National Education Standards: Good or Bad?

Less than two months ago, U.S.  governors and state school chiefs released recommendations for national education standards in math and English. The standards were developed by the states, which can choose whether to adopt them, but U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said he is “ecstatic” about the initiative. The New York Times reports today that 27 states have already adopted them—and to that number we can add Massachusetts, which voted in favor of them this morning. About a dozen more states are expected to do so shortly.

The NYT notes, “The problem of wide variations in state standards has become more serious in recent years, as some states weakened their standards to avoid being penalized under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.” National standards would certainly avoid that problem. Whether they will reduce the teaching to the test that NCLB seemed to foster remains an open question—and would also depend on how states implement the standards and assess students, matters that are still in progress. My other big problem with NCLB is that while it may have helped some lower-performing schools and students, it leaves little time or incentive for better students to challenge themselves. Is it progress if all our students converge on the average, but none excel?

I’m still trying to get my head around how the new standards might change things. If you’re interested in doing the same, the Common Core Standards Web site is a good place to start. (Also of note: Development of the new standards was funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. I’m hoping that doesn’t mean that when a student doesn’t know the answer to a question, she will turn blue and freeze like my PC.)

Since I know you all tend to have opinions, what do you think? Are national “Common Core Standards” that specify what is taught in math and English at each grade level a good thing? Better than the NCLB approach to education? Good for states with poor standards, bad for states like Massachusetts that already have strong state standards? Problematic in other ways? The best thing to happen to education since dustless chalk?

Leave a comment!

Midwife Advice Needed

A reader left this as a comment, and I thought I’d give it more visibility to see if any of you can help. She’s searching for an LGBT-friendly midwife in East Texas. If you know of any resources or advice for her, please leave a comment!

My partner and I are planning on starting a family soon, and I have chosen to have a home birth. I initially thought it would be difficult to find a midwife in my area who would attend a home birth, because I live in a very conservative, relatively small-town area of East Texas. What I am finding now is that it is quite easy to find a midwife in my area, but the challenge is finding someone who is comfortable with and supportive of my relationship with my partner. I have looked everywhere for advice on how or where to find the right midwife for us, but so far I have found nothing. If there is any advice you could give me, or if you could just point me in the right direction to a helpful resource, I would appreciate it so much. Thank you.

The Kids Are All Right: Marriage In the Bathroom Mirror

I reviewed the lesbian mom movie The Kids Are All Right when it first came out, a little over a week ago. At the risk of overdoing it, I want to write some more.

Many other lesbian bloggers have also turned their pens to reviews, including Dorothy Snarker at After Ellen, Julie Goldman and Brandy Howard at AutoStraddle, Lesbian Dad, Scribegrrrl, and Kathy Wolfe at SheWired. As is clear from some of the comments on Dorothy’s post at After Ellen, however, and Jill Bennett’s op-ed at She Wired, however, many people are feeling everything from concern to anger over the “lesbian sleeps with a man” part of the plot. I tried to address that in my review—the film is not “about” the opposite-sex relationship and it is clear the character isn’t “converted” to being straight. Yes, a lesbian sleeping with a man is an old film cliché—but as both Dorothy and LesbianDad have pointed out in the After Ellen comment thread, too, director Lisa Cholodenko turns the trope on its head. (If you’re interested in even more of the debate, check out the follow-up posts by Dorothy and Scribegrrrl.)

In this vein, I want to point out a review by Mark Harris of Entertainment Weekly (not yet online). He gets that the film is about human relationships. He gets that it is not about a lesbian sleeping with a man—in fact, he doesn’t even mention the affair. Dana Stevens at Slate has a similar take, but Harris rightly stresses just how rare a look at marriage the film provides—and not because it involves two women. He writes: Read the rest of this post »

Weekly Political Roundup

A light week for news, as we head into the summer doldrums:

• The Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) looks to be dead for this session of Congress.
• A federal district court heard testimony in a case to overturn Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
• Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) wrote that he believes the recent rulings against Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) should stand. He illustrates his view with the story of a couple married in Massachusetts, but kept apart when one spouse, a Brazilian citizen, was sent back to his homeland.
• Kerry’s story, of course, is as much an argument for immigration reform as for marriage equality. That’s why it’s good to hear that 37 members of Congress have just issued a new call for LGBT-inclusive immigration reform.
• The Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals said that a proposed initiative to overturn the District’s marriage equality law would violate the Human Rights Act.

Around the world:

• Argentina became the 10th country to legalize marriage for same-sex couples. Blogger Andrés Duque has a lot of background on the vote (and his live tweets earned him praise from Mediaite). The move also means that “there are now about 250 million people worldwide living in jurisdictions which provide for marriage equity,” according to statistician extraordinaire Nate Silver.

Georgia Gubernatorial Candidate’s Baseless Screed Against Gay Parents

Former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, now seeking the Republican nomination for governor, told local NBC affiliate 11 Alive that not only does she disapprove of marriage equality or domestic partnerships, she would also consider outlawing adoption by gay men and lesbians. “Do I think that gay parents is in the best interest of the child? No,” she said.

Reporter Doug Richards pressed for a reason. Handel’s answers are telling: Read the rest of this post »

Let’s Make the U.S. Passport Form Include All Families

I applied for a new passport for our seven-year-old son the other day, but was stumped by the lines asking for “Father’s Name” and “Mother’s Name.” Yes, I’m used to this on forms—medical forms, school forms, etc.—as I’m sure many of you are, but since a passport is such a key piece of identity (and passport officials can be picky about crossing stuff out), this application irked me more than most.

I decided to do something about it, as I explain in more detail over at Change.org. The State Department under President Obama and Sec. Hillary Clinton has been one of the most LGBT-friendly federal departments, and has made several other changes in passport procedures to better reflect LGBT lives. Changing the application to say “Parent 1″ and “Parent 2″ would be a small, accurate, and inclusive change, and could serve as a model for other forms.

Click the widget below to send an e-mail to Sec. of State Hillary Clinton asking that the State Department take action on this. (And click “Get Widget” to put the widget on your own site.)

Start a Petition »

The Next Great Film About Lesbian Moms

Regardless of whether you’ve seen The Kids Are All Right yet (and you should—here’s why), what do you think the next major film about lesbian moms (or heck, any type of LGBT family) should be about?

I’d love to see a family that wasn’t white and middle class, myself. How about you? What family characteristics, structure, and plot points would you like to see? (Bonus: Who would you like to see star in it?)

Songs to Keep You Going from Erin Lee and Marci

Children’s musicians Erin Lee and Marci bring us the next of their regular posts with thematic recommendations for kid-friendly music, plus activities to make the songs an interactive experience for the whole family.

Look for Erin Lee and Marci here on the first Monday of each month, or visit their homepage, www.gottaplay.org.

I’ve created links to Amazon for the full albums (click the album name), plus links to Amazon MP3 downloads, when available, for those who want only the singles. (Click the song name.) I also have a widget after the jump that will let you preview most of the songs without leaving Mombian.

Have you ever done something that you wished you hadn’t done? Or has something ever happened to you that you wish never happened? There are some things that you just can’t make go away or pretend didn’t happen…but what you do NEXT can make all the difference between a terrible day and a happy ending.

The characters in these songs keep on going when things get tough, scary, or just plain embarrassing. They turn difficult situations into happy endings through bravery, perseverance, and sometimes just a good sense of humor. Read the rest of this post »

The Kids Are All Right: Interviews and Openings

I’m pleased to see coverage of The Kids Are All Right popping up all over the media. (My own review is here.) I wanted to highlight a couple of interviews with director Lisa Cholodenko and many in the cast, including Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Josh Hutcherson, and Mia Wasikowska.

Below is comedian Bridget McManus doing the interviews for After Ellen. I particularly like how Moore says she and Bening brought their real-life experience as moms to their roles.

After the jump is the Advocate’s similar session.

I hope either or both of these clips will convince you (if my own review didn’t) that the whole “lesbian has an affair with a man” subplot stays far away from the dreaded “all a lesbian needs is a man” myth. Really. Go see this film. Happily, it will be opening at more theaters across the country soon—here’s a list.

Read the rest of this post »

Weekly Political Roundup

• Big, huge victories against DOMA lead the news for the week, as already mentioned.
• The battle against Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is getting even more interesting as two groups for LGBT servicemembers issue conflicting advice about whether to complete the Pentagon’s survey about DADT. Read the rest of this post »