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.
Read more…
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.
Read more…
It took a genius from Harvard publishing a study in the British Medical Journal to tell us what radio talk show host Dennis Prager has been telling us for years. When I saw the announcement of this profound insight, I immediately thought to notify Mr. Prager, but see that he beat me to it.
Keep up the good work, sir (by whom I mean Mr. Prager, not the aforementioned Harvard genius). But, you know, your wisdom can’t possibly be worth much because you don’t have sufficient data to support your conclusion:
The study was only conducted in a single community, so it would take more research to confirm its findings.
(Aaargh! Why academics are so easily—and constantly—surprised by the obvious is a topic that would take volumes to cover. Maybe I can get a government grant to do a study.)
After studying famous cases of genocide, some geniuses have come to a startling conclusion: humans all have a dark side. Stunner! A cursory examination of human history yields the same obvious conclusion, but apparently this is news to some folks. (It wouldn’t surprise me if there were government funds somewhere behind this brilliant work.) Some of the statements would be comical if only they weren’t so widely believed. For example,
“You don’t have to be mentally ill or even innately evil or criminal. You can be ordinary, no better or worse than you or me, and commit killing or genocide,” said Harvard psychiatrist Robert Lifton, who has studied Nazi doctors.
This “expert” lumps killing and genocide together, not recognizing the fact that there are numerous situations in which killing is perfectly, morally justifiable. The two simply cannot be equated. But worse than this is the bald statement that those committing genocide are not “innately evil or criminal.” They are both. Genocide is universally recognized by all normative moral systems as both evil and criminal. Further, the Judaeo-Christian moral system upon which all of Western civilization, and our nation in particular, is based teaches us that we are all inherently evil. (This, too, comes as no big surprise to anyone who has children. The little beasts must be taught every bit of morality they ever learn—it isn’t built in.) Unfortunately we far too often fail to acknowledge this fact and, worse, fail to pass it on to each succeeding generation so it comes as a surprise when it is rediscovered.
The California State University system is in a pinch. Due to budget constraints they’re going to cut freshman enrollment by 10% this year. The state simply can’t afford to lay out more money for the system. There is an alternative, though: raise tuition. Currently the state pays about $2.97 billion versus $1.5 billion paid by students. If the average cost of attending a CSU school is $3,800 would raising it by even 50% deny anyone an education? The real problem is that CA residents have come to expect such low rates and rely on the government to provide the bulk of funding. Note to CA residents: your state is broke. It’s time to move away from that nanny state mentality.