Category Archives: bankers finance

Education News

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Here’s a great post on what is happening to the kids.  You know….those kids that the reformers say they are concerned about??

G2 put a comment linking to this post. I found this passage especially poignant:

It is imperative, therefore, that we make school a supportive environment free of the extreme stress that can harm healthy development. Some stress is productive and promotes growth. However, especially for children living in poverty, creating an unnecessarily stressful environment has long-term damaging effects.

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To label schools as “just” a place to get an education is a short-sighted, narrow view.  Children in poverty are already stressed out by worrying that they won’t have enough to eat that day…that Mom will be crying again because she doesn’t know how she’s going to pay the bills…

…and the one thing that can make that child feel worth something?  Knowing the answer to a question the teacher asks.  Getting an “A” or even a “B” on a test.   Having a teacher provide a treat on his/her birthday….which he/she might not get at home because there just isn’t any extra.

School can be the difference between a poor kid seeing beyond their environment and reaching beyond their little world.

More here:

Child-development experts have decried the age-inappropriateness of the Common Core. In 2010, more than 500 people signed a statement stating that the “standards conflict with compelling new research in cognitive science, neuroscience, child development, and early childhood education about how young children learn, what they need to learn, and how best to teach them in kindergarten and the early grades.”

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A reminder of the nonsensical approach of Common Core.

This just says it all:

The U.S. Department of Education hyped the Common Core as creating a “national market” for “educational entrepreneurs.”

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Makes you sick, doesn’t it??

One of the commenters said that homeschooling is the next step.  Yes and No.  If you’re wealthy enough that one parent can stay home, you can do that.  And we would lose so much of the connectedness that school encourages.  We would be further isolated from each other.  I just can’t wrap my brain around that–our children and grandchildren will be living in the same neighborhood, but regarding the others as strangers.  I see kids out playing in the neighborhood and it makes my heart sing.  If this continues, there won’t be the shared experience of discovering new things together, of sharing their personal stories in class discussions (finding common ground or discovering other cultures), of class plays, of singing together, of inspiration…

Bring it on, Arne.  She’s referring to this by Duncan. Oh.My.God.  Did he really say that??  Did he really just insult a group of women who know their children and know their schools and know their teachers?  Is he really that condescending and arrogant? And racist?  I mean, really, if it was stated that a group of “angry, black women” were not accepting their failing schools, it would be seen as the racist statement that it is.

There’s another link here, to a report on Common Core playbook, from the Perdido site.

There’s more but this is making me so depressed I need to step away for the moment.

War on the poor

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I was watching People’s Court with Judge Marilyn Milian this afternoon.

There are times when I don’t agree with her conclusions–sometimes she seems to make too quick a judgment without allowing the plaintiff and/or defendant to put their stories out there.

But nothing has been so outrageous as what I witnessed today–the plaintiff was a woman whom had pawned jewelry at a pawn shop and when she went to pick up the jewelry before the date due, she was told it was stolen.  The owner told her that she was SOL because of the robbery.  What she didn’t come out and say was that it was an employee who robbed the shop.

The judge asks the plaintiff how much she pawned the jewelry for?  $150.  What was the original value of the jewelry?  $5,000.

The judge was incredulous.  She says there is nothing that would make her pawn her engagement ring and other jewelry….she then waited for the plaintiff to give her an answer.  All she would say was that she needed the money.

The judge wasn’t satisfied with that, however, and kept coming back to why she had pawned it–badgering the plaintiff why she would pawn the jewelry for such a low amount??  The woman had stated before that she had four kids.  After being badgered by the judge, she stated that her husband was out of work.

The judge continued and asked if it was for food or what?  The insinuation was that this woman was using the money for…..wait for it….cigarettes, booze, or drugs…because, you know, that’s all poor people do—drink and smoke and do drugs./snark

The woman was not disheveled.  She was dressed nicely, and well-groomed (which isn’t easy, by the way, when you’re poor).  But the judge just wouldn’t let it go.

She was the victim here on so many levels, and the judge was badgering her and stating that NOTHING would ever make her sell her engagement ring, no matter how bad the circumstances.   She was blaming the victim for being robbed….and the undercurrent of being poor.

The judge obviously has never been desperate.  The woman had four kids to feed.  She probably needed basics like school supplies, toilet paper, soap, shampoo, trash bags, detergent, and on…that the wealthy never worry about.    Food stamps does not cover everything a family needs to eat in a month’s time…even less now that the extra has been taken away.  It certainly doesn’t cover the necessities.  The woman stated that she absolutely needed it for necessities or would not have pawned it.  The judge was asking if her husband knew about it, and she said it needed to be done.  The judge was clearly not “getting it” that people ARE THAT DESPERATE in these times!

The judge should have been giving the pawn shop owner the third degree about why she paid so little for such valuable jewelry….why she was allowed to take such an advantage over the poor?

The pawn shop also had a policy of not paying for the merchandise in case of fire, robbery, and a list of about everything that could go wrong.  In addition, they stated they would never pay for more than double the amount of the pawn….in this case, $300.

The poor woman was robbed twice–she was robbed of her jewelry, and the pawn shop robbed her of not paying for the value of the jewelry.

Usually, the judge is all over people who don’t have their ducks in a row–this woman had receipts showing the value of the jewelry, she had come to the pawn shop in time to redeem her jewelry before it went to the floor, so I’m at a loss to explain the judge’s treatment of her….other than the contempt of the poor runs deep.  I never really realized how much contempt this country has for the poor until I was one.

Are you optimistic ’bout way things are going… **edited

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Seriously??  They’re charging fees to the homeless for shelter….unbelievable….meanwhile, Canadians using food banks are at record highs…

(blog title is reference to the song “Dialogue, Parts 1 and 2 by Chicago)

**edited because no matter how many times I’ve listened to the song…somehow still messed up the lyrics….<sigh>

Arafat

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Global News has this up on the poisoning of Yassar Arafat.  You might recall my post on that a year ago.

A report on what polonium is here.

Not stuff to mess with, eh?

And speaking of radiation….howz about some radiated water…? Oh, I know the report states it’s not from the radiated side of the plants, but you know, I’m having a hard time trusting nuclear plant operators to tell the truth when that truth could be politically and financially damaging to their interests.   Canadians, be on the lookout for three-eyed fish sprouting feet….

 

 

Education News

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First, the bad news.  Blessings to you, Diane, for healing.  Take care of yourself–your body is telling you to take it easy.  Believe me, I understand better than most.  Having said that, your contributions to fighting the good fight are truly inspiring…you are needed as never before….but it can wait until you are rested.

This from Seattle Education.  Pretty depressing that Wall $t. has turned its eye$ toward$ the school$….how much can we wring out of them?

The sidebar says it all:

Chris Hedges

“Any time hedge fund managers…when they walk into the inner city areas and start talking about poor children’s education, it’s not because they want kids to read and write, it’s because they know that the federal government spends $600B on education and they want it and they’re going to get it.”

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Danny Weil, 2009

“…charter chains would prefer national standards… This would allow them to use prepackaged curricula across their charter outlets no matter the location…for dummied down standardized curriculum keeps costs down and the dispensation is formulaic and repetitive. This is the Walmart model of education.”
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Interesting that he put it as the “Walmart model of education”….since we now know that the Clintons have been trying to bust the teacher’s unions since the 80s and Hillary Clinton was a partner in the Rose Law Firm, which had the Walton family as clients.  Um-hmmm…

Overheard by Hedge Fund Manager:  Education?  Who gives a crap about that…? (okay, not really overheard, but yeah, I’m sure that has been said behind closed doors….)

Diane blogs on Illinois Governor Quinn running mate Paul Vallas.  You remember my post on George Schmidt’s experience with Vallas….he’s the one whom helped destroy Chicago Public Schools and closed good public schools in poor, predominantly black neighborhoods…

Chi Town resident posted this link to Bill Moyers’ take on education.

Diane on NAEP here.

Jan Ressenger’s take on the NAEP tests.  She also links to Gary Rubenstein’s blog on the gap between the wealthier kids vs. the kids seeking free lunch.  It’s interesting that the pro-Common Core school adminstrators are now starting to puff their chests and say that their scores have improved among their students, half of which are on the free lunch program.

Diane has a post on how Indiana repubs are doing their best to privatize Indiana schools.

Also, Glenda Ritz, the embattled PUBLICLY ELECTED State Superintendent of schools has had her lawsuit against the State Board of Education dismissed.  The Attorney General states that Ritz’ lawsuit is “unauthorized and invalid”.

More here on Ritz….a true Democrat.

She has a twitter feed here.

First Nations continue standing up

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This is a pretty good report of the events surrounding the recent clash with the armed forces and the First Nations of Canada.

From the post:

It is of particular importance to note that – according to Augustine – the Warrior Society and the RCMP had even negotiated for the possibility that an ISL security guard would want to come and pray at the sacred fire. The guards could come and pray any time they wanted, but neither they, nor anyone else, was permitted to bring weapons of any kind to the sacred fire.

“[ISL] already knew,” says Augustine. “When we negotiated the first time, when an ISL worker comes out to the sacred fire – because they were welcome, anytime they were welcome – as long as they don’t have any weapons. [But] they could come and pray with us anytime they want. And that was part of the negotiations. They could come out at any time and pray with us, or go out the back way and shift change then.”

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I think it’s important, too, to note the First Nations people welcoming the guards into camp–as long as they were not armed.  And praying together?  What a wonderful way to seek spiritual guidance together—to seek that which feeds the Light.  I don’t believe that God would sanction polluting the Earth….and causing all the misery to humans, animals, plants, the soil, and the water that fracking does.

If you recall the previous videos on the confrontation, the female Warrior was clearly upset at them offering tobacco.  Now we see the story behind that–they offered tobacco the night before as a symbol of wanting peace for everyone.  Then the very next morning,they show up with guns drawn–even when they knew the indigenous were unarmed and seeking a peaceful way to get SWN off their land.

Here is a look at Chief Arren Sock presenting their demands to the public/press:

I think what is hard for white folks to understand is that the indigenous society is not based on hierarchical status.  Until recently, I didn’t understand all of what that means, myself, because it’s so ingrained that *somebody*  MUST be in charge.    The Chief system was something imposed upon the indigenous by the Europeans–they required someone to be spokesperson and to call all the shots.  The people were offended by this because their society was not set up that way.  As Chief Sock states in this video, he does not speak for the others.  He doesn’t tell the other indigenous what to do —they act on their own autonomy.  They see this as each person acting according to what the Creator wishes for them to do, as far as my understanding.

A couple of tweets here and here on it.   The last pic with the story behind the brave Warrior standing between a pregnant woman and this armed guard…who’s the terrorist, again…?

Another tweet here on once again labeling environmentalists as terrorists.  If you recall, when I worked for the state health dept., one of the training sessions I had included Dept. of Hysterical Security.  They did an exercise where environmentalists were going to use bio warfare by injecting food borne pathogens into food at a fair booth.  The whole scenario was outlandish and reminded me of the story of Chicken Little who ran around crazy exclaiming that the sky was falling because an acorn dropped on his head.  It makes a broad sweeping generalization about a group that is generally peaceful with a few idiots who resort to violence as a means to an end.  Unfortunately, they not only achieve their goal, but they also persuade others NOT to join the movement because they don’t condone that behavior and because, as said previously,  they don’t want to be labeled as troublemakers.  **not to mention that some of those causing trouble could be agent provocateurs who are not actually environmentalists, but paid disruptors from the outside posing as environmentalists.

Some good news here.  Glad to see someone has some sense and vision to look beyond today and the $$$ short term gain.  Just say NO to the money, honey.

JFK

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This post may be too graphic for some–fair warning:

DN featured Oliver Stone speaking on John F. Kennedy’s murder. (Stone is also doing a piece on Martin Luther King, Jr.)

In addition. REELZ is running a documentary on it, too.  They put forth the theory that it was actually an FBI agent George Hickey that fatally shot Kennedy.  He supposedly stood up in the car with the safety off and the car lurched, causing him to lose his balance.  I believe they said 12-15 witnesses had seen an agent with a rifle in a car behind the president.  Stone, however, places the fatal shot coming from the front of President Kennedy’s car.  Stone served in Vietnam and bases that on what he witnessed in the war–a shot came from the front, which is why Kennedy’s head bounces back from the force of it.  Stone brings up the inability of the FBI and others to replicate the bullets.  CBS also did a piece on it and also could not replicate three rapid fire shots from that type of weapon.

Stone also brings up another important point:  Kennedy had fired Allen Dulles.  I was unaware of that–and then he was the head of the Warren Commission??  Good Grief no wonder the investigation was so warped.  Hmmm…

The REELZ documentary makes the point that the WWII rifle used by Oswald was a full metal jacket– a bullet that would make a clean pass through a person’s body.  However, the bullet that killed the president was a different bullet that exploded upon impact–it is designed to cause as much damage as possible.  They noted several fragments in Kennedy’s brain.

The interference by the Secret Service, CIA, as well as other agencies is a red flag.  The physician who was to perform the autopsy in Dallas insisted that the body stay there until it was performed, but the Secret Service would not allow it.  The physician protested that this was state law– in order to protect the chain of control (I think that’s the right term).  They basically told him they were in charge and he best get out of the way.   So they took the body and when the autopsy was performed in D.C., they were contaminating the area with wall-to-wall agents and interfering with the physical evidence and the autopsy itself.  Red flags all over the place.

Stone brought up some great points when asked if Kennedy was a warmonger–he was instead an advocate of Peace.   He didn’t feel the need to bomb the hell out of another country to prove himself being “tough on war” or that the U.S. was superior in weaponry.   He makes the case that Kennedy, had he lived, would have stopped the Cold War.  While Stone is speaking about that, I think of the much ballyhooed Reagan by the conservatives and how Reagan stopped the Cold war.  Pfft.  The Soviet Union was impoverished and could not continue the arms race.    Reagan was a war hawk.  He wasn’t into Peace.  He thought of anyone seeking peace as a Commie Hippie.  I can only wonder at the number of people whom have been turned away from seeking peace just so they wouldn’t be called a Commie.  I know that I wouldn’t want to be labeled a Communist (or terrorist).  (Same with environmentalists –those that would support it but don’t publicly because of fear of being labeled troublemakers?)  People don’t realize that those names are thrown out to do exactly that–make something out to be the opposite of what it is so that people will find it distasteful.   When Martin Luther King, Jr. started speaking out against the Vietnam War, and advocating for the poor, he, too, was labeled a Communist.

(Side note–It’s tough to see the footage of Walter Cronkite announces President Kennedy’s death.  Still brings tears.)

The question that needs to be asked is:  who stood to gain from it??  Follow the money…and those deadset against Kennedy’s seeking peace instead of war…

Here is an account by Carl Oglesby in the book “From Camelot to Kent State” — a good book on the personal history accounts of the 60s:

I was ten years older than the SDS kids.  I was running the technical publications dept. at Bendix Aerospace Systems Division of the Bendix Corporation in Ann Arbor:  per defense work, rockets and missiles and electronic subsystems, some moon stuff, some supersecret Vietnam stuff.

[…]

The reaction to the Kennedy assassination really blasted me loose.  I was at work, of  course, like most everybody else.  It was Friday, a half hour or forty-five minutes or so after the guy was announced dead, I wondered down to the personnel office to talk to my pal, the personnel manager, Tony, and I said, “Tony, we should take the flag down.”

He didn’t want to do it.  He said, “Well, when we get word.  When we’re told by corporate headquarters to put the flag at half-staff.”    And we got into a big argument in the hallway about that, about whether or not we needed to hear from corporate headquarters about putting the flag down.  Did the flag belong to corporate headquarters?  Was that what that was about?  That Bendix owned the flag?  Did it own the country?  Big fight.

Then I went up to Mahogany row, a couple of floors up, to check out with some guys I knew up there, who I thought would be more reasonable, and in this one office they had the Scotch out.  The ripple of excitement, the thrill that ran through the Bendix Systems Division when the word came of Kennedy’s death, and with it the implicit word that now we got Johnson.  It was like—I don’t know how to describe it.  It was almost a physical tremor.

Before, there was gloom, because for one thing Kennedy had canceled out a big contract we had.  We were building something called the Eagle missile that was supposed to go on a certain airplane.  Well, the airplane didn’t exist, and it wasn’t going to exist, either.    So Kennedy logically figured out why build the missile?  But this didn’t seem reasonable to “corporate headquarters.”  which was real pissed at having lost the Eagle missile system.  Well, that was the mood people were in.

The next minute Kennedy gets popped.  A minute after that, the Scotch is out, because the contracts are coming back.  And they did!  By God, they did.  I couldn’t shrug that off.

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Education News **edited

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Think the NSA is bad?  How about the Gates Foundation??  Sends chills down your spine how this non-government corporation has so much free access to personal data.  The next question is:  for what purpose?  Sheila Resseger posted this letter to Secretary Duncan.  Thank YOU, Senator Markey, for asking these important questions.  Tim Furman posted this link for a gathering in Chicago on student privacy.

Rupert Murdoch, who owns the Wall Street Journal, along with other *cough* news rags, allegedly stole private information via cell phones to use against the owner.   Keep in mind that Coulson was directly linked to the British Prime Minister.  And the Gates Foundation is sponsoring “news” stories running in The Guardian.

Diane has a link up to this excellent post that just hits the nail on the head—how does one stack the deck so there is as little opposition as possible….?  One holds meetings at times that almost guarantee low attendance by those involved–teachers, parents who work and parents with little ones ( they won’t bring little ones to the meetings and  single parents will have difficulty getting sitters,too.)

The post features this video (under immature link):

Really eye-opening, eh?  Is it fair to characterize Deasy as a bully and an idiot?  From this episode, he seems to be a control freak running amok whom is more interested in feeding his ego than actual concern for the children.  He claims she is being disrespectful to the kids, while he is showing disrespect for their teacher.   Blessings to you, Patrena Shankling.  Nobody should have to be treated in such an abusive manner—and what you experienced was classic verbal abuse where it doesn’t matter what you say, the abuser will escalate his tirade.

More on Deasy here.

Speaking of abuse, Diane posted this on a child psychotherapist’s assessment of the testing, testing, testing of our children and how demoralizing it is to them.  Six years old!

And JCGrim posts a comment on how the abuse gets worse—Good God:

School leaders say La Vergne High has a split lunch period, half academic intervention to help students who may be struggling in a subject and half lunch.

“They are not segregating them in the traditional sense. If the kids’ scores are low in certain areas, they are getting help in that area. If you want to label that segregation, then that’s not the correct way to label it,” said Rutherford County Schools spokesman James Evans.

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Well, you know, they say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.  Whether the segregation is intentional or not, it is still segregation.  And what is wrong with you that you can’t even give the kids a break from learning for a half-hour?  The brain needs a break, for crying out loud!  Let the kids be kids and socialize without being overshadowed!

Diane posts here on Mark Naison.  He describes how and why he became an activist.  **edited to add link. Oops.

From his post:

Teachers everywhere were being driven out of their jobs and stripped of their autonomy and creativity. Children everywhere were being deluged with tests, and subjected to a one size fits all curriculum that, in all too many instances, smothered their unique talents and aptitudes.

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(sorry for the large text) —  as I’m reading this, I’m reminded of something a nun said at a parents’ meeting once:  we all have gifts to bring to the world–we have the jocks and beauty queens, but we need the nerds, the clowns, the creative, the stoic, etc. — those that are not necessarily celebrated in popular media, but whose gifts would surely be missed had they not graced the world.    Even those who are mentally challenged bring something to the world.

Naison is understandably upset with the Administration for the education policies.  However, I have seen a change in President Obama in the past, oh, year or year-and-a-half, in that he seems to be breaking away from the Clinton -thinking.  My hope is that the more President Obama sees the damage that is happening to the children and public education as a whole, he will rethink the policies and replace Arne Duncan.    We can hope….

Diane also posts the links to the Daily Show appearance.  When she stated that Jon was upset about Common Core and how his staff was personally experiencing what we’ve been blasting about, I was upset that he doesn’t talk about it on air!  Arrrgh!  A missed opportunity to help the public understand why we are so upset and how our children are being psychologically abused!

(A side note~  I admire Jon for adopting the pit bull, but still would not recommend them.  They have been bred to be fighters, and as such, their powerful jaws make it impossible to separate them from anything they’ve sunk their teeth into—there are stories of pit bulls who would not release even when someone was beating on them to get them off of another dog/human being. )

Diane has a link to Mercedes Schneider’s debunking the Louisiana “miracle”.  This is why one needs to ask how statistics were compiled and what methodology they used.  The lies will be exposed when these questions are answered.

Diane and Michelle Rhee will debate Feb. 6.  Rhee made increasing demands which seem to speak of the lack of substance to her arguments.

Finally, in my own little corner of the world– a quiz on Indiana politics and ruining public education by devious means.

Note in the comments that charter school proponents are now trying to market charter schools as “community schools” to make destroying public schools more palatable.

This comment just makes me want to cry because it’s so true:

Carol Ring

November 2, 2013 at 9:39 am

Indiana gets national recognition once again!

We are ‘leaders’ in many areas…eighth most polluted air in the nation, broken infrastructure, roads with cracks and potholes, 47th in the nation for adults with college degrees, most polluted rivers in the U.S., underfunding of public schools [so more money can go to charter schools], eighth most overweight population in the nation and our recent achievement in outstanding ‘education reform’ is an increased number of vouchers and charter school expansion!

Add to this list of achievements the desire of our GOP controlled Congress and Tea Partier Governor Pence to dilute Superintendent Glitz’s responsibilities simply because she understands the needs of children and teachers.

It sometimes feels overwhelming.

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God help Indiana.

Education News

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Diane Ravitch has this up on an open letter to the Los Angeles School Board.    A report here on Deasy and the electronics fiasco.

You might recall that the Smartboard in the classroom made me ill with a headache and nausea and causing adrenal distress, making me extremely tired.    I had to shut it and the “wand” used with it off and felt better within about 30 minutes. I wonder how many kids in the classroom were affected and not know enough to speak up?  (or worse–when they complain of nausea and want to see the nurse are thought to be making excuses?)

A commenter on the Deasy article posted this link on the electro-magnetic (radiation) exposure to the teachers and the kids in the classroom.

I was watching the South Bend news station last night where they were proudly promoting a woman whom had donated money to the school system to purchase smartboards for those classrooms that did not have one, I believe it was kindergarten through second grade.  For someone who hasn’t see them–these things are huge monstrosities that cover probably six feet across (guessing).

The news video showed a child at the smartboard pointing to a picture and the word that goes with it.  A teacher spoke and said it was a great way to see how well the child was learning.  While the story was running, I was thinking that a child could just as easily go to a chalkboard and demonstrate what they have learned.

And then there’s the waste of electricity plus exposure to electronic pollution.  When there is a smartboard in a classroom, there is little or no space for writing on the blackboard.   So I am left with the option of using the smartboard, which I won’t do anymore after the experience I had, or speaking in front of the class to get an idea across, which sometimes is not the best option, especially for someone who is dyslexic and needs the visual cues of writing on a chalkboard.

Finally, I don’t see where the smartboard actually helps a child to learn better.  Somebody made some major bucks on foisting yet another useless tool onto the cash-strapped public schools.

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In other, more sobering news:

The New York principals write a letter outlining why Common Core is failing the kids.  Reading of the effect on children who react with physical symptoms is heartwrenching.  Those poor kids will hate learning, when it’s their natural instinct to learn and explore.  Way to go, Common Core! /snark

Additionally, the letter states that children whom have never been labeled as learning deficient are now being so labeled and missing out on music and art classes that would most definitely help them to learn.

As I read about the students feeling like failures, my heart sinks.  I know how they feel–my dyslexia (undiagnosed) would have surely put me in the “dumb” category when that wasn’t the case.    I already felt dumb, however, and through my own will learned to adapt.  If a child is labeled as dumb by testing that does not allow for differences in learning, that child will never realize their true brain power.  They will not seek to move beyond the label placed upon them.

And this comment from Neanderthal really strikes to the heart of this debate:

neanderthal100

October 29, 2013 at 7:33 am

I paid a young man $1000 plus just the other day for a maintenance job for my house…Graduated around 2007..

He said to me…”You know, I never could do fractions when I was in school because they wanted us to use the calculator and it made no sense to me..I could get the right answer on the calculator but I never understood what I was doing.

I took so many tests that my guessing was really good.and I passed.

My father was shocked to find there were no vocational classes that I could take so he taught me the skills I need to know .

Now that I have to measure for my job and get paid for what I do….I learned the fractions and they are so easy.

I remember the math that I did was always for test questions…

My nephew is having a hard time because it is even worse now with this new math..

His teacher tells him everyday that he has to know this or that for a test and he gets ill on every test day.

Why don;t they have classes for construction workers?
That would have made so much more sense as I do not like the math with the y’s and x’s

I am very glad I am out of school and if and when I have children. I will teach them myself”

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Pretty telling, isn’t it, when  a child doesn’t learn the skills needed for a paying job.  This is just insanity.