I remember how it was -- JR
It’s Now or Never for School Choice Everywhere
Stephen Moore (below) is a good economist but a poor sociologist. The idea that you could dump the products of failed schools into successful schools and get a good result from that is naive. It would just destroy the successful schools. What is needed -- classroom discipline -- would be hard to achieve but there is no other generally effective solution to the problem of low educational achievement
This story could bring tears to your eyes. In Baltimore, Maryland, there are 23 schools in which not one single student tested “proficient in math.”
Can we all agree these are schools that aren’t proficient in teaching math — or just about any course, for that matter?
A Fox News investigation calculated that Baltimore spends an average of $21,000 per student. How could the teachers unions possibly spend that much money and accomplish almost no learning?
With a dreadful record like this, it would be natural to think Baltimore must have the worst schools in the nation. Maybe not.
It turns out things may be worse in Illinois.
According to data from the Illinois State Board of Education reviewed by Wirepoints, an investigative journalism center, there were 30 schools last year, 22 of which are in the Chicago area, that failed to lift even one student to grade-level reading.
Wait, it gets worse. The state has more than 50 schools in which not a single student had achieved grade-level math.
Wouldn’t the proper response be to shut down these schools that are robbing children of an education?
Not in Illinois. In fact, the state educators rated the performance of several of these abysmal schools — are you ready for this? — “commendable.” This takes grade inflation to a whole new level of absurdity.
Of course, the decision by teachers unions and education administrators to shut down the schools for a year or more didn’t help. Yet the test results in many of these schools weren’t much better before the pandemic.
And don’t blame a shortage of money. Many of these Chicago schools are spending up to $30,000 per child.
What we have here is a case of widespread educational child abuse.
All over the country, our public schools are delivering failing results. Last year, test scores nationally reached a several-decade low. The schools that had by far superior test scores to the public schools in almost every state were Catholic schools.
Now, think about this for a moment. If we really cared about the future of our children, wouldn’t we just contract out the nation’s thousands of rotten school systems to the Catholic dioceses around the country? Or throw in Jewish schools, charter schools, Montessori schools, home schools — or whatever works?
In most highly populated inner-cities where public schools are especially deficient, the mostly minority children can receive a better education in Catholic schools — at roughly half the cost of the public schools.
If there is a silver lining here, it is that there are some states that have rapidly expanded their school choice programs, allowing the education dollars to follow the students wherever their families choose to send them.
Arizona, Florida, Iowa, and West Virginia have already done so, with Texas, Tennessee, and Utah considering bold moves toward universal school choice for families that can’t afford private alternatives.
Some 40 years ago, a famous national study on the condition of America’s schools warned of a “crisis of mediocrity” in education. Today, things have deteriorated so much that mediocrity would be an improvement and is considered “commendable.”
University of Chicago economists have estimated that the loss of education just from the Covid shutdowns will cost the nation trillions of dollars of lost income and productivity from the diminished earning potential of our children throughout their whole lives.
A mind is a terrible thing to waste. And our public schools are wasting millions of minds week after week while they spend billions upon billions of dollars on Lord knows what.
It’s time for bold new approaches. There are thousands of private and religious schools that have proven they know how to teach children, and instead of achieving 0 percent reading and math proficiency, they reach nearly 100 percent.
Education reform is simple: Put our children, our nation’s greatest assets, in these schools.
https://www.nysun.com/article/its-now-or-never-for-school-choice-everywhere
**********************************************************Florida Republicans seek to remove Leftist propaganda from what’s taught in higher education institutions
Bill, if passed, would ban colleges from offering majors or minors in Critical Race Theory, Gender Studies, or Intersectionality.
A new bill introduced by Florida Republican Representative Alex Andrade seeks to shut down diversity, inclusion, and equity programs in state colleges and universities. HB 999 prohibits state colleges from funding or supporting any “programs or campus activities” that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion or Critical Race Theory.
The bill would also require state colleges to remove majors or minors related to Critical Race Theory, Gender Studies, or Intersectionality. It would also ban the presentation of American history that contradicts the “creation of a new nation based on universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence” and any coursework that features “identity politics, such as Critical Race Theory.”
The bill features “breathtaking control of viewpoint and content throughout all academic activity in the entire Florida system,” according to Julian Davis Mortenson, a professor of law at the University of Michigan who specializes in constitutional and international law. Mortenson says that the bill prohibits colleges from spending “any money to fund pedagogy, programming, or activities” related to diversity, equity, and inclusion and changes who is allowed to hire university faculty and complete post-tenure reviews.
The bill is part of a broader effort from Florida Republicans to restrict what’s taught in higher education. Earlier this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis introduced a budget that would block state universities from using funding to support diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
The bill also comes after a controversy between DeSantis and the College Board over an AP African American Studies course. DeSantis rejected the course, saying it imposed “a political agenda.” DeSantis then announced plans to “ensure Florida’s public universities and colleges are grounded in the history and philosophy of Western Civilization,” which included prohibiting diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as so-called “Critical Race Theory.” Much of DeSantis’ outline, such as points forbidding colleges from supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion activities and programs, are reflected in HB 999.
As of now, it is uncertain whether the bill will pass or not. DeSantis’ office said that the governor would “decide on the merits of the bill in final form if and when it passes.” If passed, the bill would have far-reaching implications for academic freedom in Florida’s colleges and universities.
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Court Gives Conservative 'Mama Bears' the Last Laugh, Brutally Punishes School Board Trying to Keep Porn Stash Hidden
A school district in Georgia was forced to pay $100,000 in legal fees to a group of mothers who were barred from conducting out loud readings at school board meetings of the porn-infested books the board had approved for kids to see on school library shelves.
A federal court ordered the Forsyth, Georgia, County School District to pay the legal fees of the group calling themselves the Mama Bears, who sued the district when officials barred them from reading from the disgusting books during board meetings, according to Atlanta NBC affiliate WXIA.
The group claimed that the school board violated their First Amendment rights in order to hide the disgusting, inappropriate content of the books from the public. And a federal judge agreed, ruling that the board’s efforts to shut the mom’s group down was unconstitutional.
The lawsuit against the district was brought by parents Alison Hair and Cindy Martin who attempted to read aloud at a board meeting passages of board-approved books that she feels are pornographic in nature. Hair and other members of Mama Bears group were barred from reading the passages, a policy the women claimed is illegal.
The women’s group sued the school district in a federal lawsuit and won. Fox News added that the district was ordered to pay the Mama Bears nominal damages of $17.91 and their attorneys fees of $107,500.
The court also told the district they were prohibited from barring the plaintiffs or any “current or future FCS speakers entitled to speak at an FCS school board meeting, from reading or quoting verbatim from the text of any book or written works available in an FCS library or classroom, while addressing the school board during the public-comment period at school board meetings.”
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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