Schools spend money on Marketing

A Detroit local television station reports, "The Detroit school district plans to spend $500,000 on a publicity campaign designed to fight its long enrollment decline." Perhaps the $500,000 would be better spent on teaching and learning. If learning was improved maybe the district wouldn't have to market?

History Without Text Books

Reuters reports, "What began as a long-shot attempt last year by Pearson Plc to sell California educators digital materials to teach history and politics, collectively known in US schools as social studies, has become reality in what could be the first large-scale step to eliminate books from classrooms." I'm completely intrigued by the idea of learning history without textbooks. What do you think?

Government's Role? A Right Wing Perspective

In A Little Unhappiness Goes a Long Way, Harvard Economist Jeffrey Alan Miron writes, "Most debates about government policy concern whether government should intervene. A different but important question is whether intervention belongs at the state or federal level, if intervention occurs. In fact, many current federal policies should be left to the states."

Nel Noddings on No Child Left Behind

Nel Noddings writes, "NCLB is hurting the very kids it purports to be helping. Supposedly, the law is intended to close the achievement gap between whites and minorities. However, it is mainly black and Hispanic kids who are being retained in grade and deprived of high school diplomas."

She writes in response to an Asbury Park Press Editorial in which the author states, "Call me cynical, but I never thought for a minute that the NEA was really concerned about education. I never believed the organization was eager to find new ways to empower students or to hold schools accountable for the educational products they turn out."

Does Math Class Teach Real Math Skills? It Better

A Colorado newspaper writes, "Math teachers from schools throughout (the nation?) are working on a tough equation this week: how to make what they teach equal the needs of employers and the requirements of colleges. " Actually, do any subject areas teach important real world skills?

Is Blogging Marketing? What do you think?

Think:Lab posted an interesting comment about blogging and marketing. Christian DeLong writes: "Blogging ain't a press release. This is why 90% of business bloggers (or those trying to adopt the technology) will fail. They see it as a tool. Completely overlooking that it's a frame of mind. Period." I liked the post so much that I wrote a four or five paragraph response. Hopefully, it'll be up soon. Interestingly, I just did a little bit of research, hoping to put something up to complement this post and there's a lot out there. It seems like lots of companies are starting to use blogging for marketing purposes. But the question is: should they use it as a press release?

NCLB Not Just Bad - It is Misleading

According to a commentary at the Wall Street Journal, NCLB is misleading: "A pass percentage is a bad standard for educational progress. Conceptually, "proficiency" has no objective meaning that lends itself to a cutoff. Administratively, the NCLB penalties for failure to make adequate progress give the states powerful incentives to make progress as easy to show as possible. A pass percentage throws away valuable information, telling you whether someone got over a bar, but not how high the bar was set or by how much the bar was cleared. Most importantly: If you are trying to measure progress in closing group differences, a comparison of changes in pass percentages is inherently misleading." How should scoring of standardized tests be changed?

Kimberly Oliver: Teacher of the Year

Edutopia speaks with the National teacher of the year. In describing her, the blog explains "Four times a year...she and her colleagues host a Books and Supper Night, where families are invited to school to sit in cozy nooks and read books together before sharing a communal dinner. The event showcases students' accomplishments in literacy -- and, the teachers hope, encourages reading in the home. Oliver's team has also secured grants for books on tape and bilingual books to help involve parents whose language barriers or illiteracy isolate them from their children's education."

To learn more about the National Teacher of the Year program click here.

Students Demand Teachers and Clean Toilets

According to the San Jose Mercury News, 15 year old Dakota Tu, an incoming sophomore at Independence High School in San Jose asked (referring to her own school) ``Who has substitute teachers who are there for weeks and don't teach anything?" ``Who has seen air conditioning never get fixed? And awful toilets that are unkempt and unsanitary?'' Wouldn't it be wonderful if bloggers could stand up for students in deprived schools?

Take a look at these statistics concerning toilets in U.K. schools. Apparently dirty toilets is an international issue.

Arts Education Improves Literacy Skills

The New York Times reports, "A study to be released today by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum suggests that (arts education does improve literacy skills), citing improvements in a range of literacy skills among students who took part in a program in which the Guggenheim sends artists into schools."

Click here to find a whole range of publications on Arts and Education, hosted by the Kennedy Center's ArtsEdge, a partner of the MarcoPolo Foundation.

Libraries and Librarians of the Future?

At his blog, 2 Cents Worth, David Warlick writes, "Libraries, as we think of them, are soon to become obsolete. What will be the point of a library, when nearly all of the information that its patrons need on a day-to-day basis will be available to them with a mouse-click."

Check out Michael Stephens's blog, Tame the Web: Libraries and Technology.

Scientists Suggest Children's Books

Over at The World's Fair, scientists who blog are suggesting their favorite children's books.

Governor "Schwarzenegger "...blowing in the wind."

After Arnold Schwarzenegger said that the way L.A. schools are being run is "horrible" the superintendent of L.A.U.S.D. said that the governor was "blowing in the wind." Read about it.

For more information on L.A.U.S.D. visit the School Me blog.

Do Business People Make School Leaders?

A leading British educational authority said: "top managers with a business background (have) the necessary skills to run a complex organisation such as a secondary school." How important is it for school leaders to understand teaching and learning?

Why Has All the Play Gone Away?

The New York Times runs an article today stating, "The word “kindergarten” means “children’s garden,” and for years has conjured up an image of children playing with blocks, splashing at water tables, dressing up in costumes or playing house. Now, with an increased emphasis on academic achievement even in the earliest grades, playtime in kindergarten is giving way to worksheets, math drills and fill-in-the-bubble standardized tests." Vivian Gussin Paley's book, A Child's Work: The Importance of Fantasy Play makes for an interesting read on children and play.

Tests and Graduation Rates

The U.S.A. Today reports on research by Swarthmore and Harvard professors about the effect that high school exit exams have on graduation rates. The paper states, "...In those (states) with the toughest exams, black male students are 7.3% more likely to drop out of high school, researchers from Swarthmore and Harvard colleges reported recently." The actual paper written by Thomas Dee and Brian Jacob, entitled "Do High School Exit Exams Influence Educational Attainment or Labor Market Performance," is available at the Social Science Research Network.

Commercialization of Public Schools

The NEA asks: "Should public schools accept corporate advertising or sponsorships?" Arizona State University's Commercialization in Education Research Unit published a report entitled, Empty Calories: Commercializing Activities in America's Public Schools in November 2005. "The Eighth Annual Report on Schoolhouse Commercialism Trends, Year 2004-2005, finds that criticism of commercial advertising and marketing to children in schools is on the rise. Most of this criticism is directed at marketing activities that are thought to have a negative impact on children's health."

Tom Friedman Admits It

David Sirota reports on Tom Friedman's shocking admission that he often writes about trade policy proposals that he knows nothing about. Sirota writes, "... what’s truly astonishing is that Tom Friedman, the person who the media most relies on to interpret trade policy, now publicly runs around admitting he actually knows nothing at all about the trade pacts he pushes in his New York Times column." After reading this article, I can't help but wonder how often we, as teachers, teach something that we know very little about beyond superficialities.

States Don't Meet Requirements of NCLB

The New York Times reports on the fact that states are simply not fulfilling the requirements of NCLB.

"Faced with such findings, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, who took office promising flexible enforcement of the law, has toughened her stance, leaving several states in danger of losing parts of their federal aid."

Greedy Businesses Invest in Schools

Brett Pawlowski at Edspresso writes, "...the widely acknowledged crisis in public education...drives the business community – which is essentially both an investor in, and customer of, our schools – to see involvement as an imperative, literally something that must be done to ensure its own future. They see involvement in public education as an investment in the short- and long-term health of their companies, and in the continued strength of the markets they serve."

Making Video Games in High School

A new Dayton school has developed a curriculum which includes spending three years developing and marketing a video game. Get on the Bus writes, "Capitalizing on youthful passion for video games, school leaders hope to keep more kids in school by offering the chance to conceive, design, build — and sell — their own video game." If schools can interest kids, they'll stay in school. On what other ideas besides video games could high quality curricula be built?

Rod Paige Speaks about No Child Left Behind

In an interview with EducationNews.org, Rod Paige says, "NCLB is already indelibly etched into our nation's education system and the public will not allow us to turn back the clock. As we go forward the more information about student and school performance that is made available will make it more difficult for the system not to operate in an effective and efficient manner; the public will not stand for it. As a result, no child in this country – no matter his economic standing – will be deprived of the opportunity to receive a quality education."

A New Book

A new book released this week: Teaching Tips from Your One Minute Mentor: Quick and Easy Strategies for Classroom Success. The publisher writes: "Designed for the visual learner...Each section of the book opens with a mindful message, memorable advice, and important topics. Through its...illustrations, the book explores common classroom management challenges and provides a wealth of classroom-tested strategy suggestions designed to make classes safe, efficient, and well-managed."

Arnie Bianco (Tucson, AZ) the author was a school principal for 24 years and has been an adjunct professor and student teacher supervisor at Chapman University for the past 15 years. He is the author of One Minute Discipline.

AFT Raises Membership Dues

Edweek reports that the AFT has decided to raise membership dues to pay for membership drive and political activism. The paper states, "The initial hike of almost 6 percent, approved on the second day of the July 20-23 gathering, will finance broader efforts at political mobilization along with what union officials called “the most comprehensive organizing initiative” in the AFT’s history."

SAT Scoring Must Be Improved

According to the Washington Post a recent report on the SAT states, "Steps such as better software and more training -- and even providing pencils and erasers at test centers -- could improve the reliability of scoring the SAT exam..." Read the report.

The Right to Carry Phones

Tim Johnson has taken on New York City Public Schools, but: "Summarized in pass/fail terms, the meeting rates a fail. Its main topic, the right of students to carry cellular phones to and from, but not during, school remains not only a bone of contention but, so far as Mr. Johnson can tell, absolutely nonnegotiable from the city’s perspective. Puzzling."

Charter Schools Outperforming Traditional Schools

The New York Post reports: "Charter schools in the city are vastly outperforming public schools in their neighborhoods, according to a bombshell state report obtained by The Post... (New York City) Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and Mayor Bloomberg are big boosters of charter schools - 60 charters will be operating in the city come September."

Where Have All the Students Gone?

Dave Weber in the Orlando Sentinel writes, "After decades of runaway school growth, educators across much of Florida are asking, "Where are all the kids?" Enrollment has swung into reverse in several of the largest school districts and slowed dramatically in others." I think they are asking the same questions elsewhere.

Resegregation in Boston's Schools

"Like most conversations about progress, money and how it is spent is a factor-a very big factor-in the conversation and concern about resegregation." Read about it in Harvard's Ed.Magazine. Thanks EdWeek for pointing this out.

Single Gender Schools - The Quick and the Ed

"In its (single gender schools) best light, it seems that parents and students will have choices. Who's against choice? If you think your kid will do better in an all-boy environment, you ought to have that as a publicly-funded choice. And if you think your kid will do better in an all white environment, well you ought to have that as a choice too….Well, wait a minute. Starting to get uncomfortable now. "
Thanks to Joanne Jacobs and her blog for bringing this to my attention.

Holidays Invade the School Calendar - Education Wonks

"'Can you operate a university and give each religious group an accommodation? I think the answer is, 'No,"' he said. Make that "maybe." School administrators across the country are rethinking their calendars as their student bodies become more diverse." CNN

"Pay Teachers More Demand Results" Detroit News

"The deal would be: Republicans agree to more equitable distribution of school funding -- including higher teacher pay -- while Democrats agree that teachers should be paid for performance, not just seniority."

Real Sex Ed Makes a Difference - Get on the Bus

"Two counties, next to each other, with nearly identical demographics — numbers that would suggest a high teen pregnancy rate. One county is highest in South Carolina for teen pregnancy. The other is the lowest."

An Unusual Weekend Blog from School Me

"...most superintendents quietly keep a list of the most attractive supe vacancies nationally."

Right Wing Vs. Left Wing

Recently, I've become very concerned with the ways that my views are perceived. I guess that happens when you begin to publish them. As I'm writing more, my views are not only changing they are becoming more mature. I used to think that I was a "Right Winger." I'm realizing that I'm not a Right Winger. I'm certainly also not a Left Winger. I'm simply a free thinking individual who has many views that are closer to the right than to the left. A few days ago I published a thougth on the war between Israel and Hezbollah, claiming what one commenter referred to as "moral equivalence," even though I'm definitely a supporter of Israel. As soon as Hezbollah attacked Israel, Israel earned the moral right to destroy Hezbollah. But I'm concerned that some will see me as being too far to the left.

But this morning I was very pleased when I received a letter from somebody who had read a post of mine on The Huffington Press.

She wrote:

Dear Andrew,

I read your post on Huffpo just now, and want to thank you for your view on the Israel's detetermination to root out Hizbollah.

I am an American Jewish grandmother/greatgrandmother with a large family in Israel, and every day my husband and I watch TV with great trepidation. Already our eldest granddaughter, husband and 4 children have moved from an area south of Haifa to Jerusalem, where most of our other children live.

It disgusts me to read Huffpo, for it is dominated by very prejudiced, anit-semitic, and anti-Israel posts.

They seem to be very uneducated, and probably part of the unwashed and hippy generation of the past. Once in awhile a post like yours comes in with the real truth, but these vermin wouldn't recognize it, they are so ingrained with hate for the Jews. "You have to be carefully taught...."

No one remembers that Hizbollah caused the Beruit bombing of the Marine barracks, and other atrocities, so the U.S. owes them one big time. Of course, no one remembers that Hizbollah was bombarding Israeli towns with rockets long before the two soldiers were kidnapped from Israeli soil.

My husband and I have been Democrats all our lives, and it pains us to see how Huffpo has become so leftist, and a supporter of Hizbollah against Israel. I will probably "delete" the site, but maybe not, because of opinions like yours.

Thank you, keep it up!

Mildred

I enjoy reading Huffington Press. But, as I write more I have a feeling that its letters like this that will keep me writing.

Teaching About Stem Cell Research

Earlier this week Congress approved funding for reseach using stem cells. Immediately after the Senate approved the legislation, President Bush vetoed it - exercising his veto right for the first time. Research using stem cells has the potential to glean important scientific knowledge and the potential to eradicate some of the worst deseases. However, the Christian Right and a handful of other religious groups believe it is sacreligious and immoral to use stem cells, that have the potential for life, in scientific studies. The religious right equates using stem cells with murder.

A consideration of the use of stem cells for scientific purposes is clearly very controversial, particularly so in classrooms. Some teachers might choose not to bring up overly-controversial issues, such as whether or not the federal government should fund stem cell research or the origins of the world as intelligent design. However, I believe that eliminating these discussions from the classroom weakens educational programs.

Our students not only have a right to think about controversial issues. They have an obligation to do so. In a few short years, our students will hopefully participate in the democratic process that we call government. In order to effectively fulfill their responsibility to participate students must not only understand controversial issues. They must also be able to take sides or intelligently decide not to take a side. If we don't discuss these issues in our classrooms many students will not think about them.

I don't believe that it's appropriate for teachers to share their opinions on controversial issues. Rather, as teachers, we should ask questions and assign work that encourages our students to critically think about these issues and form their own opinions. Teachers can then encourage a healthy debate within their classrooms. If people complain that your students are discussing these issues, you can remind those complaining that the United States government is discussing these issues.

Students can learn much about stem cell research in a variety of different subject areas: certainly social studies and science. However, language arts teachers can ask students to read different perspectives on the issues and analyze the different perspectives. When students realize that they are learning about an important topic and their opinions can make a difference, they'll likely even enjoy the study.

Just a thought!!

Year Long Schools

The National School Boards Association has an interesting article about year long schools over on its blog. The author writes:

With all the talk about global competitiveness, should our students be in school 12 months of the year? Not to mention the fact that many students, as the article notes, "are loitering in parking lots and shopping malls, cruising iffy websites, and slouching toward academic disaster." Sure, there are those kids whose parents are home or still others whose parents can afford to send them to summer camp or for a month at grandma's. But what of those who are home alone all summer, avoiding their summer homework packets, with no air conditioning, no supervision, perhaps not even a guaranteed lunchtime meal, with only Jerry Springer and the internet to babysit them?

Even if schools don't start running through the summer, a colleague of mine offered an interesting suggestion a few weeks ago. He said that students should switch teachers and grades after spring vacation instead of after summer vacation. This way teachers would have their assigned classes before and after the long summer break. They would take a greater interest in their own students' continued learning over the summer. Perhaps students would take a greater interest in their own summer learning as well, recognizing that work products would count towards grades with their assigned teacher.

Spammed

I've reconfigured my comments so that I'll be able to moderate new comments after being spammed last night. At leas the spammer was nice, he said how beautiful my blog looked. Maybe nice - but probably not aesthetically inclined.

Disney Cruises and Education

I want to be in Vicki Davis's classroom. From her posting on Cool Cat Teacher Blog, entitled "How Disney Cruises Transformed My Views of Education," I can tell that she is an excellent teacher. She writes:

As I put my brain on autopilot and sailed off on a Disney Cruise, the last thing I expected was to learn something about education, but my classroom will be different because of it.

The best teachers find good teaching ideas in the strangest places. She's clearly a thoughtful teacher.

Poor Timing in Educational Policy Making

On Friday afternoon, July 14^th, the United States Department of Education released a report “Comparing Private Schools and Public Schools Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling.” This report compared math and reading scores earned by fourth and eighth graders in public schools to those scored earned by similar aged students in private schools.

Affluent students in the best private schools did outscore their typical age-mates in the public school system. However, when the study held socio-economic conditions and family backgrounds constant the results proved very interesting.

With regards to fourth grade reading scores, the report found little difference between private schools, that like to refer to themselves as “prep schools,” or schools that better prepare students for college, and public schools. Students in public schools outperformed their private school counterparts in fourth grade math. Perhaps the wrong schools are called “prep.”

Eighth grade private, but not parochial, school students did demonstrate better reading skills than their public school counterparts. Performance in parochial schools equaled that in public schools. Once again public school students performed as well as private school students in eighth grade math.

Significantly, students in Conservative Christian schools never scored above public school students.

It’s clear that public schools are holding their own against private schools. But, smart educational pundits are not celebrating these scores. Instead, they are emphasizing that they merely demonstrate that all schools need improvement.

This was last week’s news.

But, it gets a whole lot better:

On Tuesday, July 18^th, Congressional Republicans joined by Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings proposed legislation to develop a $100 million voucher program that would enable students in low achieving public schools to attend private and religious schools.

Certainly, if these vouchers enabled the students the opportunity to attend the highest quality private schools students might truly benefit. After all, students who can afford expensive private school tuitions did demonstrate higher achievement than their public school peers.

But, students who attend the lowest performing public schools likely cannot afford the best private schools’ tuition costs. Tuitions in these schools range from $15,000 to $25,000. Vouchers of three or four thousand dollars will not begin to enable economically deprived students to attend the nation’s best private schools.

Instead, these vouchers will typically enable students to attend inner-city parochial schools – the types of schools that did not fare as well as public schools in the recent investigation.

It’s as if educational policymakers are saying, “Your own school isn’t good. We’ll help you pay for a different bad education.”

The Real Loser:

If this proposed legislation passed, high quality secular education would be the real loser. For, if Congress doesn’t approve this voucher program, it might instead invest this $100 million to fund inner-city school improvement efforts. This investment would promote higher quality rather than sub-par education.

How does one explain this policy proposal?

Only one thing can explain the policymakers’ motivation. The sponsors of this legislation are not looking to promote the quality of education that students receive. They are simply seeking to promote their chances of re-election in November.

The sponsors of this legislation are reaching out to their Christian-Right constituencies. The policymakers recognize that right wing Christians place great value on religious education. They want their children to be educated religiously. They don’t want their children to receive public education. Secular education is less important to these constituencies than religious education.

Consequently, this voucher proposal satisfies the needs of Christian-Right constituencies. These same constituencies don’t put a whole lot of credence into a report entitled, “Comparing Private Schools and Public Schools Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling.”

Doing the Right Thing

Tonight, I attended a "rally" at my synagogue on behalf of the State of Israel. I'm definitely a strong supporter of Israel. I spent a year living there in the '90s. However, during the rally I started thinking about something.

I "know" that Israel is a moral nation and that they've been ruthlessly attacked. I "know" that Israel has the right to defend itself. Most importantly, I "know" that Israel has a natural and legal right to its land. However, I'm also very confident that if I ever had the chance to sit down with a supporter of Hezbollah they would say that they know that Israel is a ruthless nation bent on depriving Arabs and Muslims of their rightful land. Members of Hezbollah do not believe that they are doing evil. Indeed, they likely "know" that they are doing the right thing.

The problem is that what I "know" and what a member of Hezbollah "knows" cannot both be correct. It's impossible. The question is, how can both my knowledge and my Hezbollah counterpart's knowledge both exist simultaneously without leading to war?

I believe the answer is quite simple: neither the member of Hezbollah nor I has the right to physically hurt or physically threaten the other. As soon as one physically impedes on the other, the line has been crossed from appropriate to inappropriate behavior. Our relationship must be completely based on words.

Elementary teachers frequently tell their students that fighting is inappropriate. They explain that conflicts must be worked out with words, not with fists. Why is it that national leaders find it acceptable to act like six year olds who don't heed their teacher's call for words instead of fists? If only I knew.

Republicans Propose National Voucher Program

According to the New York Times, Senator Lamar Alexander is proposing a national school voucher program. The article states:

The legislation, modeled on a pilot program here, would pay for tuition and private tutoring for some 28,000 students seeking a way out of public schools that fail to raise test scores sufficiently for at least five years.

However, the legislation likely won't be taken up until next year. Obviously the November elections will have a large influence on the success of this proposal.

Assorted Stuff for Junior High School Teacher

It's worthwile considering Assorted Stuff's post, Teaching Creativity, in light of the Junior High School Teachers concern that she's not allowed to use her own creativity or promote creativity in individual students. The Junior High School Teacher writes:

Last year I threw out almost every thing I'd ever created to teach from the red textbook from Holt. I kept to the schedule, even when it made no sense. I spent at least one class period a week on spelling, because that's the area administration decided upon which we would focus. More than halfway through the year, the English chair decided we would adopt the Sheri Henderson way of teaching writing, and we had no say in that decision. So, yet again, I threw out something (this time, something not even well-tried) for the newest "solution."

I think all good teachers recognize the importance of creativity.

Recycling News

I'm a little confused as to how stories make it in the news. On July 12th Edweek ran an article entitled, "Cellphones in Schools," by Bruce S. Cooper and John W. Lee. The article stated,

Cellphones are here to stay. More and more work is being done on these communication devices, as they morph into BlackBerries, hand-held calculators, phone banks, digital cameras, radios, and even televisions. Education cannot stand in the way of progress, but a carefully constructed technology policy, reliably enforced, would prevent students from being distracted, tempted, overloaded, or confused by constant electronic contact with the outside world.

Today, an article is running in The Christain Science Monitor, stating:

New York's tempest in a dial tone is hardly unique. Schools at all levels are struggling to cope with the technology's encroachment in the classroom. On the one hand, most high-tech accouterments - from the laptop to the Internet - are opening up unprecedented opportunities for learning. But they can also be distracting or worse, if cheating, crime, or indelicate videos are involved. Laptops are increasingly banned from university classrooms by professors who want to stop students from incessant surfing.

Perhaps I'm learning that if I want my work to make it into the newspaper I can simply borrow ideas from others who have already had their stories published?

Brainy Robots Stepping into Daily Life

I'm certainly not advocating replacing teachers with robots. But can you imagine if artificial intelligence was cheap enough to place several robots, with high quality thinking and teaching skills, into every classroom. Every student could have their own individual tutor. The article states:

Though most of the truly futuristic projects are probably years from the commercial market, scientists say that after a lull, artificial intelligence has rapidly grown far more sophisticated. Today some scientists are beginning to use the term cognitive computing, to distinguish their research from an earlier generation of artificial intelligence work. What sets the new researchers apart is a wealth of new biological data on how the human brain functions.

Even if the robot was so mechanized that they could only guide the students in specific activities, imagine how much growth students could make. Maybe this would be a horrible idea. What do you think?

Computers as Gaming Devices

The New York Times runs an interesting article today, explaining that Gates and Company want to promote the use of computers for gaming. I used to think that games were a waste of time and then I heard David Warlick speak about the educational lessons that could be gained from gaming. I don't know much about using computers games in classrooms, but I'd love to learn more.

The article states:

But as popular as PC gaming is and has been, the general public has never really thought of the home computer as a primary game system. That is no accident. For the first few decades of the digital age, Microsoft’s top goal was to get computers into as many homes as possible. Bill Gates and friends knew that a family was more likely to spend $1,000 on its first computer if was meant to help little Johnny with his homework, or send baby pictures to Grandma, or help with the taxes, rather than if the family was thinking about the PC’s ability to send them into outer space or the depths of a dragon’s lair.

Well, here come the dragons.

A Democracy Battles Democracies in the Middle East

Former House Speaker, Newt Gingrich declared that World War III has begun, several times this past weekend. Gingrich certainly knows how to offer sound bites that the main-stream media will eat up; however, calling the current condition of the world as World War III overly simplifies the current state of affairs. As teachers it is our responsibility to help our students understand complexity and be dissatisfied with simplicity.

A series of instable situations certainly exists in the world. Numerous pundits have described the current situation as a battles between radical Islamic forces and the West. Iran, Al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah certainly profess to celebrate the values of radical Islamism. Al Qaeda not only hopes to push the United States out of the Middle East. It also seeks to remove non-Islamic regimes in this part of the world and replace them with a huge empire devoted to Islamic principles. The nation of Iran is grounded upon right wing Islamic laws. Its leaders have repeatedly called for the destruction of the State of Israel, even as they have pursued their nuclear ambitions.

This tension between right wing Muslim organizations and nations and more moderate forces is certainly real. However, it’s unfair to call the current tensions a battle between Islamic forces and Western styled nations, or democracies. Certainly Al Qaeda and Iran are void of democratic principles. However, Hamas and Hezbollah have learned to function in democratic societies. Whether the rest of the world likes it or not, Hamas recently won control of the Palestinian government in an election that has not been challenged as corrupt. They simply attracted the majority of Palestinian votes. Like Hamas, Hezbollah has also gained democratic victories. Hezbollah does control areas of Southern Lebanon that are beyond the influence of the Lebanese government. However, Hezbollah candidates have also won a number of seats in the Lebanese parliament and several positions in the democratic country's cabinet.

Whether Americans want to admit it or not, in the Middle East democracies are fighting against one another. Two democratic regimes, Hamas and Hezbollah, have kidnapped and killed another democracy's, Israel's, soldiers. One democracy, Israel, has sent its troops into another democracy's terrain, Hamas's Gaza Strip, and arrested several of the democracy's leaders. Two democracies, Israel and Hezbollah, are launching missiles against one another.

How is it that one democracy can fight another?

Though numerous commentators have asked this question, in many ways it's a silly question. Everybody knows that two people in the same society often disagree with one another. They simply have different points of view. Sometimes these disagreements get out of control and one person physically hurts another.

The democratically elected governments of independent nation-states and semi-independent nation states, the Palestinian Authority, are no different than the people that comprise them. They take on specific personalities and have specific wants and perspectives. As with individuals, a nation-state’s wants and perspectives will guide its behaviors. For example, the wants and perspectives of Hamas are built upon fundamental Muslim ideas and a desire for land. Certainly not all citizens share these personalities, accept these perspectives, or agree with their government’s behaviors. However, the majority of a democratically elected government's citizens does agree, or at least did agree on election-day, or the governments would not have been elected.

Whereas the governments of different nation-states have different constituencies their personalities, wants and perspectives will differ. For example, though France did not support the United State's invasion of Iraq, the U.S. went ahead and invaded.

As with people, sometimes two democratically elected governments have such different wants and perspectives that they find it difficult, or impossible, to co-exist with one another. When this occurs, as it has most certainly occurred in the Middle East, hostilities occur. Just as people act immorally and murder one another, independent democratically elected nation-states can seek to annihilate one another. Both Hezbollah and Hamas want the land currently controlled by the State of Israel.

The current Middle East tensions teach something very important about the nature of democratically elected governments. Democracy alone will not make the world a safe place. In addition, democracies, and the people who comprise them, must accept the importance of peaceful co-existence with people who disagree with them and with whom they disagree. Unfortunately, I fear that it is far easier to spread democratic ideals around the world than it is to promote and maintain the importance of peaceful co-existence.

A Dime for Charity

There are approximately 54 million school children in the United States and millions more in the rest of the English speaking world. If every student in the U.S. contributed just one dime to a fundraising campaign we would raise 5.4 million dollars. I am thinking seriously about developing a non-profit organization to host this campaign.

In addition to marketing and collecting the money, I'd like to develop a website that will serve as a home for this charity campaign. This website could include lesson plans focused on this project. For example, a math lesson plan might have students compute specific problems related to charity and allocation of funds. A social studies lesson plan might have students consider how specific charitable institutions contribute to the "Common Good." An English lesson plan might involve writing and research prompts.

In addition, I'd like to develop a system that will allow students from across the country decide where their money will go. Perhaps there will be an online form to fill out to nominate a specific charity. Information about this charity will be posted and at the end of the 2006-2007 school year, students will vote to determine where the money will go.

I think that one of the nicest things about blogging and the Internet 2.0 is that it creates room for people to collaborate. I'd welcome any help in developing this project. I believe the first thing we need to do is establish a non-profit organization and to figure out how the whole collection and allocation process can remain transparent. I weclome readers to support me in this endeavor. Please let me know of your interest.

Truth in the Media

It would have been impossible for an informed person to miss the media coverage of Israel's bombing of Lebanon. The New York Times' lead article is entitled, "Israel Extends Strikes Deeper Into Lebanon." The Washington Post's states, "Israel Widens Scope of Offensive in Lebanon." If I knew nothing else, I would assume that Israel was the agressor after reading these titles. Fortunately, after reading the articles I recognized that they basically told neutral stories. I wonder how many people read one or both of these titles and said, "Israel's at it again." Many people don't even bother to read the articles.

Listen to the talk shows and you'll hear reporters ask, "Has Israel gone too far?" Fortunately, most people who answer this question, if you exclude the Syrian Ambassador to the U.S. who appeared on CNN and MSNBC last night, clearly answer "No." No, Israel has not gone too far. But the question is never, "Why would Hezbollah begin a battle by kidnapping soldiers?" Why don't reporters ask this question? Do the media outlets simply take it for granted that Hezbolla, a terrorist organization will do terrible things? If the media outlets take it for granted, I don't think that the majority of the American public, nor the world populations, takes this for granted.
The New York Times reports:

Prime Minister Jacques Chirac of France said that Israel appeared to “wish to destroy’’ Lebanon.

To this quote I can only respond, "Mr. Prime Minister, if a terrorist organization from inside England continuously bombed France and took French soldiers prisoners and England did not stop it, what would you do?" Even the Labanese admit they do not control the southern part of their country. Should the Israelis simply let Hezbollah bomb away?

Certainly, every story has two sides. As an involved Jewish person I'm not sure that I can present both sides evenly. I've had friends who have died in Hezbollah and Hamas sponsored terrorist attacks. But, I'm not sure that anybody can present both sides evenly.

This doesn't mean, however, that we shouldn't try to understand and present both sides as neutrally as possible. Perhaps the most important thing is that we remember that there is always another perspective.

Too often, students believe what they read and don't bother to investigate below the surface, or the headlines. I've had students tell me that because it says something in a book, it must be accurate. I've often challenged comments like these by discussing Mein Kamph. But after a few days, students once again believe what they read. After all, a life of certainty is far easier to live than a life of doubt.

As teachers it is our responsibility to continuously challenge our students' certainty, to help them live in an informed world of uncertainty.

A Football Player without Legs

Get On the Bus has an incredible story about a high school football player who doesn't have leggs but certainly has motivation and skill. Scott Elliott writes:

The Dayton Daily News reported this morning that legless Colonel White High School football player Bobby Martin has won an ESPY. Bobby was named “best male athlete with a disability.”

The next time my students, and your students, are feeling down about one of their limitations it might be nice to share this story with them.

Thanks Scott.

High School Textbooks Be Gone!!

Today's New York Times runs an article entitled, "Schoolbooks are Given F's in Originality." According to this article, textbooks by different authors share content too similar to call chance. The article states:

Just how similar passages showed up in two books is a tale of how the largely obscure $4 billion a year world of elementary and high school textbook publishing often works, for these passages were not written by the named authors but by one or more uncredited writers. And while it is rare that the same language is used in different books, it is common for noted scholars to give their names to elementary and high school texts, lending prestige and marketing power, while lesser known writers have a hand in the books and their frequent revisions.

It's not surprising that textbooks share similar language. After all, textbooks describe incredibly superficial aspects of events. Often, no analysis or evaluation is included. Here's, for example, the description contained in two history books of New York City on 9/11.

In New York City, the impact of the fully fueled jets caused the twin towers to burst into flames. The fires led to the catastrophic collapse of both 110-story buildings as well as other buildings in the area. The numbers of people missing and presumed dead after this assault was estimated to be 2,750.

While the Times article considers textbook authorship, I can't help but wonder why highshoolers need textbooks in the first place. Reading the above paragraph simply asks students to passively ingest information about New York City on 9/11. The paragraph doesn't ask them to consider anything deeply? Reading textbooks promotes intellectual laziness.

Certainly, students and teachers could find information about New York City on 9/11 somewhere other than the textbook. For example the Internet- now that very inexpensive computers are available (See a recent blog entry and associated comments). This search process alone would require higher order thinking skills. However, while students searched they could ask questions about information that they found and further investigate these questions.

Consider a few of the questions that could stem from the above paragraph about New York City on 9/11:
1. What does it mean for a jet to be fully fueled?
2. How did the impact of jets hitting the Twin Towers cause the building to burst into flame?
3. What other buildings collapsed?
4. What was the function of the buildings that collapsed?
Asking and answering these questions, using resources readily available to students, could promote critical thinking, investigation and analysis.

Ok, readers might suggest that students don't have to find information beyond a textbook to ask questions about information contained in the textbook. However, my response pertains to finances. Purchasing textbooks for large groups of students can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Why spend the money on textbooks when similar information, no - better information, could be found elsewhere?

Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld: A Teacher's Take

Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld: A Teacher's Take on Treatment at Guantanamo:

On June 29th, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against Donald Rumsfeld, representing President Bush's administration in rejecting the rules that the administration had established for trying Guantanamo detainees. The administration had sought to establish millitary tribunals to try detainees. It also held that prisoners could be treated in such ways that would enable investigators to extract relevant infromation. The Court declared these rules illegal since the administration had failed to obtain Congressional approval. Furthermore the rules established by the administration failed to meet standards of treatment for prisoners as set by American law and the Geneva Conventions, according to the Court. Yesterday, the Pentagon released a memo stating that Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions "applies as a matter of law to the conflict with Al Qaeda." This article demands that all prisoners be treated humanely. Though President Bush publicly stated that the June 29th Court ruling did not force a change in his administration's policies, according to a New York Times report, the Administration had earlier declared that Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions did not apply to Guantanamo prisoners.

As I wrote the above paragraph I worried that I was stepping a bit beyond my area of expertise. However, newspapers and news-stations across the country ran stories about the Pentagon memo last night and this morning. As an intelligent member of society I want to understand current events. I should be able to make informed political decisions that not only effect me but effect other people as well.

As teachers shouldn't we be educating our students to understand these complicated issues? How many high school students truly have the capacity to understand the complexities of laws relating to treating prisoners at Guantanamo? How many high school students even know where Guantanamo is? Can someone be an informed citizen and not understand the checks and balances that exist between the different branches of the federal government?

Students must not only understand the various disciplines of social studies in order to comprehend the recent Supreme Court decision and the treatment of Guantanamo prisoners. They must also have a background in biology. In 2002 the Justice Department asserted that no treatment, other than that which specifically caused "organ failure" was banned as torture. Though the department reversed this assertion in 2004, shouldn't educated citizens know something about organ failure and what causes it?

There are so many things that an educated citizen must know in order to understand the complexities with treatment of Guantanamo prisoners. Without this knowledge it's unfair for people to say how these prisoners should be treated or to vote for individuals who will make these decisions. As teachers it is our responsibility to ensure that our students have this knowledge and it is our students responsibility to obtain the knowledge.

Am I wrong?

The Importance of Editors

I read the post that I wrote about equity to Ali when I got home. As I read it aloud, I realized that I definitely could have used an editor. I changed it but if you read it before I changed it, I appologize. The next time you see an editor say thank you.

Adolescent Behavior Gone awry

A 15 year old, who killed his "playmate" three years ago, was sentenced to 26 years behind bars. According to the article, the victims mother said:

I don't know whether to state if I am or was Craig Sorger's mom," Lisa Sorger
wrote in a letter read to the court...In your worst nightmare, you never believe
this could happen to you.

Does any truly believe that putting an adolescent in jail for 26 years is rehabilitation?

The Shores of Lake Michigan

I'm spending the week on the shores of Lake Michigan somewhere between Michigan and Indiana in a small town called Michiana. Though I don't have any children of my own, my sister's daughter is here with us. On Sunday, Ali and I took a walk along the beach and I watched as she skipped stones on the water. Ali, a seven year old only child, skipped stones better than I ever could. As I was watching her however, I couldn't help but remember a talk that I once heard an inner city school administrator present to a state conference. She explained that her students had never walked along the beach with their pants half way rolled up. Her students don't know what the word hors d'oeuver means. They have never watched a beautiful sunset over a rural setting. As Ali and I walked I couldn't help but reflect on our luck. I hate to write it, but both Ali and I are lucky to have been born to our respective parents.

What does this mean to us as educators? What should this mean to us as educators?

If I truly had the answers to these questions, I'd be wasting my time walking along the beach. If I knew the answers I'd have a moral imperative to spread them in an attempt to create equity in the world. However, just cause I don't have the answers doesn't mean that I can ignore the questions.

I now remember that though I was thinking about these questions when Ali and I walked the beach, I didn't share them with her. I'm not sure if Ali realizes that there are people in the world who don't have what she has. Sure, she gives charity at religious school. Sure she knows that her parents distribute food to the poor.

But, does she know what this means? Should she know what this means?

I think I'm going to print off this essay and read it with Ali when I get back to the cottage. (After all, maybe one thing all educators can do is make sure that all children know that there are people in this world who are less advantaged, less lucky, than they.

In the meantime, what do you think about my questions?

$100 Laptop For Every Student

Last week, at the NECC, Nicholas Negroponte, an MIT professor, co-founder of the MIT Media Lab and creator of the "One Child Per Laptop" project presented a plan to distribute 150 million low cost laptop computers to students in developing countries. An EdWeek article explains that previous projects sought to distribute computers to teachers around the world, but the projects failed because students didn't have access. According to Negroponte computers should be used for learning, not teaching.

I wasn't at NECC so I didn't have the chance to hear Negroponte speak. But, I'm concerned with the vitality of this project if it focuses on learning and not teaching. In short the best educational programs require both teaching and learning. What are students across the world going to do with these computers if they are not taught how to use them effectively? Negroponte proudly points out that in previous projects where he distributed laptop computers to students in third world countries, the children's first English word was "google." Who cares?

I can easily imagine a student learning how to conduct a search on Google but having no idea how to analyze the information that comes up for truth and accuracy. For example, imagine if a student locates a website that looks authoritative and argues that the Holocaust never happened. What about a student who pulls up a website arguing that black people are closer in relation to apes because they share a color than white people? How would children develop the skills to critically examine this site? How does Negroponte and others who want to distribute laptops across the world think about this. I'm certainly not arguing that it's a bad idea to distribute laptop computers across the world. I'm simply asking how the funders of this project plan to teach kids and their teachers how to use these laptops effectively.

I certainly hope that in our race to distribute laptop computers across the world, we don't forget that there are many American schoolchildren who lack access to laptops. Too many Americans can't search Google when they want to answer a question. Who should get laptops first, Americans or others, if Americans are funding the program?

Finally, imagine the possibilities if people throughout the world not only had access to laptop computers but knew how to use them effectively? As knowledge and productivity increased, hunger and disease might decrease - certainly a worthwhile goal.

Just a thought!!

Trading a Paper Clip for a House

Recently, I've been thinking that I might introduce other ideas that aren't strictly about education onto my blog. Because as every good teacher knows he/she must have lots to talk about to fill time, when necessary. Different topics will interest different kids and hopefully promote creativity. When I read this blog, about a guy who traded up from a paper clip until he got a house, my first comment out loud to myself was "THAT'S AWESOME."

Take a look at this incredible story and ask yourself how you might use it to motivate students in your classroom. I think it's pretty incredible.

Highly Qualified Teachers

Federal law stipulates that by today all states must inform the federal government what they plan to do to ensure that all teachers are taught by highly qualified teachers. According to No Child Left Behind not only must all teachers possess degrees in the subject areas that they are teaching but there must not be an inbalance between the number of unqualified teachers teaching in urban settings and those teaching in other more affluent schools. The Citizens Commission on Civil Rights, a Washington based education watchdog group, released a report entitled, "Days of Reckoning: Are States and the Federal Government Up to the Challenge of Ensuring a Qualified Teacher for Every Student?" The report found a wide range of problems in the ways that states are implementing this component of the NCLB legislation. Some states consider teachers highly qualified simply because they have been teaching for a very long time. Nine states were cited for having no equity plan. Education week contains a useful analysis of this report.

In the beginning of my teaching career I often thought about what it meant to be a qualified teacher. I graduated from a joint program between Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, earning two B.A.s. One of my degrees was in Political Science. The other was in Talmud and Rabbinics, ancient Jewish Law. In my first teaching position I taught middle school Jewish studies at a Jewish day school. I certainly had a deep knowledge of Judaism. However, I lacked an understanding of effective teaching practices. I was a horrible teacher. I think that No Child Left Behind misses the mark when it mandates that teachers have a degree in the subject that they are teaching. Simply because somebody knows a subject well does not mean that they know how to teach the subject effectively.

After I began my teaching career, I earned a teaching certificate from the State of Texas, in history and government. During this coursework I took classes on pedagogy and educational psychology and classroom management. I also observed teachers in their classrooms. One teacher I observed in a summer school class was showing his students an old fashion film, in which a tape recording was cued to specific slides in the film. The tape recording buzzed when it was time to move to the next slide. The teacher did not have the slide and the recording cued properly but he didn't notice it. This teacher had a teaching certificate but he didn't care enough to be an effective educator. Many teachers who possess teaching certificates and know pedagogy don't know enough subject matter to teach effectively.

Degrees and certificates alone cannot make an individual a highly skilled teacher. Indeed, there are far too many variables at play to legislate what it means for a teacher to be highly qualified or highly skilled. Rather than using federal legislation to define these teachers, I suggest that we empower principals, perhaps in collaboration with teacher leaders, to determine who is effective and who is not.


Just a thought!!

Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris Papers Released

Papers written by Columbine killers Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris have been released. According to an article at the Denver Post, Jefferson County Sherriff Ted Mind:

...decided to withhold an audiotape and the "basement" videotapes made by the killers before the shootings, which left 12 students and a teacher dead and two dozen others injured. After the shootings, the two boys killed themselves.

I don't think the country will ever get over the actions of these two sick boys.

Technology in the Classroom

Yesterday, I saw an advertisement for a new $899 iMac, built for educational purposes. It got me thinking: How do teachers and students use computers? How do they use the Internet? What do they do with blogs? What about wikis? Unfortunately, I don't think that most teachers use the technological tools available to them wisely.

One quick story: In early June, my girlfriend's nine year old son, Evan, developed his own website, with minimal assistance from me. Evan was excited about his website and wanted to share it with friends the next day at school. When I saw Evan after school I asked him if he showed his website to anybody. He explained that his teacher said he was not allowed to use the computer since there was no assignment on it. How sad!! Can you imagine a teacher telling a student that he could not use a pen without a specific assignment?

Unfortunately, most teachers don't know how to use technology effectively. Even more unfortunate is the fact that few curriculum experts are developing educational programs that take advantage of the available technological infrastructure. Nearly all schools still use textbooks and pens and paper regularly as the central instructionals tools. Ten years ago, an education professor of mine told me that he suspected writing with a pen would soon join abacuses as relics from the past.

Certainly, there are many obstacles, such as funding, to providing computers for every student in every classroom. However, I can't help but wonder if at one time people said that pens and paper were too expensive to provide to every student. Perhaps in some schools these basic educational resources are still too expensive. However, imagine the possibilities if we could overcome these obstacles.

It's incredible to think about the types of both short-distance and long distance collaboration that current technology makes possible. Two high school English/Language Arts classes in schools on opposite sides of the county might collaboratively develop an online magazine. Since their teachers likely teach multiple classes of the same subject, there is no reason that multiple magazines couldn't be created. Indeed, this online magazine would not only benefit English/Language Arts classes but it could also benefit social studies, as students learned about social networking and tried to expose their magazine to people across the world. In short, the magazine might enable students to develop increased mastery of each of the subject areas they study in school. Just think about the possibilities, science teachers could collaboratively develop experiments and then have students compare their results in the magazine format. This project would enable students to participate in true collaborative scholarship.

Certainly some resources exist to help teachers think about using technology for educational purposes. For example, the MCI Corporation funds the MarcoPolo Internet for the Classroom Consortium. This consortium contains lesson plans developed by a number of prominent educational organizations. Though, some of these lessons are simply Internet lessons because they are based on the Internet, others truly take advantage of today's technology.

Just a thought!!

More than 2500 in Ohio Apply for Vouchers

More than 2500 Ohio students applied for vouchers to attend private schools.

Angela Townsend, a reporter at The Plain Dealer writes,

The state legislature last year expanded vouchers far beyond Cleveland by allocating money for 14,000 renewable scholarships. Children who attend low-performing public schools will get up to $4,250 a year for elementary school
tuition and $5,000 for high school tuition at participating private schools.

It'll be interesting to see how many students apply before the beginning of the next school year.

How Important is Spelling?

Those of you who have been reading my posts for a few weeks have probably caught a couple of spelling mistakes. I'm not a great speller and I don't think that spelling is all that important.

Darlene Superville, an AP reporter writes:

When "say," "they" and "weigh" rhyme, but "bomb," "comb" and "tomb" don't, wuudn't it maek mor sens to spel wurdz the wae thae sound?

Those in favor of simplified spelling say children would learn faster and illiteracy rates would drop. Opponents say a new system would make spelling even more confusing. Eether wae, the consept has yet to capcher th publix imajinaeshun.

What dew yew think?

Senator Jospeh Lieberman's Rival: Ned Lamont

On Monday, July 3rd Senator Joseph Lieberman announced that he would collect signatures to ensure that even if he loses his primary election in Connecticut, he will be on the ballot in November, as what he calls an "Independent Democrat." This story caught significant national attention in both blogs (an article by RJ Eskow at the Huffington Post) and newspapers (an article in the New York Times). Senator Lieberman's move to the right and support for the Iraq war has put his position as the Democratic nominee for the Connecticut Senate seat in serious doubt. Given this story, I decided to investigate his opponent's, Ned Lamont's, views on education.

Ned Lamont's education platform states:

"The answer is neither more standardized tests nor vouchers. We need to support universal pre-school to give kids a head start and offer their parents the best chance at providing for the household. We need trained, talented, and motivated teachers. We also need to provide parents and communities the support they need to assure that children start their school day ready to learn. We need schools that don’t close at 3 p.m. but are open to meet the real needs of the community, including arts and sports, tutoring, health care, activities for parents and
families.

What our country spends in one year in Iraq could provide a year’s free tuition at the University of Connecticut for every college freshman-aged American and Head Start for every four-year-old. We need to refocus our resources and our
attention on the children and young people here.

In part becuase of Mr. Lamont's opposition to the voucher system and additional standardized testing, he has been endorsed by both the Connecticut Education Assoication and the Connecticut Federation of Teachers.

The Lamont campaign press secretary, Liz Dupont-Diehl, explained that the candidate is strongly against No Child Left Behing. According to her, "No Child Left Behind provides punishment but doesn't allow people to succeed." She argued that the federal government should give schools resources to succeed, not simply close schools. Though I recognize that many people accept this logic, No Child Left Behind does not simply mandate the closing of schools, instead it asks states to develop structures that will promote improvement. If after multiple years schools still fail to improve, the legislation calls for school closure.

When asked how schools should continue to change to keep up with the globalization of society, Dupont-Diehl said that schools should align their curriculum iwth real business needs, using technology for valid purposes and help students understand the global nature of the economy.

Dupont explained that Lamont's policies on education as with everything else still have to be further developed, as he is not yet in the Senate.

Senator Joseph Lieberman's office had not responded to a phone call at the time of publication.

Thank Yous to Other Bloggers on the 4th of July

I wanted to post a short entry today, even though I am enjoying the 4th. Rather than writing an opinion piece on an educational current event I want to simply reflect for a few paragraphs on what I have learned about blogging in the last few weeks and to express some thanks.

First, blogging is incredibly addicting. I love it. It's fun to post new articles and to see how many people read them in a given day. However, I'm having an even better time posting comments on other people's blogs. I'm not a fantastic web developer, so I've yet to make my own blog role, but last week I learned how to set up an RSS feed for my own site and subscribe to other's sites, thanks to the help of Ewan McIntosh, over at edu blogs. One of the reasons that I'm posting on other people's blogs is to attract attention to my own blog. But in the process I'm learning so much about both education and current events. Yesterday, I was watching MSNBC and they started talking about bloggers and showed a picture of Eschaton and I knew about the news before they discussed it. It was a really gratifying feeling.

I must say that Joanne Jacobs really helped me spread the word of my blog by posting a short message about it on her own blog. Joanne also sent me some very helpful comments about how to write a decent blog. So far, I've only followed a few of her suggestions but I know that they are smart suggestions. Basically what she said is write something that other people would want to read and refer to other blogs as much as possible. Thanks for your help Joanne.

I've also enjoyed a conversation that I had with Christian over at Think:Lab. He was the first blogger to contact me individually and I've really enjoyed his thinking, perhaps because he thinks from a structural perspective.

Though I'm not sure if David Warlick over at 2 cents worth has any idea who I am yet, I heard him speak at a conference in Oakland County Michigan in April and he's the one who really turned me onto blogging. It's interesting because before I heard him every time my girlfriend's children went online and played games I thought that they were wasting their time. However, now I know that when they play online they use math, reading and socialization skills. Not a bad thing.

By the way, maybe someone has a suggestion for me. I'm really interested in doing more writing on top of other work that I do and would be thrilled to find some freelance work.

There are so many more people that I should be thanking, but I'm afraid people will stop reading. But I think that I'm going to try and post an article of this nature every so often.

NEA to Challenge No Child Left Behind

Take a look at this article from AP that explains that delegats at NEA's convention decided to officially challenge No Child Left Behind.

Teaching Intelligent Design

On June 28th, the New York Time's Education Section ran an article entitled "Evolution's Lonely Battle in a Georgia Classroom," discussing middle school teacher Pat New's quest to teach evolution in a life science class despite criticism from parents, students and the administration. According to the article, Mrs. New used Georgia's state standards to support her teaching. When push came to shove and she appealed to the state department of education to support her teaching, the school administration stopped harrassing her.

In recent years, the debate between teaching intelligent design and/or evolution has never strayed far from headline news. Indeed, a certain number of states don't permit the teaching of evolution at all. Policymakers in these states believe such teaching to be heretical. In a May speech at John Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, "Today, we are seeing hundreds of years of scientific discovery being challenged by people who simply disregard facts that don't happen to agree with their agenda...Some call it pseudoscience, others call it faith-based science, but when you notice where this negligence tends to take place, you might as well call it 'political science."

I am a religious person. I don't think that the world could have come into being without Godly intentions. I simply believe that too many miracles occur every day to call it chance. I often pose the following scenario to my students in my synagogue's religious school: "You have rules in your public school, right?" They all agree that they do. I then say, "But those rules are sometimes broken, right?" Again they all agree that these rules are broken on occasion. I then ask, "Why is it that school rules and government rules can be broken but rules of nature can't be broken." After some suggestions, I explain that I believe that God makes sure that these rules are not broken.

I am teaching in a religious school classroom, not a public school classroom. Do I really know that God makes sure that rules of nature are not broken? Of course not. It is my faith. However, in a longer discussion I could easily explain why I believe the way I do, pointing to more examples from nature in the process. Again, however this is my faith.

Just because I have a faith does not mean that my faith should be taught in the science classrooms of American schools. I am not a scientist. But scientists have far more knowledge of the workings of the world than I do. Scientists might be able to give far better answers to why the rules of nature must continue to work properly than I could give. It's possible that my reference to God is simply because I don't understand enough science. Regardless of why I believe what I do, smarter people than I have developed and continue to refine theories of evolution, theories that have nothing to do with God. Like my own theories, these evolution theories point to empirical evidence. America's mainstream scientific institutions accept this evidence and these theories as credible. Students in American public schools have an absolute right to learn these theories of evolution. As a religious individual, I am confident that even after students learn evolution, they'll continue to have questions. But these questions need not be answered in public schools. They can simply be raised.

Though students should learn evolution in science class, they should not leave school without understanding the term "intelligent design." However, as Michael Bloomberg points out this might be considered, "political science." Perhaps social studies teachers, not science teachers, should teach about the debates and disputes between advocates of intelligent design and advocates of evolution. After all, a consideration of religion and religious ideas fit into social science not science.