Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology makes us illegally download digital content like movies and music. Or so says Cambridge professor Patricia Akester. Yes, and
- Bars on store windows make us break in and steal cash from the register
- Car alarms make us steal cars
- Home security systems force us to burglarize our neighbors
- Bank safes make us robbers
I could go on but you get the point. It’s amazing the lengths to which liberal academics will go to justify immorality.
This headline (from the NY Times, of course) is indicative of one significant problem in our left-dominated education system:
Test Results Show Persistent Racial Gap in School Achievement
The article goes on to explain that under No Child Left Behind, the test scores of minority children have increased since 2004, but so have the scores of white students. So NCLB is a failure because all of our kids’ scores are improving? We can’t have that, now, can we? We really must do something that improves minority scores without improving whites’.
And the left accuses us of being racist. You really have to be a liberal to understand that logic.
What should we do when the high school dropout rate is around 30% and many students aren’t meeting standards? Lower the standards, apparently. Failing grades appear to be somehow unfair and engender a culture of failure. Good Lord we’re raising a generation of namby pambies. As Michael Petrilli of Stanford University comments,
This is clearly about dumbing down expectations for our students. Some of these children are just a few years away from being in the workforce, in college or even in the military, and in none of those environment will they be coddled like they are in these programs.
Next time you’re in an elevator on the 50th floor or driving across a freeway bridge, ask yourself who you’d rather have designing that structure: the product of a “no fail” education system or an engineer who had to pass a rigorous exam with no regard for his self esteem? I’ll take the latter, thank you.
That may sound callous, but as we “celebrate” the ten-year anniversary of the murder of 12 students and a teacher at Columbine, make note that their deaths resulted in absolutely zero improvements in the safety of our children at school. Think about it for a moment then send a letter to your state representatives and school boards. What, exactly, have they done to make our kids safer?
I should note the single exception, at least as reported in the American media: Harrold Independent School District (Harrold, TX) has changed their policies to allow teachers who have a CCW and who have taken specialized courses to carry concealed weapons on campus. Sadly their lone example of clear thinking doesn’t appear to be contagious.
Make sure to hug/kiss your kids goodbye before school each morning. There are a couple dozen parents in Columbine who can’t enjoy that simple pleasure.
A disturbing number of teachers in the Washington, D.C., school district have been assaulted by students, including one who was held down on a desk and choked. Even a single such incident should be unacceptable, but administrators appear to be siding with the students, charging that the teachers are
distorting the situation to deflect attention from their own professional shortcomings.
…
Teachers who complain or eject too many students say they are tagged as weak in “classroom management” by administrators determined to keep a lid on behavior issues. Slade wrote in his guide to teachers that any instructor who refers students to his office every day “will risk placement on some type of improvement plan,” a probationary status such as the 90-day plan.
No mention is made of the consequences for students who are habitually disruptive. Teachers shouldn’t have to be child psychologists or trained juvenile behavior experts. So-called “classroom management” techniques are helpful in quashing chatter and minor misbehavior; they won’t help a teacher who’s having books thrown at them or being choked. Those acts are, legally, assault and should be prosecuted as such rather than swept under the rug.
Teachers wake up. The liberals you vote for are responsible for the conditions in which you work.
A student at a Connecticut college was called in to the police station for questioning after giving a classroom speech advocating concealed carry for students and staff. The cops were called by the class professor, who seems to believe the speech was somehow threatening. No surprise that neither the prof nor the university would comment on the situation, as moral cowardice runs rampant in our institutions of supposedly higher learning.
At too many of our universities free speech is only encouraged when it agrees with the schools’ liberal agendas.
A prof at LA City College shut down a class speech by a Christian student, calling him a “fascist bastard” when the student’s speech expressed an opinion critical of gay marriage. A couple students were purportedly offended by Lopez’s statements. This is the left’s idea of free speech. You can say anything whatsoever which is offensive to Christians, but they’re not allowed equal time. Isn’t college supposed to be the place for airing and discussing controversial opinions? Only if you buy the politically correct line.
Not too surprisingly, we have another debate regarding the presentation of Darwinism in public education. This time it’s in Texas, where the stakes are large because the state is one of the largest purchasers of textbooks and other curricular media.
What seems to be missing from both sides of the argument is rather obvious. If Darwinian evolution is true, it should not be afraid of challenge. All scientific theory should be open to challenge. If Darwin stands up to repeated, continuous scrutiny, who stands to lose? Only the folks defending intelligent design/creationism.
The truth is that Darwinism has a number of glaring holes. Do a Google search and you’ll find hundreds of sites with heated debates over the issue. It’s far from settled and, contrary to what the media and Darwinist scientists would have you believe, there are many well-credentialed scientists who fall in the ID camp. Further, concensus and majority opinion do not have any place in science. No real scientist will say something along the lines of, “Most <fill in scientific specialty here> agree that…” But that’s exactly what we too often hear. I’ve seen numerous debates about issues such as the Cambrian explosion or how humans and apes evolved from a common ancestor in a (geologically) short time, but haven’t seen any that convince me that random mutation is responsible.
Darwinism has, in fact, become a religion that simply must not be questioned. That’s sad, because if it’s true, then questioning it is exactly what will lead to resolving its (currently) inexplicable quandaries.
It comes as no real surprise that Obama has selected Duncan as SoE. He is, after all, in charge of Chicago’s public school system. It’s a rather disappointing choice, however. Why would you pick someone who presides over a system whose schools rank in the bottom 20-40% of the nation. The guy is supposed to be a reformer, but what has he accomplished in Chicago? The same thing Obama has accomplished in his short career as a state and U.S. Senator…nada. Why not pick someone from a district that’s actually performing well, like Arlington, VA or Madison, WI? Or, if you’re looking for someone with experience in real change, how about a district like Duval County (FL) which has seen significant—incredible, really—improvements over the last few years? Let’s take a look at what successful school districts are doing and put their superintendents in national positions rather than nominating someone who’s just as much an empty suit as the person who picked him.
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A small town in Massachusetts is considering the idea of teaching children to fight back against armed attackers in the classroom.
Georgetown Police Chief James E. Mulligan told FOXNews.com the proposed technique was intended to be a “last ditch” thing to be used in cases where a gunman has been able to thwart police and get inside a classroom alone with students.
At least they’re moving outside the victim mentality which hampers real security in our schools. We should certainly teach our kids to defend themselves. This, however, is the wrong tack. A child with a book or backpack has a very low likelihood of thwarting a determined attacker who has a gun. The correct response is to allow concealed carry permit holders—staff and parents—to carry their own weapons on school campuses. As it stands, the only people in our schools who have guns are the bad guys, who ignore gun-free zone laws. Allowing responsible, licensed citizens to be armed on campus will only increase the safety of our children.
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