Updated below. Or, Welfare Music. That’s my take, really, regardless of the real issues involved; the debt ceiling showdown is just another ruse to try to force the citizens to accept cuts to the programs that protect our health and well-being as we age. Disgusting. Here are some issues in trying to understand this and I think you might all agree, though maybe not….
DeMuth to School Board: Don’t meet so much!
In today’s HT Bethany Nolan reports that the MCCSC School Board will reduce their public meetings to once a month, down from twice. Throughout it seems clear that this is the decision of the new Superintendent Judy DeMuth, who I will call Super J from now on. This is intriguing, as I always thought that the school board, elected by you and me to monitor…
Brain Extravaganza
Plans for a community project called the Brain Extravaganza, involving the temporary installation of at least 12 5-foot-tall, three-dimensional brain displays in Bloomington, are progressing…. Each brain display will cost $3,200 to produce, and each sponsor’s name will be included on a plaque on the base of the displays — which would be in public view for several months next year. Seriously? “Imagine brains all…
Captain America: All for One and One for All for War!
[I could care less if I spoil this movie for you either by revealing plot devices, denouement or “trite and true” verbal and visual propaganda.] “You’ve been asleep, Captain, for about 70 years.” (Anonymous, militaristic character played by Sam Jackson–at the very end of the movie) So, I took 9 to Captain America: The First Avenger today, though I didn’t realize there was a subtitle…
Saving the Appearances: Harry Who?
Okay, I’ve only read about 1/2 of the first Harry Potter book. Started it with the kids and couldn’t get through it…just didn’t snag my interest. Also, I snobbishly resisted (sure, I can admit this) reading books the entire world was standing in line to buy and that my dad and his sister were bonding over in their mid-50s. Now that I’ve gotten that out…
“Highly Qualified” to do…what exactly?
Today I took a Praxis II exam for English Language Arts (there are several types of these purporting to test one’s knowledge of things such as composition, literature, teaching writing, etc.) as a necessary (required) step in attaining a license to teach secondary English in Indiana. (Last month I took a similar test for middle school Language Arts.) Some general observations: most of the test-takers…
HT Editorial: Of course longer school days are better, who would argue?
I would. The editorial today titled “Longer school day opens opportunities” basically just repeats the story written by Bethany Nolan on Thursday this week called “Longer days to fill needs at MCCSC”. I would link to this, but it’s behind a pay wall so why bother. If you have a sub to the paper you know how to find it. Here are the assumptions. 1….
“News” as Marketing–All the Voucher help you need!
This brief piece from the Lafayette Journal and Courier has a particular story to tell, summed up in the following paragraphs: “I have no qualms with the public schools,” Pendley said. “I just know he’ll get a better quality and more Christ-centered education” at Faith Christian. During the one-hour meeting, Marissa Lynch of School Choice Indiana, which has organized a number of similar meetings around…
Vouchers: Degrade and Defund
A local blog by Steve Hinnefeld called School Matters offers this report on a standards testing success at two elementary schools in Lafayette. Hinnefeld makes this observation: But at least with Murdock and Thomas Miller, there’s irony here. Their success flies in the face of the dogma espoused by Bennett and other education reformers, which holds that money doesn’t matter, class size doesn’t matter, and…
Learning Cursive: Minds in Our Hands
[Editor’s note: a portion of the below was published by the Herald Times as a Guest Column on July 19th.] The July 17th commentary by Mike Leonard in the Herald Times regarding “cursors over cursive” struck a cord with me as I am, it must be noted, a distant relative of Ned Ludd. Distant, as here I am writing online with my laptop. The piece…