...On Math

The evolution in teaching math since the 1950s:

1. Teaching Math In 1950s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit ?
2. Teaching Math In 1960s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?
3. Teaching Math In1970s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?
4. Teaching Math In 1980s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is
$80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.
5. Teaching Math In 1990s
A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and
 inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the
preservation of our woodlands.  He does this so he can make a profit of $20.. What do you think of this way of making aliving? Topicfor class participation after answering the question: How did the birds
and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers, and if you feel like crying, it's ok. )
6. Teaching Math In 2009
Un hachero vende una carretada de maderapara $100. El costo de la producciones es $80. Cuantodinero ha hecho?
 7. Teaching Math In 2013
Whocares, just steal the lumber from your rich neighbor's property. He
won't have a gun to stop you, and the President says it's OK anyway cuz
it's redistributing the wealth.

Down This Road

Today it was announced that new Federal mandates will require public schools to open all athletic programs to students with disabilities. On the surface this is an equality issue. In action what will happen is that parents and lawyers will use this new bully stick to intimidate schools into allowing their kids on teams even if they do not qualify for a position.For example, ADHD is technically a disability. So by that rule a student with this condition must be given inordinate access to programs even when their condition is detrimental to other students and to the program at large. Would any coach under the threat of lawsuit dare not allow a student to play? Not in this day and age.

 I have no quarrel with the various surrogates trotted out to present this action. A wrestler can certainly compete though blind and deafness is certainly not a hurdle to most sports. But when the Feds start requiring action, parents and lawyers begin to angle for more for their children.Can a lawsuit claiming discrimination for failing to allow someone on a varsity team for reasons as innocuous as mild reading challenges be far behind?  For those who doubt this will happen consider what happened with Title IX. Schools, including universities like SMU, had to rid themselves of successful programs in order to balance the books. With even more demand for athletics for men than women, women get the same amount. That's antithetical to supply and demand, but the Law doesn't care. With even more limited funding, the pie is smaller now. Dividing that up more to make it safe and feasible for a seriously disabled student to be on a team is opening up the door for the dissolution of many programs. All it will take is one serious accident involving a disabled student, and athletics will be removed from the schools.

Once upon a time schools existed for the education of the majority of children. Now it appears that education is to be portioned out based on some formula that is based on the nebulous boundaries of "fairness" rather than appropriateness or even need. While all students, even the so called typical ones, should be allowed to progress to the level of their potential, when you artificially impose such rules on schools or teams or even businesses, you set up a situation where legal abuse will be rampant. If you doubt that, consider the amount of angst and intimidation that exists in regards to special education in the core classes right now. As a teacher, I feel like a hostage to a system in which I am expected to perform over and beyond my capabilities or face the very real threat of legal action.

On Guns, Society and Insanity

Guns have been around a long time. What has not been around long is a societal acceptance of bizarre, even psychotic, behavior as normal. We medicate seriously deranged individuals and release them back into society with little or no oversight. It is almost impossible to involuntarily commit even the most deranged person. And while guns have been the most recent weapon of choice, we have had mothers drown their entire young family, religious despots administer poison laced Koolaid to men, women and children and bombs set off by self appointed political groups in the name of peace. In one of the most horrific killings in Dallas history, a young African American man, high on drugs, killed a father of two young children. The young man had a history of mental illness and drug abuse,yet was foisted out on society because of the difficulty of getting him committed. The twist is that the shooter was the son of the current Dallas police chief. Do you not think this man every single night wishes he had had some means to save his son-who died due to being shot by the police-and the young father shielding his children? Our laws work against even the most loving and vigilant of families.

People who want to kill will find a means to do so. What we as a society must demand is that we stop the politically correct idea of "we can't judge" and start putting people who are dangerous into facilities where they cannot harm others or themselves. Even in classrooms now, courtesy of ADA special education laws of least restrictive environment, seriously mentally ill students, some of whom tower over their teachers, can rail and threaten on a daily basis with impunity. Our children deserve better. Teachers deserve better. Our society deserves better. The idea that we must tolerate insanity in public has to end. This attitude has contributed to the rise in homelessness, domestic violence and child abuse along with a list of other crimes. Like it or not, some people cannot live in the real world.

Some Observations

What Liberals Believe

Liberals think… That embracing a religious cult invented by a drunken science fiction writer that nevertheless supports shallow hedonism is okay

But….Embracing a religion that was created from a Christian base but whose adherents shun caffeine, immodesty and other worldly occupations as sinful is weird.

Liberals think…that guns should be banned everywhere

But….want their own kids and offices protected by armed security guards

Liberals think…all war is wrong

But….continue to support war waged with unmanned drones that cause far more collateral damage simply because Obama says it’s okay.

Liberals think…America is waging a “war on women” that can only be won by offering free birth control

But….ignore that many cultures support sex selection and that far more female children are aborted than male children by these cultures

Liberals think…global warming is real

But….ignore the increasing number of well known scientists that are refuting these claims with scientific fact.

Liberals think…the federal deficit doesn’t matter

But….they are the first to complain about not wanting their subsidies cut when the money for special programs runs out.

Liberals think…that people with disabilities should have no stone unturned in making every school, office, and facility accessible

But…. Ignore the increasing cost of such programs on school districts and businesses and the increasing danger of exposure to seriously mentally ill children and adults who act on their delusions in violent ways.

Liberals think… more taxes is the answer

But…. They try to find every way possible to avoid paying them themselves.

Liberals think…all “big box” stores are evil because they earn profits

But…the love IKEA, which pays their employees less than Walmart because it’s Scandinavian.

A Dark Day

Today is a dark day. It is a day when evil walked on two legs into a kindergarten classroom. It is a day when a madman mowed down a classroom of kindergartners. I can’t help but think that five year olds were clinging to their teacher, the shooter’s mother, as she died. I can’t help but think they were crying and scared wanting their mommies. What kind of animal does this?

But then again, while you will hear a loud drumbeat from the White House and the anti-gun lobby, what kind of delusional person shoots a movie full of viewers enjoying a new film or a playground of school kids? Let’s look at this further-what kind of person drowns her six young children or cuts the arms off her baby to make her an angel? These people share the same problem-they are what used to be called insane. Now that has been sanitized into an “illness” for which they cannot be held responsible. The woman who drowned her six young kids pled not guilty by reason of insanity when in reality it should be GUILTY by reason of insanity. Likewise the woman who killed her baby was committed for a short time and was in the past few months discovered to be working in a Walmart. The attitude of the medical community and the liberals is that you make these people show up to get meds and then send them on their way. No monitoring, no oversight, no protection for those they come in contact with. And if they stop taking their meds, what then?

But how does it get to this point. Let me give you an illustration. A colleague of mine has been victimized to the point of having nightmares by a six foot four male student who throws furniture and has as recently as last summer was in a mental health hospital. For six months she endured verbal threats and had to intervene as this student threatened others. One day he told her “I could hit you in the head with this hammer and you can’t stop me.” Indeed, until violence occurs there’s nothing a general ed classroom teacher can do. And there’s nothing we can do to protect other students either. Luckily this student was finally removed to a unit designed for emotionally disturbed students. He lasted two weeks in a facility designed for his needs and was kicked out. Now he’s in another school district where I have no doubt he’s cycling through the same delusional and menacing behavior. Everyone’s scared of the ADA and nobody wants to make the call that this individual is dangerous. I have little doubt that down the road, he’s another tragedy waiting to happen.

The problem is not with guns. Richard Speck murdered several nurses with a knife. Jim Jones murdered men, women and children with poison. The Weather Underground murdered people with bombs. Guns have been with us a long time. But what has not been with us is the prevailing societal drumbeat that we must not judge those who act out in dangerous and delusional ways. The ADA and various liberal feelgood policies have created a situation of political correctness where seeking to commit an insane individual to a facility where they cannot harm others is “unkind” or “meanspirited.” Indeed, many of the recent events of mass violence reveal a known history of outrageously insane behavior that was deliberately overlooked for the sake of avoiding being “judgmental.”

What will happen now is yet another outcry for gun control when what needs to happen is that we must, for the sake of our nation, take back the right to keep the criminally insane from victimizing the innocent. A friend of mine who just left a position as an aide at a facility designed for the retarded told me that the majority of the people there are mentally ill, not retarded. They are allowed to act out in ridiculous and provocative ways. She left because a man tried to gouge out her eye. Nothing was done. Nothing will ever be done as long as the current ADA laws are in effect. We have actually turned over the sylum to the inmates. The uptick in homelessness, the rise in domestic crime and the increase in drug abuse are all biproducts of a society that refuses to accept that some people are simply too sick and insane to be left on their own. I am not talking about the depressed, or the bipolar or even the nasty-but of those who are so obviously insane that they pose a threat to others. I shudder and can barely hold back tears when I think of that roomful of kindergartners murdered for the sake of sparing someone’s feelings. We must take back the safety of our society. We have to realize that by allowing such people to act out with impunity, we are not helping them, we are allowing them to overtake us.

Hard Christmas

I am trying very hard to be upbeat.
I have done projects that echo Christmas. I have allowed my students to decorate my classroom door. I have attended the faculty Christmas party and am participating in Secret Santa. I just wish it didn't feel so hollow. I haven't really bought one gift. And despite the late date, I don't feel like spending the money. Our financial situation is so desperate that we may end up eventually losing the house. And this doesn't really mean much anymore as the house has serious problems that we cannot afford to repair. The roof, windows and doors need replacing. One shower walls has completely caved in and the other is falling apart. I don't have the skill or strength to do these things myself although I would if I could. I just feel like everything is falling to pieces and there's nothing I can do to stop it.

The one bright light is that my son, three years after college graduation, now has a job beyond fast food. My husband, however, is still essentially unemployed with no compensation and no end in sight. This is the Obama legacy. He is killing us by degrees.

Proof that California Doesn't have the Corner on Nutjob Professors

Sir,
In response to this story: http://weaselzippers.us/2012/11/23/univ-texas-professor-thanksgiving-a-white-supremacist-holiday-founding-founders-nazis/

As a resident of Texas who pays far too much in taxes and probably pays part of your salary, I request a response. Where did your family come from? The name Jensen would appear to be Scandinavian in source. That means your ancestors were rampaging and pillaging their way through Europe centuries before a very small group of religions refugees braved the North Atlantic to come to North America. Do you feel your own shame in pillaging Europe, in imposing a rule of terror on Ireland, Scotland, France and Normandy? Or is that okay because it's Europe? How far did the Native American technology advance? They had not even really developed the wheel or advance metal working techniques in the regions inhabited. But you freely brandish the label "Nazi" on people who were trying to achieve religious freedom. Oh, now I understand, it's about religion. You, a liberal who probably claims to be tolerant, cannot allow someone to worship in any way that you cannot control. And in the end, that's what liberalism is all about isn't it-ultimate centralized control. Oh....who wanted that? Who wanted to control what babies were born, how they looked, the control of media and the outcomes of elections-that would be totalitarian societies like Nazi Germany and the Soviet Unions. What a sad specimen of academia you are. You should be ashamed.

Update: So it turns out that in their desire to be first, the media has fed us a great deal of disinformation and misinformation. The mother was the first victim, at home. The guns used were hers, and it appears they were kept in a basement gun safe. I can only surmise Lanza knew the combination. It also appears that the triggering moment was when Lanza discovered his mother, who had taken him out of public schools after a disagreement with school officials (this suggests an ARD where the school sought to have more restrictions due to escalating manifestation of violence or other disturbing behavior), removed him from private schools and they was homeschooling him was seeking to have him involuntarily committed. I'm sure she never thought her own son would have such pent up rage. That he went after the now first graders that had been her charges a year earlier is a clear manifestation of his resentment for the time spent with them. The wrong brother was sited as the shooter and a fictional girlfriend was sited as missing along with the father. That was incorrect. It's still a sickening tragedy that would not have happened if we didn't have committment laws that were so challenging to families.

Our Brave New Generation

Despite the economic gloom in the world at large, I do honestly try to stay upbeat and optimistic with my students. High school kids have usually been very earnest and often seek approval for their views. This time around many of them gave lip service to the ideals expressed, but not demonstrated, by the Obama administration. They seem to think that they are safer, freer and richer under the current administration. I'm not about to get into a political debate with someone who hasn't earned a paycheck so I let it go.

But here's the irony. These bright young people who claim to adhere to the kinder, gentler policies seen on DNC placards are in real life quite often shallow and narcissistic in their personal behavior. Witness this. Every year our student council does a food drive for Metrocrest Services-a local food bank that provides baskets of food for needy families in the immediate area. I have volunteered there and they do terrific work. So when the program was announced, I talked to my classes. I posted information. I discussed the need for food and how in the current economic situation there were more people-sometimes even people they might personally know-who were counting on the food bank in order to survive. I brought my own collection of canned goods-about ten cans in all. But not one kid, NOT ONE, not even the kids who claimed to be so in touch with the community ideals of Obama, could be bothered to donate a can or a dollar for the cause. Of course, I don't think that kids should be badgered into donating a la United Way (ugh!) but this particular group has been so aggressively supportive of what they view as liberal Democrat goals. It appears that they are only willing to help others as long as it isn't much trouble. I guess it's a good thing we have all those backward churches and all those middle class conservatives that do things like donate time and money and effort for such causes.

I am quite fearful of the outcome if these young people-who get their opinions from Colbert and SNL-come into power. We should all be very afraid.

The Real War on Women

My daughter was married just last month. She’s young, educated, beautiful and in love with a wonderful guy. She’s a teacher in charge of an entire staff of dance instructors and he’s a psychologist working with autistic kids. They married because they love each other and because they want kids.

Enter Obamacare. If you want a look at the Real War on Women on Women is not the bogus media hyped limitations on abortion, but the very real economic realities that allow some women-notably the poor and ignorant who rely on public largesse-to make whatever choice they want. If they want birth control, it’s free. If they want and abortion, it’s subsidized.  If they want a baby, they can have as many as they want. And this is because they are the demographic base that the Democrat party relies on for votes.

As two young healthy working adults, you would think that health insurance wasn’t a problem, especially under the auspices of Obamacare.  But not so quick. My daughter had her own insurance through Blue Cross Blue Shield. No underwriter in the nation is covering pregnancy on private insurance policies. She can have birth control. She can have an abortion. But under the private insurance, my daughter and her husband cannot have a baby without finding about $14K to come up with to cover labor, delivery and hospital costs. So while the indigent woman from across the border gets free pregnancy, prenatal and healthcare covered, my daughter cannot.

So they sought out the insurance from both their places of work. With a $5000 deductible-meaning they pay up to that amount out of pocket. For two young people starting their careers and paying off college loans, rent, car payments,  that’s a hard row to hoe. They looked at policies from both places. Both places costs two to three hundred dollars per month. And they covered things that they do not need, but which are MANDATED by Obamacare such as mental healthcare and drug treatment. As my daughter joked “maybe if I become a crack addict they will pay for me to have a baby.” It wasn’t a happy joke, but one that told she was giving up.

And what is she giving up? She’s giving up the dream of having kids. She’s giving up the dream of having her own house of being able to find other better jobs.  While the Obama Team likes to think that as a young  women she is supporting them, she is not. And many of her friends are in similar states of despair. They know the score. They know that they are paying for those who are too irresponsible to pay their own bills. And these young people, they ones with jobs who pay their bills and who live circumspect lives are growing in their resentment of a leisure class composed of Obama voters shouting “more free stuff” at every turn.

I ran into my own clarification of how Obamacare has created a Real War on Women. Today my doctor tried to make an appointment for me for a mammogram.  As the only one working due to the economy, I can’t simply peel off and pay a couple of hundred bucks for an appointment. I was told that if I ran it through insurance my bill would be $311 and it would go against my $5000 deductible (the deductible that I never reach because we can’t afford that kind of outlay) OR if I didn’t run it through insurance my bill would be “only” $150. First of all, this sounds like a scam to me. Why would you pay more when insured and less when it’s out of pocket? Second, why is it that doctors keep ordering tests and exams without knowing how much they cost? Three years ago a mammogram was $75. The only reason for rising costs is the rising cost of liability insurance and the failure BY THE PRESIDENT to have tort reform.

Many young people are still celebrating the dubious triumph of Obama. I think they are in for a harsh reality  come January. Layoffs are on the horizon and last hired is first fired. Contract workers are replacing full time employees with the self-employment taxes that entails. By the way, when you lose a contract position, as a contractor you are small business person and sometimes can’t get that nice unemployment check. Add to that the rising cost of healthcare insurance, shorter hours and the same braindead college kids who voted based on the preferences of Brad Pitt, George Clooney and  Steven Colbert are in for a very basic lesson in how our economy works.

How it works is like this: Every penalty, every fee, every tax placed on a business is passed along and paid for by the consumer. So when you make energy more costly, you drive up the cost of groceries which is a tax on everyone. And when goods and services become too costly to afford, businesses close, people become unemployed and tax revenue drops. At that point, government services have to be cut meaning  that all those feel good services suddenly cease. Then the rioting begins. As it has happened in Greece. As it has happened in France. And sadly, as I fear it will happen here. I wish I had some happy note of optimism to lay out here, but the mindless drones on the Left allowed their souls to be bought for cheap. We will all suffer for years as a result. God help us all.

Look at the map.

Look at the county by county map of the 2012 election. Liberals like to pretend they have a mandate. Instead they are the metaphorical tail wagging the dog. Even states like California and Illinois have significant numbers of red counties. I just have to shake my head and wonder what happened? If anything this election has driven a deeper wedge in our nation's psyche. When you add to that the running stories of voter fraud and voter manipulation, it makes me wonder if this entire election was purchased for thirty pieces of silver.

Today my youngest son told me he doesn't believe voting does anything, that government will put into place whoever they want in spite of what American voters want. Seeing this map and hearing this type of comment over and over shows me that the mainstream media and the liberals in power have destroyed our system of government and replaced it with a dictatorship. I don't know what the answer to this may be. Capitulation is the easy way out and of course the path of least resistance. It's the same advice that callous people give to rape victims-lie back and enjoy it. But if you cannot criticize anything about the people in power without risking loss of your job, then truly there is no way to combat this short of actual combat. I think we're done. I think our nation will follow the USSR into dissolution with the northeast being a liberal enclave while the rest of us peel off over the next few decades as the burden of liberalism gone wild proves too much of an economic burden to survive.

Aftermath 2012

I'm disappointed. I go back to that scene in "A Fish Called Wanda" where the crazy brother is clinging to the plane shouting DIS A PPOINTED!! Maybe I was naive. I thought that a decent man with a good plan and a history of turning around failed enterprises could win a national election. I thought that mere expertise stood for something.

But I guess you can't compete with the Celebrity Presidency that has evolved under this president. He seems more eager to talk to Letterman or Leno than his own briefing committees. Obama has had the media run interference. They have ignored by and large the overruns of Obamacare, which will hit us all in January's paycheck. The media failed to fully reveal the extent of involvement of the Attorney General in Fast and Furious. The media absolutely covered for the president himself on Benghazi, with CBS only releasing the full transcripts of a key interview Sunday night before the election. I do not know what the media has been promised. I know newspapers are bleeding red ink. I suspect that networks are being hit by a similar change in allegiance as young people drift to internet shows or movies ignoring standard fare. Could a media bailout be in the works? And, like the GM bailout, would it be based along political lines? Who knows? All I know is that I feel that the media played a key role in Obama's reelection. And don't even get me started on the MSNBC ad buy as a gift in kind. The most disgusting aspect of this was how the media spewed venom and lies at the public as fact in regards to Mitt Romney. I had a student swear to me yesterday that her preacher told her Romney would reinstate slavery. This is an almost direct quote from Biden, which the media distributed with impunity. They have a great deal to answer for.

My fears are the same ones I have had for three years. We appear to have a president that operates without principles or a budget. We appears to have the same essential set up in Congress for stalemate. But what is worse, we have the same stale ideas in play. I think that term limits across the board would go a long way in changing the status quo. I also think "no budget, no pay" should be instated to compel Congress to write a budget and for a president to sign it. I also believe that despite all the backpatting and self-congratulatory chatter, the Democrats are digging a much deeper hole. Today 2000 workers were laid off from Boeing. The stock market lost 313 points. Tomorrow key numbers on employment are supposed to be issued, and many believe that the most recent October numbers will be adjusted upward due to California's "accidental" failure to report last month. All I know is that my family is treading water and there's the real possibility that January's check will be less than December's. With that type of thing occurring across the nation in order to pay higher taxes (our 'fair' share) and provide money for all those freebies that Democrats like to shower on favorable demographic groups, next year is looking more bleak than this one. And that's no way to start a new year. Hey, maybe those Mayans knew what they were talking about.

Sick

I hate being sick. I thought after breaking my nose in a fall last year and having subsequent rhinoplasty that my days of struggling through Fall wheezing and coughing were over. No such luck. I called in sick around five this morning, hoping that a substitute would pick up the job. I have a student teacher in tow, but she's green and frankly my classes can be challenging. If I could talk at all, I would have gone in. But, sparing you gory details, my vocal chords are immobile, my throat is sore and I have bouts of coughing that leave me literally aching. This is how my round with whooping cough began last year. I can't afford this.

From the House of Are You Kidding Me, California?

The story
My reactions:
1. Americans with Disabilities Act is the driving coercive factor that allows parents of special needs students to play bullies. This is a ridiculous case and the parents and adminstrators are clueless.
2. ADA is leading districts to implement a type of mainstreaming that is not conducive to a better education. Oh sure, everyone can shake hands because special needs kids are in the regular ed classes, but it's the same type of thinking that led to busing on the belief that just sitting next to a white kid would insure the academic success of minority students. While kids of all groups who can learn in a class should be there, with special needs students there are many medical, psychological and emotional factors involved. Case in point, what do you do when as a five foot six female teacher, a non-communcative six foot four male with autistic spectrum disorder starts raging around the room? What is more, who is at fault if and when another student gets hurt? What are you supposed to do when an emotionally unstable student begins cutting themselves because you can't drop everything and sit by them the entire period? These are the types of issues our teachers and our children are facing. Does that sounds like an environment where all students are valued or just one where special students are valued?
3. The real world, the future we are preparing students for, does not bend to the needs of the individual no matter how much liberals try to make it so. There will always be those things one person cannot eat, the stairs someone cannot climb, the books someone cannot read. Do we eliminate all of those things from life simply because of a few? Furthermore, does it make sense to have a student who cannot read or write or speak simply sitting in a Home Ec class or a Theater class just to fulfill goals that have little to do with the real world? And while we are at it, what of the unrealistic expectations that some special ed departments apply to their students? I had one poor child who was convinced by her special ed teachers that she was going to enter the very competitive world of animation. They put this on her exit papers from school! The child could not write, could not read and could not draw. Is this not cruel? Or is this an acceptable level of misdirection as advocated by our current regime?
4. Teachers are starting to show strain. I'm not an advocate of unions although I belong to an association. But these types of actions that leave teachers legally and professionally exposed at every turn, including the fear of physical attack, gives rise to unions. I am sure some will castigate me as "mean" for having these views, but I've seen too many students turned away from programs viewed as dumping grounds for special needs students. And I have seen too many average kids fall through the cracks while teachers scurry to fulfill every whim of multipaged IEP's. Something has to change. And soon.

Why Teachers Quit.

My district, under some truly delusional actions by the state of Texas, has implemented a program known as total inclusion. No pull outs, no special classes, no content mastery or small group teaching for the kids who struggle to function. Instead general ed teachers are supposed to magically develop the skills to intuitively know how to address multiple IEP mandates for multiple children within a regular classroom setting. To some, this may sound like insanity, but to many this is the endgame for special education wherein teachers are simply observers and record keepers. The sad thing is, I'm a good teacher. I find kids who have talent and I get them to where they need to be. I write recommendation letter, I find college sponsors, I push them, I reward them-which last time I heard is what a teacher is supposed to do. But the New Regime, a rather aggressive and arrogant movement led by Special Ed teachers who see general ed teachers as The Enemy, seem intent on making our lives more complex than it should be.

First, there is the placement itself. A student with mild challenges can be easily incorporated into a regular class with support. That means that the general ed teacher is informed-FULLY-and that care is taken to place the student into a class where his or her numbers won't tip the apple cart. But what is happening is that because of scheduling special core classes for these groups, a full third of some classes hold severely disabled students in a regular classroom. That in itself creates a situation where the teacher must pay due to the special ed student first leaving the regular students to their own devices. Then you have 504's, BIP's and other special designations. We have to file no less than five and sometimes as many as nine pieces of paper every single week PER STUDENT, which with ten students results in 90 pieces of paper be handled. Today the head of Special Ed celebrated all the necessary data we are generating. What she ignores is that in order to do this, many teachers are dumbing down programs, ignoring advanced students and diluting rigor in programs.

Second, there is the issue of classroom management. I am one of those teachers who rarely if ever sends students to the principal. Generally speaking, special ed students aren't referred for behavioral problems. But when you have a situation where you have autistic spectrum kids who can be set off by too bright a light, or a word or an emotionally disturbed student who likes to openly rant over ways to attack people it makes it hard to encourage students to stay in an elective program. when they view it as a holding area for kids who cannot do anything else.I spent half an hour on Friday trying to convince an amazingly talented sophomore to stay in art after she was verbally assaulted by an emotionally disturbed student. My fear is that the talented students will leave and my classes truly will little more than a place to put every problem, every kid who fights, every kid with issues.

I have five years until I can retire. Five years. That's 900 days of teaching. What's sad is I am good at what I do. I had more kids get 5's on their AP portfolios that the rest of the district combined. I have more kids taking AP than any other school. I have more kids in elite art schools or in art programs in major universities than any other teacher in the district. That is what I have always thought I was supposed to do-make kids successful. And while I am good at finding those kids who never realized they had talent, the stark reality is that someone who can't move their arms, cannot read, cannot write, cannot talk, is probably not destined for anything beyond a very limited life. I want to make their lives pleasant, but not at the cost of everyone else. After today, I feel broken. I feel that all my work is simply not worth it. I believe that everything I have done to build up the program has been nothing more than a joke.

I wish I felt differently. I wish I could feel more hopeful. But this is what the feelgood policies of the current crop of educational elites and the politicians of the Left has done to the once noble idea of a free public education. I hope my children will be able to afford decent private schools for their kids. It's over.

Read This While You Can

I hate to sound pessimistic, but when you have news agencies that are getting their stories from Soros subground Media Matters and a president who simultaneously supports radical Islam while denigrating anyone who dares to express traditional Christian views, we have a problem. And if Obama wins, I expect our first amendment rights will further erode to the point of attrition. So read this column, from one of the few last columnists willing to tell the truth about the Obama administration. Those FEMA camps are looking all too familiar now.
Diane West

Why Government Run Education is Failing

Years from now, when historians look back on how our nation cratered economically, socially and literally, they will be able to point to a government run system of "education" that was far more concerned with promoting social idealism over educating students. Too many fads have flown through our schools. New Math, Open Classroom, Whole Language and now the influence of technology. All these methods are not inherently evil or wrong in and of themselves. But they are gimmicks. They are sleight of hand tricks promoted to school administrators via lush seminars. These programs cost millions to school districts and they more often than not fail to deliver their claimed goals.

Other areas that will show up down the road is how our average students-not the brightest ones, not special needs students-but the generic kid in the desk, we often ignored and allowed to twist in the wind while teachers were forced by government mandate to serve special populations first even to the detriment of the rest of the class. What began as a feelgood law to allow mainstreaming of physically impaired, but educationally capable students into classrooms has evolved into a costly behemoth that provides one on one educational handling for some students while others linger in crowded classes. Does this make any sense?

Let's take an example. Student A, emotionally charged, autistic or disabled student, is placed in a regular ed classroom. The teacher must immediately jump to honor the IEP or any other special accommodations demanded by the Special Ed department or the parents. Never mind that there are other students in class, the few and the documented get the lion's share of attention. Even students with the most outrageous behavioral patterns are often placed into classrooms with little regard for the safety of others. What student wants to stay in a room where another student may randomly attack them and get away with it?

A Nation of Voyeurs

“In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes,”-Andy Warhol

Let’s consider Warhol’s statement for a minute. Between reality television and YouTube, have we not reached this level of development? Where it used to be that talent rose to the top, now it’s notoriety and “hits” that determine levels of fame. I can point out any number of local singers better than Justin Beiber, but he’s the one who got millions of hits on his YouTube online videos. I have no idea what Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton really do to merit their fame other than create sleazy homemade videos for public consumption. In another age the moniker “fools names and fools faces often appear in public places” has been replaced by the concept that anything goes where nothing is too silly, too vain, too vulgar or too horrid to be widely distributed to anyone who cares to do a simply online search.

Beyond this shallow existence, we’ve developed an entire industry made up of people who spend their “professional” lives hiding in bushed trying to ambush the famous and the powerful into some trumped up charge. This has played a role not just in entertainment, but in politics. Do I really need to know what a candidate’s stepdaughter thinks about anything? Do we really need to stoop to unsealing divorce decrees, custody agreements and other painful personal histories just to score political points? What sort of insight is that supposed to reveal? Likewise, it seems that a parallel universe has developed where people make up entire facts and because their voices are louder, they seem to think this justifies the lie. The Big Lie was an old Soviet trick used to quash underground uprising and to keep the working class in check. Now it seems to be used for distributing politically aimed disinformation to keep party line voters controlled while trying to stampede the opposition into making a mistake. Perhaps I am wrong, but I don’t remember it being so publicly vile and nasty in a long long time.

More than being voyeurs, we are also becoming victims to people who cannot or will not control their addictive urges to use the internet. I’ve heard cell phones going off at meetings, at church, at weddings and yes, even at a funeral. The same general demographic that accesses the internet to know end also likes to post things, often without thinking. Even the most circumspect individual can find themselves tagged and slandered without their knowledge. Now another industry has grown up just to clear up peoples’ online reputations for PR or employment purposes. I guess the bottom line is that people who act decently generally don’t have to worry about much, unless they run for public office in which case their entire history can be changed, attacked and destroyed with little forethought. And just the fact that decent people have to worry about something like that demonstrates how deeply we’ve all headed down that slippery slope.