Posts Tagged ‘ K-12 Education ’

Teachers Unions Fight Transparency, Accountability

August 18, 2010
By
Teachers Unions Fight Transparency, Accountability

By Ben Boychuk If newspapers are indeed dying, at least a few seem willing to die fighting. Consider the Los Angeles Times (ward of the bankrupt Tribune Co.), which on Sunday published a surprisingly bold piece of investigative journalism on arguably the most pressing subject of our day: Public education. The story should serve as an example of how a cultural institution—even one as embattled as the mainstream media—can use transparency to influence society in a positive way. In case you missed it, Times reporters Jason Felch, Jason Song and Doug Smith used California’s public records law to obtain seven years of math and English test scores from the Los Angeles Unified School District. They asked Richard Buddin, a well-respected analyst at the RAND Corporation, to run the numbers and estimate teacher effectiveness — just as many states around the country are considering, and in a few cases starting to do. The story is an eye-opener. The Times didn’t just present the results; it named names. Much of this sort of data never sees the light of day. What’s more, according to the story: “The district has had the ability to analyze the differences among teachers for years but opted

Read more »

Silly Bans

June 2, 2010
By
Silly Bans

From our fast-growing “Oh, for f-ck’s sake!” file: schools around the nation are banning Silly Bandz, those amusing, inexpensive, rubber wristbands that have become immensely popular among the nation’s children. This is conclusive proof, if any were yet needed, that the people who run America’s schools hate kids and are utterly power-mad. Time magazine reports: The Bandz are now contraband. Schools in several states, including New York, Texas, Florida and Massachusetts, have blacklisted Silly Bandz, those stretchy, colorful bracelets that are creeping up the forearms of school kids across the U.S. And starting this week, all 800-some kids at my son’s elementary school in Raleigh, N.C., were commanded to leave at home their collections of rubber band–like bracelets, which retail for about $5 per pack of 24. What could possibly be so insidious about a cheap silicone bracelet? “It’s a distraction,” says Jill Wolborsky, a fourth-grade teacher at my son’s school, who banned them from her classroom before the principal implemented a schoolwide ban. One student stole some confiscated Bandz from her desk, choosing them over the cash in her drawer. Students fiddle with them during class and arrange swaps — trading, say, a bracelet with a mermaid for one

Read more »

Student Sheds Light on Necessity for Reform in K-12 Schools

January 13, 2010
By
Student Sheds Light on Necessity for Reform in K-12 Schools

There is a great deal of energy and resources spent addressing the issue of Left-wing domination on America’s colleges and universities. David Horowitz has done yeoman’s work documenting the networks indoctrinating students in higher education. Groups such as the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Institute for Humane Studies, and others work diligently combating the illiberal education provided in many colleges and universities. This quote, from Lloyd Marcus writing for the American Thinker, reminds us that we need to focus as much, if not more so, on K-12 education: “Years ago, a white friend’s son came home from middle school in tears over the cruelty of our founding fathers against Native Americans. Today, that kid is a 23 year old America-hating Marxist. Thank you public schools for your liberal America-sucks curriculum.” Years later K-12 students are getting much of the same as reported by a student in the Chicago, Illinois area, who is currently in the 12th grade. Her class schedule includes Advanced Placement English, Advanced Placement European History, Pre-Calculus, Theater Arts, French, and Gym class. When asked if she has ever experienced what might be considered indoctrination in any of her classes she responded: All the time! The books we are given

Read more »


"Culture is the expression of the guiding philosophy of the day."—Murray Rothbard

Subscribe to The American Culture.

 

February 2012
S M T W T F S
« Jan    
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
26272829  

Archive

Twitter Feed!

Follow the American Culture and S. T. Karnick on Twitter! Send message "follow stkarnick1" to 40404 on your cell phone or go to twitter.com.

Packages Seo