An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Archive for Education
Public Education
The High Cost Of “Higher Education”
All these colleges and universities raise the cost of walking through the door every time the government has stuck their fingers in the pie. Yet, for some reason, walking out the door, the graduates are no smarter than they would be if the debt accrued was much lower. 
Actually, judging by some of the so called educated, they come out a whole lot dumber…unable to cope with the real world. Just an observation. 
A Higher Education Revolution
The Foundry
Speaking on Friday at the University of Michigan, President Obama declared, “I want this to be a big, bold, generous country where everybody gets a fair shot, everybody is doing their fair share, everybody is playing by the same set of rules. That’s the America I know. That’s the American I want to keep. That’s the future within our reach.” How did the President propose to achieve his goal? The wrong kind of federal intervention into higher education with the goal of bringing down the cost of attending college.
The President is right to highlight the rising cost of higher education. Tuition and fees continue to shoot through the roof, now exceeding $17,000 per year, rising on average 8.3 percent at public universities this year. That means medium-income Americans are struggling to send their kids to college, and graduates are leaving school with monstrous debt. Last year in America, total student loan debt surpassed credit card debt. The total bill is expected to exceed $1 trillion this next year, and in 2009, 55 percent of graduating bachelor’s degree students at public colleges were in debt, with an average indebtedness of $19,800 ($26,100 for private college graduates, 65 percent of whom were in debt.)
Denying The Truth
Bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg draws anger with Hitler comment
The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg is being criticized for saying Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini would love the country’s public school system because it teaches all children one set of beliefs.
Bishop Joseph P. McFadden made the remark while advocating for school vouchers during an interview last week with Dennis Owens, an anchor with WHTM-TV (ABC27).
“In totalitarian governments, they would love our system,” McFadden said to during the interview. “This is what Hitler and Mussolini and all those tried to establish a monolith so all the children would be educated in one set of beliefs and one way of doing things.”
McFadden’s words sparked outrage from the area chapter of the Anti-Defamation League and a rebuke from the legislative director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania.
Why would there be ‘outrage’ when someone speaks the truth? Hitler would love our public school system. The statement has nothing to do with the Holocaust, but with a man who believed himself to be some sort of god, and made sure the school kids were taught lies and distortion to promote his agenda. Isn’t that what our public school system does? Only teaches the THEORY of evolution, when intelligent design should be included. It teaches kids that ‘global warming, aka climate change’ is a FACT and all the polar bears are drowning. (My 13 granddaughter told me this, and believe me, we had quite a discussion after that little tidbit.)
Hitler made sure students were taught the Jewish people were inferior, and not to be trusted. The Nazi schools totally distorted German history, to make the war against their own citizens some glorious quest. Aren’t U.S. schools teaching that those who fought and died to create this great country were bad people? So tell me…..where is the untruth in the Bishop’s statement! You can’t, because it happens to be TRUE! The ACLU and the Anti-Defamation League need to get their collective heads out of their collective hinders and see our public school system for what it truly is…..government/union indoctrination! Same as what Hitler and Mussolini pushed.
The Pizza Pistol
One More Reason To Home School!
US Textbooks: Muslims Discovered America
Saudi-funded textbooks being used in America’s K-12 classrooms.
Teaching, among other things, that Jesus was a “Palestinian,” the state of Israel never existed, and that the Muslims discovered America before Columbus. At this rate, perhaps even Saudi grade-school textbooks, complete with jihadi and dhimmi declarations, will come to instruct American school-children.
My first question would have to be…why the hell are foreigners funding American text books? Whose bright idea was that?
Islam shares a characteristic of Marxism: Conquer from within. And isn’t that what has been happening. Our schools are run by Marxists, and our text books are being written, and bought, by a foreign country… an ISLAMIC country! Sorry, neither have the values our Founders set forth for us, and should NOT be taught in our schools. How about teaching the truth….warts and all!
If sadly, you were the recipient of such a false education… the Muzzies did NOT discover America..the Vikings were here before Amerigo Vespucci and Christopher Columbus. Jesus was NOT a ‘Palestinian’. There has never been a country called Palestine, except in the Romans minds, as an insult to the resident Jews of ISRAEL! The Old Testament, even if you don’t believe, is a great source of history!
Choice Brings Competition
Celebrating School Choice Week
The Foundry
What singular cause could bring together the likes of Democratic campaign strategist James Carville, Republican Governor Bobby Jindal (LA), actor Sacha Baron Cohen, and 2,000 families, all under one roof? The answer: school choice — empowering parents with the ability to save their children from failing schools, thereby giving them a shot at a brighter future.
Those big names came together to kick off National School Choice Week in New Orleans over the weekend, a celebration that is being echoed in some 400 events across the country in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, with half the nation’s governors declaring “School Choice Week” in their states. Actor, comedian, and education advocate Bill Cosby offered his support for school choice, as well:
I strongly support National School Choice Week because all children in America should be able to access the best schools possible. We have a moral and societal obligation to give our children the opportunity to succeed in school, at work, and in life. We cannot meet that obligation unless parents are empowered to select the best schools of their children. I encourage everyone who wants to see a transformation of American education to get involved in National School Choice Week.
The groundswell of support comes after a year of significant strides in the school choice movement. A total of 12 states and the District of Columbia either enacted or expanded school choice options in 2011. Heritage education expert Lindsey Burke explains that last year, “more families than ever before gained access to school choice options, freeing them from assignment-by-zip code policies that often relegate families to the public school closest to their home, regardless of whether it meet their child’s needs.” As a result, more families have access to school choice options — including vouchers, tax credits, homeschooling, online learning, and even education savings accounts.
The Good, Bad, & Ugly of Education
Top 10 Education Stories of 2011
The Foundry
There was no lack of education news in 2011. From an explosion in school choice options to the Obama Administration’s executive overreach, the top stories included the high and low lights when it came to issues affecting America’s schools.
10. Obama Administration orchestrates for-profit university witch hunt. On June 2, the Department of Education issued restrictive new regulations targeting “for-profit” higher education institutions. The new “gainful employment” regulation restricts access to student loans for students attending for-profit institutions (like Capella University or the University of Phoenix, for instance) if the school’s average debt-to-earnings ratio exceeds 12 percent of a graduate’s income. The net result? De-facto government price controls on a sector meeting the needs of students historically underserved by traditional universities.
9. Obama forgives student loans. In November, President Obama traveled to the University of Colorado-Boulder to announce his plan to forgive federal student loans — a demand made, notably, by the Occupy Wall Street crowd. Students cannot be required to pay more than 10 percent of their discretionary income on loan payments, all of which will be forgiven after 20 years. Sadly, this executive overreach shifts the burden of paying for college from the students who are directly benefiting from having attended college, to the nearly three-quarters of Americans who did not graduate from college.
Testing The Teachers
Gov. Haslam calls for more study of teacher evaluations
Gov. Bill Haslam is calling for more study of Tennessee’s new process for evaluating teachers, in a bid to head off legislative action spurred by complaints over the system’s fairness and practicality.
Haslam said Wednesday that he has appointed SCORE, a Nashville advocacy group that pushed for reforms to teacher evaluations, to conduct a formal review of how well the state’s new system is working. The review will coincide with an internal analysis by the Tennessee Department of Education.
The study comes after state lawmakers, including some fellow Republicans, questioned whether efforts to grade teacher performance are being rolled out haphazardly. Haslam defended the new system and urged lawmakers not to take action until after the state and SCORE reports have been delivered.
All teachers need to be evaluated. If they are unionistas, they need to be examined even more closely! 
I’d also like to exactly what they are teaching, how much common knowledge is being taught, so while they are examining the teachers, they also might want to take a real good look at the teacher’s curriculum.
I have no idea what exactly is entailed in this plan, but I’d suggest that looking back over the years on how well each teacher’s students have done in their classroom would be a real good start. If the large majority of students are learning, then I’d say that teacher is doing fairly well. If not, then odds are, that particular teacher sucks, and should find a different line of work.
If the system that Gov Haslam came up with needs tweaking, then, by all means, have at it, as long as students are learning what they need to know to survive when they hit the REAL world. It would also be nice if they were learning the TRUE history of the country, civics, and a bit of ethics. These seem to be sorely lacking in today’s education. Teaching the to recycle is all well and fine, but without some knowledge of our past, the kids will undoubtedly continue on the path of what we are seeing today with the likes of OWS and Obamabots. Ignorance is NOT bliss! It’s dangerous!
We Speak English
Pledge of allegiance in Spanish causes controversy in Lamont
The Pledge of Allegiance is creating a controversy in Lamont. Not the pledge itself, but the language it is recited in.
Elementary students in the Lamont School District recite the pledge in both English and Spanish. Some teachers aren’t happy about it.
It is a pledge of loyalty and allegiance to the United States of America. But, in Lamont, some take offense that the Pledge of Allegiance is recited in a language other than English.
“I think you offer a great way for students to feel included, and it’s the Pledge of Allegiance, no greater honor than to be able to say the Pledge of Allegiance in a second language,” said Fred Molina, Principal, Alicante School.
Honor? I don’t see anything honorable about having kids pledging allegiance in a language that is NOT the primary language of the country, unless, of course, they have moved an American city to a foreign country, and no one informed the rest of the country.
Since 2002, all students in the district’s three elementary schools have recited the Pledge in English and Spanish. It is a tradition for a city that is 97% Hispanic.
“We haven’t had any complaints from anyone about this issue. We feel it’s a very positive thing for our district,” said Ricardo Robles, Assistant Superintendent.
Are they Hispanic, or are they Americans, citizens of the United States? If those 97% are legal residents, why the need for pledging allegiance in a foreign language? Evidently, assimilating to the country you are living in is no longer expected. Perpetuating a division in the country really isn’t such a great idea. Since there haven’t been any complaints, I’m going to take a wild guess and say that there is no loyalty to the U.S. and therefore, said residents are not to be trusted. Hey…just a wild stab.
Since 2002, 35% of students have been part of a bilingual program where instruction is 50% in English and 50% in Spanish. But, the Pledge is recited by all students, including those who only speak English.
“One of the issues with it being in Spanish is that not everyone got a chance to voice their opinion doing it that way. Every time it was brought up for discussion, it was set aside and we never got a chance to vote for it or even discuss it any further,” said Barry Champagne, teacher.
Most people who choose to come to this country, legally, have always worked hard to assimilate, and learn the language of their new country. That doesn’t seem to be the case with a large number of those who come from Spanish speaking countries. Instead of adapting, the rest of us are expected to accommodate them. Does anyone else find this offensive? Not only does this cause an added expense in education, it also does not help the student to learn the language he or she will be expected to know when it comes time to go out into the world and make a living.
of the United States of America,
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
Power Tripping Principal OUT!
Principal Forced to Retire After Suspending 9-Year-Old Student for Calling Teacher ‘Cute
Earlier this week, the Blaze reported on 9-year-old Emanyea Lockett’s suspension story. As you’ll recall, the child was forced to stay home from school for three days after he called his female teacher “cute.” Now, the principal who qualified these comments as “sexual harassment” has been forced to retire over the incident.
Following the suspension, school officials investigated and determined that Lockett hadn’t done anything wrong (though officials had previously said that Lockett had also been guilty of calling other students inappropriate names — something the boy has denied).
As a result, the principal of Brookside Elementary School, Jerry Bostic, was given an hour to either quit or face termination. Following his forced retirement after a long, 44-year career, the former principal is speaking out.
“I didn’t show a history of making problems like that. I’ve had the best of evaluations my entire career and because of some syndicated columnist in New York or California, I don’t have a job,” he said. ”I admit I made some errors in what I did, but to fire me or to demote me with 44 years in it, it just doesn’t make sense.”
“I made a mistake,” he continued. “I offered to apologize for my mistake, but I wasn’t given that opportunity.”
I honestly can’t feel any sorrow for this principal. What he did was pure D ignorant! Perhaps other schools will thing twice before accusing little children of sexual harassment, like when a 4 year kisses another 4 year old on the cheek, or an 8 year old holds the hand of another 8 year old. They have turned innocence into a crime, and it must be stopped! The power trip that so many in the education system needs to be cut off at the knees! They are NOT omniscient!
Teacher Union Thug
Being held accountable for your own actions is evidently not something Chicago teacher union president is use to. Well, ya better get use to it, because WE, The People, are pretty fed up with the thug tactics of unions, nationwide! This is a representation of the type of people who are in charge of your child’s education. Just remember that when your child comes home from school being more ignorant than when he, or she, left that morning!
Hatred Taught On Campus
Is this why you send your kids to college? Is this what you are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for? To have them brain washed by lies? Is this what you expect from college campuses? WAKE UP! Educate yourself before sending your child off to such hotbeds of hatred and lies!
Has EVERYONE Lost Their Freakin’ Minds????
The guy dressed in the suit and tie, smiling and shaking a bevy of hands, caught Grayson Thomas’ eye.
Grayson wasn’t alone. Teachers and other students at Stevenson Ranch Elementary School couldn’t take their eyes off the lunchtime visitor, either.
Grayson, a fifth-grader at the campus near Santa Clarita, Ca., noticed the gentleman’s outward characteristics: Tall and lean. Good looking. Charismatic. Charming. Energetic.
Then he made a fatal error: Grayson, 11, pulled a little “made you look” joke on a schoolmate seated next to him, saying something along the lines of “Obama’s visiting our school today,” referring to the magnetic figure holding court nearby.
If ya look close, there is a startling resemblance. So? What’s the problem?
According to Grayson’s dad, Darren Thomas (who provided the previous details), what happened next was scary: Word of his son’s Obama-Schauble comparison spread to Schauble’s daughter, Shelbi, who was sharing lunch with her newsman father. And Shelbi was uncomfortable with Grayson’s statement, saying it felt racist.
“It felt racist”? What the blazes does THAT mean???? Is it the kid’s fault that people are ignorant? An elementary school kid evidently has been ‘taught’ that anything another kid has said ‘feels’ racist, and I will blame the Obama look alike and his spouse. Does she resemble Michelle? Do I care? Obviously not!
Then a teacher was summoned, then the principal, Candace Fleece, then the Newhall School District superintendent, Marc Winger. And that very afternoon, Nov. 4, Grayson was kicked out of Stevenson Ranch for good, his father says, for implying that all black men look alike.
Unless someone left something out of this story, I do not see anything that implies that is what the kids meant. The two men DO look very much alike, and a 10 or 11 year old kid would notice that, without any implications.
Winger apparently revealed a bit more to a local radio news site, which quoted him as saying, “It’s not what [Grayson] said, it’s how he said it…I can tell you that there was history and that the student had been counseled and we met with the parents.”
It’s besides the point, says Darren Thomas, that neither Winger, Fleece, nor Solomon—not even Schauble or his daughter—were within earshot to evaluate “how” his son originally stated his Obama-lookalike comment. The kicker, Darren says, is that school officials had no basis for determining that Grayson’s comparison implied that all black men look alike. And then they punished him.
You know what they say about assuming, right? Assume…makes as ass out of u and me! And this bunch has certainly shown themselves to be total asses! As do ALL the ‘politically correct’ morons!
Union Destruction of Education
IMHO, parents (the taxpayers) should be able to decide teachers pay, not the unions.
The Truth About Public School Teacher Pay
The Foundry
Last winter, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) traveled his state, holding a series of townhalls in which he touted a significant but politically unpopular plan: asking public school teachers to accept a pay freeze and begin contributing 1.5 percent of their salaries toward their health care plans, whereas before they paid nothing. It’s a battle that pitted Christie against powerful teachers unions, and it’s a fight that has brought the issue of teacher pay to the center of the public square.
That battle has played itself out across the country. Earlier this year in Wisconsin, Governor Scott Walker (R) faced a $3 billion structural deficit and the fourth-highest tax burden in the country. Among the reforms he enacted were limits to collective bargaining power and reform of public employee benefit plans, which included asking public-sector employees (including teachers) to make a 5.8 percent contribution into their pension plans and pick up the tab for 12 percent of their health care benefits, whereas before they paid nothing. Walker’s actions led to unionized education employees leaving schools in protest and Democratic lawmakers fleeing the state in order to prevent the plan from passing the legislature.
Twisting The U.S. Constitution
Jesus’ name ruled ‘unconstitutional’
Judge says prayers to Christ ‘do violence to America’s pluralistic, inclusive values’
A board of county commissioners in North Carolina is asking the Supreme Court for help: Its members don’t believe they should have to forbid volunteers from mentioning the name of Jesus in prayers offered before their meetings.
But the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State are standing by their victory in a U.S. circuit court decision that states even “a solitary reference to Jesus Christ” in invocations before the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners’ meetings could do “violence to the pluralistic and inclusive values that are a defining feature of American public life.”
Furthermore, wrote Judge James Harvie Wilkinson III in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals majority opinion, legislative invocations offered in Jesus’ name are inherently “sectarian” and thus should be censored lest they make some attendees feel “uncomfortable, unwelcome and unwilling to participate in … public affairs.”
I’m quite confused. I looked up Judge Wilkinson, and from what I read, this sort of ruling seems quite out of character for him. As a Reagan appointee, he has, or at least had, made common sense, constitutional rulings, as best I can tell. So, why the change? I’m sure he’s quite aware of the 1st Amendment, and the history. The Constitution puts limits on the government, NOT the people. Judges are sworn to uphold the Constitution, not deny the people their God given rights.
