We’re winning 7-0, and I’d like to go for the shutout.
I don’t really use the phrases “9/11″ or “September 11.” Instead, I refer to the events 7 years ago today as what they were - a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the United States. I understand that “9/11″ and the like are shorthand; it’s a convenient way to refer to a complex event. But I don’t bother with the day for the same reason I don’t say “December 25″ when I really mean Christmas.
Mark Steyn has reprinted his September 12, 2001 column called “A War for Civilization” and added a bit of perspective - it demands a careful read, and should be read annually.
For those of you who don’t yet read Evan Coyne Maloney’s Brain Terminal, start with his brilliant, harrowing ‘Hell on Earth’ essay. Then watch the video memorial Crystal Morning, edited from David Vogler’s footage:
I got a package in the mail from my brother about two days after the attacks [it was beef jerky and apple cider]. It included this note:
EdWeek published an article last week stating that participation in high school athletics rose to about 7.4 million students:
“The survey was based on figures supplied by the associations from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It showed 3.06 million participants in girls sports, breaking the former record of 3.02 million set last year, and 4.372 million in boys sports, breaking the former record of 4.367 million set in 1977-78.”
Thank goodness all those kids are in the United States, because competitive sport in the United Kingdom apparently leads to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and general fat-itude:
“Schools should cut down on competitive sport because it is putting children off exercise and undermining the government’s drive to tackle obesity, researchers warned today.
Last month, the prime minister, Gordon Brown, promised to bring back competitive sport in schools and to extend the range of sports offered to children.
However, a new study by Laura Ward, from Loughborough University, claimed the heavy emphasis on fitness and competitive sport in many secondary schools is doing little or nothing to help curb the UK’s record teenage obesity rates.”
Some might say that running around while playing sports provides general exercise. Ha! Wrong, sayeth the academics:
“But Ward will tell the annual conference of the British Educational Research Association in Edinburgh later today that too many PE teachers, particularly men, are still emphasising the importance of competitive team sports at the expense of more individual activities.”
Yes, a sport is different than a targeted, sustained cardiovascular exercise regimen. I’ll even admit that a regimen provides more health benefits than a sport.
I don’t care.
I prefer the former to the latter, and I’ve always been more likely to engage a competitive sport than… a treadmill.
“Teachers’ own deeply-embedded attitudes are also influential. A teacher who has experienced lifelong success in sport is likely to want to focus upon competitive team games within their lessons. This then presents us with a persistent cycle whereby sport is privileged within PE and health-related exercise is marginalised.”
You know it’s serious when the academics bring out the “P” word.
If you think some students hate gym class now, turn it into “Exercise Class” and measure their attitudes again. I wasn’t a class-cutter in high school, but I’d have taken every opportunity to skip that one.
I read Darren’s writeup about the CTA’s opposition to a fairly sensible bill - it closes a loophole that allows ‘no contest’ sex offenders to continue teaching.
A quick reminder: mixing criminals and children is a bad idea.
I was surprised that his post didn’t attract more attention. Then again, some of the most contentious, difficult, embarrassing issues in education tend to cause temporary blindness.
What’s this all about? From the bill itself:
A recent Associated Press (AP) study found that roughly 25% of all disciplinary actions against teachers involve sexual misconduct. In a study of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the AP found 2,570 educators nationwide whose teaching credentials were revoked, denied, surrendered, or sanctioned following allegations of sexual misconduct. The study revealed that between 2001 and 2005, 313 California educators had their credential suspended or revoked for sexual misconduct. The study noted that while California law requires educators who plead guilty to, or are convicted of, specified sex, controlled substance, and violent felony offenses lose their credential, existing law allows educators who are convicted following a plea of “no contest” to those same crimes to undergo a discretionary review by the CTC to determine disposition of their credential instead of losing their credential automatically.
The CTA, which represents about 300,000 members in California, has a tagline of “Every child deserves a chance to learn and no child succeeds alone.” I’d say that sex offenders make it tougher to learn, but the CTA apparently wouldn’t agree. After all, no child succeeds alone.
The CTA’s argument rests on discrimination toward gays and lesbians [page 3-4 of this short PDF], but I don’t see how. Read the bill - if it’s there, I don’t see it. CTA Eileen and her union have done a miserable job explaining their case. If Eileen et. al. had done a tenth as good a job explaining the discrimination example as they’ve done whining about funding and praising Barack Obama, we [including the puzzled baby pictured at the top left] wouldn’t be nearly as confused.
Here’s Darren’s post in full - pop a Pepcid and go forth.
Keeping Sex Offenders Out of the Classroom
Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Well, the no-brainers at CTA oppose SB1105, which closes a loophole that currently lets certain sex offending teachers keep their credentials and continue teaching children.
Why does CTA oppose this bill? Because, they claim, it’s discriminatory against gays and lesbians. I found nothing in the bill that even hints at that (see first link above), but have since learned that there are more stringent penalties for pulling a Larry Craig than for pulling an Eliot Spitzer (hence the gay discrimination angle). The CTA is significantly overstating this case, though, in the 2nd link above.
Let’s look at who supports and opposes this bill-again, directly from the state web site above:
Support Commission on Teacher Credentialing (Sponsor)
Association of California School Administrators
California District Attorneys Association
California School Boards Association
Los Angeles County Office of Education
Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office
Saddleback Valley Unified School District
San Francisco Unified School District
Opposition American Civil Liberties Union
California Teachers Association
Equality California
I might agree that the penalties for sex crimes should be more consistent, but that’s not enough for me to oppose this legislation. Perfection is the enemy of the “good enough”.
Apparently the CTA thinks keeping gay and lesbian sex offenders employed is more important than keeping children away from sex offenders-and that’s all you really need to know about the CTA.
I’d suggest that you down some buttermilk to make your stomach impervious to all the Carnival food… but the last thing I want in my stomach while I’m on a ride is a gallon of buttermilk. It’s probably a lose/lose.
The first edition of the GlobalScholar ‘Everything Education’ Carnival is live. They’ve got three midways - College, How-To and K-12. AdvantageEdu’s post on 100 Ivy courses you should take for fun is worth a close look and a bookmark.
The 141st Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Why Homeschool? - and if you don’t subscribe to that blog, you ought to. It’s one of the most thoughtful education blogs I read. The 141st is the super hero edition… and they aren’t heroes from comic books.
The 188th Carnival of Education is up at Core Knowledge. Matthew Needleman at Creating Lifelong Learners wonders whether classroom themes are all that necessary. Some are purposeful, others are… well, window dressing.
