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Still don’t know, but dirty deeds are done doight cheap. As in “Dirty deeds and they’re done doight cheap.”
It is so ironic that the battle for proper educational techniques is heating up just as we in New Castle County Delaware are swearing in someone who once brought stability and control to what was pure chaos.
Tom Gordan as chief executive came into our counties development crises which reminds me rather well of today’s educational crises. There were at least two sides, maybe three, all clamoring for something to be done about development in New Castle County. It was out of control. New buildings were going up, with one lane roads to feed it. Millions of tons of sewage were going to go into the ground on individual properties. The old pipes were not meant for such volume. Every community wanted a traffic light and every obliging state representative got them one… A Kohl’s could be built right against your back deck… There were no such things as abatements.
Tom Gordan said: There will be a moratorium on all new development. We will decide first, how we want to grow, we will put those laws in place, we will educate our inspectors on how to enforce those laws, and once we are ready, we will open development … up again.
It worked wonderfully.
So now, as I hear the corporate side race towards Common Core, and see their hands out asking for money, and see their high pressure sales technique, not unlike those of window salespeople who you invite into your home… Sign now! Sign now! Sign now! I have to think their is a reason they are worried we might have second doubts.
Then I see the side actually responsible for educating children, who says, “we are testing so much I can’t teach, and now, I’m getting fired because I can’t teach but whenever I do get a chance to actually teach, my students blossom”… This group says it is not the people who are driving low results, it is the system….
The question is: which is better for our children? To be honest whenever I hear both sides each speak in a vacuum, I’d have to say both are. There are good ideas on each side. One of the best new resources is a computer program that allows students themselves as well as their parents to see their progress. I’ve been witness to several discussion aimed at a computer screen that echoed the theme, “I turned that thing in!” And sure enough, they did, and usually it was a keypunch error, or a key that was pressed but not hard enough. And likewise, it certainly helps parental planning when the parent can use adult analysis and determine whether the holiday vacation overseas would seriously put their kid’s special projects up to 1/3 of their grade, in jeopardy. Without corporate intervention and tooting their own horn, that resource might have never gotten past a card dropped off by its salesperson at the state DOE office.
Likewise, having teachers set their alarms for 5 am, and finally crash at 11 pm, just to keep up with the normal routine of teaching, is burning them out. No one out there is tougher than I, but, not I, could do well without a “LIFE” to counteract work…. Therefore every teacher who survives their first year, simply does the same the next, and the next, … same tests, same grading card, same calendar, simply so they don’t have to put any thought into what they do…. Since classes are never the same, there are lost opportunities in this process.
The point is, we need a moratorium on this process. There appears to be a lot of money being thrown away for no result. I could be wrong. I could be right. So could you, so could she. The point is, no one knows? What if we spend three years going down the wrong path? It will take another three years to come back and return to where we are right now.
So six years lost if we are wrong. No years lost if we are right but we just don’t know. There is no harm in waiting. Those now getting a decent education,… will. Those who need more teacher attention, without testing, will get that too. Who knows what might happen?
There is risk in everything. Granted, we accept that. However if making a choice on which our national stability and economic viability depends, getting it wrong is catastrophic. In light of that, if we wait 3 years, get our act together, then launch into an integrated, well-oiled attack plan, by the time 6 years had passed and we were just getting back to zero, we would be ahead three years into mining a great national treasure. Our kid’s brains…
The money? Yes, there are monies out there earmarked to be spent on testing. Can’t we agree to put that instead into infrastructural improvement, while we sort out this issue?
I read North Carolina is implementing 177 new tests this school year. Now I don’t know about you, but when I spend all my time testing… the only thing I ever learn is “how to take tests.”….
I would like our children to get more out of school….
When I was young, and thought I ruled the world, I went car shopping. it was about time for a new car, I wasn’t really in the market, but repairs were due and perhaps I could leap into a new car, and let the dealer fix up the old one on his dime…. I walked into the Honda dealer on Cleveland Avenue 15 minutes before closing , way back when Honda Accords were listed for $12,000….
I test drove then sat down with the salesman/manager (he negotiated back and forth with himself), and I said, it’s a nice car, but I can’t go over $8000. He got all exasperated, and flustered about, and said, .. “if you sign it tonight, I can give it to you for $8500…. Right here. Right now…” That scared me. I began to wonder what on earth was wrong with the car; still, I could have sold it the next day for $9000. But, it was too fast for me, and I said so. “I can’t sign tonight, I have to look at all the options including finances.”
I spent all night trying to find a way I’d lose money on that deal.. I couldn’t find one. So at 10:00 am I drove to Cleveland Ave, … the car was gone! I approached the manager I’d had the conversation the night before, and thinking they were prepping it up for me, I said … I decided to take that offer now…”
“Sorry, kid. That was for last night. It is gone. Would you like another vehicle?” I didn’t want to pay more than $8500. so i said “no:….
As a caveat 7 years later I saw that same model, same year, on the used car lot with a price tag for a used car, of $14,800…. My left shin was black from all the kicks I gave it…
To this day, I’ve always wondered why he went so low that one night? It has definitely been the best deal ever on a vehicle I’ve seen, and I haven’t figured out any rational reason why he would do such a thing…. Being the sales manager, the man in charge, it obviously had some import….
This relates to the fiscal cliff in this way. Just because an offer was made… doesn’t mean it has to stand. It was made for a limited time only.. That time frame is at the discretion of the seller.
Did you ever try to use a coupon that has expired? What happens? It doesn’t work.
If Republicans do not act on this in a timely way, the price goes back up… That way, they will have more respect, as did that young car buyer, of in the future, acting in a timely fashion…
If they don’t accept now and firm a deal, it is time to pull the offer. Later on, we can settle for keeping the tax cuts on those under $250,000 and Republicans will sit out in the cold…..
We wanted to sell it today, we gave them an offer they couldn’t refuse, they refused and the offer got pulled…
It was for a limited time … only.
We all have a lot to do.
But, seriously, how can anyone prepare for tomorrows lesson, when they have this to do? No wonder our schools are failing”
From the Mind of Mike Matthews….
Donald Trump doesn’t even have this much to do. He has assistants. Administrators don’t have this much to do. They have assistants. Politicians don’t have this much to do. They have assistants. Not even Santa has this much work to do. He has assistants. But we are being told by all these that teachers don’t do their jobs….
Well, duh.
A “If you graduated in the top quarter of your airlines, we gave you a John and Abigail Adams scholarship, four years tuition free in the college of your choice in Massachusetts, it’s a public institution.”
Top quarter of your airlines?
B ” want to make sure we keep our Pell grant program growing”.
Romney once told a student questioner to “borrow money if you have to from your parents” to go to college — or to” join the military.” VP candidate Paul Ryan’s budget has called for cutting the Pell Grant program by $200 billion, which critics say could also cut a million students from the program in the next decade.
C “And the president’s right in terms of the additional oil production,” Exactly. Under the Obama administration we are less dependent on foreign oil. The oil presidents made “big money” in the Middle East…… Hmmm, could there have been a reason we were so dependent when Cheney was running policy???
D “they (new jobs) are already beginning to come back because of our abundant energy.“ He just verified that Obama’s Energy Policy worked…. and is working so well, he will continue it by doing exactly the same in his term. No excuse to fire the guy who is doing his job well……
E “the reason I want middle-income taxpayers to have lower taxes is because middle-income taxpayers have been buried over the past four years.“ Remember Romney? 47% don’t pay taxes. How do you plan to lower their taxes below zero? You planning on paying them extra now?
F “You’ve seen, as middle-income people in this country, incomes go down $4,300 a family, even as gasoline prices have gone up $2,000. Health insurance premiums, up $2,500. Food prices up. Utility prices up.” If these people pay no taxes, how are you going to help them? You can’t give them a tax cut?
G “The top 5 percent of taxpayers will continue to pay 60 percent of the income tax the nation collects. So that’ll stay the
same.” Ahh, now we see. They will pay 60% of 20% less. Now we see what you are up too…. So you cut incoming revenue 20%, and the top get a tax break, and pay only 80% of what they paid under Obama, but, since it is still 60% of all the money coming into the treasury, you are artfully telling us, they will be paying the same. You don’t say percentage, and we think you mean dollars… Tricky, tricky, tricky. But knowing that, at least the math now adds up. It just doesn’t add up well for this country…. Our deficit grows another 8 Trillion.
H. As a matter of fact, oil production is down 14 percent this year on federal land, and gas production was down 9 percent. Why ? Because the president cut in half the number of licenses and permits for drilling on federal lands, and in federal waters”……“We’re actually drilling more on public lands than in the previous administration and my – the previous president was an oil man.”
Sales of Fossil Fuels Produce from Federal and Indian Land FY 2003 through FY 2011
I “In the last four years, you cut permits and licenses on federal land and federal waters in half”. “Not true, Governor Romney”.
J “Candy, I don’t have a policy of stopping wind jobs in Iowa and that – they’re not phantom jobs. They’re real jobs.” Romney is flat out against the Wind Energy Tax Credit which gives wind-energy companies 2.2 cents for every kilowatt-hour produced, shaving as much as one-third off the costs. This will bankrupt Iowa, the number two wind producer behind Texas. 7,000 jobs in Iowa alone, are directly related to wind.
K “every middle-income taxpayer no longer will pay any tax on interest, dividends or capital gains. No
tax on your savings. That makes life a lot easier.“ Seriously? How many middle income ($43-64,000)taxpayers have interest, dividends, or capital gains? Less than 3%. These are the tools of the wealthy, and wealthy only. Romney is saying we are going to lose our mortgage deduction, child tax credits, state and local taxes, and medical, but it won’t matter because we won’t be taxed on dividends and interest… s huge loss for the middle class, a huge cut for the 87% that supplies most of America’s revenue. The deficit will balloon…
L. “So when you bring those rates down, those small businesses are able to keep more money and hire more people.” As Obama said.. “Yeah, in China.” We did that in 2003, and had the worst recession since the Great Depression. We did that in the 1920’s and caused the Great Depression. Now, Clinton raised taxes and created 23 million new jobs. I like Clinton’s result instead of George Bush’s; how about you?
M. ” how about $4 trillion of deficits over the last four years, $5 trillion? That’s math that doesn’t add up.” Uhh Governor, actually it does add up. $1 Trillion for the Republican Tax Cuts; $1.3 Trillion for the two Republican Wars; $0.7 Trillion for the Republican Prescription Plan unpaid for; $1 Trillion for the Republican caused Great Recession. That is $4 Trillion. It adds up fine. Now, you dodged the question she asked…. How does your calculation of 5 + 1+ 2 = 0 ? How does that add up?
kavips 