Pied Type
Education
Feet of clay
Last night Penn State University trustees fired head coach Joe Paterno for his seeming complicity in and indifference to a child molestation incident in 2002. The university president was also fired. The firing came just hours after Paterno announced his intention to retire at the end of the season. In 2002, then–graduate assistant Mike McQueary … Continue reading
It’s never okay
It’s that time of year again. Schools across the country are opening. School zones are firing up their warning lights and polishing up their signs. Police are watching areas they ignored all summer. I have a “thing” about school zones, quite likely because I’m a mom and a grandmom. If I could shoot out tires, … Continue reading
The ‘offensive’ flag drawing
Frankie Girard is an 11-year-old in Orange, Mass. In art class he drew a picture of an American flag. His teacher reportedly refused to hang the picture because it would offend another student. She also denied him permission to hang it on his desk. Then, according to Frankie’s father, he was told to “take it … Continue reading
Chicago school bans brown bag lunches
If you think the government shouldn’t be telling you what to eat, you’re going to love this. The Little Village Academy in Chicago has forbidden its students to bring lunches from home. Unless they have a medical excuse, students must eat the lunches provided by the school. The principal says she is trying to protect … Continue reading
It’s time to bust the unions
I have great respect for teachers. I really do. Especially those grade school and high school teachers who, in addition to teaching, have to act as baby sitters and disciplinarians for disinterested students who would rather be someplace else. That said, I think Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker should fire the state’s teachers and bust their … Continue reading
Worrywarts, don’t read this
Depressed about the economy? Concerned about education in the US? Then you don’t want to check out this chart from the New York Times. It’s a comparison of some key statistics (unemployment rate, prison population, level of democracy, life expectancy, etc.) from the International Monetary Fund’s “advanced economy” countries. Australia, anyone?
Cursive on its way out?
I hope I’m not being a stubborn old lady when I say I’m concerned about the apparent trend away from teaching cursive handwriting in schools. Doesn’t that fall under the second “R” — “Reading, wRiting and ‘Rithmatic”? I’ve seen stories reporting that 41 states no longer require learning cursive in grade school, Georgia plans to … Continue reading
Teachers unions, listen to this
Last night I had NBC Nightly News on as background noise until this segment caught my attention. With apologies for not knowing how to edit this to the relevant portion, listen as a young teacher speaks union heresy on nation TV: No tenure! No contracts! Tenure — “I don’t see a need for it.” Her … Continue reading
Mass media murdering mother tongue
English grammar, usage, and pronunciation as taught by the major news networks: Efforting: As in, “They are efforting to get people out of there before the flood waters rise any more.” Sheesh.
Another union rant
I just saw Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, on CNN. She was being interviewed about President Obama’s “Race to the Top” program, a plan to improve some of the nation’s poorest schools. I wasn’t particularly interested in the story until she made a slightly off-topic statement that I’ll have to paraphrase. … Continue reading
Condoms in grade school!?
Historically, Massachusetts has been a bastion of liberalism, but providing free condoms for grade school students? Without informing their parents? Without parents being able to stop the distribution? Ridiculous. This doesn’t even count as an abdication of responsibility. This is assuming a whole new responsibility that has no place at all in a grade school. … Continue reading
Spade cats and gas turbans
When my son mentioned eggcorns and I didn’t know what he was talking about, I had to go find the website. I couldn’t let him be the sole possessor of such knowledge, not when I’m the parent and the former editor. An eggcorn, it turns out, is a word or phrase misheard and then perpetuated, … Continue reading
‘Unschooling’ is abdication of responsibility
I was channel surfing this evening and came across a story on Nightline about something called “unschooling,” a theory of “education” espoused by a woman named Dayna Martin. As nearly as I could tell, her approach consists of doing nothing — nothing! — about educating her kids. She gets away with it because somehow it … Continue reading
Going to the birds
National news has been the pits lately. But I do have a couple of places I love to visit to unwind. Both are streaming webcams and I’ve mentioned them before. Right now they are better than ever. Phoebe the hummingbird now has two very healthy babies, Hope and Hoku, in her golf-ball sized nest. You’ll … Continue reading
Much ado about Arizona
Arizona is getting a lot of negative publicity these days, mostly because of their recently passed anti–illegal immigration law (SB 1070 and amendment). I’ve no problem with that law and see it as little different from typical seat-belt laws — you don’t get busted for not wearing your seat belt unless you are stopped first … Continue reading
Discouraging our kids, dismantling our future
No valedictorians!? What are we doing to our educational system? What are we doing to our future? Continue reading
The times they are a changin’
Bet you can’t answer this question: What do the names “F-Bomb Firetrucks” and “Bamfs” have in common? Answer: Both are proposed names for volleyball teams at my 7-year-old grandson’s K-8 school! I was outraged when my son told me, even though I had to ask him what Bamf means. Both he and my daughter-in-law immediately … Continue reading
In the soup: Starbucks, Bing, Congress, et al
Education funding cuts Cutting funding to education? No wonder students are protesting today. The resulting tuition hikes in many cases will be so large that students already on tight budgets won’t be able to stay in school. Teachers will be fired, some classes will be eliminated, others will get much larger. I don’t agree with … Continue reading
SC can’t control foot-in-mouth disease
When it comes to explaining things, no one has been as inept recently as South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer. Most of us understand what dependency is and how it develops. But Bauer really put his foot in it last Friday when he attempted to explain dependency by comparing poor children to stray animals: My … Continue reading
Printed books and their stores endangered
Interesting segment on The Colbert Report tonight. Sherman Alexie, author of the recently released War Dances, was talking about the plight of authors and books today. Alexie mentioned that he would not allow his book to be released in digital form. Why? Because it’s too likely to be pirated, something he says is happening a … Continue reading
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