A word in your ear. 

If you go work out at a gym or fitness center (i.e. an indoor exercise facility), please make sure you leave the cologne at home.  The rest of us would really appreciate it as we have become fond of  breathing while we're working out.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Posted by: Teresa in Education at 07:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Russia slams missile shield deal

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's envoy to NATO said on Friday that a deal struck between the United States and Poland on missile defence amid the Georgia crisis showed the system was aimed at Russia.

Posted by: Teresa in Education at 02:54 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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And I'd be willing to bet it was alumni withholding donations or nothing would ever have happened. After all it certainly took long enough. more...

Posted by: Teresa in Education at 03:22 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I was appalled for the wrong reason!

I was perusing Instapundit when I ran across this link

Churchill dropped from England's history syllabus

The first thought that comes to mind... "What could they possibly be thinking?!?!" Then I read the article which starts like this

Britain's World War II prime minister Winston Churchill has been cut from a list of key historical figures recommended for teaching in English secondary schools, a government agency says.[emph mine --ed]

It's always amusing to find out how very different other countries really are from America. Especially when they speak the same language. I had no idea their "federal" government decreed what is taught in their schools. Down to exactly who and what! That's astounding. (America may be pointed in this direction - but we're a far far cry from it yet)

Now I'm sure someone would love to jump in and say that these "government agencies" are made up of educators. But still - the fact that the schools are overseen by one single entity that directs even the minutia of what is taught in the classroom. It takes the breath away.

Then I read this

A spokesman for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority said the new curriculum, to be taught from September 2008, does not prescribe to teachers what they must include.

But he added: "Teachers know that they need to mention these pivotal figures. They don't need to be instructed by law to mention them in every history class.

Interesting - I wonder why these instructional laws were created in the first place. Was it because teachers couldn't be relied upon to actually teach their subjects? Or was it some meddlesome "nanny" who decided that even teachers need to be told exactly what to do and how to do it.

Mind you - teaching history without including Winston Churchill would be a complete and total travesty. The man was and continues to be larger than life! I am simply stunned that the British government felt the need to make it a "law" that he be included in history as it is taught in their schools.

One wonders how the populace manages to make it through a single day. Unless all those cameras watching them are also sending out instructions on what they must do next. Wow.

Posted by: Teresa in Education at 06:46 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I went to an all day seminar today. Left the house at 7am and returned at 6pm so it was a long day of listening. After returning home, I cleaned up my emails, threw together some dinner, beloved husband and I cleaned up the kitchen, we went for a walk, wrote my 24 post, and now I just have one more post I want to write.

This is the second seminar I've attended in the last month. Both of them have to do with Computer Security. Naturally different specifics, but falling under that umbrella.

Today's class was fun, the man presenting was enthusiastic and interesting. He encouraged quite a bit of interaction among the attendees (which was a good thing in this case - it doesn't always work). But there is one thing about both of these seminars, presented by vastly different people, that I'm finding to be very irritating.

Neither of the 2 presenters have any solid idea of the laws surrounding the areas they are talking about. In other words, they are presenting the mechanics of what you have to do to achieve a certain result in their area of expertise, but they have no idea what the law says you have to do to be in compliance. None!

Unfortunately, with the various data privacy acts, Sarbanes-Oxley, Gramm-Leach-Blighly, among others, computer security is having lots of laws waved around and everyone is confused... including those who are teaching classes and who I expect should have a passing idea of the basic law in regard to their specialty. Perhaps I'm expecting too much.

During the course of these seminars many people throw out many of their own views on what they believe is the law. And even then, you seldom get consensus among the group. For that matter the teachers admit they don't know the laws and say "anyone know what the law is in regard to this?" Sorry - but that type of sloppiness makes me want to scream!

While I thought today's presentation had some very useful information, I'm beginning to get ticked off that these people don't find a lawyer, pin them down, and get some general answers. Things like "financial industries must keep certain types of records for such-and-such amount of time". OR "ISP's must keep log files for "this" amount of time."

Many of the people attending, work for companies that have a legal staff. They are able to check these things with their legal department... I can't do that. So, I have half-baked information from whatever anyone threw out there. Naturally, I don't consider that to be definitive.

The problem is, I don't even know where to look for answers to these things. Maybe I should go to law school... cause I'm about to the point where I don't want to attend a seminar unless they have a lawyer show up who can give us some real answers and not just guesses.

It's not quite a waste of time, but it is annoying.

Posted by: Teresa in Education at 06:15 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I came across the latest craze in education today. One that is being touted as yet another way to help kids learn. And what would this be you ask? Why Surround Sound of course!

Now let me state right from the start... I am NOT talking about children with hearing impairment. I know people who have children with impaired hearing - that's an entirely different problem and one that has them scrambling for solutions at times... No I am here to talk about kids with supposedly normal hearing and the claim that they are unable to hear the teacher speaking in a fairly small room.

The Baltimore County school board has set aside $400,000 in its proposed budget to install and test "sound enhancement" systems - wireless microphones and speakers designed to distribute a teacher's voice evenly around the room. At least seven schools in the Baltimore area are already using it, and others in Maryland and across the country are investing in the equipment.

Proponents say the technology can help children hear lessons over the shuffle of papers and other classroom noises. They say it can also ease the strain on teachers' voices.

I am nearly speechless in the face of this idiotic assertion. And if I lived in the school system spending that kind of money on a sound systems for classrooms - I'd be asking hard questions the next time the schools say they don't have enough money for some other project!

After all - teachers unions have - for the past 30 years or so been screaming about the need for smaller classrooms sizes. I would venture to guess that most (not all) class sizes in this country are between 20-30 students. With some classrooms heading up to 40 in especially impoverished areas (however any school that can't pay teachers... certainly can't afford sound systems! So I'm not speaking of them).

If the teacher has difficulty projecting his/her voice - maybe he/she is in the wrong profession or maybe needing to work individually as a tutor rather than a classroom teacher. Now please tell me... with a class that size, and generally a room just large enough to hold them, why can't they hear the teacher?

Because they aren't paying attention! Their world is full of so much noise constantly - they simply tune out the sound of the teacher's voice. How many kids are in school with the constant hum of background noise... then they go home to a house where there are TV's and stereos on at full volume (sometimes in competition), from the time they get home until they go to bed? For that matter - how many live in homes where there is a television and or stereo on all night long? How many kids don't know the meaning of the word "quiet"? As in - the classroom is quiet.

Instead of trying stupidly expensive high tech ways... how about a $0 low tech way... When you want to talk to the class - and give instructions - kids need to put things down and LOOK at the teacher. What a concept! Stop messing with stuff in your desk, stop jumping up and running across the room to get junk out of your coat pocket. Stop shuffling papers and LOOK at the teacher. You'd be amazed how much most kids can hear when you make them pay attention to you!

In this case, someone has convinced the school administration that they "need" this gadget. It is a particularly neat sales job. They have convinced these people that they must spend money on sound systems to make school better. They must install equipment that is going to break and need maintenance (not to mention batteries). The person who sold this must be in hog heaven - their ship has come in my friend.

Woodholme Elementary School Principal Maralee S. Clark said she used $13,000 from the school's equipment budget to install the systems in 10 kindergarten and first-grade classrooms and the media center.

Clark used it as a selling point when recruiting teachers for the Pikesville school, the county's newest.

"I didn't want my teachers not to have that advantage," Clark said.

Well there you go - it's settled - this is all about the perks. The claim is that the kids learn better - I want a controlled study to show me that this is true. So far I don't see one. I see a claim by a Principal with a vested interest in an investment she made. I see a Principal looking to advertise that she can attract teachers she wants to her school. I don't see anything that shows - without bias - that this sound system helps the kids.

Sorry, but when you're spending my money and have constant claims that I don't "give" enough of my hard earned income to pay the school system... I want more than a slick sales presentation.

Posted by: Teresa in Education at 01:06 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Patrick Welsh has written an op-ed piece in the USA Today that should get him completely ostracized from every teaching institution in America by the end of the day. You see, he thinks some of the blame for poor performance in schools should be laid at the feet of the students - not completely on the teachers...

The sad fact is that in the USA, hard work on the part of students is no longer seen as a key factor in academic success. The groundbreaking work of Harold Stevenson and a multinational team at the University of Michigan comparing attitudes of Asian and American students sounded the alarm more than a decade ago.

Asian vs. U.S. students

When asked to identify the most important factors in their performance in math, the percentage of Japanese and Taiwanese students who answered "studying hard" was twice that of American students.

American students named native intelligence, and some said the home environment. But a clear majority of U.S. students put the responsibility on their teachers. A good teacher, they said, was the determining factor in how well they did in math.

There are many problems with schools and they seem to always get worse, not better. But I believe Mr. Welsh has a point - problems are seldom caused 100% by one party when there is a group involved. So, while there are bad teachers, kids who have classes with outrageous amounts of homework, curricula that is badly designed, mainstreaming of students, etc etc, etc. At some point we do have a problem with the students themselves.

After talking to any number of high school students who have told me they basically slept their way though grades 9-12...(and no I'm not talking about their sexual habits - I'm talking about sitting in class in a daze and paying no attention at all) I am never shocked when all their vaunted plans for college fall through in the first semester.

The question is - how to motivate them to do better, how to challenge them, and at what point do you tell them to suck it up and get to work? It's a difficult proposal all the way around, but student participation in making their grades better simply can't be ignored just because the system itself has problems.

I wonder though if this op-ed piece will have people driving past his house and throwing Molotov Cocktails or the burning of him in effigy at a local protest. At the very least I can see them smearing his name in scandalous stories all over the front page of the NYT. After all the man is a heretic - not following the party line. It's a dangerous path to take.

Posted by: Teresa in Education at 08:16 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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My blog daughter Mathcog Idiocy has proposed a discussion on whether or not Math is Hard. She points to a very short post on Ars Mathematica that simply says "discuss" and mathematicians proceed to give their point of view.

Since my point is off at a tangent I thought I would post it here.

Now you must understand, I have not reached the higher branches of mathematics I have a minor in Applied Mathematics and I was 2 courses shy of a double major in Computer Science /Applied Math - but I didn't have the time or energy to finish the last 2 classes way back then.

What I found - returning to school as an adult student is that (for me at least) math simply required concentration on my part. Very diligent concentration - I had to make every class - I did all the office hours I could - I did all my homework (even without the incentive of a homework grade). When I did all this - I did very well in the math classes. I am NOT by any means a natural mathematician... I worked damned hard at it. The thing I am most proud of was my second test in my Calc 2 class where I got a 100% - I so wanted to frame that baby and hang it on my wall! I loved Calc 2!

Now here I will repeat myself for the umteenth time (sorry but it still annoys me so much it makes my head nearly explode). When I decided to go back for my CS degree I had to go back and retake College Algebra and Trigonometry. I had taken those classes way back in high school and then had to repeat them in college the first time I was there. (they were my math credit for my Nursing School degree... I should have known then that Nursing was not quite the thing for me... but I digress)

When I went to enroll in those 2 classes - the counselor at the Community College said "are you sure you want to do that - math is hard"!!! Yes, she actually said this to me. I wanted to bite her... but instead I just smiled and said, well don't worry about it, just sign me up for the classes. She said, "well maybe you should just take one of these". As I clamped my finger nails into the palms of my hands I said, "I've already taken these classes 2 other times, I think I can handle it, just sign me up".

I continue to wonder how in the hell we EVER have women who major in math subjects with counseling like this!

After the refresher semester at the Community College, I moved on to the University. I had looked at all my options and decided to go with the Computer Science degree and the theoretical emphasis. Mainly because this looked like the one most likely to tell me how everything worked - down to the nitty gritty. If you know the basics - you can always learn the applications that are built from it. Well, the guy who was the head of the department (at that time CS was a fairly new major... maybe about 5 years old or so) was a math PhD. He would get together with groups of students before they entered the program and talk to them about the differing types of emphasis.

After the group discussion, which seemed to be aimed primarily at younger kids (I was 32 had a husband 2 kids and a dog - not the traditional student), he talked to each of us individually. When he got to me he said, "are you sure you want to do the theoretical emphasis? The math is hard you know. You might like something such as the application emphasis more"!!! This from a man who was a Math Professor! I just gritted my teeth and said, "oh I like math I think I'll be okay" and then I had to walk away.

I could only attend school part time because of the kids so it took me a total of 5 years to finish 2.5 years worth of work. On asking people in every class I took... I never found one other person that had been told "math is hard" by the department head - not the girls and certainly not the guys. There weren't any other housewife types like me and none in my emphasis! (I am paranoid and begin to wonder if the word STUPID is tattooed on my forehead and I just don't see it...)

Back to the post on Ars Mathematica... one of the commenters (PeterMcB) says...

Teaching undergraduate computer scientists has led me to the belief that if maths is hard, then computer science is harder. While it is true that mathematics CAN require abstract thought, not all mathematicians are good at the kind of abstract thought required to be a programmer.

This simply blew me away! I always thought programming was so very much easier than any of the math I had to do. (mind you I find it nearly impossible to write a program with pencil and paper and I have a very difficult time following a printed out program - put it on a computer... I'm good to go) Sometimes the concept of how to logically code a program was difficult - but it is logical and as such a programmer can outline what they want the program to do, and then write that program in the language used in the class. I wrote programs in Fortran, COBOL, C, Pascal, Assembler (IBM and PC)... maybe one or two others I don't remember right now. It was simply a matter of getting the correct language oddities into the correct places - once you had a pattern in your head of how the logic worked.

In the end - math and programming both have their difficulties. For me the math difficulty is that I don't retain what I don't use - so all those math classes wouldn't help me a bit now - I don't use Calculus for anything or Linear Algebra for that matter. I think the only thing that makes math "hard" is when someone is not the least interested in learning about it. Once you decide you don't want to learn - you certainly won't learn.

Math is Hard... poppycock!

Posted by: Teresa in Education at 07:03 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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1 Math is hard. Maybe not for you, but for a lot of people it is hard. Math always came natural to me, yet I hate it. I hated my math classes in college. Sure I received good grades in it, but I hated it. I thought it was boring and tedious. Since I hated it so much it made it hard for me to do the homework, it felt like a waste of time. As you had said, if you don't do the homework you lose it. I would cram for tests and get good grades.

But back to my point, some people hate math and can't figure it out. It would be like me saying Law is easy. I love law, I can read briefs and statutes all day long and retain it for years. Most people need someone like me to interpret it for them.

Posted by: Contagion at December 29, 2005 04:18 AM (Q5WxB)

2 Actually if you think about it, depending on the person any particular subject can be "hard" - math seems to be singled out for this distinction far more often than any other subject.

Therefore in the grand scheme of things Math is no more hard or easy than say... Law (as you pointed out), History, English composition, Science, name your subject.

Posted by: Teresa at December 29, 2005 04:22 AM (FZwDL)

3 In college (also for Computer Science) I found math extremely difficult. (Calc 2 was my nemesis- the only class I failed...but we won't discuss that). It took me a long time to "get" the concepts in Calc 2. Well, it is a slow day here at work... here we go...

1. The teacher is very important. I had several math teachers who could barely speak english, and only taught the examples in the book. As a student, it was my role to work around the situation and learn the material any way possible, but having a teacher (or TA) who you can communicate with, and who is interested in presenting material such that students can relate to it and learn it, is very helpful.

2. I think Math and Science classes are less subjective in their material: on exams, the answer/approach is correct, or it isn't. Many other disciplines have more subjectivity in the homework. (A differential equations problem has but one correct approach: if you write an essay, you can structure it in many different ways.)

3. I guess my top 5 "difficult" courses would be: chemistry, biology, philosophy, calculus, and accounting.

4. My favorite college teacher quote came from my Physics 2 professor. After handing back an exam in which the average grade was 22%, he was asked if he'd be scaling the grades. His very passionate response was "NO! Absolutely not! If I scale the grades, then you will not try to learn.. The only way to teach you people is through violence!!!!" (I vividly remember my head falling into my hands and wondering what had I gotten myself into...)

Posted by: Allan at December 29, 2005 06:31 AM (phwde)

4 "2. I think Math and Science classes are less subjective in their material: on exams, the answer/approach is correct, or it isn't. Many other disciplines have more subjectivity in the homework. (A differential equations problem has but one correct approach: if you write an essay, you can structure it in many different ways.)"

And this is why I HATED English classes and why I had such a hard time with things like psychology and sociology... I literally avoided them like the plague when I returned to school. I'm not good enough at "reading" the teacher for what they want in an essay therefore I had a much much much more difficult time with those things.

As for Calc 2 - well all Calculus classes really - I loved them because I could actually draw a picture and see what I was trying to find (the area under a curve, the area of a sphere...etc) Very concrete (that's me *grin*). Yes, it does help immensely when you have a teacher you can understand. I was very lucky in Calc 1 and 2 to have terrific teachers - Calc 3 was a Chinese Grad Student and it was a bit more difficult for me. But I'll take that over an English essay any day of the week and please don't ask me to write a fictional story!!!

Posted by: Teresa at December 29, 2005 06:44 AM (FZwDL)

5 as a freshman mathematics major in college, i've had a lot of both sides of the argument thrown at me -- until the people get to know me. then, they think i can move mountains with my calculus work!

Posted by: amelie at December 29, 2005 09:41 AM (og1il)

6 You're correct, that pretty much is what I was trying to say. However, I know more people that think math is hard then find it easy.

Posted by: Contagion at December 29, 2005 02:00 PM (e8b4J)

7 Well, I just answered the "math is hard" question. And it's way too long to post here. The short version in my opinion is that we have a cultural myth that says "math is hard."

Posted by: Jacqui at December 29, 2005 02:50 PM (AcY54)

8 I excelled in English but could never, ever do math of any sort. After 5th or 6th grade I just lost the thread. I had tutors that pulled their hair out in clumps because I just.couldn't.get.it. The only reason why I graduated high school? They put me in a "remedial" math class, where we were taught to balance check books. I was mortified, and would have done anything to make things different, but my brain just doesn't compute math!
STILL doesn't, though hubby has brought some new comprehension into my life... He has a way of describing it so that I can understand the basics better, bless him.
Or maybe I'm just older.

That inadequacy has plagued me for years, especially because everyone I know seems to be a math wiz. There goes the myth.

Posted by: pam at December 30, 2005 06:26 AM (l6NIn)

9 Thanks, Teresa, for quoting my comment to the other blog!

I agree with your subsequent comment that what is hard can depend on the person. One of the nice consequences of the video game revolution is that lots of kids who don't have good verbal or written skills have now become expert programmers. You no longer need to master command-line interfaces to program well, and you don't even need to master programming to have a great career at the cutting edge of IT!

Not everyone thinks in the same way, and some disciplines favour some kinds of thinking over others. This is what I was trying to say regarding the poor performance I have witnessed of good pure math students struggling with programming: some people, even brilliant mathematicians, just don't get the thought processes needed to be a programmer.

Most academic mathematicians, however, IME find this hard to believe, since they think of themselves as the top of the tree, difficulty-wise.

Posted by: Peter McB. at January 02, 2006 10:12 AM (RRz/W)

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Once upon a time being the valedictorian of your high school actually meant something... that was then, this is now.

One high school — 44 valedictorians

Yes, the Pacific Nut-West strikes again, a Seattle High School has 44 valedictorians and they're all very special people... just ask any of the parents or the school staff.

This year's 406-member graduating class at Garfield High School features 44 valedictorians. Forty-four students with perfect 4.0 grade-point averages who, over seven semesters of mostly honors and Advanced Placement classes, have never earned less than an A.

Not to belittle the accomplishments of these students, but when I graduated from High School (lo these many moons ago) there were 463 students in my class and we had 1 each - valedictorian, salutatorian. Now I realize it's coming up to nearly 30 years ago since that point... but you can't expect me to believe that kids have gotten that much smarter... I've talked to many kids over the years - it just ain't so!

I am quite sure there are probably 5 students (tops) who could possibly be rightfully vying for the honor - there are always a certain small number of students who will work their butts off and really are smart...

But they can't fool the kids with this kind of mediocrity.

"It's definitely a sign of egregious grade inflation," said Nathan Pflueger, one of Garfield's 4.0 seniors.

and

Sophie Egan, senior-class president, captain of the girls track team and another valedictorian, points out that Garfield doesn't have a weighted grading system, as do many districts outside Seattle.

Yeah, it must make some of the students just cringe when they see someone getting A's in basketweaving and it counts just as much as their own A's in AP Calculus! (But we all know that all students are special - right? and basketweaving can be very difficult!)

Then there is the inevitable conundrum... who gets to speak? That's one of the primary honors of being the valedictorian.

A plan to have the valedictorians elect two speakers was shot down after Principal Ted Howard talked with class officers and other seniors. The consensus, Howard said, was that the school's smartest kids should have their moment in the spotlight.

At graduation ceremonies Monday at Qwest Field, 35 of the valedictorians will give a brief, inspirational quote. The other nine opted not to speak.

OMG - shoot me now!!! That ceremony is going to take HOURS!!! Heaven forbid you actually make a hard choice - heaven forbid that graduating seniors find out that life ain't always fair!

Now if you read the whole thing... you will finally get the the real reason there are so many valedictorians and why all of them get to speak...

"After special education, the biggest number of school court cases is around the selection of valedictorians," he said.

Ah yes, the ubiquitous lawsuit the American way to cow any school. The best way in the world to promote mediocrity. It's very sad that people think this is the way to make their lives better... all it does is make the high achievers angry and the low achievers feel guilty. Because we all know when we truly deserve an honor, just as we all know when an honor is being handed out like candy.

So, go read the article - find out about "national grading experts" and tenths of points and how none of this matters...

If you've seen the movie The Incredibles you know that "when everybody is special... no one will be".

Posted by: Teresa in Education at 01:14 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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1 How dumb! My high school of 100 graduating seniors had about 12 valedictorians. I think it was anyone with above a 4.0 (if we took an honors or AP class, an A was 5, a B was 4, a C was 3 and a D was 1) I was like 15 of the 100. I didn't want to be a valedictorian. I'm glad I didn't get to. It ruins the honor of valedictorian. Lame!

Posted by: Sissy at June 15, 2005 02:11 PM (uXS+O)

2 That quote from The Incredibles is my favorite movie line of last year.

Posted by: littlejoe at June 15, 2005 06:26 PM (QJRRo)

3 I am reminded of Garrison Keillor "Welcome to Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average. "

Posted by: James at June 15, 2005 07:00 PM (rdrJc)

4 Don't be talkin' smack about basket-weavers!

Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to find a decent hand-woven basket? ;-)

Posted by: Harvey at June 16, 2005 04:05 AM (ubhj8)

5 That's just wrong in so many ways...

Posted by: pam at June 16, 2005 05:15 AM (l6NIn)

6 And in my own back-yard, too! *hangs head*

D*mn, that is just plain dumb... Thanks for the news, Teresa!

Posted by: Barb at June 16, 2005 06:39 AM (u8Zgq)

7 Talk about grade inflation. I'm sure there will be some very 'disappointed' college freshmen next year. Or maybe it will happen once they get into the real work world. Then maybe they won't "feel" so special. What a crock.

Posted by: toni at June 16, 2005 07:26 AM (SHqVu)

8 What I'd like to know - and of course will never find out - is how many of these valedictorians actually make it through the first year of college and don't drop out...

Posted by: Teresa at June 16, 2005 07:31 AM (nAfYo)

9 Ah, you see...we are all equal, but some of us are more equal than others.

I'd bet the numbers on first year dropouts in college wouldn't surprise you a bit, Teresa. The person who should have been up there will survive...the weavers will not. The rest will fall somewhere between, just like the rest of us.

Barb sent me over, nice place you got here

Posted by: Brian at June 16, 2005 10:40 AM (WV/LJ)

10 I was in a 3 way tie with 2 other students Going for valedectorian. They added other factors: such as community service, attendance, etc. I lost by being out sick 1 day. I was named salutatorian and got to read a poem of my choice. I thought that process was fair.

Posted by: michele at June 16, 2005 12:07 PM (ht2RK)

11 Well Teresa, look at how close I was to being one of the many valedictorians...and I got kicked out of college my first year. And I kept in touch with some of them, I know at least 3 that did not finish their degree.

Posted by: Sissy at June 16, 2005 02:24 PM (uXS+O)

12 You know, it doesn't take much to thrive in many colleges these days. Just go along with the status quo, join, or better yet, organize a few protests, and you're golden. Unshaven armpits are just a bonus.

Posted by: littlejoe at June 16, 2005 08:17 PM (QJRRo)

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Apparently the Washington DC Metro has decided to give it's workers elocution lessons. I have never ridden on the system, but according to the article, the operators announce the stops... badly. This causes many headaches for travelers, who are trying to figure out exactly where in the city they might be.

On the Metra trains in Chicago - they have mostly gone to automated systems on the trains themselves. It works FAR better than the live announcements ever did. With the live announcements, you had to contend with things like - poor pronunciation, speaking too fast, bad sound system, each announcer holding the microphone too close or to far from their mouth... etc etc. We still have to contend with really bad sound at the stations - but on the trains themselves the problem is mostly taken care of...

So, naturally the reporter asked one of the Washington DC Metro workers about putting in an automated system.

Tabatha Hawkins, one of 20 elocution students and an eight-year veteran of Washington's Metro, doubted recorded messages could take the place of people on Metro.

"I think having the operator make the announcement makes it a little more personal, makes people feel comfortable," Hawkins said in an interview during a class break. "If I'm on the train and I just hear a taped announcement, how do I know if someone is really sitting there on the train?"

She needs more than elocution lessons I think...

Posted by: Teresa in Education at 05:42 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I had no idea what how to categorize this post until I thought about it for a few minutes and decided it certainly belongs under "education" of which many people seem to have none...

I was over at Homefront Six where she is posting about meeting a woman who had no idea what a "pliers" was! At first I had to reread it and was trying to figure out how in the world this happens... when I remembered a little tidbit of information my sister threw out at me once - a number of years ago.

My sister was married at one time to a guy in the Air Force. They were stationed in Okinawa when Desert Storm rolled around. There were a number of troops deployed from Okinawa to the Middle East. The next time my sister and her husband were home on leave, she was telling some stories... the one that sticks in my head to this day...

The military bases set up classes for wives of deployed service personnel... why? Because they needed to learn how to write checks and pay bills! Yes folks - these women had NO IDEA how to write a check to get money for living expenses - no idea how to pay even basic bills!!! So, I guess I'm not quite so shocked when I think about someone not knowing what a pliers might be... I would think someone could manage to go their entire life without needing to use them... although how they manage to open some of those soda bottles is beyond me!

Posted by: Teresa in Education at 05:45 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Glenn is voicing the lament I had when my kids were in school...

My local school system, which is aggressively pursuing truants and threatening parents with jail time, also seems to cancel school itself for all sorts of reasons, according to no discernible pattern.

I remember when I discovered that, during the entire school year, there is not one single month that my kids were in school for every weekday - not a single one! Amazing. There were not only the regular holidays and the Monday holidays, but also the "teacher inservice days" of which there were many.

Not only do the kids get extra full days off, but there are also the half days in which the kids either went to school late or got off early. The half days were always the most annoying. If the kids are in school for some part of the day, it is considered that the district can count that for a full day of school... (I would assume though, if I was an hourly employee for them, they wouldn't pay me for 8 hours work if I only worked one hour... but I digress).

I've had a few teachers tell me over the years, that they do all kinds of things on inservice day - training, etc. Which always made me retort... why don't you people put all this time together in a block? Do it either at the end of the year or the beginning, and stop making the lives of parents miserable by not sticking to some sort of schedule!

Until they can give me a really valid reason for having these "inservice days" during the middle of the year, I will continue to believe that these are paid vacation days for the teachers. I'm sure there are some good teachers out there who aren't enamored of this system either - I wonder when we'll see the straw that breaks the camel's back? One day the parents are going to rebel against the system - I'm just glad I'm out of it all now.

Posted by: Teresa in Education at 03:57 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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There is a big controversy bubbling at a local Chicago area high school over freedom of speech.

Whether the teen’s musings that Mexican holidays should not be celebrated in American schools disrupted Larkin’s educational mission remains to be seen.

First of all, after reading the piece from the local paper, I must say that details are VERY scarce. It looks like an effort to get people riled up, rather than what students might write in a school essay. If you go through the story, it doesn't say HOW this paper became available for public consumption. Did the student post it in the hallway? Did the teacher make it public? Did one of the other students get hold of it and show it to everyone?

I don't know about the rest of you, but when I was in school, you wrote a paper, turned it in, got a grade, and got it back. Unless you actively passed it around (something I never saw done) no one else even knew what you wrote - much less cared!. So, how did this paper end up in the public domain? The intrepid reporter, diligently filing this story neglects to tell us. (or maybe an over zealous editor decided that little detail wasn't necessary to the story)

We also don't have a copy of the paper in question - the most that is given to us is one small descriptive.

A Larkin High student’s essay tinged with “inflammatory language against minority students” ignited a maelstrom of controversy last week,...

I'm not quite sure what is meant by "tinged" - did the student use some sort of prohibited descriptive or was the wording simply interpreted as being "inflammatory"? Because any blogger (or emailer for that matter) can tell you - it's very easy to write one thing and have it interpreted in quite an unforeseen manner. Since we aren't treated to a glimpse of the offending essay, it's impossible to say.

But they are not letting this “learning moment” pass them by, Larkin Assistant Principal Jesse Rangel assured a crowd of concerned parents who congregated in the school library this week.

Here again, I have to wonder about the description of this meeting given to us by the reporter. I know Larkin High School, it's BIG... several thousand kids go to school there - yet, the size of the "crowd" is not even estimated. However, I have to think that if they were meeting in the school library, the crowd was not of the overwhelming sort...

And, true to form, a teacher chimes in with the liberal thought of the day...

Larkin teacher Holly McNeill said for most students in her drama classes, the bottom line is one of respect, more than constitutional rights.

“Free speech is really not the thing in question here,” McNeill said. “It’s about an inability to be respectful to a group of people. We wonder where that gets started.”

It's not clear why they're talking to the drama teacher. Is that where the essay originated... in drama class? Or was this the only teacher hanging around to give a statement? We are given no clue from the reporter.

It's interesting that the teacher thinks that free speech is not in question... she thinks it's an issue of respect... Well then, what about respecting the right of this student to have an opinion? Or is it only when the student opinion agrees with hers that she is willing to respect it?

Once again, the fact that we don't have access to the essay or what it says, makes it impossible to determine if it was an expression of opinion or "bomb-throwing". This is the kind of reporting that is indefensible in it's utter lack of real substance. It makes me think that if the reporter had done an adequate job of finding out the details, we would conclude that there is no real story.

Here you have the major reason I will no longer subscribe to this paper (although they insist on giving me copies - I simply put them directly in the recycle bin) shoddy shoddy work with an agenda. I often wonder how this "newspaper" can tell us they are giving us the news when they can't even manage to get pertinent details into a major local story.

Posted by: Teresa in Education at 06:42 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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My blog sis Bou has written a lovely diatribe about pushing kids to learn things at far too young an age. I completely agree with her. My kids are now out of school, but this was already the norm when they were young. It's been going on for quite a long time.

In Palm Beach County, in particular in the private school sector, there is this BIG PUSH, to get kids reading younger and younger. By age four, parents EXPECT their kids should be reading. I can’t figure out if the schools are just answering to the parent’s demands or if in fact the school’s push this because ‘it is private school, and we are better, look your kids read at age 4'’. I do not know.

Yes, this happens everywhere. There seems to be this huge ongoing competition... your kid must learn and do certain things by certain ages.... or they will never ever do them!!! What a bunch of hogwash.

The real problem is one of "perception" it seems that there are so many parents who want people to think that their kids are "exceptionally brilliant", when the kids really fall into the "nicely intelligent" category. But perception is everything. Now days there is no such thing as tracking in school. All kids of all ability levels are smooshed together in the same classroom. This is (so the "educators" tell us) to ensure that all kids learn to deal with each other. In reality, this slows down the truly bright kids because they are always waiting for the others to catch up. And it totally frustrates the kids who are slower because they feel stupid for not getting stuff right away.

The slower learning kids are better accommodated than the fast learners. There are huge swaths of time and money devoted to the ADD kid or the special needs child. The ones truly hurt by the system are those for whom learning comes easily. Unless they are very easy going, they are simply going to tune out by the time they get to the high school level.

What does the really bright child have to look forward to in their school career? Well, there are the "accelerated classes" most of which consist of extra homework (now there's incentive to excel if I ever saw it). Also, you will be co-oped (read hijacked) into being a teacher's aid - grading papers and helping slow students (even if you absolutely HATE trying to teach things to other kids). And long periods of time where you are completely and totally bored out of your skull.

There are some places where kids with a high IQ can get good educations - if you happen to live near one of those places, you're lucky. Most of the schools just can't handle any kid that falls out of the norm. The really brilliant kids... they mostly end up being home schooled if their parents have the means.

Nope, having a nice average to high average kid is a real blessing when sending them through the school system. And even though so many parents have this competitive thing going - their kids really don't fall outside the norm. I wish parents would just relax! Unless your kid is getting into trouble, they will learn things in their own time. Pushing them to do things at too young an age will turn a love of learning into a loathing - and you won't be able to put that genie back in the bottle.

So what if they don't learn to read at 4 years old! If they learn at 6 they will catch right up to those who were pushed to learn at an age that was too young. (yes they have studies showing this to be true). The brain must mature to a certain level before it can learn certain things - once it does, the learning is fast and much much easier. Kids who actually learn to read early, on their own, because they CAN - have a brain that is ready for it! (what a concept)

I know, I was there at one time. But I still say that parents who are so tied up with anxiety about how early their kid learns... please take a deep breath and quit pushing. Your kid will be the better for it!

(On a side note - I know exactly what Bou means when she says she had trouble with plain geometry... I had the exact same problem myself)

Posted by: Teresa in Education at 02:54 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Thank you for the link!

You know... it is good to hear it is not just Palm Beach County... I think. I really did think it was just us. I have this saying,

"Every child in Palm Beach County is beautiful, brilliant and athletically inclined. There are no ugly, stupid or clumsy children."

GRRR. My kids are just smart, not brilliant. Thankfully.

Posted by: Boudicca at March 17, 2005 03:04 PM (z7nbM)

2 The "bright kids" were even more under-served when I was in school...

I was bored every day I was in school from kindergarten through college. It wasn't until graduate school that I began to be challenged.

Posted by: Jack at March 17, 2005 08:47 PM (7GUn3)

3 I have a good answer for "those" people...

"My four year old can read at a first grade level!"

"Mine can field strip an AR-15 blindfolded"

"What?!?"

"Oh, don't have a fit. I don't give them live ammo, and I filed the point and edge off the bayonet..."

Hehehe

Posted by: Graumagus at March 19, 2005 03:57 PM (P1vXY)

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Todd Zywicki of the Volokh Conspiracy needs your help

...I have decided to run as an independent petition candidate for the Dartmouth Board of Trustees this spring...

[snip]

This year there are two open seats up for election. Regardless of whether you agree with my goals for Dartmouth, I hope you will be willing to sign a petition to allow me to be on the ballot.

If you are an alum, head on over and see if you can help out. But hurry - he needs the signed papers returned to him by February 17th. If you're a blogger... maybe help spread the word so he gets a chance to be on the ballot!

A follow up post is here. Let's give a fellow blogger a hand. (Sadly I am not a Dartmouth graduate, so I can't be of much help except to spread the word a bit - and I'm even a bit late doing that! Now I expect all 3 of my readers to get busy let everyone know *grin*)

Posted by: Teresa in Education at 05:53 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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A story today in the LA Times UPDATE: see Harvey's comment for bugmenot login. I must've been really tired last night when I wrote this, because when I went to bugmenot, it just looked wrong... Heh. Guess I need more sleep! Thanks Harvey!

Schools Closed in Alleged Fraud

It seems there is a chain of "alternative" High Schools that is preying on immigrants who are trying to get an education.

The defendants "made a lucrative career of exploiting immigrants' dreams of a better life through education," according to a request for a temporary restraining order that was granted Wednesday. They used community churches to solicit students and hold classes, according to the records, and claimed to be "fulfilling a divine mission to help Latinos escape poverty by earning a high school education."

My hope is that they throw the book and everything in it at these people. You have immigrants coming to this country, trying to make a better life for themselves and their families, and these cretins rip them off. Promising that in a few short weeks they'll learn everything they need to get a High School diploma.

That might sound far fetched to those who grew up here and had to sit through 4 years of High School in order to graduate. But you have to remember, these people did not grow up here. They are completely ignorant of our school system and it's requirements. I'm sure that for some, the lure of getting something fast and easy was just too good to pass up. Nevertheless, this can not be condoned.

Some did try to check it out.

Rose Serrato, a 52-year-old Pacoima resident, paid $475 to enroll in the course in February after learning she needed a high-school equivalency diploma, or GED, to keep her part-time job with the Los Angeles Unified School District.

After two classes, she said, she had doubts about the program. She asked her daughter to look up the school on the Internet, and both were convinced by the website they found that the school was legitimate.

One wonders why she didn't go to the people she worked with and ask them about this school and if it was legitimate. But, we don't know her whole story, only what is told in the paper. After all - she was working for a school district!!!

Anyway, here are some of the things taught to the people attending these schools

Workbook examples

According to court papers filed by the California attorney general's office, the California Alternative High School's 54-page bilingual workbook contains the following statements:

• There are 53 states in the United States. In addition to the "original" 50 states, the union has added Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. But the flag has not yet been updated to reflect the addition of the last three states.

• There are four branches of government. They are the legislative, judicial, executive and "administrative" branches. Asked about the fourth branch by investigators, one teacher responded that "not much is heard about it because it works behind the scenes." The Treasury Department is part of the "administrative" branch.

• There are two houses of Congress: the Senate for Democrats and the House for Republicans.

• World War II occurred from 1938 to 1942.

• One question in the workbook says: "Read the book 'Death of a Traveling Salesman' and write a commentary."

Source: California attorney general's

office

Amazing! Words simply fail me.

Hat tip: Rush Limbaugh

Posted by: Teresa in Education at 06:15 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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