Teachers helping students to cheat: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/education/11cheat.html?src=me&ref=general Throwing whistle blowers in jail: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/us/politics/12leak.html?nl=&emc=aua1 Elena Kagan battles against affirmative action: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/us/politics/12kagan.html?nl=&emc=aua1 Pope begs for forgiveness because priests are humping children: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/world/europe/12pope.html?ref=world
Education
QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES?
In Plato’s ideology, only philosophers were fit to be rulers. He called them the guardians, but the Roman poet Juvenal raised the question, “Sure, but who will guard the guardians?” In other words, for those of you who know only Latin but not English, “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” It is a great question and I…
SENSE VS. NONSENSE IN MARIJUANA POLICY
Not all is lost in the war against the war. Sane people are trying to change the mad laws against the use of marijuana. Among them is Steve Fox, the director of state campaigns for the Marijuana Policy Project, the nation’s largest organization dedicated to reforming marijuana laws. Previously, from 2002-2005, Steve lobbied Congress for…
THE DISADVANTAGED
From PEW Hispanic Center and U.S. Census Bureau Living in poverty Children of Hispanic immigrants 26%. Black children 34%. White children 11%. Living in households with annual income above $75,000 Children of Hispanic immigrants 18%. Black children 19%. White children 48% Parents who don’t have a high school education Children of Hispanic immigrants 40%. Black…
PERCEPTIONS OF THE ACADEMIC PROFESSION
A survey conducted in 17 countries by Changing Academic Profession (CAP), produced very interesting results. The participating nations were Portugal, Italy, Germany, Finland, the U.K., the U.S., Canada, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Brazil, Australia, Mexico and Argentina. The survey was of faculty in these countries. Here are some excerpts. How satisfied are you…
AN END TO TOLERATING TOLERANCE
NY Times…………Fifty-three House Republicans have signed a letter to the Obama administration asking for the ouster of Kevin Jennings, an official charged with promoting school safety, because of his career as an advocate of teaching tolerance of homosexuality. For all the sordid details, please CLICK HERE. The choice is yours. You may choose between regarding…
ILLITERACY IN AMERICA
I thank Dr. Ted Drange for calling my attention to this article published in truthdig.com and written by Chris Hedges. This is only an excerpt. For the full article, please CLICK HERE. “There are over 42 million American adults, 20 percent of whom hold high school diplomas, who cannot read, as well as the 50…
A CAREER FOR LUNATICS
Los Angeles Times, June 10, 2009, Pg. 1 Two Maryland high schools are offering courses in homeland security, in an initiative being watched closely by schools in other states. Meade High School, which lies just inside the Army’s Ft. Meade, home of the National Security Agency, was one of the first in the nation to…
START YOUR SUNDAY OFF RIGHT
What better way to begin a Sunday morning than by laughing your head off? You will find here a link to a “learned” discussion of the state of university education by a certain Professor Andrew Delbanco of Columbia University. Andy takes going to college very seriously. I imagine that nothing I have written on the…
WAS JAMES CONANT ANTISEMITIC AND A RACIST?
It is no revelation that for generations, Harvard used a quota system to keep Jewish students at a very low level of admission onto its hallowed grounds. This quota system extended to faculty as well. Of course, by 1970, all that had changed – Jews were, if anything over-represented in both student and professorial numbers.…
END THE WAR ON MARIJUANA
This is a verbatim report from drugpolicy.org. We endorse it. ********************************* U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and President Obama have established a good precedent. Medical marijuana patients and providers who are following their state’s law will no longer be arrested by the federal government. It’s cruel and a waste of taxpayer dollars. The federal government…
THE STATE OF ARTS EDUCATION IN THE USA
Under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA), districts and schools must demonstrate adequate yearly progress (AYP) for all students. The following is a verbatim excerpt from a 40 page report from the General Accounting Office. The full report may be accessed by CLICKING HERE. Because schools may spend more time improving students’ academic skills…
GOING TO COLLEGE, ARE YOU?
BBC has an article about what you can do if you don’t get admitted to the college of your choice. I didn’t read it because i know the answer: Go out and celebrate. There isn’t a damn college on the planet that is worth going to. After celebrating, organize a movement calling for abolition of…
THE WAR ON DRUGS
Few things are more stupid than the never-ending “war on drugs”. However, there are some voices of reason. Drugs and Democracy: Toward a Paradigm Shift The Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, a distinguished group of Latin Americans including three highly regarded ex-presidents: Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Brazil), César Gaviria (Colombia) and Ernesto Zedillo (Mexico),…
BOYCOTT OF ISRAELI ACADEMICIANS
In a monstrous misunderstanding of what academic freedom is about, two organizations removed themselves from the ranks of the respectable. A motion to boycott Israeli academics, approved two weeks ago by the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education, Britain’s largest academic trade union, was cancelled on Sunday afternoon. A similar boycott against…
3 CHEERS FOR U.S. EDUCATION
Over 400,000 students in the 4th grade and 8th grade from 60 nations were assessed for their math skills. Here are some highlights. 4th Grade Hong Kong 607 Singapore 599 Chinese Taipei 576 Japan 568 Kazakhstan2 549 Russian Federation 544 England 541 Latvia2 537 Netherlands3 535 Lithuania2 530 United States 529 Germany 525 Denmark4 523…
ALL THE NEWS FIT TO PRINT EXCEPT IN THE NY TIMES
Let’s see what the mighty NY Times missed these last couple of days. Later, let’s all write The Great Newspaper and ask it to change its logo to Some of the News that is fit to print. Japan Times………………….Nomura Holdings Inc., on course for a second straight full-year loss, plans to eliminate more than 100…
eNGLISH AS OFISHIL LANGUAGE OF UHMERICA
October 3, 2008 Does it strike you as hilarious as it strikes me that most of the people who scream loudest for English to be made the official language of the USA are semi-illiterates? In Mississippi, the bellyaching is loudest. Some irony in that, for sure. In Mississippi, you can’t get a state-issued license for…
THE COLLEGE SCRAMBLE
September 4, 2008 I have long been an opponent of going to college and have said so in many posts since this blog began. The case continues to grow stronger. In 1972, fewer than half of America’s high school graduates went straight on to college but in 2007, the percentage rose to 67%. To what…
THE EVERYDAY TRIUMPH OF STUPIDITY IN ISRAEL
September 2, 2008 Haaretz.com……………Yhe U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem is working to get seven Gaza students out of the blockaded territory to pursue their Fulbright scholarship studies, the human rights group Gisha said Sunday. Gisha gave the Associated Press a copy of a message sent to all seven students by the consulate on Sunday. It said…
SEX, MATH AND READING
August 26, 2008 The gender gap is notorious. The famous difference between girls and boys in mathematics was once upon a time encouraged in hundreds of ways. For example, Mattel, Inc. used to manufacture a talking Barbie doll whose stock phrases included “Math class is tough”. Nowadays, the gap is closing, especially in countries with…
HEY, WHAT’S WRONG WITH DUMB?
July 30, 2008 No opinion is less entitled to being publicly expressed than the opinion that every person is entitled to his own opinion. If that idea means only that you can think what you want, then it is pointless to rail against it. How can you know what a person thinks, anyway, if he…
THE LEGITIMATE RACKETS
June 29, 2008 Remember Al Capone? Among other credentials, paid for and self-granted, Al was philosopher/king of Chicago. It was Al who gave us the important distinction between illegimate rackets and legitimate rackets. The difference is simple: Some rackets are controlled by the people running the world and they decide what is legitimate and what…
UNIVERSITY ENDOWMENTS
May 26, 2008 Having defaulted from the education business, the question is what do universities do? The answer is they are in the business of business. In other words, they make money for the sole purpose of making money. And they are good at it. Public universities are expected to spend at least 5% of…
Top Stories
- Report: Fallen bridge had earlier gouges, impact damage
- Toronto mayor denies crack cocaine allegations
- Search scaled back for abducted Iowa teenage girl
- Ariz. Sheriff Arpaio loses racial profiling suit
- Country moves against restaurants holding wild bears
- Ky. uranium plant closes; 1,000 jobs lost
- Paula Broadwell regrets affair with ex-CIA director Patraeus
- Lawsuit alleging ex-QB Favre sent racy texts settled
- Obama to visit Oklahoma, tour Jersey Shore
- Illinois judge charged with heroin, gun possession