Free Republic

................. candidates have become more knowledgeable about the job market - and expect more. "Absolutely, they know salaries," said Mascaro, who traveled to job fairs as far away as Texas. "They'll come to your booth and ask you about incentives and signing bonuses, unlike three years ago. They ask about new-teacher support and mentoring programs. "They are a savvy group," Mascaro said. Across the state, school districts are having a hard time finding teachers in special education, math, science and foreign language. Those subjects are deemed areas of critical need by state and local education officials. Teaching candidates in such...

When it comes to the classroom, religious extremists have an ambitious agenda: to replace science with ideology at every opportunity. As if denying even that their own ideas can evolve, they've recently taken up their dusty arms against an old, familiar issue — the teaching of evolution in public schools. New Name, Same Agenda The supposed rival to the theory of evolution — creationism — now goes by the new name of "intelligent design." Just as with other phrases (like the Bush administration favorite, "culture of life"), the name change is merely the latest tactic in an ongoing strategy by...

On national issues jockeying for position, some are vying for the #2 and #1 spots on the top ten. But in my surmise, they are all of equal threat. I write about Liberty for the most part, and it’s the main topic of my guest talks. Guns play a part in our liberty, but so do all of the other freedoms we enjoy in our way of life. It’s all a way-of-life issue to me, hence there is hardly any single issue, guns included. Chief among my complaints is that the Left in America presses on, where the battle is...

Generation to Generation: Nuturing the Faith in Our Homes    KIMBERLY HAHN From the moment we hold our child for the first time, we care for his physical needs. We feed him, clothe him, and clean him. Yet he has deeper needs than physical care — he has a soul that needs to be fed, clothed, and cleansed. "If I become a Catholic, will my children be believers?" That may sound like a strange question, but it was the agony of my heart as I considered accompanying Scott on his faith journey into the Catholic Church. I knew how to...

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...

A radical left-wing professor will now exert even more influence upon students at Brooklyn College in New York. According to the Christian news outfit, Agape Press, Dr. Timothy Shortell was recently elected by his colleagues to chair Brooklyn College’s Sociology Department. Why should his promotion concern you? Professor Shortell, a raging social-Marxist, refers to religious people as “an ugly, violent lot,” “moral retards,” and compares faith to “a child-like rationality.” These statements were written by the professor and appeared on a website called Anti-Naturals.org. On Dr. Shortell’s own website he says, “I am proud to be among a group of...

ANOTHER GEORGIA PUBLIK SKOOL STORY June 5, 2005 This one comes to us from Atlanta talk-show host Neal Boortz... + + + We talked about this one on the show yesterday (June 1), but it didn't make the Nuze. So here we go...the story of the Anita White Carson Middle School in Greensboro, Greene County, Georgia. Our cast of characters is as follows: * Matthew Lund, first year teacher * Ulrica Corbett, Principal. * Zach Richardson, Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. So .. here's the story, gleaned from the front page of the May 26th edition of Greensboro Herald-Journal. Matthew...

“The social implications of Darwinism have been disastrous,” said Richard Thompson, the president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. “Nazi Germany used Darwin to justify a master race based on the idea that it’s survival of the strongest.” Thompson’s perception that teaching evolution is socially destructive is just one of the reasons why he volunteered to defend the Dover Area School District’s school board and administration against a lawsuit brought against them last December, he said. Eleven parents sued the district, saying a statement issued by the district to ninth-grade biology students that...

While American universities may proclaim diversity as an exalted value, a recent study shows that the only freedom of thought that really exists on campus is "to believe the dominant political ideology. Other ideologies are marginalized." (Klien and Western. For full text of study, follow links below.) But Phil Mitchell doesn’t need a study to validate what he has experienced for over 20 years. "The truth is, universities are the most hostile, narrow-minded and intolerant environment in society," Mitchell said. Mitchell, 57, is a former history professor at the University of Colorado (CU) and a deeply committed Christian. He was...

It is a rare person who has not heard of the recent cruel homicide of the Florida woman, Terri Schiavo. Everyone, it seemed, had a strong opinion on the subject. Yet, despite clear moral teachings on the evils of euthanasia, there are ‘Catholics’ who boast support for euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide.[1] Are these ‘Catholics’ badly formed and ignorant of their Church’s infallible teachings on the dignity and sacredness of all human life? Is it the fault of Catholic clergy for not preaching the Church’s teachings from the pulpit? In view of the clarity and frequency of the Church’s up-to-date teachings,...

In the wave of well-deserved adulation and admiration that has swept the world since the death of John Paul II, one observation has continually been made as a characterization of his pontificate. Love him or hate him, agree with or oppose him, one thing is universally accepted as true: John Paul II stood up for “traditional morality.” In a world obsessed with the “culture of death,” John Paul stood resolutely for traditional ethics and for the “culture of life” that made him such a sign of opposition to the prevailing drift of people and governments. But just how traditional was...

With the election of Benedict XVI and the evident jubilation at his reign in many Catholic quarters, the intellectual elite has again returned to its habit of bashing the intelligence of Catholic laity. To be fair, this is hardly a new phenomenon. For centuries, non-Catholic Christians have remarked on the evident sheep-like ignorance of Catholics. The papists have a robot-like obedience to a pontiff that thinks for them because they are too ignorant to think for themselves. Stereotypes It is often remarked that stereotypes do not arise out of nothing. No matter how slanderous the stereotype, at least some small...

"When he started talking about innate differences in aptitude between men and women, I just couldn't breathe." - Nancy Hopkins (MIT biology professor) "We live in strange, strange times . . . An entire era - call it the "New Deal-Great Society Epoch" - is drawing to its inevitable conclusion. And those who draw power and wealth from the decaying Welfare State are marshalling their forces for a life-and-death defensive struggle." - Rush Limbaugh Strange indeed! The Society of Professional Journalists, at their recent convention, took a vote on the proposition "Journalists should cover both sides of an issue" and...

JOHN BAPTIST de la SALLE 1651-1719 Feast: April 7 This saint is the patron of teachers, his great achievement having been to provide a system of education for the common people at a time when the poor were grossly neglected; not mercy by founding charity schools, a cling which had been attempted countless times before only to end in repeated failure, but by creating a body of trained teachers, and thus setting them on the only possible basis which guaranteed success. It was not by inclination, but solely by chance chat he was led to take up this work....

I feel like I'm shouting about the emperor's new clothes by saying that No Child Left Behind is horrible.

The failure of some American students to master math is adding up to big bucks for tutoring companies in India. A little-known provision in the federal No Child Left Behind law allows federal taxpayer dollars to flow to online tutoring services several time zones away in places such as New Delhi and Calcutta. Those services typically contract with U.S. tutoring companies, which provide them the computer software and set the lesson plan. Advertisement Few would begrudge using public money to give struggling students extra help. But some U.S. teachers decry the offering of instruction to Indian firms that pay full-time,...

It's only a 38-page document, but it determines how millions of tax dollars are spent, sets working conditions for 462 employees and indirectly affects the education of more than 5,500 students. Ridgewood's teachers contract is key in managing the school district's $70.7 million enterprise. And like any of the other 610 teacher pacts across the state, it is arguably the most powerful public document in town. More money from property tax bills goes to pay teachers and school support staff than any other group of local public employees in New Jersey. Funding for school districts makes up about 55 percent...

My last column, "Forget Free Speech, Liberals Don't Tolerate Campus Conservatives," drew the ire and attention of thousands. Published online by GOPUSA and the Washington Times, it sparked still more debate on the issue of liberal bias on campus. Conservative professors from North Carolina, Wisconsin and across the country e-mailed their support. One celebrity endorsement came from former U.S. House Historian Christina Jeffrey, who currently presides over the South Carolina Association of Scholars. In her words, this past column was my "best ever." Still more students, parents and alumni stepped up, sending e-mails and notes, while weighing in on countless...

Subject: Classroom Ideas for Easter Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 From: Gateways to Better Education info@gtbe.org Dear Gateways Friend: Are you looking for last minute ideas to teach students about Easter? Try these ideas sent in by parents: IDEA #1: Similar to a Christmas crèche, make a model of the Resurrection scene to explain the story. Gateways Campus Partner Diane B____ wrote: “Thanks to the Gateways Easter card, I did a Passover/Easter presentation (complete with a homemade tomb and figures) in my son’s second grade class. I also explained the meaning of the holiday in a fifth grade class.” *...

The French language is in dramatic decline around the world, including in its traditional foreign heartlands, according to international language teachers recently gathered in Paris. French is disappearing from European classrooms in favour of English The predominance of English on the internet, the relative ease of learning basic English and the perception that English is "cooler" - thanks in large part to popular music and films - means French is becoming ever more restricted to older generations and the upper classes of many countries where it used to be the second language of choice in schools. That was the consensus...