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February 11, 2004 Parent participation -- or else Parents who repeatedly miss teacher conferences could face fines or jail time under a proposed South Carolina law. A parent who ignores the subpoena can be held in contempt and ordered to attend a parental responsibility program, shadow the student, pay a fine of up to $500 or go to jail for up to 30 days for each violation.The bill also would raise the mandatory attendance age to 18. I don't think either idea is realistic. Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0) A piece of sheepskin The high school diploma doesn't mean anything, says the American Diploma Project, which was launched by a consortium of education reform groups. The diploma has lost its value because what it takes to earn one is disconnected from what it takes for graduates to compete successfully beyond high school — either in the classroom or in the workplace.Despite all the complaints that graduation requirements are too tough, the project calls for raising the bar, writes Jay Mathews in the Washington Post. Here are the main points in their argument:The American Diploma Project recommends English and math skills that all students should master to prepare for work or college. The report offers conclusions on what students are going to need to survive in the workplace or in college from more than 300 faculty members from two- and four-year institutions, front-line managers and high school educators. One surprising part of the report for a technologically ignorant poly sci major like me were the examples of workplace tasks a high school graduate confronts these days. Here is an assignment for a machine operator apprentice at the Eastman Chemical Company:Employers must spend more to teach new hires basic reading and math skills. Or hire in India.Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) Mobilizing the mind of the child Publishing children's books is changing in Iraq. Yet the goal remains molding young minds. It's just a different mold. The Christian Science Monitor reports from Iraqi Children's Cultural House, which publishes children's books and magazines: The issue of Muzmar that coincided with the 2002 presidential referendum may be the most extreme example of the youth-oriented propaganda machine at work. The cover features a drawing of smiling children holding a sign that says "Yes, Yes to Daddy Saddam!" while their parents vote in the foreground. Inside are a biography of Hussein, an article describing the "1.5 million love letters" written to the president by the Iraqi people, and a two-page testimonial from Cultural House employees recalling their own joyous voting experiences.The Cultural House's first post-Saddam book, "Nur and the Rainbow," promotes unity among Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and Turkmen. Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) College vs. cottage Norma's kids skipped college, and the family is richer as a result. The college money went to buy a summer cottage, which has quadrupled in value. She notes that the average college graduate earns $600,000 more in a lifetime than the average high school graduate. Say we had invested $20,000 (the cost in the mid-80s of a state university education) in the stock market for 45 years, until their retirement age. Would they have that $600,000 to cushion their golden years? No, they'd have $1,604,000 using the conservative figure that over time, stock investments level out at about 10% a year, even factoring in the wild ride of the 90s.Of course, her children have good jobs they enjoy so they didn't pay the typical penalty for entering the workforce with only a high school education. Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0) February 10, 2004 Bashed teachers Teachers are treated like scum, says the author of Schoolyard Blog. I think there's a lot to what she says about creating an environment that allows creative teachers to teach. Bad administrators and impossible work conditions tend to drive out or drag down teachers who'd be doing good work in a better school. The post was inspired by the "teacher bashing" in this post's comments, which have run amok. Permalink | Comments (34) | TrackBack (1)Sharing the hunger At St. Matthew School in Hillsboro, Oregon, lucky students who picked a purple card were served a full meal on a white tablecloth; those who picked a brown card got a small bowl of rice and no table. The object was to teach seventh and eighth graders that food isn't distributed equally worldwide. The Hunger Banquet was arranged by school librarian Karen Mejdrich, who taught about human rights this year. She wanted the students to feel -- on a gut level -- the impact of going without. She hoped it would let her students witness poverty from a position of opulence and feel a need to change the imbalance.Oxfam's solution is to get the lucky rich to share with the unlucky poor. The students did that spontaneously. I wish they'd talked about producing more food: the green revolution, the potential of genetic engineering in the Third World, which economic and political systems lead to abundance, that sort of thing. In the end, however, there was an increase in the food supply: As a reward for sharing, all the students got lasagna. Permalink | Comments (21) | TrackBack (1)Paying off the math mortgage A student who doesn't quite make the grade can borrow grade points from the teacher at a primary school in Shanghai. Students who do poorly on a test can ask their teachers to lend them a few points to improve their grade, but twice as many points must be paid back on the next test, assuming they achieve a better mark.One 10-year-old earned an extra 19 points on a test to pay off her "maths mortgage." Tyler Cowen wants to see a free market in grade points, with students allowed to trade and borrow among themselves. Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)February 09, 2004 Sour grapes Bart Ingles sent a Washington Post headline: "Insurgents Attempting to Ferment 'Civil War' in Iraq Sought Al Qaeda Help." Apparently, they are stamping out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. When I was at the Mercury News, I always made sure I proofed the headlines on our pages. It's a personal rule: Don't make your mistakes in the big type. Permalink | Comments (32) | TrackBack (0)Don't call them 'gifties' At a Chicago middle school, eighth graders in the gifted class didn't like the T-shirt design selected by vote, so they ordered an alternate design and added their nickname, "gifties," to the shirt. That label got them in trouble with the principal, reports the Chicago Tribune. Now parents are suing. (Principal Chris) Kotis told them that no one could wear that shirt because it was not the "official" one and that there would be "serious consequences" if anyone did, the suit said.It's clear what the serious consequences amounted to -- they were "confined" for a day? -- but the lawsuit is asking that the incident not appear on students' records. I'd think the principal would want to forget about it too. When my daughter was in fourth grade, her teacher said she'd been identified as "gifted" in reading and math, but she wasn't to tell anyone about it for fear of lowering her classmates' self-esteem. He slipped her a "gifted" book (Tuck Everlasting) to read. That was the sum total of the gifted program in fourth grade. No Child Left Behind forces schools to focus on low-achieving students, which means less attention and money for high achievers. This story focuses on high-IQ, low-income, minority students but most of those losing out are middle-class whites and Asians. The law also encourages schools to hang on to their high-scoring students. Ohio is playing a dubious game, assigning gifted students' scores to the schools they left. Permalink | Comments (18) | TrackBack (0)Under the skin At San Jose's Piedmont Hills High School, biotechnology students tested their own DNA for a genetic marker that originated in central China or Taiwan. Seventeen students share a common ancestry -- but not a common race. Check out the caption on the photo: Piedmont Hills High students who share a common ancestor include, from left, Simon Bao (Chinese and Vietnamese), Beth Gomes (white), Aaron Saini (Indian), Austin Buckner (African-American and Japanese), Michael Huynh (Chinese and Vietnamese) and Andrew Tran (Vietnamese).Students began to question the racial and ethnic categories they've been taught to recognize. Junior Aaron Saini, whose family comes from northern India, was surprised to learn that he has more in common genetically with classmate Christine Gonzalez, who is half Mexican and half European, than with Sefali Patel, whose heritage is also northern Indian.Very cool. Permalink | Comments (32) | TrackBack (0) College profits This story answers a question that's puzzled me for years: Why does anyone pay hefty tuition at a for-profit college when there are much cheaper public colleges and universities? Time is money. From the Los Angeles Daily News. Marcos Valdivia, 34, of Burbank, considered going to California State University, Northridge, for his accounting degree, but instead chose DeVry University.Employers no longer look down on graduates of for-profits, says the Daily News. Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0) February 08, 2004 Walking to school Few children walk or bicycle to school any more. Even among kids who live within a mile of school, only 31 percent get to school under their own power. Parents are too fearful; backpacks are too heavy. Kevin Drum and Russell Arben Fox talk about the change. I started walking to school on the first day of kindergarten. Moms didn't escort us, much less drive us. Of course, the sidewalks were filled with other baby boomer kids and the mothers were home with baby boomer babies. Nobody carried a backpack either. Textbooks -- we didn't use many -- usually stayed at school. Homework was copied from the blackboard or handed out as a work sheet. Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)February 07, 2004 Who majors in education? Students who plan to major in education earn low SAT scores, writes Reform K12. On the math test, education majors rank third from the bottom, beating out students who plan to major in agriculture/natural resources and public affairs and services (social work, I think). Ed majors rank second from the bottom on the verbal exam, just above public affairs majors. Since strong verbal skills correlate with effective teaching, this is not good news. Of course, many of these would-be teachers won't complete a degree. Permalink | Comments (85) | TrackBack (2)Why are clams happy? Michael Quinion traces the origin of words and phrases from abracadabra to zilch. I like the mini-essay on Katy, bar the door. Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)Provocative Spotted on Right Wing News: In Norway, a teacher was told not to wear a small Star of David necklace because it might offend Muslim students. (Inge) Telhaug teaches immigrants Norwegian language and culture at the education center. Telhaug is not Jewish.Here's a thought: As part of learning Norwegian culture, immigrants could learn that they can't bring their hatreds to their new country. Tolerating the teacher's Star of David could be a good first step. Permalink | Comments (23) | TrackBack (0) February 06, 2004 High school at Hooters A Savannah, Georgia high school will not give vocational studies credit to a 17-year-old senior who works at a local restaurant, Hooters. While Laura Williams wears long pants and a collared shirt as a Hooters hostess -- there's a non-racy photo to prove it -- Hooters is known for scantily clad staffers. Inappropriate, says the superintendent. The school board agreed. "I know we live in a world of Britney Spears, but I don't see us giving school credit in that atmosphere," said school board member Vera Jones.The girl will keep the job and do without the credit. Her father is considering -- naturally -- a lawsuit. Aaron Sharp, manager of the Savannah Hooters, has said the school superintendent overreacted. He said his restaurant strives for a family atmosphere that includes balloons for children and a kids' menu.Balloons. I wonder how they use them. And who takes the kids to Hooters. Divorced dads?Permalink | Comments (48) | TrackBack (0) Segregation now In Nevada, an elementary school librarian taught third graders about discrimination by segregating black and white students. Trouble ensued. One perturbed parent gave a detailed account of what her crying 9-year-old child told her after school Tuesday, saying (Lora) Mazzulla began class by seating black children at one set of tables and everyone else across the room.The school is near Nellis Air Force Base, which means the children of men and women serving their country are being taught to resent each other and revel in their status as victims. But they're not being taught enough about history to understand why the librarian, who is white, thinks they should be treated differently on the basis of skin color. Meanwhile, Gough said her daughter remains upset because it has provoked ongoing taunting at the school between children of different races.My daughter couldn't categorize people by race till she was in middle school. I felt sad when she got the knack of it. Permalink | Comments (34) | TrackBack (1) Stinking students Many high schools no longer require students to shower after P.E. class, says the Christian Science Monitor. And many students would rather smell than strip and shower in front of their classmates. We used to have P.E. every day. Girls complained about ruining their hair in the shower, but we had no choice. I do remember we had to bring our gym suits home once a week to wash them. I tended to forget to put it in the wash, so I'd iron it Monday morning before leaving for school. Gym teacher were impressed at the weekly inspection. I think too much locker room time destroys the sense of smell. Permalink | Comments (21) | TrackBack (0)Utah, left behind Utah may reject federal education funds for disadvantaged students in order to avoid having to comply with the No Child Left Behind Act, notes Education Gadfly. Other states are threatening to do the same. In early 2002, just after it was signed, then Vermont governor Howard Dean urged his state's superintendent and lawmakers to consider turning down Title I dollars, which he said amounted to far less than they would need to successfully implement the new accountability provisions. Since then, officials in Hawaii, Alaska and Virginia have made noises about dropping out. (Most recently, Virginia lawmakers passed a resolution condemning the provisions, arguing that they hurt Virginia's own school accountability efforts.) But legislators in Utah this week turned the heat up a few degrees. The education committee of the Utah house voted unanimously to send House Bill 43 — which prohibits the state's public schools from "any further participation in the No Child Left Behind Act" — to the floor.Many states are complaining that compliance will cost them more then they're getting from the feds. Yet few states will opt out of NCLB. Even Utah is negotiating with the feds.Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) Not just a buzzword "Evolution" is back in Georgia's proposed biology curriculum. Last week, the state superintendent, Kathy Cox, ordered the word removed because it is "a buzz word that causes a lot of negative reaction." Cox now says she goofed. Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)February 05, 2004 The eternal Ben-Hur From The Onion: 10th-Grade Class Watches Ben-Hur For Two WeeksOf course, this parody is off the mark. Students wouldn't be keeping journals. That requires writing. They'd share their posters. Permalink | Comments (19) | TrackBack (1) School suits Florida schools are spending millions of dollars defending against frequent and often frivolous lawsuits, writes the St. Pete Times. Students sue if they have to share valedictorian honors or if they fail a critical test. School bus mayhem ends up in court. At one school, a lesbian student sued because she wasn't allowed to wear a shirt and tie, rather than a feminine drape, in her yearbook photo. A 1999 study by the American Tort Reform Association found that 25 percent of school principals said they had faced a lawsuit or court settlement in the last two years.Zero-tolerance policies were supposed to prevent lawsuits by limiting principals' flexibility. Instead, parents sue to overturn over-the-top punishments. More lawsuits. Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0) For a few billion more To provide New York City students with a "sound basic education" leading to a Regents diploma, the schools would need an extra $4.1 billion a year, says a new study. That would represent a 36 percent increase in spending, reports the New York Times. In the 2001-2 school year, an average of $10,793 was spent educating each of the city's 1.1 million schoolchildren. To help them meet the state's academic standards, that number should have been $13,373, the study found. By next fall, it will have to reach $15,150.I have a hard time believing it costs that much money to provide a "basic education." Permalink | Comments (32) | TrackBack (0) Nannyism without children Shark Blog points to a bill introduced in the Washington Legislature that would call for the state to distribute pamphlets urging couples to have no more than two children. I joined Zero Population Growth when I was in high school, and brought home a pamphlet and petition to my parents and three siblings. My mother asked me which of her children should not have been born. "Hey, I'm the second kid!" I said. Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0) |
Once an SJ Mercury News columnist, I'm now writing Ride the Carrot Salad: How Two Grumpy Optimists Built a Charter School. Read the blog, click the links below for my free-lance writing and support this site by donating through PayPal or Amazon or by using my book links to buy Amazon stuff. February 2004 Frugal
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