Competition ~ Cooperation

I agree: two thumbs up.

They are the "You take care of you and I'll take care of me generation." There are multiple reasons for their lack of ethics. A large part of it is the competitiveness that Americans have embedded in their minds. Back about 30 years ago I witnessed cooperation being shunned. I can trust someone that is cooperating. I can not trust someone that is competing. The eastern countries are largely based upon groups that are bonded with cooperation. Their institutions have proven to be more productive than American institutions based upon aggressive competitiveness.

Stephen

This is so important that everyone should have this knowledge.

Hola Greg and others,


Will American become an empire like that of Hitler's Empire? America has become an empire. The next step has not happened yet. I thought a long time ago that I had enough knowledge to know when it was happening [ I did not.], but powerless to do anything to stop it. The knowledge is out there now to give anyone that is interested to at least become aware of unfolding events. That knowledge is in A history of Hitler's Empire by professor Thomas Childers. It's a set of lessons offered by Great Courses. http://www.thegreatcourses.com The cost is about $10 plus S/H. The cost is less than a 5th of brandy.

Stephen



Stephen

What is wrong with you people?

Not only are you giving your students apple juice containing arsenic poison, you are buying apple juice concentrate from China.  [I found out that most of the apple juice consumed in America is from concentrate bought from China.]

This tragedy cause me to remember Fritz who at the time I visited his gine lived in Benzonia, Michigan where he had an apple orchard.  Before moving to Benzonia, Fritz had been a gardener at the Dow Orchards in Midland Michigan. 

Fritz took me out to his orchards and showed me his apple trees.  The limbs were weighted down with apples that needed to be picked.  I told him that the apples needed to be picked and taken to market.  He told me that they had blemishes and were too small to be sold.  The apple trees were later cut down and the trees sold for firewood.  Fritz later died.

It takes 15 to 20 years to grow a productive apple tree.  How many farmers have given-up because of your irrational demand for perfect fruit? 

If you want fruit from trees like Fritz's, then you are going to have to wait for a long time.  Your kids will be out of school before that happens.

What follows is that an undiffentiated similar product is turned into a juice and packaged in a cartoon that appeals a maketing department's created fantasy.  What's wrong with you people?

More Students Go To School Hungry!

In the Tampa Bay area more students are now eligible for free lunches and the number of federal Title 1 schools has increased.  This is a function of parents not being able to afford to buy the food that is offered for sale and not having the necessary land to grow their own food; assuming that they would if they did have the land.

I remember what it was like to go to school hungry.  Was it my fault that I didn't have enough money to buy food from the school cafeteria?

Will this project feed the students?  Space Port

Low Achievement

Low achievement is epidemic in America.  I see it every where I look. The very act of watching TV is a low low achievement activity where I watch other engaged in low achievement behavior such as chasing, hitting or throwing a ball.  Then there are those that crash into each other or other self destructive behavior.

I watched a cop show tonight and realized that the cops were obstucting low achievers. What did the cops achieve?  It wasn't a product that could be sold, exchanged or used for some purpose.  They did, however, obstruct behavior that needed to be obstructed.

I personal get satisfaction from achieving.  Writing this is an achievement that hopefully someone will read.
I also get pleasure from repairing my home.  There was a time when I could do whatever I wished to improve my home.  That has ended.  Now I need to buy a permit if I am allowed to buy it.

I needed to fix my roof.  One of the obstructions to that achievement is the law that forbids me from fixing my own roof.  Since, I am a high achiever, I will repair my roof on the weekend when the Code Enforcement Officer is off duty.

It isn't easy to achieve an objective. Sometimes, it isn't worth the effort.

Do you obstruct achievement?  Are you one of those people that get paid to obstruct achievement?

Indifference is Epidemic in America!

I first became aware of indifference when I was a student at Delta College.  It didn't seem important at the time.  Since then, it has spread like a disease.

Do you ever say, "It doen't make a dif to me."  I got this message this morning: "Dude! Believe me, or don't believe me. It makes no difference to me."  The person that sent that message to me works at the Pentagon.  The other was told to me in a face to face encounter.  Dawn is a Clearwater High School math teacher.

What do you say?

Disruptive Behavior Disorder, DBD

It is best for the teacher to quickly identify the student with Disruptive Behavior Disorder. Document their behavior and have them removed from your class as quickly as possible.  It is not just the youth that can be disruptive.  Before going on to adult, I'll mention a few ways that students can be disruptive.

1. Coming to class late.
2. Conspiring with peers to do something disruptive.
3. Asking questions with the intent of confusing the teacher.
4. Discrediting the teacher, just to name a few.

My uncle Jim who was a Chemistry teacher would ask a question and then ask that the answer to the question be explained.  Nested questions create confusion a situation where the answer eventually cannot be understood and the speaker not know what they are talking about.

I had another family member that would constantly ask, "What is the difference."  And, yet another one that would ask, "Cause, why?"

Danny, an adult at the Dog Park prides himself in being able to create a situation where the other person does not know what they are talking about.

I have heard that it takes all kinds to make a world.  However, you cannot be an effective teacher if the person with a Disruptive Behavior Disorder is allowed to act-out in your class. If you cannot stop them.  Then have them removed.

I am not the only writer that thinks that ....

Many science readers think that most humans will not read what they write.  Futhermore, I doubt if many are reading what I publish on this Blog either.

Ron Cowen, Yale University Press wrote, " But it's unclear whether a universal understanding of cosmic origins can ever take hold, since those who disagree may never pick up the book in the first place."  [The New Universe and the Human Future by Nancy Ellen Abrams and Joel R. Primack]

It is much worse than that.

This organization controls teacher evaluations.

Marzano Research is a private corporation that is not affiliated with a University.  They have marketed to schools and have sold their products to many. 

If your professional life has turned into a living hell, then what they are doing may be the cause.  If that is not the case. Then there is one thing I am sure of; money is being transferred from your school system to Marzano Reach if your school administrators signed their contract.

Marzano Research Laboratory

Texas students sent from classroom to courtroom

By Donna St. George, Published: August 21

SPRING, TEX. — In a small courtroom north of Houston, a fourth-grader walked up to the bench with his mother. Too short to see the judge, he stood on a stool. He was dressed in a polo shirt and dark slacks on a sweltering summer morning.

“Guilty,” the boy’s mother heard him say.

He had been part of a scuffle on a school bus.

In another generation, he might have received only a scolding from the principal or a period of detention. But an array of get-tough policies in U.S. schools in the past two decades has brought many students into contact with police and courts — part of a trend some experts call the criminalization of student discipline.

Now, such practices are under scrutiny nationally. Federal officials want to limit punishments that push students from the classroom to courtroom, and a growing number of state and local leaders are raising similar concerns.

In Texas, the specter of harsh discipline has been especially clear.

Here, police issue tickets: Class C misdemeanor citations for offensive language, class disruption, schoolyard fights. Thousands of students land in court, with fines of up to $500. Students with outstanding tickets may be arrested after age 17.

[sic] The new school year is about a week old and this has already begun.

Five Common Myths about the Brain

MYTHS:

1. Humans use only 10 percent of their brain.
2. "Left brain" and "right brain" people differ.
3. You must speak one language before learning another.
4. Brains of males and females differ in ways that dictate learning abilities.
5. Each child has a particular learning style.
   
   
   source"  Mind, Brain, and Education Science, by Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa.
   
    

This Is The Best WWII Documentary.

You can get all the details at PBS.org's website. http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/education/

I am watching the series now and getting insight into what was happening behind closed door. Behind Closed Doors happens to be the name of the series.

If you an your students don't watch this, then you and your students do not care about what happened during WWII.  Ignorance is not bliss.  I learned that a long time ago.

If you cannot write in cursive, then you are defective!

Who still writes in cursive?  I do and if you don't, then I think that there is something defective about you.

That age-old writing method you might never have used since fourth grade will no longer be taught in Indiana schools come fall, thanks to a memo from school officials. Instead, students will be expected to become proficient in keyboard use.

Seems like a smart move as being able to type efficiently is a vital skill in today's world, as opposed to knowing how to write cursive, which — like being able to churn butter and knowing how to hitch a horse to a wagon — is no longer needed.

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/07/06/typing-beats-scribbling-indiana-schools-can-stop-teaching-cursive/#ixzz1RNWlstYd

New Florida Laws Went Into Effect on July 1.

Several new laws designed to advance alternatives to traditional public schools also will go into effect July 1.

1. One (HB 7107) directs the Department of Education to expand online learning options and require students who enter high school this fall to take at least one virtual course before they graduate.
2. Another (HB 1329) expands an existing voucher program that lets disabled students attend private schools at taxpayer expense to children with afflictions such as allergies, asthma and diabetes.
3. A third (SB 1546) offers more training and technical assistance to charter schools and longer contracts and other benefits to those with high performance ratings.
4. Another education-related law (SB 228) is designed to prohibit students from wearing "droopy drawers" but requiring school districts to pass dress codes that prohibit the wearing of clothing in a revealing or disruptive way.

One Dead And Two In Critical Condition

I was on the phone talking with Mary when this happened.  I was at the crash site the next day and saw no evidence that their brakes were applied.  I thought at the site that there is a strong possibility that the 16 year-old driver was texting when it happened. I was told that the event is still under investigation.

The street this happened on has a 30 mph speed limit.  Likely going faster than that when he hit the ditch and flipped.

http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewFreeUse.act?fuid=MTMzMzUwNzg%3D

What will be the effect of the accident.  The driver will not need to be educated.  The two passengers many only be able to function at the level of the mentally handicapped.  There will be one funeral and the other two will be society's burden for the rest of their lives.

You really do not care. O' Ya!

166 million dollars was spent to build what would become a failing school soon after completed.

HOLIDAY — Anclote High School principal Monica Ilse has no illusions about her school's grade when the announcement comes in early December.


"It is going to be an F," Ilse said matter-of-factly during a recent campus tour. "We've accepted it. We're going to move on. Honestly, that old news."
Students, faculty and staff got the first inkling that the news would not be good for their year-old school back in the summer, with the release of various state and national test results. Among the signals:
• 7 percent of students taking Advanced Placement (AP) exams earned passing scores.

• 36 percent of students taking the FCAT reading exam scored at grade level or better.

• 34 percent of students in the lowest quartile made gains on the FCAT reading exam.

Ilse knew the school would have its struggles. Located in a high-poverty, high-crime area, Anclote High has 70 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Many of the children have family or social issues well beyond schooling that affect their performance.

I recall teaching in Saginaw, MI.  It was not uncommon for a high performing student to be threatened with violence if they scored high on an exam.  If they wanted to get home without injury, then they had to respond to test questions by answering many questions incorrectly.  I don't know if that is behind Anclote's 'F'.  It could be that it is known by a large percentage of the students that if they don't study and fail exams that  teachers will be blamed and potentially fired.

I doubt if most people care enough about was posted to have gotten to this point.  You are a lot like the students in a failing school.

A Path to School Ruin

source:  Diane Ravitch @ the Times

Gov. Rick Scott seems determined to ruin public education in Florida.  Not only is he devastating school budgets with multiple-billion-dollar cuts, but he is intent on crushing the morale of the state's teachers. One can't expect to improve the public schools while demeaning the professionals who work in them.

Scott approaches school reform as if public education were a government scam that needs to be privatized and as if teachers are lazy scoundrels who need a swift kick in the pants or the promise of a  bonus to motivate them.  He has a naive belief in the value of test scores that is not shared by the nation's testing experts.  So he is promoting the proliferation of privately managed charter schools to compete with neighborhood public schools, more testing of all subjects and at the same time, tying teachers' compensation and evaluation to there student's test scores.

[It was recently reported on local news that a record number of Florida's teachers are taking early retirement. They are getting out of the profession.  I wonder if those that had thought about the profession are not thinking about taking their professional development in a different direction. I look back on what I have done and think that I should have avoided the education profession.]

Will someone read this other than me.  I doubt it.

The eReader Revolution has no effect on illiterates.

I will be the first to admit, I love the smell of books. Books, bookstores, libraries – anywhere there is ink on paper draws me in. I always said I would never buy an eReader – but I was going on a cruise, and I didn’t want to add 20 pounds of books to my luggage. I caved in and bought one. What can I say – Kindle, I love you. My dramatic shift over to eReading got me thinking. Just how much has technology and social media changed the way we read and share books?

Virtual Schools (This information is not available to illiterates.)

Virtual Schools (passed)

Expands online school offerings and requires incoming high school students to take at least one online course before graduating. (SB 1620/HB 7197)

School Vouchers (This information is not available to illiterates.)

School Vouchers - Opportunity Scholarships (passed)

Allows more students to qualify to move to other public schools by expanding the definition of a "failing" school.   (SB 1822/HB 1331)

Teacher Tenure (This information is not available to illiterates.)

Bills became Florida Law that effect teachers.

Teacher evaluations will be based in part on student test scores and administrators will be able to more easily fire teachers with weak evaluations.  (SB 736/HB 7019)

Little Boys That Want to Become Professional Athletes

I have 4 boys in my family that wanted to become professional athletes then they were in grade school.  Three of them neglected academic.  Two of them were anatomically not correct for football or basketball: too short and small with no history of sport achievement in the family.  Two of the boys were adopted.  Both of them had fathers that were Ohio State football players.  They have the genetics but was something missing. They are now in their twenties and neither one of them became football players.

Both of my nephews squandered their public school opportunity.  Chris wanted to be a Architect. He was expelled from the local community college.  Josh became a mountain climber.  When they were in public school there father was on the school board and their mother was a Math teacher.

I knew when the boys were obsessed with sports that the probability of them being able to be professional and prospering was a low.  Josh, the mountain climber travels with his personals on his back and lives in a tent.  Of the four boys, they is only one that took education seriously.

I saw it unfolding and had no influence in effectively stopping what was about to happen.  When sports have a high priority, then the long term consequences can be devastating. Give sports a low priority.