Education (Bloggers & Personal)
-
Not long ago, I was in the market for a small handgun safe. After visiting a local gun shop and bringing home something made by GunVault, I took my new safe out of its box, and wondered if I’d spent too much. Up close, the device looked insubstantial. A nagging suspicion motivated me to go online, where I quickly discovered research by Marc Tobias and Tobias Bluzmanis of Investigative Law Offices and Security Laboratories. Their work confirmed my suspicion about the safe. It could be broken into easily. Tobias and Bluzmanis, who specialize in evaluating security systems, did an analysis...
-
I'm looking for printable charts that show how compound interest works to show young relatives the effects of saving and compare starting sooner rather than later and how having time on your side works. It would be helpful if it could be changed to various rates and ages to play with the numbers.
-
New film, ‘Rosenwald,’ tells story of philanthropist Julius Rosenwald who transformed black lives, including those of writer Langston Hughes and opera singer Marion Anderson.PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — Alex Bethea, the son of cotton and tobacco farm workers, was in sixth grade in 1965 when his family moved from Dillon, South Carolina, to the tiny town of Fairmont, North Carolina, where he attended a school called Rosenwald. But it wasn’t until this week, 50 years later, that Bethea learned that his school was named for Julius Rosenwald, the Jewish philanthropist who is the subject of a new documentary by Aviva Kempner. The...
-
“Your sign is offensive!” That is what the “man” with the high-pitched scream says to the guy holding the sign after he assaults him. Apparently, the “man” is a student at Arizona State University. Now, having attending ASU, I can tell you it has become just as liberal as nearly any other institution of higher learning, but thankfully, I never had to witness anything quite as comedic as this. Try to watch without laughing as this goofball takes offense to…words! Warning: Liberal nutjob uses some strong language while screaming like a banshee This is America today. No longer can a...
-
During U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech on Wednesday regarding a new government initiative to bring high speed internet access to low-income groups, the topic of South Korea’s education system came up. “In South Korea they pay their teachers the way they pay their doctors,” he said in front of an audience at Durant High School in Durant, Okla. “They consider education to be at the highest wrung of the professions.” The reason it came up at all had to do with South Korea’s widespread high speed internet access especially in the city’s capital of Seoul. Obama voiced a similar statement...
-
July 17, 2015 Why Donald Trump’s Polling Is Scaring The Hell Out of The Professional Political Class…by sundance We’ve explained the underlying problem of why the GOP hates their own base – and why they will never do anything to stop the progressive agenda. The GOP are committed to #1) ObamaCare remaining; #2) Comprehensive Immigration Reform to include Amnesty; and #3) Common Core Education Standards. We’ve also explained why admitting that factual reality is just a matter of following the facts where they lead.When you admit the problem, and finally agree to stop being a co-dependent in your own diminishment,...
-
“Then arose that do or die expression, that maniacal maelstrom of sound; that penetrating, rasping, shrieking, blood curdling noise that could be heard for miles and whose volume reached the heavens such an expression as never yet came from the throats of sane men, but from men whom the seething blast of an imaginary hell would not check while the sound lasted.” ~ Confederate Colonel Keller Anderson of Kentucky's Orphan Brigade There are few aspects of the Civil War which have been engrained in American culture and remembrance more than the Confederate soldiers’ Rebel Yell . . ."
-
Okay, enough already. It's rant time. Obama issues a 'Happy Ramadan' right after the four Marines were killed. How could you? Oh, I forgot. . 'I shall side with the Muslims. . . Any mention of arming the guys at our recruiting centers or our military bases? Nah, can't do that, it's against the narrative. But others are going to die! Sorry, against the anti-gun narrative. Obama signs a Nuke deal with Iran that guarantees they will get a nuke, (just a matter of time), and now he gives Iran a $150 Billion 'signing bonus' that will cost every American...
-
State and federal laws require public schools to accommodate students with special learning needs. But the process of getting the right services to students can require so much vigilance that some parents give up and remove their child from public schools altogether. "We were not satisfied after a few months into my daughter’s Individualized Education Plan," said Liz Roe, parent of 9-year-old Mia, who was identified has having dyslexia, a learning disorder that makes it difficult to read. "My daughter was coming home crying and saying her teacher was yelling at her when she was asking for additional help, the...
-
While Ann Arbor Public Schools teachers union president Linda Carter has claimed the superintendent and school board were trying to "destroy" the school district, that same school board has spent $250,000-plus allowing union officials to work on union activities during school hours instead of teaching. Called "release time," this special arrangement allows union president Carter to teach no classes yet collect a full-time teacher's salary of $77,502, for which the district pays half and the union pays half. However, the school district covers the entire cost of Carter's health care and pension benefits, at an annual cost estimated to be...
-
Albion Superintendent Jerri-Lynn Williams-Harper is asking nearby school districts to stop providing transportation to Albion students who have chosen to enroll in a different district through "Schools of Choice." Most districts throughout the state participate in SOC and have opened their doors widely and sought to serve disadvantaged students from other districts. Williams-Harper, whose district has seen hundreds of students leave using SOC, wrote a letter to nearby districts asking them to "cease and desist immediately" from busing in Albion students to the schools of their choice. By asking school districts to withhold busing, the Albion superintendent is trying to...
-
Begin with the end in mind – I’m not trying to convince anyone that Donald Trump is running a campaign to actually win the GOP nomination. Factually, I’m as uncertain and perhaps more skeptical as the next person. However, given that Trump has actually done things he normally wouldn’t do if this was a mere publicity stunt (ie. stock divestitures, removal of conflicts etc.), for the sake of intellectual argument, I’m going to assume, cautiously yet optimistically, he’s in it to win it. Argument #1 – After all, he’s been a democrat, an independent, a Republican, and well, I have...
-
In 2012, teachers in the Roscommon area school district became the first in decades to "decertify" the Michigan Education Association — fire it — and start their own independent union. Now, three years later, the president of the startup local, called the Roscommon Teachers Association, said 64 of 65 eligible teachers have voluntarily paid dues as of the recently completed school year. It probably didn't hurt that the union's $500 dues are about half the amount charged by the MEA, the state's largest teachers union. “Roscommon teachers show that voluntary unionism can thrive if the union is proving its worth...
-
Last December when there were mass protests about the Smith/Garner cases a group of employees at York College (part of the public owned CUNY) in Jamaica, Queens, left their work stations and went outside to lay down in the street to protest the verdicts. It was staged of course but still these these workers could have been injured, bringing law suits against the city. Now I don't fault anyone for protesting what they think is wrong but on WORK HOURS? These are CITY OF NEW YORK employees. Your tax dollars payed for this time they were not at work. York...
-
In 1946, President Harry Truman signed the National School Lunch Act. Like the road to hell, it was paved with good intentions. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is now rife with fraud. Consider this: the NSLP currently serves 60 percent of all students in both public and private schools. We know that two-thirds of all Americans do not live at or below the 130 percent of the poverty level required for free school lunches. For every person who signs up for free and reduced lunch the school district gets extra benefits beyond the subsidy for the food itself. When...
-
An Oakland County lawmaker has proposed amending the state constitution to require that when the governing boards of Michigan's public universities hold “meetings” they be open to the public. Under current law only “formal sessions” of the university boards must be held in public. The amendment is contained in House Joint Resolution O, sponsored by Rep. Martin Howrylak, R-Troy. To become part of the constitution it must be approved by voters in a statewide general election, and for that to happen it must receive “yes” votes from at least two-thirds of the House (74 votes) and the Senate (26 votes)....
-
Outgoing State Superintendent Michael Flanagan made headlines in 2013 when he said all teachers should make $100,000. Incoming Superintendent Brian Whiston, who takes over July 1, said he also wants teachers to make more money, but with a caveat. He would prefer to see schools break from the current union scale system, where teacher pay is based on time on the job and a teacher's academic credentials. “Pay should be based on what you are teaching (subject), your evaluation, years of service, education, what extras you bring to the position (extra training, certifications, experiences),” Whiston said in an email. “I...
-
The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA), originally passed in 2010 and heartily endorsed by First Lady Michelle Obama, is set to expire in September unless Congress acts to renew it. You may recall some of the details of that initiative including forcing all grains to be “whole grain rich” (whatever that means) and wiping out most of the salt in foods. Given the less then spectacular reception the program has received from schools – not to mention students – the GOP is looking at scaling back or at least modifying the rules. But The Hill was quick to characterize the...
-
Almost everyone has a plan for fixing what ails Detroit Public Schools: the governor, a coalition of special interest groups, and several advocacy groups. While each group differs in its approach — the governor's proposal would split the district in two, while the coalition's plan would limit school choice — every plan would require creating a new law specifically for DPS and Detroit-area charter schools. But significant steps could be taken without any legal change. With a state emergency manager already overseeing DPS, some actions could be taken immediately to reform the district. Split the district in two to contain...
-
When teachers, other government employees or citizens want to learn how Michigan’s public sector unions spend dues money, details can be hard to come by. “Our group tried to get officials to give us a breakdown of things like the amount spent on the liability insurance, legal services, Uniserv directors and support,” said Jim Perialas, a Roscommon teacher. He and his colleagues were once represented by a unit of the Michigan Education Association, which calls its contract negotiating arm "Uniserv." “Basically we wanted to get it all. The organization was so bureaucratic, that we kept getting shuffled from person to...
|
|
|