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A textbook case of stupidity (Proposed 200-page-limit on student reading matter)
The Orange County Register ^ | June 9, 2005 | hugh Glenn

Posted on 06/09/2005 3:04:14 PM PDT by Taft in '52

A textbook case of stupidity:
Assembly's call for 200-page-limit on student reading matter is beyond folly

By HUGH GLENN
The Anaheim resident is an education consultant and online editor who lives in Anaheim.

Efforts to dumb down California public schools continue unabated. The most recent action is the Assembly passing AB 756, a bill by Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg that would prevent school districts from using any instructional material that exceeds 200 pages. Assemblyman Keith Richman calls it "ridiculous" and "the epitome of micromanagement." Jack O'Connell, state superintendent of public instruction, surprisingly, has remained silent. Astoundingly, 42 legislators (including Orange County's Tom Umberg) approved AB 756 - a vote so dumb that Gov. Schwarzenegger now looks like Socrates and Solomon rolled into one.


(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; US: California
KEYWORDS: education; learning; teaching
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To: Right Wing Assault

Yes, I remember. LOL I also remember people swearing that they would *never* pay a dollar for a pound of hamburger.

The whole overpricing of school books thing is even worse, cuz you have people buying things with other people's money. There are way too many politics involved with the purchase & selling of textbooks.


41 posted on 06/09/2005 4:29:47 PM PDT by GoLightly
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To: Taft in '52
Nawww, they'll just split the texts into volumes. This is probably just a political payoff to publishers by forcing local school districts to buy more new books.
42 posted on 06/09/2005 4:32:07 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (There are people in power who are truly evil.)
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To: Taft in '52

How many pages in these:
1984
Animal Farm
Brave New World
Fahrenheit 451
Lord of the Flies

Read all of these when I was in highschool...


43 posted on 06/09/2005 4:55:10 PM PDT by MD_Willington_1976
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To: Redcloak

In one of my undergrad classes the professor allowed you to bring in a textbook and a single double-sided page of notes. I typed in my outline, printed it out using the smallest font I could...and it really pissed off the others who hadn't thought of it, because I got the whole course outline on the page.

Gotta tell you, if you wear the right glasses, you can even read 1 point font pretty easily if it's laserprinted. Course, my friends called me "Squinty" for a few weeks after that exam...but they asked me for a copy on the next test.


44 posted on 06/09/2005 4:55:40 PM PDT by LibertarianInExile (<-- sick of faux-conservatives who want federal government intervention for 'conservative things.')
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To: Taft in '52

bump


45 posted on 06/09/2005 4:56:47 PM PDT by lowbridge
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To: MD_Willington_1976

1984 = 336
Animal Farm = 144
Brave New World = 336
Fahrenheit 451 = 208 pages
Lord of the Flies = 207 pages


46 posted on 06/09/2005 5:00:10 PM PDT by MD_Willington_1976
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To: antceecee

Well said.

And laptops are unnecessary. PDAs work fine. If you're concerned that PDAs would be smaller writing and too tough to read, consider this: newspaper columns aren't any bigger than a PDA screen, and the writing is faded black on newsprint. Most PDA screens show writing black on white or reversed.

There are companies doing just that for less than $300 a PDA, converting textbooks with publisher permission. That would be infinitely cheaper and more portable than a bunch of textbooks. And data could be updated as needed, instead of buying a whole new PDA or textbook every couple of years.


47 posted on 06/09/2005 5:04:03 PM PDT by LibertarianInExile (<-- sick of faux-conservatives who want federal government intervention for 'conservative things.')
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To: GoLightly
Some of the 'old school' school texts are available on the Gutenberg project--for NOTHING. Public domain works are, too. The old Guffey's readers certainly are worth teaching from even today.
48 posted on 06/09/2005 5:07:04 PM PDT by LibertarianInExile (<-- sick of faux-conservatives who want federal government intervention for 'conservative things.')
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To: LibertarianInExile

I used to (early '80s) write my notes out on a sheet of 11x17 paper, then Xerox-reduce it down to roughly 8.5x11 to conform to the rules.


49 posted on 06/09/2005 5:08:51 PM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: Random Nonsense
Thanks for the link

A prototypical leftwing whacko!

50 posted on 06/09/2005 5:12:41 PM PDT by iconoclast (Conservative, not partisan.)
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To: LibertarianInExile

Thank you for that wonderful site!!


51 posted on 06/09/2005 5:14:00 PM PDT by GoLightly
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To: DuncanWaring

Done that, too, when one prof required 'handwritten notes' instead of letting us type `em. I just did the reduction by copying from 11x17-->8x11 again and again until they all fit. Like I said, Squinty. 8^)


52 posted on 06/09/2005 5:15:11 PM PDT by LibertarianInExile (<-- sick of faux-conservatives who want federal government intervention for 'conservative things.')
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To: GoLightly

You are quite welcome. It's free, and a great idea. Google and some EU sites are doing similar things now, too, so don't get too tied down by Gutenberg to miss the rest.

And if you find a good one--let me know. 8)


53 posted on 06/09/2005 5:16:31 PM PDT by LibertarianInExile (<-- sick of faux-conservatives who want federal government intervention for 'conservative things.')
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To: iconoclast
No worries mate :)
54 posted on 06/09/2005 5:29:04 PM PDT by Random Nonsense
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To: LibertarianInExile
Books are listed here by title.

http://www.fullbooks.com/

Bookcrossing is an innovative way to share books (the printed kind) with others. I've never gone out to find any of the book released into the wild, but I find the concept appealing.

http://www.bookcrossing.com/
55 posted on 06/09/2005 5:35:00 PM PDT by GoLightly
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To: Taft in '52

They need to go back to the 1940s and '50s texts that were probably no more than 200 pages...of small type and no pictures. Unfortunately, I doubt the high school teachers could work the math in those 7th grade texts, and the students certainly couldn't read the much more advanced vocabulary of those books. Looking at the books of 50 years ago, one realizes how seriously the standards have fallen.


56 posted on 06/09/2005 5:40:51 PM PDT by kittymyrib
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To: neutrino
But they didn't set a minimum standard for pictures! Surely we should expect that at least 25% of the pages be used for pictures!
(/bitter sarcasm)

Huh? Sarcasm? It's right there in the link in post #37

Textbooks are too laden with print supplemental materials, and too uninteresting in style.

57 posted on 06/09/2005 5:42:23 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy (I reject your reality and subsitute my own! - Adam Savage)
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To: Taft in '52; devolve; Smartass

OK, now I think my head is going to explode.


58 posted on 06/09/2005 8:44:32 PM PDT by ntnychik
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To: Oztrich Boy
Huh? Sarcasm? It's right there in the link in post #37

Just when I think things cannot get any worse...

59 posted on 06/09/2005 9:29:45 PM PDT by neutrino (Globalization “is the economic treason that dare not speak its name.” (173))
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To: MD_Willington_1976
In hign school, I read Herman Melville's Moby Dick, Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, and Fyodor Dostoevskii's Crime and Punishment. All of them are well over 200 pages. If Jackie Goldberg's proposal goes through, students would be relegated to the Cliff's Notes, or better yet the Classic Comics version of these works.
60 posted on 06/10/2005 7:39:45 AM PDT by Taft in '52
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