The Sunday Education Weekly Reader: 11.13.11

Welcome to the Sunday Education Weekly Reader for 11.13.11.

This week we'll be highlighting:

• an example of the growing jobs in online education companies...that really don't require much knowledge in education
  
• an opinion that LOWER taxes, not HIGHER taxes ensure a better education for students
• how the cradle to grave agenda gearing up
  

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Do you need a job? Interested in working for private industry that uses taxpayer money? Check out a job posting for Apex Learning, the leading provider of digital curriculum for secondary education to the nation's school districts. Don't worry, you don't have to be particularly innovative or know much about educational theory in many of these jobs.

A description for an Account Executive in Education reads:

The selected candidate will prospect for new business for Apex Learning digital curriculum within the assigned territory, focusing on sales of packaged solutions.

"Packaged solutions" is the future of education via Common Core standards and a nationalized curriculum. Remember that the next time you are sitting at a school board meeting and the Board members emphasize how the district aims to provide "individual instruction" to your human capital.

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Why is the cost of educating children in the private realm so much cheaper than the cost of public education? Are these programs that provide vouchers for private schools a better plan for student achievement and Constitutional law?

Is it true that lowering taxes actually improves test scores?

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The government wants to give out more money for education! (The Department of Education apparently hasn't read the previous linked article). It wants your child in pre-school now. THAT'S the ticket for students to become STEM ready. That's right. Those Pre-K teachers are the answer for our dismal educational test scores.

Here is a proposed government program and newly created DOE department for your human capital beginning at age 3. The government just can't wait to go into Pre-K programs for child assessments and data mined information. I don't think this is what Mr. Rogers must have had in mind when he talked to young children.

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Educational thought of the day is from the book The Double Comfort Safari Club:

Mma Ramotswe thought about this. Having the right approach to life was a great gift in this life. Her father, the late Obed Ramotswe, had always had the right approach to life--she was sure of that. And for a moment, as she sat there with her friend, with the late-afternoon sun slanting in through the window, she thought about how she owed her father so much. He had taught her almost everything she knew about how to lead a good life, and the lessons she had learned from him were as fresh today as they ever had been. Do not complain about your life. Do not blame others for things that you have brought upon yourself. Be content with who you are and where you are, and do whatever you can do to bring to others such contentment, and joy, and understanding that you have managed to find yourself.

The Sunday Education Weekly Reader: 10.02.11

Welcome to the Sunday Education Weekly Reader. We've collected stories this week about kindergarten protocol, an economic theory from Elizabeth Warren, the curriculum of victimhood, Doug Lasken's take on the GOP, and a question for readers on fascism and if it is alive on the campus of the University of Wisconsin.


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You might want to rethink about sending your human capital to kindergarten unless you like your child being tested...with 52 different tests. What happened to providing creative playtime and learning social skills?

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Would you want this woman teaching her version of economics in your school district?

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Does this sum up the state of education "reform" today?

"Programs provide content related to implementing strategies to combat discrimination, oppression, and economic deprivation and to promote social and economic justice" and prepare students to advocate for nondiscriminatory social and economic systems." Victimhood now defines entitlements by group to be awarded through communal sharing.

Are students considered victims rather than having the capacity for self-determination?

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Here is Doug Lasken's latest piece on the lack of coherent vision from the GOP.

Is the GOP's educational vision the same as Obama/Arne Duncan's plan? Do we even have a two parties in the country as it relates to education? Why are the "conservatives" lining up with the "progressives" in education "reform"?

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For our quote of the week, we're going to talk about the definition of fascism. Read this story about Professor James Miller at the University of Wisconsin and determine if you believe it is an example of "educational fascism".

Definition of FASCISM

1

often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition

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Have a good week.

The Sunday Education Weekly Reader: 9.25.11

Good day! Welcome to the Sunday Education Weekly Reader compiled from last week's education news and tidbits.

Here are some interesting education articles about:

• possible school board political/business cronyism
  
• common core standards
• a parent objecting to his student's homework assignment based on the religious examples used
• a question of double standards in freedom of speech
  
• a thought to take with you during the week

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Just breaking this morning! The headline in the local newspaper features The Rockwood School District in Eureka:

Rockwood has cozy tie with firm:

Rockwood School District finds itself entangled in a legal and ethical dilemma according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Steve Smith, the School Board president of Rockwood School District is also an employee (project coordinator) of Glenn Construction Company that has been responsible for 98% of the construction work in the district the last 14 years. The company also maintains rent-free space in the district.

Could such questionable business practices be occurring in your school district?


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Mitt Romney comes out in favor of Race to the Top and Arne Duncan's reform? When did conservatives start supporting more and more centralization of education...and why?


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Viewpoints: Why Common Core standards are illegal and will ultimately fail.

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The Underground Parent explained in 2010 why Common Core standard arguments and Arne Duncan's contentions its theories are based on research....are just not true. Is this an example in Salesmanship 101 at the expense of states' rights and bankruptcy for these states because of these mandates?

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From wsbtv.com in Atlanta:

A father's complaint that his daughter's homework promotes the Muslim faith could lead to a lesson change in Cobb County. Channel 2's Tom Regan talked to the father who showed him where his daughter’s homework which said there's nothing wrong with having multiple wives.

Any word yet from the ACLU on the separation of church and state?

Here's an updated video from Channel 2 news in Atlanta explaining the content of the homework.

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Is this an example of a double standard?

A student in Ft. Worth, Texas gets suspended initially for 3 days (now reduced to one day) for telling his friend his personal belief on homosexuality.

A government studies teacher in San Antonio, TX calls a panel member in a public discussion a Nazi for his views on the "Dream Act" and he faces no disciplinary action.

When/where is freedom of expression allowed and when/where is it smothered? And why?

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Thought for the week:

This is a poem from a treasured book found in an estate sale entitled "Floridays". It was published in 1941 and written and illustrated by Don Blanding. As a native Floridian, the poems and recollections touched my heart, especially this one about a child. Why we fight not for the system but for children and their ability to choose their own futures can be summed up in the last two lines.

Hug your kids and treasure the days of their youth!

BIRTHDAY

For Binney, July 6, 1941

Binney was six years old today,
Party and presents and pink ice cream!
Thirty children to romp and play.
The hours passed like a shining dream.

Ribbony packages, tinsel stars,
Books and dollies and endless games,
Hose and hankies and candy jars,
Birthday cards with children's names.

A cake with candles all alight,
A deep-drawn breath and a lusty phewwww!
Shivers and prickles of sheer delight!
Each moment crowded with something new.

Tight blonde pig-tails tied with blue
Matching the blue of thoughtful eyes.
Wonder and laughter shining through,
Happy tears and a glad surprise.

Six long years...how very old!
The solemn thought brought a stab of pain.
Whatever the years ahead may hold...
She'll never be six years old again.

The Sunday Education Weekly Reader: 9.18.11

Education articles are coming fast and furious these days. They concern Common Core standards, Race to the Top unfunded mandates (just discovered by state legislatures, school districts and governors as unaffordable), curriculum being taught in districts taxpayers find distasteful, etc.

We can't comment on all the articles we'd like to share, so every Sunday we will link a few stories on education we hope you will find informative with a brief description. For you readers old enough to remember, we've fashioned it after "The Weekly Reader". In a time before computers and instant information, my classmates and I enjoyed finding out about the world around us and stories that transported us beyond our classroom.

We hope these educational articles we post daily and in the "Education Weekly Reader" will spur you on to research educational issues for yourself. If you find stories you believe would be of interest to readers interested in education, drop us a line.

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Are you concerned about privacy rights for your family and student data? You should be. Here's a guide from Privacy Rights Clearinghouse for parents and college age students :


https://www.privacyrights.org/Education

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Here is a related story about two brothers convicted for using hacked information from University of Missouri students for financial gain:

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/sep/15/former-mu-student-brother-sentenced-scamming-schem/

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And again, a reader gets it right in the comment section on schools receiving a $10,000 grant for environmental curriculum and practices:


http://cjonline.com/news/2011-09-15/grant-funds-earth-friendly-youth-program

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Character Training for Global Citizenship


When fifteen-year-old Kevin walked into his American History class at Cupertino High School in California, he was given a handout. He glanced at the title: "Heterosexuality: Can It be Cured?" Weird, he thought and looked around. Some of his friends were studying it, too. He read on:

http://www.crossroad.to/text/articles/ctfgc97.html

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Here's an educational quote for the week (please pass on any you would like to share):

Adults who still derive childlike pleasure from hanging gifts of a ready-made education on the Christmas tree of a child waiting outside the door to life do not realize how unreceptive they are making the children to everything that constitutes the true surprise of life.
Karl Kraus

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