEACHERS!! But back to our question- what is school reform REALLY about?
If you want to improve academics you pick the best program possible and spend the most time possible teaching. Our kids are out of school today a lot. They have FOUR DAYS off of school here in Helena every year just for teacher "training" and our superintendent is planning to have more time off so that teachers can do HOME VISITS!! When students are in school they are often off to cook or ski or go bowling or serve at the food kitchen or eating breakfast in class or leaving for programs like BIG SISTER BIG BROTHERS or THE PEAK PROGRAM(which lives on special interest grants and TEACHES THOSE SPECIAL INTERESTS TO THOSE CHILDREN!! WHAT A DEAL- THE LOBBYISTS THROW IN A FEW BUCKS AND THE KIDS LEARN ABOUT CONSERVATION OR WOLVES OR BISON OR WHATEVER THE SPECIAL INTEREST WANTS THEM TO BELIEVE!!.) Back to the question- why are we doing all these things that take kids away from academic achievement when we are reforming education? Is school reform REALLY about education or is there another agenda.
Our school board here is very emotionally enamored with THE WHOLE CHILD CONCEPT. By this they mean mental health and home visits, and free food all day long, and physical health ( the comprehensive health program which starts sex education in Kindergarten), and much more. Kids are taken away from their studies for their Adopt a Species program and Artists in Residency which come in for at least an hour a day for a week, and the Myrna Loy fundraiser assembly their parents have to pay for, and their exercise programs and fun run, and "Manners" programs which have clinical social workers taking over classrooms a half hour each week to talk about how students must relate to others (facial expressions and so on), and then there's the MBI program which has assemblies and songs all about behavior, and of course the DARE officer which starts his work in Kindergarten and comes in for one half hour a week for many weeks. This is only some of it- I watch the schools very closely and even I don't really know all the things they are doing that take kids away from studying reading and spelling and math and grammar.
Is school reform REALLY about GOOD EDUCATION or is it about the REFORM OF SOCIETY FOR SOCIALIST THOUGHT AND ATTITUDES? I think it is the latter. The new CENTRALIZED CURRICULUM, COMMON CORE,WILL NOT USE BEST TEACHING PRACTICES.This program requires, and is training teachers to do, COLLABORATIVE TEACHING OPEN CONCEPT LEARNING. This kind of teaching is for socialist connectivity- not for kids to learn and achieve the most academically. Best teaching practices, as I have mentioned on this blog before, are direct instruction techniques that are efficient, direct, and tried and true.The people that want "WHOLE CHILD CONCEPT" will say that you can't teach children if they are hungry or have emotional problems. That's probably false- though children who are happy and fed will do better- but the thing is - OUR CHILDREN ARE NOT HUNGRY AND FOR THE MOST PART ARE HAPPY CHILDREN!!
So,school reform is taking students away from academics and has caused huge declines in student achievement, along with causing the alienation of parents who have been taking their children out of public schools in droves.Some people ARE drinking the water and are turning to the schools to feed their kids and mental health them- but the truth is, our community has mental health services for those in need and the people who do "mental health" services in school are not qualified to do it,in addition there is free food outside of school if you really are that desperate that your children are starving.
The whole structure of public schools is failing as these socialist types attempt to use them to change society. Our public schools built this nation but they are in trouble now. You can't wash the baby and cook the dinner in the same sink- our schools can't be all things- they need to do one thing well-TEACH ACADEMICS. There are many new possibilities and we need to explore these- Our Superintendent of Public Instruction is NOT THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Money for children's education should be available for charter schools, private schools, digital academies and whatever kind of learning institution that will provide the very best academic instruction. Competition will force our schools to get back to the business they are hired for, BASIC ACADEMIC EDUCATION.School Reform has not been about good schools, it has been about reforming our society. The problems in our society have not been eleviated by these reformers.Let's kick out the socialists and put our education money back to work giving our students a fair chance at really competitive first rate EDUCATION!!
Until George Bush came out with No Child Left Behind, there wasn't even any testing attached to school reform. I remember a principal from Butte who interviewed for the job of superintendent in Helena. She told the story about how her school in Los Angeles was receiving awards and accolades as the TOP SCHOOL- until No Child Left Behind came along and they actually tested the kids- uh oh- they were last ACADEMICALLY!! So, No Child Left Behind at least put some accountability into this wonderland of social programs- and boy did we here about it from the left- they hated those tests!!I have news for them- THEY AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN YET- COMMON CORE WILL TEST UP TO 7 TIMES A YEAR AND THESE TESTS WILL BE USED IN PART TO EVALUATE THE TEACHERS!! But back to our question- what is school reform REALLY about?
If you want to improve academics you pick the best program possible and spend the most time possible teaching. Our kids are out of school today a lot. They have FOUR DAYS off of school here in Helena every year just for teacher "training" and our superintendent is planning to have more time off so that teachers can do HOME VISITS!! When students are in school they are often off to cook or ski or go bowling or serve at the food kitchen or eating breakfast in class or leaving for programs like BIG SISTER BIG BROTHERS or THE PEAK PROGRAM(which lives on special interest grants and TEACHES THOSE SPECIAL INTERESTS TO THOSE CHILDREN!! WHAT A DEAL- THE LOBBYISTS THROW IN A FEW BUCKS AND THE KIDS LEARN ABOUT CONSERVATION OR WOLVES OR BISON OR WHATEVER THE SPECIAL INTEREST WANTS THEM TO BELIEVE!!.) Back to the question- why are we doing all these things that take kids away from academic achievement when we are reforming education? Is school reform REALLY about education or is there another agenda.
Our school board here is very emotionally enamored with THE WHOLE CHILD CONCEPT. By this they mean mental health and home visits, and free food all day long, and physical health ( the comprehensive health program which starts sex education in Kindergarten), and much more. Kids are taken away from their studies for their Adopt a Species program and Artists in Residency which come in for at least an hour a day for a week, and the Myrna Loy fundraiser assembly their parents have to pay for, and their exercise programs and fun run, and "Manners" programs which have clinical social workers taking over classrooms a half hour each week to talk about how students must relate to others (facial expressions and so on), and then there's the MBI program which has assemblies and songs all about behavior, and of course the DARE officer which starts his work in Kindergarten and comes in for one half hour a week for many weeks. This is only some of it- I watch the schools very closely and even I don't really know all the things they are doing that take kids away from studying reading and spelling and math and grammar.
Is school reform REALLY about GOOD EDUCATION or is it about the REFORM OF SOCIETY FOR SOCIALIST THOUGHT AND ATTITUDES? I think it is the latter. The new CENTRALIZED CURRICULUM, COMMON CORE,WILL NOT USE BEST TEACHING PRACTICES.This program requires, and is training teachers to do, COLLABORATIVE TEACHING OPEN CONCEPT LEARNING. This kind of teaching is for socialist connectivity- not for kids to learn and achieve the most academically. Best teaching practices, as I have mentioned on this blog before, are direct instruction techniques that are efficient, direct, and tried and true.The people that want "WHOLE CHILD CONCEPT" will say that you can't teach children if they are hungry or have emotional problems. That's probably false- though children who are happy and fed will do better- but the thing is - OUR CHILDREN ARE NOT HUNGRY AND FOR THE MOST PART ARE HAPPY CHILDREN!!
So,school reform is taking students away from academics and has caused huge declines in student achievement, along with causing the alienation of parents who have been taking their children out of public schools in droves.Some people ARE drinking the water and are turning to the schools to feed their kids and mental health them- but the truth is, our community has mental health services for those in need and the people who do "mental health" services in school are not qualified to do it,in addition there is free food outside of school if you really are that desperate that your children are starving.
The whole structure of public schools is failing as these socialist types attempt to use them to change society. Our public schools built this nation but they are in trouble now. You can't wash the baby and cook the dinner in the same sink- our schools can't be all things- they need to do one thing well-TEACH ACADEMICS. There are many new possibilities and we need to explore these- Our Superintendent of Public Instruction is NOT THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Money for children's education should be available for charter schools, private schools, digital academies and whatever kind of learning institution that will provide the very best academic instruction. Competition will force our schools to get back to the business they are hired for, BASIC ACADEMIC EDUCATION.School Reform has not been about good schools, it has been about reforming our society. The problems in our society have not been eleviated by these reformers.Let's kick out the socialists and put our education money back to work giving our students a fair chance at really competitive first rate EDUCATION!!
Thursday, 18 April 2013
EXPECTATIONS OF IGNORANCE
When I hear the radical left that thinks the revolution starts in our schools- those people who do not love America or believe in the American dream, our grand experiment with freedom, or our constitution- say that "Common Core Standards" are not a curriculum, they are just "standards", it makes my teeth ache. Just HOW ignorant do they think or hope the American people are? They would like us to all be that dumb and that easily manipulated- and maybe they'll dumb down our curriculums until one day they can say anything they want and the people will go along- BUT THEY AREN'T THERE YET!!!
You don't have to TRAIN TEACHERS TO TEACH STANDARDS!! Standards are guidelines like the Carnegie Standards that had graduation requirements of so many units of math and english. STANDARDS DO NOT HAVE TESTS!!! STANDARDS DO NOT HAVE COMPUTER PROGRAMS TO TRACK STUDENT'S BEHAVIORS AND FAMILY BACKGROUND!!STANDARDS DO NOT TELL TEACHERS WHAT AND HOW TO TEACH!! If Common Core is "standards" I would like to know what a curriculum is!! Even the teacher's union in New York has come out against Common Core because it is evaluating their teachers on their students' performance on Common Core testing!! This is the Common Core plan for the nation and the world. Just how stupid does Bill Ayers think the American public REALLY is?
I have some news for Bill- WE'RE NOT THAT DUMB!! At a school board debate here last night one board member said it was O.K. that the new Common Core is getting rid of literature ( the great minds of the past like Cooper, Hemingway and Melville) because they will be teaching the students how to read operational manuals!! REALLY?? Are our children just to be seen as the workers of tomorrow? Maybe this rich lady needs workers to read manuals so they can take care of her property and mow her lawn!!
Our children are the great minds of tomorrow- not a bunch of dummies to be behavior modified and social engineered. Our children will build a new future not follow the socialist demise into the destruction of a great nation and a great culture. Unfortunately for Bill Ayers and his friends at the U.N., Americans are not that dumb,and we will raise our own children and live our own lives exactly as we see fit without their help at all. We see exactly what they are doing-and the more they say LOCAL CONTROL the madder we get.
One board member at the debate explained "Common Core is local control because we get to fit our ideas into it". SERIOUSLY?? Are we supposed to be thankful that we can pick our own version of what they are telling us to do?? How do you have any input at all when you have to teach to a test- and that test has 40% open ended collaborative project oriented questions?? THEY ARE NOT ONLY TELLING THE TEACHERS WHAT TO TEACH, THEY ARE TRYING TO FORCE THEM TO TEACH IN COLLABORATIVE GROUPS!!
The people that wrote Common Core are FASCISTS. They don't realize it, but the definition of Fascism is to be so convinced that you are right that you feel you have the right to use whatever means necessary to force others to do your bidding. We still have America and they won't be using firing squads or concentration camps any time soon I hope- but they are certainly being sneaky, deceptive and manipulative. They are certainly putting our schools in America in a straightjacket of their bidding. Who in the world ever made them God? Why do they think they know better than anyone else how to raise and educate our children? AMERICA IS NOT THAT DUMB- THE NEXT TIME YOU HEAR THEM SAY "COMMON CORE IS ONLY STANDARDS"- ASK THEM WHAT A CURRICULUM IS!! Long live America and long live freedom. They don't get to have our kids.
You don't have to TRAIN TEACHERS TO TEACH STANDARDS!! Standards are guidelines like the Carnegie Standards that had graduation requirements of so many units of math and english. STANDARDS DO NOT HAVE TESTS!!! STANDARDS DO NOT HAVE COMPUTER PROGRAMS TO TRACK STUDENT'S BEHAVIORS AND FAMILY BACKGROUND!!STANDARDS DO NOT TELL TEACHERS WHAT AND HOW TO TEACH!! If Common Core is "standards" I would like to know what a curriculum is!! Even the teacher's union in New York has come out against Common Core because it is evaluating their teachers on their students' performance on Common Core testing!! This is the Common Core plan for the nation and the world. Just how stupid does Bill Ayers think the American public REALLY is?
I have some news for Bill- WE'RE NOT THAT DUMB!! At a school board debate here last night one board member said it was O.K. that the new Common Core is getting rid of literature ( the great minds of the past like Cooper, Hemingway and Melville) because they will be teaching the students how to read operational manuals!! REALLY?? Are our children just to be seen as the workers of tomorrow? Maybe this rich lady needs workers to read manuals so they can take care of her property and mow her lawn!!
Our children are the great minds of tomorrow- not a bunch of dummies to be behavior modified and social engineered. Our children will build a new future not follow the socialist demise into the destruction of a great nation and a great culture. Unfortunately for Bill Ayers and his friends at the U.N., Americans are not that dumb,and we will raise our own children and live our own lives exactly as we see fit without their help at all. We see exactly what they are doing-and the more they say LOCAL CONTROL the madder we get.
One board member at the debate explained "Common Core is local control because we get to fit our ideas into it". SERIOUSLY?? Are we supposed to be thankful that we can pick our own version of what they are telling us to do?? How do you have any input at all when you have to teach to a test- and that test has 40% open ended collaborative project oriented questions?? THEY ARE NOT ONLY TELLING THE TEACHERS WHAT TO TEACH, THEY ARE TRYING TO FORCE THEM TO TEACH IN COLLABORATIVE GROUPS!!
The people that wrote Common Core are FASCISTS. They don't realize it, but the definition of Fascism is to be so convinced that you are right that you feel you have the right to use whatever means necessary to force others to do your bidding. We still have America and they won't be using firing squads or concentration camps any time soon I hope- but they are certainly being sneaky, deceptive and manipulative. They are certainly putting our schools in America in a straightjacket of their bidding. Who in the world ever made them God? Why do they think they know better than anyone else how to raise and educate our children? AMERICA IS NOT THAT DUMB- THE NEXT TIME YOU HEAR THEM SAY "COMMON CORE IS ONLY STANDARDS"- ASK THEM WHAT A CURRICULUM IS!! Long live America and long live freedom. They don't get to have our kids.
Tuesday, 16 April 2013
SCHOOLS ARE CORRUPT CORPORATE CULTURES
I was just reading a book about "corrupt corporate cultures" and as I read about these cultures I realized that this is exactly what goes on in our Helena public schools- and I would bet my bank account that it is EXACTLY what goes on in school districts across the country.
In corrupt corporate cultures there is a lack of HONESTY and TRANSPARENCY that encourages people to be HONEST and to TELL THE TRUTH. Staff is rewarded for lying and punished for speaking the truth. We had an emergency at a school here and the teachers and staff had to publicly applaud the administration for handling the situation so well!! They had to applaud them over and over again at public meetings and in the paper for how well they handled the situation! The teachers and staff did not feel this way at all. They dared not speak their true feelings.You do not make changes for the better when staff are scared to death to say the truth or even to ask questions in most cases.We have a new superintendent and I can not say that he created this situation- it's been this way in our schools for a very long time- as long as I have known the schools here.As I said earlier- this situation is endemic in school culture - dare I say everywhere? Maybe there is a school district where people can speak freely and work together to solve actual problems- somewhere- but I don't know where that is.
Just think of what great schools we could have if we solved our own problems locally - real things like roofs and boilers and teacher's getting the time they need to teach and picking their own curriculums and books- solving real problems on the ground instead of following Federal grants and programs that try to be one size fits all- and aren't.
The true progressives need to stop Common Core, then they need to get rid of the unconstitutional Federal Department of Education.Our teachers and local professionals will then be FREE TO TEACH and to make decisions for their schools.Perhaps we can start a new day where there is honesty and professional respect.If we have a math program we like we could keep it - we wouldn't have to change with every new fad- like the "higher level thinking skills" in Common Core which are entirely inappropriate for very young minds. The man who wrote the new Common Core math was a college math teacher- so of course he didn't understand teaching small children. But, though he didn't know, the schools across America have to teach his curriculum and the teacher's are afraid to speak out.It's time to stop all of this.
Unchain America and our professionals in our schools will decide how to teach their children. The best schools and curriculums will sell the most. Competition to be the best schools will take over as our REAL PROGRESSIVES clean out bureaucracy and let America achieve once again.
In corrupt corporate cultures there is a lack of HONESTY and TRANSPARENCY that encourages people to be HONEST and to TELL THE TRUTH. Staff is rewarded for lying and punished for speaking the truth. We had an emergency at a school here and the teachers and staff had to publicly applaud the administration for handling the situation so well!! They had to applaud them over and over again at public meetings and in the paper for how well they handled the situation! The teachers and staff did not feel this way at all. They dared not speak their true feelings.You do not make changes for the better when staff are scared to death to say the truth or even to ask questions in most cases.We have a new superintendent and I can not say that he created this situation- it's been this way in our schools for a very long time- as long as I have known the schools here.As I said earlier- this situation is endemic in school culture - dare I say everywhere? Maybe there is a school district where people can speak freely and work together to solve actual problems- somewhere- but I don't know where that is.
Just think of what great schools we could have if we solved our own problems locally - real things like roofs and boilers and teacher's getting the time they need to teach and picking their own curriculums and books- solving real problems on the ground instead of following Federal grants and programs that try to be one size fits all- and aren't.
The true progressives need to stop Common Core, then they need to get rid of the unconstitutional Federal Department of Education.Our teachers and local professionals will then be FREE TO TEACH and to make decisions for their schools.Perhaps we can start a new day where there is honesty and professional respect.If we have a math program we like we could keep it - we wouldn't have to change with every new fad- like the "higher level thinking skills" in Common Core which are entirely inappropriate for very young minds. The man who wrote the new Common Core math was a college math teacher- so of course he didn't understand teaching small children. But, though he didn't know, the schools across America have to teach his curriculum and the teacher's are afraid to speak out.It's time to stop all of this.
Unchain America and our professionals in our schools will decide how to teach their children. The best schools and curriculums will sell the most. Competition to be the best schools will take over as our REAL PROGRESSIVES clean out bureaucracy and let America achieve once again.
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