When Public School Teachers Can't Pass the Test

Andrew Wolf in the New York Sun brings up a problem with school reform. A significant percentage of minority teachers can not pass the teacher's exam required to receive certification in the state of New York. So what do the teachers do. Do they study to pass the test next time? No! they scream discrimination and demand the already easy test be made easier.

Mr Wolf says.

The test appears to me to be more appropriate as an exit exam required for high school graduation than as an entrance exam for new teachers. The claims of the plaintiffs that the test is "culturally and generationally bound" is absurd. This is a simple test of general knowledge and skills that represents the least that we should expect of someone to whom we entrust with the education of our children.

Inadequate teachers aren't the only was who want protection from their lack of knowledge.

Those who believe in the ideology behind this suit also have their sights set on another area of the city's educational scene, the specialized high schools.

A report issued by the Department of Education last week disclosed that the proportion of blacks and Hispanics attending the city's three most prestigious high schools, Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech, has been declining for a decade. Even the proportion of white students is slipping as Asians, representing just 15.3% of the total public school population, now represent a majority at all three schools.

Their solution rig the test so more African-American's can pass it. At the expense of the Asian and white students who have the knowledge to pass the test as is.


Related Tags: teacher certification, testing

Naguib Mahfouz, 94, Nobel Laureate in Literature, Dies

Like many Egyptian intellectuals, some of whose works have been denounced as disrespectful to Islam, Mr. Mahfouz in recent years had been put on a “death list” by Islamic fundamentalists who were said to be responsible for hundreds of terrorist killings in Egypt and abroad.

Death threats are of course the ultimate in censorship. Not only did Mr. Mahfouz not let the death threats stop him from writing books that Islamic fundamentalists considered blasphemous he supported Egypt's peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

Critics compared his richly detailed Cairo with the London of Dickens, the Paris of Zola and the St. Petersburg of Dostoyevsky.

Lesson plan
Do the Write Thing Preparing Newspaper Articles That Honor Classic Authors

Related Tags: Nobel Laureate in Literature, censorship, death threats, Islamic fundamentalists

Editorials from Hell's leading daily newspaper, The Dis Brimstone-Daily Pitchfork

after reading Edu-Cons 17, you should be afraid, very afraid...................................

SAT Reading & Math Scores Show Decline

The data does suggest that as a nation, critical reading and writing are lagging behind the progress we are making in math, Mr. Camara said.

Possible reasons for the low scores.

• The length of the test. The test takes 3 hours and 45 minutes, when you factor in things like breaks the total time is 5 hours.
• More people took the ACT instead of the SAT due to the disclosure that the SAT had mis-scored over 5,000 exams.
• Fewer people took the SAT more then once.

The New York Times has lesson plans for this article.

Related Tags: lesson plans, New York Times, ACT, SAT

The Problem With Multiculturalism

One of my problems finding a satisfactory American History & American Literature Textbook stems from the public schools current flirtation with multiculturalism.

No one would argue that learning about other cultures is worthwhile. BUT they aren't just interested in teaching students about other cultures, they want to build these cultures up by tearing our culture down. In some instances they rewrite history to such an extent that students have no idea what actually happened or why it happened.

Elan Journo has this to say in Multiculturalism's War on Education

What these textbooks reveal is a concerted effort to portray the most backward, impoverished and murderous cultures as advanced, prosperous and life-enhancing. Multiculturalism's goal is not to teach about other cultures, but to promote--by means of distortions and half-truths--the notion that non-Western cultures are as good as, if not better than, Western culture. Far from "broadening" the curriculum, what multiculturalism seeks is to diminish the value of Western culture in the minds of students. But, given all the facts, the objective superiority of Western culture is apparent, so multiculturalists artificially elevate other cultures and depreciate the West.

Multiculturalism has lead to politically correct policies in today's public schools and universities that is stifling new ideas. Students are taught to conform to the "policy" without question, without thought. Students who don't conform are labeled intolerant.

Multiculturalism:The New Racism

Racism, not any meaningful sense of diversity, guides today's intellectuals. The educationally significant diversity that exists in "the real world" is intellectual diversity, i.e., the diversity of ideas. But such diversity--far from being sought after--is virtually forbidden on campus. The existence of "political correctness" blasts the academics' pretense at valuing real diversity. What they want is abject conformity.

Multiculturalism does a disservice to all. Thankfully homeschoolers are free to buy textbooks that tell the truth and nothing but the truth, they are free to have a multicultural free zone, and to forget the political correct agendas being promoted in public schools.

How Public Schools Shortchange Boys

Read Gerry Garibaldi's account of how today's feminized classrooms shortchange boys.

eBay Discriminates Against Homeschoolers

eBay prohibits textbooks for homeschool teachers. It lumps them with illegal drugs and bootleg recordings,prompting an avalanche of complaints from homeschool customers. Read the entire article here.

Book Review

If you are looking for something for your teens try Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment. Sean rated it a B+ and considering he is comparing it to Lord of the Rings that's pretty good.

Why Don't They Just Change The Channel?

According to the American Family Association

Not content with all the profanity already on TV, CBS has decided to air the profanity-laden unedited version of "9/11" on Sept. 10. It is time to tell CBS and the other networks that enough is enough! Send an email, asking the FCC to enforce the law. Your email will go not only to the FCC, but also to CBS. Contact your local CBS affiliate and ask them not to air "9/11." Click Here to find their contact information or use your local phone directory.

Sorry, but sometimes real life is messy. These people were trapped inside a burning building, they were dying and the AFA wants us to complain because profanity was used. Get Real!

I understand that some people don't want to hear profanity, I respect their decision, but they can simply turn the TV off or switch it to another channel. No one is holding a gun to their head making them watch. WHY can't they respect my decision to watch the show, and CBS's decision to air it.

And before someone gets the wrong idea. I prefer books and TV shows without profanity in them; but sometimes real life is messy, sometime strong language is called for...................censorship never is.

Related Tags: 9/11, CBS, American Family Association, censorship

The Slippery Slope of Censoring Books

All the books in the relationships section of Waldenbooks at the Singing River Mall in Gautier have been pulled from the shelves and are in storage.

This is due to the efforts of Lori Taylor , a homeschool Mom, who is determined to protect her teenage son from books on relationships. I wonder what other books she will decide to "protect" children from if she gets away with it? Will the art books mysteriously disappear from the shelves? what about the romance novels? Where will the censorship end?

Now her friend and fellow homeschooler Jan Frier has decided to get in on the act.

Jan Frier is an avid supporter of Vaughn's client, Lori Taylor, and hopes that Waldenbooks of Gautier will keep the books on Relationships off the shelves. "It's just porn," Frier said. "No question. Nothing but. And if that's what you want to read then fine, but it's doesn't need to be where children can see it. These books need to be placed higher, with something on them that keeps children from seeing the covers and opening them."

What gives these two women the right to label something "porn", when obviously the store manager, the mall manager, and the police didn't find it pornographic? Excuse me but Waldenbooks is in the business of selling books, part of selling anything is displaying the merchandise in order to attract a customers attention. As for putting something over the books to keep "people" from opening them and looking inside, I don't know many people who buy a book without flipping through it first to see if it's what they want. You can bet these two Mom's want the right to flip through any textbook they buy to use in schooling their kids. Parents should be the ones responsible for insuring that children don't view material they deem unsuitable.

The ironic thing is if the LAW tried to force Lori Taylor and Jan Friar to teach evolution to their kids they would scream bloody murder. But they see nothing wrong with using the LAW to prevent a bookstore from displaying a book they don't like.

Since there are all ready tons of misconceptions about homeschoolers, I wanted to assure the general public that we are not all Lori Taylor's & Jan Frier's.

Most homeschoolers are really busy people that don't have the time to make a nuisance of themselves at a local bookstore for 5 months, harass the manager and demand the city of Gautier investigate books.

We are normal people, our teenagers play video games, go to movies, and read popular literature, if we are offended by a book we don't buy it, if we are offended by a movie we don't go to see it, and IF we don't want our children to view something we tell them NO, we do not hire a lawyer and harass a bookstore into removing books from their shelves.

The Majority of us cherish the Right to Free Speech and would not dream of censoring what a store can sell and other people can buy.

Free speech - means the right to say what one believes, to any audience that is willing to hear it. It is not the right to say only that which is popular with the government,with any particular interest group, or with the majority of the public.

Lori Taylor has no right to impose her views on what is or isn't appropriate for a bookstore to sell on the store owner. She has no right to impose her views on patrons of the store, who should be free to choose whatever book they wish, without fear of being harassed by Ms. Taylor. She is free not to shop at the store, she is free not to buy the book (which apparently she did buy in order to send it to her lawyer) and she is free not to look at it. She is also free to tell any minor children living in her household that they are not allowed to patronize the store. She isn't free to police what other people and their kids can or can not do.

America by Jon Stewart was pulled from the Jackson-George Regional Library shelves because a patron complained about it, even though there was a huge demand from the tax paying public to read the book. One person was able to keep many library patrons from reading the book for free. I in fact was reduced to buying the book because this one person kept me from checking it out at the library. I am happy to report it was eventually returned to library shelves. Now one person is trying to brow beat a bookstore into only carrying books she approves of, where will it end?

As Jean~Luc Picard said

“With the first link, a chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."–Jean-Luc Picard – Star Trek: The Next Generation “The Drumhead”

I am sure both Lori Taylor and Jan Frier are well intentioned, but you know what they say " the road to hell is paved with good intentions". Apparently they don't realize the dangers inherent in censorship.

Cross posted at the Homeschool Cafe

Related Tags: censorship, Waldenbooks, freedom of speech

Science is Dead?

According to Jon Swift science is dead? Read his tongue in cheek blog praising the death of science and history and advocating that only religion and gym be taught in our schools.

These People are Really Scary Follow Up

This is a follow up to These People are Really Scary. According to Katherine Harris

the separation of church and state is a "lie we have been told" to keep religious people out of politics. In reality, she said, "we have to have the faithful in government" because that is God's will. Separating religion and politics is "so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers."

Sorry Ms. Harris, but the separation of church and state isn't a lie, it was well thought out by the Founding Fathers to keep one religious group from forcing their beliefs on the rest of us.

American History Resource -

Leading Facts of American History

Scott Powell, the creator of The Remote History Program for Children ,has passed on this helpful link to D.H. Montgomery's "Leading Facts of American History". Which is on the web as an e-book, including pictures! This is a valuable tool for homeschoolers teaching American History. Thank you, Scott.

Related Tags: Scott Powell, The Remote History Program for Children, Leading Facts of American History, e-books, American History, D.H. Montgomery

Also posted at The Homeschool Cafe

A Homeschool Meme

1) ONE HOMESCHOOLING BOOK YOU HAVE ENJOYED?
Ok, I have a confession to make here, I have never actually read a homeschooling book. We started off doing school at home and then I eventually found my way to home based education after talking with some long term homeschool Mom's. I don't think any ONE method will work with all kids. I homeschooled my two sons in totally different ways, as their learning styles and interest are different.


2) ONE RESOURCE YOU WOULDN'T BE WITHOUT?
The library. Who can afford to buy all the books? And the St. Martin Public Library is very homeschool friendly.

3) ONE RESOURCE YOU WISH YOU HAD NEVER BOUGHT?
So far I haven't bought anything I regretted, but I usually do tons of research before making a purchase.

4) ONE RESOURCE YOU ENJOYED LAST YEAR?
EMC's Literature and the Language Arts the British Tradition.
Note I will not be using their American Tradition it's totally biased against the South. Their Unit on the Civil War doesn't have ONE white Southern writer in the entire unit, and leads one to believe the only cause of the Civil War was slavery (They did stick a small portion of a speech by Robert E. Lee in their extra reading section). Over all most of the writers I studied in school are missing from the book, and are replaced with people I have never heard of and have no interest in reading after reading the excerpts from the book. No wonder kids today don't like to read, if this is the literature that is forced on them. I am so thankful I had the chance to review the book before buying it. Next year I will be buying books, instead of any one American Literature Book. We are doing World Literature this year which I am enjoying.

5) ONE RESOURCE YOU WILL BE USING NEXT YEAR?
Power Glide Spanish Ultimate Year II we are doing Year I this year

6) ONE RESOURCE YOU WOULD LIKE TO BUY?
That's really hard, there are so many I want. I have a whole wish list of books I want to use next year at Amazon.com. I'll be buying History of a Free Nation for sure though. While it's not perfect, it has tons of resource material and it at least attempts to explain the complex reasons behind events.

7) ONE RESOURCE YOU WISH EXISTED?
A clone (why stop at one, clones?) of ME, so I could do housework, teach and blog at the same time.

8) ONE HOMESCHOOLING CATALOGUE YOU ENJOY READING?
Another deep dark secret, I don't use homeschooling catalogue's. I usually use the internet to find the materials I want.


9) ONE HOMESCHOOLING WEBSITE YOU USE ?
National Geographic Homework Help and we use the magazine in class.

10) TAG 5 PEOPLE
Natalie, Lioness, Nancy, Sheila, & Robin

These People Are Really Scary

Read about the Dominionist who wish to force Biblical law upon the U.S.

They support a Constitutional interpretation that extends the rights of the government to interfere where it has no business.

If they get their way the U.S. will be a Christian version of Iran. As always PolitiCalypso's blog entry The Purpose of the Constitution is informative.

Economics

Economist Milton Friedman is known for his work on macroeconomics, microeconomics, economic history, statistics, and for his advocacy of laissez-faire capitalism. In 1976 he won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. His TV show Free To Choose is available on Google Video for free.

If you are studying economics as we are, I strongly encourage you to check it out.

The Forecast Looks Grim

Michael Skube in Writing Off Reading claims that many public school graduates lack the vocabulary and grammar skills that make successful college students.

Jay Mathews points out that "According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a national achievement test, reading and math scores for 17-year-olds have been stagnant the last 30 years" in his post Too Few Overachievers.

Which brings me to a post by Andew Young and Walter Block, Enterprising Education: Doing Away with the Public School System found at Ludwig von Mises Institute.

All the arguments in favor of a public provision of primary education prove to be unfounded and/or incorrect. The failure of the state to provide a high quality service to all (its explicit goal) has rendered public primary education illegitimate; and the immeasurable waste of resources and rejection of consumer desires has left public education borderline immoral. As well, if an educated citizenry is to be considered necessary for the operation of the republican government, then it is an inexcusable conflict of interest when elected officials are the ones in charge of providing that education. Furthermore, the argument of externalities and nonexcludability fails to buttress the case for socialist education. The only ethical, reasonable system for the provision of primary education is the free market.

Considering that public schools aren't doing a very good job of educating students one has to ask, why are they still around? Do you know any private business that could fail to deliver "the goods" for 30 years and not go bankrupt? The forecast for public schools as well as their students looks grim.

According to Ayn Rand

Of all the government undertakings, none has failed so disastrously as public education. The scope, the depth, and the evidence of this failure are observable all around us. To name three of its obvious symptoms: drug addiction among the young (which is an attempt to escape the unbearable state of a mind unable to cope with existence)--functional illiteracy (the inability of the average high-school or college graduate to speak English, i.e., to speak or write coherently)--student violence (which means that students have not learned what savages know to some minimal extent: the impracticality and immorality of resorting to physical force).In the face of such evidence, one would expect the government's performance in the field of education to be questioned, at the least, [but] the growing failures of the educational establishment are followed by the appropriation of larger and larger sums. There is, however, a practical alternative: tax credits for education.

To read more about her idea click Tax Credits for Education.

Of course as most of my readers know there is one solution to the educational woes in America, home~schooling. For homeschoolers the forecast is sunny!

Related Tags: public education, Ayn Rand, Tax Credits for Education, home schooling, home based education

Foreign Languages

For those of you studying foreign languages this year, this site offers translation help.

Research

Researchers learn to extract crude oil from pig manure, read more about it in the Sun Herald.

The Twisted Mind Emporium

The Twisted Mind Emporium brings us Weird Science Fast Animals. Number six is my all time favorite the American Quarter Horse.

The quarter horse can hit almost 48 miles per hour. And to think I use to ride them..........................