Apparently some gremlins got into the server and mucked up the mySQL database that drives WordPress’s content. So, apologies to those of you who visited the site between midnight and 5pm EST and saw a big, white blank in the middle of each post. Thanks for the e-mails that let me know trouble was brewing - or had brewed and spilled over.

The gremlins have been expunged and all should be well from here on out. I’ve hired Pia, a crafty little Burmese, to keep a watchful eye on the machines.

Memorial Day trumps all as my favorite holiday, partly because I enjoy all aspects of it, but mostly because of its significance. Rather than post my own thoughts on Memorial Day, I’d like to direct everyone to Peter Collier’s piece in OpinionJournal entitled “America’s Honor” [hat tip to Arma Virumque, constant purveyors of worthwhile content, for pointing us to it]. Collier’s must-read piece sums up the need for us to re-center the meaning of Memorial Day; his treatment of those “honored strangers” is deeply moving.

I am proud to spend my Memorial Day taking advantage of the freedom others earned for me [as opposed to ignoring the Day as a few schools do]. So, I’d like to offer a few highlights from my day because, well, I really am that proud of the freedom.

• A chicken barbecue at the Hartwick, NY American Legion Post. The food, always memorable, is second only to the stories. The remarkable thing is that there’s always a new one, each and every year; few times are better-spent than hearing the Hartwick boys talk about The Fabulous Fifties in a rural town with one stop sign at the four corners. When a story starts with, “Remember when we poured all that gunpowder in a can, gathered around and bent over it and threw matches at it?” Needless to say, the powder exploded when one of the bolder types stuck a lit match into it. Though they “almost killed every boy in Hartwick,” they somehow escaped disfigurement.
• Planting flowers. The most moving part of the weekend is planting flowers on the graves of friends, family and veterans - their lives, full of sacrifice, command respect and demonstrations of honor. It’s a fading tradition that saddens me with each passing year, as I see fewer and fewer displays. This is due partly to so many natives leaving the area and, consequently, the graves of family behind, but I sense that fewer locals engage in the celebration. If you aren’t familiar with the process, check out my decoration of the headstone of PFC George Deakin, my Great Aunt’s husband and veteran of both World Wars, who resides in the Hartwick Cemetary:

  

• The small family gathering at which we play horseshoes and Jarts. No, not the safe Nerf lawn darts, because we all know that safety and fun vary inversely. We have several sets of those decades-old kidkillers that weigh more than they ought [if you’re a novice to the game, just imagine bocce with big, sharply-pointed darts]. I apologize on behalf of the generation of kids who used lawndarts irresponsibly and ruined the fun for all who came after, including subjecting millions of kids to that most horrible phrase, “It’s all fun and games until someone pokes their eye out.” Instead of images of summer fun, we’ve got to put up with warnings like the one below. We still play often, and I encourage you to do the same.

  

• Later on I’ll watch some of the classic movies on AMC and the other stations that choose to run themed programming on Memorial Day. The Day isn’t complete without George C. Scott’s masterful portrayal of our greatest General.

Hopefully your Memorial Day is as good as mine - just make sure to recognize the significance of the Day that underlies the hot dogs, family and frivolity. Be sure to thank our living veterans, current military personnel and those who work to support them. And please, take a few minutes to honor our dead, even if it’s just a moment of personal silence. That means you, too, John Edwards, who I imagine will be called a “lowlife son of a bitch” by Patton somewhere in the afterlife.

Sorry, but I can’t help you get a year at Stanford - housing included - for free. Especially if you aren’t a student there. Or weren’t ever accepted. Or maybe didn’t even apply.

Azia Kim was like any other Stanford freshman. She graduated from one of California’s most competitive high schools last June, moved into the dorms during New Student Orientation, talked about upcoming tests and spent her free time with friends.

The only problem is that Azia Kim was never a Stanford student.

Kim, an 18-year-old from Orange County who graduated from Fullerton’s Troy High School, lived in Kimball throughout fall and winter quarter. She lived in Okada, the Asian-American theme dorm, until Monday night, when University staff finally caught onto her ruse.

I can only imagine the backlash Stanford is going to face over the potential for security threats.

Read the whole article from the Stanford Daily, it’ll make your jaw drop. And Frank Abagnale, eat your heart out.

Weapons of Math Destruction is at it again. Agree or not, you can’t help but laugh.

I Thought a Think hosts the 120th Carnival of Education this week. This edition of the variety show runs the gamut from teaching to policy with a few surprises.

This week’s All-Star team:

• The Science Goddess feels sadness for the members of the local teachers union.
• Educator on the Edge has a gripe of her own - her union seems not to understand that doing what is best for the kids is the most important thing in education.
• CaliforniaTeacherGuy has the right attitude.
• It took a while, but now we can see Right Wing Nation’s analysis of the New Math.
• Who?!?
• AimlessMiss dissects John Edwards’ “College for Everyone” plan. Really, it isn’t a very good plan - I’m glad someone has taken the time to go through it, because the “college for everyone” soundbyte is so misleading and politickingly-sweet that it just might give you a cavity.
• Online Degrees Today offends with an extremely simplistic analysis of how to choose a grad school, though writing anything else might hurt their business [This is the Carnival of Education All-Star selection equivalent of David Eckstein, 2006].

You can read the entire Carnival at I Thought a Think, including my submission about Valley Central’s bribe campaign in last week’s budget/board votes.

A note about next week’s Carnival, which heads back to the Wonks:

Next week the Midway returns home to The Education Wonks; Submissions to Carnival #121 should be sent no later than 9:00 PM (Eastern) on Tuesday, May 15th to owlshome [at] earthlink [dot] net. You can also use the ever-handy submission form here.

If you’re interested in some other good stuff [not just education], you can see the best of what I’ve read this week by checking out my del.icio.us.

Thankfully, we don’t have to scream on the internet to make sure someone across the country can hear. We just type out comments.

The most valuable component of blogging - and also the element I personally like the most - is the opportunity to present information and then read reactions to it. And not just read those reactions, but react to them, get a counter-reaction, etc. When blogging gurus like Debbie Weil use the word “conversation” to describe this phenomenon, they hit the nail on the head.

I’d like to point readers toward a few valuable conversations that are happening on this website:

• Whereas “Why We Should Blog in Education, Part I” didn’t generate much feedback, Part II did. Prospective school board candidates and current members weighed in and gave us some insight about how they approach blogging and communication in general. I do like the trend I’m seeing: increasingly open communication and a hefty respect for the laws that mandate it.
• Reactions to the AP Audit. “Teachers Cynical About Advanced Placement / AP Audit” led to a good ongoing discussion about the motivations and effectiveness of the College Board’s audit of AP curricula. I’ve gotten quite a few e-mails about this, which is why I’ve decided to wait a little longer before producing a follow-up piece. In short, the motivations for the audit and the audit in practice are separate issues that I’d like to address properly - and after the audit has run its course. What have your experiences been like? What’s your take on the audit?
• Opinions on the dismissal of a teacher with a backbone. The outpouring of support for a Texas teacher who refused to alter the grades of students was incredible. After her story broke, we saw several reports from across the nation of school officials pressuring teachers to change grades - and if that failed, changing the grades themselves. This is a serious issue in public education; those teachers and administrators who value integrity should be applauded.

If you haven’t yet weighed in, go for it, and if you have - or don’t want to - the comments are worth reading in full. Remember, conversation is what our sites are all about.

The Daily Mail reports on a study that concludes the ratio of lengths for one’s ring and index fingers predicts that person’s ability in literacy and numeracy:

Pupils with longer ring fingers are said to be more likely to excel in numeracy while those with shorter ring fingers tend to be more adept at literacy.

Scientists believe the trends can be explained by the levels of testosterone and oestrogen that children are exposed to in the womb. The sex hormones are thought to govern brain development as well as finger length.

The ratio is determined by taking the length of the index finger and dividing it by the length of the ring finger. If the ratio is smaller than 1, that student tended to score better on numeracy tests than on literacy tests; if the ratio was larger than 1, the opposite was true. Fingers of equal length [a ratio of 1] suggests little difference between one’s abilities in math and language.

The best I can do is provide an anecdote [though I’m sure someone will replicate this study on a larger scale than the University of Bath’s cohort of 75]. My ratio of index:ring is .979; I’ve always had to put far more work into words than numbers. My parents, who I can now blame for negligence toward the womb when I encounter roadblocks in all things literature, have ratios around .94 for my father and .95 for my mother.

And if you aren’t sure which finger is your index and which is your ring, the cropped photo above, courtesy of The Daily Mail, can help you out.

LiveScience, via Yahoo! News, has a writeup linking this study to SAT performance. They also have links to other research about the correlation between finger length and abilities/behavior.

What’s your ratio? Is it valid?

At Valley Central School in Montgomery, NY, VC Elementary students took a special interest in last week’s budget vote. No, the civics education in the Valley Central third grade isn’t exemplary; the District just decided to bribe the schoolchildren with free homework passes [photo from recordonline.com] if they got their parents to vote, reports the Times-Herald Record.

Students at two Valley Central elementary schools were offered special coupons to entice their parents to vote on the district’s nearly $77 million 2007-08 budget yesterday. Ian’s third-grade class at Walden Elementary got “one-half off homework” coupons. If someone in his household voted, he [Ian] could redeem the pass and finish only part of an assignment. If both parents voted, he’d get two homework deals.

Ian implored his mother. “Mom, could you please go tomorrow? Pleeease.”

Let’s hope that little Ian doesn’t come from a broken home. It would be a shame to deny him a free pass because his voters weren’t together anymore. And, of course, by voters, I mean “parents.”

Ms. Drury, Ian’s mother, wasn’t impressed:

“It was like they were using him as a pawn,” she said. “I equate this to the tactics of a Happy Meal.” (When kids beg their parents to take them to McDonald’s for the toy that comes along with the cheeseburger and fries.) “It’s the same manipulative tactic,” she said. “And I’m not a Happy Meal Mom.”

She voted on Tuesday, but she didn’t drop off the homework coupon at the voting table. Not all parents were as responsible as Ms. Drury; the Times-Record stated that:

By 3:30 yesterday afternoon, the coupon bucket of homework waivers was piled high.

One can assume that the “coupon bucket” got so full because parents also filled it with their discarded scruples. Valley Central Superintendent Dr. Richard Hooley doesn’t see any problem with voting-for-homework:

Valley Central Superintendent Richard Hooley did not think the district had broken any election laws. “I believe this was one of the many efforts that we use to encourage people to come out and vote,” he said.

Dr. Hooley needs to think again. Encouraging voting by a demographic that historically supports District proposals, though arguably unethical, is one thing; using children as pawns in local politics is another. The message that Dr. Hooley has sent to his students and community is that votes can be bought and that honorable values like fairness are subject to ebb and flow. Whether out of ignorance, oversight or malice, no matter - District officials should be ashamed of themselves. Maybe an indictment is premature - was this one in a series of efforts to bring voters to the polls?

“They haven’t offered any inducement to any other segment of the community,” said local civil rights attorney Helen Ullrich, who was contacted yesterday by an angry Valley Central voter.

Voters have 30 days from the date of the violation to file a complaint with the Department of Education - I will be surprised if no one files papers. The burden of proof to throw out an election generally requires that the offense committed changed the outcome of the vote/election, including sworn affidavits from voters who can testify that the action swayed their vote. The tally shows 1,396 yeas [65.4%] vs. 736 nays [34.5%], so the District may get away with this one. Regardless of how a challenge turns out, the District should take the proactive approach and apologize fully, admitting their mistake sooner rather than later. That gesture will carry far more weight than a seemingly-forced apology after a challenge.

Today’s RecordOnline featured an editorial opinion that’s worth reading in full [and not just because the RO agrees with me]. They close powerfully with this paragraph, picking up after a brief description of the appeal process:

Let’s hope somebody does [complain to the State Ed. Dept.]. And let’s hope that the punishment involves an apology from the superintendent and anybody else involved in this misguided effort so that the children learn the lesson that bribery, no matter how you disguise it, is not acceptable.

I’ll make sure to follow this one.

I’ve had an interest in Dartmouth’s Trustee election since I first heard about petition candidate Stephen F. Smith, Dartmouth ‘88. Though I have no personal attachment to Dartmouth College, it’s hard not to be interested in the candidacy of a man who is so honest about the direction of his alma mater and, most importantly, is quite clear about how to right the wayward ship.

Mr. Smith sees that Dartmouth is abandoning its roots as an elite liberal arts college and becoming yet another research university; he has seen Dartmouth’s administration grow far faster than its faculty; he wants to protect the integrity of Dartmouth’s history and reinvigorate the College’s athletics. In short, he’s a well-qualified alumnus [which might be the understatement of our young century] with a deep commitment to his alma mater - and he’s got the talent and experience to affect change. If you want a crash course on Smith’s candidacy and the issues that surrounded the election, you can see pieces from The New Criterion, William F. Buckley, or you can read Smith’s blog.

Mr. Smith won with the support of 55% of the alumni vote to become the most successful petition candidate in the history of Dartmouth’s Trustee elections. I can’t imagine what the other 45% were thinking.

Smith’s election is a victory for serious-minded alumni, future students and - clearly - anyone with a commitment to maintaining quality in higher education. One need not have a connection to Dartmouth to appreciate that a man as accomplished as Smith is making himself available to guide one of the nation’s bastions of education.

If you’re interested in keeping tabs on what’s to come at Dartmouth, check out the Joe’s DartBlog and, of course, The Dartmouth Review and its Dartlog. I look forward to following Trustee Smith’s service to the College.

UPDATE at 5.21.07, 11.48pm:

Phi Beta Cons links to a lengthy piece by Joe Malchow, author of the DartBlog, that details on MindingTheCampus.com all the events that led up to Smith’s election.

The publication of a lengthy research study confirms what we adults - those veterans of childhood - have suspected for years: that the same abuses we suffered at the hands of our parents are even more prevalent today.

LOS ANGELES—A chilling national poll of U.S. children ages 3 through 12 estimated that nearly 75 million youngsters suffer both physical and psychological abuse at the hands of their parents on a daily basis.

The poll, whose findings are part of a 700-page report released Tuesday by a coalition of child abuse monitoring and prevention organizations, indicts nearly 95 percent of American parents. It documents abuses ranging from less severe offenses, such as children being denied snacks just before dinner, to more egregious, long-term cases of neglect, such as never ever getting what they want, ever.

“My parents always tell me that I have to finish all my math homework or I won’t be allowed to watch TV,” said study participant and abuse victim “Derek,” 10, who told researchers that some of his earliest memories were of this kind of mistreatment. “They’re so mean. I hate them.”

This disturbing report details not just emotional and psychological abuse, but also enslavement:

Some children, mostly boys, have even been pressed into brutal physical labor by their fathers, who demand their sons help them in the yard on Saturdays—one of only two days off for children who spend an average of 600 hours a week at school.

“He treats me like a slave,” 12-year-old “Michael” said. “It’s like it’s my fault that my dad decided to buy a house with a lawn. And then when I do help, he says I shouldn’t have had a bad attitude about it.”

“Mom just sits there and lets the entire thing happen,” “Michael” added.

If the children are our future, what are we in for?

Some days I’m not sure what I’d do without The Onion. If you need a break from serious work, check out more of The Onion’s Education stories.

For those of you who maintain sites using WordPress, check out the Top Ten Underrated WordPress Plugins. I installed the following, and they’ve been useful [descriptions taken from article]:

• Head Meta Description. “While the Meta Keywords Tag is no longer used by most search engines, the Meta Description Tag still has some influence. Having the same Description Tag on all your pages, however, might be inneficient and send part of your website to the supplemental hell. This plugin is extremely easy to install and it will create a dynamic Meta Description Tag for every page on your blog, based on post excerpts or on the first words of the page.”
• Enforce www. Preference. “If your site can be accessed through http://www.domain.com and http://domain.com you might have some problems over the long run. Most search engines treat those addresses as two different domains, spliting your backlink count. In order to solve this issue you need to setup a 301 Permanent Redirect. The are several ways to setup this redirect, but if you are not familiar with PHP or if your host is not Linux based (for the .htaccess file) this plugin represents the simplest one. You just need to activate it and all the visitors and search bots will get redirected to the address that is specified on the Wordpress control panel.”
• Sig2feed. “Sploggers are feed stealers are spreading out like fire. The first measure to protect your content is to add a copyright notice to your feed, possibly with a link pointing to your site. Sig2feed is a very light plugin that will do just that.”
• FeedSmith. “This plugin used to be called Feedburner Feed Replacement. It was so popular and efficient that Feedburner itself decided to buy it from the developer. Basically it will forward all the requests for your Wordpress feed to Feedburner. It is very useful if you started using Feedburner after having some subscribers, or if you want to make sure that your feed statistics are completely accurate.”

All of the plugins are easy to install and administer. I also recommend checking out the DailyBlogTips site - regardless of which platform you use [blogger, WordPress, etc.], it has lots of great tips and articles, updated frequently, that can help you make your site better.

UPDATE at 5/23/07, 8.49pm:

The EduStat blog has a great post about dealing with comment spam. I especially like Bad Behaviour, the ultimate spam-killing plugin. I recommend installing these quick tools - it’ll give you an extra hour a week you can spend posting, reading, etc.

I spoke recently with secondary school teacher about a website that evaluates a student’s financial aid package and, in essence, gives it a grade based on the school’s past aid offerings and the student’s circumstances - then the family can use that information to negotiate with the school for a better package, if necessary. The problem? I can’t remember the site [and Googling hasn’t worked because I don’t remember any specific terms to narrow it down]. So, if you know the site I’m talking about, shoot me an e-mail at mktabor@gmail.com or leave a comment here. I’d love to write a bit about it.

In the meantime, I’d like to remind everyone of a few great [and free] financial aid/admissions services that, in my opinion, fly under the radar when they ought to be better known:

• Financial Aid News newsletter. The FAN is a publication of the Student Loan Network and features news/opinion articles about financial aid, a hefty list of scholarships and more. Be sure to check out FANS, a digg-style section for user-submitted financial aid news.
• Financial Aid Podcast. Christopher Penn, Editor of the Financial Aid News, has a daily podcast - you can listen using your computer or an iPod/mp3 player.
• Princeton Review Parents. This podcast discusses general college/admissions topics, including which schools are a great value, advice on the admissions process, etc. Take a look at descriptions of their latest episodes and see for yourself.
• Princeton Review LSAT Logic in Everyday Life. Sure, law school is far off - or you’re not interested - but logic pervades everything we do. This podcast is worth listening to whether you’re in 8th grade or an administrator. Though I generally don’t think much of Princeton Review’s services, LSAT logic and PR Parents are both pretty solid. You’ll be amazed at what you find when you start analyzing media/current events with the strategies detailed in this podcast and, if you’re in a position to write essays on tests or in college, logic goes a long way toward a piece that makes sense [and, consequently, a high grade].

If you know of any excellent college admissions/fin-aid/testing resources that seem to go unnoticed, let me know and I’ll spread the word.

I’ve missed the last few Carnivals due to the busy schedule in the weeks that preceded the election, but I’m back for #119. The Education Wonks have served up another offering that varies from policy to teaching to testing to technology - with more than a few stops in bet