Sometimes I wonder why people do the things they do...

Four things made me sad when I went to the Chinoe Kroger for cat treats. In order of sadness, they are:

1. One man was sitting in a BMW cocked across a handicapped spot without any placard. Now granted, the car was standing, not parked, so it was ambiguous as to whether he should be there, but still...
2. A giant truck was stretched halfway into a handicapped spot and halfway over the line into a regular spot. It was parked that way. If it had a placard, it may have been on the driver-side dash rather than the rearview mirror, which is fine per the law, I just couldn't see. But regardless of that, folks, if you can't park your humongous truck correctly, don't buy one. Or at least park at the edge of the lot.
3. When I came out, there was a small cart straddling the other handicapped space next to mine and also a regular space, so no one could park. At first I got in the car and turned it on. Then I turned it off, got out of the car, and walked the 10 steps to the cart corral. Now, it's possible the person who used the handicapped spot did it, and couldn't make it to the corral, but if that's the case, put it next to the sign. And no one walking by had bothered to take it to the corral or into the store. My faith in humanity is waning.
4. Saddest of all (but before that last bit), the lady ahead of me in the fast lane and I chatted about cats because she'd seen my treats. Her order came to $74.01. She gave the cashier a hundred-dollar bill and a penny. He hit the button without putting that in. And then he fumbled for a minute or two, finally pulling out some random change. She tried to explain that he'd given her the wrong change (although she didn't say it was $26 even), and he just directed her to the customer service desk. It is the main aspect of his job, but he couldn't make change--not because he was stupid, I think, but because he'd never been taught to, and that's just sad. I've cashiered many times. It just boggles my mind that many today honestly can't do it if they don't type in the right amount and let the register tell them how much to give the customer. He didn't really seem embarrassed, just inconvenienced. He was probably about 24 or 25 years old. We have done such a disservice to students in the last couple of decades. Don't even get me started on cursive.

'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'--George Santayana

We are failing to teach the Holocaust, not only as a country, but as a world.

Of the 140,000 Jews who lived in the Netherlands before World War II, 102,000 were killed during the Holocaust, according to the U.S. State Department

Though most Dutch respondents – 89% – were familiar with Anne Frank, 32% of millennials and 27% of all adults surveyed did not know she died in a concentration camp. Anne Frank was a German Jewish girl whose family hid in an attic of her father's Amsterdam business office until they were betrayed to the Nazis and sent to a series of camps. Anne and her sister Margot died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp of typhus in 1945 just months before the camp was liberated near the end of the war in Europe.

Netherlands joins 'disturbing' trend of decline in Holocaust knowledge, new survey finds

How is it

that I am 50 years old, spent 12 years in school from kindergarten through high school (yeah, I know, it should be 13, but I skipped first grade) in nine different schools and five different states, five years as an undergraduate in college--including matriculating through a 'Great Works' programme--and eleven years in graduate school studying library science and European history (albeit prior to 1789), and until yesterday I had no idea that Alexandre Dumas, the author of numerous beloved novels and other writings, including The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Christo, was the grandson of a Haitian African slave? Granted, I read The Three Musketeers, which I adored--and one day I should read the sequels--on my own, not as part of my schooling. When I was a kid I loved anything which involved swordplay. I was also a great fan of Zorro, and I also loved The Scarlet Pimpernel. But you would think that detail would have been gleaned sometime in all those years of education. Of course, our system, particularly when I was young, was biased towards European white authors, but still.... Anyway, I know it now, at least.

I'm home from work today due to a bad cold. I spent yesterday at work, using copious amounts of hand sanitizer, but I blew a lot of snot out of my nose constantly, coughed, sneezed, felt like my head was ten times its size, and just generally felt miserable, and when I woke up this morning, after a fitful night, I felt worse. I texted my boss to see if I could stay home and then went back to sleep. I woke up again at 8:30 am, called YKWIA to see if he wanted to go to the doctor if I could get an appointment for both of us, but he is trying to keep the medical bills down, so he declined. I then called our doctor's office to see if I could get in, but they are already usually closed by 1 pm on Fridays, and they were going to leave early due to the impending holiday, too, so I couldn't. I could go the Little Clinic at Kroger, but it usually takes forever, according to people who've gone, and frankly, I don't feel like sitting or walking around Kroger that long. So instead I went back to bed and slept for about two-and-a-half hours, and then woke up, took my medicine, and got some food in me. I feel a little better. I still have a headache and I am stuffy with a sore throat (those frozen fruit bars help with that) and earache, but the pressure in my head isn't quite so bad, and while I'm still blowing stuff out of my nose, it isn't quite as constant. On the other hand, I've only been up less than an hour and I'm already tired so I may go back to bed for awhile--I just wanted to that stuff and feed the fish. But despite the rest I've gotten, I'm still pretty pooped. But then, that is a defining symptom of a viral infection, that feeling of being hit by a truck and having no energy. I really couldn't have worked today, even though it was a lighter day. My brain feels like mush, and it's just too much mental juggling to do when you're not at your best. Plus, the woman I sit next to is five months' pregnant, and while it's possible that I've passed my cold to her already, I did at least try to keep away from her as much as possible, use lots of sanitizer, etc., and it wasn't as bad yesterday, to the point where at first I still thought it was allergies. I also made sure I didn't infect anything as far as anything I handed the families. Some of our kids are medically fragile and certainly don't need a cold. But all in all, for my sake and theirs, it seemed better to stay home today.

I hate to say it, but I'm going to have to go back to bed. I almost wrote 'good night', even though it's sunny outside (or was when I started this, as it now looks like it's clouding up). Have a good day, and stay healthy, because being sick, even a fairly icky cold, sucks. I know, it could be far worse, of course.

I laughed out loud when I read this

and it captures the ignorance bred by hatred so well. While the current anti-Islamic/anti-Muslim climate is alarming, people need to reminded of the good aspects of Islam and Middle Eastern culture. For example, a good deal of the ancient Greek classics, including much of Aristotle, were preserved in the East and translated into Arabic, before finding their way to Europe through Spain and other channels during the 12th-century Renaissance, and we still study such philosophers as Avicenna and Averroes in philosophy classes today. Christianity has a troubled history of intolerance of its own; I don't judge all Christians by that. There should be no throwing of stones in the name of religion regardless of the parties targeted or doing the destruction. We need to learn to work and live together despite our differences, as we are all human, and all share a home on Mother Earth.



You can follow this link to see various replies back and forth.

If you're not aware of what this was in response to, read: Schoolwork about Islam triggers backlash in Virginia county

A Virginia county closed all of its schools Friday because of intense backlash over a class assignment about Islam, with some parents alleging that their children were being subjected to Muslim indoctrination and educators emphasizing the importance of exposing U.S. students to the world’s fastest-growing religion.

A high school geography teacher in rural Augusta County asked students to try their hand at writing the shahada, an Islamic declaration of faith, in Arabic calligraphy. The task, community reaction to it, and a sudden influx of outrage from around the country — including angry emails, phone calls and threats to put the teacher’s head on a stake — led the school district to close rather than risk disruption or violence.

The county, in the Shenandoah valley west of Charlottesville, is the latest to wrestle with how Islam should be portrayed in the classroom and how students should learn about it. It’s a subject that has become increasingly fraught as concerns about Islamophobia have grown alongside fears of extremist violence and terrorism.

Yes, we need the liberal arts, too!

Why America's obsession with STEM education is dangerous

Creativity, writing skills, and the ability to think are truly important to our future. Technical skills are important, but they blossom when coupled with the benefits of a liberal arts education as well. For example, I give you:

That 'Useless' Liberal Arts Degree Has Become Tech's Hottest Ticket

Great attitude

When A Student’s Baby Started Crying In Class, This Professor Had The Best Response Ever

Professor Sydney Engelberg, a 45-year lecturing veteran at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, was unfazed when the child of a mother at his lecture on organizational behavior began to cry. The embarrassed mom tried to leave the class, but instead, the father-of-four and grandfather-of-five scooped the kid up and soothed him in his arms – without missing a beat in the lesson.

According to his daughter, Engelberg allows the mothers that attend his masters’ lectures to bring their children and even breastfeed. No mother should have to choose between a child and an education!

Flying without a safety net

For Poor, Leap to College Often Ends in a Hard Fall

Angelica Gonzales marched through high school in Goth armor — black boots, chains and cargo pants — but undermined her pose of alienation with a place on the honor roll. She nicknamed herself after a metal band and vowed to become the first in her family to earn a college degree.

“I don’t want to work at Walmart” like her mother, she wrote to a school counselor.

Weekends and summers were devoted to a college-readiness program, where her best friends, Melissa O’Neal and Bianca Gonzalez, shared her drive to “get off the island” — escape the prospect of dead-end lives in luckless Galveston. Melissa, an eighth-grade valedictorian, seethed over her mother’s boyfriends and drinking, and Bianca’s bubbly innocence hid the trauma of her father’s death. They stuck together so much that a tutor called them the “triplets.”

Low-income strivers face uphill climbs, especially at Ball High School, where a third of the girls’ class failed to graduate on schedule. But by the time the triplets donned mortarboards in the class of 2008, their story seemed to validate the promise of education as the great equalizer.

So glad to hear she's doing better

Pakistani Girl, Continuing Her Recovery, Reads in Hospital

The 15-year-old Pakistani girl who was shot in the head by a Taliban attacker because of her activism for girls education has been photographed reading from her hospital bed in England, where she is being treated.

The teenager, Malala Yousafzai, was shot while riding in a school bus on Oct. 9 in the Swat Valley in her home country, after she had become a symbol of resistance against the Taliban by advocating access to education for girls. She was later flown to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the Midlands city of Birmingham on Oct. 15, where her family later joined her. Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, later said she was recovering at an “encouraging speed.”

One of my friends posted a quote on Facebook

Creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.--Sir Ken Robinson

which reminded me of this song by the late Harry Chapin. Another friend introduced me to it several years ago. I think all education majors should be exposed to it before they get near a classroom...

Well, there's one inside joke shot to hell

Think You're An Auditory Or Visual Learner? Scientists Say It's Unlikely

We've all heard the theory that some students are visual learners, while others are auditory learners. And still other kids learn best when lessons involve movement.

But should teachers target instruction based on perceptions of students' strengths? Several psychologists say education could use some "evidence-based" teaching techniques, not unlike the way doctors try to use "evidence-based medicine."

Psychologist Dan Willingham at the University of Virginia, who studies how our brains learn, says teachers should not tailor instruction to different kinds of learners. He says we're on more equal footing than we may think when it comes to how our brains learn. And it's a mistake to assume students will respond and remember information better depending on how it's presented.

Thanks to PF Anderson, who retweeted a link from Ray Schroeder.

Our kids shouldn't be a cash crop for school districts

to the point where cheating on standardised tests is seen as acceptable in order to keep federal funding under No Child Left Behind--a law that sounds good on the surface till you realise real learning gets shoved out the window for teaching the test, homogenisation, and money. The idea that teachers erased and corrected bubble sheets on their students test is horrible. The allegation that they purposefully placed students that did not have good skills next to high achievers so they could copy answers, thereby teaching the children to cheat, and then advancing them time after time through the system without having the skills necessary to achieve at the next level is far worse. Those involved had a choice, no matter their cries of pressure and fear. If found to be complicit, they shouldn't be allowed to retire out of the system, they should lose all certification, the cheating should be noted on their record should they try to get a job elsewhere, and their names should be publicly published, as the majority were being paid by tax dollars. Period.

2 Atlanta educators step down; 176 others also face ultimatum

Thanks to YKWIA for making me aware of the story.

PS

I do love this tweet:

If Republicans succeed in slashing education, it will ensure that the next generation votes Republican.less than a minute ago via TwitBirdalmightygod
almightygod

Privatisation of education and the great capitalist experiment

A very interesting post about the need for core skills and how they got lost in the technology-laden curriculum of an experimental school.

In Philadelphia, Microsoft 'School of The Future' Is A Disaster For The Kids. Why The Rush To Privatize?

It's well worth a read. Again, thanks Buffy for sharing.

Why you don't really understand history until you take it in college...or read on your own

How Christian Were the Founders? examines the power Conservatives in state school boards--particularly that of Texas--have in shaping what we are taught as we go through primary and secondary education, not just the subject but even exerting pressure on textbook companies in the language of their texts. This political agenda is wrong (and I would argue the same if it were any other political agenda--education should be based on reality, not belief, whether liberal or conservative). History is something discovered (and should be written) based on facts. Both the social sciences and science are only as good as the methodology behind them and facts they incorporate. But with forays in the battle between separation of church and state and proponents of teaching Creationism as science, etc., pre-higher education pretty much tanks in terms of what students actually learn as the truth--whether it be science, history, etc.

I know it sounds elitist to tell someone with just a high school degree that they're really not educated, but it's also true. Even when I was a kid, our history classes never really made it past World War II, and we were past Vietnam. There's a limit to what you can teach 180 days a year to still-developing minds, I guess, and obviously you need to lay a foundation upon which the harder questions can be discussed later. But there's a difference between failing to cover everything and re-writing the actual subject. With this sort of political manoeuvering, you actually need to break down comfortable 'truths' and re-teach a student in so many ways by the time they're in college. Because primary and secondary schooling are as much indoctrination into our culture as much as anything else, and the power behind what goes into your children's minds isn't necessarily those who are educated or those who are fair and impartial. This is one reason I never went into teaching children--I knew the establishment would disillusion me quickly, because education is an incredibly poloarising political issue. It's also why I would have home schooled if at all possible (or at the least, supplemented) if I'd ever had children--not because I am a whacko who wants to put my beliefs into everything they learn, but because I want to explose them to real classics, to discuss issues intelligently, and most important, to build the most valuable skill our educational system can provide (but often does not)...critical thinking.

There are fine educators who aspire to do all these things in the public school system. But they are often shackled by politics. And parents, many of whom have only had a smattering of learning themselves, don't fight for their children's right to a real education. In fact, I see lots of ads for Christian schools that teach science and technology from a Biblical perspective (yeah, I know, it makes my brain hurt, too), and I'm sure there are parents who think this is somehow good, where I would consider it crippling a child terribly.

So parents need to educate themselves on what their system is doing for their child. They need to vote in people who aren't going to micromanage textbook language or tinker with lesson plans. And they need to demand a real education for their children. Our children not only deserve it, they require it. To do anything less is a failure to them and to our society.

You know, in my day they had this thing called detention

Queens girl Alexa Gonzalez hauled out of school in handcuffs after getting caught doodling on desk

Alexa is the latest in a string of city students who have been cuffed for minor infractions. In 2007, 13-year-old Chelsea Fraser was placed under arrest for writing "okay" on her desk at Intermediate School 201. And in 2008, 5-year-old Dennis Rivera was cuffed and sent to a psych ward after throwing a fit in his kindergarten.

The girl wrote on her desk with an erasable marker. At most she should have had to remove the marks and perhaps had detention. Instead she was arrested and detained for hours, was suspended, and now has an 8-hour community service punishment to fulfill.

In a similar story of overkill, also in New York City, Laura Timoney fumes after son Patrick, 9, is busted for bringing 2-inch-long toy gun to PS 52

Patrick and a friend were playing with Lego figures in the school cafeteria on Tuesday when he pulled out the faux machine gun and stuck it in the hands of his plastic police officer.

His friend's LEGO figure had an axe in his hand, apparently less threatening. The mother received a call from the school and the boy was almost suspended. The mother thinks the principal over-reacted, and I think so, too. It was a two-inch toy that fit in a LEGO hand, and could not in any way be mistaken for a real gun. The boy's father is a retired police officer himself. The boy had to promise not to bring the gun back to school. He's avowed not to bring any toy to school again.

There are things schools should have zero tolerance on--drugs, real guns, bullying, threatening violence--but there's a big dose of common sense needed as well. Kids get suspended these days for giving a classmate with cramps an ibuprofen, or doodling on a desk. It seems the focus on learning is blurring in the school systems, something we cannot afford to have happen in an era of texting with its loss of writing skills and short attention spans. Schools increasingly seem to be playing babysitter (and in their defence, parents seem to encourage this at times), teaching how to beat a test so funding isn't cut, that sort of thing. I've met people in education who are disgusted with today's schooling. That's not to say there are not good teachers, principals, librarians, and programmes out there. But there's a lot of stupid silliness, too, and these stories count.