Lowering the standards

Here's the headline today regarding the pitiful state of eduction in America...Obama Administration Exempting Schools From Federal Law’s Testing Mandate.

I'm no fan of NCLB. It was one of Bush's many mistakes, as it forces teachers to teach to the federal standards test and practically asks for schools to look for ways to cheat. That said, I find it as telling as it is absurd that when a group cannot meet that standards set by the feds, rather than get rid of the bad program, they just lower the standards so that dumb students are now considered smart students. Is there anybody who thinks the students, schools, or America is well served by this preposterous policy?

It's just like with Obamacare. Obama has granted to date 1,500 waivers to businesses who would have to close their doors in order to comply with the program. Here, he's granting waivers from NCLB so that schools(which employ many unionized teachers who slavishly vote democrat) don't have to go on probation.

That's always the democrat answer to failing....lower the standards for failure so that the same performance is now passing.

Teachers unions doing what unions do....demand ever more from taxpayers

Feckless, self-interested, teachers in Wisconsin are protesting a cost-cutting measure by the governor of that state which would save millions, but would also curtail the power of the public sector unions to bargain collectively and extort lavish salary and benefits packages from taxpayers.

Many schools are closed as teachers have descended on Madison to agitate like thugs and demand to keep their cadillac packages. Meanwhile, state assembly democrats have fled to Illinois so they won't have to vote on the bill. Apparently the governor can have them forcibly brought to work as long as they are physically in the state. But like kidnappers or petulant 5 year olds, they are hold up in a hotel and have called in a list of demands to CNN.

Seriously? A list of demands? From an undisclosed location? Unbelievable!

I swear, if there's a more pernicious movement in the US than then the teachers' unions, I'd like to hear about it.

The sad state of American education

This in a nutshell is what's wrong with the American school system. Teachers' unions have a strangle hold on education policy and fight tooth and nail to prevent parents from having any choice in which schools their children will be educated. If there's anything teachers detest, it's the possibility of competition from better schools that will expose their own failures as educators. One desperate mom in Ohio learned that the hard way.....



Thanks to decades of teacher-union bribery, democrats' slavish devotion to the union, and more recently Obama's policy on school choice, kids are stuck in whatever dreadful school the government forces them to be. If they attached the education dollars to the kids, then let the parents send their kid to whatever school they wanted, the schools would have to compete for that money...everybody wins except bad schools and bad teachers. You may have guessed that the teachers' union is having none of that.

Somebody will argue that the parents can always move, but families shouldn't have to move to find decent schools for their kids.

Neal Boortz maintains that the single greatest threat to our republic is the teachers' unions and I tend to agree with him.

When you're too stupid to join the Army, you're pretty stupid

On one hand this is a sad commentary on the state of public education in the US, but on the other hand it's nice to know the US Army has some intelligence standards for recruits....

From FoxNews -- Nearly one-fourth of the students who try to join the U.S. Army fail its entrance exam, painting a grim picture of an education system that produces graduates who can't answer basic math, science and reading questions, according to a new study released Tuesday.

The report by The Education Trust bolsters a growing worry among military and education leaders that the pool of young people qualified for military service will grow too small.

Obviously you can lay the blame for this outrage squarely at the feet of the malignancy known as teachers' unions and their unholy alliance with the liberals in the federal government. Most high-school graduation exams are given at an 8th grade level so that most of the students can pass it. This is how abysmally stupid most American high-school graduates are.

Why isn't it at a 12th grade level? Because the teachers would have to teach at a level at which most of them aren't willing to be trained. But I'm glad the Army, not exactly famous for hiring Rhodes scholars, is pointing this out. I mean how stupid do you have to be to fail the Army's acceptance test?

Army recruiter: "State your SSAN"

Potential recruit: "253-1.....dude, check out this youtube clip on my iPhone"

Army recruiter *rolls eyes*: "Next!"

Nothing is sacred to liberal educators

Remember the Three Little Pigs? It's a cautionary, child-hood tale about diligence, hard work, and not taking the easy way. Of course because it's an American classic, liberal educators have to make it politically correct....

From FoxNews -- A new version of the story is now popping up in the classroom as part of the the fourth grade reading textbook Storytown: Winning Catch 4. In that book's version, the wolf has a sudden heart attack while trying to blow down the third little pig's adobe house. The three little pigs rush to his aid, save him, and while trying to flee from him once recovered, realize that the whole "huff and puff and blow your house down" thing was a simple "lack of communication": the wolf actually wanted to move in with the pigs and was testing each abode's structural security.

Obviously, only liberal retards would think to do something this stupid. Rational, sane people recognize the value of the story as it was originally written.

The other striking detail in this story is that the Three Little Pigs is being used in the 4th grade. Seriously? Surely American 4th graders are more advanced readers than that. If our 10 year olds are still reading picture books with only small paragraphs of text on each page, then the problem with our dreadful government education system should be apparent to every one.

Who doesn't love Chris Christy? Overpaid bureaucrats, that's who

Up in New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie is reforming that state's dreadful education system beginning with the teachers' unions. As part of that reform, he is limiting the salaries of education bureaucrats based on the number of students in that system. Apparently, some poor schlub named LeRoy Seitz tried to get around the new salary guidelines....



This dude is naming names in his righteous fight against corruption, entrenched bureaucrats, fraud, waste, and abuse at taxpayer expense. Every state needs a governor like Christie to take on the greedy teachers' unions.

College grads second guessing that vote for Hope and Change

Over at Sweetness&Light, I found this interesting statistic.....unable to find work, 85% of college grads plan to move back in with their parents. Back to their same, tiny bed, same annoyingly early curfew, and same high-school chore list.

The article highlights a recent Penn State grad who got a degree in public relations but can't find a job relating to the public, and had to move back in with her mom. Predictably, they both voted for Obama.

She's got two problems: the first one was choosing a Big 10 school....I mean seriously! Secondly, who told her there were jobs in public relations? You might as well be a middle manager at a payday loan store....i.e. you don't produce anything. You just manage those who do and therefor you get laid off first when the economy is bad.

Even a cursory review of job-market demand would have steered her in the direction of nursing or other health care-related or technical fields, accounting, or professional degrees in the legal or medical fields. There is always demand for nurses.

If you don't want to move back home, choose a career field in which there are jobs waiting. Just because you think you would enjoy and be good at something doesn't mean that you can find work doing it right out of school.

The problem with US schools in a nutshell

FoxNews is horrified that some schools are denying your precious snowflake's right to a lollipop as an academic performance bribe....

From FoxNews -- Schools have cut out junk food and sweets from their vending machines, cafeterias and birthday parties. One Franklin County district's leader is taking it a step further.

Bexley Superintendent Michael Johnson recently told staff members to consider an alternative to candy when rewarding or motivating students.

"It's common enough that I've been hearing complaints about it, kids coming home with three or four lollipops in their mouths at the same time," he said.

I'm sorry, but if your fat, dumb kid can't add 4 to 3 without being given candy as an incentive, then perhaps you aren't the terrific parent you think you are. This is why the US ranks near the bottom in every academic category. Mollycoddling and self-esteem stroking.

There's no place in school for birthday parties, lollipops, or cupcakes. School is for competitive learning where failing grades result in failure and self-esteem is earned not awarded.

SEIU 'tards make mockery of selves

Here's a collection of garden-variety Obama voters who, judging by their mad spelling skills, apparently dropped out of the sixth grade to join the union.

Our education secretary Andy Duncan sent an e-mail to all 4,000 Ed. Dept. employees suggesting that they attend Al Sharpton's King-day rally. I wonder if any of them spotted the spelling error in this SEIU sign while marching with Al? I doubt it since correct spelling doesn't fit into their curriculum of political correctness, Obama-worship, and self esteem stroking.

The dumbing down of America

Want to know why our country is in rapid decline? This might be a good place to start.....

In top suburban schools across the country, the valedictorian, a beloved tradition, is rapidly losing its singular meaning as administrators dispense the title to every straight-A student rather than try to choose the best among them.

Principals say that recognizing multiple valedictorians reduces pressure and competition among students, and is a more equitable way to honor achievement, particularly when No. 1 and No. 5 may be separated by only the smallest fraction of a grade from sophomore science.

"...reduces pressure and competition among students".....to a liberal in academia, this is a bad thing.

The real world is rife with pressure and competition. Making everybody equal so the losers don't get their feelings hurt is absurd. It's as dumb as not keeping score in youth sports so the losers don't get their feeling hurt and cry because they're losers.

Liberalism insidiously dictates that anybody who stands out as superior in a crowd of mediocrity must be leveled and forced to be no better than everybody else. If everybody gets to be valedictorian, why try to make good grades at all? If no score is kept in the game, why try to score?

It's crap thinking like this that is making the U.S. a crap nation with lazy crap citizens for whom losing isn't motivation to do better next time but, cause to whine like babies and demand fairness of outcomes be guaranteed.

4.0 GPA in Philosophy = $6.25/hour at McDonald's

It's graduation time again. Time to reflect on 4 years of hard work and preparation for life. Or if you got a philosophy degree, it's time for you to wonder where your life took such a wrong turn and time for your parents to prepare your bedroom for you to move back into.....

Purdue University alumnus Nick Enlow listed his 2008 diploma on eBay (EBAY) this week with a starting bid of $36,000. Enlow has said that his philosophy degree has not given him the means to earn enough income to cover his $470 per month obligations to Sallie Mae.

The dean of Purdue's College of Liberal Arts, Irwin Weiser, suggested these dubious uses for a liberal arts degree....

".....However, studying any of the disciplines in the arts, humanities, or social sciences prepares students to be successful because they learn to think creatively, critically and ethically, and to communicate what they think effectively.....and that'll come in handy making change for happy meals at McDonald's."

Ok, I made that last part up but he may as well have said it. We were all thinking it. Philosophy? What is a dumb 18year old kid thinking dropping 36large to major in Philosophy? Are there paying jobs where you sit at a desk and philosophize? Unless you major in something that rewards you with a marketable skill, you and your parents are better off with you going to a two year Tech. school.

N.J. Gov. Christie gives teacher a lesson in basic economics

Apparently this teacher is one Rita Wilson who makes $86,000 a year. I find it hard to sympathize with people who make bargained-up union wages for 9 months of work and enjoy generous pensions and health-care benefits, then have the nerve to gripe about what an awful deal they're getting. Just shut-up already!

Gov. Christie is right....nobody forces you to work any job. That's what's great about America...if you don't like one job, take another you like better. Otherwise, sit down and shut up!

Government seizure of higher education

Up until now, the federal government backed, or guaranteed, loans for higher education primarily through intermediaries. As part of the hideous health care seizure on Sunday night, those intermediary banks will be eliminated, or their role reduced to simply brokering direct government loans. From now on, Obama's department of education will issue directly, all college loans to students seeking financial aid. This effectively makes the DoE the sixth largest bank in the nation and compels the American taxpayer to directly assume over a trillion dollars in default risk....risk that used to be spread out among hundreds of private banks.

Unless you are a total cretin and/or voted for Obama, you must know that money from the federal government always, ALWAYS comes with onerous, politically-correct strings attached. This will be no different. Whereas before, the private banks acting as intermediaries, insulated borrowers from government meddling, we'll have to deal directly with the feds now. Expect something like the following requirements in order for your chosen institution to qualify for financial aid from Obama's DoE.....

*all students must receive mandatory diversity awareness training from a government certified trainer
*all students must participate in no less than 100 hours of community service with an approved organization such as ACORN, Planned Parenthood, etc
*the campus must be an official "gun-free zone"
*core-curricula for all majors must include classes in environmentalism, minority appreciation, redistributive financial policy, and the evils of capitalism
*25% of campus energy demand must be met with approved alternative-energy sources
*student cafeteria must offer a vegan menu with discounted pricing to encourage participation

You get the picture? When you send your kids off to be indoctrinated, make sure you know what they are being infused with.

At last....a country whose kids are dumber than America's

You know how we are always making fun of how dumb American kids are who have toiled in the public education system? Well, take a look at these ignorant morons in Britain. Our kids are some of the dumbest and least prepared in the world but, at least they're not British.....

From the BBC -- One in 10 children thinks the Queen invented the telephone, a survey of children’s science knowledge suggests.

Others gave credit for the invention to Charles Darwin and Noel Edmonds.

One in 20 of the 1,000 pupils polled thought Star Wars character Luke Skywalker or Richard Branson had been the first to set foot on the Moon.

Some 60% of nine- and 10-year-olds thought Sir Isaac Newton discovered fire, the survey for science campaign Birmingham Science City found.

Just over a third of boys said Newton discovered fire, while the remaining 16% either said he invented the Internet, or discovered the solar system or America.

Just think, Obama is driving America toward becoming a second-rate, socialist, nanny-democracy just like our mother country. Our public education system can't be far behind.

Heh, heh, dumb British kids think this guy was the first to walk on the moon.

Teachers' unions do not have your child's best interests at heart

If this doesn't convince you of the value of charter schools in the inner city, then you are probably an entrenched, education-union bureaucrat and nothing will convince you.....

Chicago's Urban Prep Charter Academy has a mission -- for its students to graduate and succeed in college. Now, for the first graduating class at the high school, it's mission accomplished.

All 107 seniors in the graduating class of Chicago's Urban Prep Charter Academy were accepted at colleges across the country.(ABC News)
All 107 seniors were accepted to a four-year college, a significant accomplishment considering they are from one of the toughest neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago.

We've been treated here in Alabama to commercials featuring supposed teachers, warning us about the evils of charter schools. No city except maybe Detroit, New Orleans, Cleveland, Memphis, DC, Los Angeles and, Oakland...OK, there are a lot of cities that could use charter education just as much as Birmingham, yet the teachers' unions are against it. They say because it'll take money away from public education, but what it'll do is embarrass the hell out of lazy, unmotivated, unionized lifers who care more about demanding higher salaries for less work, than teaching kids to be successful.

Obama gets one right for a change

Just like with Reagan and PATCO, if the miserable teachers union wants to make unreasonable demands and not have any accountability, fire the lot.....

From the Telegram -- PROVIDENCE — A long-troubled high school that fired all its educators last week is an example of the need for accountability over student performance, President Barack Obama said Monday during an address in Washington.

Obama cited a decision last week to fire 93 teachers, administrators and other support staff by the end of the year at Central Falls High School, as an example of school reform. No more than half of those teachers could be hired back under federal rules.

The union wants Central Falls to reconsider the firings and restart talks with a mediator.

Yeah I'll bet they do. The union should be banished and no unionized teachers should be hired to fill those jobs. The teachers in Providence made on average, 3 times as much as the average citizen in that town yet, only 7% of juniors could pass the state math test......7%!

I hope this signals the recognition of union uselessness in the work-place and it's impotence when it comes to politics. Labor should be like any other commodities market....subject to the laws of supply, demand, and price.

No political correctness at this school

Want to hear what your child's school answering machine SHOULD sound like?

Borrowed from Moonbattery



The teachers at this Australian school voted unanimously to record this outgoing message on the office answering machine. Many American helicopter parents could use a lesson in child rearing from these Aussies.

Dreadful government schools

This is what happens when you combine dumb, lazy teachers, who care more about students' self-esteem and sex education, with the systemic rot of political correctness, entrenched administrators, and the good-intentioned but idiotic NCLB....

Basic algebra involving fractions and decimals stumped a group of City University of New York freshmen - suggesting city schools aren't preparing them, a CUNY report shows.

"These results are shocking," said City College Prof. Stanley Ocken, who co-wrote the report on CUNY kids' skills. "They show that a disturbing proportion of New York City high school graduates lack basic skills."

During their first math class at one of CUNY's four-year colleges, 90% of 200 students tested couldn't solve a simple algebra problem, the report by the CUNY Council of Math Chairs found. Only a third could convert a fraction into a decimal.

When high-schools are graduating "students" who are this incapable of basic skills, what chance do they have of succeeding in college? And if their math skills are this deficient, how impaired are they likely to be in English or any other subject for that matter? Sure, they'll get admitted to college on a minority waiver, diversity program, or under-privilege scholarship program of some sort but, how long will they last? Maybe one semester at most? It is criminal to promote and graduate kids who cannot perform at basic levels but, actual learning is of no consequence to teachers' unions. Preserving dues-paying teachers' and administrators' jobs is the most important thing for the union and, in the classroom it's all about political correctness and self-esteem. Besides, to liberal teachers' unions, the dumber the population, the more likely they are to be loyal democrat voters.

Like my friend Pat over at Belchspeak says, "Reason #349 to home school".

Bonus: A virtual cookie to the first reader to solve the problem in the illustration above then, convert the answer to decimal form.

UPDATE: Regular reader Bobby T. earned a cookie with the correct answer, showing that for all the ridicule, we Alabamians are smarter than yankees from New York.

Are your kids becoming mindless Obama drones?

May as well stick with today's education theme since there seems to be so much material to work with. Over at SmartGirlNation, one of their readers sent in a quiz from her daughter's class, on which she was required to regurgitate Obama's talking points from last week's speech, in order to get a passing grade. Click on the image and read the test for yourself....



Yet another example of political indoctrination going on in our public schools. And you people try to tell me it's innocent and above board, or at least an isolated incident....it is not! It is widespread and insidious! You had better sit your kids down and clue them in to the ways of the world before their teachers do it for you.

Obama-worship in schools

Remember last week when we discussed the Obama speech to school children, and how it bordered on indoctrination before they amended it to be a benign, rah, rah speech? Watch this and tell me public school teachers aren't promoting politics in the classroom....



This is flat-out idolatry! Since when in America do we worship our elected leaders, and force children to sing hosannas to the President as if he were our personal lord and savior? This kind of crap makes me sick to my stomach! You know the other countries where young children sing worshipfully to their Dear Leader? North Korea and Nazi Germany for crying out loud!

Like you need another reason to home-school your kids!