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Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Hillary and the Energizer Bunny
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Today’s Mike Luckovich cartoon features the Energizer Bunny exhausted from watching Hillary Clinton, who keeps on running and running and running…
After last night’s stunning victory in Kentucky, should she continue running? And even if you don’t support her, do you admire Clinton’s tenacity?
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Less-than-kingly contribution?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When government commissions demand changes in a work of art, bad things usually happen. Commissions tend to be bureaucratic, risk-averse and politically sensitive, while good art tends to be none of those things.
However, “usually” isn’t “always.” And in the case of the proposed statue of Martin Luther King Jr. to be installed at the Tidal Basin area in Washington, D.C., changes demanded by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts are wise and necessary.
According to the commission, the statue as now proposed by sculptor Lei Yixin makes King appear “static in pose, confrontational in character” rather than “dynamic in stance, meditative in character.” While those are purely subjective terms, the commission’s take is right. The latest version does make King seem forbidding and cold, while King in reality was anything but.
The statue is planned as the centerpiece of a $100 million memorial to King and the movement he led. Because it will be placed on federal property in Washington, the commission has final say over its design.
Georgians, on the other hand, don’t have much standing to gripe. A memorial foundation is seeking public and private contributions to help cover the final $7 million —- Maryland, for example, has budgeted $500,000 for the effort, and the city of Denver has pledged $40,000.
And Georgia, the land of King’s birth? Earlier this year, the General Assembly appropriated the kingly sum of $20,000 to help honor the state’s most famous native son in one of the nation’s most sacred places.
Maybe it wasn’t intended as such, but that comes across as an insult. It calls to mind the actions of then-Gov. Lester Maddox, who in the days after King’s assassination in 1968 refused to fly the flag at half mast. But as a minister, King would have understood that “A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.”
—- Jay Bookman, for the editorial board (jbookman@ajc.com)
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Why are Ga. students failing so miserably?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State School Superintendent Kathy Cox warned this week that as many as 80 percent of Georgia sixth and seventh graders failed the state social studies CRCT exam. About forty percent of eighth graders could be held back for failing the math test. Kennesaw State University education professor Rick Breault faults the state educational leadership, in particular, for the low social studies scores.
“As someone who tries to prepare future teachers to teach social studies, it has been nearly impossible to find elementary schools in which to place our university students where they can see social studies being taught,” he writes. “Many of my science education colleagues have said the same about their discipline. Therefore, state officials should not be in such a state of bewilderment when they put in place a new, extensive social studies curriculum, give little incentive to teach it, and then have children score poorly on tests.”
Cox writes, however, that the math test results are the result of tightening the curriculum standards. She is less certain about the cause of the low social studies scores.
“I know the low pass rates on these tests are frustrating and upsetting for our parents, students and our hard-working social studies teachers,” she writes. ” I sincerely apologize for any hurt this has caused. But I want to be clear: These results are not reflective of the excellence and the effort of our social studies teachers or our students. Over the next few weeks, a committee of social studies teachers and curriculum experts will meet to go over our standards and assessments to determine why we saw such low results.”
On Wednesday, Cox’s office announced that it is invalidating the social studies test results.
“After intense scrutiny of the standards and the assessment, we have come to the conclusion that these scores are not trustworthy measures of student achievement in social studies,” the office announced. ” Accordingly, the results will be invalidated. It is important to note that we found nothing technically incorrect with the scoring of these assessments. This decision is based primarily on the conviction that we need to revise the curriculum and the assessments to better evaluate the knowledge and skills that represent student achievement in social studies.”
What do you think is causing these high failure rates?
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Airline customer service in the toilet- literally
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sacramento Bee columnist Anita Creamer writes, “Last week, a New York man flying on a free pass filed suit against JetBlue Airways, alleging that the pilot on a recent cross-country flight forced him to give up his seat and hang out in the restroom after a flight attendant grew tired of sitting in the jump seat.
My first thought, of course, was, ‘Wow, how’d this guy actually manage to redeem his frequent-flier miles?’
The rest of us would sure like to learn the secret.
Unfortunately, as it turns out, he didn’t. He was traveling on a “buddy pass,” which airline employees can give to friends. In any case, what a fitting opening act for the summer travel season. The way most airlines treat their customers, we’ll all soon be frog-marched down the aisle to assigned seats in the toilet. And we’ll have to pay an extra fee for it, too.” Read full column here.
Meanwhile, a new survey finds passengers are more dissatisfied with airline service than they have been in years. See story here.
Is airline service getting worse? Tell us your horror stories.
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