Free Republic

Looking away from sinister Jeffrey Epstein and horrific truth’s easy, but denial is dangerous, like the malfeasance within public schools, doesn’t just go away. People Don’t Want to Know the Truth, Even When it’s Undeniable Lionel Nation, a lawyer and radio host, argues that Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes are so staggeringly repulsive that most people won’t be able to deal with them. Better to look away. (Nation speculated in August that this aversion may save Epstein. Now that Epstein is officially dead, this aversion may save his friends and accomplices.)In a video, Lionel Nation explains the power of extreme evil. Most...

The Obamas’ $60m book deal has broken all records. From James Patterson to JK Rowling and Pope John Paul II, here are some of their closest rivals. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/01/richest-book-deals-of-all-time-hillary-clinton-james-patterson Pearson Publishing was paid for Commoncore but Penguin Random House Publishing did the Obama book deal. But there is commonality with the two: From Wiki: Penguin Random House was formed on July 1, 2013, upon the completion of a £2.4 billion transaction between Bertelsmann and Pearson to merge their respective trade publishing companies, Random House and Penguin Group. Bertelsmann and Pearson, the parent companies, owning 53% and 47%, respectively. In July 2017,...

Seattle Schools Propose To Teach That Math Education Is Racist—Will California Be Far Behind? by Lee Ohanian Tuesday, October 29, 2019 California’s latest K–12 test scores were released earlier this month. Despite spending 26 percent more per pupil after inflation since 2011, test scores remain low, and improvement is proceeding at a glacial pace. Just 40 percent of California schoolchildren are proficient at math. What should be done? Seattle’s idea is to teach their students that US math education is racist, is used to oppress people of color and the disadvantaged, and has been used to exploit natural resources. According...

Before I begin let me say that the objectives of Common Core Math sound good, especially to people like me who need to understand concepts before proceeding to mechanics: Greater focus on fewer topicsThe Common Core calls for greater focus in mathematics. Rather than racing to cover many topics in a mile-wide, inch-deep curriculum, the standards ask math teachers to significantly narrow and deepen the way time and energy are spent in the classroom. This means focusing deeply on the major work of each grade In grades K–2: Concepts, skills, and problem solving related to addition and subtraction In grades...

As far-left Democrats yell about bribery and high crimes and misdemeanors, let's turn to their own side of the aisle, starting with the once penniless President Obama, who left public office a very, very rich man. He just bought a Martha's Vineyard mansion for a cool $11.75 million, which is in addition to his Kalorama lookout post, his Chicago home, and possibly a Hawaii spread. At some point, you've made enough...but not him. Ostensibly, it's mainly the work of his book deals. No bribery there, right? Well, ahem... According to Investment Watch (IWB), something doesn't quite look right. Obama gave...

Pearson PLC said Wednesday that Chief Executive John Fallon plans to retire next year, and that it has agreed to sell its remaining 25% stake in Penguin Random House to Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA for $675 million. The London-based education publisher PSON, -0.46% said Fallon will retire in 2020 once a successor has been appointed. The company will consider both external and internal candidates as part of a succession process, it said. Pearson said the sale of its remaining stake in Penguin Random House to its partner is in line with the company’s simplification strategy and follows the disposal...

The global education company Pearson has landed a major contract to administer tests aligned to the common-core standards, a project described as being of “unprecedented scale” in the U.S. testing arena by one official who helped negotiate it. The decision to award the contract, announced Friday, was made by a group of states developing tests linked to the common core for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, one of two main consortia of states creating exams to match the standards. Pearson is expected to perform a broad range of duties under the contract, including development of...

Reconstructing the Reconstruction By John Marquardt on Sep 26, 2019 A book condemning the left-wing bias of one of the most widely read and educationally used histories of the United States was recently written by Mary Grabar who received her Ph.D in English from the University of Georgia and went on to teach at various Georgia institutes of higher learning, including Emory University in Atlanta. The focus of her book, Debunking Howard Zinn : Exposing the Fake History That Turned a Generation Against America, is Zinn’s 1980 work, A People’s History of the United States, as well as the Zinn...

It’s a jarring statistic, so much so that it became a talking point among Aspen school board candidates in the runup to the most recent election: At Aspen Elementary School, a mere 41 percent of students were deemed proficient in reading against the state’s standards. “I think this should be an all-hands-on-deck solution now. I suspect there are curriculum alignment issues: it’s not one teacher; it’s not one kid; it’s not one bad day,” newly elected Katy Frisch said during a school board candidate forum in October. “It’s completely unacceptable.” Johnathan Nickell, who won the other open board seat in...

A mathematician at Carnegie Mellon University has developed an easier way to solve quadratic equations. The mathematician hopes this method will help students avoid memorizing obtuse formulas. His secret is in generalizing two roots together instead of keeping them as separate values. ========================================================================== A mathematician has derived an easier way to solve quadratic equation problems, according to MIT's Technology Review. Quadratic equations are polynomials that include an x², and teachers use them to teach students to find two solutions at once. The new process, developed by Dr. Po-Shen Loh at Carnegie Mellon University, goes around traditional methods like completing...

As far-left Democrats yell about bribery and high crimes and misdemeanors, let's turn to their own side of the aisle, starting with the once-penniless President Obama who left public office a very, very rich man. He just bought a Martha's Vineyard mansion for a cool $11.75 million, which is in addition to his Kalorama lookout post, his Chicago home, and possibly a Hawaii spread. At some point you've made enough...but not him. Ostensibly, it's mainly the work of his book deals. No bribery there, right? Well, ahem ... Obama gave Pearson Publishing $350 million to create Commoncore text and Pearson...

An international exam measuring student achievement around the world found that U.S. students have largely not improved since 2000, despite efforts to boost reading and math skills among American children. The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) test results released Tuesday show that U.S. students were slightly above average in terms of reading ability but below the math skills level of peer nations. The test, which was administered to U.S. 15-year-olds, also revealed a widening achievement gap between the highest- and lowest-performing students, with as many as a fifth of 15-year-olds in the U.S. not reading at a 10-year-old's level....

Years after Common Core made its debut in many state education systems, the disastrous long-term results of the program are finally being seen. The students’ reading assessment paints a grim picture of educational readiness, with tested fourth and eighth graders failing to best the previous test’s results. This year’s results were only marginally better than those from 1992. The mathematics scores show the most damning results — an upward trend until the year 2015, when the momentum seemed to grind to a halt. Although there were double-digit gains since the ’90s, fourth graders only managed to score a single point...

This is the opposite of what we were told would happen with trillions of taxpayer dollars and an entire generation of children who deserve not to have been guinea pigs in a failed national experiment. For the third time in a row since Common Core was fully phased in nationwide, U.S. student test scores on the nation’s broadest and most respected test have dropped, a reversal of an upward trend between 1990 and 2015. Further, the class of 2019, the first to experience all four high school years under Common Core, is the worst-prepared for college in 15 years, according...

August 2017, Charlottesville: Police disappear even as belligerents advance toward each other, and fighting in the streets begins. The same tactic had been used successfully in Ferguson and Baltimore. Who but President Obama and the respective governors could have given the orders to stand down? Who else but mayors and police chiefs could have expedited such counterintuitive commands? Democrats got their optics. CNN could chant each day that the USA is full of white nationalists and right-wing criminality. Obama must've been proud. Anyone could see that white supremacists lurked on every street. Funny thing: If you wait around for these...

REMEMBER ‘COMMON CORE’ that was forced on American public schools by Barack Hussein Obama and funded by the nation of Qatar? AUGUST 23, 2019 BY BARENAKEDISLAM Well, these are the chilling results: FOIA Uncovers Taxpayer-Funded Islamic Propaganda forced on teachers, ‘Islam Glorified, Christianity Disparaged and America Bashed’. and these are the chilling consequences. Gateway Pundit The Thomas More Law Center, a national nonprofit public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, uncovered a massive Islamic propaganda campaign which is being forced onto teachers in public school systems in Michigan and many other states. TMLC was concerned after hearing about...

Few people have the opportunity to create bold new fake pedagogy. This is an elite, exclusive world. Fake means something guaranteed not to work. You say you teach reading but the kids are illiterate. You say you teach history but your kids don’t know Ben Franklin from Ben Affleck. You say you teach general knowledge but your students can’t find Washington DC on a map of the US. Who can get away with swindles like these? Well, of course, members of our very own Education Establishment can get away with anything. But not ordinary people. Fair warning, this fake-pedagogy business...

politicized atmosphere of today’s factory-style government-monopoly schools. ... many students did not understand English grammar ... Poor preparation, however, was only the tip of the iceberg. Students did not bring books to class, relentlessly complained about homework, and expected high grades regardless of proficiency. ... A department head had been demoted for teaching at a pre-college level and refusing to lower his standards. Senior teachers were dropping out in disgust. ... the school embraced grade inflation ... administrators tacitly urge teachers to lower standards, despite proclaiming the opposite in public. Like the Dodo in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:...

Almost nine years after Idaho adopted Common Core, state officials still can’t say whether the supposedly-more-rigorous education standards have made a positive difference. Worse, mounting evidence from across the country shows the standards are nothing short of a disaster. I asked both Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherry Ybarra’s office and the State Board of Education (SBOE) to supply proof that the standards have worked. Ybarra spokesman Kris Rodine said ISAT test results are one measure that “Idaho students are making progress toward proficiency on higher standards of knowledge and demonstration of skills.” She stopped short of saying the standards, adopted...

Control and pervert education, and you can convince the masses that they no longer want what their parents and grandparents wanted so desperately. Educated people can reflect on what is being done to them. Ignorant people do not know enough to reflect on much of anything. More and more, American students lack basic skills and fundamental knowledge. How can they understand proposals made by politicians, media, and government? Igor Shafarevich, a famous Russian mathematician, wrote a 1980 book called “The Socialist Phenomenon.” Shafarevich explained that enforced equality was a constant obsession of socialists. To achieve it, they were willing to...