“Balanced grading is giving our children
a false sense of knowledge.”
–Kesa Andrews
a false sense of knowledge.”
–Kesa Andrews
Read her full article here: Balanced grading saps children’s work ethic, quality of work
education
They Were Taught That?!
Check out these two excerpts from the 1691 New England Primer:
In Adam’s Fall
We Sinned all.Thy Life to Mend
This Book Attend.
Where were the protesters and objectors and suers?
And the parents — didn’t they care?!
Where were the legislatures and the courts and the governors and the city counselors and the district attorneys and the meter maids?
What about equality and equal time and fairness doctrines for other religions and non-religions?
Didn’t they care separation of church and state?
And the poor children with such dreadful thoughts poked in their heads!
🙄
Ah, those were the days. No wonder the country then was in such poor shape. 😯
(And I suppose next we’ll hear parents spanked their children and made them be quiet at the table and didn’t let them play all rowdy-like on Sundays.)
Haiti: Five Gallon Challenge
Makeshift schools popping up in Haiti
Makeshift schools are popping up all over the ruins of Port-au-Prince. Along with the government infrastructure, it will take a long time to rebuild Haiti’s education structure.
[…]
Steve Geurink with Worldwide Christian Schools says they’re partnering with CRECHE, a network of Christian groups with 231 schools in Haiti. “Over 200 schools were either damaged or destroyed in this earthquake, resulting in about 60,000 children not able to go to school and 1500-2000 teachers not able to teach.”
[…]
Getting schools up and running is critical for recovery on many levels. Geurink says, “Christian schools can best answer the questions for those children, so I think it not only is necessary to get children back into schools for a normal lifestyle for them, but it is the best method for the children even to be able to cope.”
The “Five Gallon Challenge” is simple: find a five-gallon bucket, fill it with donations, and give that donation through WWCS as part of this massive rebuilding project. Geurink explains, “This will be a yearlong campaign which would then result in us eventually sending our volunteer work teams to Haiti. We plan to be rebuilding in Haiti.”
One of life’s mysteries: A five-gallon bucket will hold much more than a ten-gallon hat. Go figure.
Sweden vs Homeschoolers?
Here’s a story I’ve been sitting on since December 22. I wonder what Christmas was like for the Johansson’s…and what’s happening with Dominic by now. I just did several Google searches and turned up nothing new.
An appeals-level court in Sweden has affirmed the “kidnapping” of a 7-year-old boy who was snatched by police from a jetliner as it prepared to take his family to their new home in India.
The days-old decision from the Administrative Court of Stockholm affirms the state custody of Dominic Johansson, who was taken by uniformed police officers on the orders of social workers even though there was no allegation of any crime on the part of the family, nor was there any warrant, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association.
The group, the premiere homeschool advocacy association in the world today, has been alarmed by the case that developed apparently because school and social services officials in Sweden objected to the homeschool program for the child.
[…]
“HSLDA is gravely concerned about this case as it represents what can happen to other families who might wish to homeschool their children,” Donnelly said. “Furthermore, in response to inquiries from HSLDA, Swedish authorities have cited the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child to explain and defend their actions.
[…]
In a posting at the Swedish newspaper Varlen Idag, Mats Tunehag, president of the Swedish Evangelical Alliance, worried about the injury being inflicted on the family.
“Annie is from a Christian family in India, and they had planned for some time to move there to live, work and to homeschool Dominic. Due to the harassment from Swedish authorities the trip was delayed. But finally in June this year they were on their way, sitting on the plane bound for India. Then the police came rushing into the plane – as if they were to apprehend dangerous terrorists – and snatched Dominic, saying he is to be taken into care. Can anyone imagine?” Tunehag wrote.
So…what happens here in the United States if the USA becomes a signatory of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child?
Darwinian Contempt
The More They Know Darwin, The Less They Want Darwin-Only Indoctrination
According to an international poll released by the British Council, the majority of Americans — 60% — support teaching alternatives to evolution in the science classroom. The percentage is the same for Britons, despite the fact that both countries have been inundated with pro-Darwin media coverage in this super-mega Darwin Year.
Of course, the British media reporting this are chagrined. Britain is the birthplace of Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution, and the official-sounding British Council, the UK group behind the “Darwin Now” campaign that commissioned the Ipsos MORI poll, have spent precious resources educating the world about Darwin. Now some believe the poll shows that efforts by Darwinist organizations aren’t working.
Head of the British Council’s Darwin Now program Fern Elsdon-Baker said, “Overall these results may reflect the need for a more sophisticated approach to teaching and communicating how science works as a process.”
[…]
The correlation appears again when we consider which countries have more knowledge of Darwin’s theory. The highest numbers of those in support of alternative theories in the classroom correspond to the highest numbers of those familiar with Charles Darwin — 60% in Britain, 65% in Mexico, 61% in China, 66% in Russia, and 60% in the U.S. It appears that the more people know about Darwin’s theory, the more they want to see alternatives in science class.
That’s interesting.
Apparently, the majority of people haven’t evolved enough to accept their monkey’s uncle. Or maybe it’s the possibility that their monkey is their uncle that unhinges their support.
Are we guilty of being unwilling to engage in a willing suspension of disbelief? Perhaps.
Now we await a similar nuclear winter global warming climate change poll. (Or did that already happen and I’ve forgotten?)
That’s a Camel’s Nose!
Socialized and nationalized under the radar screen:
| If I told you that there’s someone in my very middle-class neighborhood who, rather than being upset with the high-speed re-direction of our culture toward a socialist mindset, is ready to pour billions of additional dollars into completing that transition, would it bother you?
What if I said that there’s someone just like that in your neighborhood as well? And someone with identical intentions in every neighborhood in America? You know, if you’re a regular reader of my columns, that I don’t truck in conspiracy theories. So I’m not here to tell you some dark and scary secrets. I will argue, on the other hand, how frightening it is that something can be so very out in the open and still escape our attention. And then I want to propose something of an answer. The sinister influence is… |
He makes a very good point.
Like frogs, we easily boil slowly. But we object to boiling too fast.
Oh…and what do you think I mean with this post’s title?
Adding to Tests
What a great idea!
Why did I not think of it while I was teaching school??? 🙁
| Ads on tests add up for teacher
Tom Farber gives a lot of tests. He’s a calculus teacher, after all. So when administrators at Rancho Bernardo, his suburban San Diego high school, announced the district was cutting spending on supplies by nearly a third, Farber had a problem. At 3 cents a page, his tests would cost more than $500 a year. His copying budget: $316. But he wanted to give students enough practice for the big tests they’ll face in the spring, such as the Advanced Placement exam. “Tough times call for tough actions,” he says. So he started selling ads on his test papers: $10 for a quiz, $20 for a chapter test, $30 for a semester final. San Diego magazine and The San Diego Union-Tribune featured his plan just before Thanksgiving, and Farber came home from a few days out of town to 75 e-mail requests for ads. So far, he has collected $350. His semester final is sold out. |
Maybe I’ll try to buy an ad for Anabaptist Bookstore or Reaching Out Magazine.