In This Dimension

Teacher Unions

From the Wall Street Journal today:

$2.3M fighting against school vouchers - even though even Washington DC Democrat politicans admit they work.

$20K to poll on a state constitutional convention.

$60K to oppose property-tax cuts.

“NEA finished 2007-08 with a surplus of nearly $5.9 million, which means the union will enter the 2008-09 school year with almost $20 million available to spend.”

Wouldn’t it be nice if the union that mis-educates America’s future spent its time and money on the classroom instead of partisan politics?

WSJ July 28: No, Sen Obama, vouchers are a successful, market-driven answer to the failures of the teacher unions of the[…]

Pop Quiz

Pop Quiz: if Al Gore’s or Barack Obama’s or Nancy Pelosi’s food budget doubles from 0.1% to 0.2% of their net annual earnings, but if those who vote for and believe in these Democrat politicians see their food budget double from 12% to 24% of their much smaller annual earnings because of the policies of Gore and Obama and Pelosi – why do those people still vote for Democrats?

Mid-Term: If not enforcing current immigration policies, as Democrats insist somehow is correct -even though illegal, results in an overflow of low-skill workers, driving down the wages of the American worker, why do American[…]

Barry’s Pearl Harbor “Bomb” [sic]

If anyone, anytime, anyplace needs further proof of the ignorance and naiveté of Obama on history, defense, national security, etc., one need look no further than this video of a recent speech of his.

“The bomb that fell on Pearl Harbor.”

THE bomb?

Earth to Barry: Hundreds of bombs and torpedoes fell on Pearl Harbor. The bomb?

This is a guy half this country is willing to have as President? The most powerful position on the planet? “57 states”?? “The bomb”?

If this man ever was taught anything as a kid, in his Madrassah or when he attended a real school, if he ever watched a[…]

Misinformation and Elections

Yesterday in Seattle I listened to a radio commercial for the Democrat nominee for Governor of Washington state.

It was amazing in its disregard for the truth.

First it blamed all the ills of the world on Bush; that’s to be expected this time around. But then it went off the deep end with the following, none of it remotely truthful or factual.

Republicans will overturn Roe. Hate to break it to Dems, but no president has anything to do with Roe and can’t change it in any way shape or form. And - if it were overturned, the result would be immediate legislation in all[…]

What Are we Reading?

What we read does indeed matter. What future leaders read matters quite a bit - it forms their ideas of the world, their grasp (or lack thereof) of history, and their consciousness of how to move the culture and civilization forward.

The mother of a friend of one of our children recently walked into our family room and, upon seeing the filled bookcases lining one wall, asked, “Who reads?”

This is not a future leader, nor a parent raising one.

Here is an excellent article on the subject of kids posting you’ll-be-sorry-later content on FaceBook, and on what Harvard grads are reading. Fascinating.

As the[…]

Fixing the Education Mess

What would happen do you think, if the top graduates of some of America’s best colleges, say, “eleven per cent of Yale’s senior class, 9% of Harvard’s and 10% of Georgetown’s,” for example,  joined Teach For America to become teachers in “the nation’s worst public schools” following a quick, five-week boot camp?

And if they agreed to do so for average salaries, ranging from a rural $25K to a NYC $44K, commensurate with or slightly below what they would be making in the private sector

Don’t allow the unions to get ahold of them. Don’t allow them to be brainwashed into the “Education[…]

Obesity, Gym Class and Home Ec

It’s been more than a year of an entire new set of nonsense from the Boomer Left on our behavior patterns. As usual the entire concept of cause-and-effect somehow eludes these people.

What am I talking about? Childhood obesity. Heck – any obesity.

Let’s see if it’s really that difficult, OK?

Now, I’m only 53, but ‘way back in the day we had Gym Class, starting in what then was called “Jr. High School,” and covered grades 7-9. In 6th Grade a counselor from the Jr. High came to our elementary school and told us about what to expect the next year. One[…]

Nonsensical Voters

Ys, I know it’s silly to discuss nonsensical voters for two reasons. 1: They don’t go looking for information which might shake their worldview; 2: it’s like yelling at customers and expecting them to still like you.

Nonetheless, yet another poll has found that voters hate the Congress and the actions of the incumbents.

This is becoming a tiring and repetitious claim.

The nonsensical part is that these respondents pretend that it’s that important to them, yet I would bet that NONE of them will vote against their incumbent based on this topic. If they did Congress would take the polls seriously. The[…]

American Education is a Disaster

The only people not recognizing this fact (not opinion, fact) are the Teachers unions, those they support with campaign contributions, and the media supporting the recipients of those contributions.

If that leaves you wondering who is the enemy of our children’s future, it is the Democrat Party.

Republicans have their own sets of idiocies, but the future of education in this country is a disaster given the current Democrat Party.

This should surprise no one.

An unreported fact of Democrats is that they don’t have children. Scoff all you want – and then go look at the demographics of the Blue states. Absent illegal[…]

Can America’s Education System be Fixed?

How do we fix a lack of education?  Can we still do so?

When the teachers don’t know how to teach or what to teach – facts indicated by the poor performance of our youth in international testing since unionized teachers took over – it becomes increasingly difficult for their students, in turn, to become intelligent, good teachers when they grow up.

A Baby Boomer teacher with good knowledge and skills is rare. Having been the first generation “taught” by unionized teachers this is not surprising, but it is increasingly disheartening and problematic.

A good GenX teacher is harder to find. A GenY[…]