Category: Education

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

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?

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.

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.

These kids will make great employees someday

Dallas public school students who flunk tests, blow off homework and miss assignment deadlines can make up the work without penalty, under new rules that have angered many teachers.
. . .

For example, the new rules require teachers to accept late work and prevent them from penalizing students for missed deadlines. Homework grades that would drag down a student’s overall average will be thrown out.

Dallas Morning News

Thanks to Bob for the link.

Drinking age

There’s a news item circulating that a number of college presidents recommend lowering the drinking age to 18. According to the reports, the presidents believe it would reduce binge drinking.

NewMexiKen has a better idea. You must be 21 to drink alcoholic beverages unless you are a high school graduate. My plan might reduce binge drinking AND lower the drop out rate.

This and that

School starts this week in Albuquerque — Wednesday is the first full day. NewMexiKen never started school before Labor Day and none of my kids did either. What’s with this August-to-May school year anyway?

I bought regular gasoline yesterday for $3.58 (I’m rounding off the tenth of a cent from now on). I was thinking I shouldn’t fill up (that is, I should buy short), because the price will continue to drop at least until election day.

What percentage of time during the Olympic coverage on NBC is actually spent watching athletes do athlete stuff? 10 percent? 15 percent?

There are rumors that McCain will pledge just one term to offset the age issue. I know an even better way — no terms. The Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch tells us Why McCain would be a mediocre president. “A careful look at McCain’s biography shows that he isn’t prepared for the job. His resume is much thinner than most people think.” Amazingly, McCain is even more of a dilettante than W.

Remember my rant about Comcast and the comment from a representative of Comcast? Well, it seems the outreach is real:

From a sparse desk dominated by two computer screens in the new Comcast Center here, Mr. Eliason uses readily available online tools to monitor public comments on blogs, message boards and social networks for any mention of Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company. When he sees a complaint like Mr. Dilbeck’s, he contacts the source to try to defuse the problem.

“When you’re having a two-way conversation, you really get to clear the air,” Mr. Eliason said.

The New York Times has more — Complaining Bloggers Have a Cable Company’s Ear.

The iPhone is great except for battery life, which is OK at best.

‘The Dumbest Generation’

In the four minutes it probably takes to read this review, you will have logged exactly half the time the average 15- to 24-year-old now spends reading each day. That is, if you even bother to finish. If you are perusing this on the Internet, the big block of text below probably seems daunting, maybe even boring. Who has the time? Besides, one of your Facebook friends might have just posted a status update!

So begins a review by Lee Drutman of Mark Bauerlein’s The Dumbest Generation. Gonna bother clicking and reading it?

Could You Have Passed the 8th Grade in 1895?

This is the eighth-grade final exam in 1895 from Salina, Kansas. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.
4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of do, lie, lay and run.
5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
7 – 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cts. per bu., deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per m?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per are, the distance around which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates:
1607
1620
1800
1849
1865

Orthography (Time, one hour)
1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?
4. Give four substitutes for caret ‘u’.
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final ‘e’. Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, super.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: Card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences, Cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced andindicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)
1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America.
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give inclination of the earth.

In the Basement of the Ivory Tower

“The idea that a university education is for everyone is a destructive myth. An instructor at a ‘college of last resort’ explains why.”

In each of my courses, we discuss thesis statements and topic sentences, the need for precision in vocabulary, why economy of language is desirable, what constitutes a compelling subject. I explain, I give examples, I cheerlead, I cajole, but each evening, when the class is over and I come down from my teaching high, I inevitably lose faith in the task, as I’m sure my students do. I envision the lot of us driving home, solitary scholars in our cars, growing sadder by the mile.

In the Basement of the Ivory Tower

Interesting and somewhat provocative.

Kindergartener Voted Out

A Port St. Lucie, Fla., mother is outraged and considering legal action after her son’s kindergarten teacher led his classmates to vote him out of class.

Melissa Barton says Morningside Elementary teacher Wendy Portillo had her son’s classmates say what they didn’t like about 5-year-old Alex. She says the teacher then had the students vote, and voted Alex, who is being evaluated for Asperger’s syndrome — an autism spectrum disorder — out of the class by a 14-2 margin.

CBS News

We Get Emails

Bob Ormond sent along this item:

Despite a court-ordered ban on the teaching of creationism in US schools, about one in eight high-school biology teachers still teach it as valid science, a survey reveals. And, although almost all teachers also taught evolution, those with less training in science — and especially evolutionary biology — tend to devote less class time to Darwinian principles.

The quote is from an article at New Scientist

And LP sent along a link to this good story that analyzes some mythology about Thurman Munson, the great Yankee catcher in the 70s, and his competition with Carlton Fisk.

“Obviously, something happened. Somewhere. At some time. But I’ve got three versions of the same story, and none of the versions checks out.”