back | next
94>> what's wrong with tucker
93>> Book called duh, web version is up, but buy the book
92>> Local control or uniform buzzwords?
91>> Marc Tucker demonized
90>> reading program study from CA
89>> Middle school as weak link?
88>> STW for the gifted???
87>> Oregon tests not proven to be valid
86>> McNeil hour
85>> Return to Lindbergh High School
84>> yeah school is tough now.
83>> where's the obachine picture?
82>> cyberschool for homeschoolers
81>> Any Rand talk show
80>> tv stations
79>> middle school report
78>> unions on the task force
77>> letter to gov locke
76>> ed reform
75>> anti-affirmative action misleading?
74>> suburbs vs. minority reading
73>> bilingual arguments
72>> re school reading quotas
71>> everything I've been taught is obsolete?
70>> Malkin and ME on local TV
68>> Only half ready to read by grade 2
67>> Grammar packets
66>> Kilpatrick on Wash Times
65>> Chicago - law says promotion must be based on performance
64>> tests bad for minorities
63>> definition of affirmative action is NO preferences
62>> we need ed reform
61>> New standards
60>> affirmative action
59>> half of prof believe affirm act is NOT preferential
58>> I hear the stanford is a good test
57>> DC diversity panel quits
56>> don't teach kids to read in english
55>> more on wenatchee
54>> Seattle Stanford pushover, Issaquah
53>> Ooops, caught wrong type of reformer
52>> Study advocates phonics, but with whole language, inventive spelling
51>> writing test
50>> Chicago math parent complains
49>> Kansas city problem
48>> Superintendent race wars
47>> Naked Emporer meetings
46>> ed deform as Edsel
45>> phonics needed and spelling too
44>> ed deform
43>> not everyone needs phonics?
42>> WA senator
41>> grammar packets
40>> WA is beyond hope
39>> boeing and oher companies
38>> right wing kook
37>> more articles
36>> another person who hates wa tests
35>> bye all
34>> dropout rates
33>> setting standards in USAF
32>> STW spies
31>> buck passing on bad math teacher
30>> colorado tests
29>> washington times
38>> generation gap
37>> more smart people
36>> information systems
35>> stw gives 2 hr academic day
34>> matloff on who is chinese
33>> wierd sex ed
32>> soya on matloff
31>> ed edge is a lower
30>> promotion and retention are wrong
29>> STW follows CIM
28>> texas and CA standards
27>> chiang on TIMSS
26>> Matloff on TIMSS
25>> more questions on STW
24>> sorry
23>> matloff on kwan
22>> STW spy
21>> not just conservatives
20>> San diego has lots of high tech jobs
19>> esteem has new book
18>> STW required for CIM?
17>> review of NTCM standards by Am math society
16>> GED not exempt from education reform
15>> thanks arthur anti-stw
14>> STW CIM
13>> Matloff vs. french immigrants
12>> TIMSS is not higher order thinking?
11> what's ed deform
10>> Don't read to kids, teach them phonics!
9>> japanese do more than rote, more centralized gov schools
8>> letters about stw
6>> TIMSS plea for education reform
5>> charter schools shot down in WA
4>> Gary Lock responds to charter schools
3>> Kumon to immunize against everydaymath
2>> mother ticked off about truth of STW
1>> Spady and charter schools in WA
1>>
Date sent: Mon, 02 Mar 1998 08:33:43 -0500
To: joaneb001@aol.com
From: "Roxanne Sitler" (by way of Fred Battey )
Subject: CHARTER RALLY-Who is Jim Spady?
To All:
More news from Mr. Jim Spady who is now calling for a Rally and for
attendees to bring an American flag and rally much needed votes for Senator
West's Ways & Means Committee. Mr. Jim Spady, a key advocate here in the
state, who interestingly enough took part with his father, Mr. Jim Spady,
Sr. (recipient of the World Futurist Award) in developing what they call
the Fast Forum Technique. Spady, Sr. had a bill introduced into the
Washington state legislature called the Citizen Counselor bill which would
have turned representative government into an electronic form of
participatory democracy - this bill had appointed "citizen counselors"
which would use the Fast Forum Technique to do a kind of consensus process
based on polling of citizens on issues. We are told that Mr. Spady's main
motive in pushing the charter bill is to give parents choice in education.
Based on his involvement with developing a model of participatory
democracy, one has to wonder if the he may be realizing some of his ideals
of governance through his support of charter schools. The following call
for a rally on our capitol steps and the bringing of the American flag
leaves me cold.
Roxanne
> Subject: Charter Rally
> Date: Saturday, February 28, 1998 2:37 PM
>
> ================
>
> AN URGENT MESSAGE TO WA CHARTER SUPPORTERS:
>
> PLEASE JOIN Fawn and me and other charter school supporters at the
> Capitol on Monday to "show the flag" (literally) in support of the
> bi-partisan charter school bill (SB-7901).
**Roxanne comment: Support of what - at this moment SB7901 is a Title Only
bill with no language - only an intent section**
>
> We will be meeting in the capitol rotunda (directly under the dome) at
> 11:00 am on Monday, 3/2/98.
>
> From there, we will go to see Key Democratic Senators to beg them to
> support the Governor and vote for SB-7901, both in committee and on the
> floor of the Senate.
>
> We will also try to get a meeting with the Governor to thank him for his
> continuing efforts to get the handful of votes from Senate Democrats
> needed to pass the bi-partisan bill.
>
> As reported in the Friday, 2/27/98 Tacoma News Tribune: "This charter
> school bill is very important to the governor. . . . Locke told several
> legislators that the bill is now his No.1 education priority of the
> session." The same article quoted Senate Ways & Means Chairman Jim West
> as saying: "I only need one Democrat vote" to send the bill toward the
> Senate floor for an up-or-down vote.
> (A copy of the 2/27/98 TNT article is at the very end of this e-mail)
>
> WE ARE VERY, VERY CLOSE TO GETTING A BILL PASSED! Please come to Olympia
> on Monday and help us find the ONE vote we need in Senate Ways & Means!
>
> Afterwards, charter supporters are encouraged to visit their individual
> Senators and representatives and encourage them to "show the flag" in
> support of charter schools.
>
> PLEASE BRING ** AN AMERICAN FLAG ** WITH YOU TO THE CAPITOL,IF YOU CAN.
> If you don't have time to get a flag, that's OK, there will probably be
> some extra flags at the rally that you can borrow.
>
> We want the AMERICAN FLAG and the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE to be the
> symbol of our struggle for charter schools in Washington.
>
> The AMERICAN FLAG, after all, stands for LIBERTY!
>
> And what are charter schools, but a DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE by
> teachers and parents from the current one-size-fits-all, top-down,
> monopoly approach to public education?
>
> Whether or not you can join us in Olympia, please keep those phone calls
> and e-mails coming in to Senate Democrats, particularly those on the Ways
> & Means Committee. The toll free 800 number is 1-800-562-6000, which is
> available from 8 am to 8 pm Monday through Saturday (closed Sunday).
>
> Phone numbers and e-mail addresses for specific Senators are shown below.
>
> A list of the "five most common objections" raised by Senate Democrats to
> voting for the bipartisan charter school bill in Ways & Means, and
> suggested responses, follows the list of key Senate Democrats. At the
> very end is yesterday's Tacoma News Tribune article.
>
> HOPE TO SEE YOU IN OLYMPIA ON MONDAY! Thank you for all you do!
>
> Jim Spady, Saturday, 2/28/98 (2:30 PM)
>
>
> CONTACT INFO FOR SENATE DEMOCRATS ON THE WAYS & MEANS COMMITTEE
>
> (listed in order from those most likely to support the bipartisan bill to
> least likely)
>
> Senator Lisa BROWN (D-3) 360/786-7604 brown_li@leg.wa.gov (Spokane)
> Senator Betti SHELDON (D-23) 360/786-7644 sheldon_be@leg.wa.gov
> (Bremerton)
>
> Both Senators Brown and Sheldon have previously indicated that they would
> vote for a bi-partisan charter school bill supported by Governor Locke,
> but are now waffling due to strong WEA pressure. Both the
> Spokesman-Review and the Bremerton Sun support the bi-partisan charter
> bill. Senator Brown twice voted for charter school bills when she was in
> the House.
>
> KOHL, Jeanne (D-36) 360/786-7670 kohl_je@leg.wa.gov (NW Seattle)
>
> Senator Kohl does not like to oppose the Governor, but is getting A LOT
> of pressure from the WEA. She needs to hear from you! Remind her that
> the Seattle Times, in a Friday (2/27/98) Editorial, said: "Lawmakers
> this session have not demonstrated great skill in crafting
> legislation through bipartisan compromise. If Senate Democrats stop
> stalling long enough to support the bill, this will be an important
> exception."
>
> THIBAUDEAU, Pat (D-43) 360/786-7628 thibaude_pa@leg.wa.gov (Seattle)
>
> Thibaduau, like Kohl, is liberal, but should be sensitive to the Seattle
> Times editorial.
>
> SPANEL, Harriet (D-40) (rural) PH:360/786-7678; (Ranking W&M Dem)
> spanel_ha@leg.wa.gov (rural NW)
>
> Spanel is from the same legislative district (the 40th) as Rep. Dave
> Quall -- the Democratic Rep. who has sponsored or co-sponsored every
> charter school bill ever introduced in WA, including the original 1994
> bill. Spanel is much more liberal than her district and might be
> persuaded to vote for the compromise bill as a personal favor to Rep.
> Quall.
>
> BAUER, Albert (D-49) 360/786-7696 bauer_al@leg.wa.gov (Vancouver)
> FRASER, Karen (D-22) 360/786-7642 fraser_ka@leg.wa.gov (Olympia)
>
> Bauer and Fraser are long-shots, but might be persuaded to support
> Governor Locke, who is, after all, the leader of the Democratic Party in
> WA. Constituent calls/e-mails would, as usual, be most persuasive.
>
> The following Democrats are unlikely to vote for any charter bill, no
> matter how weak:
>
> SNYDER, Sid (D-19) 360/786-7636 (Senate Minority Leader) (NO E-MAIL)
> (rural SW)
>
> LOVELAND, Valoria (D-16) 360/786-7630 (NO E-MAIL) (Walla Walla)
>
>
> THE FIVE MOST COMMON OBJECTIONS RAISED BY SENATE D's (and suggested
> responses)
>
> OBJECTION-1: THE REPUBLICANS ARE THE MAJORITY PARTY IN THE SENATE, SO IF
> THE CHARTER BILL DIES, ITS THEIR FAULT, NOT THE FAULT OF SENATE
DEMOCRATS.
>
> ANSWER-1. If the BI-PARTISAN charter school bill dies, Senate Democrats
> must accept the responsibility. The Tacoma News Tribune's article on
> 2/27/98 quotes Ways and Means Chairman Jim West saying he needs only 1
> Democrat to say he/she will vote for SB-7901 and West will call for a
> vote and vote it out of committee. In other words, West is saying that
> 10 out of 12 Republican Senators are ready to vote for the bill while
> ZERO out of 9 Democrats are ready to vote for the bill. To say that
> Republicans are to blame when only 2 Republicans are opposed while 9
> Democrats are opposed defies common sense. Indeed, because any ONE
> Senate Democrat could provide the margin of victory, EVERY Democrat on
> Senate Ways & Means must accept PERSONAL responsibility for killing the
> bi-partisan bill if he/she continue to withhold his/her support.
>
>
> OBJECTION-2: FAR-RIGHT REPUBLICANS (LIKE SENATORS ZARELLI & HOCHSTATTER)
> ARE THE ONES TO BLAME FOR BLOCKING THE CHARTER BILL, NOT "MAINSTREAM"
> SENATE DEMOCRATS.
>
> ANSWER-2. This is a variation on the first argument. It is ridiculous
> to expect the Republicans to provide unanimous support for the
> bi-partisan bill when the bill includes, at Governor Locke's insistence,
> 100% compliance with the 1993 Education Reform Act (HB-1209). Everyone
> knows that there are a handful of far-right Republicans (such as Zarelli
> and Hochstatter) who are passionately opposed to the HB-1209 standards
> and assessments. There is thus no way that a bill, such as SB-7901, that
> incorporates the HB-1209 standards, could ever get unanimous Republican
> support. Again, SB-7901 is a BI-PARTISAN charter school bill that can
> only become law if has BI-PARTISAN support in the Senate. SB-7901 is
> supported by the Governor, the SPI, the majority of House Democrats,the
> majority of House Republicans, and the majority of Senate Republicans.
> But even with all that support, it cannot become law unless at least ONE
> Senate Democrat on the Ways & Means Committee will vote for it.
>
>
> OBJECTION-3: THERE HAS NOT BEEN A PUBLIC HEARING ON SB-7901.
>
> ANSWER-3. While it is true that there has not been a public hearing on
> SB-7901, the Senate Education Committee has held hearings on charter
> schools during each of the last four sessions (1995, 1996, 1997 and
> 1998). Everyone knows that the four of the seven members on the Senate
> Education Committee are either far-right (Hochstatter and Zarelli) or
> far-left (McAuliffe and Goings). If a Senator makes this argument, ask
> the Senator whether he or she would vote for the Governor's bi-partisan
> charter bill IF Chairman West agreed to hold a hearing on it in Ways &
> Means. Although this would be unusual, the Legislature often makes
> procedural exceptions for important bills. For example, the 1997
> Legislature made a number of exceptions to ordinary procedures when it
> passed the Seahawk Stadium Bill. Certainly better public schools for our
> children should have at least as much importance.
>
>
> OBJECTION-4: SB-7901 SHOULD BE SENT BACK TO THE SENATE EDUCATION
> COMMITTEE.
>
> ANSWER-4. Given Hochstatter & Zarelli's opposition to any charter bill
> that includes the HB-1209 standards and assessments, any suggestion to
> "send the bill back to the Senate Education Committee" is nothing less
> than a death sentence. Can't we find a more creative solution than that?
>
>
> OBJECTION-5. THE CURRENT VERSION OF SB-7901 ONLY HAS AN "INTENT" CLAUSE.
> VOTING FOR AN "INTENT" BILL IS LIKE GIVING YOUR CREDIT CARD TO A THIEF.
>
> ANSWER-5. The credit card analogy doesn't hold water. SB-7901 will
> never pass the floor without the support of at least 5 Democratic
> Senators (again, because of the guaranteed opposition of far-right
> Republicans to any charter bill which includes the HB-1209 standards and
> assessments).
>
> A better analogy: Voting for SB-7901 in Ways & Means is more like
> throwing a life line to a drowning child than "giving your credit card to
> a thief." 29 states already have charter school laws, and almost 200,000
> students already attend over 750 charter schools across America. The
> evidence from those states is charter schools are a lifeline for kids who
> are struggling in conventional public schools, many of whom will drown in
> educational mediocrity unless Senate Democrats will "give charters a
> chance" in WA.
>
> Passing SB-7901 out of Ways & Means doesn't pass the bill out of the
> Senate, it just KEEPS HOPE ALIVE for charter schools and allows the bill
> to go the floor of the Senate.
>
> Everyone knows that once the bill reaches the floor, the Governor's
> bipartisan bill will be substituted for the "intent-only" language BEFORE
> the final vote.
>
> Voting for SB-7901 is thus nothing like "giving your credit card to a
> thief." But there is no doubt that Senate Democrats who refuse to vote
> for SB-7901 are "slapping the Governor in the face" since the Governor
> says that passing the bipartisan charter school bill is now his "No. 1
> education priority" of this legislative session (again quoting the
> 2/27/98 TNT article).
>
>
> OBJECTION-6. REPUBLICAN WAYS & MEANS CHAIRMAN JIM WEST DIDN'T EVEN
> INCLUDE ANY MONEY FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS IN HIS PROPOSED BUDGET.
>
> ANSWER-6. The lack of funds for charter schools in West's proposed
> budget is another red herring. West didn't include any money in his
> budget for charter schools because the charter school negotiations had
> dragged on so long, with so little progress, that he didn't think the
> negotiators would reach an agreement. Now that an agreement has been
> reached, West has promised to put money back into the budget for charter
> schools as soon as the the Governor can find ONE Senate Democrat on Ways
> & Means who will vote for the bipartisan bill.
>
>
> YOU NOW HAVE ALL THE INFORMATION YOU NEED TO PERSUADE SENATE DEMOCRATS TO
> VOTE FOR THE BI-PARTISAN BILL. MAKE THOSE CALLS. SEND THOSE E-MAILS.
> NETWORK WITH YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CO-WORKERS. GET THEM TO MAKE CALLS
> AND SEND E-MAILS. WE CAN DO THIS!
>
> Thank you.
>
> Hope to see you on Monday!
>
>
> Tacoma News Tribune, Friday, 2/27/98, p. B-5
>
> HEADLINE: Democrats bottle up legislation that would allow charter
> schools
>
> subheadline: Teachers union position depends on who's talking; Locke
> lobbies for bill
>
> By Peter Callaghan.
>
> OLYMPIA - What's the Washington Education Association's position on a new
> charter school bill?
>
> It depends on who in the big teachers union you ask.
>
> And when.
>
> A negotiated agreement between Democratic Gov. Gary Locke and a
> bi-partisan group of legislators has moved the issue further than it's
> been in five years.
>
> If approved, Senate Bill 7901 would make Washington the 30th state to
> permit independent public schools -- paid for by tax dollars but
> independent of local school boards.
>
> But resistance from Senate Democrats and the teachers union slowed its
> progress Thursday.
>
> A scheduled vote in the Senate Ways and Means Committee was put off
> Thursday when Locke couldn't recruit a single Democratic vote.
>
> "It sounds like we have some work to do," said the governor's spokeswoman
> Marylou Flynn.
>
> The split response from union officials Thursday was further evidence of
> that.
>
> "We're not lobbying for it, but we do support it," said Trevor Neilson,
> spokesman for the union. He said concerns over several sections of the
> agreement were resolved -- one with an additional sentence in the bill.
>
> "We've been assured by the governor that concerns we had (Wednesday) have
> been met," Neilson said.
>
> But Democratic lawmakers told of the WEA's endorsement of SB-7901 were
> surprised. They'd heard differently from the union's lobbyists.
>
> "There are several concerns with the bill as we've seen it," said Judy
> Hartmann of the union. She listed several complaints, including how the
> bill treats union bargaining for charter school teachers. But the
> primary concern was more philosophical and probably irresolvable.
>
> "Since we haven't properly funded public education to begin with, we
> wonder why the state would create a new program," Hartmann said. "This
> doesn't do anything to assist kids currently in public schools."
>
> Locke signed off on the negotiated agreement Thursday, though he had yet
> to send a letter to legislative bargainers as they requested.
>
> The deal allows school boards to approve or disapprove charter schools
> charter school applications but requires them to act reasonably and in
> good faith. If approved, the school would receive state per-student
> funding and could receive local levy money.
>
> The bill allows the creation of 20 schools per year statewide for four
> years. Existing schools can convert to charter schools if a majority of
> teachers and parents support such a move and the local school board
> approves. No religious influence would be permitted.
>
> Applicants -- only public benefit nonprofit corporations -- also could
> seek sponsorship from one of the six state colleges or universities.
> However, such schools couldn't receive local levy money.
>
> The schools would have to meet the requirements of the state's school
> reform law of 1993 -- a move that has caused many conservative
> Republicans to oppose the charter bill.
>
> That's why Locke must recruit Democrats.
>
> "This charter school bill is very important to the governor," Flynn said.
> "He's working this bill. He'd like to see it passed."
>
> Locke told several legislators that the bill is now his No. 1 education
> priority of the session. he said he would consider a yes vote a personal
> favor.
>
> But Locke's lobbying -- done mostly on the telephone -- wasn't getting
> Democratic support.
>
> "If I brought it to a vote today it would fail," said Senate Ways and
> Means Committee Chairman James West (R-Spokane). "The governor hasn't
> done his job. I only need one Democrat vote."
>
> Senate Democratic Leader Sid Snyder (D-Long Beach) said he opposed the
> bill and wasn't responsive to Locke's lobbying. Snyder said charter
> schools were rejected overwhelmingly by voters in 1996, and he sees no
> reason to override that vote.
>
> "I haven't been guaranteed that students remaining in public schools
> won't be harmed," Snyder said. But there is no Senate Democratic policy
> to oppose the bill.
>
> The key lawmaker may be Spokane Democrat Lisa Brown. She voted for a
> charter school bill twice while in the House. She doesn't object to
> charter schools philosophically.
>
> Thursday, however, Brown said the issue is connected to broader concerns
> about the Democrats' role in the legislative process and the overall
> funding for education.
>
> "I voted for them in the past," she said. "But it makes sense to
> consider it in the context of what else we're doing -- and not doing --
> in the area of education.
>
> "The governor made it clear he was very interested in getting it out of
> committee," Brown said.
>
> Her response?
>
> "I guess I don't know yet," she said.
>
> -- end of article --
>
>
>
> ----
> Jim Spady
> Seattle, Washington
> JimSpady@aol.com
> phone: 206/634-0589
> fax: 206/633-3561
>
>
2>>
Date sent: Mon, 02 Mar 1998 08:31:19 -0500
To: joaneb001@aol.com
From: EGoldis111 (by way of Fred Battey )
Subject: New Member Bio - Ellen Goldis
Thanks for adding me to the loop. I just found out about school-to-work from
Shelly (Mrs Horn) last week and have been glued to the internet ever since. I
began fighting OBE and our town's efforts to implement block scheduling last
winter. We had a ten-week trial of block this past fall and are now in our
"evaluation" phase. We live in an university town and many of our parents are
professors and not easily snowed. We knew no sane person could honestly
believe that OBE, Mathland, Whole Language and OBE are academically valid
methods. But we couldn't find an explaination why they were dumbing down. It
made no sense until, prompted by a message by Shelly on an aol teachers lounge
bb, I asked our superintendent during a school committee meeting about school-
to-work. He totally freaked. I waited two months for his answer that never
came and then e-mailed Shelly.
Now I know that RI is one year into stw implementation. I confronted our
superintendent with all my new info, and he gave me two booklets from our
state dept. of ed confirming the move. One was dated 1992!
I also happen to be in the beginning of an ACLU suit to retrieve a"health"
assessment my daughter took last spring in grade 8. It was one of those OBE
what-would-you-do essay tests that made her confide her attitudes about
controversial issues (e.g. sex, drugs, parental authority, the ENVIRONMENT of
course -- what is it with their stupid environment!). If I'm not able to
retrieve this test (from what I've been reading, I don't think I will be able
to), it should send up a lot of red flags around here. The lawyer is sending
out a press release this week. Wish me luck with the media!
Thanks for including me.
Ellen Goldis
3>>
Date sent: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 13:01:14 EST
Send reply to: core-net@TUCC6.TUCC.Trinity.Edu
From: RSmith1110
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re: Got any U of Chicago Math Results?
Originally to: core-net@TUCC6.TUCC.Trinity.Edu
The publisher rep for Everyday Learning (UCSMP) is coming to our school on
3/16 for PTA meeting to discuss math series. He mentioned in our phone
conversation that the company was coming out with supplemental computation
material next year. (More copying expense). To cover all bases since my kids
(at least for the time being) are in public schools, I have them both enrolled
in Kumon.
4>>
Date sent: Mon, 02 Mar 1998 22:57:58 -0800
To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
From: James Burts
Subject: Letter I received from Gov Locke charters
Dear Ed loop and Arthur Hu
I called Gov Locke's office about the Charters and told him that I was
against charters and why and told him that the people already voted down
Charters in this state. This is what he wrote back.
Dear Julanne
Thank you for contacting me concerning my budget proposal for charter
schools. I appreciate that you share my interest in making Washington
schools the best in the nation. {I told him I'am against charters.}
I have proposed $1.38 million to support the bipartisan effort to establish
charter schools within the public school system. My proposal would ensure
that funds could not be taken from state education funds for privately run
schools. This is a different concept from the previously failed initiative
for charter schools. Funding is provided in my proposal because it is
expected that charter schools will attract some students currently enrolled
in private schools as well as those being home schooled.
This plan will provide an opportunity for innovative programs and
additional choices for students within the public school system.
Decisions regarding the charter schools would be made by existing local
boards with limited appeals to the Superintendent of Public Instruction
{SPI] These schools would be required to meet the new state learning
standards and achievement requirements being implemented for all public
schools, but would be exempt from many state statutes and rules. I expect
charter schools to provide examples of both innovation and deregulation.
Thank you again for expressing your concerns about education in our state.
Sincerely
Gary Locke
Gov
What do you think folks key words to bring back in private and home schools
into the system again they might get some back but not all. Terri Berguson
also said this as well. They are hoping to get us back into the system one
way or the other. It worries me that the republicans in Congress will jump
on the band wagon of charters and vouchers. Any suggestions on what I
should write back to him? Also I commend Senator Joe Zarelli and
Hockstatter for fighting this one given that republicans are for charters.
Hopefully we can educate them on this issue and we need to put pressure on
to fight OBE in this state.
Also thank everyone that has been involved in this issue and that have done
lots of work especially to Roxanne.
Julanne Burts
5>>
From: JimSpady
Date sent: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 21:52:08 EST
Subject: kclp: WA CHARTER UPDATE: No Bill This Year :(
To: kclp@ix.netcom.com (kclp Mailing List)
To:
To:
Send reply to: kclp@ix.netcom.com
Memo to Charter School Enthusiasts
From: Jim Spady
Date: Monday, 3/2/98; 6:30 PM
RE: NO CHARTER BILL, AGAIN, THIS YEAR.
9-0 DEMOCRATIC OPPOSITION ON SENATE WAYS & MEANS COMMITTEE
KILLS CHARTER BILL IN SENATE FOR 4th STRAIGHT YEAR
Dear Friends,
I'm sorry to report to you that Washington's bid, to become the 30th
state in the nation to pass a charter school law, died today in the
Senate Ways & Means Committee.
Despite the support of Democratic Governor Gary Locke, the Superintendent
of Public Instruction, the majority of House Democrats, and the majority
of House and Senate Republicans, not one of the nine Democrats on the
Senate Ways & Means Committee would vote to send the charter school bill
(SB-7901) on to the floor of the Senate for an up-or-down vote.
SB-7901 was defeated by a vote of 12-9, with 3 far-right Republicans
(Hochstatter, Zarelli, & Roach) joining with all 9 Democrats to block the
bill from reaching the Senate floor.
Although SB-7901 (an "intent-only" bill) did not contain the Governor's
agreed bipartisan compromise charter language, SB-7901 was to be the
legislative vehicle that was to receive the agreed language on the Senate
floor before final passage.
In a scene that resembled "Alice-In-Wonderland," several Senate
Democrats refused to vote for the "intent-only" bill, claiming -- with
straight faces -- that no one had given them a copy of the Governor's
proposed substitute bill, even though the Governor had been lobbying hard
for the bill, and had described passing it as his "No. 1 legislative
priority" of the session.
The last-minute hope of charter school supporters was that Seattle Public
School Superintendent John Stanford (a former Army General who last year
stated that he wanted to "convert all of Seattle's 100 schools to
charters") would join the Governor in publicly supporting the bipartisan
compromise. If he had, it probably would have been enough to turn two
Democratic Senators from Seattle (Kohl and Thibaudeau) from "no" to
"yes", which, in turn, would have turned a 12-9 defeat into a 11-10
victory. Stanford declined to ride to the rescue, reportedly saying that
he was against the charter school bill, although if it had passed, he
would have tried to convert all 100 Seattle public schools to charter
schools. Go figure.
Well that's about it. There should be a lot of articles about the vote
in tomorrow's newspapers. I'll send out excerpts as soon as I can.
Thanks to everyone for all of their hard work, with extra thanks to
everyone who came down to Olympia for today's rally.
Your efforts DID result in substantial progress this year, in that we now
have a decent charter bill that is supported by the Governor and the
majority leaders of both the House AND Senate. That progress will
definitely help next year, when the 1999 Legislature reconvenes in
January.
Until then, we can still cheer on our friends in the 29 states that have
already authorized charter schools. Knowing that almost 200,000 kids are
living the charter school dream in other states helps everyone "keep the
dream alive" in WA.
Thanks again!
Jim Spady 3/2/98 6:30 PM
----
Jim Spady
Seattle, Washington
JimSpady@aol.com
phone: 206/634-0589
fax: 206/633-3561
6>>
Date sent: Tue, 03 Mar 1998 12:25:50 -0800
To: arthurhu@mail1.halcyon.com
From: James Burts
Subject: test scores Eastside Journal
Dear Arthur Hu and ed loop
Also in todays paper opinion page our view {Test results a dismal look at
US schools.} Those of us in this area should write a response back that
tells them we are in this spot because of the ed reform in this state for
years.
It's another plea for ed reform. They say our high schools on The first
third international Mathematics and Science tests showed that they ranked
well below the world's average in standard math and among the worst in
advanced math and science.} Now for the really bad news they say is that
about 70 percent of the students thought they had done well on the
tests.{well of course they were taught to feel good about it no matter
what.} The paper says that this is because other countries go to school
longer and go to class longer than we do here. And also our graduation
requirements are less stringent here than there. Well this is setting us up
for the Certificate of Mastery folks. Then the article talks about Richard
Riley sec of education calls for higher standards and rigorous classroom
stands in math and science.This is a complete joke they have dumbed down
the standards. Then they call to action { Rather than form more blueribbon
panels to take the pulse of public schools politicians, educators and more
important parents should demand that schools should demand that schools
establish tough scholastic standards and then enforce them.} They are right
on this issue but parents don't really understand what is happening. They
are being led to believe goals 2000 and ed reform will fix the problem.Then
they quote { Our schools can get better but only if everybody gets
involved.} Involved with what? ed reform to solve our problems.
Julanne Burts
8>>
Date sent: Tue, 03 Mar 1998 12:09:52 -0800
To: arthurhu@mail1.halcyon.com
From: James Burts
Subject: Charters
Dear Ed Loop and Arthur Hu
I wrote letters to all nine Republicans that voted for the charters and
also in the todays paper Eastside Journal Page a-2 Like Roxane said the
charters did not get out of ways and means. But it states in the paper that
Dave Quall D Mount Vernon will try again next year. They are making
charters sound like home grown independent public schools.} We need to get
to the house members as well to educate them on ed reform and charters this
summer before next session. They will not quit until we have deregulated
all public schools into charters. The article did say { An unlikely
coalition of minority Democrats and conservative critics of education
reform joined forces to defeat the House passed legislation 12-9. It was
the fourth year in a row that legislation has sailed through the house only
to die in the Senate. "strange bedfellows " said the irritated house
sponsor Dave Quall D. } Also Steve Johnson is still for charters and
{stressed to the ways and means committee that this is a bipartisan support
from the house and governors office for making Washington the 30th state to
authorize the home grown independent public schools.} The bill passed the
house 72-22 last month. So folks we have our work cut out for us to educate
these people on these issues.
Julanne Burts
9>>
From: "Regnier, Paul (Burkholder)"
To: arthurhu@halcyon.com, LKFS43A@prodigy.com
Subject: RE: GREAT Ed Editorial: Wo(e)begon!
Date sent: Wed, 4 Mar 1998 08:31:40 -0500
The most important effect of such international comparisons is to force
Americans to look not only at the achievement of students in other
countries but at the education systems and instructional practices that
lead to such achievement. For one thing, education systems in other
developed countries are MORE centralized and government controlled than
in the US - usually much more. It seems illogical to bemoan the low
international ranking of US education and then call for a move in the
exact opposite direction from systems in the other countries. For
another thing, it is not just "rote memorization" that characterizes
instruction in these other countries. In Japan, for instance, you have
elementary-school classrooms in which students can spend a whole period
working on a single problem in small groups and then reporting on their
work and learning from both successes and failures. At the same time,
students are working to improve their speed and accuracy (and
automaticity) in computation, but doing this in after-school programs
(such as Kumon Mathematics) paid for by parents. It isn't just
memorization but also understanding and, in general, mastery, that
characterizes student learning in these other countries.
-----Original Message-----
From: arthurhu@halcyon.com [SMTP:arthurhu@halcyon.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 1998 11:08 AM
To: LKFS43A@prodigy.com
Subject: Re: GREAT Ed Editorial: Wo(e)begon!
This is the key - this is an anti-reform editorial:
Clinton is right. But -- as expected -- he exploits the dismal
scores
to plug an education agenda ill-suited to the task. Chester Finn
-- a
10>>
From: "mcnee"
To: "ECC"
Copies to:
Subject: Year of Reading
Date sent: Wed, 4 Mar 1998 07:44:20 -0000
President Clinton has launched "America Reads". Here, Blunkett has
designated Sept.1998-on as the Year of Reading. Clinton has said that
all we need is to roll up sleeves, sit with a child a share reading. Posts
on the net have been about books, books, books, reading. John Patten when
SoS Education said reading to/with a child for 15 minutes a day would solve
our problems. Blunkett has said the same thing, but gone one better - 20
minutes.
Shared reading has been endowed with powers it does not possess. If you
are on the way to reading, it can or may help some. But the problem is the
"tail" and these are children who CANNOT read, and their need is not
stories, but to be taught how letters work on their own and with other
letters, sh, aw,, -tion, and blending, that the bits of c-a-t can
be BLENDed to make cat. It is perhaps hard for some of us to realise what
a barrier this seemingly simple, obvious step is. Some teachers have said,
"If they cannot learn one way, teach them another way" and have moved on to
flash cards, but this may only end up with "knowing" 20 ot 50 flashcards.
In the end to be a reader you have to know how to trickle through letters
left-right to get the word.
There is a vast amount of goodwill floating around, but up to now it has
been engaged to get adults to "help" their children. This weasel word
"help". Volunteer Reading Help absorbs a lot of these good intentions and
time of the volunteers, but when volunteers are shown what to do, it
includes letting the reader guess. The standard version of Reading
Recovery includes whole words and far too little phonics. So if any of
you out there can raise questions, would you find out if your local
programme encourages or discourages guessing? Is taxmoney going into
guessing or into phonics-first? The summer schools here and and pilot
family literacy projects all tolerated guessing, yet some children are
simply not going to get going on reading until they STOP guessing.
Guessing is a cry for help, a statement that "I cannot read this word from
the letters so I have to dream up something, or try to work it out from the
picture." Guessing is from the picture, from the context, or from
first-letter-and-guess. The missing ingredient is nearly always phonics
(first).
A "mix of methods" includes guessing. The City & Guilds course I was
required to take before the Basic Skills Agency would allow me to tutor
reading was very Politically Correct, with only a brief, inadequate mention
of phonics. It was mostly about the work being "relevant".
If we are to tackle this sad tail, we must first teach children HOW to
read, - systematic phonics. Unless Clinton and Blunkett grasp this, the
failure will go on, costing us more and more. Is the Canadian premier
saying the same thing as Clinton and Blunkett? They mean well, but they
keep trusting the experts who have had the power for 20-30 years of
failure. Mona.
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
12>>
Education Deform is a term I've invented to negatively spin education
reform as the problem, not the cure for low academic achievment.
Reform math and reform "whole" math and reading have destroyed
math and reading test scores where they have been applied.
> From: "mcnee"
> To:
> Subject: Wenatchee
> Date: Wed, 4 Mar 1998 07:14:40 -0000
> Dear me. But inertia has been a key factor in preserving the neglect of
> phonics in reading, too - politicians preferring to "cover their backs" by
> going along with the "experts" rather than seeing the plain facts, or
> listening to their own common sense. Depressing - but heartening, too,
> that there still exist people who will lay their own interests on the line
> for others.
> Jargon; will you help me please, if you can? I know what the word
> REFORM means, and that "They" can spin any word to mean what they want.
> But when I saw DEFORM I first thought it was a typing error. It seems
> not. What does DEFORM mean, please and is it a straightforward word or a
> spin word?
> Thanks. Mona.
>
12>>
13>>
From: SDRAOUL
Date sent: Wed, 4 Mar 1998 04:31:21 EST
To: arthurhu@halcyon.com, pjherz@siu.edu, matloff@heather.cs.ucdavis.edu,
dchiang@juno.com, DaleWarner@aol.com, preacher@earthlink.net,
Pravdanyet@aol.com, msk@cis.org
Subject: Re: (Fwd) FWD: French Emigrate To America
Gentlemen, I suspect that Neither Norm Matloff nor his cronies in the various
anti-immigrant groups will hardly notice an influx of French men and women.
Do remember the famous Pat Buchanan/Peter Brimelow et al question: This is
paraphrased, of course, -- But who would assimilate better, a million Zulus
in Virginia or a million Englishmen?
Raoul Lowery Contreras
14>>
From: "Roxanne Sitler"
To:
Subject: Re: STW required for Washington CIM. Mandatory for all.
Date sent: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 18:09:11 -0800
Is this no STW/no CM in district literature? So far, I have not seen that
in the state language specifically, however in the report from the ad hoc
committee on the CM states that they will be looking to add "other content
area" as assessments become available and as they continue the review
process on what should make up the CM. Right now they are just whispering
about including classroom-based assessments in the CIM (fancy name for
portfolio) as a way to measure the EALR's that the State Assessment does
not cover - which when decoded simply means specific work skills, SCANS
etc. OSPI did a bar coding project and I have the 500 page print out that
contains all the bar codes - each page has about 15-20 different
competencies broken down by occupation. I predict that the classroom
portfolios is where they will scan these competencies in. Oh well, we know
all the parts of the airplane - we just don't know exactly how they are
going to put them all together...
----------
> From: arthurhu@halcyon.com
> To: Jim Keeffe
> Subject: STW required for Washington CIM. Mandatory for all.
> Date: Tuesday, March 03, 1998 8:07 AM
>
> Nice presentation, can you tell me where the page was that
> said that STW was required to get a CIM? That would be even
> more proof that it is mandatory (at least for anyone that
> wants a job or higher education...)
>
> (to cc, Jim gave a nice presentation at the first ed deform get
> together that was held in Federal way on saturday. He pointed
> out a page that says no STW, no CIM.)
>
> > Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 20:47:26 -0800
> > From: Jim Keeffe
> > To: dale-reed@postoffice.worldnet.att.net
> > Subject: Re: School to Work
>
> > 1. http://www.industries.net/radio-liberty/school.htm
> > "School-to-Work: A Formula for Failure" (The business mentioned in
this
> > article is Sizzlers restaurants)
> >
> > 2. http://www.fastlane.net/~eca/stwcollision.html
> > "School-to-Work: A Comming Collision" co-authored by Lynne Cheney.
Presented
> > to the Heritage Foundation 2/4/98.
> >
> > 3. http://www.fastlane.net/~eca/Terminology.html
> > "Terminology Every Parent MUST Understand" by Jeanne Donovan
> >
> > 4. http://www.basenet.net/~eagle/educate/1997/may97/holland.html
> > "What's Wrong With School-to-Work" by Robert Holland
> >
> > 5. http://eagleforum.org/educate/1996/apr96/alarmed.html
> > STW in Missouri State
> >
> > 6. http://www.fessler.com/stw.htm (read 'School-to-Work: It's the
Law!')
> >
> > 7. http://www.compuex.com/eaglecross/OBE.html
> > "School-to-Work; Goals 2000; Outcome Base Education" by Hon. Henry
Hyde
> >
> > 8. http://www.sover.net/~nbrook/Hillary.html
> > Letter to Hillary Clinton by Marc Tucker 'author' of workforce
development
> > and School-to-Work.
> >
> > 9. http://www.accessus.net/~eagle/educate/1995/sept95/ersept3.html
> > "Hillary Letter Lays Out School-to-Work Plan" by Dennis Cuddy Ph.D.
> >
> > 10. http://www.crisismagazine.com/OLDissues/apr96/iacovelli.html
> > "Hillary's Scarlet Letter" by Karen Iacovelli (Constitutional Law
Schalar)
> >
> > 11. http://www.accessus.net/~eagle/educate/1997/dec97/focus.html
> > "NCEE's Human Development Plan" by Virginia Miller
> >
> > 12. http://www.jb.com/~btennison/
> > The Tennison family of Oregon. Their son received the first
Certificate of
> > Initial Mastery in the nation. The Tennisons are leading a
national campaign
> > against School-to-Work and Goals 2000. They are also in the
process of suing
> > their school district.
> >
> > 13. http://www.home-ed-press.com/HEM/HEM141.97/141.97_clmn_tkch.html
> > "School-to-Work: Problems and Alternatives" by Larry and Susan
Kaseman in
> > Home Education Magazine.
> >
> > 14. http://www.fastlane.net/~eca/Beasley2000.html
> > "Goals 2000 and Work Force Development" by Sherry Beasley in 'Hope
for the
> > World' news letter.
> >
> > 15. http://www.athenet.net/~jlindsay/Educ1617.shtml
> > "Educational Tyranny:H1617 = Certificate of Mastery for ALL ADULTS"
> > by Katie Levans.
> >
> > 16. http://www.fessler.com/listen.htm
> > "School-to-Work - a stupid idea' by Dick Farrell, editor of 'The
Times
> > Reporter' of Ohio.
> >
> >
> > Washington State School-to-Work information:
> >
> > 1. http://www.wa.gov/wtb/
> > Washington State's 'Workforce Training and Education Coordination
Board'
> >
> > 2. http://www.wa.gov/wtb/stw-what.html
> > Washington State's "School-to-Work Transition" report
> >
> > 3. http://www.wa.gov/wtb/hshwexec.html
> > Washington State's "High Skills, High Wages" report
> >
> > 4. http://www.stw.ed.gov/ (On left side click on 'States'. Find
Washington and
> > click on 'Submit' to go to Washington State's School-to-Work
Initiative.)
> >
> >
> >
> > National School-to-Work information:
> >
> >
> > 1. http://www.stw.ed.gov/factsht/act.htm
> > Federal 'School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994' (Public Law
103-229)
> >
> > 2. http://www.stw.ed.gov
> > National School-to-Work web site
> >
> > 3. http://www.stwnews.org
> > School-to-Work news letter
> >
15>>
Date sent: Wed, 04 Mar 1998 18:16:18 -0500
To: joaneb001@aol.com
From: JSOOD (by way of Fred Battey )
Subject: Board Member's Response to STW Criticism
I wrote a memo to the Berkeley school board members last week explaining my
concerns and objections to STW. I've been an advocate of more rigorous
academics, more research-based teaching methods, etc. in the district, and a
critic of overemphasis on self-esteem, etc. so they know that is where I'm
coming from.
This is a letter of response I received this a.m. from one member, who is a
lawyer who works for the University, married to a woman also employed by the
University who does pregnancy counselling for students at a clinic . He is
pro-affirmative action, pro-bilingual ed, etc. (so you understand his
background.) I sent him some of the STW websites I got off the loop yesterday
(thanks, Arthur Hu). We live in a university city with some very well-
educated parents (most of whom are no longer in public school), as well as
many who are not and have lots of the well-known social problems; for this
reason I think STW is an easy-sell here.I know what some of my responses to
his statements are. I thought I'd send the board member's letter to you all.
If anybody is inspired to send their responses, I'd be interested in hearing
them--JSOOD@aol.com Thanks! Susan O'Donnell
"I was surprised by your "take" regarding School to Career. Your views and
concerns seem to be based on facts and assumptions that are at variance from
everything I have learned regarding school to career programs, both from the
literature and from districts that conduct active programs. They also do not
seem to accurately reflect anything that is being discussed for introduction
into Berkeley schools.
No school to career program of which I have ever been exposed is intended nor,
in my opinion is capable of, being an educational Trojan Horse leading to some
sort of socialist/collectivist nightmare where children are brainwashed and
then forced to choose a career at age 12. Likewise, none of the proposals I
have seen has been driven by the need of industry for cheap, well trained
labor.
School to career is a response to the mismatch for many students between what
they are being taught in school and their ability to envision and achieve a
satisfying career, at whatever level of achievement they are capable.
Many students find their studies at school to be irrelevant and a waste of
time because they have no way of connecting them to a future job and/or
career. These feelings start early for those who lack successful parents or
other role models. The principal force behind school to career in the teachers
and administrators I have talked to is to improve the quality and relevance of
education and to improve the access of young people to career opportunities.
The plan currently under discussion for Berkeley schools involves the
following stages:
**building career awareness at the middle grades, i.e., that there can be a
place for the student in the workforce, whether as a cook, accountant,
engineer, or whatever;
**building student self-awareness as to interests and skills
**creating an academic plan that matches the student's interests and skills;
i.e. figuring out how to choose courses, acquire skills and gain experience
while in school
and
**acquiring the education that is required to be successful.
Clearly, that process does not end at the end of high school. It can and
should go on as long as the student is willing and able to continue his or her
education.
The important point I want to make is that the school to career process is not
some Soviet-style dictate to do what the State wants, but, rather, it is
individually-based, focusses on maximizing the choices available to the
individual student.
I believe the whole approach of school to career is a fundamentally
individualistic approach to education that also promises to meet the needs of
employers better than is currently the case. This approach is neither
conservative nor liberal. Those that have seized on the phrase as a buzzword
for collectivization are, in my opinion, off base.
We must always guard against the tendency to reduce the rigor of instruction
and learning, but school to career progams do not themselves either encourage
or discourage that tendency. My experience, as a result of meeting with the
fifteen or twenty technical employers in the Berkeley Biotech program, is that
they are not at all interested in employing half-educated technicians who,
with a mistake, could destroy hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of
equipment or product. They have been very interested in having students who
can reliably demonstrate real mastery of mathematics, science and
communications skills. I would love to talk to you about whether there is a
programmatic link between school to career and reduced academic standards, but
so far I have not seen one.
Thanks, as always, for your thought-provoking materials."
Mr. Board Member
16>>
Date sent: Wed, 04 Mar 1998 18:11:32 -0500
To: joaneb001@aol.com
From: icemom@flash.net (by way of Fred Battey )
Subject: GED Changes
Did everyone's paper have a copy of the canned piece by Lori Horvitz of
the Orlando Sentinel on plans to change the GED?
The gist of the piece is that the test should "mirror what the K through
12th grade systems are doing" and we all know what THAT means. As the
article says, "Content standards developed at both the state and
national levels are the basis for the proposed changes."
Why does the GED, which was a result of the Armed Forces wanting to be
able to test achievement levels of young men during WWII who had dropped
out of school, need to be changed? Big Brother's interest in this
previously over-looked instrument is that home-schooled children often
take this test as a way to gain college entrance. If these jokers can
change it so that it measures problem solving, et cetera, instead of
academic knowledge, they will have placed one more stumbling block int
the way of those who are trying to circumvent the "system."
Be aware.
Mary McGarr
Katy, TX
OFFICE MEMO AMS Report on NCTM Standards Date: 3/4/98
The American Mathematical Society committee to comment on the NCTM Standards
and possible revisions to the standards has released its first and second
reports. These are available on line at
http://www.ams.org/government/nctm2000.html
18>>
What's your email program, it does not wrap properly in my
reader - I get an infinitely long line, maybe you shold do
your own line feeds
Anyways, the page I saw that that to get an CIM you have to
have some work-shadow experience, which is the most burdensome
requirement of STW since this takes time out of class. He didn't
mention this, but it was up on one of his slides
> Priority: Normal
> To: "Arthur Hu"
> From: "Lynn M Stuter"
> Subject: STW and the CIM
> Date: Tue, 03 Mar 98 22:54:45 PST
> I don't remember Jim Keefe stating that STW was a requirement for the CIM. Such wouldn't follow the general structure of STW and the CIM. By that I mean the CIM will be obtained about the age of si> Lynn
>
>
19>>
From: bernie@binghamton.edu
Date sent: Thu, 5 Mar 1998 20:18:43 -0500 (EST)
To: loopers <73633.2665@compuserve.com>, 75717.1715@compuserve.com,
aaabrown@juno.com, abnhma@aol.com, agiacobbe@aol.com,
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alayton@icdc.com, angusalfie@msn.com, anneagle@htc.net,
anton2185@aol.com, apc@americanpolicy.org, armorgod@concentric.net,
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barb@pacifier.com, bcbnpne@nponline.net, beezbunny@aol.com,
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beverly@thnet.com, bhowse@aol.com, bill_carlson@eee.org,
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Copies to: capazzi , danmelissa@juno.com,
donald s bernardo
Subject: New Book
The NY state grass roots group called ESTEEM is in the process of
publishing a book containing 3 essays which may be of interest to
you all. Entitled THE SLIPPERY SLOPE OF EDUCATION REFORM 2000,
it contains essays by William Coulson, Aldo Bernardo, and Charles
Richardson.
The piece by Dr.Coulson is entitled "The Role of Psychology in
Current Education Reform." Concentrating on the work of noted
psychologist Carl Rogers, Coulson stresses the dangers inherent
in having untrained teachers use psychological methods to
produce desirable behaviors in students. Under the guise of such
labels as experiential learning (if it feels good, it is good),
values clarification, and higher order thinking skills, many
well-meaning teachers have been doing irreparable harm to
students, being pushed by OBE adherents and by the endless flow
of funds from Washington. As a result, kids with bad experiences
tend to dominate class discussions while good kids are ashamed of
not having had such experiences and tend to admire those who
have. This explains in part why drug education seems to lead to
wider use of drugs, and sex education to more involvement in sex.
This is also why the DARE program is having serious problems. He
warns that unless parents start to realize how damaging the
misuse of psychology in the classroom can be, we are headed for a
generation of youngsters with warped minds.
In his essay,"Education Reform: Dumbing Down or Emasculation?"
Dr. Bernardo shows how the indoctrination of teachers in the use
of OBE methods has led them to believe that the results attained
by the use of standardized tests are invalid and should not be
taken seriously. As a result, they tend to overlook the serious
implications of falling scores by American students on
international tests. Performance testing and the use of
portfolios are increasingly becoming the order of the day. By
deemphasizing standardized tests, the reform movement has gone
beyond the dumbing down process. It represents a completely new
view of education which moves away from academics and toward the
socialization of student behavior.
Charles Richardson, a retired Long Island engineer and educator,
provides a detailed analysis of the extent to which hocus-pokus
plays a central role in determining what the real costs of
education are when computed honestly, and why increased funding
for schools has little bearing on quality of education. His essay
is entitled "Dollars and Sense in Education."
The 65 page book will be available after March 15 for a donation
of $5+$1. Pre-publication orders are being taken by emailing me.
Donation may be sent to ESTEEM, 25 Third St., Johnson City, NY
13790.
20>>
From: SDRAOUL
Date sent: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 00:28:22 EST
To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
Subject: Jobs
Arthur: Why don't you post this item for Norm matloff to chew on, after all,
he maintains we don't need immigrant workers.
San Diego Union/Tribune, Thursday, March 5, 1998, Column of Dianne Bell
"Fortune magazine's March 16 cover story of the high demand for skilled 'gold
collar' workers quotes San Diego Economic Development Corp.'s Julie Meier
Wright regarding S.D.'s current openings for 3,000 engineers and 2,000
technical workers. 'If anyone's interested,' Wright joked, 'them to call me.'
By yesterday, two days after the magazine hit the stands, 28 had done just
that. Her advice? Tap into the extensive jobs Web siite created by local
high-tech firms. The address: www.sandiego-high-tech.com".
We have plenty of American engineers to fill our jobs. Sure. Imagine, 3,000
job openings in the finest place to live on the face of the earth. Imagine?
Raoul Lowery Contreras
21>>
I suppose the same goes for the progressives who are offended by
what Tucker has done to education reform as well. We all need to
unite on this, whether conservative or otherwise.Liberals need to
read and compute too, right?
> From: "Regnier, Paul (Burkholder)"
> To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
> Subject: RE: Can't we (conservatives) just get along?
> Date: Thu, 5 Mar 1998 17:09:19 -0500
> I resent the assumption that all of us who agree with J. E. Stone, E. D.
> Hirsch, etc. about what is wrong with US education are "conservatives."
> We are not. I wish that those of you who are would listen to those of us
> who are not and recognize that this is not a left-right issue. My
> experience in exchanging notes with some individuals on this listserv is
> that this is impossible for you even to consider. But if you do not, you
> will alienate many who would otherwise support you and divide the
> national movement to make education more challenging, effective, and
> accountable for rigorous academic learning.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: arthurhu@halcyon.com [SMTP:arthurhu@halcyon.com]
> Sent: Thursday, March 05, 1998 5:38 AM
> To: arthurhu@mail1.halcyon.com
> Subject: Can't we (conservatives) just get along?
>
>
> ------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
> Date: Tue, 03 Mar 1998 21:22:23 -0800
> From: "Dale R. Reed"
>
> Reply-to: dale-reed@postoffice.worldnet.att.net
> To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
> Subject: Re: Libertarian says he's OK with Marc Tucker
>
> arthurhu@halcyon.com wrote:
> >
> > It was good to see you at the meeting. I think the
> > christian conservatives are going to have to figure out how to
> get
> > along with the moderate republicans and the generally
> non-christian
> > libertarians if we're going to fight the left with any chance
> of
> > winning. Check out the KVI christian / jewish / secular
> coalition.
>
>
> You sure got that right Arthur. As the song used to go:
>
> If we don't hang together we will certainly hang separately.
>
> We must agree on a few fundamental unalienable rights and
> individual
> responsibilities and go with that. We have to agree to disagree
> on
> certain issues and work together on those we can agree on.
>
> It is difficult sometimes to be optimistic. Even the
> homeschoolers are
> breaking up into factions along various religious and political
> visions. And some of them are even drifting back to the
> government
> schools for sports or band or even expecting to receive a rebate
> on
> their taxes to help them pay for their learning materials.
> Dale
> --
> $ dale-reed@worldnet.att.net Seattle, Washington U.S.A. $
>
>
> EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
>
22>>
Date sent: Fri, 06 Mar 1998 09:40:43 -0800
From: Terry Olive
Send reply to: tlolive@accessone.com
To: jimkeeffe@accessone.com, arthurhu@halcyon.com
Subject: Charles Hoff
Hi Arthur and Jim...This is a heads-up on a person who may contact
people on the parents' panel. His name is Charles (Charlie) Hoff. We
are 99.9% sure he attended the forum as ears for the school district.
He showed up an hour early, probably to find out who planned the event.
He attends all of our school board meetings and sticks
shoulder-to-shoulder with the Supt. and the Asst. Supt. (who are not our
friends).
He protrays himself as a concerned businessman who can't get employees
direct from highschool with basic skills. He has given the same (tired)
presentation to the board several times, but always neglects to mention
that he is a business partner of the Schoolwork Initiative of North King
County + several others. They received grant $ from the State as part of
the School-to-Work program.
He has been anointed by the industrial supply industry to support
efforts to produce qualified employees. He also worked with the
aerospace industry (Boeing) to create a remedial class for 50 highschool
seniors in the Edmonds School District.
All I'm saying is we don't know where this guy is coming from, but he is
intentionally vague about who's paying his salary to travel to School
Districts up and down I-5. Just be aware. Terry
23>>
Date sent: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 17:28:32 -0800
From: Norm Matloff
To: arthurhu@halcyon.com, jackpeng@juno.com, pjherz@siu.edu,
matloff@cs.ucdavis.edu, sdraoul@aol.com, dchiang@juno.com,
dalewarner@aol.com, preacher@earthlink.net, wyll@gr.cc.wa.us,
PLAUT@HAAS.BERKELEY.EDU
Subject: Re: (Fwd) "American beats Kwan"
Forgot to add: I think that headline, "American Beats Kwan," is
appalling, as was MSNBC's half-hearted apology for it.
Norm
Date sent: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 17:27:27 -0800
From: Norm Matloff
To: arthurhu@halcyon.com, jackpeng@juno.com, pjherz@siu.edu,
matloff@cs.ucdavis.edu, sdraoul@aol.com, dchiang@juno.com,
dalewarner@aol.com, preacher@earthlink.net, wyll@gr.cc.wa.us,
PLAUT@HAAS.BERKELEY.EDU
Subject: Re: (Fwd) "American beats Kwan"
On Fri, Mar 06, 1998 at 09:06:48AM +0000, arthurhu@halcyon.com wrote:
> note - anyone that doesn't speak the langauge is not Chinese
> according to Norman Matloff.
Not quite what I said. Here is what I said, after one of your
tirades on being Chinese (Sept. 18, 1997):
Second, this is laughable, because it is NOT your ethnic group.
You're not Chinese in any real sense. You don't speak Chinese.
You've said you're glad that your parents didn't teach you and your
siblings about Chinese culture. What would you say if I called
myself "Lithuanian"? (My father was from Lithuania.) You'd laugh
out loud, as you should.
Norm
OK, let's see, this means if Arthur Hu can't speak the language, then
he's not chinese, but that's not true in general of persons of
Chinese ancestry, regardless of other cultural Chinese markers????
24>>
Cheez, that makes at least two people I offended. Wonder who
else I messed up??? sorrrrrrrrry....
> Date: Fri, 06 Mar 1998 15:27:19 -0800
> To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
> From: Barb Witt
> Subject: Re: Can't we (conservatives) just get along?
> I did try to introduce myself to you at the meeting on Saturday. You
> wouldn't even shake my hand!
>
> Barb
>
> At 10:37 AM 3/5/98 +0000, you wrote:
> >
> >------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
> >Date: Tue, 03 Mar 1998 21:22:23 -0800
> >From: "Dale R. Reed"
> >Reply-to: dale-reed@postoffice.worldnet.att.net
> >To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
> >Subject: Re: Libertarian says he's OK with Marc Tucker
> >
> >arthurhu@halcyon.com wrote:
> >>
> >> It was good to see you at the meeting. I think the
> >> christian conservatives are going to have to figure out how to get
> >> along with the moderate republicans and the generally non-christian
> >> libertarians if we're going to fight the left with any chance of
> >> winning. Check out the KVI christian / jewish / secular coalition.
> >
> >
> >You sure got that right Arthur. As the song used to go:
> >
> > If we don't hang together we will certainly hang separately.
> >
> >We must agree on a few fundamental unalienable rights and individual
> >responsibilities and go with that. We have to agree to disagree on
> >certain issues and work together on those we can agree on.
> >
> >It is difficult sometimes to be optimistic. Even the homeschoolers are
> >breaking up into factions along various religious and political
> >visions. And some of them are even drifting back to the government
> >schools for sports or band or even expecting to receive a rebate on
> >their taxes to help them pay for their learning materials. Dale
> >--
> >$ dale-reed@worldnet.att.net Seattle, Washington U.S.A. $
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
25>>
From: ZorroFRR
Date sent: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 21:18:15 EST
To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
Subject: Re: STW required for Washington CIM. Mandatory for all.
And...How about liability insurance? Who pays....?
Minors working unsupervised on tax payers time during normal school hours,
hours in which the school is "locus parenti" ? Is it going to be the school
(taxpayer) who picks up the added liability costs for each business...as does
the taxpayer in absorbing the cost of training workers for industry, training
that industry once did itself ? If I were a business, safety would be of huge
concern...law suits could follow if a minor were physically harmed or raped or
never arrrived back at school or...home.... And, what about all the PAPER I
must keep, circulate and file in order to "comply" with all the conditions I
assure in order to be a "partner" with the school...
And, how do my workers like having a kid around (machinery) or whatever.....
unsupervised, or if supervised....do I, the owner, have to absorb cost of
supervision by detailing one of my employees to mentor this student or can I
pass it back to the taxpayer? AND, if the student is unsatisfactory, now what?
My mind races right along on this ...are such issues addressed in WA? Fran
Rice
26>>
Is there a version of this online? My take is that it's useless when
the US is virtually neck and neck with Germany in almost every
category, and even more useless when it's used as an excuse to
switch to goofy dumbed down education reforms which swap
basic skills for "higher order thinking skills". The TIMSS is a basic
skills test, not a "performance-based" test like the NAEP.
(to bcc, Norman Matloff is the #1 authority on anti-immigration, and
oddly though he is married into the Chinese Amercian community, he
is the #1 critic, and the inheritor of the legacy of the "Chinese
Must Go" movement of the late 1800s. He's actually #1 on my
evil people list, Marck Tucker would be #2, at least Marc Tucker
doesn't attack the accomplishments and abilities of the Chinese like
Norm.)
.
> Date: Sat, 7 Mar 1998 21:25:11 -0800
> From: Norm Matloff
> To: dchiang@juno.com, arthurhu@halcyon.com
> Cc: DNSBNA@aol.com, chavezi@oxy.edu, sdraoul@aol.com, pjherz@siu.edu,
> msk@cis.org, Ekent@brooklyn.cuny.edu, matloff@cs.ucdavis.edu,
> 74242.2223@compuserve.com, plaut@haas.berkeley.edu, DaleWarner@aol.com,
> benny.wong@utoronto.ca, jleo@usnews.com, zwang@suffolk.lib.ny.us
> Subject: Re: TIMSS International Study
>
> On Sat, Mar 07, 1998 at 10:43:14PM -0500, dchiang@juno.com wrote:
>
> > Arthur, the TIMSS study shows that American students are well behind
> > students of other industrialized nations (ie. see US News & World Report,
>
> Well, not quite, Dave. What you are quoting is not the TIMSS study
> itself, but rather a reporter's VIEW of it---and reporters always
> try to make things as sensational as possible.
>
> There is an excellent article in the current issue of The American
> Prospect which puts the TIMSS study in perspective. Things are not
> quite the way they've been described in the press.
>
> Norm
>
>
27>>
From: dchiang@juno.com
To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
Copies to: DNSBNA@aol.com, chavezi@oxy.edu, sdraoul@aol.com, pjherz@siu.edu,
arthurhu@halcyon.com, msk@cis.org, Ekent@brooklyn.cuny.edu,
matloff@cs.ucdavis.edu, 74242.2223@compuserve.com,
plaut@haas.berkeley.edu, DaleWarner@aol.com, benny.wong@utoronto.ca,
jleo@usnews.com, zwang@suffolk.lib.ny.us
Subject: Re: TIMSS International Study
Date sent: Sat, 07 Mar 1998 22:43:14 EST
Arthur, the TIMSS study shows that American students are well behind
students of other industrialized nations (ie. see US News & World Report,
March 9 1998, "Hey, we're Number 19, P14). Among the 21 nations in the
study, American 12th graders came in 16th in general science knowledge,
19th in general math skills, and dead last in physics. The U.S.
performance was actually "relatively" worse because Asian nations, which
do particularily well in this type of comparison, declined to participate
in the 12th grade study. Otherwise America might have been fighting for
39th or 40th
Dave Chiang
dchiang@juno.com
-------------------
On Thu, 5 Mar 1998 10:37:46 +0000 arthurhu@halcyon.com writes:
>The NAEP has a page explaining why the US did poorly on the NAEP,but
>relatively well on the TIMSS. The NAEP is criterion referenced, and
>puts a much higher emphasis on "higher order thinking skills". When
>high heels exert higher pressure, it's an obvious application of
>pressure - weight divided by the surface area. If you know the basic,
>skill, there's no thinking involved. That the big scam behind testing
>- most of what they're testing is simply out-of-grade facts, not
>anything that requires thinking. Heck, if you can figure out
>anything, you don't even need facts. Why memorize e=mc^2 when
>you can simply figure it out like Einstein did?
>
>> From: DNS BNA
>> Date: Wed, 4 Mar 1998 07:07:14 EST
>> To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
>> Subject: Re: GREAT Ed Editorial: Wo(e)begon!
>
>> In a message dated 98-03-03 20:36:45 EST, you write:
>>
>> <<
>> Everyone in the education industry is using the TIMSS as an excuse
>> to promote education deform. TIMSS is a test of BASIC SKILLS,
>> and we're getting killed by nations that are better at teaching
>ROTE
>> FACTS and MEMORIZATION. And what do the reformers
>> say we should do??? >>
>>
>> Arthur,
>>
>> What evidence do you have that TIMSS at the hs level was "basic
>skills" and
>> that the dreaded rote memorization of basic facts was the secret of
>success.
>> For example, how does not knowing that high heels concentrate force
>in a
>> smaller area, thereby doing more damage to floors, constitute a
>"rote fact"?
>>
>> Dave Shearon,
>> Nashville, TN
>>
>
_____________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
28>>
Date sent: Sat, 07 Mar 1998 23:23:20 +0000
To: jimmyk5@swbell.net
From: "Donna Garner" (by way of Jimmy Kilpatrick )
Subject: My Response to Post on California Standards
You might be interested to know that Shelia Byrd, who is the chair of the
Academic Standards Commission of California, has been in contact with us
and has followed the Texas Alternative Document (TAD) for a long time. She
and her group utilized much from our (TAD) document in their California
English / Language Arts / Reading standards, and she found the TAD helped
their document to be more explicit. They were not too "proud" to take the
best from various standards documents, and we are glad that they were able
to utilize parts of the TAD to help them in California.
Yes, it was the California board members such as Marion Joseph who achieved
the impossible in the area of reading. Marion has been a tremendous force
for change and also helped us here in Texas. I understand, however, that
Marion et al still have much work to do because their superintendent does
not seem to share their same beliefs.
The point that we never could seem to get Texas to realize is that K-12
ELAR standards are more than just about reading. Even though there is some
redeeming content in K-3, the Grades 4-12 standards are deplorable. They
repeat the same skills Grades 4-8 and 9-12. They are broad and
meaningless--not specific; they do not increase in depth and complexity
from one grade level to the next. Therefore, nobody (neither teachers nor
students) will really be held to accountability at each grade level. If
there is not accountability at each grade level, there is no way that
social promotion will be a thing of the past. Politicians can harp on the
derogatory effects of social promotion all they want; but nothing will
change unless there are specific, grade-level goals.
We teachers simply must have an explicit set of goals for each grade level.
Without that, we cannot hold our students to a standard of excellence.
With students, parents, and even administrators pressuring us to pass
students, we do not have a chance to make a "stand" unless there is a
definite line "drawn in the sand."
It is hard to make the public understand the daily pressure we teachers
face from parents who are deep into the self-esteem philosophy. They do
not want their Johnny or Suzie to face the harsh realities of the real
world. The fact is that success does breed success, and most of us
teachers want our students to be successful. However, the fact remains
that once a reasonable goal has been set and we teachers have done our part
to present the material well, then it is still up to the learner to do his
part and learn the material. If he chooses not to put forth the required
work, then he should face the consequences. It is when the consequences
begin to fall on Johnny or Suzie that teachers get dragged into the
administrators' offices. If we teachers cannot justify our grading
policies by showing how they are aligned to an "explicit" set of standards,
we cannot possibly hold the student to accountability.
Of course, I say all of this knowing that many teachers who are steeped in
whole language strategies are not giving their students a fair chance for
success. That is why we wrote the TAD; it is an attempt to try to help our
fellow English teachers to teach valuable and research-based ELAR content.
Not only is it important to teach phonemic awareness and phonics; but it is
also important to teach classic literature, grammar, spelling, and
vocabulary. Students must have their compositions graded for correct syntax
as well as content, and they must be guided and then held accountable to
use correct oral communication also. They must be exposed to the great
ideas of the world's finest literature. If they miss that experience in
school, they will probably never read the best that the literary world has
to offer.
It is my belief that a child needs to develop "self-confidence." He does
this by reaching a reasonable goal through hard work. Once he himself has
actually put forth the effort to learn something, then he feels true
self-confidence; nothing can take that wonderful glow away from him. He has
not only learned the valuable course content, but he has developed
self-confidence and self-discipline along the way.
Thanks for clarifying the matter about California. I was concerned that
Supt. Eastin would get the credit for what the "good guys" on the
California school board actually did.
Donna Garner
dggarner@swbell.net
----------
> From: JSOODby way of Fred Battey
> To: joaneb001@aol.com
> Subject: Standards
> Date: Saturday, March 07, 1998 7:36 AM
>
> In re: the message from Fred F. about CA standards and Delaine Eastin:
Right,
> Delaine Eastin is not to be trusted under any circumstances. She
reportedly
> owes her entire political career to the teachers' union, and she appears
to
> support national standards over the states', is in cahoots with the NCEE.
But
> the language arts (formerly known as English) standards as well as the
math
> standards that were approved we owe mainly to the State Board, and I
think
> most people think they are pretty decent.
>
> I chose to follow the math standards process, since there were more
reliable,
> informed laypeople following the language arts standards and who could be
> counted upon to raise a fuss if the standards were bad. The impression I
got
> was that since California had sunk so low with whole language, that even
> Delaine and the anti-phonics crowd saw the handwriting on the wall, that
the
> standards had to have phonics, grammar, etc. There was some altering of
the
> Commission's standards by the State Board, but there wasn't a controversy
> anything like with the math standards.
>
> We owe a lot to some very special people on the CA state board of ed:
Marion
> Joseph, known to some as "the Phonics Queen", Janet Nicholas, who was a
> heroine in the math controversy, and president Yvonne Larsen. No doubt
some of
> the other board members played important roles too, but since I'm less
sure of
> their particular contributions, I don't want to guess.
>
> Thus, California's standards are more attributable to the Board, and not
> Delaine E.
> Just wanted to clarify that.
>
> The Standards commissions wrote their standards by looking at others'
> standards, including Virginia's, Charlotte-Mecklenberg 's of North
Carolina,
> Japan's, Singapore's, and others--they didn't start totally from scratch;
they
> didn't have that much time and it made sense to start with products that
were
> considered good.
>
> I have an article written by math professor Hung-Hsi Wu, entitled "Some
> Observations on the 1997 Battle of the Two Standards in the California
Math
> War". He has an amusing way of explaining why the Board's adopted
standards
> are better than the Commission's. Here is an excerpt:
>
> (Referring to a math problem in the original Commission standards):
> "This passage is supposed to clarify the content of the Standards, but it
has
> achieved the opposite effect of obfuscating it. It would take many pages
to
> write an analysis that does this passage justice, so here is a very
> abbreviated account..First of all, mathematics deals with precise
statements,
> and if we are going to educate our children at all, we would do well to
teach
> them the necessity of eliminating the inherent fuzziness in many everyday
> utterances before transcribing them into mathematical terms. "Her
classroom is
> bigger" is clearly a case in point. Faced with such a statement, a set of
> mathematics standards has the responsibility to instruct children of
grade 3
> to make sense of the word "bigger" before proceeding any further. If they
> interpret "bigger" to mean "more area", then they should measure the
> respective areas. If they interpret "bigger" to mean "longer perimeter",
then
> measure the perimeters. The basic message is therefore that each answer
would
> be correct according to whichever interpretation is used. Furnishing such
an
> explanation would seem to be the minimum requirement of a mathematics
> education for the young. Now look at the passage above: it tells teachers
and
> students alike to accept an instruction that has no precise meaning
("bigger")
> and immediately proceed to "find the answer", and worse, "prove that your
> solution is correct using mathematics". If a teacher in an English class
shows
> students a black box without telling them what is inside other than that
it is
> an expensive piece of jewelry, and asks them to write an essay to
describe the
> latter and justify why their description fits the object, there would be
an
> uproar. Yet when the same thing happens in a set of mathematics
standards, we
> have people leaping to its defense and calling it "world class". Why is
that?
> I very much regret to say that this kind of mathematics standards would
> guarantee the deterioration of mathematics education for a very long
time."
>
> The article is 20 pages long and I don't know how to attach pages (my
husband
> does, though.) If anybody wants me to, I'd be happy to fax or mail them a
> copy. Let me know at JSOOD@aol.com
>
> Professor Wu seems optimistic that eventually the state exam will force
the
> implementation of the new math standards. My husband and I have already
> attended meetings armed with various math documents (including the above-
> mentioned article) and argued math with the president of the Berkeley
> Federation of Teachers. It would be so much easier to take a voucher to
the
> school of our choice! Probably much more effective in improving
education,
> too, math and otherwise. Susan O.
>
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
29>>
Priority: Normal
To: "Arthur Hu"
From: "Lynn M Stuter"
Subject: line feed
Date sent: Sat, 07 Mar 98 15:34:11 PST
My email program is Internet Explorer for 3.1. It has an automatic
format to frame. Don'y know why it doesn't work on your email.
What I said was that STW being required for the CIM wouldn't follow
the setup as STW emersion follows the child receiving the CIM at or
about the age of sixteen. Thanks for forwarding Jim Keefe's
eresponse to you.
My back is still out of commission. Hopefully by mid next week I'll
be back togwther again.
Lynn Stuter
P.S. Is Dale Reed the head of the Liberatarian Party?
30>>
pass this on --- I think the idea is that "all students will succeed"
har har har. Or "all will perform at the highest levels". All you
have to do is set higher standards. Hehehehehehehehehahahahahahahaah.
> Date: Sat, 07 Mar 1998 16:35:52 -0500
> To: joaneb001@aol.com
> From: SHAFER305 (by way of Fred Battey )
> Subject: Re: Proof of Federal Strings
> In a message dated 98-03-06 20:39:36 EST, LYTK73A@prodigy.com writes:
>
> << "Neither promoting students when they are unprepared nor simply
> retaining them in the same grade is the right response to low student
> achievement," Mr. Clinton wrote to Secretary of Education Richard W.
> Riley. "Both approaches presume high rates of initial failure are
> inevitable and acceptable." >>
>
> If I may ask a pretty silly question: If you're not promoting them nor
> retaining them, what is he advocating to do with the kids-- sending them back
> a grade level or two? It seems to me there aren't many alternatives: move
> ahead, stay where you are, go back.. Am I missing something? :-)
> Barbara
>
>
>
31>>
From: Nlgriswold
Date sent: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 23:31:14 EST
To: rebco@tricon.net, education-consumers@tricon.net
Subject: Re: Education Edge
In a message dated 98-03-05 10:48:09 EST, rebco@tricon.net writes:
> "Conservatives pepper Education Edge backers"
>
> By Tim Whaley, Kingsport Times News (twhaley@timesnews.net)
> Friday, February 27, 1998
Steve,
Thanks for posting the article. STW/Ed Edge is an ill-advised, ill-conceived
disaster. The best we can hope for--which I happen to believe is the case--is
that the Sundquist administration is not really committed to the program
beyond what is required to draw down the $28 million from the Feds. I predict
that, when the grant is exhausted, the state ed department will have no more
interest in Ed Edge. Just another federal revenue stream to tap until the last
trickle has dried up.
I also predict that, especially in districts with block scheduling, the Ed
Edge program just won't work because of time limitations and the logistics of
getting kids to an internship and back to school for the next class. Just how
much time will that leave for their invaluable "hands-on type endeavors with
internships, cooperative education [and] work agreements"? 30 minutes before
they have to race back to school? 45 minutes? I believe that teachers, who
already feel that they have too little classroom time with their students,
will revolt when they begin to see kids shuttled off to some workplace in the
middle of the school day when they should be in class learning. THEN, you get
the teachers union involved . . . . Ain't nothin' much happen in education in
this state unless and until the union says so.
But how much damage will be done to our kids in the 3-4 years that the program
is federally funded?! And in the years following as the remnants of Ed Edge
are still in effect?
I'm glad y'all are keeping on the issue. But the Republican governor, his
Commissioner of Education, AND big business in the state are hard to fight.
Good luck! You're on the side of the angels.
Regards,
Nelson Griswold
Nashville, TN
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
32>>
Date sent: Fri, 06 Mar 1998 18:33:52 -0800
From: Soya Jung
Organization: WAIRJ
To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
Subject: Re: Sen. Abraham proposes more visas for high-skilled workers
Thanks for responding, Arthur. I agree that we should all be more vocal about
denouncing Matloff, along with others in the larger, increasingly
well-orchestrated anti-immigrant movement -- FAIR, Population-Environment
Balance, Carrying Capacity Network, Pioneer Fund... Regarding the issue of
immigration enforcement and "illegal labor," I think there's a disturbing
assumption in current public attitudes: that "illegal" immigrants are the
root cause of our social and economic ills, and that they should be punished
accordingly. The reality is that there are forces much greater than
undocumented workers themselves (and their families) that are contributing to
global migration -- forces like repressive governments and multinational
corporations with no national allegiances that cause large-scale environmental
damage and economic displacement, making it impossible for people to survive
in their homelands. While I agree that policy is tied to public opinion, it is
precisely that connection that comprises our challenge.
arthurhu@halcyon.com wrote:
> These are two separate issues, bringing in more immigant engineers is
> a win for everybody, unless you are Norman Matloff, he's still the
> #1 enemy of high tech, and traitor to the Chinese community he's
> married into. You really need to start to pay attention to this guy,
> he's causing a lot of real damage
>
> Norman Matloff is the inheritor of the legacy of anti-chinese
> immigration in the late 20th century.
>
> As long as society wants to crack down on low-paid illegal labor,
> people will call for enforcement.
>
> > Date: Wed, 04 Mar 1998 20:57:17 -0800
> > From: Soya Jung
> > Organization: WAIRJ
> > To: Soya Jung
> > Subject: Sen. Abraham proposes more visas for high-skilled workers
>
> > Here's an article on Senator Abraham's proposal to raise the cap on
> > visas for high-skilled immigrants. The question is: Apart from the
> > short-term policy of bringing in more temporary high-skilled workers,
> > doesn't the United States have a role in the global economic conditions
> > driving people to migrate in search of better opportunities? What are
> > the moral implications of spending over $3 billion on an increasingly
> > abusive immigration police force that selectively targets Latinos and
> > Asians working in low-wage service-sector industries, while at the same
> > time increasing the numbers of immigrant workers who directly benefit
> > high-tech industry? Comments?
Thanks, chalk up at least one more person against Matloff. He really
believes nearly all Asians think he's a good guy. It really burns me
up when you guys burn up all your political capital on stupid gaffes
like America Beats Kwan and Chine Oba 20's pictures when they don't
do any real harm -
Meanwhile, Matloff slips by completely undetected
even when he's ranting against immigrants in the EE times, NY Times,
San Jose Mercury News, and all you guys are completey silent
instead of jumping all over his case when he completely denies and
defames the achievements and abilities of the Chinese and
Indo-Americans. Honest to god, he says that the Chinese earn less,
are less innovative, and have made no important contributions to
US high tech.
Everybody scream about the evil republicans
when it comes to kicking helpless elderly off of SSI when it's
a Jewish Democrat that got the ball rolling - Matloff. His
study is on the internet, and is the basis for the whole thing.
33>>
From: "Bob & Barbara Tennison"
To: "Fred Battey"
Subject: Sex-Ed in Oregon
Date sent: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 18:43:08 -0800
Dear All,
WARNING - WARNING - WARNING Some of the material in the following post may
be offensive to some but you must remember, the first incident actually
occurred in an Oregon classroom of minor children and the second incident
was intended for all 6th grade students in an Oregon School. This is an
example of the rigorous academics with high world class standards we are
dealing with.
On February 19th, as I got in my car to head home for lunch I caught just
the tail end of a news report about a teacher in an Oregon School who had
held classes on the "F" word. I got the teachers name but missed what
school she taught in. I did not post anything about this at the time as I
wanted to verify that what I thought I had heard was true and had indeed
happened. I have now verified that what I thought I had heard, I did hear
correctly.
The first incident involved a high school teacher in the Beaverton School
District 3ho allowed at least two of her language arts classes to explore
the origin and use of the "F" word. One of the students in her class
complained to her parents and the parents went public with the information.
The students were apparently allowed to spend 50 minutes of valuable class
time writing about the "F" word and we allowed to use it freely in any way
they chose.
When the teacher was asked why she had done this, she allegedly said she was
tired of hearing kids use the word and decided if they were going to use the
"F" word, then they had better understand what it meant.
***********
The second incident occurred when a parent from, guess where? Beaverton
School District called me to tell me about the planned new 6th grade health
curriculum. She said as part of the health class the students were to be
involved in a class project where the students would construct a penis and a
vagina out of modeling clay and then they would decorate the penis and
vagina with beads and feathers. This was in the 6th GRADE!!!!
After talking to the parent, I called a Beaverton School Board member with
whom I am aquatinted and asked her if this was true. She yes, it was the
planned curriculum but that it would not be used. She said when the teacher
was asked why he would even consider such a curriculum he allegedly said it
was given to him and he was directed to teach it. She did not say who might
have given the teacher such a direction.
The teacher also allegedly said that he had taught the same curriculum in
the 4th grade last year or the year before and 'NOBODY COMPLAINED THEN."
This school board member has the curriculum, including the overheads and
will make it available to me in the near future.
***********
Now the good part, if there is ever anything good about these situations.
The Beaverton School District is named in our lawsuit, yet they continue to
do such stupid things without parental knowledge or permission. The
Beaverton School Board member who has the curriculum is a Plaintiff in the
lawsuit, so guess who else has this curriculum? You can bet our attorneys
are very interested in this material.
I don't think school districts will ever learn. Their arrogance simply
astounds me.
Barbara
Bob & Barbara Tennison
78612 Halderman Rd.
Cottage Grove, OR 97424
(541)942-0703
http://www.jb.com/~btennison
34>>
(to cc'ers - Norman Matloff has stated that I (arthur hu) am
not chinese because I don't speak the language, and don't
choose to retain all Chinese culture in favor of assimilating -
what do you folks think of a man who thinks he can judge
whether or not you are Chinese???)
Well, what do you think of people who wear skull caps, keep
strictly kosher, won't turn on the lights on saturday? You my
friend are far less Jewish than I am Chinese, yet ask any KKKer
what you are.
You, sir, are an unbelievable racist. Do you think Kristi
Yamaguchi is Japanese? Do you think the Andrew Grove
is Jewish? Is Michelle Kwan Chinese? What if she doesn't
speak mandarin (and I give odds 2 to 1 that she doesn't!)
You have abosolutely no say in what is ethnically offensive.
I'm a software engineer that plays violin, took 1 year
of mandarin, didn't have sex in high school or college, didn't
date until college, knows a
dozen characters, can fold a paper crane, add on an abacus, eats rice
6 times a week, can stir fry, and am a person offended by the man who
is the #1 enemy of the Chinese Americans. And you have the
audacity to say that I am not Chinese??? Do you want
to tell my parents that????
At least I'm not the one that tell congress that the Chinese
are of absolutely no value to the US high tech, that they
are a race of welfare cheats, and seek to deny benefits
even to naturalized citizens. You are the one who pretends to
be chinese, but then attacks them in the New York Times.
> Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 19:13:33 -0800
> From: Norm Matloff
> To: arthurhu@halcyon.com, jackpeng@juno.com, pjherz@siu.edu,
> matloff@cs.ucdavis.edu, sdraoul@aol.com, dchiang@juno.com,
> dalewarner@aol.com, preacher@earthlink.net, wyll@gr.cc.wa.us,
> PLAUT@HAAS.BERKELEY.EDU
> Subject: Re: (Fwd) "American beats Kwan"
>
> On Fri, Mar 06, 1998 at 06:27:49PM +0000, arthurhu@halcyon.com wrote:
>
> > OK, let's see, this means if Arthur Hu can't speak the language, then
> > he's not chinese, but that's not true in general of persons of
> > Chinese ancestry, regardless of other cultural Chinese markers????
>
> It's not just language, Arthur. Your pride in rejecting the "silly"
> Chinese culture (this is the word you used) makes it very difficult
> for me to think of you as "Chinese."
>
> Well, what about it, Arthur? Am I "Lithuanian"?
>
> Norm
>
>
35>>
From: "Glen Moody"
To: "Nlgriswold" , ,
Subject: Re: Education Edge
Date sent: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 01:08:31 -0500
Nelson, you wrote.....
>
> I also predict that, especially in districts with block scheduling, the
Ed
> Edge program just won't work because of time limitations and the
logistics of
> getting kids to an internship and back to school for the next class. 30
minutes before
> they have to race back to school? 45 minutes? teachers with too little
classroom time with their students, > will revolt when they begin to see
kids shuttled off to some workplace in the
> middle of the school day when they should be in class learning.
SORRY TO DISAPPOINT YOU, but my daughter is doing a 2 hour per day (1-3pm)
criminal justice internship at the police department. She is a junior at a
school where block scheduling
is in its 4th year. The internship program requires 100 hours of
participation.
Incidentally, she doesn't do well in Chicago Math (big shock I'm sure).
But she does get to practice with the softball team for 2.5 hours per day,
7 days per week. Make that 6 days for her (I eliminated her Sunday
practices). I figure the less time spent in OBE classes the better. She
is also taking OBE chemistry--called ChemCom (Chemistry in the Community.)
My son also did job shadowing and community service (health care
organizations) two years ago at the same school. Both their programs are
scheduled last period. Although I don't hear any discussion about it at
school board meetings or elsewhere, I get the impression from the STW
(excuse me, ED EDGE) folks that this is a quiet but rapidly growing
program. My point is that internships and job shadowing are automatically
scheduled last period and most jrs and srs have their own transportation.
Our (?) STW appointed committee is (1) the superintendent of schools, (2)
the chamber of commerce CEO, and (3) the president of the state's largest
private employer. So, sorry to spoil your optimism, but I think block
scheduling aids STW rather than hinders its progress.
BTW, when our HS principal was hired, the local paper referred to him as
the " father of block scheduling in Oklahoma," but my discussions with his
constituents in OK confirmed that block scheduling was NOT approved at
either school where he was principal there. So much for disinformation.
Sign me cynical.
Glen Moody
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
36>>
Date sent: Sun, 08 Mar 1998 01:19:38 -0500
From: "M. Fields"
To: "Grimm, Karen NE"
Subject: Follow up: Tyranny by EO
Loopies, Berit wrote after I posted that list of EO's and
reminded me of this EO. She has done an excellent review of
it. Melanie
http://www.beritkjos.com/text/articles/nis1196.html
A NATIONAL INFORMATION SYSTEM:
Executive Order #13011
by Berit Kjos
On July 16, President Clinton signed Executive Order
#13011, creating a massive new
bureaucracy with authority to manage "Federal
Information Technology." It links the
data gathered by the health, education, and labor
departments to the data accessible to
the FBI, CIA, EPA, and other federal agencies. And it
apparently gives this unified
information system unspecified power to:
Propagandize the public by disseminating
politically correct information
everywhere
Control people through a vast federal data bank
and monitoring system.
Yet, at first glance, this new order sounds practical
enough to silence most critics. Section
1 begins,
"It shall be the policy of the United States Government
that executive agencies shall:
a) significantly improve the management of their
information systems....
b) refocus information technology management to
support... strategic missions....
c) establish clear accountability for information
resources management activities by
creating agency Chief Information Officers (CIOs)....
d) ... promote a coordinated, interoperable, secure,
and shared Government-wide
infrastructure that is provided and supported by a
diversity of private sector suppliers...."
The CIOs are selected by the heads of participating
executive agencies. These include
most of the agencies represented in the President's
Commission on Critical Infrastructure
Protection (Executive Order 13010): the CIA, FEMA, FBI
as well as the Departments of
Defense, Commerce, Transportation, Energy, etc.
Executive Order 13011 expands that
network by adding the EPA (Environmental Protection
Agency), the Departments of
Interior, Education, Health and Human Services, Labor,
HUD, Army, Navy, and Air
Force along with NASA, the Agency for International
Development, and others.
To grasp the extent of its reach, remember that the
controversial "Careers Act" (HR1617)
would have linked only three agencies-the Departments
of Education, Labor and Health
and Human Services-in an effort to create a national
employment agency and a "National
Electronic Data Base," part of a massive "National
Labor Market Information System."
The Chief Information Officers make up the CIO Council,
which shall "develop... federal
information technology management policy" and "sponsor
cooperation in using
information resources, procedures, and standards...."
It still sounds like good business
practice, doesn't it?
Section 4 establishes Government Information Technology
Services that encourages
"cross-agency cooperation" and develops "shared
governmentwide information
infrastructure services." Its "major government mission
areas" include electronic
commerce, law enforcement, environmental protection,
national defense, and health care.
In the name of national security and protection from
terrorists, polluters, extremists, and
other enemies to the global village, the all-seeing
eyes of the State will have power to
search everywhere and to monitor everyone.
Section 7 links the Federal information management
system to "State and local
governments" and "nongovernmental international
organizations" and
"intergovernmental organizations."
Section 9 deals with "liaison, consultation, and
negotiation with foreign governments
and intergovernmenal organizations on all matters
related to information resources
management" and ensures "that the United States is
represented in the development of
international standards.... affecting information
technology." Do you see the bigger
picture?
Standing alone, this executive order might raise little
alarm. But examined in the light of
the United Nations agenda and stated government
intentions, it looks ominous. The UN
has called for a sophisticated international
computerized information system that would
disseminate its politically correct data and
pseudo-scientific risk assessments into every
community, build consensus based on its visions, goals,
values, and choices, then
monitor individual and collective compliance
everywhere-in homes, schools, offices....
"Develop gender-sensitive databases, information and
monitoring systems," states the
Beijing Platform for Action (#258). It calls for the
"consistent flow of information" among
"national, subregional/regional and international
institutions." (#288) -all under the
watchful guidance of the UN's Social and Economic
Council. (#314)
The UN plan matches the Clinton plan for social
transformation through a vast
government-controlled information and surveillance
system. The President's Council on
Sustainable Development (PCSD)-the US counterpart to
the UN Commission on
Sustainable Development-issued a report that echoes the
UN agenda. Called, Sustainable
America: A New Consensus, it states in Chapter 3 which
deals with "Information and
Education," "Citizens... depend on the quality and
timeliness of information to alert them
to hazards and to make informed decisions.... As
sustainable development focuses
attention on new environmental, social, or economic
concerns, government must perform
this critical management function more effectively to
ensure the quality and timely
availability of new kinds of information...."
"The federal government is already participating in
collaborative efforts with the public,
the private sector, and intergovernmental organizations
to improve information
management. These efforts should be expanded to include
priority setting for data
collection and analysis, identification of the most
useful formats for dissemination, and
additional mechanisms...." (p. 59)
The report calls for "international cooperation" and
broad governmental networks to
coordinate "comprehensive regional inventories and
assessments of environmental,
economic, and social indicators of progress." The
public would be warned about "risk
assessment" and taught "accurate information built on
basic scientific research... needed
for sound decisionmaking." (p.61)
The truthfulness of this "accurate information" would
depend on political expedience. As
Stanford environmentalist Stephen Schneider said, "We'd
like to see the world a better
place... to get some broad-based support, to capture
the public's imagination. That, of
course, entails getting loads of media coverage. So we
have to offer up scary scenarios,
make simplified, dramatic statements and make little
mention of any doubts we might
have...." (See Brave New Schools, chapter 5)
The PCSD report calls for "policies that increase
access to public information for all
segments of society and encourage the development of
the National Information
Infrastructure."(p. 64) It wants "better tools for
measuring the public value"-the
community consensus and solidarity based on common
goals and values called "social
capital" by UN and World Bank leaders.
To the PCSD, "information is useful only if citizens
can put it into a framework of
knowledge and use it to solve problems, form values,
and make choices"-the right
choices. For this "framework of knowledge" is the new
global paradigm-the new way of
thinking, believing, and deciding that turns
traditional values, facts, and logic upside
down. It's the bridge to the 21st Century and it burns
the bridges to the past.
This monstrous information management system is part of
a global phenomenon.
Already, "more than 100 nations have established
national councils on sustainable
development similar to the US President's Council on
Sustainable Development." (p.160)
Following UN guidelines for "information management,"
each nation guides its
unsuspecting public toward global controls through
deceptive propaganda in the name
of "scientific research."
The PCSD report was sent to me from the US Department
of Education with a letter that
stated, "The PCSD is now entering its implementation
phase." Apparently, Executive
Order 13011 is part that phase.
As you ponder the significance of Executive Orders
13010 and 13011, remember what Al
Gore wrote in Earth in the Balance: "Adopting a central
organizing principle [saving the
earth] means embarking on an all-out effort to use
every policy and program, every law
and institution, every treaty and alliance, every
tactic and strategy to halt the destruction
of the environment.... Minor shifts in policy...
rhetoric offered in lieu of genuine
change-these are all forms of appeasement, designed to
satisfy the public's desire to
believe that sacrifice, struggle and a wrenching
transformation of society will not be
necessary." (p. 274, Emphasis added)
The world is changing fast. If our globalist leaders
win this battle, they will end the
freedoms Americans have taken for granted. It's time to
awaken our neighbors, pray to
the only God who can reverse these trends, seek His
guidance, and stand together
against the forces that would mold our minds and
control our lives. When we trust and
follow Him, He makes us "more than conquerors." (Romans
8:37)
For practical information about the new education
system designed to mold and monitor
the minds of both children and parents, read Brave New
Schools (Harvest House
Publishers) by Berit Kjos. Available through Christian
bookstores
or call 800-829-5646.
| Home | Armor of God | Christian Persecution | His
Word | Our Articles | Speaking Schedule |
| Books / Videos | Links |
37>>
From: SDRAOUL
Date sent: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 02:03:25 EST
To: matloff@cs.ucdavis.edu, arthurhu@halcyon.com, dchiang@juno.com
Copies to: DNSBNA@aol.com, chavezi@oxy.edu, pjherz@siu.edu, msk@cis.org,
Ekent@brooklyn.cuny.edu, 74242.2223@compuserve.com,
plaut@haas.berkeley.edu, DaleWarner@aol.com, benny.wong@utoronto.ca,
jleo@usnews.com, zwang@suffolk.lib.ny.us
Subject: Re: TIMSS International Study
Gentlemen:
The question is, does the U.S. have more brighter, better educated,
accomplished people than other countries? If only 10% of our population
excels, that's 26-million plus people. If another 10% come close, that's
another 26-million. That's 52-million plus accomplished, bright people, some
of whom are geniuses. The entire population of Germany is not much larger.
Only China can potentially produce such numbers, but only when they have a
free society.
In the final analysis, we obviously have more that 10-20% bright accomplished
people, thus we have more of the best and the brightest in absolute numbers
than all other countries and in proportion to our whole population, probably.
Consider, if you will, the bonehead Ross Perot and what he did with a degree
from the Naval academy. Only in America....
Raoul LOwery Contreras
38>>
From: "Bob & Barbara Tennison"
To: "Fred Battey"
Subject: If you were born before 1945
Date sent: Sat, 7 Mar 1998 22:39:54 -0800
FOR THOSE BORN BEFORE 1945
We are survivors! Consider the changes we have witnessed!
We were born before television, before penicillin, before polio shots,
frozen foods, Xerox. Plastic, contact lenses Frisbees and the PILL.
We were before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and
ballpoint pens, before pantyhose, dishwashers, clothes dryers,
electric blankets, air conditioners, drip dry clothes and before man
walked on the moon.
We got married first, then lived together. How quaint can you be!
In our time, closets were for clothes, not for coming out of.
Bunnies were small rabbits, and rabbits were not Volkswagons.
Designer Jeans were scheming girls named Jean or Jeanne, and having a
meaningful relationship meant getting along well with our cousins.
We thought fast food was what you ate during Lent, and Outer Space
was the back of the Riviera Theater. We were before house-husbands,
gay rights, computer dating, dual careers and commuter marriages. We
were before day-care centers, group therapy and nursing homes. We
never heard of FM radio, tape decks, electric typewriters, artificial
hearts, word processors, yogurt, and guys wearing earrings. For us,
time sharing meant togetherness, not computers or condominiums; a
"chip" was a piece of wood; hardware meant hardware and softwear
wasn't even a word.
In 1940, "Made in Japan" meant junk. and the term "making out"
referred to how you did on your exam. Pizzas, McDonalds, and instant
coffee were unheard of. We hit the scene when there were 5 and 10
cent stores. Sander's or Wilson's sold ice cream cones for a nickle
or a dime. For a nickle you could ride a street car, make a phone
call, buy a Pepsi, or enough stamps to mail one letter and two
postcards. You could buy a new Chevy Coup for $600, but who could
afford one? That was a pity too, because gas was $.11 a gallon.
In our day, cigarette smoking was fashionable, GRASS was something
that you mowed, COKE as a cold drink, and POT was something that you
used for cooking in. ROCK MUSIC was a grandma's lullaby, and AIDS
were helpers in the principal's office. We were certainly not before
the difference in sexes was discovered, but we were surely before the
sex change! We had to make do with what we had! And we were the
last generation that was so dumb as to think you needed a husband to
have a baby!
No wonder we are so confused, and there is such a generation gap
today!
29>>
Date sent: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 08:44:12 -0500 (EST)
To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
From: msk@cis.org (Mark Krikorian)
Subject: Re: Immigration in suburban Washington
Copies to: pjherz@siu.edu, matloff@heather.cs.ucdavis.edu, sdraoul@aol.com,
dchiang@juno.com, dalewarner@aol.com, preacher@earthlink.net,
pravdanyet@aol.com
>The Washington Times is known to be a far-right newspaper, that they
>are anti-immigrant shows the true political leanings of Norman
>Matloff, and others who call themselves liberal, but oppose
>immigration.
========
RTFM, Arthur. The Times is a flamboyantly HIGH-immigration newspaper, its
editorial and op-ed pages consistently mocking anyone who questions the
absurdities of today's immigration policy. This story is quite a departure
for them. -- Mark Krikorian
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Krikorian, executive director
Center for Immigration Studies
1522 K St. N.W., Suite 820, Washington, DC 20005-1202
(202) 466-8185 (phone); (202) 466-8076 (fax)
msk@cis.org http://www.cis.org/cis
------------------------------------------------------------------------
31>>
Date sent: Mon, 09 Mar 1998 10:38:59 +0000
To: jimmyk5@swbell.net
From: Jimmy Kilpatrick
Subject: Even more damaging news: More of Colorado...Re: Urgent:
Colorado contacts?
In the news clips I sent out today is an article showing 40% of the fourth
grade Colorado students not passing the reading test. These students took
the test last spring and have been passed onto fifth grade. Of course the
test results were not released until November. This is another state that
is tossing out any accountability in favor of "muss testing." Same old
game the states play, kids don't pass just change the test. Jimmy
I now have the full bill and it is very bizarre. It is an
accreditation bill that says phonics should be taught, then says use the
standards-based test that doesn't measure phonics skills and dump the
norm-referenced tests that do measure the skills. And all of this is in a
HIGH school accreditation bill. It also expands the standards-based
testing without going to bid. The program started as a $1 million program
and would hit $15 million without a competitive bid...and guess who has
it....Terra Nova...the fuzziest of all tests!
Methinks I smell a rat. The phonics must be thrown in to get the
conservatives...but it really will not do anything for skills but erode
them and eliminate any ability to prove how the students are doing if the
state starts playing games with the tests...which they are doing already.
sigh.
31>>
Date sent: Mon, 09 Mar 98 08:56:07 LCL
From: Jolene Clark
Subject: Where Does the Buck Stop?
To: EDUCATION CLEARINGHOUSE
This past weekend I had an interesting conversation with a high school math
teacher in my community. It seems that one of her children has a math
teacher at the middle school that she is less than pleased with. She had dis-
covered that her child's class (upper-level math students) is 3 chapters be-
hind the other math teachers' classes at this school. Not to mention that she
is a little perturbed that her child and other students report that this
teacher hands out dittos everyday then sits in class using her time to paint
her fingernails, eat twinkies, and talk on the phone. When she approached the
principal about this, he indicated that there wasn't much he could do about the
3-chapters-behind situation, and proceeded to defend this teacher with excuses
that she had recently been through a bad divorce (her 4th) and had many health
problems. He could, however, say something to her about painting her nails,
etc. So the high school teacher spoke to the county math supervisor about this
and was told that she could do nothing because the principals at that school
wouldn't do anything about it (I assume she meant document the problems). She
indicated that if you had a child in that school and wanted them to learn math
then you had better home-school them!
I would have been appalled -- probably in shock when I heard this story,
EXCEPT ..... Four years ago, my daughter was in this same teacher's suite.
She had her for upper-level reading. The assignments were disorganized hodge
podge. She was constantly absent and would leave packets of dittoes to occupy
the students. After completing one such packet which was graded in a very
illogical way, my daughter showed me the materials complaining that she did not
understand why her answers were wrong or how the grades had been calculated.
After examining them, neither could I. I asked for a conference and an ex-
planation. She told me that she really wasn't familiar with what was in the
packet so she couldn't answer my questions and that her maid had graded them so
she could not explain the grades! Another instance, she retrieved my daughter
and three other girls from one of their classes the day before report cards
were to go home and informed them that because of their constant class absences
(due to attending Talented and Gifted classes) she had NO grades for them that
six weeks! The girls told her that they had done all of the assignments and
and turned them in, regardless of going to TAG. So the four students stayed
after school that afternoon, went to the teacher's room and sorted through
every stack of papers piled on bookshelves, her desk, cabinets, whatever. Until
they found all of their assignments -- UNGRADED. She constantly made snide
remarks to my daughter about her MOTHER because I did question the assignments
in her class and the total chaos that reigned in the science class in that
suite. Several parents and I reported many instances of this very kind of
conduct and horrendous job performance to the principals and to the middle
school supervisor. Regardless, she had glowing county evaluations that year.
So as you see, I was not appalled nor shocked at the story I heard this
weekend -- only sickened. There oughta be a law!
Still Looking for Answers,
Jolene Clark
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
32>>
Date sent: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 22:44:51 -0500
From: "Richard G. Innes" <70224.434@compuserve.com>
Subject: Re: STW spy for Western WA
To: ed-consumers main listing
<>
Interesting.
In Kentucky, there are indications of similar goings-on. UPS, one of the
largest industries in the state, is a heavy supporter of our radical
reform. Their middle-level managers and lobbiests are frequently present
at school-related meetings.
A while back, a lot of people thought I worked for UPS. I was even once
asked by one of their lobbiests if I was a UPS pilot. Anyway, I later
heard rumors that pressure was being placed on UPS pilots who spoke out
against the reform. I suspect UPS is still trying to track me down on one
of their employee rosters. The games people play!!
Richard Innes
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
33>>
Date sent: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 22:44:45 -0500
From: "Richard G. Innes" <70224.434@compuserve.com>
Subject: Re: Standards from G. Hoffman
To: ed-consumers main listing
<>
Back in 1971 when I was first introduced to the rigorous standards
development programs for Air Force technical training that were the
forerunners of today's education attempts, I wondered if the process would
be transferable to public education. At the time, I believed that
development of rigorous, detailed, and measureable standards for public
education would be a daunting, perhaps impossible job.
People have been trying to do this ever since. They have been going at it
not for a few years, but for at least a quarter of a century. So, no, I
don't think the very good (at least compared to every other state) Virginia
*content* standards have taken too long to develop. If anything, it is a
miracle that Virginia has done so well.
That said, NO-ONE has gone beyond the development of content standards to
the even more difficult task of developing the performance standards that
are also essential to a fully functional standards based program. As I
believed in 1971, it is quite possible no-one ever will, either.
By the way, it is the failure to produce performance standards that may be
the biggest danger with the manipulative-based approach to math you
mention. Without performance standards, it isn't possible to gauge if kids
are moving beyond a pitifully slow ability to solve math problems to the
point where they can do many calculations automatically in their heads.
That automaticity is important to being able to rapidly acquire truly
advanced math skills, at least in the eyes of some educators like E.D.
Hirsch.
Also, I'd ask the math teacher whether the studies she is so willing to
provide have been *replicated*. We are now learning that this very
scientific principal of truly valid research is being largely ignored in
the education field. The result is many reform ideas, presented as "proved
by research," are quite possibly worthless.
Richard Innes
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
35>>
The most accurate dropout figures are the census figures - most
schools count as drop outs anybody that came out, but might
have transferred out somewhere else. 1990 figures were something
approaching 90% completion for whites and blacks, Asians were
somewhat higher than whites. Trouble for Hispanics is that many
immigrate as adults, or teens from a country where schooling
for most stops at elementary or junior high. Asians have a relatively
high drop out rate for this same reason, the kids go all the way
through, but grandma grew up in the sticks where there aren't any
schools. Evidence is that Hispanics who start school in the US
don't drop out at such high rates.
> Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 22:44:54 -0500
> From: "Richard G. Innes" <70224.434@compuserve.com>
> Subject: Re: Dropout Rates
> To: ed-consumers main listing
> <
35>>
Hi folks, I'm just starting a new job, and I need to shut down this
ed reform stuff for a while until I get the new stuff figured out, it
didn't help my last day job at all. BTW, my web site appears to
be dead temporarily, I'll let you know when it's back up, I had that
grammar packet all html-ized and ready to go.
I'll take indidividual requests and real nuggets, but no routine
stuff for now.
Thanks all!
36>>
Great, somebody else noticed the new test is a sham. You've all seen
my critique of the test that all will fail given by the people who
say that all must succeed? It's a 7th and 10th grade level tests
measured by their own benchmarks.
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date: Mon, 09 Mar 1998 21:54:42 -0600
To: arthurhu@mail1.halcyon.com
From: Lauren Scheffers
Subject: Re: Even more damaging news: More of Colorado...Re: Urgent:
Colorado contacts?
>Date: Mon, 09 Mar 1998 18:39:11 -0800
>Reply-To: smking@gte.net
>Sender: owner-conserv-exceledu@listproc.bgsu.edu
>From: Steve & Marilyn King
>To: conserv exceledu
>Subject: Re: Even more damaging news: More of Colorado...Re: Urgent:
Colorado contacts?
>X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.0 -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN
>
>I thought you would like to know that things are worse in Washington State.
>
> Living Liberty Article
> October 1997
>
> by Lynn Harsh
> The Illusive Promise of Education
> Reform
>
> When state school superintendent, Terry Bergeson and Governor Locke
recently
> released the dismal results of the new 4th grade assessments, they
promised the
> outcomes would soon improve. "Every day now, schools will get
better for kids,"
> Superintendent Bergeson said.
>
> The new assessment results indicate that fewer than half of our
fourth-grade
> students are able to handle grade-level reading, writing, and math.
>
>I didn't include the rest because it was just alot of stuff that SPI was
going to do to
>correct the problem. HA HA Reform, Reform, Reform....
>Marilyn in Washington State
>
>ElsiDodge wrote:
>
>> In a message dated 3/8/98 11:10:21 PM, Jim Kilpatrick wrote:
>>
>> <> grade Colorado students not passing the reading test. These students took
>> the test last spring and have been passed onto fifth grade. Of course the
>> test results were not released until November. This is another state that
>> is tossing out any accountability >>
>>
>> As you know, Colorado has recently passed an "all children must
read by 3rd
>> grade" law. Any child who is not reading at grade level by 3rd grade is
>> required . . . did your mind automatically fill in something like "go to
>> summer school" or "repeat the grade"? Silly! No, the teachers must
write an
>> ILP (Individual Literacy Plan), which then follows the child around until
>> he/she reads at grade level. Now, that's putting teeth into the law, don't
>> you think?
>>
>> Elsi Dodge
>
>
>
>
>
Date sent: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 16:21:44 -0800
From: Steve & Marilyn King
Send reply to: smking@gte.net
Organization: Christensen & King, CPA
To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
Copies to: 75713.1375@compuserve.com, 75717.1715@compuserve.com, barb@pacifier.com,
beckypohl@msn.com, bhooper@panlabs.com, blarimer@e-z.net,
bris-new@seatimes.com, John Carlson ,
ccnrs@eskimo.com, CJO@ON-RAMP.IOR.COM, cphillip@cks.ssd.k12.wa.us,
dac@p.tribnet.com, dchiang@juno.com, eagle@eagleforum.org,
erinm@tdn.com, EFFWA@aol.com, elliot96@accessone.com,
Don finrow , fredb001@spectra.net,
hochstat_ha@leg.wa.gov, jburts@halcyon.com, jeffknut@aol.com,
jhou-new@seatimes.com, jimmyk@tenet.edu, jmboyes@whidbey.net,
johnson_pe@leg.wa.gov, lambert_ka@leg.wa.gov, kconway@ospi.wednet.edu,
mcauliff_ro@leg.wa.gov, mlin-new@seatimes.com, mmal-new@seatimes.com,
nellicita@aol.com, michael Medved ,
richard.clayton@columbian.com, sherstad_mi@leg.wa.gov, sitler@plix.com,
smith_sc@leg.wa.gov, ssiever@televar.com, TABERHQ@TCMNET.COM,
turbyfil@e-z.net, quall_da@leg.wa.gov, waforum@aol.com,
zarelli_jo@leg.wa.gov
Subject: Re: Another opponent of WA assessment
Yes I agree...and I have show the assesments to many people and they aren't
standardized....what that means is they haven't been proved to test what they say
they are going to test (validity) and we don't know if 4 and 7 and 10 graders
will be able to compete with 4 and 7 and 10 graders in other states....Oh what a
mess when we practice to deceive.
Marilyn
Arthur Hu wrote:
> Great, somebody else noticed the new test is a sham. You've all seen
> my critique of the test that all will fail given by the people who
> say that all must succeed? It's a 7th and 10th grade level tests
> measured by their own benchmarks.
>
37>>
Date sent: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 18:32:34 -0500
To: joaneb001@aol.com
From: Abnhma (by way of Fred Battey )
Subject: Deliberate Failure
This latest issue of FORBES Magazine is good one -- well worth your
reading. Fopr instance, there is Peter Huber's column, "Green Alchemy," which
points out the inconsistencies the Greens insist on, when they insist on their
verious policies -- read it. Te Greens insist, "If it's centralized,
disperse it. If it's dispersed, centralize it..."
Then there is Thomas Spwell's column. As I have noted before, that
moment was an epiphany, when it occurred to me, 3 years ago, that our schools
were deliberately failing and/or refusing to teach. It makes more sense to
assume that widespread failure, over 50 years, is a result of deliberate
policy, than to assume that 50 years of failure is due to 50 years of well-
intentioned ineptitude, well-intentioned clumsiness, well-intentioned
corruption, and well-intentioned innate stupidity. It makes sense to assume
that this deliberate policy is designed to keep American children ignorant so
they will grow up to become ignorant adults, who are easier to govern, who
will vote Democratic and who will insist that MORE of their earnings be taxed
for government "giveaways."
On page 66, of the March 23 issue of FORBES Magazine, Thomas Sowell's
column includes the lines, "Our public schools have not failed. They have
succeeded incredibly in carrying out their own agenda." Remember, this is
Thomas Sowell saying this -- not just some cracked-pot retired school
teacher... (Unless Sopwell is cribbing from me... fat chance...)
And on page 134, Diane Ravitch writes about "technology" in the
classroom. (Ravitch used to be a Professor of Education at Columbia
Teachers' College; now she is a fellow at Manhattna Institute.) To whet your
apetite, note that she says, "There is no evidence that use of computer or the
internet improves student achievement." Sadly, the internet puts students
that much closer to to two dozen sources of term papers for sale!
In other words, the Education Establishment is DEMANDING that taxpayers
spend $5 billion for computers, "...a short cut that exacerbates students'
failure to apply themselves to the serious business of learning." Ravitch
notes that is only the "Tip of the iceberg." It will cost far more for
software, for maintenance, for training, etc., etc, etc. However, if it
helps to keep the kids ignorant, it is worth it!
By the way, FFlavio, STANDARDS have fallen so far that I recently
uncovered a mistake in a DICTIONARY!!!. The mineral, siderite, is iron
carbonate, not iron oxide, and it is not magnetic, and it is not called
"lodestone." Standards have fallen so far we can't even trust a DICTIONARY!
Art
38>>
From: sleeper@warwick.net
Date sent: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 11:17:04 -0800
Send reply to: sleeper@warwick.net
To: fredb001@spectra.net
Copies to: arthurhu@halcyon.com
Subject: Are You A Right-Wing Radical Kook?
Dear Fred and All:
Got the idea for this from the letter Colleen posted in which the
legislators were called Right-Wing Radicals and Kooks for seriously
questioning the trends in todays 'educational' system.
Happy Reading! :)
Sincerely yours,
Sleeper
*****************************************************************
ARE YOU A "RIGHT-WING RADICAL KOOK"?
Here's How To Tell!
Your A 'Right-Wind Radical Kook' if:
1. You believe that children should be taught to read by learning that
letters represent sounds, and NOT by guessing and skipping words, or
giving the kid a book and telling them to 'immerse themselves in
literature'.
2. You believe that children should be required to memorize their
basic math facts correctly, and NOT allowed to use calculators for
assignments and tests.
3. You believe that children should be required to spell correctly by
third grade such hard words as 'why', 'way', 'to', 'too', and 'two' and
NOT be told that it no longer matters due to 'spell checkers' and
'technology'.
4. You believe that children should be able to write 'readable'
sentences based on spelling and grammar rules, and NOT garbled
unconnected misspelled words under the guise of 'creative writing'.
5. You believe that children should be able to read a book and write
chapter summaries or a real book report 'Alone' before 11th grade, and
NOT have to work in 'groups' for a week or more to cook an 'edible
project' or an art project with a fill-in-the-blank 'literature form'
as a 'fine example of integrated skills'.
6. You believe that children 'Earn' true self-esteem by hard work,
Correctly answering questions, and having the ability to read, write and
do math on their own, and NOT by Giving children a false sense of
self-esteem through 'Group Projects', Un-corrected mistakes, and turning
all classes into 'Art Class'.
7. You believe that children in Kindergarten through 12th grade
should worry about Learning Academic Knowledge and should not be Forced
to learn Career/Work Skills and Career/Work Recognition.
8. You believe that your children should NOT be 'Required' to perform
Career/Work skills AT a career/work site in order to graduate from High
School.
9. You believe that your local businesses should NOT have more say in
what your child is being taught in school then you do.
10. You believe that 'Consolidating/Streamlining your State's four
major sectors, i.e. Education, Labor, Health/Social Services, and
Economic Development, under the control of one agency whose members are
APPOINTED by the governor and not answerable to the people, is Wrong.
11. You believe that the federal department of education should NOT be
mandating School-To-Work in your State's by tying school funding to its
mandate of having ALL Students curriculums in ALL subjects rewritten to
mirror the feds, and still have the nerve to call it 'voluntary'.
12. You believe that our forefathers, those 'right-wing radical kooks'
were correct when they demanded "No Taxation Without Representation",
broke away from England, wrote our constitution, Separated our
governance structure, and created the United States of America, Land of
the Free and home of the Brave.
Sincerely yours,
C.A. Carroll
39>>
Date sent: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 19:42:47 -0800
From: "Dale R. Reed"
Send reply to: dale-reed@postoffice.worldnet.att.net
To: Separation of School and State Alliance
Copies to: Paul Willoughby , Arthur Hu
Subject: company efforts
Here is an effort by a couple local companies to get envolved in
education. Dale
http://www.komotv.com/schoolscout/
As the world’s largest aerospace company with more than 230,000
employees,
Boeing is placing its highest external priority on helping to improve
our nation’s
system of public education. This commitment reflects our concern for the
communities where we live and work, and our sense of responsibility for
the
children who will one day lead our country and our company.
KOMOTV 4 is committed to improving the quality of life for Northwest
families
by providing news, information children’s programming, and community
events
and projects. KOMO TV 4 supports efforts in our community to help our
children be among the best educated in the nation. We are pleased to
bring you
SchoolScout, a new way for you to gather information to find the schools
that
best meet the needs of your children. SchoolScout is another example of
KOMO’s
commitment to the future of the Northwest.
-----------------------------------
Also in last week's Boeing News there was a photograph of the big wigs
breaking
ground for Boeing's second Child Development Center that will have room
for over
200 children.
Also in today's(Wednesday) IBD there was an article titled "For-Profit
Schools Living Up to Name" on page A3. It discussed the success of
Sylvan, Apollo and ITT Educational Serives and Computer Learning
Centers. I assume all of them have Web Pages but I have not been to all
of them yet. Dale
--
$ dale-reed@worldnet.att.net Seattle, Washington U.S.A. $
40>>
Date sent: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 19:10:32 -0800
From: Steve & Marilyn King
Send reply to: smking@gte.net
Organization: Christensen & King, CPA
Subject: Re: If NC can protest ed reform, why not Washington???
Are you kidding, why not Washington.....Washington is in the last corner of the US and nothing ever gets
here until it has gotten to every other state....we have a coilition of Conservative Repbulicans and
Liberal Democrats and they love to make everything stand still in the Senate. Why not Washington???
Let me count the ways..
Good Luck making any changes.
Marilyn in Washington State
41>>
Check this out, and let me know if you like it!
Donna Garner's Grammar packets:
http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/98/04/gram/cover.htm
BTW, at least it's a good thing the TAAS tests are simple
enough that everybody SHOULD be able to pass these if
they stay awake and do their homework.
> From: "Donna Garner"
> To: "Education Consumers"
> Subject: The Real Truth about Texas' TAAS Test
> Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 18:58:45 -0600
> What is the real truth from the trenches regarding the TAAS test in Texas?
>
42>>
> From: "Stickney, Larry"
> To: "'arthurhu@halcyon.com'"
> Subject: RE: ED REFORM REFUSES TO DIE LIKE COMMUNISM AND OTHER BAD 20TH CE
> NTU
> Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 08:01:25 -0800
> Dear Mr. Hu:
>
> Could you please send me your mailing address? I have some information
> from the Commission on Student Learning that Rep. Sherstad wants me to
> send you.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Larry Stickney
> Legislative Assistant
> Office of State Rep. Mike Sherstad
> 1st Legislative District
>
>
43>>
Seattle Times just got a rebuttal of Sen Hochstatter's call for
phonics. Ironically, this author effectively says that whole language
is needed for those who HAVE ALREADY MASTERED
PHONICS. Well how about that??? I thought whole language
was supposed to be for the kids that couldn't handle phonics. Well,
which one is it???
I can email the .tif file to anyone who wants to OCR or type the
text out.
NOT EVERYONE NEEDS PHONICS, OR EVERYONE NEEDS IT?? "Read this, dear
senator: U no squt about phonics" David Marshak, (assistant professor
in Seattle University School of Education) Seattle Times March 12,
1998 p. B7. Rebuts Senator Hochstatter's "Writing is Phonics" column.
There's a substantive body of developmental research that indicates
that as many as 30 percent of children in the first grade are not
developmentally ready to read. In Waldorf private schools around the
world, reading and writing are not formally taught at skills until the
2nd grade when all are ready to read. Jeanne Chall, phonics researcher
says that 30 to 50 percent don't need explicit phonics instruction
because they get it at home, they need engaging books [but doesn't
that mean that all children need to have picked up phonics somwhere???
Doesn't that mean that you can't skip phonics for those who don't have
it????] 50 yearsof research in human cognition shows people learn in
different ways.
44>>
Priority: Normal
To: "Arthur Hu"
From: "Lynn M Stuter"
Subject: Re: Not everybody needs phonics???
Date sent: Mon, 16 Mar 98 11:57:53 PST
Did you really mean ed "deform"? If so, you've hit the nail on the head, no pun intended!!
Lms
----------
> No,no, no. Anytime somebody with a credential
> is paid money to think about something, and they
> say something, it's "based on research".
> Thanks, this goes on the ed deform web page.
>
> > Priority: Normal
> > To: "Arthur Hu"
> > From: "Lynn M Stuter"
> > Subject: Re: Not everybody needs phonics???
> > Date: Sun, 15 Mar 98 10:22:55 PST
>
> > Arthur,
> >
> > You're absolutely correct. However, research if it is research, must meet
> certain standards. What follows was produced by the National Parents
45>>
Date sent: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 17:01:38 -0800
From: Charles Schwarze
Send reply to: cschwarz@ix.netcom.com
To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
Subject: Re: Not everybody needs phonics???
Arthur Hu wrote:
>
> I think what he means is that if you've
> already picked up phonics, you probably don't
> need to be taught them again. Which is why
> I was wondering - this certainly does not
> support the notion that some children can't
> learn or need phonics.
Everyone does need phonics. Good readers who have not been taught
phonics have intuited the system on their own.
Whole language supporters will tell you that some kids get stuck just
barking out the words using phonics. These are children who are still
missing certain steps in the process of learning to read. If a child is
stuck barking out the words chances are he/she has memorized the sounds
but doesn't really understand why they are doing it.
A relatively recent discovery is the importance phonemic awareness plays
in learning to read. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear the
sounds in words as they are spoken. This is contrary to what happens to
children as they learn to speak. They start out with sounds--ba ba, da
da--and then blend them into words. By the age of five, children hear
words and have to be sort of retaught to pay attention to the sounds.
You can see it with preschoolers and rhyming. Some kids can easily do
it, others are totally clueless. The ones who don't hear rhyming, etc.
are kids who are headed for trouble in learning to read. There are some
excellent screening devices to pick these kids up in kindergarten. They
need to be taught to pay attention to the sounds before anyone tries to
teach them phonics--its a missing link in most programs where phonics is
not successful.
Regarding phonics for those who already have it--you are right in that
they certainly don't need to be stuck in little decodable phonics books.
But, they still need to learn spelling and vocabulary. This area of has
completely disappeared because of whole language. Many children learn to
read with whole language. They are the kids who would learn to read no
matter what. But, these same kids are not often able to spell very well
because it is no longer taught and when it is taught it is through
memorization of a word list--an archaic way of teaching the English
language.
Leslie Schwarze
46>>
From: SHAFER305
Date sent: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 09:59:38 EST
To: professor@tricon.net, education-consumers@tricon.net
Copies to: bitterj@access.etsu-tn.edu, collinsm@access.etsu-tn.edu,
stantonp@access.etsu-tn.edu, bachb@access.etsu-tn.edu
Subject: Today's Education: Tomorrow's Edsel?
Dear Distinguished Scholars:
I am a consumer of education, mother of two elementary school children,
former college instructor, and life-long student of marketing practices. I
admire Prof. Stone for the goal he is trying to accomplish: namely putting
the consumer back in the education equation. Prof. Stone has recognized the
power of the consumer and we would all do well to sit up and take notice of
what today's education consumers desire. Disregarding consumer input is a
dangerous practice and has led to the demise of products and tarnished images
of those producing them. Please continue to read as I describe the need for
change to prevent Today's Education from becoming Tomorrow's Edsel.
***********
TODAY'S EDUCATION: TOMORROW'S EDSEL?
With all of the discussion about the necessity of adopting business practices
and real world skills in today's education, one might suppose that the
education heirarchy intends to mimic the practices of today's successful
businesses. Perhaps most fascinating to me, however, is the dated view of
American business held by many American educators.
Somewhere in the post-industrial business environment, businesses recognized
the affluence and intellect of their consumers. "The customer is always
right" became a motto of American business. Choices abounded and the days of
producer-driven marketing became a relic of the past. Consumer choices,
consumer demand, consumer preferences drive today's market where businesses
also value a societal impact for its consumer appeal. Hence, the interest of
businesses to assist with school improvement. In short, it will help future
employees receive better training and at the same time, it looks good to
consumers, giving them a generally favorable view of the businesses.
However, in that same post-industrial era, educators adopted an attitude
toward the consumer which ignores the consumer's affluence and intellect.
"The educator is always right" became a motto to rival another credo which
goes something like "Trust me, I'm a professional educator". This is
positively silly in today's marketplace. Just because one is not a cattleman
doesn't mean one is not qualified to buy beef in the grocery store or order a
steak at Outback. No matter what other characteristics we might debate about
the average American, most can agree Americans are savvy and voracious
consumers.
At the root of the education debate is identification of where the consumer
fits in the marketing dynamic. The top-down marketing of today's education
system reminds me of other top-down marketing fiascos and faux pas: The
Edsel, New Coke, and more recently, the Arch Deluxe. Without appropriate
attention paid to the motivations and desires of education consumers (parents,
taxpayers, and businesses) public education today is likely to become
tomorrow's Edsel.
I'd like to take a moment to explore the similarities between the Edsel and
Public Education. According to Vincint P. Barabba, in "Marketing Tools":
'"There is no disputing the magnitude of the Edsel fiasco. Some $250
million was spent on its development, the largest amount ever spent on the
development of a commercial product up to that time (1957). "
Like the spending by Edsel's manufacturer, Ford Motor Company, public
expenditures for education reforms have been growing rapidly. We spend more
today on education than we ever have before and with fewer results to show for
it. This is because many of these reforms have been largely developed and
implemented without adequate consumer input.
Back to the Edsel: " Although market research was conducted on behalf of the
new automobile, its scope was limited to developing an appropriate name, to
determining the psychographics of potential buyers, and to crafting a
promotional campaign. Most of the questions had to do with determining the
image, the social status, and the masculine and feminine characteristics
associated with various Ford and competing vehicles. Questions relating to the
cost, the performance characteristics, and safety features of these vehicles
appear to have been left unasked."
Now to Education: Superficial changes in education such as performance-based
assessment, learning styles, and public relations campaigns have never
addressed the functional items important to consumers of education- namely
knowledge acquistion, curricular scope and content, and skill attainment.
Basics, we call them.
Again, the Edsel: "'As John Brooks wrote in a New Yorker series on the Edsel:
"Science was curtly discarded at the last minute and.... the design, it was
arrived at without even a pretense of consulting the polls, and by the method
that has been standard for years in the designing of automobiles--that of
simply pooling the hunches of sundry company committees.' Indeed, the advanced
(or bizarre, depending on your viewpoint) styling of the Edsel was developed
in isolation from the market and drew little from the research."
Now Education: So much of what constitutes education reform has also been
developed in isolation from the market. Whatever research has been cited in
promoting the latest fad is often more opinion and hearsay than solid
consensus research on what makes for effective teaching and concrete learning.
The Edsel: "In today's parlance, we would say that the Edsel was a "company
push.'' Instead of listening to its customers and potential customers, its
automotive engineers and dealers, Ford management tried to push a product into
the market. Instead of spending millions on listening and learning about the
market, it spent millions on a campaign to launch the product it had developed
in isolation. In this sense, the Edsel story is a classic of what so often
goes wrong in a silo-based enterprise: Organization and ego got in the way of
sound decision making."
If it sounds to you like the same story occurring in much of education reform-
a company push by educators, millions spent on public relations, reforms
developed top-down rather than consumer-driven, organizations and egos getting
in the way of sound decision making- then you're not alone in seeing the
similarities. You are with the many consumers driving the school choice
movement in our nation so that public education today won't become tomorrow's
Edsel.
Barbara Shafer, founder
proposed Liberty Hall Charter School
Libertyville, IL
847/ 367-9833 phone/fax
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
47>>
Date sent: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 00:26:30 EST
Send reply to: core-net@TUCC6.TUCC.Trinity.Edu
From: SherryBOE
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re: Portfolio Assessments
Originally to: core-net@TUCC6.TUCC.Trinity.Edu
Don,
I live in a small CT town and for years I called our Board of Education
meetings the Naked Emporer's meetings. It didn't seem to matter how absurd a
subject sounded, people were silenced over and over with the implication or
the outright statement that they were unable to comprehend educational issues.
When I got home from meetings, the standing joke was for my husband to ask,
"How is the Emporer tonight?" The answer was always, "As naked as a Jay
bird."
Last year I ran for the Board and won a seat. Among other things, I am intent
on bringing some common sense to curriculum and assessment. This internet
dialogue is always reassuring, but your naked Emporer analogy really hit home.
Sherry
48>>
Have any of you folks noticed the trend to
hire anybody but a white male as superintendent?
And then find that the Hispanics complain if
they hired a black man, or Blacks complain if
they hired a Hispanic man, or both complain
if a white woman was hired, or notice that
Asians never complain, even though they never,
ever pick an Asian superintendent?
When I was in San Jose, out of 8 new superintendents
or college presidents, only Stanford hired a
white male, and he was also committed to diversity.
Seattle's Stanford has made national headlines as
a black superintendent, he's dictating that you must
have a C average to get a diploma when the black
GPA is somewhere between C and D.
Also comes up with
really stupid ideas like forcing staff to spend one
day a week in classrooms, or having teachers take one
day off on their own to prepare for classes every
week, and have the kids do something without their
teacher on that day.
Any other stories out there to tell?
From: icemom@flash.net
Date sent: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 19:36:59 -0800
Send reply to: icemom@flash.net
Organization: FlashNet Communications
To: RPhill9541
Copies to: education-consumers@tricon.net
Subject: Re: New superintendent search
Sarah,
This is my pat message to those looking for a superintendent, but it
bears repeating.
Watch out first for the head hunters. They will descend on you en
masse. NONE of them can find a candidate better than your board can
find without the help of anyone. Headhunters are going to bring to what
they and the state education agency think you need and not what you
think you need. They are all in cahoots. The one that Katy picked a
few years ago was also Skip Meno's right hand man. Meno was the goon
from New York who brought us OBE in the dark of night.
This is not brain surgery. The board just needs to figure out their
requirements and put ads everywhere and wait for the applications.
Surely someone on your board has hired somebody before. The board should
develop a set of questions that all candidates must answer that will
reveal where they are mentally in the scheme of things. Ask what
courses they've had lately, when was the last time they were in
education school, what books they've read in the last year, what they
think about OBE, TQM, etc., what their plans are for staff development,
get them to describe their favorite way to teach reading. Ask to see
the test scores for the entire time they've been in the district they
are coming from. Be sure to ask first what tests have been administered
in that district. Ask which conventions they have attended in the last
two years. Ask what they got from going. Don't hire anyone who hasn't
been a principal in a pretty good sized high school. You get the gist.
Before you hire anybody, the board should look within the district.
Usually there is some nice, quiet, person who has been doing all the
work anyway while the superintendent flashed around, that would be just
perfect. He/she is not going to come to you, but every district has
someone like this.
IF the board decides to have forums to hear what the people want, get
your friends together and take notes, because trust me, what the board
will hear will be a lot different from what is actually said! When the
forums are over, recap the opinions you heard in a letter to the editor
or in flyers placed on all the car windows at your local grocery store
on a Saturday. Make it known somehow what the people really want in a
superintendent.
If you don't exercise your rights at this critical time, you'll never
have another chance until the next superintendent bites the dust.
By the way, I've said this before, and I still think it's something we
should do and that is to keep a list (web site?) of superintendents in
this country and their movement around the states. We could call it the
"Super List." Clinton's rendering of all of Willey's handwritten notes
lets anyone who didn't believe these folks aren't keeping files on
citizens have a chance to change their beliefs.
While Texas has 1,050 superintendents, all the rest of you only have
13,950! We could do it by state.
Mary McGarr
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
49>>
[money didn't fix the Kansas City Problem]
Nobody wants to admit that the problem is race,
not money, even middle class districts like
Prince George County near DC is one of the richest
suburbs in the US, but still has dismal test
scores because they are predominantly black.
The only way to fix black schools is through
the same way as Thaddeus Lott and Barclay school
did - force kids to faster the !@#$% material,
with no excuses.
This also undermines the basis for highly acclaimed
author Jonothan Kozol's series of books - he
shows that schools with little money and lots
of blacks do more poorly than rich schools with
lots of whites, but presents zero evidence that
putting money into black schools or integration
results in any improvement, ditto for Gary
Orfield, guru of desegregation.'
> Date: Wed, 18 Mar 1998 08:02:37 -0900
> From: family
> To: Alaska Ed LOOP
> Subject: Money and School Performance - Cato Policy Analysis
> Given the current discussion on educational funding, the following
> analysis just released by the Cato Institute will be of interest to many
> of you. This is not to say we don't need funding, but raises some
> questions.
>
>
50>>
From: DNS BNA
Date sent: Wed, 18 Mar 1998 12:53:18 EST
To: education-consumers@tricon.net
Subject: Teacher Asks for Data U of Chicago Math
Can anyone send this lady some stuff? Here e-mail is
careyjda@aol.com (Diane Carey)
Dave Shearon,
Nashville,TN
Subj: Got any U of Chicago Math Results?
Date: 98-02-27 12:44:22 EST
From: CAREYJDA@aol.com (CAREYJDA)
Sender: owner-core-net@TUCC6.TUCC.Trinity.Edu
Reply-to: core-net@TUCC6.TUCC.Trinity.Edu
To: core-net@TUCC6.TUCC.Trinity.Edu (Multiple recipients of list)
To the list members:
Our principal, who is new this year, feels that our students who are
on their second year of Everyday Math, (the University of Chicago new new math
series) will have to wait 3 to 5 years to see if it's "working" or not. The
teachers seem to like it because they say it makes math fun. The problem
is that the kids don't seem to be learning any basic arithmetic (addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division.)
She says if there is any information out there that might change her
mind about this program, she's willing to look at it.
Can anyone out there help? I plan to see if I can print out something
from the Mathematically Correct website, but if anyone could forward any
material on actual results of students who have used this, or a similar,
program for a number of years, I'd certainly appreciate it.
There may be many students who will no longer have to wait until it's
too late for them to learn math (K-6) to find out the program is not working
well.
Thanks so much..............I will forward any responses to her (even
if they are positive!). The more information, the better.
Diane Carey careyjda@aol.com
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
51>>
From: Rovarose
Date sent: Wed, 18 Mar 1998 15:50:30 EST
To: core-net@TUCC6.TUCC.Trinity.Edu, EDUCATION-CONSUMERS@tricon.net
Subject: testing writing skills
Glenn,
My understanding was that multiple choice reading tests test COMPREHENSION
only, and do not correlate terribly well with writing ability.
Writing ability can also be tested by multiple choice, standardized tests.
There used to be a part of the verbal SAT called TSWE (Test of Standard
Written English) that measured writing ability (students had to choose from
differing ways an idea could be expressed).
I have heard that this part of the test is no longer given. I don't know why
it was deleted, but suspect there might have been politically sensitive
demographic implications.
If anyone has more information on this, I would like to hear it.
Bob Rose
Kennesaw, GA
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
52>>
\clip\98\06\readphon.txt New York Times March 19, 1998 Report Urges
Hybrid Approach to Reading Education
http://search.nytimes.com/search/daily/bin/fastweb?getdoc+site+iib-site+123+0+wAAA+reading
This is bad, very bad. The National Research Council Recommends
inventive spelling, and whole language with phonics. It says that 3
and 4 yr olds should learn to tell and read stories, not memorize the
alphabet at "such an early age". They say that teachers need training
ih reading research, when reading research is where Whole Language
and wholesale abandonment of phonics came from. These are the same
people who have been telling us that early memorization of math facts
(2+2) is harmful to learning. "implored teachers to use rich
literature (instead of dick and jane) to hook youngsters as lifelong
readers." Also note in the other story, yet another example of whole
language working well in Bainbridge Island for the BEST readers, but
the weakest readers still needed phonics. Whole Language is NOT a
system for all children, when they say not all children need phonics,
they never mention that it is those on the bottom, not top that need
it.
53>>
Please take a good long, hard look at my page,
and why I call it the education DEFORM page.
The whole contructivist movement is the K12
equivelent of socialism, marxism, and every other
bad political idea ever perpetrated on mankind.
It's not too late to change see the err of your
ways. The new tests basically fail everybody,
but promise to teach everyone to pass, and the
fact that it's changing education so that it
teaches nothting, but expects students to be
able to figure out everything.
> Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 00:48:55 -0500
> From: Tanstaafl
> Organization: California University of Pennsylvania
> To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
> Subject: Cannot find the HTML code to add your webring to my page
> Dear Sir,
>
> I am very much interested in becoming a member of your Education
> Reform WebRing, however, I cannot find the code to add to the
> appropriate page of
> my home page. Please inform me where I might find this as I have already
> applied
> to become a member of your ring. I hold a Bachelor of Science in
> Secondary
> Education Communications/Theatre and I am working on my Masters in
> Technology
> Education. I am very much interested in seeing public schools reform and
> would
> very much like to see thought processes encouraged rather than the rote
> memorization
> and regurgitation of facts on "multiple guess" tests. I think that most
> of this is
> meaningless, as are most school text books. I am very much into
> Constructivism
> and Howard Gardner as well. You may visit my page and see for yourself.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Jeffrey S. Brown
>
>
54>>
Date sent: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 03:08:44 -0500
From: "75713,1375" <75713.1375@compuserve.com>
Subject: Superintendent search = race wars
To: "INTERNET:arthurhu@halcyon.com"
a message to you bounced a few days ago. Hopefully a reply won't.
One quibble: Seattle Stanford's idea of making staff be in the classroom
one day a week is not bad, because one reason for all the bad educaiton
policy coming down is that the policymakers have no connection with
classroom reality. Often they have no education background, they are
sociologists or psychologists or economic planners (to sum up, manipulators
and social engineers). Having them in the classsroom - and, just as
important, having the public know that they are in the classroom - may
force things to be a little less bad.
(Which brings up another problem inherent to government: there is no
accountability, no incentive to succeed or disincentive to fail, no
pressure toward integrity, because they are completely protected from the
results of their policy and decisions; therefore they can experiment, or
say one thing and do another, with total impunity. How to fix this? Perhaps
require educators to have children in their own district? Or to pay them on
a contract basis: they get no pay except a slim per-diem, until the end of
their contract or end of a probation/eval period, and even then they get
paid only in proportion to the success [measured by the public, not
themselves] of their program. If the program fails to deliver, they don't
get paid - or might even get fined. Not sure we'll ever get this
implemented, but it's worth raising the concept.)
Generally, though, Stanford is a pushover. It could be argued that white
men are still the real driver in that district. Gary Tubbs, the guy who
conceived the pro-gay curriculum (and just coincidentally I'm pretty sure
he's the guy responsible for screening such submissions of outside
curricula to the district) is a white (gay) male. Well actually I think
white women have had more sway over the district in the last few years.
Ok that's it for Stanford; back to the mesasge that bounced.
I think I found an activist in the paper. you were looking for people or an
org that would be sought out by the media for conservative views on
education. Carolyn Firl was quoted in the paper (Times) I think Fri 2/27.
Article Mixed Reviews for new Issaquah school building or something like
that in the local section. She said that style of building was often
associated with ed reforms. In the Issaquah Online web site, she posted a
great article bashing OBE. Don't have any contact info for her.
I'll try to attach the bounced email to a reply to you but I think I
covered the gist here. Maybe some details yet.
55>>
That Seattle Post Intelligencer series
finally made it respectable to investigate
the investigators and not the alleged sex
offenders. The Seattle Times finally came out
with an editorial condemning the trials as a
"debacle" after completely igoring the issue
when it happened, and letting the PI take
the lead on the "god we goofed" perspective
In the March 19 PI, it says that the state
social worker who was fired for questioning
CPS tactics was just awarded 1.6 million
dollars, and governor Locke ordered the hiring
of 4 new investigators
56>>
Teach reading in native language, or not at all
until they have mastered english? What the HELL
is that all about???? This is even worse than
bilingual ed.
All you chinese, do you want the schools to say
"sorry, research shows that you're better off
not learning to read until you have mastered
speaking english first, or mastered readintg
Chinese first?"????
This is MADNESS. Sheer madness. Ed Deform.
It's worse than affirmative action.
"If language-minority children arrive at
school with no proficiency in English, but speaking a language for
which there are instructional guides, learning materials, and locally
available proficient teachers, then these children should be taught
how to read in their native language while acquiring proficiency in
spoken English, and then subsequently taught to extend their skills
to reading in English." Absent these conditions, formal reading
instruction should be postponed until the child has achieved an
"adequate level of proficiency in spoken English."
57>>
Here's another example of a system dominated by
African Americans ignoring other minorities,
a classic problem with the black/white model
of race relations. There is little evidence that
African Americans treat other minorities with the
respect that they expect from whites.
Norman matloff always uses these examples to
ATTACK the interests of Asians when Asians complain
of unfair treatment by black politicians.
> From: LYTK73A@prodigy.com (MRS COLEEN C ARY)
> Date: Wed, 18 Mar 1998 23:00:53, -0500
> To: Dlasken514@aol.com, klw2@ix.netcom.com, edh9k@uva.pcmail.virginia.edu,
> gerrykff@juno.com, Gtuchman@aol.com, GlynnC209@aol.com,
> mkfields@rma.edu, MRosenberg@tribune.com, arthurhu@mail1.halcyon.com,
> forusjf@ix.netcom.com, camason@ix.netcom.com, rbocchino@prodigy.net,
> sitler@plix.com, rferrier@thomasaquinas.edu, TibTerry@aol.com,
> VFloth@aol.com
> Subject: Diversity Panel Says It's Ignored
> Washington Post, Wednesday, March 18, 1998; Page B01
>
> DC SCHOOL TASK FORCE PLANS TO QUIT
> Diversity Panel Says It's Ignored
> By Debbi Wilgoren and Pamela Constable
>
> All 12 community representatives to the D.C. school system's
> diversity task force, which Chief Executive Julius W. Becton Jr.
> created in January 1997 during one of the first crises of his tenure,
> plan to resign today because they feel their concerns and suggestions
> about the education of non-native English speakers are being ignored.
>
>
59>>
The glossy hand out they sent to met says
that the Stanford 9 conforms to the NTCM
math specifications, as open response questions,
etc. In short, it's yet another goofball
performance based test with criterion-based
grading that can and does flunk everybody
regardless of the curve.
> Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 08:28:27 -0800
> From: Charles Schwarze
> Reply-to: cschwarz@ix.netcom.com
> To: Gayle Cloud
> Cc: Bruce Crawford , education-consumers@tricon.net
> Subject: Re: STAR
> Gayle,
>
> Good luck viewing the test. In our district no one has seen the actual
> test--not even the school board or administration.
>
> Leslie
>
> > I asked to see copies of the Stanford at the next SSC meeting (I'm a
> > member). After some discussion, my principal said she'd check into
> > it. You'd think I was asking to view the crown jewels. Their
> > reluctance at being forthright is always a problem. Anyway, I hear
> > the Stanford is a decent test.
> >
> > Gayle
> > EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
>
>
> EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
>
60>>
From: "Mike Hihn"
Organization: Liberty Issues
To: kclp@ix.netcom.com (kclp Mailing List)
Date sent: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 08:25:18 -0800
Subject: kclp: "Affirmative action" versus "preferences"
Send reply to: kclp@ix.netcom.com
Priority: normal
On 19 Mar 98 at 6:22, malkin1@ix.netcom.com wrote:
> This is in response to Arthur Hu's post. (By the way, Arthur, I saw
> you on "True Colors" last night. You did a good job.) The letter is
> from Tom Wood, one of the two authors of Prop. 209 in California. He
> explains that "preferences" has a clear meaning, "affirmative action"
> does not. The opponents of 209 want to pretend that the two concepts
> are equivalent, but not everyone sees it that way. This explains why
> a significant portion of the public (including Rep. Scott Smith) is
> opposed to "preferences" yet in favor of "affirmative action."
Indeed -- the claim that I-200 is a "stealth" measure, because it
never tells people it would repeal affirmative action, is largely
bogus.
I was the party's contact to the petition campaign, and saw EVERY
script they provided to petitioners -- all of which specified that
the measure had nothing at all to do with affirmative action.
Affirmative Action can include such things as doing extra recruiting
efforts among minorities, but without changing the requirements for
actual hiring or applying any quotas.
For example -- and this was an early approach to voluntary
affirmative action -- there would be increased recruiting efforts
on black campuses and in black high schools. Likewise -- and
Control Data was, I believe, a big practitioner of this -- building
a plant in the inner city, which would tend to draw more minority
applicants and employees, without actually mandating that.
I spoke last night with a new regional chair, who works in the
private, nonprofit, social services area, in Spokane. He mentioned
a female black co-worker who was delighted to sign the I-200
petition.
-Mike Hihn
Executive Director, LP of WA ... http://lpws.org
Editor/Publisher, LIBERTY ISSUES ... http://libertyissues.com
===============================================
"Libertarians must be prepared to GOVERN now, or we're waiting
for somebody else to create a free society."
61>>
From: XcongressX
Date sent: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 01:14:43 EST
To: EDUCATION-CONSUMERS@tricon.net
Copies to: mmicheli@instream.com
Subject: Re: Team Teaching
A few more reasons why new PS programs should be presumed tainted until
rigorously proven beneficial .............
Steven
Forwarded Message:
Subj: A Little Letter :)
Date: 97-07-30 18:41:55 EDT
From: Sleeper@warwick.net (Sleeper)
To: XcongressX@aol.com (Steven Wallace)
REINVENTING THE AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM FOR THE 1990'S:
Today, we are witness to the many ways that our government and our educational
change-agents have decided to "Reinvent American Education".
In today's new vision for education, Academic excellence and valid, reliably
proven, documented Teaching Methods tested by Knowledge-based Standardized
testing, have given way to the new more modern visions of Outcome-based
Education with Assessment testing and all it's many teaching philosophies.
Such as: Teacher as Facilitator and Equal, Whole-language, Creative Writing,
Creative Spelling, New Math, Chicago Math, Applied Math, Child-Lead Learning,
Developmentally Appropriate Learning, Multi-Intelligence Learning, Group
Learning, Multi-Cultural Learning, Homogeneous Learning, Emotional Well-being
Learning, Social, Politically Correct, Civic Responsibilities and Mandatory
Community Service Requirements for graduation, now are considered an academic
education.
Let's compare academic education of the past with today's newer, more modern
visions of an academic education.
1. Past: The ability to read. Taught to the children through direct intensive
instruction.
Present: The ability to read. Taught to the children through the Whole
Language philosophy of 'sight words', guessing and group readings.
2. Past: The ability to write using proper grammatical sentence structure and
correct spelling.
Present: The ability to write using 'Creative Writing and Creative Spelling
techniques with the help of Spell Check and Editor features on computers.
3. Past: The ability to mentally compute mathematical equations from prior
memorization and knowledge of basic mathematical facts and theories.
Present: The ability to apply math to everyday situations with the help of
calculators, manipulatives and group consensus.
4. Past: The ability to recite and understand important dates and events in
our country's and the world's history.
Present: These are considered 'Elitist' information and not relevant to
today's society. Now they will learn to understand the differences between
racial, gender, sexual and multi-cultural influences on today's society.
5. Past: The ability to recite and understand important dates, inventions and
inventors and their impact on our society.
Present: Only as they relate to the differences between racial, gender, sexual
and multi-cultural influences on today's society.
6. Past: The ability to recite and understand important dates and use of
basic to advanced aspects of science and their impact on our society.
Present: Again, only as they relate to the differences between racial,
gender, sexual and multi-cultural influences on today's society.
7. Past: An introduction and insight into the 'classical' arts and music that
has given this world the ability to connect people with people from different
country's, cultures, and economic backgrounds based on nothing other then
their love of and appreciation for art or/and music.
Present: A complete tolerance for all forms of art and music no matter how
perverse. This though does not include any references to 'classical' arts and
music as they are considered too elitist.
8. Past: No mention of social, political, emotional and behavioral
modifications.
Present: Classes such as Quest and Life skills deal mainly with modifications
to children's social, political, emotional, behavioral belief's and values and
questioning of parental authority. Health well-being class now discusses the
acceptance of different forms of gender and trans-gender people, different
sexual acts and positions, personal gratification techniques and a myriad of
other 'health and psychological' topics and personal questionnaires.
9. Past: Vocational Training was allowed only in the last 2 years of high
school and was an elective class.
Present: Mandatory for All Children. School-to-Work or Career Development
Training will start in Kindergarten and all class subjects and textbooks will
be rewritten to reflect proper work ethics, responsibilities, work group
consensus for all decision making, job shadowing and job mentor situations.
All children will have a career choice chosen by entrance into high school
(some cases by middle school) so that all further 'academic' studies will
revolve around their specific career choice.
There is also discussion now of Mandatory Community Service for ALL children
(some states have already passed legislation allowing and mandating this and
the Supreme Court has ruled it allowable) in complete disregard of our
country's Thirteenth Amendment against involuntary servitude except for
convicted criminals.
Are the students (children) in those states considered convicted criminals
now? Today's schools are no longer institutions geared towards a liberal arts
academic education but are becoming an institution for the proper development
of students Proper, Emotional, Social, Political, Civic, and Employment
Training Facilities.
If you do not believe this just read what New York State Education
Commissioner Richard Mills remarked to the Board of Regents: "They should
have a muscular concentration of courses that add up to something instead of a
smattering of courses that are not connected." "Mills said a focus would help
students better prepare for jobs and college."
It is the 'smattering of courses' that gives all people the ability to make
informed decisions and discuss in an intelligent manner all matters of life
from business, to family, to arts, music, child rearing, philosophical and
religious matters.
Take this away from our students and all you will be left with are students
that can only perform the certain tasks that they were trained (not educated)
for under the new more modern visionary Outcome-based, School-To-Work, Locale
Economic Development philosophies drilled into their heads from their first
day of school.
Is that what we want for our children? It is not what I want for mine.
Sincerely yours,
Sleeper
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
62>>
Pardon to get into a dialog, but this whole
movement to junk the old tests as resulted in
new tests are a a true disaster. Did you know
that 97% of minority kids failed the WA 4th
grade assessment? And that reformers are advocating
precisely teaching to the test, and designing
tests to specifically assess on what has NOT
been taught to force change in the curriculum
to conform to the test?
The chances of getting a 99th percentile score
strictly by chance are astronomically low (you
figure it out - 5 choice among 40 problems) and
it is very difficult, if not impossible to
reliably grade the open response questions that
are currently in fashion.
It is just a disaster, and people like you are
just taken in by this movement. Please take a
good look at my web pages.
> Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 17:08:06 -0500
> From: Tanstaafl
> Organization: California University of Pennsylvania
> To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
> Subject: Re: Cannot find the HTML code to add your webring to my page
>
>
> Arthur Hu wrote:
>
> > Please take a good long, hard look at my page,
> > and why I call it the education DEFORM page.
> >
> > The whole contructivist movement is the K12
> > equivelent of socialism, marxism, and every other
> > bad political idea ever perpetrated on mankind.
> >
> > It's not too late to change see the err of your
> > ways. The new tests basically fail everybody,
> > but promise to teach everyone to pass, and the
> > fact that it's changing education so that it
> > teaches nothting, but expects students to be
> > able to figure out everything.
> >
>
> Perhaps I have erred in thinking that people "construct" knowledge based on
> what they already know, but I do not
> think so. This is how I learned. This goes along with the ideas of cognitive
> theories of assimilation and accomidation,
> and has nothing in my mind to do with socialism, marxism, or any other bad
> political idea. In order to have a clear
> frame of reference in learning, a student must build upon previous knowledge.
> Is this somehow different from what
> you are talking about? I don't care much for politics in education, I want
> kids to learn and I want to accomidate as
> many learning styles as I can. I don't believe in passing or failing kids on
> anything other than merit and effort. If they
> earn an "A" they get an "A," if they earn an "F," they get an "F." The current
> call in our country for more standardized
> testing is bunk in my opinion, I am a reliatively good test-taker no matter
> what the subject because I have learned how
> to "guess" correctly. Many others have also learned this strategy. I certainly
> do not want to "read" politics into
> education, although it seems that every senator's uncle has his or her own
> ideas about what a "good education" should
> be, whether they have any practical experience in the field or not. Currently,
> IMHO, education has become the mere manipulation of facts and figures without
> any thinking or understanding, if a student can pass the test, who cares about
>
> whether he/she remembers it afterwards? This to me is a crime. Education
> should be training the mind to handle the
> challenges of the future, it should include: hands-on problems, scenarios,
> role-playing, problem solving, critical thinking
> skills, simulations, labratory experiments, and less chalk-talk. Kids need to
> learn how to think on their feet and be able
> to apply what they've learned in one area to a wide variety of situations and
> problems. Flexibility is key. What are the
> real skills we should be teaching? Empirical skills, reference skills,
> communication skills, enough math to balance a check-
> book, health/physical agility, mental awareness/philosophy, and definitely
> technology skills. The true criminals in this
> whole mess are located in Princeton New Jersey and call themselves the
> Educational Testing Service, so long as schools
> must "teach to their tests" we will never break free of the useless garbage we
> currently are teaching.
>
>
> Jeffrey
>
>
>
63>>
From: Self
To: @EDU.PML,burstein@u.washington.edu,opinion@seatimes.com,kclp
Subject: The official definition of affirmative action is acting affirmat
BCC to: @FIDLIST.PML,@SOYA.PML,@WACHIN.PML
Send reply to: arthurhu@halcyon.com
Date sent: Wed, 18 Mar 1998 12:47:59
The press is still saying that Prop 200 would
end affirmative action, but it merely echoes
the DEFINITION of affirmative action, which is
hiring and promoting WITHOUT preferences. How
come I'm the only one that can figure this out?
There is nothing inconsistent about the public
opposing preferences and supporting affirmative
action. In fact, there is no conflict at all
between prop 200 and the original Executive
order by Johnson. Can anybody point out any
conflict between Johnson's order and Prop 200??
"The contractor will take affirmative action to ensure that
applicants are employed and that employees are treated during
employment without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin" President Lyndon B. Johnson Executive Order 11246
Sept 24, 1965 Seattle Times Feb 1, 1998 vs. Shall government entities
be prohibited from discriminating against or granting preferential
treatment to individuals or groups based on race, sex. color,
ethnicity or national origin? Initiative 200 Propsal ballot title.
Note this distinction between unqualified and
less qualified:
or, 3) hire a less qualified
person in preference to a more qualified person.
Please spread this around, there is so much
ignorance as to the definition of affirmative
action that it is not funny.
I dare ANY proponent of racial preferences to say
that this federal document is NOT correct.
I double dare you.
Does anybody care to disagree with me?
Every senator and representative and person interested
in affirmative action should read this.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11246 _PROHIBITS_ NOT MANDATES PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION _IS_ COLOR-BLIND AND BANS PREFERENCES original | local Office of Federal Contract
Compliance Programs clarification of Executive Order 11246
specifically states NO quotas, NO preferences of lesser over better
qualified applicants, NO proportional representation is allowed in
affirmative action programs.
"Despite these long-standing efforts by the Office of Federal
Contract Compliance Programs to ensure that numerical objectives
under the Executive Order are not confused with unlawful preferences
and quotas, criticism that they involve such preferences emerge
periodically. This Administrative Notice seeks to help address that
criticism and reaffirm the characteristics of affirmative action
program goals under the Executive Order. "
"b. Prohibition against Quotas and Preferential Treatment. The
numerical goals component of affirmative action programs is not
designed to be, nor may it properly or lawfully be interpreted as,
permitting unlawful preferential treatment and quotas with respect to
persons of any race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The
regulations at 41 CFR 60-2.12(a), 60-2.15 and 60-2.30, specifically
prohibit discrimination and the use of goals as quotas. "
Complete text comes from:
http://www.nau.edu/~affirm/ofccp.html
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS ADMINISTRATION
OFCCP
----------------------------------------------------------------------
--
1. SUBJECT: Numerical Goals under Executive Order 11246.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
--
2. PURPOSE: To reaffirm OFCCP's policy on the use of affirmative
action program goals.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
--
3. BACKGROUND: The principles and concepts underlying the current
blueprint for affirmative action programs under Executive Order 11246
originally were conceived and successfully implemented in 1961 by
Plans for Progress (PfP), a group of 300 leading corporations
committed to achieving equal employment opportunity through voluntary
affirmative action. Each of these companies adopted a "plan for
progress" for the corporation as a whole and for each of its
individual establishments. These plans for progress, as a management
tool for achieving equal employment opportunity, were the precursors
to today's affirmative action programs.
On July 1, 1969, after having successfully tested this model over an
eight-year period, PfP merged with the National Alliance of Business,
and turned its focus to youth employment. Seven months later, on
February 7, 1970, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
incorporated PfP's guidelines on Affirmative Action as the centerpiece
of its affirmative action program regulations applicable to the larger
Federal non-construction contractors. These regulations --- 41 CFR
Part 60-2 -- and their counterpart for construction industry
contractors -- 41 CFR Part 60-4 -- have withstood the test of time as
reasonable and successful tools that aid in breaking down barriers to
equal employment opportunity for women and minorities without
impinging upon the rights and expectations of other members of the
workforce.
At the time numerical goals were incorporated in the written
affirmative action program regulations, the Office of Federal Contract
Compliance Programs recognized that some might misunderstand goals to
be quotas which must be achieved through race-based and gender -based
preferences. Accordingly, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance
squarely addressed these issues in the affirmative action program
regulations.
To further clarify and maintain the proper focus of affirmative action
in the contract compliance program, OFCCP has periodically issued
supplemental guidance and instructions explaining the difference
between permissible numerical goals, on the one hand, and unlawful
preferences and quotas, on the other.
The earliest and most comprehensive of these instruction was issued in
1973 as a policy statement which also was signed by the Department of
Justice, the then United States Civil Service Commission, and the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Despite these long-standing efforts by the Office of Federal Contract
Compliance Programs to ensure that numerical objectives under the
Executive Order are not confused with unlawful preferences and quotas,
criticism that they involve such preferences emerge periodically. This
Administrative Notice seeks to help address that criticism and
reaffirm the characteristics of affirmative action program goals under
the Executive Order.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
--
4. POLICY REAFFIRMATION:
a. The Essence of Affirmative Action Programs: Contractor
Self-evaluation and Self-correction.
Affirmative Action Programs (AAP), as authorized by regulations
implementing Executive Order 11246, consist essentially of procedures
by which Federal contractors analyze their workforce and evaluate
their employment practices for the purpose of identifying and
correcting any employment opportunity. Where the need for corrective
action is revealed, the AAO includes outreach and other disclosed, and
numerical goals to measure success toward achieving that result.
b. Prohibition against Quotas and Preferential Treatment.
The numerical goals component of affirmative action programs is not
designed to be, nor may it properly or lawfully be interpreted as,
permitting unlawful preferential treatment and quotas with respect to
persons of any race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The
regulations at 41 CFR 60-2.12(a), 60-2.15 and 60-2.30, specifically
prohibit discrimination and the use of goals as quotas.
c. Goals are Neither Set-asides nor a Device to Achieve Proportional
Representation or Equal Results.
Numerical goals do not create set-asides for specific groups, nor are
they designed to achieve proportional representation or equal results.
Rather, the goal-setting process in affirmative action planning is
used to target and measure the effectiveness of affirmative action
efforts to eradicate and prevent discrimination. Moreover, the
numerical benchmarks are realistically established based on the
availability of qualified applicants in the job market or qualified
candidates in the employer's workforce.
d. There is No Requirement, Under the Affirmative Action Component, to
Fill any Position on the Basis of Race or Sex.
Goals under Executive Order 11246 do not require that any specific
position be filled by a person of a particular race, gender or
ethnicity, even where the phenomenon of jobs traditionally segregated
by race or sex remain substantially intact. Instead, the requirement
is to engage in outreach and other efforts to broaden the pool of
qualified candidates to include minorities and women.
e. The Use of Numerical Goals is Consistent with Principles of Merit.
In seeking to achieve its goals, an employer is never required to:
1)hire a person who does not have the qualifications needed to perform
the job successfully; 2) hire an unqualified person in preference to
another applicant who is qualified; or, 3) hire a less qualified
person in preference to a more qualified person. Unlike preferences
and quotas, numerical goals recognize that persons are to be judged on
individual ability, and are, therefore, consistent with the principles
of merit hiring and promotion.
f. Goals May not be Treated as a Ceiling or a Floor.
The Executive Order does not require that contractors treat goals as
either a ceiling or a floor for the employment of particular groups.
Goals establish neither a minimum nor a maximum number of members of a
group which must be employed. Either use of a numerical goal would be
an impermissible quota.
g. Compliance is Measured by Good Faith Effort.
A contractor's compliance is measured by whether it has made good
faith efforts to meet its goals. Failure to meet goals is not a
violation of the Executive Order. Therefore, a contractor that has not
met its goals will be found in compliance if it has made good faith
efforts.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
--
5. Implementation.
Whenever evidence is revealed to OFCCP that a contractor has
implemented a quota or unlawful preference, it is the OFCCP's policy
and practice to take quick action to correct the matter, and in the
same manner as if the contractor has isolated the Executive Order in a
different way. This practice will continue.
Compliance officers are instructed to re-emphasize the agency's policy
and practice on the use of affirmative action program goals in
compliance reviews, technical assistance and other interactions with
Federal contractors for the purpose of achieving compliance with the
requirements of Executive Order 11246.
Each OFCCP Regional, District and Area office will be furnished with
an information kit containing information of relevance to the Federal
EEO contract compliance program. The kit will be made available to
members of the press and the general public who wish to be informed
about affirmative action and non-discrimination under Executive Order
11246 and other EEO laws administered by the Office of Federal
Contract Compliance Programs.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
--
6. FILING INSTRUCTIONS:
Holders of ADM and LEG Binders Only: File at the end of the "Other"
Tab in your Administrative Practices Binder.
District and Area Office EOSs and EOAs Only: File behind the tab for
ADM Directives in your FCCM Binder.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
--
7. DISTRIBUTION: A, B, C, electronically.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
--
8. OBSOLETE DATA: None.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
--
9. EXPIRATION DATE: None.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Return to the Affirmative Action homepage.
64>>
One problem with the reform movement is that
it tends to promote every nutty idea, so it
binds together people who think education should
be fun with those that believe that everyone
should be forced to get perfect SAT scores or
flunk. Sort of like the liberals banding together
women, blacks and gays even when they don't
particularly have the same interests when you
look into it further.
You need to take a look at the whole movement,
promote the ideas you like and think are good,
and fight what isn't, and not simply embrace
"reform" blindly which is what everybody is doing.
It's one thing to simply go backwards to the
basics, quite another to destroy the basics when
we vow to "change everything". Look at the what
the cultural revolution did to China. This is
the same thing, it destroyed reading and math
in California already.
> Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 21:36:54 -0500
> From: Tanstaafl
> Organization: California University of Pennsylvania
> To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
> Subject: Re: Cannot find the HTML code to add your webring to my page
>
>
> Arthur Hu wrote:
>
> > Pardon to get into a dialog, but this whole
> > movement to junk the old tests as resulted in
> > new tests are a a true disaster. Did you know
> > that 97% of minority kids failed the WA 4th
> > grade assessment? And that reformers are advocating
> > precisely teaching to the test, and designing
> > tests to specifically assess on what has NOT
> > been taught to force change in the curriculum
> > to conform to the test?
> >
>
> This is saddening to me. Actually having classroom experience, I do notbelieve that
> "standardized" testing is necessarily the way to go. If everyone
> learned the same way, and if they could learn everything possible from
> the material covered, everyone would know exactly the same thing. Do
> you really want all the kids today running around with exactly the same
> knowledge? Where would that leave the Bill Gates and Steven Jobs of
> our country? (only people I could think of off the top of my head). The
> politicians, administrators, and some teachers love standardized testing
> because it is easy to grade and get a "magic number" for everyone so
> we can play with the statistics and point the blame on parents, or teachers,
> or schools, or Television, or whomever we are blaming this week for
> education's failure to produce a new crop of geniuses.
>
>
> > The chances of getting a 99th percentile score
> > strictly by chance are astronomically low (you
> > figure it out - 5 choice among 40 problems) and
> > it is very difficult, if not impossible to
> > reliably grade the open response questions that
> > are currently in fashion.
> >
> >
>
> Obviously we need to discover a new method forevaluating student work, I don't say I
> have all the answers
> either. The current model of education has its roots in
> Mideaval Europe: a row of chairs facing a black board
> with a teacher lecturing. I envision students doing their
> "own thing" with a teacher wandering around making
> comments and guiding their own discoveries. Ultimately,
> I can see something similar to the English tutor system, where
> students meet with their teacher and go over what they are
> going to investigate this week and the teacher gives them
> ideas and assignments to encourage their discoveries. The
> students would assume complete responsibility for reporting
> back with their findings in a week or so. Students in charge
> of their own learning, wouldn't that be interesting? The
> current apathy and ignorance could be crushed by
> students studying what they choose and learning nearly
> at their own pace. At a certain point they will turn in the
> bulk of their work and be assessed on what they
> learned. They would go through a process of evaluation
> similar to those models in Oxford or Cambridge, where
> they are given mostly oral evaluations and essay tests
> to determine if they have learned enough to pass onto
> the next level and eventually graduate onto college.
>
>
> > It is just a disaster, and people like you are
> > just taken in by this movement. Please take a
> > good look at my web pages.
> >
>
> I certainly shall, however, I tried to access it this evening
> and it appears to be down. I am very much a controversial
> figure in my area. People are so interested in "business as
> usual" in public school, not wanting to change anything, if anything
> they want to devolve, which it seems is what you are advocating.
> "back to basics" won't cut it in the future when people will be
> competing in a global economy. Technology and ability to
> communicate, and think quickly will be the only thing that
> saves them, not the SAT they took to get into college.
>
>
> Jeffrey
>
>
65>>
From: SHAFER305
Date sent: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 14:33:22 EST
To: Chark2@ix.netcom.com, education-consumers@tricon.net
Subject: Re: Chicago law against social promotion?
Charlene, et al.
According to Illinois HB2596 signed on 8-6-96, 105 ILCS 5/10-20.9a
"Final Grade; Promotion ... (b) School districts are discouraged
from promoting students to the next higher grade level based upon age
or any other social reasons not related to the academic performance
of the students. School Boards may adopt and enforce such policies
on promotion as they deem necessary to ensure that students meet
local goals and objectives and can perform at the expected grade
level prior to promotion."
As a part of school improvement, Chicago Public schools began to
require summer school for those not meeting standards. I recall the
social promotion was ended as part of the new tougher standards as
well. Barbara EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
66>>
Date sent: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 06:42:28 +0000
To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
From: Jimmy Kilpatrick
Subject: Re: The Washington Times - Culture etc.
At 04:32 AM 3/19/98 -0800, you wrote:
Arthur, Carol did a good interview. I was on the front page last year. The
editors cut out a lot of materials. I wish they had printed some of the
real good stuff I had said. Jimmy
>Nice quote, but they didn't mention that
>memorizing the alphabet was considered harmful.
>Let them have it, please!
>
>> Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 18:42:17 +0000
>> To: jimmyk5@mail.swbell.net
>> From: Jimmy Kilpatrick (by way of Jimmy
Kilpatrick )
>> Subject: The Washington Times - Culture etc.
>
>> Educators endorse 'invented spelling'
>>
>arthurhu@halcyon.com http://www.halcyon.com/arthurhu
>
Jimmy Kilpatrick
Consultant and Policy Advisor
Reading and Reading Disabilities
http://www.readbygrade3.com
713 520-9715
67>>
From: "Donna Garner"
To: "education consumers"
Subject: Grammar Packets Ready
Date sent: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 17:41:34 -0600
I am thrilled to be able to tell you that the grammar packets are now up on
Jimmy Kilpatrick's web page http://www.readbygrade3.com. Arthur Hu is
still finalizing them on his page of
http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/98/04/gram/cover.htm.
Please be sure and read the following letter which I think will help you
access the grammar packets successfully from Jimmy's web page. Because I am
still such a novice on the Internet, I did not know that it is better to
print off disk after downloading than it is to print right off the web page
(formatting codes disappear, columns run together, etc.). Hopefully the
following will introduce you to the grammar packets and will help you to
retrieve them without any problems.
Date: March 20, 1998
From: Mrs. Donna Garner
236 Cross Country Drive
Hewitt, TX 76643
dggarner@swbell.net
My grammar packets have been written for English I students; however, these
packets have been used successfully with students of various ages, Grades 6
through adults.
The packets must be taught in the order as listed at the bottom of this
letter because each packet is based upon the previous packets. Students
should learn every single part of each packet because the exercises
continually build on past skills. Each student should have his own
individual packets so that he can write directly on them.
I have written my own tests which are aligned with the packets, but I
cannot share my testing program. Because the packets are so explicit,
however, teachers will have no problems designing their own testing
program.
I claim no authorship or copyright privileges. People are free to
duplicate as many copies as they desire.
The best way to access the packets off Jimmy's web page is to do the
following:
1. Click on the message which says, "Click here to download packets."
2. Click on "Preposition Packet."
3. If box comes up which says, "Unknown File Type," click on "Save File."
(It is better not to change the name of the file at this point; just let it
save under the name already affixed to it.)
4. Click "Save" and minimize the web page screen so that it shows up on
the toolbar.
5. Go to word processor. (I use Microsoft Word 7.0.) Click on "Open."
6. Find the name of the file under which "Preposition Packet" was saved.
7. Scroll down to "rich text format" because they have been saved in that
format.
8. Open the file and print the packet.
9. Go through the same procedure with each packet.
If the packets are too costly to duplicate because of their length, you may
want to download the packets to disk, pull up the documents, and delete the
abundant spacing. It is preferable if the packets can be left with the
extra spacing, however, because students who are learning disabled function
better if their materials do not look too congested.
I have been a classroom teacher for over twenty-six years; and during that
time, I have repeatedly written, revised, taught, and piloted these grammar
packets. It has been my privilege to see hundreds of students master oral
and written communication skills by learning the contents of these packets.
It is my sincere hope that many more students will benefit from these
materials by making them available to the public through the Internet.
This is the order in which the packets need to be taught:
1. Preposition
2. Verb -- Part I
3. Verb -- Part II
4. Verb -- Part III
5. Verb -- Part IV
6. Verb -- Part V
7. Conjunction/Clause
8. Noun
9. Pronoun
10.Adjective/Adverb
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
68>>
(this is the guy that said some don't need
phonics... because they got it at home, not
because whole language is better for starting)
Just to make sure, do I understand correctly
that you agree that you cannot start without
phonics, or do you think kids should start
with whole language right away before all
phonetics have been mastered?
I find it really hard to believe that half of
kids aren't ready to learn to read even in
the 2nd grade, or that any 1st grader is'nt
ready to start memorizing the alphabet or some
level of phonics. What is it with you
progessive educators? First you say that the
bell curve is some conservative conspiracy,
and then you use it to justify not teaching
reading to half of 2nd year olds. Is there
a bell curve or not?
There isn't any evidence that
phonics is not required learning for ALL students,
or that phonics will not work for all students, it
is whole language that will not work on students
who have not mastered phonics first.
The whole notion tha some students dont' need
sequential instruction is nutty too. You've got
to start simple and move up, throwing Treasure
Island to 1st graders is stupid, as is the
whole language notion of throwing in words that
cannot be decoded phonetically.
My son got a piano teacher that got him on
two hands and two clefs with quarter notes and
rests in ONE 45 min lesson. Fortunately, he
survived, but you've got to admit sequential
would probably have been more effective for
any student
> Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 11:07:56 -0800 (PST)
> From: David Marshak
> To: Arthur Hu
> Subject: Re: Marshak responds to phonics??
> Here's a short response. I'd be happy to discuss this if you'd like more
> details.
>
> We need to bring three factors into consideration when discussing initial
> reading learning and teaching:
>
> 1. The "cultural capital" and language experience of the child at home and
> in any pre-school learning contexts.
>
> Children who are read to and whose parents read are likely to have much
> more familiarity with and interest in letters, words, books, and reading
> than children whose parents don't read, either to them or for their own
> purposes. This variation in "cultural capital" requires attention from
> primary grades teachers and differing responses.
>
> 2. Developmental rate
>
> The research that I've seen suggests that there is a standard distribution
> of the population in relation to reading readiness, with the median around
> age 6.5-7 years, perhaps a little earlier in intensely literate family
> cultures. Reading readiness is the point in cognitive development when the
> child see the marks on the page as letters and words and the words begin
> to make sense to her/him.
>
> Even if mean were 6 years, there is a significant minority of the
> population (perhaps 30-35%) who don't really "get" reading in first grade
> and who would benefit from being in a rich language environment at that
> time, but without enforced phonetic instruction, which doesn't make much
> sense to them at that point anyway. By 2nd grade almost all of the
> distribution of children is ready cognitively to read.
>
> 3. Variations in learning style
>
> Some children learn best from sequential instruction in phonics. Some
> don't. Children learn in different ways, with preferences for different
> structures and kinds of organization.
>
> What all of this argues for is a primary grades classroom where a
> teacher can know each child individually and can give attention to the
> capacities and learning needs of each child individually.
>
> You cite children who are reading in kindergarten. If so, why
> waste their time with a lot of phonics instruction? If they are reading
> they have already learned most of it. Other children need structured,
> sequential phonics instruction, but they need it at different times if
> they are to benefit most from it.
>
> My experience tells me that the best way to equip teachers with
> this kind of knowledge about each individual child is to have teachers
> work with children for 2 or even better 3 years. This can be done -- and
> is being done all over the Puegt Sound area -- in multiage, my preference
> for various reasons, or looping classrooms.
>
> The fundamental problem with all of reading war solutions put
> forward recently is that they ignore the complexity of what I've described
> above and argue that one "magic bullet" works for everyone. This is not
> true, and it does a disservice to children.
>
> David Marshak
>
>
70>>
Michelle Malkin Seattle Times
did a fine job on the Compton report
as the sole Asian the media contacted for the
"other" side of the Obe Chine controversy.
Guess with me on True Colors, that makes two
"alternative" Asian American views on local
TV in one week. Wow.
We had a Grogo incident 1st day I was at MIT,
the freshman picture book featured one
gorilla mascot as from "Kampala Uganda", nearly
got at least one student expelled.
Silly, silly, silly. No worse than a cigar
store indian, but that's another story...
Michelle Malkin Seattle Times
did a fine job on the Compton report
as the sole Asian the media contacted for the
"other" side of the Obe Chine controversy.
Guess with me on True Colors, that makes two
"alternative" Asian American views on local
TV in one week. Wow.
BTW, for those that missed me on Ch 9, I
held up my HP200 pocket computer, and read the
definition of affirmative action that was
printed in the Seattle Times which defined it
as acting affirmatively to hire WITHOUT regard
to race or gender (for those of you from Rio
Linda, that's the same was without preferences)
and asked how we got to it requiring preferences.
Of course, they didn't respond.
Michelle said that although she was not one to
tell other people what to be offended by, it
was spending a lot of capital on something that
didn't really matter compared to Chinese
quotas at Lowell in SF, which many Chinese
activists have chosen to ignore.
We had a Grogo incident 1st day I was at MIT,
the freshman picture book featured one
gorilla mascot as from "Kampala Uganda", nearly
got at least one student expelled.
Silly, silly, silly. No worse than a cigar
store indian, but that's another story...
71>>
Well, thanks for reading and appreciating my
criticisms. Unlike you, I think I'm making pretty
good use of all the arithmetic, algebra, science,
history, and phonics / grammar I was taught back
in the 60s and 70s, and I'm shocked that people
think we can through all that stuff in the garbage.
Almost none of what I learned back then is obsolete
or useless today, fact is, not that much has changed
even in math or science, and certainly English
hasn't changed much.
I don't know what you've been taught that is useless,
or that you'd be better off if they had taught you
nothing. Even the computer science I learned in the 70s
is still applicable today.
Yes, I think we can use some real reforms, but not
by simply tossing out everything. The first thing we
have to do is get rid of the notion that everything
has to be changed, and concentrate mostly on doing
a good job with what we know, and only a little bit
on truly new ideas. There's a heck of a lot to know
that I didn't pick up in school where it might have
helped, like how to tear apart a typical movie or book
and figure out what it's really trying to say, or
be able to critically take apart something as deceptive
as education reform like I can today, but very few
people are trained to do, instead of just riding along
with the mob.
> Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 01:54:39 -0500
> From: Tanstaafl
> Organization: California University of Pennsylvania
> To: arthurhu@halcyon.com, bro6754@duncan.cup.edu
> Subject: I have read much of your page
> I see much of you point and restate that I do
> not follow "fad" education. I am wondering
> what you see as the solution? You have stated
> the problems with great clarity and enthusiasm,
> however, I do not see what you propose to be
> the solution. Are you advocating a "back to basics"
> approach? Or do you have another idea? It is
> obvious to me and to many others that the status
> quo cannot be maintained. The transition from
> an industrial age to an information age will force
> us to change how we look at learning and teaching.
> While I do not agree with many of the trendy
> fads being tried in various places, we have
> to try something until we find what works.
> Another point, how much of this "dumbing"
> down is the fault of education? How much
> blame to we give to parents, movies, T.V., commercial
> advertising, sports, ect. ect. ad nauseum. I think the fact
> that Americans spend more time in front of the T.V. than
> they do reading a book, newspaper, or magazine should
> make an impression on all educators. People don't read like
> they used to, people are more and more used to getting their
> informationin quick "bursts" rather than the several
> hour process of reading the paper, or even the hour/half-
> hour news programs. In order to prepare children for the
> challenges they will face in the future, we have to do something,
> the question is what? How can we get anyone to agree on
> what should be done, especially when most of the people
> making the decisions have little or no practical experience
> in the classroom? Isn't that what your point is? I think the
> idea of adding more testing is ludicrous. The major
> advantages of tests are they are easy to grade and
> easy to coellate into whatever statistical analysis an
> "expert" wishes to prove this week. I do not wish to
> confuse what I call "test-taking skills" with actual ability,
> intelligence, or proof of learning. Are everything that
> education reformers try going to "fix" things? I seriously
> doubt that. We've had an imperfect system as things
> were, and chances are the system will always be imperfect.
> No matter what you learn in public school or college,
> when you enter the work force, most of the time
> they retrain you anyway. What does that tell
> you about the usefullness of most education.
> Everything I learned in public school is just
> about obsolete now, and I only graduated from
> high school 10 years ago. The only skills which
> have helped me are my reference skills, the fact
> that my mother read to me when I was a child,
> and that I still LOVE to read even now. I know
> I am an exception to many of the people in my
> generation. At any rate, I am enjoying our
> dialogue even if we never agree on one thing.
>
> Respectfully,
>
> Jeffrey Brown
>
>
72>>
Date sent: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 21:34:31 -0900 (AKST)
From: "Mr. and Mrs. Glacier Gruff"
To: arthurhu@mail1.halcyon.com
Subject: Re: C-NEWS: San Francisco seriously considers 50% black quota on literature (fwd)
This bounced using the address in the header. The C-News suggested I try
the address above...
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 07:39:15 -0900 (AKST)
From: "Mr. and Mrs. Glacier Gruff"
To: Arthur Hu
Subject: Re: C-NEWS: San Francisco seriously considers 50% black quota on literature
Greetings from the glacial nunatak....
> WHEN I WAS a kid in New England, and racist members of the Boston
> School Committee resisted integration with every tool of stupidity at
> their command, I developed a theory that school boards exist to promote
> ignorance.
You are being very kind, Arthur. I give you Mark Twain, by paraphrase, not
having it right before me:
'God practiced a while creating idiots and morons, then he
invented the school board'
Speaking as a 35 year lecturer of math, science and engineering, at all
levels from third grade through University, presently teaching part time
on retirement at a JC, I submit to you that the nation, reflecting the
HEAD, is mortally ill, and can not long survive.
I give you a voice from the past, shouting, mightily, in a vacuum:
While the people are virtuous, they cannot be subdued; but when they
lose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the
first external or internal invader. Samuel Adams
73>>
Date sent: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 17:15:11 -0600
To: education-consumers@tricon.net
From: "B. Rice Aston"
These are some of the problems you encounter when dealing with the
pernicious effects bilingual education:
1. Bilingual education is necessary because the power of white Anglo-Saxon
English speaking Americans handicaps non-English speaking children, making
them ashamed of their own culture.
2.Socio-linguists acknowledge that children who speak standard English,
write grammatically and spell and punctuate correctly are at a great
advantage when it came to applying for jobs. Would they encourage children
to be taught these things? No. The reason: Standard English is largely the
product of a small elite in Nineteenth Century England who wanted to use it
to strengthen their hold on power and keep the lower classes in their
place. Teaching Standard English, correct punctuation, pronunciation,
grammar and spelling would help the elite to stay in power and would be
unfair to those who speak differently at home.
3. In 1988 a Task Force on Minorities: Equity and Excellence not one
historian among its 17 members ) brought in a report, its first sentence
sounding the keynote;
"African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Puerto Ricans and Native Americans
have all been the victims of an intellectual and educational oppression
that has characterized the culture and institutions of the United States
and the European American world for centuries. ..
The "Systematic bias toward European culture and its derivatives [has] a
terribly damaging effect on the psyche of young people of African, Asian,
Latin, and Native American descent."
5. Classical multiculturalism is quite positive; it requires first the
study of your own history and civilization, then the study of other
cultures, and a search for universal values, thus engendering understanding
and appreciation of other cultures. What multiculturalism means in the
peculiar vocabulary of the postmodern is something entirely different; it
means resentment of the dominance of society by Western history and Western
peoples. It is an agenda of separatism in language and culture, loyalty to
one's own ethnic group, preservation of ethnic differences, and revisionist
view of history as a collection of grievances to be kept alive. It supports
a political agenda to use the educational system to legitimize and spread
these ideas, beliefs, attitudes.
6. Ad-hominem attacks - Response of a postmodern/radical
multiculturalist/Race,Class,&Gender Scholar when requested for empirical
data supporting bilingual education.
Richard Bernstein in his Dictatorship of Virtue: Multiculturalism and the
Battle for America's Future, bluntly states:
"The multiculturalism rhetoric has the rest of us on the run, unable to
respond for fear of being branded unicultural or racists."
B. Rice Aston
bra@hal-pc.org
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
74>>
I believe this is misleading, minority kids
do much worse than this level. The NAEP is
misleading because it says that 40% of kids
are below grade level when the proper defintion
is that whereever the bottom 50% of kids are
IS grade level.
> Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 19:29:17 +0000
> To: jimmyk5@swbell.net
> From: Gloria Hoffman (by way of Jimmy Kilpatrick )
> Subject: Reading Question
> city schools.
> Gloria Hoffman>
>
> The best example I love to quote are the NAEP scores from California. Forty
> percent of the fourth grade students were below grade level in basic
> reading. Of this forty percent 32% came from intact families where both
> parents had graduated from college. Yes, there are problems with reading in
> suburban districts. Districts and states know how and continually
> manipulate the data to please the uninformed and the unwilling to be
> informed public. The changes in California didn't start happening until it
> was apparent that white middle class surburban students were not learning
> to read.
>
>
> Jimmy
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
>
Date sent: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 02:52:13 -0500
From: Gloria Hoffman
Send reply to: ghoffman@bellatlantic.net
Organization: Education Consumers Association of Central PA, Parent Advocate, Citizens Raising Educational Standards for Children in Public Schools, While I too want my children to be life-long learners, I do not want it to take a lifetime to learn wh
To: Education Consumers Association
Copies to: "Battey, Fred"
Subject: Reading Question
The year my daughter was in first grade 19 children tested so poorly
they needed to attend remedial reading in second grade. This is about
one third of the childen from the first grade class. This number seems
unusally high to me for a suburban school district. Our class sizes in
the first grade were about 18 and 19 children in the class. Does this
number seem unusally high or is this normal for first grade?
When I taught in the inner city schools usually 6 to 8 children
attended remedial reading from my third grade class. Our class sizes
were usually between 34 - 38 children in the class. It seems the
suburban districts are not doing any better than the inner city schools.
Gloria Hoffman
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
75>>
I've been forwared a copy of the anti-preferences
letter, and I am one Asian American who is offended
by those who take a law that originally defined
affirmative action as acting WITHOUT regard to race
and twisting it to mean that acting without prejudice
is KILLING affirmative action. Please tell your editors
to NOT confuse stopping affirmative action with
stopping preferences. Fortunately, most of the public
can tell the difference, most activists evidently cannot.
If they want government mandated preferences, then
the law should say so. Current laws only say that
discrimination is not legal, there are NO laws on the
books anywhere that require or even permit group
preferences. There is a good reason Veterans preferences
are stated as that --- preferences, and affirmative
action does NOT. That's because affirmative action should
NOT be preferences. 200 would clarify, not confuse
the issue.
Thank you
Arthur Hu
425-814-2183
Kirkland WA
Chinese American who believes that discriminating
against Chinese or European Americans is just as
evil as discrimination against African Americans.
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
From: "Soya Jung"
To: "Soya Jung"
Subject: Anti-affirmative action letter from State Rep. Koster
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 10:02:16 -0800
>From the No!200 Coalition...
The following is a copy of a misleading, inflammatory letter from State
Representative John Koster (R-39), which was printed in last Wednesday's
Marysville Globe and quite possibly other papers in the area as well.
Respond
to it or write a similar letter to any of the area newspapers listed below.
Please forward to any contacts, associates, friends, family, etc. you know
of
in the area.
Marysville Globe = mglobe@dogday.net
Arlington Times (no e-mail address)
P.O. Box 67 426 N.Olympic Arlington WA 98223-0067
this paper requests a daytime phone number for verification
Herald (Everett) = letters@heraldnet.com (letters to editor)
Lake Stevens Journal = lsj@nwlink.com
Monroe Monitor = monitor@premier1.net
(this paper prints only letters from within their circulation area)
Tribune Newspapers = snoho@premier1.net
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Marysville Globe, Wednesday, March 18, 1998
Letters
I-200 ends Government sponsored discrimination
Dear Editor;
A recent guest comment stated, "We need to find a solution that solves the
problems of discrimination and eliminates the possibility of reverse
discrimination." I couldn't agree more. Initiative 200 is that solution.
Initiative 200, the Washington State Civil Rights Initiative, was submitted
to
the Secretary of State's Office earlier this year with a record-setting
280,000 signatures.
The Official Ballot Title of Initiative I-200, drafted by the state Attorney
General, reads: "Shall government be prohibited from discriminating or
granting preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or
national origin in public employment, education and contracting?"
Let's face it. It's just plain wrong for government to discriminate on the
basis of race. And preferential treatment is racial discrimination. It's
that obvious. Whenever government grants a preference to someone based on
race, government discriminates against another person based on race. That's
racial discrimination, paid for by taxpayers. It must stop.
Unfortunately, your recent guest comment claimed Initiative 200 would end
affirmative action. This is misinformation based up the mistaken belief
that
racial preferences are synonymous with affirmative action. To the contrary,
the fact is Initiative 200 does not eliminate affirmative action, because
affirmative action and preferential treatment are not the same thing.
Initiative 200 would not eliminate valid employment and educational outreach
programs so long as they remain race and gender neutral and do not result in
discriminatory preferences by government. The public overwhelmingly
supports
principles of merit and equal opportunity, which include legitimate
affirmative action programs, and opposes racial preferences, racial quotas,
and racial set-asides.
The Washington State Constitution prohibits existing laws from being revised
or amended by mere reference to their title. For Initiative 200 to end
existing affirmative action programs, existing laws would have to be amended
or repealed within the text of Initiative 200. But Initiative 200 doesn't
amend or repeal one single statute. It doesn't refer to any statute at all.
It doesn't intend to. Therefore, Initiative 200 does not and cannot end any
existing affirmative action program as opponent (sic) to Initiative 200
falsely claim. But it would stop them from being used to discriminate or
grant preferential treatment based on race or gender.
The claim that Initiative 200 would eliminate affirmative action programs is
nothing but an attempt to mislead the public. To oppose Initiative 200 on
the
grounds that it would "eliminate affirmative action" is a conspicuous
admission that such programs are, in fact, being used wrongfully to
discriminate. But under the terms of Initiative 200, government will merely
be prohibited from using quotas, or hiring or promoting unqualified people
ahead of more qualified individuals simply because of their race or gender.
Let me make it clear. It's time to admit that racial and gender based
preference have not worked. You don't cure racism with more racism. You
don't cure discrimination with more discrimination. It's time to protect
the
rights of every individual and stand up for the fundamental principle that
every citizen will be treated equally under the law.
It's time to put a stop to government sponsored discrimination now. I trust
the judgment of the good citizens of the 39th Legislative District. I
believe
that the truth will win out on this issue in the free marketplace of ideas
and
the people themselves will do the right thing and end racial discrimination
by
the state.
Representative John Koster
39th Legislative District
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A posible response:
(300 words on the nose!)
To the Editor,
I have to respond to Rep. John Koster's recent misrepresentation of
Initiative
200 in your newspaper. I strongly oppose I-200. It would turn back the
clock
on thirty years of hard-fought gains for women, minorities and everyone in
Washington. Initiative 200 is much too extreme.
Koster says that I-200 won't do away with the kind of affirmative action
programs that we all can support. That's wrong. By prohibiting so called
"preferential treatment," the Initiative threatens things like grade school
programs that encourage young girls to do well in math and science.
Apprenticeship programs for women and minorities trying to get into new jobs
may be done away with. Even programs designed to encourage qualified
minorities to become school teachers will be on the chopping block.
Initiative 200 backers like Koster use the phrase "preferential treatment"
to
frighten and confuse people. The fact is, affirmative action opens doors
that
would otherwise be closed. Everyone gets an equal opportunity to compete.
That is the opposite of preferential treatment.
Koster doesn't even mention the impact I-200 will have on women. He only
talks about race so he can upset people and be inflammatory. However, the
biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action in Washington are white women.
That's because affirmative action programs help to ensure that qualified
women
are considered for public jobs. The glass ceiling is real. Women still
only
make seventy cents for every dollar a man makes. But Koster wants you to
forget about inequalities that still exist in 1998.
Affirmative action is necessary to overcome current discrimination and helps
give everyone has a fair shot a decent job. The programs are working. In
the face of stubborn discrimination, we have made some progress in the past
thirty years or so. Let's not throw it all away. Let's vote No on 200.
END
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Soya Jung
Acting Director
Washington Alliance for Immigrant and Refugee Justice
909 Eighth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98104
PH: 206.340.9187
FX: 206.405.4532
wairj@speakeasy.org
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
76>>
That's good, please go to my ed reform
web page again and go the the link to
submit your page again, that's supposed
to send me an email to do the next step
to add you to the ring. Thanks
> Date: Sat, 21 Mar 1998 21:19:04 -0500
> From: Tanstaafl
> Organization: California University of Pennsylvania
> To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
> Subject: Re: Cannot find the HTML code to add your webring to my page
>
>
> Arthur Hu wrote:
>
> > One problem with the reform movement is that
> > it tends to promote every nutty idea, so it
> > binds together people who think education should
> > be fun with those that believe that everyone
> > should be forced to get perfect SAT scores or
> > flunk. Sort of like the liberals banding together
> > women, blacks and gays even when they don't
> > particularly have the same interests when you
> > look into it further.
> >
> > You need to take a look at the whole movement,
> > promote the ideas you like and think are good,
> > and fight what isn't, and not simply embrace
> > "reform" blindly which is what everybody is doing.
> > It's one thing to simply go backwards to the
> > basics, quite another to destroy the basics when
> > we vow to "change everything". Look at the what
> > the cultural revolution did to China. This is
> > the same thing, it destroyed reading and math
> > in California already.
> >
>
> I agree with you wholeheartedly. I don't blindly follow the"reform" bandwagon. I make
> decisions based partly on what
> I have found to work in the classroom, and partly on what I
> felt was inadequate in my own education. I honestly do
> believe that the world has marched on and public education
> has not been able to keep up with it. Most of the problem
> is money and politics of course, but also because teachers
> and administrators don't want to change. After 10-15 years
> most people get "set" in their ways when it comes to their
> jobs and they are very resistant to change of any sort. My
> concern is not with overwhelming public schooling with
> vast change for no purpose, but in seeing that the changes,
> which I believe must occur, benefit the most students. I
> for one do not think that putting a computer on every students'
> desk is really all that beneficial. I believe computers have a place
> as another "tool" of teaching/learning, just as overheads, videos,
> books, journals, and other means have been used to extend
> learning, but no one is the "panacea" that some people would
> have the public believe. There are no easy answers and there
> are a whole lot of questions. In the meantime, while everyone
> is arguing on whether to change or not to change or how to change
> or even why should we change, our children are the ones paying
> the price. I do not have all the answers, and neither do you. I
> added your site to my education page for that very reason. We
> are all looking for answers, we all believe we know what is
> best for our childrens' future, perhaps each of us has just a
> little bit of the answer that will finally come into being. I
> believe that all sides of an issue deserve a fair hearing, because
> this is the only way to make an informed decision. Am I really
> all that different from you now?
>
>
> ;-)
>
> Jeffrey
>
>
>
>
Date sent: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 20:37:30 -0500
From: BROWN JEFFREY S
To: arthurhu@halcyon.COM
Subject: Re: I have read much of your page
>(to cc, note this fellow claims everything he's
>been taught is obsolete and useless now)
>Well, thanks for reading and appreciating my
good use of all the arithmetic, algebra, science,
>history, and phonics / grammar I was taught back
>in the 60s and 70s, and I'm shocked that people
>think we can through all that stuff in the garbage.
>Almost none of what I learned back then is obsolete
>or useless today, fact is, not that much has changed
>even in math or science, and certainly English
>hasn't changed much.
Phonics was helpful when I didn't know how to pronounce
words, I do not often encounter words I cannot pronounce.
Math hasn't changed much, but then again, it was never my
strong suit anyway. Our approach to science isn't different,
but the advances of science have produced some topical
changes as well as technological ones. English has most
definitly changed and I don't think for the better, kids
do not speak, spell, read, nor write as well as they once
did. I made it through my 12 years of schooling and never
really did learn grammar.
>I don't know what you've been taught that is useless,
>or that you'd be better off if they had taught you
>nothing. Even the computer science I learned in the 70s
>is still applicable today.
Much of the theory is similar, but the types of languages
available to program in have changed drastically.
>Yes, I think we can use some real reforms, but not
>by simply tossing out everything. The first thing we
>have to do is get rid of the notion that everything
>has to be changed, and concentrate mostly on doing
>a good job with what we know, and only a little bit
>on truly new ideas. There's a heck of a lot to know
>that I didn't pick up in school where it might have
>helped, like how to tear apart a typical movie or book
>and figure out what it's really trying to say, or
>be able to critically take apart something as deceptive
>as education reform like I can today, but very few
>people are trained to do, instead of just riding along
>with the mob.
Once again we agree, amazing isn't it? I'm not for "throwing
the baby out with the bathwater." True I do not put much
credence in standardized testing nor "multiple-guess" tests,
but I think that any education system is going to have to
have some standard approaches, at least so far as to get
the "basics" taught. I think that elementary should be
devoted towards a strong grounding in the basic skills
everyone needs: reading, writing, mathamatics, spelling,
grammar, communications, reference skills, and physical
education. Middle school should be a "transition" towards
more thought-based skills and remediating any problem
areas that remain from the elementary years. High school
should be primarily for scientific inquiry, philosophy,
higher-order thinking/critical thinking, fine arts, and
career preparation skills. High school today is not much
to talk about, kids "rotate" through subjects taught over
and over again at different grade levels. The 9th graders
do a unit on poetry, which the 10th graders do as well, without
any increase in depth or coverage. While repetition is great
sometimes, I believe we waste too much time on trivialities that
students should have covered and learned when they were
younger. I taught English 10 and had to go over and explain
how to document sources according to the MLA handbook, this
is not difficult, but my students had trouble understanding
these rules. Learning should be connected so that teachers
don't have to go back and recover information covered in
previous classes. This is why I think constructivism can
be used so much in the classroom. Many students play
dumb just to get out of having to do things. We need
to make them responsible for their learning and hold them
accountable for getting their work done. Too many teachers
"spoon feed" their students with facts and expect nothing
more than for them to spit it back to them. THAT is what
needs to change most of all.
Respectfully,
Jeffrey Brown
__________________________________________________________________
* Jeffrey S. Brown *
* California University of Pennsylvania *
* Grad Student: Technology Education *
* Brother of the Lambda Omega Chapter of Alpha Phi Omega *
* Chartered Organization Rep Explorer Post 1421 *
* bro6754@duncan.cup.edu *
* http://duncan.cup.edu/~bro6754 *
* ICQ#7413844 *
* "All learning begins with the simple phrase: I do not know." *
* -Anonymous *
------------------------------------------------------------------
Send reply to:
From: "John Tyson"
To:
Subject: Right On, Brother!
Date sent: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 19:06:08 -0800
Or is that in itself politically incorrect.
I work for DSHS and once had an Asian-American boss who is currently in
VERY senior management. To this date, she is one of the three best bosses
I have ever had. I'm 51 so have had a lot of bosses.
One day she said to me, after a bit of diversity training that I found
offensive, "You know that 'some' (which I think includes her) do not
believe the minorities, by definition, can be racist.! I asked her if she
thought we could ever achieve racial harmony in this country, governed by
that definition and she agreed we probably could not. Later I scurried to
the dictionary to confirm that the definition-of-the-moment had not made it
there yet.
government is indeed very oppressive. No, that doesn't mean I will leave.
But it does mean that virtually everybody is "protected" except for the 50
year old, white, abled, straight, successful energetic male. Bet you
guessed that is me.
I don't know what we are going to do about this, frankly. I have written
before that the best we Libertarians might do is develop the scheme for
society post racial holocaust. Since the neo-liberals are willing to take
this country to its grave, lest one member of one victim group not enjoy
all the fruits of someone else's labor that might be all we do. Had we not
the Net, Dan Rather and Ted Koppel would be the only puppets anyone would
ever hear.
Sears, Penney's and others pulled advertising from a radio talk show
featuring a black Libertarian in L.A. I don't shop at those stores any
more but I am not yet sure they miss me. Those companies made a good
business decision. they made a poor social decision but that is not their
business. Until Mr. & Ms. silent Majority, Working Class Americans wake up
and smell the feces, the majority of our diet will be those
Clinton/Locke/Sims missives that the media care to regurgitate for us.
Other than that I love liberals and reverse discrimination.
Have a good evening. I appreciated your words today.
77>>
3/25/98
http://www.wa.gov/governor/contact/govemail.htm
To Governor Locke:
I highly decry your support for Bergeson's new tests, and de-emphasizing phonics,
and the recent editorial in the Seattle Times
I have testified in committed against the new assessments.
Please check out my position page on the new assessment -
http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/index/washtest.htm
Bergeson says the test was carefully matched against the benchmarks, but
these questions clearly come out of benchmarks at the 7th and 10th grade:
- ratio
- rate
- proportion
- least common multiple
- probability expressed a proportion
- multipying by fractions
- requiring conversion from feet to inches without giving conversion factor
- length = width x height
- constructing a symmetric figure
Something like 40% of the questions on the sample test have similar
problems. The first page of a sample SAT test has 80%, or a higher
percentage of valid 4th grade level questions, and each question is
simpler than the version that appears in the WA test.
Her statement that tests were matched belie the fact that the presence
of such questions on the test prove that no such check was ever done.
78>>
Subject: Re: If NC can protest ed reform, why not Washington???
I can tell you why Arthur: because in Washington State we put the Union President on our
Task Force for school reform: Have you read the book The Teacher's Union by Myron
Lieberman....We can protest because we have turned over our education system to a Union and
all a Union wants is jobs.....secure jobs...more jobs...etc. To say they care about
education is naive. The following is a list of Task Force Members that you can find at
http://csl.wednet.edu So if you get any ideas that might help; let me know. Marilyn Task
Force Members
Terry Bergeson (Co-Chair)
State Superintendent of Public
Instruction
Frank Shrontz (Co-Chair)
Chairman Emeritus
The Boeing Company
Tony Abeyta
School Board Member
White River School District
Gary Livingston
Superintendent
Spokane School District
Don Brunell
President
Association of Washington Business
Ted Mansfield
Principal
Ridge View Elementary
Joe Dear
Chief of Staff
Office of the Governor
Eileen O'Neill Odum
Regional President
GTE Northwest
Deborah Gonzalez
Fourth Grade Teacher
Fawcett Elementary
Lee Ann Prielipp
President
Washington Education Association
Jill Jacoby
Superintendent
Bethel School District
Thomas "Les" Purce
Vice President
Washington State University
The Honorable Peggy Johnson
Washington State House of
Representatives
Chair, House Education Committee
The Honorable James West
Washington State Senate
Chair, Ways and Means Committee
Arthur Hu wrote:
79>>
Date sent: Wed, 25 Mar 98 08:27:12 LCL
From: Jolene Clark
Subject: SREB report on Middle Grades
To: EDUCATION CLEARINGHOUSE
NEWS FLASH: "The middle grades -- grades five through eight -- are the weak
link in American education. Nowhere is the link more fragile than in the
states served by the Southern Regional Education Board."
The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) has released a report entitled
"Education's Weak Link: Student Performance in the Middle Grades". There
is some interesting info here. The report can be accessed at:
www.sreb.org/quicksearch/Weaklink/weaklink.htm
There are some other interesting articles at this site (sreb.org).
I have skimmed "High Schools That Work". This smacks of STW but it at least
appears to strive for raising the standards for career-path students rather
than diluting the college-bound curriculum with STW initiatives.
JC
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
80>>
Hello Seattle TV stations, I've got Washington's
largest and most comprehensive anti-ed deform
web site, and have done the most extensive study
showing that the 4th grade assessment and the
entire movement that it is based on is deeply flawed.
Even measured by its own benchmarks, the assessment
contains at least 40% questions at the 7th and
10th grade levels. No wonder the average student
had a score of 1 = knows nearly nothing.
The 1st page of the college level SAT is easier than
our 4th grade test, yet the real test is being given
again with NO CHANGES from the flawed sample test
widely given out.
I have also been on area TV and radio on topics
such as education and affirmative action, and
in the SF bay area, and have given testimony
to the legislature on problems with the new test
Bergeson proves how incompetent she is when she
has not personally confirmed that rate, ratio,
proportion, and independent probabililty ARE
on the test, but are NOT on the benchmarks except
at much higher grade levels. No one else in the
state has done the small amount of work it takes
to show this test is an absolute sham. This
should make a great investigative story as to
how such a huge thing could make such a massive
mistake that missed so many people so high up.
Web page for details:
http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/index/washtest.htm
\doc\web\clip\98\01\testtest.txt
\doc\web\clip\98\01\testtest.htm
81>>
Date sent: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 21:05:36 -0800
From: Charles H Irwin
Send reply to: cirwin@gte.net
To: Reed Dale R
Subject: Philosophy, Who Needs It Radio Show
Dale,
You may already know this but in case you haven't heard, Leonard
Peikoff's radio show "Philosophy Who Needs It" is now KITZ radio in
Seattle (1400 AM) from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM every Sunday. It originated
in LA and they just started airing it in Seattle March 1. I'll be
catching it for the first time this comming Sunday.
You can also check out the web site for the show at
http://www.pwni.com. Right now it's only on the air in seven cities;
Seattle, Los Angeles, Los Alamos/ Sante Fe NM, Norfolk Va, Skagit/Island
County Wa, Roswell NM and Prescott Az. People in other cities can and
do listen to it over the network using Real Audio. I have heard that
quite a few people call in from cities other than the above.
82>>
\From: royalgc@juno.com
Subject: Real Cyberschool
Date sent: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 11:01:51 EST
Send reply to: sepschool@lists.best.com
To: sepschool@lists.best.com
Take a look at a genuine all-cyber cyberschool for homeschoolers, grades
7-9. Internet + real-book-based curriculum, developed by a couple in
PA. Mary Pride gave it a great review in the latest issue of 'Practical
Homeschooling.'
http://www.willoway.com
Cathy Royal
83>>
From: "Bob Tackett"
Organization: MSU Forest Products Lab
To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
Date sent: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 13:18:49 CST6CDT
Subject: Re: Two view on "racist" Chinese painting
Send reply to: tackett@FPL.MSSTATE.EDU
Priority: normal
I hope someone won't brand me as racist for being curious, but I'd
like to see a picture of the painting that's caused so much hubbub.
It's hard to form much of an opinion otherwise (though I've got
enough of those anyhow). Is there a link to one? It sure doesn't
sound like it's on par with a lynching or a swastika at this point.
Thanks,
BT
(o> <<< Bob Tackett >>>
('\ ret1@ra.msstate.edu
|"|\ http://www2.msstate.edu/~ret1
|;| MSU Forest Products Lab
" ""' " " '''" "" " "" " '' ' " " ' " " " '" " ' " ' " ' " " ' "
84>>
Carl, thanks for the forward, I'll pass this on
to the education "loop", contact me if you want
info to sign up (send email to fredb001@spectra.net,
but you'll get a pile of email every day / hour)
My Eric is in kindergarten, and he gets a math
homework pack for the month, and we have to help him
with weekly "homework problems". This is KINDERGARTEN.
You know, where you learn "how to go to school". I'm
walking him through the 2nd grade level stuff where
they are exploring multiplication and division with
manipulatives. Also showed him how to add numbers on
a calculator for some addition problems that are
beyond counting on fingers, since he doesn't have the
addition tables memorized yet.
I wonder about these homework problems that more or
less require 1-2 hours of parental time. I can imagine
what 5th grade looks like if this is kindergarten.
Yeah, I thought
we were paying the schools to spend their time teaching
our kids, we might as well home school if we have to
teach our kids this stuff.
teach our kids this stuff.
For more info on how idiotic the test is check out
http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/index/washtest.htm
For example, the benchmarks say that
- least common multiple
- ratio
- proportion
are 7th grade
- independent probability
is 10th grade.
Guess what's on the 4th grade test?
This is the educational equivalent of the
Wenatchee witch trials - everybody is signed on
to it until it becomes obvious to everyone that
the emporer has no clothes years after the
fact.
> From: Ed Mitchell
> Cc: "'arthurhu@mail.halcyon.com'"
> Subject: RE: In the News Tribune,
> railing against injustice and bad assess
> men
> Date: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 10:56:01 -0800
> Yep, sign me up on this too. My 5th grade daughter has had as much
> as 3 hours of math homework in a night. If she was working, and not
> in school, this would be called abuse and would be covered under
> child labor laws. My theory is that the teachers figure that by
> overwhelming the kids with homework, the parents are forced to spend
> huge amounts of time coaching their kids. In effect, its a cop out
> by the teachers. If the teacher can't succeed, then enlist the
> parents as not merely coaches and helpers but as nearly half time
> personal, one-on-one teachers.
>
> The biggest problem is that the kids bring home problems that they
> do not understand how to solve. This demands that the parents become
> the teacher. I (or Kim) spend a lot of time teaching her how to
> solve problems and how to spot short cuts. She is not learning these
> techniques in school. So Gwen is super frustrated because she often
> does not even know where to begin to attack the problem.
>
> The word problems they give are a peculiar way of forcing the kids
> to do practice drills of math problems. In fact, one set of problems
> she had were word problems called "guess and check". The kids had to
> develop an equation from the word problem and then guess at numbers,
> and do the math to see if it was the right answer. This forced kids
> to practice doing lots of math, but proved very frustrating since
> they had to do the same problem over and over again without
> achieving success for a long period of time. This greatly reduced
> the child's self esteem and confidence at doing math. The normal way
> to solve this kind of problem was the way I chose to solve them-
> with simultaneous linear equations! A problem this difficult is way
> too much for your typical 10 year old.
>
> This past week, we've managed to teach Gwen concepts of algebra and
> she is now solving these word problems by writing out equations like
> 4x + x = 35 and solving for x. My recollection is that I did not
> learn any of this until the 8th grade. And I'm uncertain why they
> literally forcing parents to teach this to 5th graders now.
>
> And don't get me started on the fractions problem from a month ago.
> The "correct" answer was 3/12. Gwen wrote down 1/4. She got the
> problem wrong because she had simplified and maybe the teacher
> couldn't figure out that 3/12 = 1/4.
>
> A lot of the comparisons between U.S. students and students in other
> countries turn out to be bogus comparisons of apples and oranges. In
> the last few weeks there was a well publicized study that claimed
> that 12th grade U.S. students were significantly poorer performers
> in math and science than were kids in other countries. The study
> failed to point out that in many of the other countries, lower
> performing students were no longer in school by the 12th grade. In
> some, they kids have already dropped out of school. In many others,
> if they are not college bound, they enter apprenticeship training
> programs in the 11th grade. The result is that we compared ALL of
> our 12th grade students to only the best and the brightest of THEIR
> 12th grades students.
>
> This kind of poor comparison looks like an attempt to create a
> "crisis" in order to promote greater education expenditures.
> President Clinton now proposes spending federal tax money to hire
> 100,000 new teachers to reduce grades 1-3 class sizes to 18. Never
> mind that the average class has already been reduced from 30 to 24
> and there is currently no evidence that reducing from 24 to 18 will
> provide an improvement. Never mind that those of us who went to
> school with class sizes of 28 to 32 have obviously turned out into
> incompetent, blithering fools incapable of working in high tech :-)
>
> Another problem that schools suffer from is the tendancy to turn any
> subject into an art project. Elementary school kids study, say,
> dinosaurs. And their assignment becomes one of drawing pretty
> pictures of dinosaurs. Last Monday I accompanied a second grade
> class to Pacific Science Center. I sincerely believe that the kids
> had all of about 15 minutes of actual learning during the entire
> day. In other words, this field trip was a total failure. At home
> that night I spent time with Gavin teaching him about a variety of
> subjects that *could* have been taught during the field trip but
> were not. At least he learned something but most kids did not have a
> parent along.
>
> Up through grade 4 I felt my kids were getting a decent to good
> education. This year, as I've necessarily become much more involved,
> I find myself greatly questioning the quality of the education and
> the education process.
>
> Ed
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 1998 5:54 PM
> > To: Ed Mitchell
> > Subject: FW: In the News Tribune, railing against injustice and
> > bad assessmen
> >
> > Sounds like you and my (controversial) brother Arthur might have a
> > common ground about the way math is being taught and tested in the
> > schools
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Arthur Hu [mailto:arthurhu@mail.halcyon.com]
> > Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 1998 9:45 AM
> > To: HULIST@api.com
> > Subject: In the News Tribune, railing against injustice and bad
> > assessmen
> >
> >
> > \doc\web\clip\98\01\testtest.txt
> > \doc\web\clip\98\01\testtest.htm
> >
> > [Tacoma WA] News Tribune Putting the tests to the test Washington
> > students about to take a different type of exam that already is
> > raising controversy March 24,1998 Debbie Cafazzo; The News Tribune
> > ; Education writers Mary Schneiter, Skip Card, Susan Gordon, Kris
> > Sherman and Debby Abe contributed to this report
> >
> > " Parents like Terry Olive of Federal Way worry that the grading
> > system may be too subjective. But others support the new tests and
> > what they represent. "
> >
> > " Arthur Hu is a Kirkland parent of preschoolers who has made an
> > avocation of critiquing the new state tests and education reform.
> > He maintains an Internet mailing list about reform here and in
> > other states. And he thinks educators are headed in the wrong
> > direction. Hu believes the Washington tests, particularly the
> > fourth-grade tests, are too hard. He points to dismal results from
> > last spring's testing of fourth-graders - the first of the
> > new-style test scores to be reported. "
> >
This is the educational equivalent of the
Wenatchee witch trials - everybody is signed on
to it until it becomes obvious to everyone that
the emporer has no clothes years after the
fact.
From: Ed Mitchell
To: "'arthurhu@halcyon.com'" ,
"Carl Hu (CPD)"
Copies to: "'arthurhu@mail.halcyon.com'"
Subject: RE: In the News Tribune, railing against injustice and bad asses
Date sent: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 12:45:12 -0800
One more "math as art" example. I just remembered the drill problems my 2nd
grader got. The answer from each problem determined the color that was to be
used in filling in a pre-outlined picture. I've seen a number of problems
where the math problems are used to drive an art project. Maybe this is
useful to motivate kids. I don't know. But when I see a lot of these I start
to view it as "turning math into an art project".
By the way, the 5th graders are doing least common multiple and ratio
problems. They haven't got proportion yet but I can see them going there. My
daughter tells me that the "advanced" 5th grade math students are already
being taught algebra (she is not in the advanced group).
Kindergartners should not have any homework. Period. The main purpose of K
should be introducing kids to socialization issues: working in groups,
taking turns, following directions. Today, in some areas (my sister's family
in Danville, CA ran into this), children are now required to pass an
entrance exam for K: this includes demonstrating knowledge of the entire
alphabet and counting to at least 10. This is crazy as this is the level of
work that 5 year olds should be learning in school. I have a friend who is a
school psychologist (and also has degrees in medicine and education). He
believes that kids are being pushed way to hard in the early years. Kids
need to be kids.
I believe you are correct in asserting that the education beauracracy is
working hard to create a "crisis" in order obtain more funding. In fact, I
am certain of it. Anyone who receives government funding must today turn
their funding request into a "crisis" to get above the noise level. The
result is a nation of crises!
My late Dad, a professor of education, used to joke that there was "nothing
that yet another Federally funded study can't resolve" and that most such
studies were always seemingly "doomed to success" from the very beginning.
My younger sister had her ability to read and write as a youngster,
destroyed by an insane Federally funded reading and writing concept called
"ITA" when she was in elementary school. The method had already been tried
in the U.K. and proven not only not to work but to cause harm! My Dad tried
to tell the school district that this was crazy. Yet, even thought he had a
Columbia University Doctorate in Education, school district officials told
him that he didn't know what he was talking about! Several years later, with
their federal grant money used up, the district quietly discontinued the
stupid ITA program.
Ironically, I participated for two years in a separate educational
experiment in the 5th and 6th grade that was an overwhelming success. Once
the funding dried up, it has never been used again. Does this make sense to
you?
Ed
86>>
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/letters.html
regarding correcting the curriculum:
Marc Tucker is the music man of education reform that is ruining
education with a wave of assessments that are flunking huge numbers
of students, especially minorities, forces wholesale abandonment of
proven curriculum in favor of untested fads, outcome based education,
and is the architect of US school to work that will force all
children to endure what used to be reserved for non-academic track
kids.Check out my Marc Tucker anti-fan page
athttp://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/index/mtucker.htmYou really
need to do a show on the rising tide ofparents and citizens outraged
at the educationreform = deform movement, where it is damaging
forpreschoolers to memorize the alphabet, and 4thgraders to memorized
the multiplication table, andyou deliberately assess what students
have notbeen taught.
88>>
Now I've seen everything. A program which
is meant to emulate the programs that other nations
have for non-college track students is now adapted
to the gifted???
> Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 09:49:02 -0500
> From: diez-arguelles
> To: "education-consumers@tricon.net"
> Subject: Look who's for STW
>
> Subject:
>
linking gifted
> and STW
>
Date:
>
Fri, 27 Mar
> 1998 12:37:40 EST
>
From:
>
Pals222 <Pals222@aol.com>
>
Reply-To:
>
fla-gifted-discuss@scri.fsu.edu
>
To:
>
fla-gifted-discuss@scri.fsu.edu,
> fla-gifted-discuss@mailer.scri.fsu.edu
>
>
>
>
> Forwarding this info FYI
>
>
Date: 98-03-27 12:17:43 EST
>
From: sberger@INET.ED.GOV (Sandra Berger)
>
Sender: TAG-L@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (TAG-L Talented and Gifted Education)
>
Reply-to: TAG-L@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU
> (TAG-L Talented and Gifted Education)
>
To: TAG-L@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU
>
>
Hi, This is an announcement of a program I've been involved with for
> a while.
>
I'm very excited about it because of the potential benefit to gifted
> kids and
>
programs. Please assist us by reposting and, if you know of suitable
>
nominations, responding to Lorraine Kleinwaks@ed.gov. Thanks very much.
>
>
Sandra Berger
>
ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education
>
The Council for Exceptional Children
>
http://www.cec.sped.org/ericec.htm
>
>
ANNOUNCEMENT AND REQUEST FOR PROGRAM NOMINATIONS
>
>
DEADLINE: May 1, 1998
>
>
(Please repost where appropriate.)
>
>
LINKING GIFTED AND TALENTED STUDENTS WITH SCHOOL-T0-WORK: A GIFTED
>
EDUCATION/STW
>
SYMPOSIUM PROJECT
>
>
BACKGROUND AND GOALS
>
>
The School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 identifies "academically
>
talented"
>
students in its definition of "all students." This project is
> intended to go
>
a
>
long way toward meeting the needs of high-ability learners, who have
89>>
90>>
Date sent: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 07:53:22 +0000
To: jimmyk5@swbell.net
From: Jimmy Kilpatrick
Subject: Analyzing Beginning Reading Programs
Analyzing Beginning Reading Programs: The Relationship Between Decoding
Instruction and Text
This is a nice study of various reading programs adopted by California last
year that is available for comments. I urge anyone that is considering
textbook materials, state adoptions, policy, interested citizens, taxpayers
and the media to read this paper. There was lot of effort put into this and
it should raise concerns around the country. Many publishers are making
statements about their materials that are falling short of the replicated
research. It was prepared by Dr. Marcy Stein U of Washington, Barbara
Johnson, M.S. Monterey County Special Education and Linda Gutlohn of San
Francisco.
Contact Barbara Johnson Monterey County SELPA 408 755-0334 or email
bjohnson@monterey.k12.ca.us for a copy of this outstanding paper.
Jimmy Kilpatrick
Consultant and Policy Advisor
Reading and Reading Disabilities
http://www.readbygrade3.com
713 520-9715
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
91>>
From: dnc0654@iname.com
Date sent: Wed, 01 Apr 1998 10:39:53 -0800
To: icemom@flash.net
Copies to: 7Education Consumers Clearinghouse ,
pregnier@BURKHOLDER.FCPS.k12.va.us
Subject: Re: PBS bio on Marc Tucker
icemom@flash.net wrote:
>
> Paul,
>
> Are you sure you're signed up for the loop on which you wish to be?
> Marc Tucker has been demonized on this loop because most everyone on it
> has read his stuff starting with his letter to Hillary and is wise to
> his intents and purposes.
> No one could read what he has written and done in the last twenty years
> and not arrive at the irrefutable conclusion that this man is almost
> single-handedly responsible for undermining the free enterprise system
> of this country through its education system. If you have bought into
> the idea that 80 to 85% of our country's students are worthless and only
> deserve to be treated as automatons capable of being trained in
> vocational schools to be malleable, mindless workers for big businesses
> who can't figure this thing out, please let us know so we understand
> from whence you come!
>
> Mary McGarr
>
> EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
On the other hand, perhaps Tucker is "demonized" because the standard
method of communication by a small number of people on this loop with
fetching user names is to demonize everyone they disagree with and to
view every educational issue in apocalyptic terms, the battle between
total evil and sublime good, between communism and the free enterprise
system, etc. etc. etc.
To each their own, but I resent the suggestion that someone needs to
question their continued participation in this loop just because they
have a different point of view than the demonizers. What a waster of
time this loop would be if only one point of view were present.
Dave
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
92>>
From: WitchyPooy
Date sent: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 23:41:13 EST
To: education-consumers@tricon.net, jimmyk5@swbell.net (loop)
Subject: District Strategic Planning - Mission Statements
There have been several posts regarding strategic planning and every district
in the Nation will be required to do a plan or has already done so. We have
all been told that our plan was to be written by "our district to suit our
district", but of course we all also know that many districts across the US
used the Cambridge Group or other groups to facilitate this process.
Because I am on a school board I also belong to the NSBA newsgroup, and it
is so interesting to hear the "liberal PC" view of everything from the mouths
of the Nation's board members. Not all but a great majority are just sheep
being led to the slaughter, and this weekend is their National Convention in
New Orleans where they will all receive their tax payer paid for dose of the
liberal views on everything from Vouchers, Edu. savings accounts,IDEA, to
Teachers Unions, and the beloved STW programs....I of course feel it a waste
of tax dollars to attend. If you are interested in what your board members
will be weened on this weekend just visit the NSBA (Natl School Board Assoc.)
web site at http://www.nsba.org I am sure you will get your fill of this
babble from those returning board members who feel their job for the year is
over since they have done their duty and gotten their information on Education
straight from the horse's mouth.
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to compare our VERY OWN, INDIVIDUALLY
CONCOCKED, PARTNERSHIP WRITTEN, SELF DISCOVERING, DISTRICT MISSION
STATEMENTS, to see just how INDIVIDUAL they are!!! I have seen some of the
Objectives in strategic plans from all across the country and it is amazing
how so many districts could come up with the EXACT WORDING totally independent
from each other and all other districts! It really is one for the Gueniss
World Book. Anyway
here goes, this is from my PA school district:
Peters Township School District's Mission Statement
written by: THE PARTNERSHIP and facilitated by the Cambridge Group
in 1993 (We were very early in the process)
" In a cooperative partnership with a community that values
excellence in education, the Peters Township School District will
ensure that all students acquire the knowledge base and skills
necessary to become contributing members of society and life-long
learners by providing the highest quality resources and staff within a
comprehensive, result-oriented program implemented by caring people."
Interesting isn't it. Notice any of the usual buzz words? Unfortunately I sit
on the board and I still can't figure out exactly what it means.
I hope you will all share your Mission Statement with me, so I can compare our
uniqueness! It should be eye opening if not at least fun! Thanks
Marlene Tobin
Pittsburgh
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
93>>
Date sent: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 08:47:36 +0000
To: jimmyk5@swbell.net
From: Jeanne Donovan (by way of Jimmy Kilpatrick
)
Subject: Dave Mundy's book on the takeover of education
Dear All:
Dave Munday, Managing Editor of the Katy Times near Houston, and recent
guest on a nationally-televised program on school-to-work, has finally got
a publisher for his book titled "DUH!". The publisher is Abique in Plano,
and they plan to have the book on the shelves by July 1998.
Dave describes his book as follows:
============================================================================
===
"DUH!" follows the 1996-97 takeover of Texas education from the perspective
of a small-town newspaper reporter who, unlike the "big" reporters, didn't
automatically write off what the "social conservatives" were saying and
instead challenged them to show him some evidence. They did.
Armed with that and my own research, the book follows the furious debate
which took place through our award-winning coverage -- including the Feb.
5, 1997, story on the NCEE connection -- from the local school district to
the State Board debate to the national tie-ins. The book also includes
documentation about where this all came from and where it's intended to go:
the establishment of a corporate socialist state.
============================================================================
====
Dave does have a version of his book available on line at
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/8486/ but refinements have been
made for the printed version, which I'm sure he hopes folks will want to
pick up.
Dave's book is a warning to other school districts.
Anyone with questions should contact Dave directly at katytimes@fbtc.net.
Jeanne Donovan, Coordinator
Texas Education Consumers Association
http://www.fastlane.net/~eca
94>>
Date sent: Wed, 1 Apr 1998 08:17:52 -0600
To: Education Consumers Clearinghouse
From: Jeanne Donovan
Subject: RE: PBS bio on Marc Tucker
"Regnier, Paul (Burkholder)"
>I know something about Marc Tucker, I have met him, and I think much of
>what he has done over the past 10 years or so has been intelligent,
>thoughtful, and oriented toward meeting our nation's and our people's
>future needs. I have seen him repeatedly demonized on ECC, and I would
>like to have some sense of why this is being done.
Dear Paul,
Marc Tucker may be a nice guy, and no one can dispute that he has
intelligence, but his ideas and plans are socialistic. That bothers me a
great deal. If you want to understand more fully, read School-to-Work: The
Coming Collision (http://www.fastlane.net/~eca/stwcollision.html). You will
find other related discussions in the first section of this page:
http://www.fastlane.net/~eca/stw.html
Jeanne Donovan
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
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