Now where did I put my Flintstones Chewable Prozac?
Seriously, my real joy is in the Lord and not in shifting temporal things.
—
But there was some good news: The Democrats didn’t get their 60 seats in the Senate. That would have been a disaster.
Also, the pro-traditional marriage initiatives passed in California and Florida. We need an Amendment for the U.S. Constitution, though. Does anyone think that a few new liberal judges on the Supreme Court won’t invent a “right” to oxymoronic gay marriage? State judges have done so.
And the Supreme Court once imagined that the Constitution contained the unlimited right to crush and dismember the unborn, and look where we are now: Almost 50 million dead. If they can create that fiction, they can make up anything. Liberal judges are an imaginative bunch.
—-
More good news: Number of riots instigated by McCain supporters = zero.
—
Obama back pedals in his first two minutes, and is already angling for a 2nd term!
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term… There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won’t agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can’t solve every problem.
Uh, wait a minute, didn’t you promise the opposite of that the last two years? Everyone who is surprised, raise your hand. That’s what I thought.
—
Great election recap by Randy Alcorn on the importance of what we do next.
Followers of Christ, regardless of who they advocated and voted for, should now pray wholeheartedly for our new president and his administration, as Scripture instructs us in First Timothy 2:1-4: I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone-for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
—
It isn’t too early for 2012, is it? Brooke shared this. I’m good with it.
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: 2012, abortion, gay marriage, jindal, mccain, obama, palin, partial birth abortion, Politics, Pro-life
I’m so sick to my stomach…
At least it appears the Dems won’t have a super majority in the Senate. That will make a big difference when they try to push through the falsely named “Fairness Doctrine,” among other things.
All the debates aside, congrats to the Obama supporters who frequent this blog.
I think we just used democracy to give us communism. In other words, we sold our birthright for a mess of pottage.
God is in control and will never leave the throne. He knows what He’s doing and where this is going. Besides, my husband and I were just talking about the fact that here, in a democracy, it’s not as if our lives will be so directly affected as to change them significantly (here in MA they just de-criminalized “small amounts” of marijuana; whoopie). I mean, it worked so well in Amsterdam and all….
I agree that we are aping communism. My husband grew up behing the Iron Curtain and HE agrees that our society is getting more communist in philosophy and practice. If we didn’t have kids in public school, I might not see it, but we do so we have to work extra-hard at raising up our kids in the way they should go.
However, that’s key. WE are still the ones raising our kids. No social change is going to create spiritual change one way or the other. I also voted differently, but trusting in God’s sovereign rule, I just can’t get that worked up.
Have a blessed day, everyone!
Marie:
Your response is a ray of sunshine on an otherwise cloudy day.
Best and Godspeed,
Joseph
Marie, you are indeed correct, God is in control. However if you read “Revelation” the plan has some rough spots. I fear we may be heading for one.
To paraphrase the late Larry Burkett, (I hope); It is not death that worries me, it’s living. It is out of context, as he said something like this about his cancer, but it is a little how I feel about what is ahead.
I do trust God though, so I echo the voices of thousands of Christians before me and say “Come Lord Jesus”
@Jim:
Communism? You are real hoot.
P.S. I am not saying that Obama is the anti-Christ. I don’t jump to conclusions like that.
It may not be so bad. If Obama’s Presidency is as effective as the Democratically controlled Congress has been, I don’t think we have a lot to worry about.
Jim,
I think it is more socialism, and we have been selling our birthright, a little at a time, for years. This is just the first time a candidate has been able to state his postion and still be elected.
Maybe he is the first politician to tell us what he really thinks, or maybe we will find out what he really thinks.
@ALL of U:
I think Barack will be a fine president, much better than Bush (which won’t be particulallry hard), SOCIALISM? Right….Universal health care IS necessary, as critical as our need for a a national Military…if that’s socialism, call me Trotsky…
I can’t believe the Palin for President image. Man, let her go already. She will never get elected beyond Governor of Alaska.
Her true colors are out – the public didn’t like her even though you did.
McCains run failed largely due to him picking her.
Nope. McCain was a lousy debater and couldn’t overcome the media bias.
It was the 18 to 1 media bias on the big 3 networks against Palin. Just imagine if they would have focused on the glass ceiling, her family values, the FACT that she had more experience than Obama, etc.
Or what if the MSM had done endless stories on any of the uncovered Obama issues – i.e., credit card-gate, where they deliberately didn’t track the source of donations and took many illegal foreign contributions.
Too many people still rely on the MSM for their news. I am so sad to hear of well educated friends who think Obama is pro-life, for example. Where do they get their news? The MSM. Do their views correspond to reality? Not at all.
Neil, Mc Cain did win Texas so you did your part to campaign hard for him. I’m glad you campaign harder for Jesus. Amen Yes our current president and president elect need prayer. If you notice the South and the North showed division in their votes so our country is in need of prayer,
“I’m glad you campaign harder for Jesus. Amen”
Thanks, Syinly, great reminder!
I political “mantra” for the next few years:
We still have the filibuster.
I accidentally stumbled upon this blog, and I can’t believe what I’m reading. I don’t know any of you personally, but I can only assume you are like my other intelligent, tho hugely brainwashed and, possibly temporarily insane, friends and family, when I see this love of Sarah Palin and this total buy in to everything the GOP throws out there.
For the love of all things, use the brain the good Lord gave you. The woman came right out on national TV and said, “I don’t know what the VP does. I’m waiting for someone to tell me.” Isn’t that enough to tell you, not only is she not qualified, but McCain made a horrible decision by picking her? And why did someone have to TELL HER? Can she not read? FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF!!! And don’t even get me started on the selfishness of accepting the nomination with a pregnant teenager who would be scrutinized by the media and a special needs infant whom she drags about the country and waves around like he’s a hood ornament. Any other mother would be brutally ridiculed for going to the supermarket with her child at such hours, and here’s Sarah, I know NOTHING, Palin wagging a HUMAN BEING around like he’s a token.
It’s ridiculous!!!
As for the whole abortion issue. This is what I want to know…
Why is it that we always hear the Republicans crying and whining, “Government needs to stay out of our lives and our money,” yet, when it comes to a person’s choice of who they want to marry, or a woman’s body, they want to be able to tell you what to do? Isn’t that HUGELY hypocritical? You can’t have it BOTH ways!!!
Does anyone here REALLY know what socialism is, or are you just jumping in the GOP bandwagon? You aren’t going to have your houses and all your money taken away. And BTW, pro-choice and pro-abortion are FAR from the same thing. That is one of the MOST ridiculous things I’ve ever heard.
As for bringing God into it… Who remembers this line? “Separation of church and state.” Anyone? Anyone? And how about this one, “He who is without sin shall cast the first stone?”
Why don’t you give the man a chance before you decide how horrible he is. You might actually be surprised… in a positive way.
Hi Steph,
The hypocrisy argument about government intervention fails miserably.
Your “woman’s body” argument begs the question. It assumes that there isn’t another human body at stake. The gov’t has hundreds of thousands of laws. Seems like one of them should be to prevent innocent human beings from being crushed and dismembered.
Re. whom to marry: That is a straw man argument. Gays get “married” all the time. Apostate churches will perform the ceremony. What we are against is gov’t recognition of those marriages because they defy the definition of marriage and, more importantly, those relationshipts can never provide a mother and a father to a child. Never. So why should the gov’t be involved?
Yes, we know what socialism is: “Spreading the wealth around.”
Re. separation of church and state: That phrase in not in the Constitution. The first section of the First Amendment protects religious freedoms. It doesn’t restrict them.
Re. the first stone: Jesus also said to go and sin no more. If you’d like to discuss Bible passages in context I’d be glad to.
I did give the man a chance. I thoroughly examined his history and his views – much more so than the fawning media did.
@Neil:
You wrote: “Yes, we know what socialism is: “Spreading the wealth around.”
No actually Socialism is: “Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and the creation of an egalitarian society”
What exactly is Barack suggesting that the PUBLIC OWN in regard to distribution and production of goods?
Health Care should be nationalized, that isn’t SOCIALISM, that is distributing taxes (that will happen anyway) in a BETTER manner.
“Does anyone here REALLY know what socialism is,”
Yes, quite well in fact; thanks for asking.
My allusion to socialism/communism was mainly in regards to the public educational philosophy in this country which has been gaining momentum since the ’70’s. Currently, the (state-mandated) curriculum and virtually ALL resources are targeted towards helping the special-needs students succeed at average level. While class sizes are indeed large, homogenous grouping (”tracking”) is no longer used. The philosophy is that if they teach to the lowest common denominator, the average to above average kids will succeed anyway. (I just came out of a principal’s meeting on MOnday and still have steam coming out of my ears). This is “necessary” in order to bring the standardized test scores up, and is mandated from above. Meanwhile, the (state-mandated) curriculum has been progressively dumbed-down year to year, with the result that everyone is encouraged to mediocrity. There is no enrichment; no emphasis on achievement and consequently no incentive.
Most upset about this are the teachers, who admit their hands are tied. One even went so far as to tell me that if she taught the way she’d done two decades ago, (in order to challenge the kids), she’d lose her job.
Decreasing expectations does NOT lead to increased results. Everyone is NOT equal, and does not, in fact, ;earn at the same rate (as was obvious years ago). The entire educational foundation is based upon secular humanism, which is, at it’s core, socialism. The kids (esp. at the middle school level) are told WHAT to think, not HOW to think, making the approach identical to Soviet-era propaganda classes (both my husband and I have personal experience so I know of what I speak; e-mail me privately if you’d like me to go into more depth).
There are other ways in which the school system bears a growing resemblance to socialist theory, but currently the academic approach bothers me more. The ideological poison is somewhat easier to refute at home, since we are biblically-literate Christians.
Oh, @ Sunday School teacher – yes, I agree with you, of course, about the Tribulation. I realize we are headed in that direction; I just take comfort (in a sense) knowing that things are turning out exactly as the Bible prophesied, rather than being anxious about what we can’t control.
P.S. by “everyone is NOT equal”, I meant in terms of abilities and academic talent, speed/style of learning; etc. and got side-tracked mid-thought. Obviously I was not talking about equality in terms of intrinsic value of a person. Just to clarify that.
Regarding Palin 12 – Has there ever (recently?) been a case where a losing VP candidate came back as a presidential candidate the following year? I honestly don’t know, I’m asking. Not a loaded question.
Regaring socializing health care – Neil, I think this would be an EXCELLENT topic for another thread. I have some serious concerns here. My capitalistic libertarian side says every man for himself and let them eat cake. My compassionate, pragmatic side says we have to do something.
Marie – regarding schools, there is some degree of tracking, at least in middle/high school. There are gifted classes, Advanced Placement, etc. There are also special education classes (my wife is a special ed teacher). Are you talking about the elementary ed level? Maybe socialized education should be another thread all together. I think there is a need for the government to provide education (we’re all better off as a result), I’m just not sure it’s the federal government’s job.
Steph, if you really want to understand Neil and some of the people that hang around here, try reading some of his old posts, then commenting. He does an excellent job of making his case. But most of your arguments have been written about before. Many time. Many, many times. If you just want to complain, well, you won’t get a lot of sympathy here.
@Marie:
“P.S. by “everyone is NOT equal”, I meant in terms of abilities and academic talent, speed/style of learning; etc. and got side-tracked mid-thought. Obviously I was not talking about equality in terms of intrinsic value of a person. Just to clarify that.”
So what do you mean by that? Everyone doesn’t doesn’t deserve Police protection becaus eof that? Or a Fire Department (all from tax dollars) OR health care? What do you mean, please explain.
Not much I can say is printable here. Worried about socialised health care — did I just become middle-aged? Am I looking at not another fifty years, but twenty? Rationing care is inevitable, and, without the last bastion of free-market health care to fuel the technology in the world, we may see an Obama presidency as a death sentence.
Randy: look at the health outcomes for specific diseases in Britain v. the U.S.. Look how Canadians come down here when they want the best of care. Law of unintended consequences, writ large.
@Theobromophile:
No argumenet you can make about making basic health care available to all americans is about anything other than greed and selfhiness, simple as that,
Randy, yes; that particular part of my issue w/ the public schools is primarily at the elementary level. Where I am, they have also done away with tracking in middle schools, although yes, in 11th and 12th grade the AP classes still exist. Side note one that – my father, who has been a history teacher for almost 40 years and is semi-retired, graded AP exams over the summer and said he would never do it again, it was so depressing. Not only that the students’ academic/critical thinking level has plummeted, they are being taught MAJOR revisionist history (another complain of mine that I didn’t get into in my first post) and a very slanted, biased POV. One of last year’s essay questionsfor example, was designed to lead the students into all the reasons the US was wrong to get involved in Vietnam; how it was an imperialistic war motivated by greed; etc.
DJ Black Adam: I thought I already did explain. I don’t recall mentioning police protection, health care or fire departments, so I’m not really sure where those particular straw men came from. I assume you have read George Orwell’s “1984″? Now, in public education, “peer mentoring” and “group-think” are the practices of the day. Very little independent study and work goes on (at the elementary level). Contrary to the current party line, children do NOT learn best from their peers. They learn best from their teachers. (The teachers themselves are very quick to point out that this new approach doesn’t work well).
At the same time, the districts waste many thousands of taxpayer dollars re-teaching teachers (some of 20, 30, 35 years experience) how to teach. One such program currently being touted, called “Reader’s Workshop”, has increasing sight-recognition and reading speed as it’s goal, and it is geared toward kids who read well below grade level. Since it has to be incorporated in all the classrooms, (and all the teachers were required to be trained in and use it at the risk of termination), the bottom line is that third graders are considered to be excellent if they are reading above about a first grade level.
Spelling is no longer corrected, nor is punctuation. (Again, teachers are not allowed to). It’s not considered important, and (to quote the principal), “some kids would be crushed by that”. Self-esteem is more important than performance.
I stand by my comment that not all students are of equal academic abilities, and the faster learners should not be held back (ie taught below grade level) in order to keep them at the same level as the learning disabled students. Ambition should be rewarded, not discouraged.
With due respect to DJBA, be careful for what you ask for. May I ever so humbly suggest that before you advocate a position that you look at the track record of where said position has been tried. Secondly, you are misinformed that medical care is not provided for all.
There have been a litany of problems common to government-controlled medical care systems, whether in Britain, Canada or elsewhere.
None of those who wants us to move in the direction of Canada on health care ever ask the question: Why do so many Canadians come to the United States for medical treatment? Should you have a rapidly growing tumor that is easily treatable. By the time you are able to see the specialist for treatment, your prognosis could be significantly worse due to the delay in detection and treatment. Scare tactic? No. Please feel free to read the following from economist Walter Williams (23 Oct 08):
The Vancouver, British Columbia-based Fraser Institute’s annual publication, “Waiting Your Turn,” reports that Canada’s median waiting times from a patient’s referral by a general practitioner to treatment by a specialist, depending on the procedure, averages from five to 40 weeks. The wait for diagnostics, such as MRI or CT, ranges between four and 28 weeks.
According to Michael Tanner’s “The Grass Is Not Always Greener,” in Cato Institute’s Policy Analysis (March 18, 2008), the Mayo Clinic treats more than 7,000 foreign patients a year, the Cleveland Clinic 5,000, Johns Hopkins Hospital treats 6,000, and one out of three Canadian physicians send a patient to the U.S. for treatment each year. If socialized medicine is so great, why do Canadian physicians send patients to the U.S. and the Canadian government spends over $1 billion each year on health care in our country?
Britain’s socialized system is no better. Currently, 750,000 Brits are awaiting hospital admission. Britain’s National Health Services hopes to achieve an 18-week maximum wait from general practitioner to treatment, including all diagnostic tests, by the end of 2008. The delay in health care services is not only inconvenient, it’s deadly. Both in Britain and Canada, many patients with diseases that are curable at the time of diagnosis become incurable by the time of treatment or patients become too weak for the surgical procedure…..
We have health care problems in the U.S. but it’s not because ours is a free market system of health care delivery. Well over 50 percent of all health care expenditures are made by government. Where government spends, government regulates. It’s truly amazing that Americans who are dissatisfied with the current level of socialized medicine in the U.S. are asking for more of what created the problem in the first place. Anyone thinking that an American version of socialized health care will differ from that found in Canada, Britain, Sweden, France and elsewhere are whistling Dixie.
People without insurance are treated at hospitals all across America every day. Before we even consider throwing away what has worked in favor of something that has failed repeatedly in many countries, we need to stop relying on emotion and start looking at the facts.
Disclaimer: I am a physician
Best,
Joseph
joseph,
yep. very true. Atlanta has an entire Hospital for people who are low income, or have no money. Its called Grady.
They do it everyday and all the time. So what’s the big need for a “universal healthcare”.
@Neil
You and several others have latched on to this ’spread the wealth around’ concept and it has been and is being taken out of context. Most recently President-elect Obama has said he wants to return to the tax rates of the 90’s, when the budget had a surplus.
People are very angry over the fact that he wants to put a term limit on a ‘tax break’ that should have only been for a short period anyway! I’m not an economist, but I can follow logic.
McCain calls it a tax increase–is it because he forgets it was a break? He wants the permanent break and I could go for that if we were in better shape but we can’t afford it right now.
There are people in this country who have had to make a choice between rent and food, or food and gas in their car to go to work. I will concede that some of this is their own fault, but what about those in financial ruin through no fault of their own. What do you say to them?
Our new president’s plan isn’t good either, but at least he’s willing to listen, and as you have all pointed out–will change his position if he’s brought enough evidence where he needs to change it.
McCain has some very good ideas and although his social/spiritual views line up with the bulk of this country, it doesn’t line up with everyone. The self-confidence and assertiveness that made him a ‘good’ soldier’ came off as pompous and arrogance and it cost him.
The real John McCain finally appeared to the country last night, but it was to hand the race over. I cried for him, because this was the McCain I wanted to vote for, but they told him he couldn’t run a campaign on hope. It was such a lie.
Death to the GOP!
Joseph:
We have our own problems with our current system, You wrote:
“People without insurance are treated at hospitals all across America every day. Before we even consider throwing away what has worked in favor of something that has failed repeatedly in many countries, we need to stop relying on emotion and start looking at the facts.”
Nothing wriong with a little emotion, helps keeps one perspective. I respect you as a Doctor, but I am going to have to respectfuclly disagree with you on this issue. SOMETHING needs to cahnge, it is not acceptable that people go to hospitals for majority of there non-emergancy health care needs.
Our current system is as broken as any of the systems you a re pointing out, albeit for different reasons, there is a medium that needs be reached. You are presenting a false dichotomy, it is more than “THIS” or “THAT”.
Marie, regarding AP exam quality, our schools have gone to more AP classes and less “Honors” classes. As a result, kids who are in between “regular” and AP are pushed one way or the other. My son was such an example. I pushed AP to keep him out of regular classes (and out of trouble). The result, he failed the AP exam and was probably one of the ones your dad talked about. The root of the problem is that the school should have more honors classes and less AP.
Part of the problem is parents. They want schools to offer more AP, but don’t want to work for it.
As for spelling errors, after about the 1st or 2nd grade, all three of my kids had them corrected by the teachers. My wife’s special ed middle school students spelling was corrected, IF the word was appropriate for their level. In some cases, the goal was to help the kid spell his/her name. If those kids misspelled a couple words, but wrote something intelligible, it was overlooked. The goal is to teach at the level of the student, not to discourage. I know that takes a lot of work (and my wife knows it even better than I).
@Marie:
Oh, so you were talking about education, forgive me, too many anti-socialism comments going for me to keep track of who is disputing what….
DJBA:
Sigh!
Your premises were:
1. “Universal health care IS necessary”
2. “No argumenet you can make about making basic health care available to all americans is about anything other than greed and selfhiness, simple as that,”
I believe that my response countered your premises in short order. In doing so, I am not contending that there are not problems that need to be addressed. Is government mandated universal health the best available option? I think not!
I can’t but help to notice the irony of you asserting a false dichotomy, when you insist in throwing away our present system in favor Universal Health Care; Hmmmm, this or that? Furthermore, you support a system that has a far worse track record than the one we presently employ. Those citizens travelling here for medical care from countries with Universal health care must know facts that you do not know, or care to find out about!
Respectfully,
Joseph
Geez, sorry about the punctuation and grammer. Neil I desperately need a preview option before submitting!
::embarrassed::
@Joseph:
“I believe that my response countered your premises in short order. ”
Well, you believe wrong. Universial health care, by whatever menas it nees to come, if it is partially modelled on a socialist system similar to that of Canada and the UK, with elememnts of our current capitlistic (mercantalistic) system, so be it.
My point Joseph, is that is is NOT either our current BROKEN and inadequate system OR Stalin style as those of you on the right like to posit…Tovarisch…
[...] friend on his feelings from the events on last night. He has a blog going now appropriately called Worse Election Ever. I chose to bring my disagreements here as to not upset the flow of discussion there. It is from a [...]
also I disagree with the title of this too…but I didn’t want to derail your discussion…click here for my reasons
I was about to ask DJBA what Tovarisch means, but then remembered the handy Dictionary.com site. For those of you as unfamiliar with it as I was, it means comrade (used as a term of address in the Soviet Union).
Dobry den’! Tovarisch! (I have been practicing my Russian, since you all seem to believe Barack is going to have me praying 5 times a day facing Mecca to Vladimer Lenin!!) lolololol
Yeah, you’re probably right. Well, maybe not him, but the Sharia courts. Don’t believe me, look at Britain.
One fellow I’ve kinda been hoping would run is Jeff Sessions (R-AL). One of the most conservative voices in the Senate, just elected to a third-term.
View his record here.
Yeah, DJ, communism. Hope you’re still laughing a few years from now.
@Jim:
If you really think, Barack Obama, Senator from Illinois is going to take ownership or production businesses, farms, etc. for the”State” fro private corporations, I am going be laughing for years, everytime I think that there were people who believe that Barack Obama was going to bring “communism” to America…utterly inane.
Excellent post!! I too listed some of the good things that came out of the election and I’m going to do part 2 for tomorrow. I was already going to mention the marriage amendments that passed but I need to mention what you’ve brought up about the Dems not getting a 60 seat majority.
Yesterday, I posed the question “has a losing VP candidate ever come back to win the presidency?” I recall Quayle (who I regard HIGHLY) losing in 1992, then being subjected to a lot of ridcule, much like the losing VP candidate this year.
I did some research and the last losing VP to win the Presidency later was FDR. In 1902, he ran for VP and lost. Then 12 years later he won the presidency.
I only went back to 1900, so I’m not sure if this happened before that.
Now aren’t you glad you know?
Thanks, I needed some closure there!
If Sarah Palin ever becomes President I’m moving to Nova Soctia….you conservatives might want to look a little deeper…
Hmmm…A long time away, but for those who deride the public school experience, I’m going to give you a summary of a few lessons I observed today. (I am an AP)
ELA Gr 7 – Use Active reading strategies to identify key elements in the short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (Original version)
Social Studies Gr 7 Using details from the story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow explain how they reflect upon the culture commonly found in the American colonies.
Sorry I didn’t have a chance to get to a math and science room today.
Yesterday in Family Consumer Science:
What can be infered by the number of students who eat prepared food when compared to healthier choices? What impact does lifestyle have upon the choices found in a diet.
This is a normal 6 to 8 Middle School.
I am proud of the vast majority of the students who learn here and those who teach them. Try doing some grade 8 math and look at a 8th grade state exit test. Also, consider that by age 12 most students in the school where I am an administrator can converse and comprehend a full length discussion in a foreign language.
If your schools are not able to do things, consider becoming part of the PTA and/or the School Improvement Team. SITE based management gives you the RIGHT and the responsibility to do s.
Also, consider, the vast structural difference in today’s “DINK” society when compared to 20 to 30 years ago when many parents were in school. The school faces more challenges – fractured and unstable families being the most dangerous than at any time in our republic.
Parenthood is a choice and a responsibility. Don’t have children you are unwilling to parent.
Stop by at my blog if you used to enjoy it. I plan on posting again.
Sane views welcomed.
AVoiceofReason
Sorry for the typos…but I’m in a rush to another meeting.
AvoiceofReason,
I am glad that things are so wonderful (at least in your view) at your school, but let me give you some district-wide specifics and points of fact from the schools where my two older children attend (6th grade and 3rd). For the record, we are in suburban MA – not the inner city.
1.) As of this year, teachers have been told NOT to correct any spelling, grammar or punctuation errors in the children’s classwork or homework. (I go over the homework and have my son write the words he has spelled incorrectly at home). As a pp said, it used to be that the teachers corrected it – currently, they are not ALLOWED to do so.
3.) The elementary school where our kids attend is fairly new, and there were insufficient funds for textbooks. The teachers have done the best they can with photocopied handouts, and I give them credit for that. However, last year the third grades received brand-new reading anthologies. Great – except the principal has now forbidden the teachers to use them (”they don’t fit in with the Reader’s Workshop curriculum”) and when met with protests, informed the 3rd grade teachers that he would “rip it out of their hands” if he caught any teacher using the anthology in a classroom.
4.) Book reports and independent essay writing has been eliminated, as “it doesn’t fit in with the curriculum”.
5.) My 11 (almost 12) year-old-daughter was put in an “accelerated” group of 3 kids in her math class. The more challenging math they are given approximates what I was doing in 4th grade (long division, to be exact).
6.) Let’s talk about foreign langu7ages, since you brought that up. Now in 6th grade, this is the first year my daughter has had any in school (all of my children are fully bilingual, EnglishBulgarian, at home). The language class is called “World Cultures”, and they are given (ostensibly) a semester each of German and Spanish. In the two-plus months she’s been in school, the kids have learned exactly 5 phrases and to count to 20. They spent much of that time drawing pictures and making a pop-up book; not actually learning a language.
7.) As far as your hateful “Don’t have children you’re unwilling to parent” comment goes, I would like you to know that my husband and I currently spend between 16-20 hours per week JUST homeschooling them (using primarily A Beka curriculum books) because they are not receiving anything approximating an education in the public schools you are lauding. This is in addition to “real” parenting, which includes everything from spiritually nurturing them to domestic responsibilities; to attending meetings with educators to shopping for birthday presents. (I also work part-time outside the home).
Educationally, I am doing the school’s job and more. I already serve on the PTO (as they call it in our district) and have done a good bit of volunteering – part of the reason I know what’s going on inside the classroom and the changes that have been implemented over the last 5-6 years. So I’d suggest you not make insinuations you can’t back up. It does not become you either as an individual or as an academic administrator.
I homeschool, I correct spelling (or often my children correct mine!)
:lol
Marie -
My comments were not directed at you personally, but are directed in general towards those parents who do not take responsibility in raising their children – and defer it to the state.
Some of the situations in your school sound most unfortunate. It is sad that so many in education are driven by ideology and emotion rather than data. Some of the practices which you report in your district are not supported by the research literature.
The inference regarding responsibility is also data driven. The records of those students who had achieved the lowest gains and who had the worst discipline records were compared. There was a signficant and positive corrleation found in these two factors. The third factor, parental involvement was also found to be a statistically significant factor not only correlationally but was shown to have causation – or leading to the other factors.
The data showed that students who were parented by adults who did not directly engage in the educational process by
1) participate in child study team meetings, which were scheduled cooperatively between the school and the parent.
2) having their child attend school sponsored extra help sessions where transportation home was provided to the students.
3) attending parent/teacher meetings scheduled by the teachers using flexible scheduling (often after the course of the normal school day).
4) returning the phone calls of teachers, guidance counsellors and other school personnel.
These factors all were directly linked and contributed significantly to the majority of students who fared poorly in both teacher made and state mandated tests.
These factors were directly linkedand contributed signficantly to the majority of students who routinely were involved in discipline problems evidenced by a high number of teacher referrals, detentions, in school suspensions, out of school suspensions and superintendent hearings.
The data indicated that a lack of parental involvement had a larger effect size than a child participating in free/reduced lunch programs upon student achievement and discipline.
The bottom line is irresponsible parents bring about trainwreck children. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but a public entity is no replacement for firm, fair and consistent parenting skills, which involve taking more than a passing interest in a child’s education.
Obviously, in your instance this is not the case.
One more comment on Palin 12, I went off on a tangent looking for past occurences of the losing VP coming back. As I said earler, FDR lost the VP race in 1920, won the presidency in 1932.
Prior to that (and sense) NO candidate that lost the VP race came back to win the presidency.
I think Gov. Palin’s chances in 12 are pretty slim..
Voiceofreason:
Thank you for coming back and clarifying that. As far as your points go about the need for parental involvement, I couldn’t agree with you more (which is why I took offense to your original comment, thinking you were laying the blame at my feet for issues in the schools). So no; I don’t think that is harsh at all. Both of my parents were long-time public school teachers (he in high school; she in special ed/speech and language) and often expressed frustration at the scenario you describe.
However, my frustration is that while we are doing all we can, (and, to be fair, now my son’s 3rd grade teacher is trying to work with us and provide extra “under the table”), it does seem that the school system is almost handicapping them…..there seems to be a lack of general common sense. Virtually no homework anymore (we make ours up); and in both English/language arts classes (6th and 3rd grade) a large chunk of classroom time is spent with the kids simply reading their library books. They SHOULD be doing the type of literature you mentioned above; not Captain Underpants and Judy Blume (not that I mind them reading those books too; I just don’t consider them on the same par as academic reading). This practice is one we parents have complained about to the principal, and he justifies it by saying it is still beneficial for reading comprehension….kids don’t read at home nowadays…(again, supporting your point)….and so on. The buck is passed from taecher to principal to superintendant to….I forget who was next on the chain. But these “progressive changes” are handed down from above – I’ve even heard the “No Child Left Behind” Act cited.
Have you heard of/used the “Everyday Math” curriculum in your school? What’s your professional opinion of it?
Again thanks for clarifying. (Now I’ve gotten this thread so off-topic I’ll probably just come over to your blog and we can dialogue there). The more I can learn about the educational system’s “inner workings”, the better. Getting on the same team with the teachers, and the principal, is important and will ultimately help our kids.
Hey Voice – glad you’re back to blogging! Looking forward to reading your new stuff.
Well, according to DJ, my desire to be alive is “selfish.” I think we’ve pretty much just destroyed the argument for socialised medicine.
Joseph,
In the past year, I needed several ultrasounds and one MRI. When my doctor who first checked me out referred me to a specialist (at UVA), he found out that the wait was an appalling six weeks. That is a fraction of the wait in the UK, and he just sent me elsewhere.
When I needed an MRI, I had one scheduled in three days.
[...] Neil sums up my thoughts nicely: Worst. Election. Ever. [...]
i love the 2012 ticket…where do i sign up?
kw