Corporate KINGS & Welfare QUEENS
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| Fri, 09-19-2008 - 6:13am |
They have a lot more in common than politicians imagine, those corporate kings & welfare queens:
1) They believe they can make foolish decisions, and the government will bail them out;
2) They believe they can focus on short term gratification, and the government will take care of the future;
3) They don't understand that those who consume without adding value will eventually kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
It has been fashionable to make fun of the middle class. . .those amusing "little people" who get up every day and go to work, real work that requires them to be present and productive. . .those quaint "little people" who believe in God and country. . .those old fashioned little people who actually believe in living within one's means and paying as you go and saving for the future.
It has been considered oh-so-clever to look down on the children of the middle class who don't attend an Ivy League school - but who value an education nevertheless: enough to work their way through to a degree even though it may take them more than four years and their classmates may not be trust fund babies.
The intelligentsia has gleefully looked down its nose at people who do an honest day's work (oh, say work in an oil field or on a fishing boat). . .rather than lounge in an ivory tower, engage in white collar fraud, or feed at the public trough.
The media has delighted in making fun of women who don't wear designer clothes or $400 hairstyles. . .after all, how quaint not to be a purveyor of all that Vanity Fair, Vogue, and Town & Country have to offer.
Most of all, the politicians have been disdainful of the everyday people who have asked - who is going to pay for the cradle to grave society and the golden parachutes you have promised to buy the votes that keep you in power???
Of all the candidates, Gov Sarah Palin is the one who understands those old fashioned values that made the US great - the values that will save us now. . .if corrupt politicians will stop pandering to their favorite vote selling constituency and do the right thing!
What is the right thing: revise the tax code to reward productivity; stop penalizing the elderly who work after retirement; drastically revise the education system - demanding accountability from public schools and the teachers who staff them - it is ridiculous that any child can attend school for twelve years and lack basic academic knowledge or a skill that enables them to support themselves/ridiculous that total incompetents have been guaranteed employment; stop the pandering with promises of a free lunch; require those holding mortgages to renegotiate with homeowners in default wherever possible and to eat the losses they fostered if not- people who are struggling to pay for their own homes should not be forced to pay more to bail out the irresponsible; force failing industries to pay a public value price for the low interest loans they desire: elect Boards who engage in REAL oversight, prosecute those corporate kings who have breached their fiduciary duties - seize their ill-gotten gains and send them to jail (the corporate king who defrauded millions from shareholders is as much of a thief as the drug addict who robbed a 7-11); drill here and drill now and do whatever is necessary to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries who hate us.

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Standardized tests may not be perfect, but at least they are an objective tool and the results
There are other measures for physicians and such. Kids fail in large part because we try to force them into boxes they don't naturally belong in, and then give them insufficient attention due to the number of students assigned to one teacher.
Full length fiction: worlds undone
"You have no power over my body..." ~ Anne Hutchinson
Standardized tests may not be perfect, but at least they are an objective tool and the results
Yes, I definitely would support smaller class size IF combined with teacher/administrator accountability.
I would support teacher accountability IF there was parent accountability.
Good point. Then again, some parents have
Full length fiction: worlds undone
"You have no power over my body..." ~ Anne Hutchinson
I don't know who Stephen is (is that galanie?)....At any rate, looking at the initial post that I called bigoted (and I didn't call the poster bigoted by the way) I must apologize to galanie. I think I was carrying over arguments from other threads in my mind and extrapolated things said there, to that particular post.
I must confess that I AM a little fed up with the assumptions so many people are making (on both sides)
When was the last time you stepped into a classroom? Or are you just spouting the republican line?
Let me tell you about the students I have this year:
65% of the students I received on the first day of school were not considered 'proficient' according to state testing during their last academic year. Of those students 55% will not come to school with the necessary supplies - who do you think will have to provide the pencils and paper? Me - on my outrageously 'high' salary that is below the median income in my state even though I will have a masters degree this spring.
about 45% of my students will not complete homework on a regular basis - so I will be staying after school - for free - when they serve the detentions I issue for missed homework.
Some of my students will come to school without the medication that they need to stay focused or in control of their impulses, in some cases it will be because the parents have chosen to have the prescription filled and then sell the pills on the streets, in some cases it will be because the parent can't afford the medication.
While most of my students will attend school regularly there will be about 4% who will not - I have two now who have missed 1/2 of the days we have been in so far this year, the parents will eventually be charged but it is a lengthy process and the children will fall further and further behind and will likely fail - one failed last year and is repeating this year already.
Of the students who come to school regularly about 45% come from homes where the highest level of education is 'some high school' so parents are ill-equipped to help with homework, most come from single parent homes where the parent is an hourly employee who will lose income if required to come to school for a parent conference so they probably will not.
Conversely 35% of my students are in an above average class this year - they will all come to school on a regular basis. They will all do their homework on a regular basis. They will all have a parent who comes in at least once for a parent conference. They may come from a single parent home, they may have parents who are not able to help with homework, but they will all request tutoring and actually come for the free tutoring I offer after school.
By some miracle I have been fortunate that the classes I have taught have made 'adequate yearly progress' every year based on NCLB but only because I, and the team of teachers I work with, have gone well above and beyond what our contracts require to meet the needs of our students. Sadly I cannot say the same for the families of the majority of our students. While I truly appreciate the parents who are active in their childrens education it is far from the norm.
The solutions you are suggesting have already been implemented in most, if not all, schools years ago. The one thing that we do not have control over is the family situation that our students come from - and that does play a major role in a child's ability to achieve.
It would be nice if people started to realize that most teachers go above and beyond the contract to help students achieve to the best of their ability - if you have time volunteer in a classroom near you - you might be surprised at what you see.
Where do my figures come from? I compiled these statistics for the capstone project I am completing for my final course work for my masters degree based on the student populations I have had for the last 5 years at this school - since there have not been any redistricting changes they should accurately reflect the population mix I have again this year.
Currently we test on a yearly basis but compare score to the last years test - for example I teach 6th grade. The students I taught last year (who did make AYP) were compared to the students I taught the previous year (who also made AYP). It would make a whole lot more sense for the test scores to follow the students and measure THEIR growth from year to year rather than compare them to last years classes. For example this years 6th graders comprise the group of last years 5th graders who showed no growth in 5th grade. So if they do not score above what my last years 6th graders showed it will reflect on my teaching. The fact that they are coming less prepared than last years class is not a factor at all.
Special Education students are expected to make the same progress as regular education students even though they are classified as special education because their performance is behind that of their peers - so that is another issue. English language learners are expected to test in math almost immediately even though the test is comprised largely of word problems - in a language they are not yet proficient in.
Name calling is rarely effective.
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