Posts Tagged ‘education’

Boy when IowaHawk gets serious

Posted: March 3, 2011 by datechguy in media
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he is devastating:

To recap: white students in Texas perform better than white students in Wisconsin, black students in Texas perform better than black students in Wisconsin, Hispanic students in Texas perform better than Hispanic students in Wisconsin. In 18 separate ethnicity-controlled comparisons, the only one where Wisconsin students performed better than their peers in Texas was 4th grade science for Hispanic students (statistically insignificant), and this was reversed by 8th grade. Further, Texas students exceeded the national average for their ethnic cohort in all 18 comparisons; Wisconsinites were below the national average in 8, above average in 8.

Perhaps the most striking thing in these numbers is the within-state gap between white and minority students. Not only did white Texas students outperform white Wisconsin students, the gap between white students and minority students in Texas was much less than the gap between white and minority students in Wisconsin. In other words, students are better off in Texas schools than in Wisconsin schools – especially minority students.

The Statistics are here from the NAEP standardized tests and they make a fool of Krugman and the Economist articles.

Just a reminder, Teachers in Texas don’t have collective bargaining rights.

In the old days it was always known that Jesters had the wisdom in the court, apparently it is still true today.

Does that mean Catholics should get Ash Wednesday off?

Posted: December 15, 2010 by datechguy in internet/free speech, opinion/news
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If the ACLU is all bent out of shape over saying Merry Christmas then I’m sure they are all over this :

The Justice Department is suing a Chicago-area school district for not allowing a Muslim teacher to take time off to make a religious pilgrimage to Mecca.

Safoorah Khan’s requests for three weeks of unpaid leave in 2008 were rejected twice by the Berkeley, Ill., school district, according to the Justice Department lawsuit filed on Monday in Chicago.

Khan’s desire to make the hajj was “not related to her professional duties,” according to the complaint.

The Justice Department says the school district is in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

I know my wife doesn’t work for a school system anymore but I seem to recall there is a two to three-month period that Teachers have off every year, As Muslims have to do this once in their lifetime this can’t be done when the pilgrimage coincides with the off-season?

I’m sure that we will hear Barry Lynn and the ACLU screaming about this case…just as soon as they protect our right to free expression by removing every crèche, nativity scene and sign that says Merry Christmas from sight.

And the ACLU’s War on Christmas continues

Posted: December 15, 2010 by datechguy in internet/free speech, opinion/news
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Although there has been a noticeable turn by retailers away from the “Happy Holidays” nonsense the ACLU has not given up to protect those offended by the National Holiday of the United States known as “Christmas”.

School superintendents across the state were reminded by the ACLU this week that holiday celebrations focusing primarily on one religious holiday amount to an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) letter, addressed to 137 public school leaders across the state, stated that it was responding to a number of complaints from families about school party activities this Christmas season.

Hedy Weinburg, ACLU executive director in Tennessee, cited several U.S. Supreme Court decisions about the matter.

Let’s deconstruct this nonsense:

The “Holiday” they are referring to is Christmas. It is a legal Holiday in the United States specifically named “Christmas”. If the ACLU doesn’t like this they should be going after congress and the executive branch. Tennessee doesn’t have the authority to ignore a federal holiday, ACLU letter or no. I’m sure that Tennessee remembers a little spat that took place about 150 years ago concerning federal authority that just might trump a letter from the ACLU’s.

And please don’t insult our intelligence by citing “U. S. Supreme Court decisions”. Every single appeal made by every single lawyer cites “U. S. Supreme Court Decisions” I can cite them too. That doesn’t mean that those decisions either apply or are relevant.

This is a simple attempt to intimidate the meek and the cowardly. I trust and hope that Tennessee is not populated by the cowardly.

Via Free Republic and Twitter.

Separate but Equal for ROTC

Posted: November 18, 2010 by datechguy in culture, opinion/news
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The blog Fiat Lux has an interesting post up about the ROTC at Stanford University. He links to an anti ROTC Op Ed that argues the following:

So the question we must all consider is clear: should we permit the military to have an ROTC presence on campus? The answer will logically depend on what the effects of on-campus ROTC would be and, if the effects of on-campus ROTC would be positive overall, whether Stanford’s resources could instead be allocated in ways that would have greater positive overall effects.

Fiat Lux answers these questions, a peek:

Mr. Windley’s next observation, that there exists some resource trade-off in allowing ROTC back, is true only to an insignificant extent. To my knowledge, the military would pay for the trainers, the gear, the development of a curriculum, etc. The real stumbling block to bringing ROTC back is more a question of whether students should receive academic credit, which does not really affect the University’s bottom line. In fact, one could contend that allowing ROTC back would actually be net-positive for the University in terms of resources because it would free up more money for financial aid (because ROTC participants have their tuition paid for by the U.S. government).

What I find most interesting is the last argument of the Op-Ed writer, namely that it would be more efficient for the military to train in a single location rather than at different campus. I find it fascinating. Basically the idea is We don’t want ROTC but if they can be trained elsewhere away from us wouldn’t that be OK?

Or to put it the way I would. As long as equal facilities are available you don’t need to be here. Separate but equal. Now where have I heard this kind of philosophy?

The bottom line is the university in the name of fighting discrimination that was imposed by congress (and not repealed by congress) is discriminating against those who wish to serve their country and have a different political philosophy. Same bigotry different target. I guess history does repeat itself the 2nd time as farce.

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