It’s 10:53 and I am still in bed. Cal made me coffee, Owen delivered me the Sunday Times. I will be preparing a Sunday Brunch for everyone then I back off the clock for the rest of the day. I think I will plant my herb garden and read. It’s a beautiful day.
Posted in Uncategorized
This is an update that relates to the post Not Enough Learning.
I dont know if I should feel pride or feel shame. Is it Pride that my son is a satirist in the making or am I ashamed that I have exposed my kids to my distain for the school’s singular focus on tests? Have I poisioned my kids and undermined the schools administrators?
We are in the middle of testing lock down. All the kids are taking Connecticut’s Mastery tests this and next week. The testing schedule has totally wreaked havoc with my mornings. I am up at 6:15 to get Georgie out of bed and Cal doesnt leave the house until 9:30. Thats 3 hours and 15 minutes to get the kids off to school, a task that normally takes an hour and a half…Makes for a long morning.
Well the above is neither here or there, back to my child’s creative writing. Earlier this week I asked Owen after school how the testing had going. He had had a prompted writing test. He was laughing to himself as he told me the prompt was something to this paraphrased effect: “Write a letter to your principal and tell her who (fictional or real-life.)should be invited to your school to make it even a better school”. So my son creates a character named Lucas Cantakeatest. Lucas has superhuman powers when it comes to influencing average test scores and he can singlehandedly improve a school’s ranking to the point of guaranteeing the continued status of ”American’s Blue Ribbon School”. Good one O.
Ashamed but laughing.
lifted from Barkersandrubes.wordpress.com
Not sure where to start on this one. I think as I eluded to in the fall with some HIGHlarious videos (here and here) of Republicans saying stupid shit, I was amused by how the GOP’s primaries were shaping up. I am still amused and not at all disappointed. Although I have to say some of what is said by these dopes about social issues like birth control makes me uncomfortable. I would expect some radical pro-life rhetoric but the fact that they are talking about simple access to contraception is frightening.
Not sure who I am rooting for. My guess Santorum would be the best case scenario opponent. Most radical, least fundraising potential and will look the least impressive against Obama in a debate (Mittens is close second and Gringrich isn’t far behind cause he can sound insane although he can think and talk at the same time.)
Mittens is a lightweight. He cant talk off the cuff. And while that doesn’t mean he is a dope or cant run a business, its sumpin to look for in a president. There is nothing to indicate from anything I have heard him say that indicates any meaningful understanding of the world or interest in it (sounds like W to me and we know how that ended). If the slow slog sideways trajectory of his campaign is any indication he has not surrounded himself with the brightest or most capable people. Smart people can mitigate a less than engaged candidate but it cant save a seriously lacking one. He and his people seem weak. Not impressed at all.
Rick Santorum has the most compelling personal story but totally underwhelms on the professional side. He was not an effective politician. He rode in to the Senate in 1995 and then proceeded to piss everyone off by being partisan, a bully, mean spirited and an over all jerk. He lost/was thrown out by a 18% margin in 2006. Then he started his thinly veiled presidential campaign as a FOX News correspondent. While he appears to be the most principled of the bunch and who’s family’s experience makes an compelling pro-life argument he is a hypocrite. He was for both of the 911 wars and is pro-death penalty. The road he has gone down on birth control in general has been unsettling. Why is this even up for debate? Good news, he will never be elected. Woman would vote in droves to make sure of that.
Newt. He is entertaining but is mean and preys on people’s fears. I suppose I will give him intelligence. I wish he could use it differently. He is sharp and can think on his feet and when on the defense can be effective in a debate, I guess. I only hear condescending smug, other people hear a feisty bulldog. I think he is soulless as a politician. What he has been Catholic for like a week and he becomes the Catholic church’s biggest defender: “our countries biggest threat is the Obama Administration’s war against the Catholic Church and religion”. You would think it has to make him cringe to say these things out loud. But I highly doubt it. Newt scares me on foreign policy. I don’t think he understands diplomacy. The fact that to date he is the pocket of a man who demands Israel expand the settlements and move the capital to Jerusalem should concern all Americans. Seems insane for a rich casino owner in America to have all the cookies in the tenuous balance that has been negotiated for the last 40 years.
SO that’s why I am not voting for any of them. You don’t have to even look at their individual stands on policy, or begin the defense Obama’s record at the helm. They are just a bunch of losers.
Posted in absurdity, Political, political hopes and desires
Tagged 2012 Gop primaries
I loathe the fact that our public school system puts so much emphasis on the standardized test. I realize that almost every state mandates a series of achievement test administered periodically in a student’s primary and secondary academic career. State and local school systems can glean all sorts of information from them. I understand there is value in them. I think its fine for kids to take them.
I don’t however think that the schools should teach to the test or that there be rigorous preparation for the test. In most private schools, such as the one my kids went to in Argentina, there is annual standardized testing in 3-9 grades. It happens once a year and perhaps an hour or two is spent familiarizing the kids with how questions might be presented to them along with some handy dandy tips on how to manage their time. As a parent you receive notice saying these are the days the test will be administered, try to have your kid well rested and fortified with a good breakfast. I never heard anything more about it until I received my child’s test scores in a report card.
The results are pretty self-explanatory, but if you have any questions you schedule a conference with the school counselor. I am mildly interested in my kid’s results. The tests are consistant in telling me one of my kids is horrible at taking standardized tests, one is pretty talented at the test taking, I only wish it translated into good grades, one is a hard working test taker who excels and one is clearly confounded by maths. Nothing I could not have told you before. So I will assume that there was some value in it for the school.
Forward to my new school district. Apparently one of the best, if not the best in the state I hear, them say. One of the best according to a glossy local magazine that annually puts out a ranking of the state’s towns and schools. To be the best at something you have to show an extraordinary result. So this “best” is basically a function of quantifiable criteria. While teacher student ratios and college graduation rates play a part of the equation its the numerous standardized tests that weigh the heaviest.
Why are these scores so important? Teachers, administrators and parents all talk about these tests. A LOT. I get the teachers and administrator part. This is feedback on how they are doing their jobs. What they do with the information is another story. Are they incented by these scores? I have been told the higher the scores the more federal or state money they get. Sorry, seems counter intuitive to me. Shouldn’t the money go where the need is? Our high school’s astro-turfed football field/stadium has an entrance gate that looks like the train depot at Disney’s Main Street USA. I would argue we don’t need the money, especially to pay for salaries for more high level administrators of these tests.
The part that pisses me off is that parents buy in to the importance of these tests. In my community they have seemed to drunk the Kool-aid. Why else would everyone so passively let the academic curriculum be high-jacked by these tests. I was at my 4th grader’s Open House in September when twice in a 30 minute presentation we discussed these March mastery tests. First, it was gleefully announced that they had found a extra hour in their weekly schedule to focus on some of the material and methodology of these tests . We were also suppose to share the teacher’s enthusiasm for the fact a 5th grade teacher would beginning to work on some science curriculum with them this year so that they would be prepared for the science portion of the testing they would be taking NEXT year. Most parents just shrug when I ask if they think this is a little bit insane. In the minority of taking issue with it, one girlfriend said this was one of a few reasons they move their kids into private school for middle school and beyond.
Approximately a week later the frantic obsessive test taking reared its ugly head for a second time when my 6th grader came home with an untouched lunchbox. When asked why he had not eaten it, he told me that because he was new to the school they wanted him to practice taking a test (ERB,something that’s isn’t mandated by the state but our school district swears by it). These kids have been taking this test since first or second grade. This practice session was being administered during his micro moment for lunch (20 minutes). My sixth grader was new to school and is a good kid and did what the teacher asked, despite the fact that this is when he did what little socializing he could and he is a type one diabetic and needs to EAT! I was livid. It only emphasized to me how out of control their focus was. Test results were paramount to a happy and healthy kid. I gave myself several days to simmer down and they wrote a very pointed email to the dean of my childs section.
…I am writing on behalf of my husband and myself. Recently an episode at school upset me so much that it took me a while to calm down enough to write thoughtfully to you. On Tuesday September 20, ____ was instructed by his English teacher (I think she is a substitute) to ” at lunch break come to my classroom to practice for a test which will be taken tomorrow”. I only discovered this because when he came home that day his lunch was untouched. I asked him about it, and he gave me the details. This was disturbing on several levels. One, ____is a diabetic and is administered insulin through a pump that is programed using assumptions that he is going to eat a certain amount of food at a certain time. He should not miss a meal. Second, lunch and any free time are key components of his transition from a small international school to _________. And thirdly, as parents, we don’t care how ____ does on standardized tests as long as he is learning and advancing intellectually and emotionally. We understand that the _____ school system puts a huge emphasis on these tests for reasons that have yet to be articulated clearly or justifiably to us. We certainly do not accept that practice testing for tests whose value is completely unclear should interfere with our son’s health and social well-being. In a nutshell, my son’s health and social well-being are paramount to any importance the school district has put on the results of these tests. I have explained to ___ the importance of him having a normal lunch break and I hope you understand our priorities….
A few days later she got me on the phone and wanted to “clarify” a few things to me. First thing she did was to punt my kid under the bus, stating he needed to be a better advocate for himself (he’s eleven, and isn’t that your job) and should have told the teacher he needed time to eat. Then she tried to sell me on the importance of the tests. At which point I mentioned again (see email) I don’t really care how he does on the tests. He is a good student and I don’t worry about him. “Well if he is a good student he will want to do well on the tests because the kids talk about their scores, they are so proud of them, its really “neat””…….Well clearly she wasn’t getting the point that they weren’t important to me. While I could see value to the school, I didn’t see why anyone should be proud the results of a test which doesn’t indicate hard work or achievement but preparation and an aptitude for multiple choice tests. WHOPEE, you get a gold star!
Clearly she hadn’t run into a parent like me that felt so strongly as to tell her I could not have cared less about these results the school was working so hard to achieve. I do blame parents who don’t see the wasted energy and resources in letting the schools teach to the test and put so much focus the preparation and results. Its good to work for something but for a test that indicates what?
I live in a community where people are successful. Parent I know all have college plus educations and want to give their kids all sorts of opportunities that will begat other opportunities (a prestigious college is at the top of the list). Kids in third grade know their test scores and friends tell me their kids test scores (high on my list of pet peeves).
Maybe I have four fucking geniuses in my house. I don’t, but I wouldn’t tell you if I did. My kids are not trophies that reside in a certain percentile or are numbers to improve on. My kids may or may not be able to take a test. What I want for my kids to is to learn how to think, critic, analyze, articulate and communicate ideas. All my kids are talented in their own weird way and they will become “successful” adults (to me that means happy and taking care of themselves) despite of how well they did on these tests. If you want to see how you are doing school system, go to it, quickly and with out screwing with my kids real education.
It’s been awfully grey here lately. Grey with wind, sometimes grey with rain, always grey. But we are having a spot of sun. Even in the house you can feel it.
Winter should be wrapping it up soon. This year there has not been much of an effort by winter. Not that I am complaining. I am looking forward to more sun and longer days.
My brother is here visiting with his son. Henry is home from school. The cousins are outside playing touch football with the dogs. I am inside sitting in my sunny living ready to crack open a magazine. Sounds idyllic, doesn’t it? It is.
drawing from Birth Control Review (December, 1917)
I had prepared the below post yesterday about the Blunt Amendment. Fortunately, the Blunt Amendment failed, barely 48-51. Then things just got weirder. I have updated the original post at the end.
What the hell is going here? There are some pretty crucial pieces of legislature that Congress should be considering to keep our country on the road that we seem to be on (like the Transportation Bill which has been languishing on Boner’s desk, I know its really Boehner;). But apparently to a bunch of middle aged men it is of the upmost importance that we protect the freedom of religion from women demanding and the government mandating that medical benefits include women’s reproductive healthcare. Women dont generally want to be pregnant for 35 years, for some women each pregnancy is an life threatening condition, and for others circumstances make having a child difficult. You think that family planning was a luxury or some new fangled unproved science. I am not sure what these middle aged men’s M.O. is. I dont think it is religious or moral. I think they just like the power to make these decisions for women.
The Republicans dont see the irony, it is not in their DNA. So they just keep trying to get the government to impose their morals on us while their biggest beef is big government. Cant have it both ways.
A kind of random aside: Did you know in 1966-65 just prior to the Vatican 2 convention, John XXIII had had a committee made of lay and religious members, included married couples study contraception and its impact on the church community, The majority report sided with the idea that it was in the for the common good that some forms of birth control be available including oral contraceptions. Then John XXIII died and Paul VI came in and ignored the majority report. One of my pet peeves about the Catholic Church is its blanket opposition to all forms of contraception How do they defend this position given the abject poverty found in the very communities where the church has influence. Dont even get me started on their objection to using condoms preventively for AIDS.
So the intellectual and philosophical leader of the GOP, Rush Limbaugh, for the last two days has said things that make me believe I have travelled in a time machine back to the 1920′s. First yesterday he made comments regarding a college student that was scheduled to talk a congressional committee (then denied) about how critical it was for people like her to have affordable contraception available to them. He called her a “slut” and “prostitute” because in his small sick little mind, government or an insurance company was paying for the contraception, she was being paid to have sex. Then today, probably since no one told him he was insane and a misogynistic bastard, he was empowered to say this:
“So Miss Fluke, and the rest of you Feminazis, here’s the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives … We want something for it. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch.”
And as of this moment…crickets from the right. Jeezz, what does this guy have on the GOP? Who will be the first to condemn him..not holding my breath.
