America’s real school-safety problem

Last fall, a Delaware student was suspended from school after bringing a knife into his classroom. Because of his school’s zero-tolerance weapons policy, he was suspended for 45 days and forced to attend an alternative school. Swift justice? Perhaps — except that the student, Zachary Christie, was a first grader at the time and the “weapon” was his Cub Scout-issued fork-spoon-knife tool.

A researcher and author argues that we are teaching kids to take a police state for granted; that there may be better and certainly less draconian ways to prevent violence.

Not encouraging line of the day

“New Mexico ranks 47th among states [and D.C.] in the number of 25 to 34 year olds with an associate’s degree or higher …”.

New Mexico Independent

“[R]oughly 28.5 percent of New Mexicans aged 25 to 34 possess an associate’s degree or higher, which compares unfavorably to the national average — 41.6 percent.”

Only West Virginia, Nevada, Louisiana and Arkansas have a lower percentage. Massachusetts is the best state with 53.4%. The District of Columbia is 63.5%.

Hey, I was way ahead of my times

“As for Stanford engineering students stuck using electronic texts, the debate over a bookless library is made moot by recent reports that college students are studying only half as much as they did in the nineteen-sixties.”

The Book Bench: The New Yorker

I studied only about half as much during the 1960s.

A Five-Minute Intelligence Test for Kids

Jill sent along this link from Newsweek from last August with the comment that it was interesting. I agree. Apparently the five-minute test is just as accurate as the 90-minute test — and neither is a predictor of continued high intelligence.

Besides it’s a chance to read a Newsweek article while we still can.

Why are professors teaching courses on The Wire?

From Drake Bennett at Slate Magazine, Why so many colleges are teaching The Wire. An excerpt:

Academics, on the other hand, can’t seem to get enough of The Wire. Barely two years after the show’s final episode aired—and with Simon’s new show, Treme, premiering next month on HBO—there have already been academic conferences, essay anthologies, and special issues of journals dedicated to the series. Not content to write about it and discuss it among themselves, academics are starting to teach it, as well. Professors at Harvard, U.C.—Berkeley, Duke, and Middlebury are now offering courses on the show.

Interestingly, the classes aren’t just in film studies or media studies departments; they’re turning up in social science disciplines as well, places where the preferred method of inquiry is the field study or the survey, not the HBO series, even one that is routinely called the best television show ever. Some sociologists and social anthropologists, it turns out, believe The Wire has something to teach their students about poverty, class, bureaucracy, and the social ramifications of economic change.

Best line of the day

“But isn’t it convenient that once again it turns out that the problem isn’t us, and the fix is something that doesn’t require us to change our behavior or spend any money. It’s so simple: Fire the bad teachers, hire good ones from some undisclosed location, and hey, while we’re at it let’s cut taxes more. It’s the kind of comprehensive educational solution that could only come from a completely ignorant people.”

Bill Maher

Best ‘all-but-those-two’ line of the day

“Governors and state commissioners of education from 48 states, 2 territories and the District of Columbia committed to developing a common core of state standards in English-language arts and mathematics for grades K-12.”

Common Core State Standards Initiative

OK, guess which two states didn’t participate.

New Plan Would Let High Schoolers Graduate Early

From The New York Times:

Dozens of public high schools in eight states will introduce a program next year allowing 10th graders who pass a battery of tests to get a diploma two years early and immediately enroll in community college.

Students who pass but aspire to attend a selective college may continue with college preparatory courses in their junior and senior years, organizers of the new effort said. Students who fail the 10th grade tests, known as board exams, can try again at the end of their 11th and 12th grades. The tests would cover not only English and math but other subjects like science and history.

The new system of high school coursework with the accompanying board examinations is modeled largely on systems in high-performing nations including Denmark, Finland, England, France and Singapore.

Yeah, but are they ready for the drinking games?

New Mexico is among the eight states participating.

A Superwoman for Kenya, but America is still waiting for Superman

Another incredible essay from Roger Ebert.

“Sometimes two films set up an uncanny resonance with one another. I saw two documentaries back to back. One filled me with hope and the other washed me in despair. They were both about the education of primary school children.”

Just read it.

Easily should have been a C+

But both authors tell the story of Gregory Watson, a University of Texas undergraduate who wrote a paper on one of the amendments proposed at the time of the Bill of Rights but not adopted. It would have made Congressional pay raises effective only after the next election. Watson started a letter-writing campaign, noting that in this case there was no deadline for ratification. The upshot was the most recent amendment, the 27th, ratified in 1992.

Characteristically, it is Lipsky who includes the killer detail. Watson’s professor, unconvinced that the amendment was still pending, gave him a C.

From an Adam Liptak review of Annotated Versions of the Constitution from Seth Lipsky and Jack N. Rakove

Redux post of the day

Posted on this date in 2005.

The Kansas State School Board, known for eliminating evolution from its science curriculum, has now taken action to eliminate Spanish. All Spanish words will be replaced with English in textbooks and on maps beginning next year.

For example, three U.S. state names will change: Montana will become “Mountain,” Nevada will be “Snowy” and Colorado will be called “Colored.” Geographic landmarks will be changed as well. The Rio Grande will be renamed “Big River” and the Sierra Nevada changed to “Snowy Mountain Range.”

Chips and salsa will be “chips and gravy.”

Even Christmas will be affected. The Board, apparently misunderstanding the Dutch origins of Sinter Klaas, ruled that Santa Claus must now be called “Holy Nicholas.”

Property values dropped 15% overnight in Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, with fear that the city would become known as “Holy Faith.” Elsewhere, the Las Vegas chamber of commerce is re-considering its slogan, “What happens in Fertile Lowlands, Stays in Fertile Lowlands.”

We've come a long way since 'Put a ring around the thing you think'

Test preparation has long been a big business catering to students taking SATs and admissions exams for law, medical and other graduate schools. But the new clientele is quite a bit younger: 3- and 4-year-olds whose parents hope that a little assistance — costing upward of $1,000 for several sessions — will help them win coveted spots in the city’s gifted and talented public kindergarten classes.

In Manhattan, Preparing for Kindergarten Admission Test – NYTimes.com

“‘It’s quite pricey, but compared to private school, which averages about $20,000 for kindergarten, the price is right,’ she said of the tutoring. ‘I just want the opportunity to have a choice.’”

The Uneducated American

Most people, I suspect, still have in their minds an image of America as the great land of college education, unique in the extent to which higher learning is offered to the population at large. That image used to correspond to reality. But these days young Americans are considerably less likely than young people in many other countries to graduate from college. In fact, we have a college graduation rate that’s slightly below the average across all advanced economies.

Paul Krugman

Lesson Plans, 2009

A good one from Timothy Egan.

Perception vs. Reality

Scot Key writes about how this boy —

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – An Albuquerque woman faces a criminal charge after her 13-year-old son was dropped off at a hospital unconscious and extremely drunk.

Crystal Deleon, 31, faces a charge of child abuse resulting in great bodily harm.

The boy told police he was drinking with his mom and others on Wednesday.

— and those like him undermine the reality of standardized testing and No Child Left Behind.

And Annette links to an article that says that the war on drugs in Mexico doesn’t exist. It’s really a war for drugs.

Unintended sex ed

Imagine, you and your kid are watching what’s supposed to be a DVD retrospective of the past school year. The video shows children sharing stories, clapping, then … sex. And not just sex, but sex involving your kid’s fifth grade teacher.

“It goes from my son, straight to her on the couch,” recalled “Joe,” a parent who wished to remain anonymous. “My son’s reaction was, ‘Dad, is that Ms. Defanti?’”

Yes, it was.

It was, of course, just poor editing. The Scavenger has a few more details. Great photo.

Weird

The spelling mantra “i before e except after c” is no longer worth teaching, according to the [British] government.

Advice sent to teachers says there are too few words which follow the rule and recommends using more modern methods to teach spelling to schoolchildren.

BBC NEWS

Do you suppose they applied sufficient scientific weight to this matter. What do you think neighbor? I sure was never willing to open a vein over it. Keith and Sheila always thought it was silly, too.

Another question: Does caffeine make you feisty?

Unemployment Rate and Level of Education

Note that the unemployment rate has risen sharply for all categories in 2009. For “less than a high school diploma” the rate has increased from 9% in [2008] to almost 16% in May.

Education matters!

Calculated Risk has the graph.

How Much Your School District Stands to Lose in Stimulus Bill Construction Funds

“The House stimulus bill had $14 billion for school construction, but the Senate cut all school construction money from its version. See how much construction money your school district stands to lose if funding is not restored in the final bill.”

ProPublica has the data.

Nearly $28 million for Albuquerque Public Schools cut in the name of bipartisanship, or $291 per student.

Fascinating

Anyone interested in politics, education and Washington ways will find The Obama Girls and Blacks at Sidwell – An Inside Perspective, Part II, fascinating reading by Jill of Jack and Jill Politics.

The Jack of Jack and Jill Politics also attended Sidwell Friends. Here’s a video of his stand-up routine at a fundraiser early this year. Some funny stuff.

Maybe teachers should take vows of poverty like priests and nuns

“You mentioned education and I’m glad you did. I know education you are passionate about with your wife being a teacher for 30 years, and god bless her. Her reward is in heaven, right?”

Sarah Palin

And the founder turns over in his grave

Do you miss Beijing? Are you pining for some good ol’ fashioned totalitarianism? Enjoy seeing any small voice squashed like a ladybug under a Hummer?

Then come to the University of Virginia!

At Virginia a new rule bans signs of any kind at all sporting events, including football and basketball.

Rick Reilly tells the story.

Why Are We Here? (In a Big Lecture, That Is)

“Why do we still have big lecture courses in universities? It is somewhat of a mystery…”

Brad DeLong briefly outlines the history. Fascinating.

Unsung, underpaid and indispensable

NewMexiKen already shared this post from Burque Babble with my own favorite teacher lady, but on reflection I thought others might find it interesting too — because we’ve all known school secretaries, but also for the larger macro-economic circumstance it describes — unsung, underpaid and indispensable.

That’s rank

US News and World Report has published its 2009 college rankings. Harvard is at the top. The highest ranked public university is Cal Berkeley at 21st; Virginia is 23rd, UCLA 25th, Michigan 26th, UNC 30th and William & Mary 32nd. California and Virginia are fine places to live.

NewMexiKen’s alma mater, The University of Arizona, is rated 96th among national universities — about the same overall then as its football team.

National universities according to USNews “offer a full range of undergraduate majors, master’s, and doctoral degrees.” Liberal Arts Colleges, such as Amherst and Swarthmore, are ranked in a separate list.