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The Involved Citizen - Common Sense Revisited

> Public Education Politics (Where Vast Ideas Produce Half-Vast Results) <

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from FRIDAY, December 9, 2011

I'M SPEECHLESS...except to invoke that famous movie line: STUPIDO, STUPIDO, STUPIDO!

GS

 New London board takes no action on raising academic standards

By Kathleen Edgecomb

Published 12/08/2011 12:00 AM
Updated 12/08/2011 10:10 PM

New London — The Board of Education took no action Thursday on a policy it is considering, which would raise the academic requirements of students participating in extra-curricular activities.
 
The proposed policy would require students to maintain a 1.7 grade-point average, which is a low C grade, to participate in clubs, athletics and school-sponsored travel.

Students athletes would have to earn a 1.7 GPA at the beginning of each season. Currently, the school abides by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference rules, which require students to maintain a 0.66 GPA to be eligible to compete.

The board, which has four new members, voted 6-1 to send the item back to the policy committee for further discussion and review. Board president William Morse was in favor of moving the policy forward as it was written.

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from WEDNESDAY through SUNDAY, July 6 through 17, 2011

Once again, I'm forced to address the crime that is Public Education in this Country.   The CAPT test scores are once again out.  Again, they are miserable...especially in New London, Ct.  Once again, apologists for this rotten system are attacking the messenger (ie the tests) and not the message.  Once again, they are presenting sops like the recent Editorial in The Day, entitled "NL Flunks", which spreads the feeble effort at blame among everyone...and therefore to no one.  Please see my extensive section entitled "Public Education Politics", years in the making and unfortunately on-going, posted on my web site (www.asthma-drsprecace.com).  My sympathy goes out to those hard-working teachers who have not only suffered in class but who have been trying to buck the system (are there any?)...and my indictment against all who have supported the Teachers' Unions that have ruined our Public Education system.  One thing is certain: it's not all of these kids in New London and in the country who are so stupid and so intractable.  SHAME ON YOU.

GS

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TUESDAY, June 1, 2011

This is entitled: PUBLIC EDUCATION: THE DISASTER. 
I have been writing about this for decades.  See my web site, under the category listed "Public Education Politics"...and weep. 

Now comes an article by Joel Klein, former Chancellor of New York City schools from 2002 to 2010: "Scenes From The New York Education Wars" (WSJ Tuesday, May 10, Opinion, pA15).  Here it is, folks: the full and unvarnished truth about one of our foundational institutions.  In Medicine, there is a First Principle: Primum Non Nocere - First Do No Harm".  In the "profession" of Education, the First Principle appears closer to the comment by Albert Shanker, long time head of the UFT, quoted in the above article: "When schoolchildren start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of schoolchildren". 

What a shame.  What a disaster.  GS

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Finally lancing a festering boil called Public Education.  GS

New London's courageous reading and writing policy

Published 05/22/2011 12:00 AM
Updated 05/19/2011 11:09 PM

The most surprising thing about the New London Public Schools' new policy that will require high school graduates to demonstrate proficiency in reading and writing is that it wasn't required already.

How is it possible that students at New London High, or any high school in the state for that matter, could obtain a diploma without demonstrating their English literacy ability? It would appear a basic assumption that high school graduates be able to write complete and coherent sentences and speak intelligently and logically.

As it turns out colleges and universities across the country, including even the most prestigious, are forcing some freshmen into remedial classes before allowing them to participate in the usual higher education curriculum because they cannot read or write at a high school level. Too many high school graduates are not prepared for college, or the workplace. And educators and employers know that.

That sad reality is in part what prompted the Connecticut General Assembly to pass a sweeping reform of the state's secondary education laws last spring - legislation that is now stalled because of a shortage of funds. New high school graduation requirements - including end-of-senior-year proficiency tests - were supposed to take effect with the class of 2017. The state is now delaying implementation, possibly until 2020.

Students can make their way through the school system unable to read or write, but lawmakers are going to wait nine years to fix the problem? That's unacceptable, and fiscal constraints should not be an excuse for allowing the mediocrity to continue.

Thank goodness New London is forging ahead.

Concerns that high school graduates were not ready for the workplace or higher education prompted the district's new policy, said the city's superintendent of schools, Nicholas A. Fischer. The school board approved the policy May 12, starting with the graduating class of 2015.

"As I have listened to employers and colleges and community colleges and vo-tech schools, the message is clear," said Dr. Fischer. "Our kids need to be coming in with a higher level of skills.

"I think our expectations need to be higher, and we need to be more demanding," he said.

New London's new literacy policy will be a district-wide effort, focused on the necessary reading and writing skills for every class at every level with a goal of helping students to become proficient at the 10th-grade level. There will be various testing options and mechanisms, including a separate evaluation for special education and English Language Learners, and students will have to prove they meet the criteria to get a diploma.

Support in this effort will be available for every student up to age 21. For some students that might mean taking online courses or attending adult education, whatever is necessary to reach the new standard.

Connecticut is a home rule state where local districts can implement their own tougher standards without a state mandate. That is what New London is doing with its new literacy policy.

"It is going to be more work," said Dr. Fischer. "But obviously we need to do it because we're not where we need to be.

"But with this policy, if we send students out there with diplomas, what we'll be saying to the community at large is that these students have the skills that will help them to be successful as adults."

Now that's a very good policy.

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A Speech Every American High School Principal Should Give
By Dennis Prager.

To the students and faculty of our high school:

I am your new principal, and honored to be so. There is no greater calling than to teach young people.

I would like to apprise you of some important changes coming to our school.  I am making these changes because I am convinced that most of the ideas that have dominated public education in America have worked against you, against your teachers and against our country.

First, this school will no longer honor race or ethnicity.  I could not care less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow or white. I could not care less if your origins are African, Latin American, Asian or European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower or on slave ships. The only identity I care about, the only one this school will recognize, is your individual identity -- your character, your scholarship, your humanity.  And the only national identity this school will care about is American. This is an American public school, and American public schools were created to make better Americans.  If you wish to affirm an ethnic, racial or religious identity through school, you will have to go elsewhere.  We will end all ethnicity, race and non-American nationality-based celebrations. They undermine the motto of America, one of its three central values -- e pluribus Unum, "from many, one."  And this school will be guided by America's values. This includes all after-school clubs. I will not authorize clubs that divide students based on any identities. This includes race, language, religion, sexual orientation or whatever else may become in vogue in a society divided by political correctness.

Your clubs will be based on interests and passions, not blood, ethnic, racial or other physically defined ties. Those clubs just cultivate narcissism -- an unhealthy preoccupation with the self -- while the purpose of education is to get you to think beyond yourself.  So we will have clubs that transport you to the wonders and glories of art, music, astronomy, languages you do not already speak, carpentry and more. If the only extracurricular activities you can imagine being interested in are those based on ethnic, racial or sexual identity, that means that little outside of yourself really interests you.

Second, I am uninterested in whether English is your native language.  My only interest in terms of language is that you leave this school speaking and writing English as fluently as possible. The English language has united America's citizens for over 200 years, and it will unite us at this school.  It is one of the indispensable reasons this country of immigrants has always come to be one country.  And if you leave this school without excellent English language skills, I would be remiss in my duty to ensure that you will be prepared to successfully compete in the American job market. We will learn other languages here -- it is deplorable that most Americans only speak English --but if you want classes taught in your native language rather than in English, this is not your school.

Third, because I regard learning as a sacred endeavor, everything in this school will reflect learning's elevated status. This means, among other things, that you and your teachers will dress accordingly.  Many people in our society dress more formally for Hollywood events than for church or school. These people have their priorities backward. Therefore, there will be a formal dress code at this school.

Fourth, no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this school's property -- whether in class, in the hallways or at athletic events.  If you can't speak without using the f-word, you can't speak. By obscene language I mean the words banned by the Federal Communications Commission, plus epithets such as "Nigger," even when used by one black student to address another black, or "bitch," even when addressed by a girl to a girlfriend.  It is my intent that by the time you leave this school, you will be among the few your age to instinctively distinguish between the elevated and the degraded, the holy and the obscene.

Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programs. In this school, self-esteem will be attained in only one way -- the way people attained it until decided otherwise a generation ago -- by earning it..  One immediate consequence is that there will be one valedictorian, not eight.

Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school toward academics and away from politics and propaganda.  No more time will be devoted to scaring you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you about sexual harassment or global warming.  No more semesters will be devoted to condom wearing and teaching you to regard sexual relations as only or primarily a health issue. There will be no more attempts to convince you that you are a victim because you are not white, or not male, or not heterosexual or not Christian.  We will have failed if any one of you graduates this school and does not consider him or herself inordinately lucky -- to be alive and to be an American.

Now, please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of our country.  As many of you do not know the words, your teachers will hand them out to you.

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Offerings by George A. Sprecace M.D., J.D.:

January 16, 2011 - "PUBLIC EDUCATION POLITICS".  This is the title of an ever-expanding section on this web site that continues to chronicle the abject failure of public education in this country.  And it is not a failure of the children who are its victims, but of the "educators", its teachers' unions, its teacher union supporters, the stupid minority parents who have blindly allowed it to continue for the last four decades, and the craven Democratic politicians who have traded their souls for predictable votes.  Once again, the famous question addressed to Senator Joe McCarthy comes to mind: "Have you no shame?"

Three recent newspaper reports are must-reads for anyone concerned about the future of their children, their grandchildren, and about the future of this nation. 
A $14 Trillion national debt, $45,000. for every man, woman and child in this country, is not our main weakness.  It is the dumbing down of the last three generations of our children, with consequences that will extend far into the future.  And it is immoral.

GS

December 28, 2010 - THE FOLLOWING "RAPID RESPONSE" OBSERVATION REQUIRES SOME PRIOR READING:
One of the most unfortunate and galling aspects of this story is that of the Black community: sold out by many of their fathers, led off a cliff by their "leaders" who for two generations have demanded that they consistently vote for the same Democrat politicians who supported and insured a crime called "public education" against all efforts at reform, and who thus have become accessories to this crime. 

If during the last forty years physicians practiced Medicine the way "educators" have practiced "education", we would be in jail.

GS

May 9, 2010 - "EXCELLENCE IN OUR EDUCATION INDUSTRY"

Believe it or not, folks, that's the motto on which I ran successfully twice for the Board of Education in New London, Ct. in the later 1960's.  How Hopeful.  How Naive.  But I was educable.  In 1971, while President of the Board, I and my wife took our then four children out of the public school system and enrolled them in a private school, which education they continued until college.  And, having witnessed up close and personal the developments of the 1960's, I made a prediction which I shared liberally: we adults would have to live through two generations: Horse's Ass, and Son-of-Horse's Ass. 

And so it came to pass.  There were many factors involved: the welfare multi-generations; the collapse of Black family life, as predicted by then-Senator Moynahan; the drug craze; the free sex craze; the revolt against any authority; the collapse of moral guidelines and its conscious replacement by a "value-neutral" mantra in and out of schools; the loss of marriage commitments for many, resulting in a 50% divorce rate and 50% of children being raised in one parent households; the foisting by society on the public school systems of all of the resulting social problems and requiring "mainstreaming" of very troubled children with what was then passing for "normal" kids, and at that time without adequate resources; the distorted emphasis on  "self-image" which now could be imparted instead of being earned.  
But then came the rub.  The "educators" began doing raw research, instead of clinical educational studies, on human beings, trying this and trying that, failing time and again.  Meanwhile, the teaching profession - not subject to the Hippocratic Oath and the precept "First, Do No Harm" - decided with their powerful unions that personal survival and advancement were their highest goals.  And so they proceeded and continue  to block, through their wholly owned subsidiary (the Democratic Party) any and all efforts to improve educationally a progressively failing student body at all levels, mainly by blocking any efforts to inject parental choice  and teacher accountability into the system.  Their response to any suggestion of trouble in the system: ever more money into the sinkhole. If physicians practiced Medicine and got the results that teachers have gotten.  we would rightly be in jail.

Well, folks, the results are in, the votes have been tallied, and the fat lady has sung.  If you have the stomach for it, read the extensively researched and documented report by Mark Bauerlein, Professor of English at Emory University, entitled: "The Dumbest Generation"  (The Penguin Group, 2009).  And where was - and is - the Teaching Profession?  No canary in this mine disaster.  What a legacy.

December 13, 2009 - There is unfortunately always more in the continuing sorry saga of Public Education in America, held hostage for the last 30 years by the Teachers' Unions and by their wholly owned subsidiary, the Democratic Party.  Please see three timely statements on the subject:

February 19, 2009 - Amorality, thy name is becoming America.  Thanks to the studied "value neutral" public education system pursued over the last 40 years, one of so many failures of our "educators", we now have adults and children who don't have a clue about right and wrong.  A-Rod and his ilk, Raymond Burris, Wall Street, kids who routinely cheat in class, kids who don't think that the steroid users did anything wrong....  See the rrecent Daily News cartoon advising  Rodriguez to "TRY TRUTH SERUM NEXT".  Meanwhile, craven politicians throughout the country, most recently in Florida, and their stupid supporters continue to block any efforts at Choice in Education.  See "A Charter Setback in Florida", WSJ Editorial, Wednesday Jan 7, 2009.  See also the recent article by Nicholas Kristof entitled "Our Greatest National Shame".  (NYTimes Sunday, Feb, 15, 2009).  Here the author is rightly referring to Public Education...but he wrongly considers the "stimulus package", with yet more massive money thrown into that massive sink-hole, to be the solution.  The only solution will be when our poorest families, totally dependent on that system, begin to demand that their Democratic Party, a wholly - owned subsidiary of the Teachers' Unions, legislates Choice and Vouchers and teacher accountability...initially and throughout their teaching careers.

The start of a new school year brings no good news for public education.  In Connecticut, the government is suing the No Child Left Behind Law, while two national civil rights leaders published stinging rebukes in the Hartford Courant (see "The Connecticut Stakes", WSJ Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005, Opinion, pA10).  Citing a recent study reported by the liberal Center for American Progress: '"Compared to other states", says the study, "Connecticut ranked 51st on the achievement gap between low-income students and non-poor students in 4th grade reading".  In other words, Connecticut is doint an excellent job of educating mostly white privileged kids, but few others are learning.  Any wonder it opposes a law called No Child Left Behind?".  And there's always more on this shameful topic.  See "Starving Charters: How states short-change alternative public schools" (WSJ Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2005, Opinion, pA8).  So, when do we stop talking about all the wonderful teachers and give human form to that faceless ogre called "teachers' unions". Right about now!   And when will the Black and other minority communities realize that their blind loyalty to the Democratic Party has been tragically misplaced?  Right now!
GS

Poor Public Education...and that Great Sucking Sound, GS

Public Education and 'Education Research'...An Oxymoron?, GS

Teachers' Unions, GS

To the Students of Public Schools, in New London and Elsewhere, GS
Public Education in America, GS

Attack Disease, Not Symptoms, GS

Additional Education Issues, GS

New London County School Test Scores, GS

Public Education in New London, CT and Elsewhere in 1997 and Beyond, GS

School Shootings, GS (as Published in The New London Day on Wednesday, April 11, 2001)

More Relevant Offerings:
MORE ON OUR NATIONAL DISGRACE.   GS\

Report: States set low bar for student achievement

By LIBBY QUAID, AP Education Writer Libby Quaid, Ap Education Writer – Thu Oct 29, 3:16 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Many states declare students to have grade-level mastery of reading and math when they do not, the Education Department reported Thursday.

The agency compared state achievement standards to the more challenging standards behind the federally funded National Assessment of Educational Progress.

State standards were lower, and there were big differences in where each state set the bar.

The Obama administration said the report bolsters its effort to persuade all states to adopt the same set of tougher standards for what students should know.

"States are setting the bar too low," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. "We're lying to our children when we tell them they're proficient, but they're not achieving at a level that will prepare them for success once they graduate."

The federal government can't impose a set of standards, because education is largely up to states.

But Duncan noted he is offering millions of dollars in grants to encourage states to accept a set of standards being developed by the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers. The grants come from the federal stimulus law, which set aside $5 billion to push Obama's vision of educational reform.

While the standards are not yet final, every state but Texas and Alaska already has committed to work toward adopting them.

The head of the department's Institute of Education Sciences said the biggest concern should be the wide disparity in standards among the states. A student who is proficient in one state might not be proficient in another, the report said.

"Why are these performance standards so far apart, and why are expectations set so widely from one place to another?" IES director John Easton said.

House Education Committee chairman George Miller said a child's education should not be determined by zip code.

"If we are serious about rebuilding our economy and restoring our competitiveness," Miller, D-Calif., said, "then it's time for states to adopt a common core of internationally benchmarked standards that can prepare all children in this country to achieve and succeed in this global economy."

The report by the department's statistics arm compared state achievement levels to achievement levels on NAEP. It found that many states deemed children to be proficient or on grade level when they would rate "below basic," or lacking even partial mastery, in reading and math under the NAEP standards.

Among the findings:

• Thirty-one states deemed fourth-graders proficient in reading when they would have rated below basic on NAEP. Mississippi's standards were lowest, and Massachusetts' were highest.

• Seventeen states deemed eighth-graders proficient at reading when they would have rated below basic on NAEP. Tennessee's standards were lowest, and South Carolina's were highest.

• Ten states deemed fourth- and eighth-graders proficient at math when they would have rated below basic on NAEP. Tennessee's standards were lowest; Massachusetts had the highest fourth-grade math standards, and South Carolina had the highest eighth-grade standards.

In addition, the report said more states lowered standards than raised them from 2005 to 2007.

North Carolina state education official Lou Fabrizio said states face a dilemma because of No Child Left Behind, the 2002 federal law that prods schools to boost test scores to meet annual improvement goals.

States can set easier standards that ensure schools will meet the federally mandated goals, or they can set more challenging standards that help kids improve.

His state chose the latter, but Fabrizio said it was tough to explain that higher standards meant lower scores.

"That was a really difficult job for us to do and communicate to the public that students did not all of a sudden become very ignorant," he said.

North Carolina still has below-basic achievement standards for fourth- and eighth-grade reading.


New Pledge, Unknown

Here is a bird's eye view of public education during the last 150 years, and of one reason why we are now in this swamp.  GS
 "Bong Hits 4 Jesus - Final Episode" by Daniel Henninger, WSJ Thursday, Jund 28, 2007, Opinion, pA12.

"Save New London Schools from Mediocrity," by Charles Frink, The Day, Sunday, November 16, 2003, Voices and Views, Education, p. C3
"Cut on the Bias," by Diane Ravitch, the Wall Street Journal, Opinion, Tuesday, July 1, 2003.
"The Helping Hand," by Wallace Terry, Parade Magazine, Dec. 22, 2002.
"Reconstruction," by Charles Frink, The Day, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2002, in Perspective, pp. D1-4.
"S.O.S. - Save Our Schools," by Sol Stern, the Wall Street Journal, Opinion, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2002, p A18.

"Let These Pupils Go," the Wall Street Journal, Dec 2, 2002, Opinion, Review and Outlook, p A18.

"Crisis In Halls of New London High School," by Morgan McGinley, The Day, December 1, 2002.

"Reading, Cheating and 'Rithmetic", by Tucker Carlson, That's Outrageous, Readers Digest

"The Next Voucher Battleground," the Wall Street Journal, August 7, 2002, Opinion, pA14

"Vouchers Have Overcome," the Wall Street Journal, June 28, 2002, Review and Outlook, pA12

"Choosing Integration", the Wall Street Journal, Monday, July 8, 2002, Opinion, pA22

"Kids Will be Able to Transfer at 8,652 Schools," by Tamara Henry, USA Today, Tuesday, July 2, 2002, p. 1D

"The Liberal Voucher Opportunity," by Matthew Miller

"Will the Extreme become Mainstream?," by Michele Ridolfi

"Chokehold On Charters", the Wall Street Journal, May 3, 2002, p A10

"School Associated Violent Deaths in the United States, 1994-1999," by Mark Anderson, MD, MPH, et. al.

"Why Grade Inflation is Serious," a New York Times editorial

"Getting Tough is Good for Schools in New London," by Charles E. Potter

"Teachers' Pets," by William McGurn

Bullying: Not Only Assault and Battery, but Also a Public Health Problem...

"AMA Recognizes Bullying as Public Health Problem," by Victoria Stagg Elliott
"Cleveland Chooses," a Wall Street Journal editorial and its Footnote

"New London Schools Can Meet The Tests," by Mary Ellen Jukoski

"A Year in the Trenches," by Jacqueline Goldwyn Kingon

"Teddy Takes George to School," by Paul A. Gigot

"What Teachers Really Think," a Wall Street Journal editorial

"Author: Schools have failed kids in the name of reform," by Richard Whitmire

"Why Johnny Can't Read, Write, Multiply or Divide," by Kate Zernike

"U. S. Education Receives Failing Grade," by Cal Thomas

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