Every child has a right to an excellent education. Right?
Wrong.
Every child has a right to an opportunity for an excellent education. Whether they make use of the opportunity to get an education, or not, is entirely up to them.
To promise more is a false promise.
11/15/08
Merit Pay For Teachers? Don't Go There...
Michelle Rhee is the Devil.
Anyway, merit pay for teachers is a bad idea for so many reasons; teacher evaluation and assessment come to mind. Ezra Klein has a post with this quote:
Update: Here is the NYT article referenced in Klein's piece.
Anyway, merit pay for teachers is a bad idea for so many reasons; teacher evaluation and assessment come to mind. Ezra Klein has a post with this quote:
My point is this. It seems like reformers keep wanting to jump in and start doing things, because education is so stagnant. Which I understand. But the place to start isn't merit pay, it is finding methods of assessing teachers that aren't totally fucking useless and irrelevant. I think if we had such assessment, people would find teachers much more amenable to merit pay and a lack of tenure.Go check it out. The folks like Klein who think merit pay is a good idea get smacked pretty hard in the comments (yours truly could only cheer!).
Update: Here is the NYT article referenced in Klein's piece.
Obama Weekly YouTube 1 (ObamaTube 1)
Barack Obama plans to give weekly "fireside chats" as president. He's starting early!
11/14/08
Why Do Charter Schools Work Better?
Do charter schools seem to score better on tests because of the teachers? The curriculum? The students? Can I get a straight answer? Yes. All the above.
First, teachers in a charter tend to be excited, energetic, and determined; IOW motivated and independent. They don't need a principal telling them how to make thier teaching more "powerful" or "meaningful", or how to align standards with curricular materials.
Second, the curriculum used at any school has little to do with how well students learn certain standards. Go into any classroom and you will find 10 years worth of curricular materials that the teacher has morphed into one, and used them and tweaked them over the years so that they work for students and the teacher--symbiosis.
Third, almost all charters require certain commitments from parents and students that public schools could never demand; there are codes of conduct (with expulsion as a consequence!), parent volunteer hours, dress codes, homework codes, longer days, and and if you don't follow the codes, you're gone.
So when the unions get busted, and all teachers are scrambling to get hired by the moneyed charters (which will come, mark my words)remember that your child will not be attending an exclusive charter with a self-selected group of students/families that bring the scores up and makes you think it is the school(read: teachers). No. It is the selectivity of a charter--its boutiqueness--that allows it its apparent success. And that success cannot translate when every school becomes a charter school or privatized.
Public education is in such trouble because we throw money and regulation at a problem that should be dealt with locally. If there are students struggling in a school, the school should be free enough to move money and personnel around to accommodate remediation, enrichment, supervision, and all the other things a school needs to provide on moment by moment basis; things that can't be ordered, or planned to death, or requisitioned, or approved.
We have tied our hands with NCLB, and there is no way out other than failure of public education, and the resulting corporatization that will come--with Michell Rhee as its CEO, smiling all the way to the bank.
Raise your kids, people. Don't rely on the government to educate you or your child anymore than you expect the government to get your exercise for you. The government gives you parks and trails for you to get exercise, and the government gives you schools for you to get educated.
Update: Here is a conduct code as an example:
First, teachers in a charter tend to be excited, energetic, and determined; IOW motivated and independent. They don't need a principal telling them how to make thier teaching more "powerful" or "meaningful", or how to align standards with curricular materials.
Second, the curriculum used at any school has little to do with how well students learn certain standards. Go into any classroom and you will find 10 years worth of curricular materials that the teacher has morphed into one, and used them and tweaked them over the years so that they work for students and the teacher--symbiosis.
Third, almost all charters require certain commitments from parents and students that public schools could never demand; there are codes of conduct (with expulsion as a consequence!), parent volunteer hours, dress codes, homework codes, longer days, and and if you don't follow the codes, you're gone.
So when the unions get busted, and all teachers are scrambling to get hired by the moneyed charters (which will come, mark my words)remember that your child will not be attending an exclusive charter with a self-selected group of students/families that bring the scores up and makes you think it is the school(read: teachers). No. It is the selectivity of a charter--its boutiqueness--that allows it its apparent success. And that success cannot translate when every school becomes a charter school or privatized.
Public education is in such trouble because we throw money and regulation at a problem that should be dealt with locally. If there are students struggling in a school, the school should be free enough to move money and personnel around to accommodate remediation, enrichment, supervision, and all the other things a school needs to provide on moment by moment basis; things that can't be ordered, or planned to death, or requisitioned, or approved.
We have tied our hands with NCLB, and there is no way out other than failure of public education, and the resulting corporatization that will come--with Michell Rhee as its CEO, smiling all the way to the bank.
Raise your kids, people. Don't rely on the government to educate you or your child anymore than you expect the government to get your exercise for you. The government gives you parks and trails for you to get exercise, and the government gives you schools for you to get educated.
Update: Here is a conduct code as an example:
COMMON SENSE & USEFUL LEARNING AT AIPCS
by Dr. Ben Chavis
1. The school facility is open daily from 8:30am until 4:00pm, except Saturdays, Sundays,
and all holidays known to mankind.
2. The staff of AIPCS does not preach or subscribe to the demagoguery of tolerance.
Anyone who does not follow our rules will be sent packing with their rags and bags!
3. Squawkers, multicultural specialists, self-esteem experts, panhandlers, drug dealers, and
those snapping turtles who refuse to put forth their best effort will be booted out.
4. Boot-licking or self-promoting is not allowed by any politician who enters our classrooms.
Politicians should beware: teachers are on duty!
5. We do not believe standardized tests discriminate against students because of their
color. Could it be many of them have not been adequately prepared to take those tests?
6. The staff does not allow students to wear hats, gold chains, or ear-bobs in the building.
Adults are not allowed to use cell phones, beepers, and other gadgets in our school.
7. Dr. Chavis does provide psychological evaluations to quacks and Kultur specialists on a
sliding scale. See him immediately for such rates.
8. All solicitors should note the nearest exit upon entering this institution of learning. We
view such alley cats with a fishy eye.
9. No more than one psychologist or school administrator is allowed in our school at a time.
This rule is part of our commitment to high academic standards.
10. Photographs of the Director of Staff are on sale at the front office. Payment must be
made in advance. CASH ONLY! The photographs will be sent to you by pony express.
11. The staff of AIPCS is of the first rank. We request that you do not flirt with them. They
will accept your cash donations!
12. Visitors are welcome daily. Due to the time it takes to re-educate university visitors, we
are limiting their number to a maximum of four individuals a week.
13. It will be difficult for our staff to meet with those educational experts who "know it all."
We are willing to meet with such tomcats on Halloween night.
14. How does anyone convince a Billy goat or taxpayer that school administrators possess
above average intelligence? How will we address this educational dilemma?
15. Our staff does not subscribe to the back swamp logic of minority students as victims.
We will plow through such cornfield philosophy with common sense and hard work!
16. If you wish to share any suggestions regarding this page, our common sense
committee accepts suggestions from 8:30am to 8:31am each holiday.
Notice the selectivity in this from American Indian Public Charter.
Go see it for yourself: http://www.aipcs.org/CommonSense.html
11/13/08
Bush: War Crimes?
Former DC appeals court judge suggests Bush detention policies amount to war crimes.Update: More interesting news about what might come here (Newshoggers).
According to a new Human Rights Center/Center for Constitutional Rights report, former prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay and released without charge went home with “psychological and emotional problems” and found themselves “stigmatized and shunned” and viewed either as terrorists or U.S. spies. In a forward to the report, former DC appeals court judge Patricia Wald compared the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody to the treatment Bosnian Muslims received at the hands of their Serbian captors:The officials and guards in charge of those prison camps and the civilian leaders who sanctioned their establishment were prosecuted — often by former U.S. government and military lawyers serving with the tribunal — for war crimes, crimes against humanity and, in extreme cases, genocide.Last June, Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba (ret.), the Army general who led the investigation into prisoner abuse at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, also accused the Bush administration of committing “war crimes” and called for those responsible to be held to account.
Prop 8: You're In Denial!
A great story that reinforces the truth that no matter your bigotry, intolerance, or selfishness, gay people will exist, and soon, thrive! Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
"On The First Day Of School, Nothing Happened"
by hilzoy
The American Prospect:"In Loveland, Colorado -- population 61,000, 92 percent white and heavily evangelical Christian -- Michelle didn't know what to expect when she began to work with the school to facilitate her daughter's transition from a boy to a girl. At first, it was difficult. The school "freaked out when I told them," Michelle says. "When we started with M.J.'s transition, I was envisioning riots." And so Michelle became an advocate for transgender people -- those who identify as a gender different from the one assigned at birth. Michelle organized trainings for the faculty and staff and prepared "cheat sheets" in case any of their students asked prying questions.That an eighth grader can transition without incident in a heavily evangelical town is a wonderful thing, and it gives me hope that simple humanity might actually triumph in the long run, Proposition 8 or no Proposition 8. On the other hand, there are still altogether too many stories like this (h/t):
But on the first day of school, nothing happened. No flood of calls, no angry protests, and no bullying. Michelle was "happy and shocked" that M.J.'s classmates seemed to get it. When one student made a mocking comment to another using M.J.'s former name, one eighth-grade boy dismissed him with a simple insight. "That person doesn't even exist anymore," he said. "You're talking about somebody who's imaginary."
Given the spate of television and media coverage on transgender youth -- from dedicated episodes of Oprah and 20/20 to a cover story in Newsweek -- this might not seem remarkable. But just eight years ago, a school just like M.J.'s, a junior high in a relatively small town, had to be forced by judicial order to allow a trans student to come dressed in her chosen gender. And that school wasn't in Mississippi or in rural Kansas. It was in Massachusetts, the state that only four years later legalized marriage for same-sex couples. A state thought of by many as one of the most progressive in the country when it comes to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights.
Many would view the politically red heart of the country as a harsh, unwelcoming, and vaguely dangerous place for the transgender community. When we think of states like Nebraska and Wyoming, we don't think of M.J. -- we think of people like Brandon Teena and Matthew Shepard, both killed in vicious, nationally publicized hate crimes. But the truth of the matter is far more interesting, inspiring, and instructive. Away from the coasts and the urban havens, a vibrant transgender-rights movement is slowly emerging across the mountain and plains states. Through increased visibility, community building, legislative outreach, and face-to-face public education in churches, schools, and neighborhoods, trans people are building a foundation for equality in some of the nation's most conservative regions. (...)
Without doubt, trans people in the mountain and plains states face harsh realities: employment discrimination, obstacles to health care, violence, and few community resources. But even in the reddest of states, successes like M.J.'s are not unique. Moreover, these stories presage even broader long-term change. For each local success or modest legislative action, the effect is the same -- laying the foundation for greater victories tomorrow. After all, as Mike Thompson, the executive director of Equality Utah explains, "If you can convert people in the reddest of states, then you can convert people anywhere."""Memphis police identified the body of transgender woman Duanna Johnson lying in the street near Hollywood and Staten Avenue early this morning.Here's hoping more people find it in their heart to act like M.J.'s classmates, and not like the Memphis police.
Police believe Johnson was shot some time before midnight on Sunday. No suspects are in custody at this time.
Johnson was the victim of a Memphis police brutality case this summer when a video of former officer Bridges McRae beating her in a jail holding area was released to the media.
The video led to the eventual firing of McRae and Officer James Swain."
Mitch Mitchell, R.I.P.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Mitch Mitchell, drummer for the legendary Jimi Hendrix Experience of the 1960s and the group's last surviving member, was found dead in his hotel room early Wednesday. He was 61.
Mitchell was a powerful force on the Hendrix band's 1967 debut album "Are You Experienced?" as well as the trio's albums "Electric Ladyland" and "Axis: Bold As Love." He had an explosive drumming style that can be heard in hard-charging songs such as "Fire" and "Manic Depression."
11/11/08
Implement, Implement, Implement.
TNR's got an article up I fully agree with. The editors say GO! Here we go wif a snippet:
Obama's first task, then, is to upend the mindless conventional wisdom which holds that he must never implement the agenda he campaigned on. And this will involve straightening out some of his fellow Democrats who believe that he should replicate the fiscal strategy of the early Clinton era, when the administration scaled back its more ambitious spending plans and focused instead on deficit reduction, a choice that laid the groundwork for the boom of the late 1990s. But the analogy isn't terribly apt. By the time Clinton changed tack, the economy was already well on the path to recovering from the recession- -a very different situation from the one we now face.Health care will be expensive, but no health care would be expensiver!
Take Lieberman's Manhood!
In case you weren't sure how to vote in the poll at the top of the site, here's 2 minutes of reminding. I suppose he can caucus, but take away his gavel!
Veterans' Day
Veterans' Day
by hilzoy
Today is Veterans' Day. It's not the only day when I am grateful to our veterans, and certainly not the only day when I remember those who died or were injured in combat. But it is one of the days when I try to say: thank you. My thoughts are with you.
I wish I didn't have to add: and we'll keep trying to get you the benefits you are entitled to. But I do. Here, for instance, is an article from today's Washington Post about a lawsuit asking the VA to speed up its handling of disability claims:"The VA estimated that in 2007 it took an average of six months to reach an initial decision on a benefits claim, according to the complaint, and processing appeals takes years.While a veteran's disability claim is being processed, that veteran doesn't get disability. S/he has to live on a fraction of his or her active duty pay, which would be OK for someone who could get another job, but is not at all OK for someone who is disabled. As I wrote last June, it doesn't have to be this way: rather than putting the burden on vets to prove their disability, we could presume that their disability claims were true, and then audit a subset of them, the way we do with taxes. (This is an idea I got from Linda Bilmes, here.) That way, vets would get the money they are entitled to from the outset, rather than having to live off friends and family while the VA slogs through their mountains of paperwork.
"This is a national embarrassment," said Cattanach, a Navy veteran with a son who has served two Army tours in Iraq. "Every day that goes by that this isn't fixed, people's lives are being changed," he said, recalling his effort to obtain benefits for a veteran who committed suicide before his case was resolved."
Barack Obama has promised to address this problem, and to take a number of other important steps: fully funding VA medical care, improving care for PTSD and traumatic brain injury, allowing all vets to use the VA, and fighting homelessness among vets. We should hold him to it.
Hertzberg's Like, No Way!
OMG ;)
Sarah Palin on Fox News last night, asked about 2012:Faith is a very big part of my life. And putting my life in my creator’s hands—this is what I always do. I’m like, O.K., God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I’m like, don’t let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is. Even if it’s cracked up a little bit, maybe I’ll plow right on through that and maybe prematurely plow through it, but don’t let me miss an open door. And if there is an open door in ‘12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I’ll plow through that door.So God’s like, whatever.
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