Virginia election day is coming up fast, and the Shore’s Democrat gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam has been struggling of late to gain traction with Northern Virginia policies in most other parts of the state. Most recently, the Washington Post editorial board took him to task on the topic of education, critiquing his “astonishing” lack of answers on minimum expectations at a recent event and calling his comments “part of an unfortunate trend in Virginia to pull back from rigor in assessments and accountability.”
While Republican Ed Gillespie has laid out proposals to reinvigorate Virginia’s education system, which also seem vague, the Post focused on hammering Northam.
“We recently revisited this history with Virginia Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) during a discussion of what he would do with public education if he were elected governor next month. Mr. Northam claimed to believe in accountability but was utterly unable to explain what he means by the word. The state’s Standards of Learning (SOL), which establish minimum expectations for what students should know and be able to do, aren’t working, he said, and should be tossed out. What would replace them? Astonishingly, after almost four years as lieutenant governor and a month away from the election, Mr. Northam had no answer.
Particularly concerning was Mr. Northam’s view that because children are diverse, ‘coming from different backgrounds and different regions,’ he’s ‘not sure that it’s fair’ to give them all the same test; they shouldn’t be penalized, he said, for the environment they come from. The suggestion that some students should be required to pass one type of assessment, while others are given a different (presumably more rigorous) one, is disconcerting. There is no question that some children come to school handicapped by circumstances not experienced by their better-advantaged peers, but children do better when there are high expectations. Creating different expectations for children does them no favors; it just allows adults to escape responsibility. To borrow a phrase from the history we revisited with Mr. Northam, it is the ‘soft bigotry of low expectations.’ Once again, schools and the grown-ups who work in them will be excused and applauded as they graduate poor black students who are not prepared for work or college.
Mr. Northam’s comments are part of an unfortunate trend in Virginia to pull back from rigor in assessments and accountability. Instead of adopting the muscular requirements of Common Core and its assessments, the state has stuck with assessments seen to be among the easiest in the nation. Some critical tests, such as the fifth-grade writing SOL, were recently jettisoned. And now state education officials are in the final stages of adopting regulations that would overhaul how schools are accredited. The board would widen a loophole to allow for “locally awarded verified credits” from the local school board in lieu of exam passage. Officials argue there is the need to broaden the lens by which schools are judged. We agree that student growth and closing the achievement gap should be recognized, but the proposal tilts too far toward letting schools off the hook for their failures. The emphasis appears to be not on actually improving schools but rather on approving how they appear.
Virginia once led the nation in recognizing the need for accountability and assessments; the Standards of Learning were established before annual standardized testing became a requirement of federal education law. The next governor of the state should strive to reestablish — not repudiate — that standing.”
Larry says
Not having answers, shows the shallowness of the qualifications of anyone running for public office.
andy zahn says
Accountability indeed. In my 8th grade math class a million variables. Home life. Diet. Bed rest; a good nght’s sleep. Habits; drug use? Motivativation. After 7 years of math & science h0w much or little does he/she know?
I am not making this up but some 14 year olds do not know a triangle has 3 sides & some need to tap teir pencil or count fingers to add 3 & 5. Give me a break! Am I supposed to cram these sleeping minds with 8 years of math ability in 180 fifty minute sessions if they are present & with 33 other kids needing attention.
Here’s a novel idea from the past. Let’s put the onus where it belongs. Right square on Johnie’s shoulders. All through our society we are blaming someone or something else for poor & even criminall conduct. Felons & drunk drivers are really victims & we must cater to them. Surely, THEY are not accountable.
Joseph Corcoran says
My grandchildren in Virginia in the sixth grade are doing high school math .
The teachers are there for those who want to learn .
Northam is our best choice . Gillespie is like trump . An empty suit .
Gloria Butler says
No that was a diatribe by Jack Wheeler in 2008 called Empty Suit…it was, at that moment in his-story the best description of barry available.
‘The O-man, Barack Hussein Obama, is an eloquently tailored empty suit. No resume, no accomplishments, no experience, no original ideas, no understanding of how the economy works, no understanding of how the world works, no balls, nothing but abstract, empty rhetoric devoid of real substance.
He has no real identity. He is half-white, which he rejects. The rest of him is mostly Arab, which he hides but is disclosed by his non-African Arabic surname and his Arabic first and middle names as a way to triply proclaim his Arabic parentage to people in Kenya . Only a small part of him is African Black from his Luo grandmother, which he pretends he is exclusively.
What he isn’t, not a genetic drop of, is ‘African-American,’ the descendant of enslaved Africans brought to America chained in slave ships. He hasn’t a single ancestor who was a slave. Instead, his Arab ancestors were slave owners. Slave-trading was the main Arab business in East Africa for centuries until the British ended it.
Let that sink in: Obama is not the descendant of slaves, he is the descendant of slave owners. Thus he makes the perfect Liberal Messiah.
It’s something Hillary doesn’t understand – how some complete neophyte came out of the blue and stole the Dem nomination from her. Obamamania is beyond politics and reason. It is a true religious cult, whose adherents reject Christianity yet still believe in Original Sin, transferring it from the evil of being human to the evil of being white.
Thus Obama has become the white liberals’ Christ, offering absolution from the Sin of Being White. There is no reason or logic behind it, no faults or flaws of his can diminish it, no arguments Hillary could make of any kind can be effective against it. The absurdity of Hypocrisy Clothed In Human Flesh being their Savior is all the more cause for liberals to worship him: Credo quia absurdum, I believe it because it is absurd.
Thank heavens that the voting majority of Americans remain Christian and are in no desperate need of a phony savior.
He is ridiculous and should not be taken seriously by any thinking American.’
And yet he got elected, not once but twice. Thanks to those that did not think it was important to vote for freedom and those that were willing to give up their freedoms for entitlements.
Remember you don’t have to be on a southern plantation to be a slave, if you are dependent on government entitlements you just have a different slave owner.
Holly Harris says
JUST A FEW GOOD QUESTIONS
1- Since only 8 million people have Obama-Care, how will 24 million people die if it is repealed? Will 16 million people be randomly shot?
2- If Donald Trump deleted all of his emails, wiped his server with Bleachbit and destroyed all of his phones with a hammer, would the Mainstream Media suddenly lose all interest in the story and declare him innocent?
3- If women do the same job for less money, why do companies hire men to do the same job for more money?
.
4- If you rob a bank in a Sanctuary City, is it illegal or is it just an Undocumented Withdrawl?
5- Each ISIS attack now is a reaction to Trump policies, but all ISIS attacks during Obama’s term were due to Climate Change and a plea for jobs
6- After the London ‘Lone Wolf’ terrorist attack government officials have arrested at least eight other ‘Lone Wolves’ who had conspired with the original ‘Lone Wolf’ in planning the ‘Lone Wolf’ attack. Even though all involved are Muslims, you can be assured, the ‘Lone Wolf; attack has nothing at all to do with Islam, just like the other 1000 plus ‘Lone Wolf’ attacks by Muslims, are completely unassociated with Islam.
7- We should stop calling them all ‘Entitlements’.
Welfare, Food Stamps, WIC, are not entitlements. They are taxpayer-funded handouts, and shouldn’t be called entitlements at all
Social Security and Veterans Benefits are Entitlements because the people receiving them are entitled to them. They were earned and paid for by the recipients.
8- If Muslims want to run away from a Muslim country, does that mean they’re Islamophobic
9- If Liberals don’t believe in biological gender then why did they march for women’s rights?
10- How did the Russians get Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the DNC to steal the Primary from Bernie Sanders? How did Russia get Donna Brazile to leak debate questions to Hillary Clinton in advance of the debates?
11- Why is it that Democrats think Superdelegates are fine, but they have a problem with the Electoral College?
12- If you don’t want the FBI involved in elections, don’t nominate someone who’s being investigated by the FBI.
13- If Hillary’s speeches cost $250,000 an hour, how come no one shows up to her free ones?
14- The DNC is mad at Russia because they ‘think’ they are trying to manipulate our election by exposing that the DNC is manipulating our election?
15- Why is it that Liberals and the Media are upset about the words Trump used 11 years ago but they are alright with Adult men using the Ladies Room with your Wives and Daughters?
Mike Kuzma, Jr. says
Prior to 1965, we taught ‘reading, writing and ‘rithamtic….and were the envy of the world and put men on the moon.
Since 1965, the education complex has bought into every crackpot liberal edu-theory that comes down the pike and we are being beaten by 3rd world nations in math and science.
Yes, Johnny is culpable, but the vast portion of the blame falls on educrats and liberals.
Chas Cornweller says
Accountability as explained by Mr. Northam. “ Mr. Northam claimed to believe in accountability but was utterly unable to explain what he means by the word. The state’s Standards of Learning (SOL), which establish minimum expectations for what students should know and be able to do, aren’t working, he said, and ‘should be tossed out’. What would replace them? Astonishingly, after almost four years as lieutenant governor and a month away from the election, Mr. Northam had no answer.”
And therein lies the problem. We have think tanks with strategists that think up any scenario on War. We have think tanks that enumerate the tiniest minutia over numbers in the Economy. We have think tanks that tell families which moral compass we should follow. But we have no think tanks for the education of our children. And if we do…then they must work for the think tanks on the strategy on War. Because all our school today are doing are pumping out good little soldiers. Little real world usable education and generations of followers and sycophants. Good little soldiers. For the next crisis created a half world away.
Why is that? Where is the money it would take to educate our children properly? How can we justify a new aircraft carrier at a trillion dollars, but cannot get financing to repair the leaking roof at the local elementary school? Think about it. Truthfully. Accountability falls squarely on the shoulders of the parents. But the problem is, the parents are probably the product of this failing education system as well. SOL’s? Thank no child left behind. No child left behind?
Thank the system for regulating testing standards to enable the lowest to the highest to meet somewhere in the middle. Money is being thrown at the wrong things. Education today is very complicated and very expensive. The system we have today is not working. But, the public hasn’t put forth the effort to fix the system. Why? Because most do not understand the problem, much less have a solution. Meanwhile, hundreds of billions are spent building a standing army to police our investments around the world. Remember the old axiom “It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber?” Yeah, well, someday…little Johnny will be too stupid to fly that bomber, much less be able to design the thing. But, I guess by then, we’ll all be speaking Chinese.
Paul Plante says
According to its own website, Chas Cornweller, the U.S. Department of Education says it fosters educational excellence, which today seems to translate to making little Johnny too stupid to fly a bomber, much less be able to design the thing. and to ensures equal access to educational opportunity for all.
In its Overview and Mission Statement, it states:
ED’s mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.
ED was created in 1980 by combining offices from several federal agencies.
ED’s 4,400 employees and $68 billion budget are dedicated to:
•Establishing policies on federal financial aid for education, and distributing as well as monitoring those funds.
•Collecting data on America’s schools and disseminating research.
•Focusing national attention on key educational issues.
•Prohibiting discrimination and ensuring equal access to education.
end quotes
As to “The Federal Role in Education,” its website states as follows:
Overview
Education is primarily a State and local responsibility in the United States.
It is States and communities, as well as public and private organizations of all kinds, that establish schools and colleges, develop curricula, and determine requirements for enrollment and graduation.
end quote
If Johnny is getting out of school as a dunce or a moron, the U.S. Dept. of Education says look to home, Mr. Northam, although he is just a hack politician, so what would he know about education?
The U.S. Dept. of Education then continues as follows:
The structure of education finance in America reflects this predominant State and local role.
Of an estimated $1.15 trillion being spent nationwide on education at all levels for school year 2012-2013, a substantial majority will come from State, local, and private sources.
This is especially true at the elementary and secondary level, where about 92 percent of the funds will come from non-Federal sources.
That means the Federal contribution to elementary and secondary education is about 8 percent, which includes funds not only from the Department of Education (ED) but also from other Federal agencies, such as the Department of Health and Human Services’ Head Start program and the Department of Agriculture’s School Lunch program.
Although ED’s share of total education funding in the U.S. is relatively small, ED works hard to get a big bang for its taxpayer-provided bucks by targeting its funds where they can do the most good.
This targeting reflects the historical development of the Federal role in education as a kind of “emergency response system,” a means of filling gaps in State and local support for education when critical national needs arise.
end quotes
Now, with respect to Johnny being too dumb to even know what a bomber is, thinking it a basketball player who always charges the basket, or an anarchist in Antifa, the paramilitary wing of the Democrat party in America, that is a pregnant statement, that the historical development of the Federal role in education is as a kind of “emergency response system,” a means of filling gaps in State and local support for education when critical national needs arise.
Schools turning out students who can’t read or write would seem to be a critical national need to a sane and rational person, wouldn’t it?
As to the history of the U.S. Dept. of Education, its website educates us as follows:
The original Department of Education was created in 1867 to collect information on schools and teaching that would help the States establish effective school systems.
While the agency’s name and location within the Executive Branch have changed over the past 130 years, this early emphasis on getting information on what works in education to teachers and education policymakers continues down to the present day.
The passage of the Second Morrill Act in 1890 gave the then-named Office of Education responsibility for administering support for the original system of land-grant colleges and universities.
Vocational education became the next major area of Federal aid to schools, with the 1917 Smith-Hughes Act and the 1946 George-Barden Act focusing on agricultural, industrial, and home economics training for high school students.
World War II led to a significant expansion of Federal support for education.
The Lanham Act in 1941 and the Impact Aid laws of 1950 eased the burden on communities affected by the presence of military and other Federal installations by making payments to school districts.
And in 1944, the “GI Bill” authorized postsecondary education assistance that would ultimately send nearly 8 million World War II veterans to college.
The Cold War stimulated the first example of comprehensive Federal education legislation, when in 1958 Congress passed the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) in response to the Soviet launch of Sputnik.
To help ensure that highly trained individuals would be available to help America compete with the Soviet Union in scientific and technical fields, the NDEA included support for loans to college students, the improvement of science, mathematics, and foreign language instruction in elementary and secondary schools, graduate fellowships, foreign language and area studies, and vocational-technical training.
end quotes
Focus on that statement, Chas Cornweller – to help ensure that highly trained individuals would be available to help America compete with the Soviet Union in scientific and technical fields, the NDEA included support for the improvement of science, mathematics, and foreign language instruction in elementary and secondary schools.
So why today is it that high school students can’t do math, or speak English, let alone a foreign language, outside of the modern gibberish known as TWEETER-ESE that Donald Trump communicates in?
The U.S. Dept. of Education continues as follows:
The anti-poverty and civil rights laws of the 1960s and 1970s brought about a dramatic emergence of the Department’s equal access mission.
The passage of laws such as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which prohibited discrimination based on race, sex, and disability, respectively made civil rights enforcement a fundamental and long-lasting focus of the Department of Education.
In 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act launched a comprehensive set of programs, including the Title I program of Federal aid to disadvantaged children to address the problems of poor urban and rural areas.
And in that same year, the Higher Education Act authorized assistance for postsecondary education, including financial aid programs for needy college students.
In 1980, Congress established the Department of Education as a Cabinet level agency.
Today, ED operates programs that touch on every area and level of education.
The Department’s elementary and secondary programs annually serve nearly 18,200 school districts and over 50 million students attending roughly 98,000 public schools and 32,000 private schools.
Department programs also provide grant, loan, and work-study assistance to more than 12 million postsecondary students.
Mission
Despite the growth of the Federal role in education, the Department never strayed far from what would become its official mission: to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.
The Department carries out its mission in two major ways.
First, the Secretary and the Department play a leadership role in the ongoing national dialogue over how to improve the results of our education system for all students.
This involves such activities as raising national and community awareness of the education challenges confronting the Nation, disseminating the latest discoveries on what works in teaching and learning, and helping communities work out solutions to difficult educational issues.
Second, the Department pursues its twin goals of access and excellence through the administration of programs that cover every area of education and range from preschool education through postdoctoral research.
end quotes
So clearly, the federal government owns some of the blame for why it is high school students and college students can’t read or do math, or even know the governmental structure of the nation they supposedly have been trained to be productive citizens of.
Paul Plante says
With respect to your statement, Chas Cornweller, that “Truthfully, accountability falls squarely on the shoulders of the parents but the problem is, the parents are probably the product of this failing education system as well,” while that may well be true today, and I don’t dispute that in any way, it was not always that way.
When I was young, both in my small community, and especially in my home, ignorance was not an acceptable state of being, and only recently I addressed this following to my graduating class of 1964 on what, our education actually taught us with respect to being “productive” citizens in the corrupt and degraded America that exists today:
As I started to say, a recent conversation at our fall luncheon get-together up here with Amy Barber brought back memories of a Troy Record editorial from 4 April 1989 entitled “Give Paul Plante a break” that well could have been titled “His education made him too honest to work for government in New York state and Rensselaer County,” or “A question of values.”
The education I talk about there is not the education I got at Averill Park High School, nor are the values from Averill Park High School.
The education of which I speak I got on the first day of kindergarten from the woman teacher, who as I recall it, told us in no uncertain terms that we were not there to fool around, that we were not at home now, that we were in her classroom, and in there she was the boss.
That is what I remember, anyway.
And then she proceeded to tell us, or me, that the reason we were there in her classroom was so that we would learn how to be productive members of our community, which meant that we were there to learn exactly what a community was, and how it functioned, so that we could be prepared to take ur place in it, to the highest and best capacity that we were able.
And she told us, as I recall it, back then with WWII only recently concluded, that we should all be thankful that we had been born in the United States of America, which was relatively untouched by the war in physical terms as was Europe, as opposed to Europe where we might have found ourselves orphans in a Displaced Person camp behind barbed wire, like that little boy with the big eyes with a tear in them was in a poster we had in Poestenkill Elementary School.
So, those are the values I talk about, as simple as they are, be all you can be and do good works, and don’t do unto others that what you would not have done to yourself.
And it is those values from kindergarten in Poestenkill Elemetary School which led in an unbroken line to the Troy Record editorial I mention above, which states as follows:
“Give Paul Plante a break”
Trying to form an opinion on the entire Paul Plante episode is an exercise in frustration.
Some of those who were his sharpest critics back when he was giving developers a hard time are now trying to delude the public into thinking they are his staunchest defenders.
Some county officials who appeared to be among his defenders initially now sound as though they would just as soon be rid of him.
This much is pretty clear: He is headstrong, possesses a pretty good temper and is honest to a fault.
The latter has not been challenged even by his attackers.
As a matter of fact, that appears to be the bone they have to pick with him – that he is too honest and is unyielding in his honesty.
end quotes
Too honest, in fact, for government service in New York state and Rensselaer County, because I would not take bribes, would not honor bribes taken by others who thought they had authority over me, nor would I falsify data or conduct cover-ups as I was being ordered to do by Rensselaer County Public Health Director Kenneth Van Praag and Rensselaer County Executive John L. Buono and Rensselaer County Attorney Robert Smith, so I was fired, stripped of my pension and blacklisted so I could never work in the area as an engineer again.
Not only that, my status as a decorated Viet Nam veteran with a Silver Star and two Purple Hearts and my professional reputation as an engineer were slandered by Rensselaer County as is told in the Troy RECORD, for Wednesday, February 22, 1989, in the story entitled “Court delays Paul Plante’s disciplinary hearing”, which stated in relevant part as follows:
“Environmental Health Director Paul Plante’s disciplinary hearing has been delayed until the legal issue of opening the proceedings to the public is resolved.”
“State Supreme Court Justice Edward S. Conway signed a Show Cause Order Tuesday filed by attorney Barbara G. Billet, a media attorney with the Albany law firm of O’Connell and Aronowitz of Albany, representing THE RECORD newspapers and Capital Newspapers.”
“Both newspapers are fighting Rensselaer County’s move to close the hearing.”
“Arguments for and against the proposed closing are scheduled to be presented to State Supreme Court Justice Lawrence Kahn Friday!”
“Plante has filed a formal waiver of his right to a closed hearing.”
“He has repeatedly said he wants the public to know why he took the actions he did.”
“We believe there is just cause for closure,” Rensselaer County Deputy Attorney Gordon Mayo told Judge Conway Tuesday.
“Not only could Paul Plante say things during the hearing that could affect pending litigation, but Paul Plante’s behavior is questionable.”
“Mayo said Plante suffers from a post-combat stress condition that could result in irrational behavior.”
“Plante is a Vietnam veteran.”
end quote
Plante is a Viet Nam veteran.
Viet Nam veterans suffer from a post-combat stress condition that could result in irrational behavior.
Therefore, Plante is irrational.
See how easy a person’s professional reputation can be destroyed by lies?
The job I held was defined as follows:
RENSSELAER COUNTY ASSOCIATE PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEER
This is a professional position involving responsibility for the planning, direction and supervision of the environmental health program of the Rensselaer County Department of Health.
The work involves providing advice and guidance to local officials and the general public in regard to environmental health problems and the measures necessary for improvements and compliance with legal requirements.
An incumbent provides leadership in the promotion of public health through application of environmental practices.
In addition, an employee is responsible for the enforcement of the provisions of the Public Health Law and local and State Sanitary Codes in relation to environmental matters.
end quotes
It is, of course, that job description, especially that last sentence about “responsible for the enforcement of the provisions of the Public Health Law and local and State Sanitary Codes in relation to environmental matters,” which led to my downfall.
As to the Rensselaer County Department of Health itself, we have this from a March 27, 1989 Report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) concerning federal Hobbs Act investigation of corruption in the Rensselaer County (State of New York) Department of Health based on my testimony, which made me a marked man in Rensselaer County, and led to a vehicular assault on myself on 29 December 1989:
“According to (name deleted), the results of the State’s investigation were that New York State laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, Rensselaer County laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, and there was very little ‘enforcement activity’ even in the face of illegal sales.”
“(Name deleted) advised that the Rensselaer County Health Department’s oversight of realty subdivisions in that county is ‘unsatisfactory’!”
“(Name deleted) also faulted the State of New York Health Department for not auditing Rensselaer County’s program.”
“(Name deleted) advised that he would not expect to find a worse county in the region (the Capital District region which comprises 17 counties)!”
“According to (name deleted), the object of any county health department is to protect the public and not to facilitate development.”
“In the case of Rensselaer County, it appears that the Rensselaer County Health Department was in business to facilitate developers and development rather than to protect the public.”
end quote
That is what got me into all that trouble, my refusal to lie to and scam and defraud the people of Rensselaer County who happened to be my neighbors.
Because of my Poestenkill Elementary School education and the values I got there from principle Belva Kinball, my kindergarten teacher, and Florence Hill, the fifth grade teacher who was also town historian, I refused to turn my back on the public to facilitate developers and development in Rensselaer County, with the result that I never worked as an engineer again.
Such it is with values.
What has me curious, since the kindergarten class in Poestenkill Elementary was tiny, and many of those people for one reason or another moved away before we got to high school, is did anyone else get that same message on the first day of kindergarten?
So, why did I go through that?
Why didn’t I just take the easy road and do as I was told and tell the lies and commit the fraud and take the bribes?
Simple, because of those women who were my first teachers.
Why would I want to dishonor their teaching and the values they instilled in me, starting with honesty?
So, Amy, thanks for getting this ball rolling, and giving me this chance to reach back in time to once again thank my early teachers for making me into who I am today, which is someone not afraid to look at himself in the mirror, nor afraid to look his neighbors in the eye, which to me, as trite and cornpone as it may sound, is what it is really all about.
Paul Plante, NYSPE
end quotes
So where does accountability really lie, Chas Cornweller?
The candid world would like to know.
Mike Kuzma, Jr. says
The old axiom “It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber?” merely shows how little some people understand the Constitution………..defending the borders and Country?= Federal Government.
Paying for public schools? State and Local government.
Joseph Corcoran says
And where does the money for the bombers come from , Mike ?
Mike Kuzma, Jr. says
Taxpayers pick up both, Joe. BUT only one is the responsibility of the Federal Government.
andy zahn says
I began in a new 7 to 12 regional school in 1958 & taught 7th grade math & science, the following year teaching 8th grade math & science to the same 150 students. The 7th & 8th grade math texts were written by 3 outstanding authors; the 8th grade book taking up where the other left off.
At the end of 8th grade the students had practiced all the basic skills & had been exposed to thousands of practical word problems learning a great deal about money & the business world.
The teachers had a meeting & we made the decision as to the ones who failed. Place in 9th grade, retain or requir they attend & pass one or two courses in summer school. I recommended algebra or general math for 9th grade.
Everyone was happy. It was good useful math & it would serve well for the kid’s lifetime.
Then came Sputnik! Russia beat us so our math & science had to be replaced with horrible “Modern Math”. Out went money, interest rates & all useful math.
But wait. Russia being first was a fraud. Dr VonBraun had the rocket ready for launch at Redstone Arsenal long ahead of Sputnik but was not allowed to try until after the Air Force had several failures,
Yes. In my day. Readin’, writing & ‘rithmatic ALL TO THE TUNE OF THE HICKORY STICK & no social engineering.
Parents were vital especially in early years with flash cards & over & over until you knew the addition tables & then the times table. Cards were pulled out when visiting aunts & uncles & we also mastered subtraction & division.
As you went to higher grades the made sure you were working & learning, passing & at some point your algebra, geometry & trig were beyond them but in English & history they were always far ahead.
A lot of this family involvment no longer exists & most kids need a push.
Todd Holden says
College graduates could not pass their exams 90 days after they took them without studying again. What did they really learn?
Paul Plante says
According to the news this morning, Mr. Northam is now being called a “gutless racist,” in addition to any other political problems he might be having.
According to THE HILL article “Progressive group ends ‘direct aid’ to Northam” by Josh Delk on 11/02/17, a progressive grassroots group announced Thursday that it will no longer “directly aid” Virginia’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam, citing his comments on immigration.
According to the article, Democracy for America (DFA) announced in a statement that it would no longer mobilize voters in Virginia to vote for Northam, and instead would focus on down-ballot races.
The group pointed to Northam’s comments saying he would oppose sanctuary cities in the state of Virginia as one reason for pulling “direct aid” from his campaign.
“Ralph Northam’s gutless, politically senseless, and morally debased decision yesterday to openly backtrack on his commitment to standing up for immigrant families is a picture-perfect example of why Democracy for America never endorsed him in the primary and focused the entirety of our efforts in Virginia on down-ticket races, like Justin Fairfax’s campaign for Lieutenant Governor.”
” It’s also why, today, we’re announcing that we will no longer do any work to directly aid Northam’s gubernatorial efforts,” DFA Executive Director Charles Chamberlain said in a statement.
According to THE HILL, Northam said Wednesday that he would sign a bill banning sanctuary cities in the state if ever one of Virginia’s cities tries to become one, to harbor illegal immigrants from federal immigration authorities.
The issue remains a major issue for Democrats, who are pushing back against the administration’s moves to deport record numbers of law-abiding illegal immigrants.
They also criticized the decision by the Virginia Democratic Coordinated campaign to leave Justin Fairfax, a candidate for Lt. Governor, off of literature given to canvassers.
“Following that racist action, we decided to remove Northam’s name from the tens of thousands of volunteer Get-Out-the-Vote calls our members are making in Virginia, but, for the sake of Democratic comity, we refrained from publicly discussing that decision,” the statement continued referencing the lack of Fairfax’s name on literature.
While Fairfax has called the incident an “accident,” it has caused discontent within the party and among African American voters just weeks away from the tightening race against Republican opponent Ed Gillespie.
So it sounds like quite a show in the Old Dominion as we head into election day, and as a footnote, it is interesting how many bases that pejorative term “racist” now covers.
If you are for enforcement of the laws as written, today, that makes you a “racist,” as this Northam dude has just learned, to what may be his detriment.
He should have learned from Obama that as a Democrat, you campaign for office by pledging to ignore the law if you feel like it, as opposed to enforcing it.
So will his faux pas keep Northam out of office?
Stay tuned, for election day is right around.
Holly Harris says
The media’s response next Wednesday morning after a Gillespie win:
CNN: People in Virginia who voted for the Republican candidate that everyone knows is a racist are obviously racist, it’s sad that nothing has change in hundreds of years.
NBC: This is a major blow to President Trump because Gillespie should have won by a much bigger margin, meaning Trump’s agenda is not supported by most people.
ABC: The weather report for Eastern Oregon shows there will be snow today.
CBS: Trump loses another election because Ed Gillespie obviously hates him.
NPR: It is a dark day in Virginia where homophobia won, sexism won, racism won, Islamophobia won, xenophobia won, and the politics of personal destruction won.
MSNBC: With Russia’s help, American democracy is now dead, the election of Gillespie in Virginia last night was the final nail in the coffin.
Paul Plante says
Holly, what an interesting scenario you present us with, but tell us this, how would CNN know that people in Virginia who voted for the Republican candidate that everyone knows is a racist are obviously racist?
What factual basis would there be for CNN to make any kind of claim like that?
How would CNN know that everyone knows that the Republican candidate for governor in Virginia is a racist?
Who is everyone, exactly?
Would that be all 8.412 million citizens of Virginia as of 2016, or the 5,489,530 registered voters as of 10/31/17, or would it be the 1,981,473 souls who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016?
How would CNN determine the Republican is a racist, which is a person who shows or feels discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or who believes that a particular race is superior to another?
What objective standards would they use, do you think, to determine the Republican gubernatorial candidate is a person who shows or feels discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or who believes that a particular race is superior to another, given that all human beings, regardless of skin color, are one race, which is the human race?
Does CNN have proof that the Republican gubernatorial candidate a person has actually shown or felt discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or that he believes that a particular race is superior to another?
And if so, shouldn’t CNN have had a duty to the people of Virginia before the election to make that evidence public?
Has CNN does so?
If not, why not?
So if CNN made those claims, which to me sound contrived, as I do not believe for a minute that CNN knows what anyone in Virginia is thinking, about anything, let alone “everyone,” would that be considered fake news, or falsified news, or contrived news, or just bogus news?
As to American democracy being dead, Holly, let me assure you that it did not need any help from Russia whatsoever to bring that result about, because as Virginia’s own James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution” told us in Federalist No. 10 back when, “Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”
That is why we were supposed to have a Republic, but for a Republic to stand, which ours didn’t, you need intelligent, educated, personally responsible citizens, which we do not have, and you can’t have warring factions, which we do have, and which are both a symptom and cause of democracies ever being spectacles of turbulence and contention which are incompatible with personal security or the rights of property, as well as the cause of democracies being as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.
I know it gives some people in this country comfort to blame the decline of democracy on the Russians, but really that is giving the Russians false credit for something they would never have been able to do but for the American people themselves, who do deserve all the credit for the death of democracy in this country.
Holly Harris says
The sheep, I mean citizens, allow their handlers, I mean the government, to change their clocks twice a year. They do not wish to be in control of their lives or destiny.