This is spot on. We’ve been told that men and women communicate differently….so that makes it harder to understand one another. Women have been promoted as a group instead of a collection of individuals with independent thought.
News Flash: we don’t all think alike! As the cartoon illustrates…if you want to know what a woman is thinking, ASK HER.
(hat tip Lisa Wade at sociological images)
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.
Karen Silkwood died on this day nearly forty years ago. Her death was ruled an accident, but there was controversy surrounding her. I didn’t want to let this day go by without putting her story out there. Her story highlighted another aspect of the nuclear industry–manufacturing. As always, when there is a profit to be made, corners are cut to obtain the biggest profit.
Karen was asking questions and that is never a popular with manufacturers who cut corners on safety.
I hope she is at peace.
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.
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
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.
Rachel Maddow has an issue with Rand Paul claiming someone else’s writing is his own….and how he pretends “it’s no big deal”.
If you recall the post on only the crooks get jobs.…there seems to be a pattern here, eh?
But, no, we’re not done…I was watching the Ed Show on MSNBC, and he was stating that Bill O’Reilly has made the claim he knows why Jesus died–because he went after the tax collectors. Ed said it was because he was sent here to die for us so that we could have everlasting life. He also said something about the moneychangers being thrown out because they were in the Temple.
Hmmm….I remember making the statement on a comment on crooks and liars regarding this subject.(tried to find it,but it’s not on the website).
It’s been probably a year since I made the comment, and some of you might remember it–someone on the blog had made a crack about Jesus not caring about the poor, etc. To which I replied that Jesus fed the poor with loaves and fishes, he touched those with leprosy (which was like AIDS in those days), and he threw the moneychangers (bankers) out of the Temple when the religious leaders had allowed them to set up shop there. I said that was probably the real reason Jesus was murdered–he made the religious leaders look bad (and pissed off the bankers by interfering with their business).
I haven’t read O’Reilly’s book. I don’t know the exact quote or context of it ….but it would piss me off to know this creep has a book out there, making $$$, while he stole an idea from someone else.
Oh….and O’Reilly claims that Jesus told him to write the book.
Um-hmmm….if Jesus had really told him that, he would have told O’Reilly to pay for the costs of printing it and hand out copies for free.
Never ceases to amaze me when people try to make money off of Jesus….I can’t imagine he would have healed someone and then said “That’ll be $100.”
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
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’sI 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.
Susie Madrak has this up on the continued republican war against the poor. To say it is demoralizing would be an understatement.
Shall we play the six degrees to Clinton game? He pushed for “workfare” , which required welfare recipients to work for free–truly a corporation’s dream of forcing people to work and not pay any wages or benefits! Slave labor rocks!! /snark
When I asked for assistance after first moving to FW, I was required to do community service for two and a half days. The money I requested? $25. Yes, you read that right— $25, It was a humiliating experience when having to ask in the first place and then being put down by the social worker for having moved to FW without a job. I was, um, hoping to get a job….
The Brits who are conservative are also playing the “we want to help you help yourself” game–
From the last link:
There is no reason to think, however, that the criticisms levelled at workfare won’t also apply to the new scheme. Is, for example, a person spending 30 hours a week picking up litter more or less likely to find a paying job? Research which looked at similar schemes in the US, Canada and Australia found that:
“There is little evidence that workfare increases the likelihood of finding work. It can even reduce employment chances by limiting the time available for job search and by failing to provide the skills and experience valued by employers. Subsidised (‘transitional’) job schemes that pay a wage can be more effective in raising employment levels than ‘work for benefit’ programmes. Workfare is least effective in getting people into jobs in weak labour markets where unemployment is high.”
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Truly disgusting how punitive these people are towards the poor. Why not just have a public hanging and be done with it, already?
Lastly, here is the video someone suggested on crooks and liars:
Diane Ravitch was on Melissa Harris-Perry, and had a wonderful discussion on public education. I wish they could have had more time to go in-depth about it, but I’ll take it. You’ll have to click on each link separately, because NBC has chosen to not run them in sequence.
Eagle 