I discourage use of profanity but when the President of The US introduces certain words into public discourse, the rules change.
Norway announced that it was renaming itself Shithole to show solidarity with countries insyltedby Trump.
This dispatch comes from Oslo, Shithole.
http://www.breakingburgh.com/norway-renames-shithole-solidarity-countries-trump-insulted/
John Thompson wrote an excellent review of Daniel Koretz’s “The Testing Charade” in the Huffington Post.
“Daniel Koretz’ TheTesting Charade: Pretending to Make Schools Better may be the best book on testing since his Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us. We should all be grateful to Koretz’ editor who told him to stop “pulling your punches.” That’s why The Testing Charade “finally” uses “honest adjectives to describe the harm high-stakes testing has done to students and teachers.”
“That being said, Koretz had been correct to use “carefully measured” academic language in his earlier discussions of education policy. Since he was such a respected scholar, even the most true-believing, accountability-driven reformers had to listen to Koretz’ advice. He also had to be diplomatic in order to negotiate access to data that school systems carefully guard, and advise superintendents and other education leaders. In some of the most valuable parts of the book, Koretz is thus able to explain the edu-politics that created a testing regime that remains “Beyond All Reason.” (Emphasis is Koretz’)
“These conversations illustrate why Koretz had to conclude his analysis with a reminder that thirty years ago he and other social scientists warned that test-based accountability “wouldn’t succeed.” The stakes attached to tests were much smaller back then but he predicted that even those milder accountability systems would “face only three options: cheat, find other ways to cut corners, or fail.” However, neither Koretz or anyone else “predicted just how extreme the failures of test-based reform would be.” He didn’t anticipate cheating on the scale that it occurred. He expected bad test prep, but he “didn’t expect states and districts would openly peddle it to their teachers.”
Read the Review. Read the book.
We visit the Presidential Palace, now a museum. The heat is intense, large crowds. On the grounds are replicas of the first two tanks to crash into the palace gates and lead the onslaught. The originals are in the War Museum in Hanoi. The palace is elegant yet simple. It is more an office complex than a palace. It is no Versailles. We see the rooms where the President met honored guests, held strategy meetings, cabinet meetings, official dining rooms. In the basement is a bunker with communications devices, meeting rooms, a map room, even a bedroom for the President. One of our guides says, “The Americans came to help us resist the Communist invasion. So did the Australians, the South Koreans, others.” He gives us a capsule summary of events. We did not get the party line. It’s complicated. He tries to be careful not to express his views. He is Catholic.
We visit the Post Office, designed by Gustave Eiffel. Beautiful. Very French. A high barrel glass ceiling. Directly next to this beautiful and historic building: MacDonald’s. Across the street: the Grand Norte Dame Cathedral, now covered with scaffolding. In the distance, we see, is the old CIA building, not tall or impressive, but the scene of the desperate helicopter evacuations in 1975.
I begin to understand that the official name of the city may be Ho Chi Minh City, but locals call it Saigon. They say it is because the word Saigon has two syllables, while HMC has five. They insist it’s not political. The listener is not sure.
We stop to visit a lacquer factory but I’m too tired to take the tour. We return to the hotel and go out for lunch. The guide tells us the secret of crossing streets: walk steadily and quickly, never pause or stop. The scooters will avoid you but they can do this only if you walk at a steady clip. It worked. The city has millions of scooters.
The heat, the crowds, the jet lag are getting to me today. At night we (about 48 people) take a dinner cruise on the Saigon River. The city is lit up. Tomorrow we embark on the cruise on the Mekong River. (Several other passengers are retired New York City school teachers.)
The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow may become the Electronic Classroom of Yesterday.
ECOT may lose its sponsor and may be forced to close unless some other entity eager to collect 3% of every dollar steps forward.
http://www.dispatch.com/news/20180110/ecot-losing-sponsor-could-close-next-week
ECOT has collected over a billion dollars from Ohio taxpayers over its 15 or so years, thanks to campaign contributions of a few millions a year.
Governor Kasich and other state officials have spoken at its graduation ceremonies. The New York Times said that ECOT has the lowest graduation rate of any high school in the nation.
ECOT recently was required to repay the state of Ohio over $60 million for inflated enrollment and phantom students.
Several years ago, I attended a conference of foundations interested in education. We met in New Orleans, and you can safely guess the topic of the day. I spoke on a panel with John Jackson, executive director of the Schott Foundation for Public Education. I have never forgotten his message.
He said he had traveled to the highest performing nations in the world to learn from them. Wherever he went, he asked the same question: What do you do when a school is struggling? What do you do when a school seems to be failing?
Everywhere he got the same answer:
“We support them. We help them improve. We send in whatever they need.”
He then asked, “What do you do if you help them, and they don’t get better?”
Uniformly, the ministers of education responded, “We help them more.”
The assumption from the leaders of other nations’ education systems was that they are responsible and accountable.
In the U.S., the politicians who make decisions about education assume that if a school is struggling, the children should be given the opportunity to abandon it and let it die. These are men and women who would probably leave their wounded comrades behind on the battlefield.
In Ohio, a study funded by the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a proponent of school choice, concluded that students who used vouchers fell behind their peers academically. So, of course, the politicians want more vouchers.
Bill Phillis of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy writes:
”An Ohio legislator: “If you are in a bad school…”
“Do some legislators not know that the General Assembly has the constitutional responsibility to secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools? When legislators talk about “bad schools” they should get about the business of making the common school system whole rather than providing a way of escape for some students.
“House Bill 200 and Senate Bill 85 set the framework for a universal voucher system. The sponsors of House Bill 200 are currently reducing the scope of this legislation as a means of attracting votes, but if enacted, this measure opens the door to a universal voucher system.
”In a discussion regarding House Bill 200, a legislator, according to a recent Gongwer News Service publication, said, “But if you are in a bad school and you don’t have the money, we want to give you the opportunity to be able to make a choice for your child.”
“The public common school system in Ohio was declared unconstitutional four times, and has not yet been fixed. Instead of correcting the funding deficiencies of the system, many state officials work hard to fund vouchers and charters which further diminish the fiscal capacity of school districts. This is reminiscent of the medical practice of bleeding of sick patients 200 years ago. Hence, if a school is considered “bad”, take away its life blood to heal it!
“The Ohio Constitution should be required reading for state officials.”
William L. Phillis | Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding | 614.228.6540 | ohioeanda@sbcglobal.net| http://www.ohiocoalition.org
Ohio E & A, 100 S. 3rd Street, Columbus, OH 43215
The Wall Street Journal and the Boston Globe and other media report that Trump’s private lawyer paid $130,000 to a porn actress to assure her silence during the 2016 campaign about their relationship in 2006. He married Melanie in 2005.
Surely this will not bother his evangelical base, which is devoted to family values. It does, however, require a redefinition of family values.
As readers of this blog may recall, Missouri Governor Eric Greitens seized control of the state board of education by replacing five of its eight members with his choices. None has been confirmed by the State Senate, which leaves the state board without a quorum. How this unconfirmed board managed to fire the State Commissioner remains a mystery.
But Greitens is now in deep trouble because of news that a woman accused him of having an extramarital affair with her, tying her up, taking photos, and threatening to post the pictures on the Internet if she broke the story. Rather bizarre since exposure threatened Greitens more than his paramour.
Greitens has touted his role as a family man.
Missouri is a very conservative state. Republicans will have to decide what to do about the Governor.
Johann Neem and Tony Tian-Ren Lin explain just how terrible the GOP Tax Law is. It harms our democracy by transferring public funds from public schools to private schools, without the consent of the governed.
“Most attention on the tax legislation enacted last month has focused on its impact on Americans’ wallets. But it was also a victory for school choice and a massive blow to public education.
“It initially included measures to benefit home-schooling families and the final version benefited those who use private schools while eroding the state and local sources that fund public schools. The financial strain to the public schools caused by the loss of that revenue is well documented. The long-term harm to the nation is less evident, but no less profound.
“Public schools were established to knit together the civic fabric of our democracy. They never fully succeeded in that task, but as our discourse becomes increasingly poisoned and our political divisions seem to grow deeper with each passing year, we need them to do so more than ever. Unfortunately, these same developments make Americans more resistant to restoring and completing this original vision for our schools.
”Legislation like the tax bill, which threatens the funding base for public schools and encourages private schooling, promises to exacerbate these problems and poses a real danger to American democracy.
“America’s founders understood that the American experiment would fail if citizens did not hold a common vision for the greater good. The need for a shared civic culture became urgent by the 1830s as ethnic and ideological conflicts produced violence in America’s streets. One of the most effective antidotes to this disunity was tax-supported “common” public schools. America’s public schools were founded to educate citizens and bring diverse Americans together to instill a common vision for the nation.”
Johann Neem and his family came to the U.S. from India when he was a child. He credits the public schools for giving him the opportunity to rise and succeed in American society.
After an overnight stopover at my son’s home in Los Angeles, we flew Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong then transferred to a flight to Ho Chi Minh City. When we exited the airport, the crowds were in the thousands, apparently families waiting for loved ones. It was a chaotic, noisy, but peaceable and happy scene.
After almost 24 continuous hours of travel, we checked into our hotel, the Park Hyatt, which is very beautiful. The city is teeming. The population is about 13 Million. We decided to go on a Jeep tour of the city at night. There were six in our party, and we traveled in two Jeeps. The Jeeps, the guide said, were American vehicles left behind at the end of the war. Sturdy, heavy metal, a top made of camouflage canvas (furled up, it’s hot here, in the high 80s, and the peak of their tourist season.).
About the name of the city. It was Saigon until the war ended, and it was renamed Ho Chi Minh City. People use the names interchangeably.
Saigon-HMC is booming. The government is socialist but the economy is capitalist. Commerce is the life blood of the city. In addition to countless small indigenous shops, there are fancy western stores.
The traffic is other-worldly. The streets are filled with motor scooters, cars, and buses. The air pollution is horrible, and it is not uncommon to see people on scooters wearing face masks. There are more motor scooters than anything else, and they weave in and out of the other vehicles. Riding in the Jeep, I was tempted to close my eyes a few times for fear of a collision, which never happened. The motor bikers, most with two riders, were utterly heedless and bold. Add to the mass havoc on the streets the overflowing sidewalks, bars, cafes. This is a very busy city. HMC at night reminded me of Bourbon Street in New Orleans, times 10, and stretching for miles, not just a few blocks.
The Jeep tour took us first to a rooftop restaurant for a Vietnamese meal. The views were staggering. HMC has a large number of high-rise buildings, many of which are illuminated with undulating and beautiful neon lighting. After dinner we went to one of those high-rise buildings, which has a rooftop bar, spotlights, and a rooftop swimming pool. The background music was American pop songs.
There are cranes everywhere in the central city. New office buildings, new residences. A thriving middle class and even a wealthy elite.
This is what I learned about the education system. Schooling is free for the first five years. After that, families must pay. Superior students receive scholarships. About 52% of the children of high school age attend school.
Tomorrow I will meet with the president of a local university, American style. I’m looking forward to learning more about this beautiful country.
One other thing: I feel deeply ashamed of our war here. One of the guides said today that his parents taught him to look forward, not back. I have vivid memories of that terrible time. I feel awful about the lives lost on both sides. I grieve for all those who died. I am not able to forget what we did here.
Bruce Lesley writes here about the Republicans’ efforts to remove health coverage from children.
What kind of person would want children to die because they are uninsured and their parents can’t afford medical care?
He writes:
”The year 2017 may go down as the worst year in decades for children in Congress.
“Children’s Health: CHIP, Medicaid, and the ACA
“When the year begin, on January 3, 2017, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Children’s Defense Fund, Children’s Dental Health Project, Children’s Hospital Association, Family Voices, First Focus, and National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners had one simple request of Congress when it came to the health of children Recognizing that 95 percent of children had health care coverage — a historic high — our organizations requested that Congress adopt a “do no harm to children standard.”
Sadly, “do no harm” was too high a standard for this Congress. They decided to inflict harm on millions of children.
