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Solving the Terrorist problem is pretty simple. Use good Christian values in our Foreign Policy, force Israel to a solution and get the Christian soldiers out of Arab lands,
Just to discuss a few, Reagan and America did not end the Cold War.
If this is the case, then who/what ended it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by greatbasinguide
NCLB has nearly destroyed public education, which is what the Repubs wanted. It is the lead in to vouchers. And of course, in Texas where the folks who wrote the law originated, Texas has had to dumb down the test to get a reasonable pass rate.
At least with NCLB there is a test that must be passed (dumbed down or not). Are you saying that "social promotion" is a better alternative? I personally don't think moving illiterate kids up to the next grade because they would be "older" than the rest of class if held back is reasonable. Then again, that's me.
I just posted the link above. The more we get this info around, the better off some folks will be--this is again, potentially criminal!
What is criminal about a sovereign nation passing a law, if it even exists? If this had any teeth to it I'm sure it would be all over the mainstream media as opposed to an obscure website.
Also, what's with the the guy being interviewed taking a document that was in english, translating it to arabic and then translating it back. Makes no sense.
Peace!
OTR - on a side note, Marisa Tomei won the Academy Award for "Actress In A Supporting Role" in "My Cousin Vinny."
The failure of the Soviet Union was due to its internal economics, the Soviet version of Marxism applied was simply unsustainable. Most Econ majors could give you the nuts and bolts.
At least with NCLB there is a test that must be passed (dumbed down or not). >>>>>>>>.A number of answers to this come to mind:
Would you like the surgeon that works on you to have gotten his credential through a multiple choice test?
Life is not a multiple choice test, how can you prepare a child for life through a multiple choice test?
But that is not the problem with NCLB. NCLB requires improvement each year, even if all your children score at the 100th percentile your school is required to improve beyond that, since it cannot exceed 100 percent it becomes a "failing" school.
Failing schools are required to offer other school options, hence tax payer funded private schools. That is the real purpose of the law.
It is solely punitive there is only punishment for schools and teachers that do not exceed the required scores.
I want my children, and my students to reason, to work through openended questions, the kind of skills that are required for life. Those are not tested in NCLB.
A problem; at the 6th grade in Nevada, Science and Social Studies are not tested, therefore they are often not taught. Imagine your child, or you, not exposed to either. Bad Bad Bad.
Are you saying that "social promotion" is a better alternative?
Social promotion does not enter into the equation at all. However, since you bring it up, research and personal experience shows that "Flunking" doesn't solve the problem. A child who is retained usually does no better than before. Retained children dropout before graduation. If they are "socially promoted" they still drop out, although at a somewhat lessor rate.
Retaining does not accomplish the purpose many think it does, it simply doesn't work, neither does social promotion. What would work would be assigning a personal aide to each "hot list" student to work one on one with each problem student, but that is not going to happen. We need to spend that money on bringing democracy to Iraq.
As to an obsure website, I hardly think that Amy Goodman or Democracy Now is obscure. I believe she transmits to hundreds upon hundreds of radio stations.
I don't recall the double translation, but the issue that strikes me is the implied involvement by the US Government in proposing, or possibly instigating the law for its own purposes. If I am not mistaken before we struck down Saddam Hussein he had intended to reduce the oil distribution to the States. This is one of the principle reasons we went to war with Iraq using WMD as a foil.
One of several key points in the transcription of the program, not the law, is:
".... that basically every level of the oil industry will be open to private foreign companies."
I construe this to mean United States private, foreign oil companies.
We've certainly seen similar negotiations with other countries (tin, for example in Bolivia) where the US benefits at the expense of the nation, and the people of that nation.
As much as I enjoy driving my car--I have no choice here--I am not invested morally in taking this potentially unfair advantage--once more. I've seen it first hand in Bolivia, and it didn't make me feel very proud!
Moreover, although it may appear at first blush to benefit our country, in the end it only benefits those with stock or direct interest in oil companies--the barrel went down, but I'm still paying 2.37 per/g of low end petrol here in NM. And I don't have any stock in Exxon.
All in all this does not bode well to me--and I'll wait to see if it gets picked up on mainstream media. Often, Goodman picks up a story early, and the other media follow up later--to my mind, too late, with not enough emphasis on the import of the story.
Take care, OTR
Quote:
Originally Posted by rdbeard5
What is criminal about a sovereign nation passing a law, if it even exists? If this had any teeth to it I'm sure it would be all over the mainstream media as opposed to an obscure website.
Also, what's with the the guy being interviewed taking a document that was in english, translating it to arabic and then translating it back. Makes no sense.
Peace!
OTR - on a side note, Marisa Tomei won the Academy Award for "Actress In A Supporting Role" in "My Cousin Vinny."
As to an obsure website, I hardly think that Amy Goodman or Democracy Now is obscure. I believe she transmits to hundreds upon hundreds of radio stations.
I don't recall the double translation, but the issue that strikes me is the implied involvement by the US Government in proposing, or possibly instigating the law for its own purposes. If I am not mistaken before we struck down Saddam Hussein he had intended to reduce the oil distribution to the States. This is one of the principle reasons we went to war with Iraq using WMD as a foil.
One of several key points in the transcription of the program, not the law, is:
".... that basically every level of the oil industry will be open to private foreign companies."
I construe this to mean United States private, foreign oil companies.
We've certainly seen similar negotiations with other countries (tin, for example in Bolivia) where the US benefits at the expense of the nation, and the people of that nation.
As much as I enjoy driving my car--I have no choice here--I am not invested morally in taking this potentially unfair advantage--once more. I've seen it first hand in Bolivia, and it didn't make me feel very proud!
Moreover, although it may appear at first blush to benefit our country, in the end it only benefits those with stock or direct interest in oil companies--the barrel went down, but I'm still paying 2.37 per/g of low end petrol here in NM. And I don't have any stock in Exxon.
All in all this does not bode well to me--and I'll wait to see if it gets picked up on mainstream media. Often, Goodman picks up a story early, and the other media follow up later--to my mind, too late, with not enough emphasis on the import of the story.
Take care, OTR
keep it going boys, i smell a micheal moore doumentary in the works!
The failure of the Soviet Union was due to its internal economics, the Soviet version of Marxism applied was simply unsustainable. Most Econ majors could give you the nuts and bolts.
At least with NCLB there is a test that must be passed (dumbed down or not). >>>>>>>>.A number of answers to this come to mind:
Would you like the surgeon that works on you to have gotten his credential through a multiple choice test?
Life is not a multiple choice test, how can you prepare a child for life through a multiple choice test?
But that is not the problem with NCLB. NCLB requires improvement each year, even if all your children score at the 100th percentile your school is required to improve beyond that, since it cannot exceed 100 percent it becomes a "failing" school.
Failing schools are required to offer other school options, hence tax payer funded private schools. That is the real purpose of the law.
It is solely punitive there is only punishment for schools and teachers that do not exceed the required scores.
I want my children, and my students to reason, to work through openended questions, the kind of skills that are required for life. Those are not tested in NCLB.
A problem; at the 6th grade in Nevada, Science and Social Studies are not tested, therefore they are often not taught. Imagine your child, or you, not exposed to either. Bad Bad Bad.
Are you saying that "social promotion" is a better alternative?
Social promotion does not enter into the equation at all. However, since you bring it up, research and personal experience shows that "Flunking" doesn't solve the problem. A child who is retained usually does no better than before. Retained children dropout before graduation. If they are "socially promoted" they still drop out, although at a somewhat lessor rate.
Retaining does not accomplish the purpose many think it does, it simply doesn't work, neither does social promotion. What would work would be assigning a personal aide to each "hot list" student to work one on one with each problem student, but that is not going to happen. We need to spend that money on bringing democracy to Iraq.
The test used is up to the individual states. Connecticut's test is much more than a multiple choice test.
That being said the testing requirement has its flaws.
However, NCLB was drafted by a committee chaired by Ted Kennedy. It was a bipartisian-supported program.
The real problem that NCLB can not test is the fact that a large portion of the student's inachievement is due to less than desirable family structures where education is not valued or supported. This is not exclusively the case but it plays a large role in the achievement gap since many of the poorly performing groups are those students receiving free and reduced lunches living at or below the poverty level.
I have witnessed directly and repeatedly this problem as a teacher of 13 years.
Some of the problems of the children not making adequately-yearly progress:
1) Poor attendance - miss 15 or more days per year.
2) Move Frequently - sometimes 2 or 3 times per year (missing "chunks" of skills and concepts.)
3) Transient "guests" in household - Boyfriends and girlfriends coming in an out of family structure lead to feelings of insecurity, anger, distrust, fear, and hopelessness. Additionally, many times the "parent/guardian" will openly state they care more about the "new" guest than the child.
4) Drugs in the household - Frequent and open use of drugs by "caregivers" in the household. Sends conflicting messages to the messages being conveyed in school.
5) Parent/guardian does not work - A large number of the parents/guardians of the poorly achieving students are on public assistance and are children of parents/guardians on public assistance. The parents/guardians are often high school dropouts and poorly educated themselves. They do not read at home, do not or are unable to help with homework, and do not support the school in holding their child accountable to completing their work at home or in school.
To truly close the achievement gap honest and open discussions need to be held which truly address the root of the problem. This is a necessary first step in order to make any real progress.
The problem lies in that the root of the achievement gap is ugly, messy, and unpopular to talk about. Even addressing the issue could be tantamount to political suicide in this world of sound bites, political correctness, and value-free solutions.
Rod Paige, NCLB is his puppy. One can state that this problem or that problem prevents childrent from achieving, but, that is not correlated with NCLB.
I can teach children to do well on the test, or I can educate them. I disquise Science and Social Studies as a reading program, following somewhat closely the script provided for our state mandated reading program, that leaves out, projects, experential learning, experiments etc.
The reading program itself, is designed to teach the children to fill out worksheets and pass tests similar to the CTBS which is our big "test". It does not teach children that reading is entertaining, it teaches them that reading is a chore.
We do this as a Title 1 school, in order to achieve the best test results.
My wife has 20 years teaching, I have 17 and this is our last year. I am going back to farming.
There are much too many teachers who have become complacent, for any number of reasons, and don't really care about educating their students. The teachers' unions only exasperate this problem by advocating across-the-board pay raises and fighting tooth-n-nail when a sub par teacher is about to be dismissed. The good teachers need to get good pay and the poor teachers, less and the unions dissolved so that good teachers can negotiate for better pay.
There are much too many teachers who have become complacent, for any number of reasons, and don't really care about educating their students. The teachers' unions only exasperate this problem by advocating across-the-board pay raises and fighting tooth-n-nail when a sub par teacher is about to be dismissed. The good teachers need to get good pay and the poor teachers, less and the unions dissolved so that good teachers can negotiate for better pay.
very well said! that right there would be the first big step in solving the education problem in this country. i would add dismantling the department of education.
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