Home > Thinking Right > Archives > 2006 > October > 10 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USA laptop is a school
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Before school officials botched it, Cobb County was onto something with its laptop program.
A laptop is a school without buildings. It convenes any place instructors and students connect, at any time of the day or night, at any level. In time it will open new worlds for parents, just as the Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog did for rural families a century ago by freeing them from dependence on merchants within the range of their mules.
Atlanta writer Evelyn Coleman has the Sears catalog of education. Her 15-year-old granddaughter, Taylor Blayne Parker, accesses it every school day. She shops for knowledge without regard to whether she is on the farm or in Chicago, just as farmers with a Sears catalog shopped for store-bought exotica at any time of the day from any place a hundred years ago.
Parker, a 10th-grader, is one of about 30 Atlanta area students enrolled in a virtual school pilot being run by Connections Academy, a for-profit education company started in 2001 by Sylvan Learning.
Connections provides the books, individual lesson plans, state-certified instructors, principals, guidance counselors and other support to parents who don’t choose to educate their children in the traditional school setting.
Connections operates charter public schools in 11 states, though not yet in Georgia. A group of parents in Paulding County, including Erica and Kirk Williams, applied two weeks ago to the Paulding County Board of Education for a virtual school charter. Their application was rejected, 7-1, but with constructive suggestions — such as making sure Georgia history is added to the curriculum — that led them to believe they’ll be successful by the start of next school year.
Paulding is a fast-growing system where school overcrowding is a growing problem. Voters last month rejected a $125 million school bond issue, apparently upset at the way proceeds from a local-option sales tax for education had been managed.
Comaneci Davis Brooken of Atlanta, the Georgia project director for Connections Academy, says the state charter school law did not specifically sanction virtual charter schools until state Sen. Dan Moody (R-Alpharetta) fixed that with a bill that passed the Legislature and was signed into law in April.
Just after that, Coleman’s daughter and Taylor moved back home. Unsatisfying experiences with unhelpful school system officials that ended with, “Well, that’s your only recourse, ma’am” struck a nerve.
Coleman is the author of 20 books, 18 of them for children. Her response to “That’s your only recourse, ma’am” was: “I thought, ‘well, I’m an educated person so it’s not really my only recourse.’ ”
Coleman found Connections Academy on the Internet and liked the curriculum. A dinner with Connections officials and Moody and his wife persuaded them to give it a try.
Shortly after completing her first lessons in April, Coleman says, Taylor came to her. “She said ‘Grandma, you know what? I forgot that I liked to learn.’ I almost cried, really. She was excited. She did the work. She has really enjoyed it.”
Because Coleman shares a family trait toward insomnia, she usually writes late at night. Taylor, too, prefers to do schoolwork at night. “She’s groggy in the morning, so I let her sleep late. The assignments show up every day. She’s very disciplined. She’s able to work at her own pace.
“She’s very acclimated to the Internet. She says it’s easier for her. The teacher calls her every other week, but they e-mail back and forth every day. She has a homeroom teacher and different subject teachers. She has really done well.”
She and others say teachers can be more productive and work with larger numbers of students because they have no discipline problems or distractions. Part of the virtual school agreement is that a parent or another adult will act as a learning coach. In some subjects, that’s Coleman. In others, it’s her husband, Talib, an educator who was formerly a research librarian.
The learning coach has a site, as does the student, so that the instructor and coach can see how well the student’s doing and how much time is being devoted to each lesson.
A laptop can be a school where children learn when and where they and their parents choose. The old education model was the crossroads store. Then the catalog came and eventually even Wal-Mart. It’s all about choice and individual needs.
A Monday AJC story asked whether anybody cares about the state school superintendent’s race. It’s low profile. One of these days, though, the debate will be about whether education reform is to be something other than smaller class sizes and higher pay. It’ll be about choice and real alternatives.
Permalink | Comments (128) | Post your comment | Categories: Education
Comments
By jbmlaw
October 10, 2006 08:07 AM | Link to this
Horrors, someone introducing imagination into the education bureaucracy! You can already hear the whining, “But it will make regular schools worse by reducing their funding.”
Of course, the virtual school is not for everyone; I have one son who would thrive (the one who thrived at a conventional public school) and one who would never get anything done on time (coincidentally, he just washed out of a virtual college.) Such an alternative delivery system will not be tried in Georgia until the other states prove its value – thus we’ll stay in the bottom five.
By Bush's Third-World
October 10, 2006 08:07 AM | Link to this
On Wooten’s topic, it will be interesting to see the statistics of students who have completed a program with Connections Academy (SAT scores, college grades after completing the program, etc). At first blush, it sounds like a great alternative.
Speaking of education… what are some of the characteristics of a third-world country?
—Large national debt – much of it to foreign countries.
—Large trade deficits where raw materials are exported and finished goods are imported.
—Rampant corruption both in the government and private sector.
—Unsafe food supply.
—Unequal income distribution – large poverty, small middle class, super rich.
—High rates of violent crime.
—High infant mortality rates.
—Widespread pollution.
—Authoritarian dictators who are unaccountable to their constituents.
Unfortunately, such characteristics are slowly, but steadily, manifesting themselves here:
—Our national debt exceeds 8.5 trillion – over four times our federal government’s annual revenues (imagine having credit card debt equal to four times you annual salary). A large chunk of the interest being paid on this debt goes to China, Japan and other foreign countries.
—We’re increasingly exporting raw materials to China and importing finished goods manufactured there.
—Increasing corruption in the government and the private sector (Jack Abramoff, Bob Ney, Halliburton, no-bid contracts, war-profiteering, etc.).
—E. coli and botulism in the news (while our population grows the federal government is reducing the number of FDA food inspectors).
—Our poverty rate is climbing and real wages (wages after being adjusted for inflation) are shrinking. At the same time, Congress wants to permanently cut or eliminate taxes on income from investments gains (capital gains tax), dividends and inheritance income (inheritance tax) with taxes on earned income (income from working) having to make up the difference.
—FBI statistics indicate that violent crime was up in 2005 for the first time in 14 years (while Bush gutted Clinton’s COPS program which was intended to put 100,000 more police officers on the streets).
—Increasing infant-mortality rates (6.4 per 1000 live births in 2005).
—America, the world’s largest polluter (on a per person basis), refuses to sign the Kyoto agreement to reduce greenhouse omissions. We have pockets of pollution (generally lower-income neighborhoods) where the ground water is contaminated, contaminants are buried and unusually high rates of cancer, birth defects and other forms of disease manifest within nearby communities.
—Our President attaches a signing statement to laws passed by Congress indicating that he is not subject to the law he’s signing. Our President ignores the FISA law that allows him to wiretap the phones of Americans suspected of terrorism if he gets a warrant within three days after the wiretapping begins (asking us to trust him while proving that he does not deserve the honor). Our President censors reports from government scientists before they’re released and classifies any reports with bad news while misrepresenting the contents of such reports to us. Congress rubber-stamps these actions and doesn’t hold our President accountable.
If we don’t want to live in Bush’s third-world, then we’d better take our country back now.
By Jim's a Distractor
October 10, 2006 08:16 AM | Link to this
Good morning Jim,
Was wondering if the cycle of scandal and disgrace had ended yet … or is the GOP was still working on that part?
REPUBLICAN CONTRACT WITH AMERICA
As Republican Members of the House of Representatives and as citizens seeking to join that body we propose not just to change its policies, but even more important, to restore the bonds of trust between the people and their elected representatives.
That is why, in this era of official evasion and posturing, we offer instead a detailed agenda for national renewal, a written commitment with no fine print.
This year’s election offers the chance, after four decades of one-party control, to bring to the House a new majority that will transform the way Congress works. That historic change would be the end of government that is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public’s money. It can be the beginning of a Congress that respects the values and shares the faith of the American family.
Like Lincoln, our first Republican president, we intend to act “with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right.” To restore accountability to Congress. To end its cycle of scandal and disgrace. To make us all proud again of the way free people govern themselves.
By Political Foreskin
October 10, 2006 08:21 AM | Link to this
Mr Wooten, are you suggesting that the educators give the students an Apple?
By Political Foreskin
October 10, 2006 08:41 AM | Link to this
In the old days, you see, it was the students who gave the educators apples. I recall this one time, at catholic summer school detention, I was alone cleaning erasers near an open window and just about to choke on the dust cloud when I noticed a slide rule sticking out from Sister Henrietta’s desk drawer. Well, I never could quite figure out how to use one of them things proper like, so I thought I’d just monkey with it awhile. Now I was taught never to snoop, but that partially opened lower drawer was too much temptation.
I opened it.
Inside the drawer were dozens of apples that the kids had given to sister over the school year just ended. Sister didn’t eat them, nor did she even want them. They were in all stages of decomposition from fresh to withered. But those apples gave me the idea of a lifetime, and I wasn’t one to miss out on a good revenge ploy.
I quickly returned the slide rule to exactly where it was and I closed the apple drawer to it’s partially opened position.
I looked up. There was Sister Henrietta. She instantly knew. She approached. I had maybe seven seconds before being scouraged with a ruler.
I was on the second floor, so jumping through the open window was out of the question. All I really had were those apples. I flung the drawer open. I grabbed the softest, most disgusting rotten apple I could find, and held it up to sister as she raised her yardstick.
Seeing that she had been discovered, and knowing that I would rat her out to her students as an ingrate, she lowered her weapon.
“Please clean out that drawer, and you can go home early today.”
I threw away most of the apples, but kept several fresh ones for my two mile walk home.
I was constantly at odds with the nuns all through my school years, and after I graduated from high school, the doctors told me it would be safer to just leave the rulers where the nuns had put them.
By Realist
October 10, 2006 08:47 AM | Link to this
The Atlanta area pawn shops and street fences are REALLY hoping the laptop program gets implemented.
Id prefer to parents or guardians a tax credit toward the purchase of a laptop that the student owns and is responsible for.
Personal responsibility.
By Oscar Wilde
October 10, 2006 08:53 AM | Link to this
Once again, I see Jim is not afraid to tackle the tough issues - when news is bad for repubs we focus on Laptops and welfare queens instead of dealing with congeressional scandal (that’s getting worse everyday), North Korea missile testing,or a failing war in Iraq, or how Iraq has increased the spread of terrorism.
Very sad, Jim. I’m sure if a dem was in a scandal you’d be talking about in your blog everyday.
I got an idea for tomorrow’s blog: Cynthia Mckinney. That’s it. just write her name and nothing else and let the rightwing nutjobs and several demented wackos go off all day long on something else that is old news and of no consequence!
By JK
October 10, 2006 08:58 AM | Link to this
My problem with the kids’ reliance on computers is that their spelling is horrible, due to spell check and IM abbreviations, and their handwriting is illegible.
By Political Foreskin
October 10, 2006 09:00 AM | Link to this
Virtual schools? And just WHERE are truants supposed to spraypaint graffiti?
…..and just WHERE are the bleachers under which students are supposed to meet at midnight and make out?
….And just HOW are we supposed to be “smokin’ in the boy’s room”?
Virtual Schools? And just how is Mary’s little lamb supposed to follow her to school one day? Oh yeah, I forgot about pop up goat porn ads. Nevermind.
By Dusty
October 10, 2006 09:31 AM | Link to this
Well, I see the comedians are all up this morning and babbling. Not to mention the liberal loyal propaganda machines of the day. Ho hum.
Now the subject of the blog.. Virtual does seem to miss something. I think it is real life. How many hours a day can you spend staring at a screen without missing something? Interaction of personalities, sports, even the beauty of the outdoors.
I’m all for exposing our children to greater knowledge, but as a full time diet, I am not so sure.
By Van
October 10, 2006 09:33 AM | Link to this
A virtual school might be a good idea for students that have a proven track record of accomplisments.
But to give a laptop to every student is inviting trouble.
It would require every home to have either a land line for dial up, a high speed connection or access via wide area WiFi.
It would be an easy access to new viruses and spyware. Without other needed software it is going to wind up being filled with all types of non-school items.
It seems students need to learn how to learn before incorporating laptops. Look how well they do making change without a calculator.
By getalife
October 10, 2006 09:34 AM | Link to this
Well, at least Foley can always go into teaching.
By jbmlaw
October 10, 2006 09:43 AM | Link to this
Dear JK @ 8:58, I wish I could blame my poor handwriting on computers; I fear I was blessed with poor fine motor skill. Unfortunately I can only credit the computer with making my output legible.
Dear Dusty @ 9:31, I no longer believe that “real life” exists, not as we once knew it. The future will be virtual meetings, and text messaging on Blackberrys, and telecommuting. Maybe today’s topic highlights a case against preparing our kids for the previous generation needs?
By jbmlaw
October 10, 2006 09:48 AM | Link to this
Dear Van @ 9:33, broadband and firewalls and anti-virus programs and anti-spyware programs are already the way of the world. Our kids will look at that as low-tech, much as you and I think of changing the oil in the car. I don’t think the education system should hand out laptops; every family should be expected to spend $500 for a good desktop model, just part of the cost of living. Just think of it as the cost of three pairs of tennis shoes.
By Van
October 10, 2006 09:57 AM | Link to this
jbmlaw,
The kids may think of it as low tech, but what about the parents?
How many folks just use their cell phone as the house phone?
Will the software be provided, will the parents be responsible to keep it updated or will the student?
By deegee
October 10, 2006 10:01 AM | Link to this
I have a friend that teaches in a metro Atlanta public school. She told me that she was up until midnight on Saturday manually compiling test score statistics for 100 middle schools students. She and her colleagues have to extract the scores for each student from a number of databases and write them down on a report and submit them to the administrators. How backwards is that? When the public school system can’t figure out how to use a relational database how do you expect them to use technology in the classroom?
By Janine
October 10, 2006 10:03 AM | Link to this
Mr.W. -I agree with jbmlaw…for some it would work, for others it would not. THere are some students that will succeed anywhere, under any circumstances….that’s why we find high SAT scores and successful students at schools considered the lowest of the low. THere are others for whom this method would be a disaster . -Would every home be required to have internet connections? Would it have to be high speed or dial up? Would I [as a taxpayer] have to pay for it and the laptops? -It reminds me of the caveat about allowing young children to watch too much TV, even if you only allow educational programs. THey learn a lot, pretty quickly [abc’s, 123’s, etc.] but the general concensus among professionals is that this method of learning, while seemingly innovative and easy and entertaining is not the best way. Among other things it lacks the interaction and the emotional connections necessary for healthy development.
By JK
October 10, 2006 10:04 AM | Link to this
Parents now are ALREADY required to keep up with technology! Our kids can’t turn in hand-scribbled papers. Printer cartridges cost a fortune, and we’re usually informed at 8:55 p.m. that we’re out of ink and something is due tomorrow. (Mad dash for Office Depot!) They access the Internet every day for basic research. If your system crashes due to a virus or whatever, Mom’s world STOPS until we’re back online — whatever the $$$.
By Dusty
October 10, 2006 10:11 AM | Link to this
jbmlaw,
Go take a ride on the Silver Comet Trail. The leaves are turning.
Everybody should go to school one way or another but all will not be technocrats. Do you think Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Picasso would have done better with a laptop? Gershwin would have played the piano better?I’m sure you see what I mean. THAT life has not gone nor will it ever I hope.
By Th
October 10, 2006 10:13 AM | Link to this
I have always been surprised at the conservative desire for alternatives to the public school system. From vouchers to home schooling to virtual schools, conservatives applaud maybe the most unconservative of ideas. In ancient cultures the elders told stories to pass along the cultural history and norms of the society to the next generation, but I see conservatives advocating the socialization of the young in this country into our American culture be fragmented into separate realities of divergent cultures. The David Koresh school would sit beside the Jim Jones school beside the Rev. Moon school beside the Rastifarian school.
With individualized educational institutions, taxpayers would subsidize the very outcome many most fear, the dilution of our western european culture into a polyglot of mini-societies inside our borders with no common history or sense of heritage.
There are many problems with our public schools, but it a worthwhile investment to teach immigrant kids our language, customs and history. The success of that process is shown in the number of former immigrant children now serving in our armed forces.
By Janine
October 10, 2006 10:13 AM | Link to this
JK Your comments are true for some.However, in my middle school very few students even had computers at home….and many who did didn’t have printers. For many, maybe most, of the parents, the world only stopped when they were out of milk for the baby.
By getalife
October 10, 2006 10:16 AM | Link to this
Every kid gets a laptop.
This is Foley’s dream scenario.
By harold
October 10, 2006 10:20 AM | Link to this
A laptop is not a school without buildings.
A laptop is a truck that you dump stuff on.
It connects to a series of tubes.
After several paragraphs Harold still hadn’t found a point to this story, so Harold gives up.
It reads like an essay someone was forced to write on a topic about which the author has no knowledge or interest.
Harold says if you want to see the value of computers in classrooms, go find yourself a classroom full of computers where the instructor is anything other than a computer expert. One nefarious window crash on a loudmouthed student’s computer and the class time is wasted for the day while the blind teacher leads the blind students in f-cking up the computer even worse before finally calling India for hold (and maybe if they are lucky some support too) for 2 hours.
Dude you got Delled.
By JK
October 10, 2006 10:31 AM | Link to this
It’s my feeling that as a society, we should quadruple our investment in education, not continually cut funding or squabble over the costs and tax cuts. ALL our schools should be the BEST in the world, not just those in the neighborhood I struggle to afford (can you say debt?) for the sake of my kids. ALL our schools: world’s best. Imagine that for a minute. How would America be different?
By Van
October 10, 2006 10:32 AM | Link to this
Th,
I think you may not have the right idea regarding the conservatives. We want the schools to teach, we do not want our schools to social engineer our kids.
If the kids can do basic algebra without a calculator, then they can be a success. If they are firmly attached to “devices” then I worry for the future.
By Pope rednecks - Amerikkka's Al Qaeda I
October 10, 2006 10:37 AM | Link to this
An army of poorly parented poorly supervised red state kids, already surrounded by alcohol, methamphetamine, incest, divorce, abusive superstitious parents - set loose all day on the internet - a pedofoleys dream…
By @@
October 10, 2006 11:10 AM | Link to this
Jim: This is an excellent opportunity that should not be overlooked. If parents take the time to really engage with their kids, they’ll be amazed how much the kids learn from them, and how much they learn from their kids.
Enthusiasm is contagious and there’s a lot parents still don’t know. Share in the learning experience. It’s a great way for your kid to see your vulnerability while, at the same, appreciating your desire for teamwork in their lives.
A parent doesn’t come off as a know-it-all, something that will always cause kids to withdraw.
By Van
October 10, 2006 11:12 AM | Link to this
JK,
If the schools were interested in producing quality students instead of test score in the right percentile, then I might go along with more taxes to fund the schools.
If you quadruple the funding, where would the new funds come from.
By Th
October 10, 2006 11:24 AM | Link to this
Van; I agree with you on the need to be able to accomplish things without technology.
But, for better or worse, our country has used the public school system to maintain our shared history and values. If you have another avenue to accomplish this, I am all ears.
By jbmlaw
October 10, 2006 11:34 AM | Link to this
Dear Van @ 9:57, free AVG antivirus program updates daily; free Zone Alarm firewall is the best on the market; free AdAware and free Spybot cover the spectrum of spamware; free WinPatrol prevents Trojans from writing to your registry without your permission. Free Open-Office is a magnificent suite of software programs (spreadsheet, word processor, presentation software, database program.) If you don’t like (or avoid for moral reasons) Microsoft programs, PuppyLinux is free and easy to use. My guess is that we will see county-wide (if not nationwide) Wi-Fi within the next generation. The world changes quickly.
Janine @ 10:03 and Dusty @ 10:11 express similar sentiments, a wish that we could avoid the Brave New World implicit in the topic today. I give you no comfort.
Th @ 10:13, it is a puzzle that supposedly open-minded people become closed-minded when thinkers posit alternatives to the statist education model.
JK @ 10:04 posts the wryest observation of the day – made me laugh, anyway - and @ 10:31 may post the best economic argument of the day, although that post says a lot more than she possibly intends. “Investment in education” also includes intellectual capital, not mere cash; the “virtual school” is such intellectual capital, and perhaps is available at a lower cash outlay, not necessarily a bad thing. Internet has made everything else better, faster, cheaper, why not education?
By Chazman
October 10, 2006 11:34 AM | Link to this
Van, just who has turned our schools into a “test score” haven? Who has caused our schools to completely teach to the tests? Can you say No Child Left Behind? Another notch in Bush’s legacy.
By JK
October 10, 2006 11:38 AM | Link to this
Van, I agree the emphasis on test scores is part of the problem. Several weeks of every school year are spent on repetitive drilling and memorization to prepare kids for the NCLB tests. “You mean, you didn’t learn ANYTHING new this week?” Nope. Nor do they learn how to think, analyze, or communicate information during these times. Just memorization. What a waste.
As for funding, I can say that there’s plenty of dough to funnel to defense contractors (although apparently not enough to afford auditors for those contracts), and in spite of our spiraling debt and deficit, still plenty in the pot to give tax breaks to rich folks and subsidies to big coroporate farms and of course, the government’s little darlings, the energy executives.
I asked that people imagine for a minute what America would be like if ALL our schools were A-1, top notch. Imagine what we could accomplish in business, science, medicine, and technology if more of our kids could compete with the top minds from India, Japan, and Germany. Imagine an America where the good jobs were NOT exported, and the innovative, ground-breaking discoveries and inventions were once again OURS, not something we have to purchase from across the sea. Once that is a destination worth reaching, can we design a road map to get there AND fund it, IMO. But again, like John Lennon, I’m just dreaming. Too many Americans (like you perhaps??) just don’t WANT us to be the smartest country. If you did, you people would stop b-tching about the money we “waste” on education, and start caring about how to make it better for more Americans.
By Dusty
October 10, 2006 11:40 AM | Link to this
Now that Rednecks has described his upbringing at 10:37, I feel the need for fresh air.
I didn’t realize they raised children like that in the frozen north until Rednecks told us.
Southerners love their children, teach them morals and manners, and raise them to love their country. Then the chiildren go to the most prestigous universities in the country, all in the South.
Poor Rednecks. We must give him lots of sympathy. He was neglected and cannot be totally blamed for his “eccentricities”. Send a hug to Rednecks!!!
By jbmlaw
October 10, 2006 11:48 AM | Link to this
Sudden thought - where is Mid-South on all of this? He is our resident education expert.
Think how many Nobel prizes our citizens could win if we had really good schools. We would not have to settle for only Chemisty, Physics, Medicine, and Economics.
By Th
October 10, 2006 11:52 AM | Link to this
JBM; I am not in the least closed minded. I wonder how a conservative intends to “conserve” our national heritage if these individualized alternatives are adopted. I am not a conservative; I love to hear people speak other languages around me and dress differently. I shop at the Dekalb Farmer’s Market for the experience as much as the food. I was merely pointing out an inconsistency.
By a jbm fan
October 10, 2006 12:04 PM | Link to this
jbmlaw @11:34 “…it is a puzzle that supposedly open-minded people become closed-minded when thinkers post alternatives to the statist education model.”
Potential posters,
Take note. If you agree with jbmlaw, then you are open-minded. If you do not agree with His A##holiness, then you are closed-minded.
So it is written.
By Markus
October 10, 2006 12:08 PM | Link to this
It’s interesting to listen to the liberal pundits talk about the failure of our public education system and why our children aren’t doing as well as others in the world like in China.
Why, the very idea why lies in liberalism itself in public schools. Verybody knows the NEA runs things in our public education system, and everyone knows that the NEA slants VERY left.
-We have some grade schools doing away with the grading system and replacing it with psuedonym phrases because low grades may damage a child’s self esteem.
-We have children who are put in focus groups to obtain a group consensus answer to assignments instead of working individually for it (and dealing with the right or wrong answer and taking responsibility for it accordingly).
-We have children learning how to be good little Stalinists early on by having their school supplies their parents bought taken and redistributed to everyone equally accordingly.
-We have children learning how to use condoms on school time.
-We have children who are exposed to “world” ideologies like being forced to act as a Buddhist or Muslim for a day, all in the name of “diversity awareness” on school time.
-We have children being exposed to the homosexual lifestyle on public school time, all in the name of “diversity awareness.”
-We have children who are passed on to the next grade without the proper qualifications because their self esteem is more important than what they didn’t learn).
Finally, every year more and more money gets thrown into the public education system, yet every year we continue to get diminishing returns. So, what’s going to be the newest thing liberals will have our children learn on public school time? And people have the GALL to say our system just needs more money. Unbelievable.
By the genius of Dusty
October 10, 2006 12:09 PM | Link to this
Dusty @11:40 “Then the chiildren go to the most prestigous universities in the country, all in the South.”
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Berkeley, MIT, Wharton, University of Chicago. They’re crap I say!!!
By Van
October 10, 2006 12:12 PM | Link to this
Chazman,
Can you say Ted Kennedy’s No Child Left Behind. Remeber, the President tried reaching across the aisle and worked with Teddy to get the bill into Congress. And look at what we got in return. It looks like a old, fat, alcoholic wrote it, and then the President signed off on it.
By JK
October 10, 2006 12:17 PM | Link to this
Markus, how many kids do you have in public school RIGHT NOW? How often are you, your pompous self, actually IN a public school facility, surrounded by today’s children? Just curious.
By Th
October 10, 2006 12:20 PM | Link to this
By a JBM fan; thanks for the heads-up, but he just misunderstood my post. I am an open borders, live and let live guy myself. I’ve prayed with Muslims, smoked weed with Jamaicans and eaten goat with Mexicans and pot-bellied pig with Samoans. Why should fat, lazy Americans inherit the richest country on earth just because we were born here?
By time for the truth
October 10, 2006 12:22 PM | Link to this
already surrounded by alcohol, methamphetamine, incest, divorce, abusive superstitious parents - set loose all day on the internet - a NAMBLA rednekkks child molesting dream…
So at long last NAMBLA actually posts something truthful and credible about its own background. See NAMBLA - you can be honest once in blue moon!!
In all seriousness though this idea of laptops all round is a well intentioned absurd one. Expecting kids of any age to negotiate the vagaries and application(s) of XP and all the other vital software needed these days is expecting way too much. One inadvertent tweak, wrong keystroke, virus/spyware or whatever not dealt with properly and the PC is knackered!!
Who controls the kiddies who abuse the laptops, or pawn/sell them? Who ensures the kiddies actually use these things productively? It induces extra laziness and ignorance when it comes to spelling and grammar assuming they are properly taught how to use word or a word processing ;ackage properly. Where do they print out their “work” at home - are they to be given printers too?
Maybe some 16+ kids could be given a six month trial with laptops to see if this improves their abilities/grades/course work etc. But as the 18 year old supposedly “graduating” kiddies are ONLY tested at age 14 for maths and age 16 for English - what really is the fing point? Such technology at such a *high level of academic endeavour …huge ironic smirk* is a waste of resources which really should be put into drug sniffing dogs, more campus Cops, metal detectors, anti-drug education, opposing homosexuality in schools and so on.
I love to hear people speak other languages around me and dress differently. I shop at the Dekalb Farmer’s Market for the experience as much as the food
WHAT???!!! This place is as racist as it gets!! NOT ONE WHITE employees face ANYWHERE that I’ve ever seen on numerous visits - most of the black/brown staff can barely speak English. And NO mexican types either which is astonishing. Its a Third World black hole of Calcutta/AfriKa type deal, run on behalf of Dekalb tax payers. Surely the hiring practices should be aggressively investigated for racism - but it wont be because the non-white bigots will screech racism if this is ever done!! A great place for a high profile TV camera ICE raid though!!
By unglued
October 10, 2006 12:22 PM | Link to this
Markus @12:08 “We have children being exposed to the homosexual lifestyle on public school time, all in the name of diversity awareness.”
It’s true. Most of the field trips my kids have gone on are inside the perimeter. Had I known, I would never have signed those permission slips. I will NOT have my kids exposed to those sodomites who linger inside museums, or worse, in zoos where they endulge their fantasies of beastiality.
By Van
October 10, 2006 12:24 PM | Link to this
JK,
Mixing apple and oranges again. Separate items on the budget congress passes and the state passes.
Where would you get the funds from. More property taxes, sales tax, state income tax, special taxes - Where? If from Federal funds, where?
It is all going to cost more if we increase spending 400%. So far, I have not seen that many brighter kids at the local burger palace. It does not appear that spending more money will produce better students.
When I was growing up, the nuns had absolute control over the class room as they taught the state approved subjects. No one dared give them any static. Miss a book report - and you visited Mother Superior, something no brave person ever wanted.
By yes I can
October 10, 2006 12:25 PM | Link to this
Van @12:12 “Can you say Ted Kennedy’s No Child Left Behind?”
Ted Kennedy’s No Child Left Behind. Ted Kennedy’s No Child Left Behind. Ted Kennedy’s No Child Left Behind. Ted Kennedy’s No Child Left Behind. Ted Kennedy’s No Child Left Behind.
By BE INFORMED
October 10, 2006 12:28 PM | Link to this
Here’s an interesting Business Week article about the No Child Left Behind mandates and the Bush family profits.
By Markus
October 10, 2006 12:28 PM | Link to this
JK-
Why don’t you address what I posted instead of drooling your liberal bile?
To answer your questions, first, I have many friends who teach in grades between first and high school seniors. Recently, I was asked to give a speech/presentation by one of them.
Second, why do you call me “pompous?” Because I support having alternatives to public schools? It’s the fascist liberals that want to shove all our kids in one big public arena for education indoctrination from their perspective because it’s not FAIR for one child to be able to go to a school where another can’t.
You just sound like the typical p!ssed off jealous bedwetting liberal socialist because people CAN do that.
By harold
October 10, 2006 12:35 PM | Link to this
what on earth the dekalb farmer market got to do with behalf of Dekalb tax payers?
it is a business like any other, troof
anybody can shop there, dekalb taxpayer or not
By jbmlaw
October 10, 2006 12:40 PM | Link to this
Dear Th @ 11:52, I apologize, I did not intend to slam you, and I don’t believe for a minute that you would reject a good idea out-of-hand. That said, your 10:13 post did inspire my arguably-snippy comment about the leftist-opposition to alternatives to the statist model. I think you and I look at our “national heritage” differently; you see a monolithic experience, and I see a multiplicity of heritages. Until television, we spoke markedly-differently, with different vocabularies from region to region. People thought differently; about the only shared-values were a general respect for religious beliefs and a sense that there were things we did not do or say in public, a collective sense of modesty. I think we have lost our national heritage, and it is because of the 1960s Warren Court rulings divorcing that heritage from our schools.
Jbmfan, thanks for the support @ 12:04, but I fear you misinterpret as a common leftist – it is the mindless rejection of new ideas that is the mark of a closed mind, not an inability to agree with your fabulous correspondent. As the leftists reject most of the ideas I hold, everything I offer is a new idea I suppose, so your error is only one of procedure, not one of substance.
Dear “Genius of Dusty” @ 12:09, Dusty’s error was that she assumed you were familiar with the recent articles on school rankings. Who would have dreamed that the top American business school – #4 in the world - was Thunderbird, in Phoenix. I have never heard of it either.
Dear Markus @ 12:08, while I agree with you on most things, I specifically disagree on grades. I previously argued in this space that the grades serve only to prevent lazy college admissions officers and lazy employers from exerting any effort in recruiting. I would abolish grades also; rely on standardized tests if you have to rely on anything.
By Rod
October 10, 2006 12:41 PM | Link to this
Did anyone else notice how nice and peaceful this blog was until TFTT showed up with her insults and racist comments again? We were actually getting some good discussion. Now, it’s all over. Maybe she’ll be out all day tomorrow (tracking down her pimp daddy).
By JK
October 10, 2006 12:46 PM | Link to this
Thanks Markus. I can see how much you CARE about the future of America. My apologies for calling you pompous. Clearly you love your fellow Americans with all your heart.
By unglued
October 10, 2006 12:47 PM | Link to this
Markus @12:28 “I have many friends who teach in grades between first and high school seniors. Recently, I was asked to give a speech/presentation by one of them.”
DAMMIT!!! I said, I do NOT want my kids exposed to the homosexual lifestyle on public school time.
By JustMe
October 10, 2006 12:47 PM | Link to this
If the students in GA public schools were repsonsible 30 year olds that were motivated to learn, then a virtual school might work. However, let’s face it….. a 12 year old being asked to sit still in their home for 7 hours to do school work on a laptop is plain stupid. It won’t happen.
What will happen is cheating. Maybe the parent(s) will do their work. Maybe the student takes an online test and has the book open right beside the computer to look up answers.
What will happen is the 12 year old will be too attracked to the TV, to the outside to play, to the video games, to everything else except the school work.
I want to see posted results of good grades/scores on standardized tests (for example, SAT scores) of these kids before I would want to sign my child up for this experiment.
By jbmlaw
October 10, 2006 12:49 PM | Link to this
Dear Th @ 12:20, you are generous. Actually I understood your post, thought it pretty good, and miscommunicated. I appreciate your patience with a flawed vessel.
By JK
October 10, 2006 12:51 PM | Link to this
Markus, you completely avoided the questions. I’ll repeat them for you: (1) how many kids do you have in public school RIGHT NOW? (2) How often are you, your pompous self, actually IN a public school facility, surrounded by today’s children? Just curious.
You said you were asked to speak - did not say that you did or that you even stepped foot in the school.
By jbmlaw
October 10, 2006 12:52 PM | Link to this
Dear Rod @ 12:41, you need to re-read 8:07, 8:16, and 8:53. TFTT just joined the fight the bad guys started.
By Foley
October 10, 2006 12:53 PM | Link to this
GOD HELP US!!!
How many kids did Markus try to pick up while he was in the school?!?! THOSE ARE MY KIDS - BACK OFF!!!
By genius of Dusty
October 10, 2006 12:54 PM | Link to this
jbmlaw @12:40 “Dusty’s error was that she assumed you were familiar with the recent articles on school rankings. Who would have dreamed that the top American business school – #4 in the world - was Thunderbird, in Phoenix.”
Thank you Mr. jbmlaw. Dusty must have also assumed that I understood that Arizona is always included when people in Georgia talk about the “South”. Silly me.
By JK
October 10, 2006 12:56 PM | Link to this
Van, I was speaking not of apples and oranges, but of priorities. Only SIX of ten kids who enter high school in Georiga actually graduate. I think that HAS to be, at least in part, because we (the people of Georgia) DON’T CARE. Hey, what’s it to me? I think if we could stop, take a good look at what works, what doesn’t, and what we can do if we try, we could raise that number, and it would be good for ALL of us, and for our next generation of adults. First step: Giving a rat’s a-s-s in the first place. That’s all I’m saying.
Of course we spend more every year with diminishing returns. (a) Cost of living rises every year (b) More students than ever (c) Older schools spend more of their budget every year on maintenance and repair - less for programs. That doesn’t mean we’re giving the teachers and children more to work with!
By abc
October 10, 2006 12:57 PM | Link to this
Administrators and teachers may resist alternatives to statist educational ideas, but it has not to do with their political leanings. It has to do with protecting their institutions, their own control over those institutions, and their own jobs. If enough money is removed from their school systems, they’ll have to figure out how to make do with even less, perhaps to the point that they’d have to get another job, qualifications for which don’t line up with their formal training as teachers very well.
By JK
October 10, 2006 01:01 PM | Link to this
Jacked at 12:51, but I’ll gladly take note of any response.
By Rod
October 10, 2006 01:07 PM | Link to this
Sorry jbmlaw, but those three posts you cited (8:07, 8:16 and 8:53) were all telling the truth. Fact based comments. You may disagree with the intent of the comments - but they are all truthful.
TFTT (as she usually does) at 12:22, refers to NAMBLA as a child molester and calls the DeKalb Farmer’s Market racist (because whites don’t want the low paying jobs) - even though it’s a private enterprise.
TFTT rarely inputs serious thoughts, she just gets off on insulting everyone she can and uses vile language - trying to make her feel better about herself. She is the ultimate poster child for abortion.
By jbm fan
October 10, 2006 01:07 PM | Link to this
jbmlaw @12:40 “It is the mindless rejection of new ideas that is the mark of a closed mind”
You are correct sir. Please forgive me and allow me to restate my 12:04 post.
Potential posters,
Take note. If you mindlessly agree with jbmlaw’s new ideas, no matter how repugnant, then you are open-minded. If you reject His A##holiness’ new bad ideas, then you are mindless.
So it is written.
(Thank you again for the clarification.)
By dahreese
October 10, 2006 01:07 PM | Link to this
Our military is the best because it is funded to be the best (never mind the waste and misuse of funds). If our public schools are failing, it’s because they are funded to fail. Let the military waste money and the politicians cover up for the military (and I wonder if Jim Wooten has ever written a column about that). Let public schools fail and politicians (and Jim Wooten) use that failure as an excuse to put down teachers, demean public schools, and to either gain or remain in public office. Computers as an aide to learning are fine. But as to their being “Virtual schools” with the potential to replace public education, that is just another out-in-space idea and will do “virtually nothing” to raise the level of education in this country. You don’t have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.
By jbmlaw
October 10, 2006 01:27 PM | Link to this
Dear Dahreese @ 1:07, you raise two questions in my mind. (1) As unquestioned monarch of our society, whom would you pay more, the weapon-toting soliders on the ground in Iraq, or a life-tenured social studies teacher in Gwinnett County? (2) Do you believe the willingness of one to experiment in teaching methods is a mark of denial, or of ignorance, or both?
By jbmlaw
October 10, 2006 01:29 PM | Link to this
Dear jbm fan @ 1:07, it is readily apparent that you have no ideas to suggest, so I promise to keep you supplied.
By Van
October 10, 2006 01:34 PM | Link to this
JK
Re: Only SIX of ten kids who enter high school in Georiga actually graduate.
Georgia does not require anyone to graduate. If my memory serves after the kiddie reaches 16 they do not have to attend school. The responsibility for them continueing on rests with their parents or guardian and themselves.
The question then becomes - is it in the best interest of Georgia to mandate school attendance until graduation?
By Curious Observer
October 10, 2006 01:37 PM | Link to this
Having just returned from a trip up north (where I didn’t find the pinch-nosed, eyes-too-close-together signs of southern redneck incest), I can’t say I’m surprised that Wooten would ignore the major issues of the day, since they reflect badly on the Republican party. Let’s ignore redneck pedophilia and similar manifestations of the repressed sexuality of bedrock conservatives. Nice distraction, Jim. Ever thought of running for Congress? You could point to the possibility of gay marriage as a way of redirecting the focus of your unintelligent followers. Horrendous national debt? They’ll ruin your marriage. Foreign policy a disgrace? They’ll come to live under your own roof! Good jobs shipped overseas, with the minimum wage unchanged for more than a decade? They’ll kiss in front of your children! War in Iraq a disaster? You will have to support their sodomy.
Anyway, I find the entire issue of laptops as an educational tool a red herring. Kids who won’t put any focus on learning in a conventional classroom won’t do any better with a laptop. But maybe the porn industry will see a huge spike in profits.
Anyway, it’s depressing to return and find jbmlaw, TFTT, Markus, Realist, Dusty, and other twisted individuals still spewing their uninformed nonsense. There’s no hope for them, but maybe an election in four weeks will give most of the nation a little cause for optimism. In the mean time, keep throwing out those red herrings, Wooten. Maybe tomorrow we can be treated to your treatise on the importance of telephones as a communications medium.
By time for the truth
October 10, 2006 01:40 PM | Link to this
*Did anyone else notice how nice and peaceful this blog was until TFTT showed up with her insults and racist comments again?
obviously ignoring the usual abusive comments by rednekks NAMBLA and others - eh pimpHO rod?
We were actually getting some good discussion. Now, it’s all over. Maybe she’ll be out all day tomorrow (tracking down her pimp daddy).
funny how the snivelling MoRoN rod always slithers on here with abuse of its conservative betters and how this wanky lefty wanker always calls me “she” - as if this is some kind of stunningly witty insult. the pimpHO rod always describes leftist lies and abuse as “factual comment” - so nothing new there!!
I love ignorant dishonest scumbuckets like MoRoN rod - they make posting here such a pleasure!! The DFM is a racist place - racists like rod just cant accept the factual truth!!
thanks for biting twice pimpHO rod!!
By Rex Winn
October 10, 2006 01:41 PM | Link to this
Jim Excellent article. I am a public school educator and I appreciate the information. I am forwarding it to other teachers. Thanks. Rex
By Political Mongrel
October 10, 2006 01:44 PM | Link to this
Markus: where did you get the idea that the NEA runs everything in our school systems? That’s one of the stupidest things that I’ve ever heard. NEA has no union powers in Georgia because there is no collective bargaining for teachers in Georgia. The GAE, the NEA affiliate in Georgia is not even the largest teacher’s organization in the state. It lobbies, but not in matters of curriculum.
Curriculum is decided at the state level, and the NEA might have some small influence with curriculum designers, but it’s minor. As for how the schools are run, it’s more up to the Legislature, state superintendent, state board, and local boards. NEA’s influence in these matters is small, and its efforts are mostly involved in employee rights and benefits. It can’t influence contracts and has no power to negotiate in Georgia.
Georgia’s NEA/GAE members are mostly much more conservative than the national organization and do NOT march in step with them. If you think the NEA runs things in Georgia education, you’re full of it.
By jbm fan
October 10, 2006 01:45 PM | Link to this
jbmlaw @1:29 “it is readily apparent that you have no ideas to suggest, so I promise to keep you supplied.”
That sounds fair sir. And I promise to agree with all of your ideas, good or bad, lest I be accused of rejecting them mindlessly. I would advise other posters to do the same.
By Political Mongrel
October 10, 2006 01:49 PM | Link to this
Regarding the entire laptop debate: a laptop is a tool not a school. It doesn’t give the face-to-face contact and ready exchange of ideas that being in a classroom does, but it can serve as a substitute in cases of need or unusual circumstances.
Caveat: A few years back, Floyd College required all students to rent a laptop from the college with specific software that professors wanted installed. These were decent laptops, but keeping them running was a nightmare both for the students and the college. The program was eventually dropped. Can you imagine what giving them to elementary and middle school students will be like, especially when they see themselves with a new toy?
By getalife
October 10, 2006 01:52 PM | Link to this
In case you have not figured it out by now, your government has duped you cons.
Join the club.
It is our civic duty to hold them accountable in November.
By JK
October 10, 2006 01:52 PM | Link to this
The question then becomes - is it in the best interest of Georgia to mandate school attendance until graduation?
Good question, Van. (Educators want to weigh in?) That you bother to formulate one indicates that there might be hope for Georgia’s future. Complex issues require being viewed from many perspectives and angles. Tough questions lead to discussion, enlightenment, and hopefully, PROGRESS.
By Laptop Dancer
October 10, 2006 01:58 PM | Link to this
I’m your typical red state female voter - I’m 23, and I have four kids by four different no account redneck daddies, exceptin’ the youngest one, Tyrone, whose daddy is my pimp when I ain’t dancin’.
Anyhow, this laptop thing is a good idea - preparing Georgia’s youth for Georgia’s strong economy and the red state jobs of the future - Tyrone’s daddy got me a website!
Now I can take the kids to work for me - we gals are getting a hot spot at the club, and we can leave the kids in the car with their laptops while we work our shifts.
By CJ
October 10, 2006 02:01 PM | Link to this
Hey TFTT!!!
Truth Man, did you see where Political Mongrel had the gall to write”Markus: where did you get the idea that the NEA runs everything in our school systems?” @1:44?
Clearly Political Mongrel is a nit-picker. It has been proven over the course of the last two days that Markus makes things up to support what he calls the “meat of his posts”.
However, Markus has made it clear that he doesn’t want “nit picking liberals” getting caught up in his fabricated facts while ignoring the “meat of his posts”.
I’ve learned my lesson, but others apparently have not learned theirs. So please TFTT, use your influence to get others to ignore Markus’ fabrications and address the “meat of his posts” that those fabrications are intended to support.
Have a good one buddy.
By dahreese
October 10, 2006 02:05 PM | Link to this
For jbmlaw. I do not deny the value of our underpaid military, far from it. Nor do I deny the value of a social studies teacher either. Perhaps if we could get over the idea that America is the only place that’s perfect and everyother culture is inferior, we might have a little more peace in this world. But, I think I’ve made my point, i.e, our public (including YOU?)is brainwashed to think bloody murder if their tax is raised to improve education, but to keep silent when tax is raised to support the military. You don’t have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.
By GodHatesTrash
October 10, 2006 02:10 PM | Link to this
Give laptops to the children of redneck trash that belittle the value of education, to people that are suspicious of learning, to people that firmly believe that God created the universe in 6 days? A waste of the taxpayer’s cash. We’d be better off building orphanages and taking these poor children away from the horror of a redneck home.
Laptops for rednecks?
Pearls before swine…
Trash.
By Th
October 10, 2006 02:14 PM | Link to this
KBM; we agree more than disagree on this topic. I was parroting the Pat Buchanon, Lou Dobbs, D.A. King talking points to make the point that many “conservatives” have not thought the whole education issue through to try to determine what unintended consequences will follow. I can see the sports page now, “On Friday night bin Laden High squares off against La Raza High in a battle of unbeatens.”
By Pope rednecks - Amerikkka's Al Qaeda I
October 10, 2006 02:15 PM | Link to this
Poor tftt - turdburgling fairy tranny tommy.
This Foley stuff gets him upset - s/he doesn’t like thinking about her school days.
English education motto - No Child’s Behind Left Untouched.
By Shooter
October 10, 2006 02:21 PM | Link to this
If adults can’t keep up with laptops what makes anyone think kids will? The last three laptops I purchased was at the Unclaimed Baggage Store in Scottsboro AL. Yes i’ve left them on planes too. You can buy them there for about half price or less.I wouldn’t want my kids to use a laptop for school a pc at home for research is ok electronic aids are addictive some of us don’t even know our home phone # anymore we rely on electronics too much.
By frank123
October 10, 2006 02:23 PM | Link to this
Regarding a laptop being a school, it is a last resort when fast with school over crowding. However, as a long time computer users and one who uses the computer and internet everyday at work, the computer is a big time waster and distractor from actual schooling. I caught my 9th grader multitasking. He was doing homework at the same time he was playing an online game. I’m sure if I let him, he would be trying to do his homework, watch TV and play the game. Computers and the internet are not solution. Kids need to sit down and read books, and write on paper in front of a teacher.
By Pope rednecks - Amerikkka's Al Qaeda I
October 10, 2006 02:33 PM | Link to this
Dusty, just read your post the “most prestigous universities in the country, all in the South”.
I assume you have Barnum and Bailey Clown College in Florida as number one - but since they don’t don’t have a Masters degree program, they are not technically a university… But give us your top ten anyway, idjit.
You stupid redneck.
By Keep Perverts Out of Our Schools
October 10, 2006 02:37 PM | Link to this
Starting with Markie Markus, the utterly mendacious shirtpulling chickenhawk chickenhawk.
By getalife
October 10, 2006 02:38 PM | Link to this
I believe I can see the future Cause I repeat the same routine I think I used to have a purpose But then again That might have been a dream I think I used to have a voice Now I never make a sound I just do what I’ve been told I really don’t want them to come around
By Filthy Godless Pinkos
October 10, 2006 02:39 PM | Link to this
By GodHatesTrash October 10, 2006 02:10 PM Laptops for rednecks?
I tend to agree with this degenerate on his point, the last rednekkk that had a government laptop was president of the United States for 8 years.
And as I remember he used to to browse escort services, pardon all kinds of foreign and domestic perverts of all manner of rightfully convicted crimes and ripped off fellow Arkkkansans of their real estate investment cash.
So yes, keep the laptops away from these filthy Godless Pinkos.
By UGA Dad
October 10, 2006 02:42 PM | Link to this
Hi folks, it’s been awhile. But Dusty’s post inspired me - obviously, UGA is one of those top ten American universities, if not in the entire world.
Where else can you get a PhD in tattooing and lapdancing? (Besides University of Alabama and University of South Carolina??)
By Meg
October 10, 2006 02:44 PM | Link to this
My kids are home schooled on laptops, bought with their educational IRAs. We have no landline, just cell phones, a cellular alarm and broadband. The kids sit in the same room I do, I help them when they need it, they can watch educational DVDs on their laptops, we have excellent and strict parental controls on internet sites, we have a good software curriculum and we go to the park for recess. I bought a book based penmanship curriculum, so that’s covered. They’re happy and productive, I get to spend lots of time with my kids, I’m happy, I think it’s great. They socialize at church and at the park. I don’t have to worry about them socializing with kids who cuss, watch R rated movies and exert negative influences. They love their laptops, and when they finish they can play games or surf the kid sites. As for deciding that “most people aren’t smart like me so they’re too ignorant to have laptops” that is the most egotistical, elitest crap I’ve ever heard. Those low income kids might take better care of their laptops than YOUR kids would. You don’t know and why should YOU get to decide based on your own kids’ destructive behaviour? What’s wrong with the government right now is everyone in power deciding that we, the people are too stupid to be told what’s really going on and we wouldn’t vote the right way if we really knew, so government by the people has turned into a dictatorship. People need to be given personal responsibility or they will never develop it for themselves, they’ll be government dependent vegetables all their lives. It may cost a few lost laptops but it’s a negligible loss considering what some of those kids could gain.
By Is that you Andie?
October 10, 2006 02:54 PM | Link to this
My girl Andie is posting today…
Our current pres - Mr. Bush -doesn’t like laptops - he’s very scared of the internets.
It must have been someone on his staff that intoduced him to Jeff Gannon/Guckert, a Top Marine…
kisses andie ;—O from Sailor.
But not on those pouty lips of yours - I know where they’ve been!
By jbmlaw
October 10, 2006 03:12 PM | Link to this
Dear Dahreese @ 2:05, this is one of those rare times I’m really not intentionally baiting. I know you are a leftist, and that really is not a problem for me. I do want to glean some of your perspective - I think it helps me to understand why you believe the things you believe.
My first question was admittedly a little snarky, and I know you value the life-tenured social studies teacher above the grunt on the ground in Iraq; I disagree with you generally, but we can agree to disagree.
My second question is the one I really wondered about: do you leftists truly object to trying alternative education delivery systems? If, hypothetically, a wide experiment validated our personal case, we could greatly improve the education delivery systems for our brightest kids at a much lower cost, thus relieving pressures on the system as a whole. Why would that not be worth investigating?
By Van
October 10, 2006 03:18 PM | Link to this
Meg,
Great, a parent that cares enough to do the hard thing.
Good luck, sounds like you are on your way to having great kids.
By dahreese
October 10, 2006 03:29 PM | Link to this
For jbmlaw. To add to my above post, I’m the father of 5, (so called “gifted”) children and I taught (in the classroom) for 33 years (and no, I don’t have one years experience for 33 times). I will be the last to say that some experimenting in improving education via laptops is a totally bad idea. It isn’t. But neither can I blindly follow along and say (about computers being a virtual classroom and teachers are not needed much), “This is it!, This is it!” as I have seen done so much with the introduction of other new “improvement” programs. Laptops may have a place, but not, “This is it!” I can’t remember the educator/politician who said it, but he said it correctly, “If a foreign nation came in here and imposed on us the system of education we have, we’d declare war.” Well, why don’t we declare war on ignorance? Because, we don’t want to pay the price for it, and besides, then tax dollars would go more towards deveoping people rather than developing resources where the profits go to big corporations, and the coporations and the corporate controled politicians aren’t about to put up with that. Teachers don’t control the purse strings of education and not much of the curriculum either (believe it or not, textbook publishers have more input into that). Public education is the whipping boy of politicians. As a parent/teacher I can’t point the finger, but if parents can’t motivate kids to learn while they are young at home and to teach them to behave in public, why do we expect teachers to do it? You don’t have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.
By getalife
October 10, 2006 03:31 PM | Link to this
See the animal in it’s cage that you built Are you sure what side you’re on Better not look him too closely in the eye Are you sure what side of the glass you are on See the safety of the life you have built Everything where it belongs Feel the hollowness inside of your heart And it’s all Right where it belongs
By Political Mongrel
October 10, 2006 03:41 PM | Link to this
jbmlaw: It wasn’t that many years ago that any attempt at trying alternative educational delivery methods or different structures was called leftist. My, how times change.
By getalife
October 10, 2006 03:46 PM | Link to this
More on Foleygate
By getalife
October 10, 2006 03:48 PM | Link to this
Meg,
Please teach your kids how to use paragraphs.
Thanks.
By Dusty
October 10, 2006 03:55 PM | Link to this
Oh my, I see that RedNecks did NOT get enough hugs. And his poor lil’ friends didn’t either. All of them choked up with envy because they didn’t get a Southern education.
Now just because you couldn’t get in Georgia Tech, Emory, Vanderbilt, Duke, U. of Virginia, UGA, Clemson, Auburn and a few others, doesn’t mean you should be bitter. They let you in Florida and made you a clown, didn’t they? A fine job they did, I tell you.
To perk up the ol’ I.Q., I am sending you a Toy-R-Us laptop, C.O.D. No thanks needed.
By Th
October 10, 2006 04:14 PM | Link to this
I am a leftie who is all for educational experimentation, but I am leery of people who are really out to end public education in the guise of experimentation. My life is a testiment to public schools and how someone can come from nothing and accomplish much, and I am not interested is shutting the door so others cannot follow or leaving children in a failed system.
My biggest gripe is the lack of decent studies to show what is working and what is not. A recent study we discussed on this blog a few weeks ago finally controlled for the things that really do matter in a child’s life, but the study was not longitudinal. The study did not paint an attractive picture of most private or charter schools, but was useless in showing progress over time.
By the genius of Dusty
October 10, 2006 04:18 PM | Link to this
Dusty @11:40 “…the children go to the most prestigous universities in the country, all in the South.”
Dusty @3:55 “Now just because you couldn’t get in Georgia Tech, Emory, Vanderbilt, Duke, U. of Virginia, UGA, Clemson, Auburn and a few others, doesn’t mean you should be bitter.”
She gotchya there boys. Those are the MOST prestigious universities in the country. I tried to tell you that Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford and the rest are crap.
Way to go Dusty.
By the genius of Dusty
October 10, 2006 04:21 PM | Link to this
Hey Dusty,
While I’ve got you. Mr. jbmlaw informed me that Arizona is part of the South that you speak of. I wasn’t aware of that.
Let me ask you, is southern California included? What about Tijuana?
By You're Right, Where Is Osama?
October 10, 2006 04:32 PM | Link to this
Dusty: For some reason I really don’t think this is about the quality of top Southern Universities, it runs much deeper than that for these degenerates. If you read what they say for very long, you will soon be convinced that they are still hung up on Paula Jones.
It just infuriates them that a simple, down to earth Southern Gentlelady would have the nerve to turn down a chance to service the Arkkkansas Rednekkk presidential emblem (is that sweet enough for you Jim? I’m not going to get booted out of here, am I?)
Their rage towards all Southern Gentleladies is obvious, just look at the anger displayed by Al Qaeda’s Concubine and BelongsInTheTrash.
The mere thought of this Southern woman not submitting to the rednekkk presidential red meat shopping spree causes their necks to bulge and their foreheads to burst forth with vein popping fury.
It’s so easy to see, just look at their posts.
Besides, what would someone who obviously dropped out of the 3rd grade, as Al Qaeda did, know about college educations?
By time for the truth
October 10, 2006 04:32 PM | Link to this
By Pope rednecks - Amerikkka’s Al Qaeda I October 10, 2006 02:15 PM Poor tftt - turdburgling fairy tranny tommy.This Foley stuff gets him upset - s/he doesn’t like thinking about her school days.English education motto - No Child’s Behind Left Untouched.
By Keep Perverts Out of Our Schools October 10, 2006 02:37 PM Starting with Markie Markus, the utterly mendacious shirtpulling chickenhawk chickenhawk.
see the rest of the sick liberal poison for yourselves …
I see the resident NAMBLA child molestor simply cannot stop its compulsive projection of its filthy perverted yankkkee habits onto its vastly superior conservative betters.
unlike YOU NAMBLA I wasn’t abused at school or home - or anywhere actually. I suppose your sick twisted envy at folks who have never been subject to the kind of familial norm YOU were and still are is inevitable.
never mind NAMBLA … hopefully Jessica’s law - which pinko pervert enablers in many liberal states oppose - in FL or GA or somewhere will get you off the streets for a much deserved 25 years. GOOD BLOODY RIDDANCE TOO!!
By Dusty
October 10, 2006 04:33 PM | Link to this
Now Genius,
I didn’t say those ivy league schools were bad. No indeed. If you want to chum around with the Kennedys and the Rockefellows and get a building named after you, those places are fine. Some are near the Cape, too, which does allow for really good entertainment. Chippaquadic is “cool”.
I was talking about a “real” education as Southerners offer.
Now, don’t get all touchy. You can still get in Florida, as Rednecks will tell you. I will send you a Toys-R-Us laptop C.O.D also to help you with admissions.
By Oscar Wilde
October 10, 2006 04:40 PM | Link to this
Dusty
Don’t forget the Bushes! They’re just as elitist as the Kennedys. Just because someone puts on a cowboy hat doesn’t make him a cowboy.
Sorry to burst your bubble - I know you ought into the whole - I’m a regular guy from texass just like you folks.
By time for the truth
October 10, 2006 04:44 PM | Link to this
the debate doesn’t seem to have advanced very far, mainly because of the sick liberal poison infesting the blog yet again.
laptops for kiddies is a poor idea, however well intentioned, unless its a strictly supervised access on school premises, the potential for abuse of the laptops outside school, including casual damage or even deliberate vandalism is way too great to give an expensive laptop to say one of Marietta High Schools’ budding little semi-literate thugs. No one has answered my earlier point that given the pathetic academic standards barely extant (look it up feminazi JK) in most of GA schools why bother to waste such precious funds on such a meaningless and pointless gesture? It will serve to further denigrate already p!ss poor writing standards, teenage conceptual thinking - such as it is, using actual libraries for actual book based research and so on.
If first year college kiddies need remedial skills help with the three R’s then why throw money away on laptops for morons, many of whom who cant even graduate, let alone get into a micky mouse college?
By Oscar Wilde
October 10, 2006 04:47 PM | Link to this
Oh my God!
UGA, CLEMSON, UVA, AUBURN - you’re counting these as prestigious universities!
Lay off the booze, old woman!
You really live in your own fantasy world where everything associated with your upbringing/life is the best and everything else isn’t.
I know ur daddy probly said theses schools were good fur book lernin and all - and I’m sure to a rednek pig farmer they represented a “quality” education
but dearest to the rest of the world the aforementioned schools rank slightly above community college - and ONLY because they have decent athletic programs!
By ohnoyoudidnt
October 10, 2006 04:51 PM | Link to this
Please, Dusty’s kids have inherited her genes and doubt they are going to college.
Probably in prison on meth charges.
By Tired of BS
October 10, 2006 04:55 PM | Link to this
Lets back to the real scandal - the congressional coverup of a KNOWN pedophile!
This is far worse than the clinton indiscretion - He basically gets raped by a horned-up, slutt, home-wrecking good-for-nothing - and the whole world wants him out of office - when reports clearly show he wasn’t the aggressor - (they went on a witch hunt to implicate Gore as well)
Meanwhile Foley is AGGRESSIVELY pursuing young boys for over ten years with PERMISSION from the GOP congress - has admittedly had sex with several of them. And REPUBS PROTECT HIM!
These kids barely have hair on their field, have posters of Tom Brady on their walls, and are awed by these powerful congressmen who abuse theri power and come on to them!
God only knows how many young girls have been attacked by Hastert and his ilk!
By Tired of BS
October 10, 2006 04:57 PM | Link to this
Lets back to the real scandal - the congressional coverup of a KNOWN pedophile!
This is far worse than the clinton indiscretion - He basically gets raped by a horned-up, slutt, home-wrecking good-for-nothing - and the whole world wants him out of office - when reports clearly show he wasn’t the aggressor - (they went on a witch hunt to implicate Gore as well)
Meanwhile Foley is AGGRESSIVELY pursuing young boys for over ten years with PERMISSION from the GOP congress - has admittedly had sex with several of them. And REPUBS PROTECT HIM!
These kids barely have hair on their field, have posters of Tom Brady on their walls, and are awed by these powerful congressmen who abuse theri power and come on to them!
God only knows how many young girls have been attacked by Hastert and his ilk!
By Political Foreskin
October 10, 2006 05:10 PM | Link to this
Cartoon idea: Show a lame duck W, saying, “Attack Iraq”.
(like the afflack duck, get it?)
By time for the truth
October 10, 2006 05:12 PM | Link to this
This is far worse than the clinton indiscretion - He basically gets raped by a horned-up, slutt, home-wrecking good-for-nothing - and the whole world wants him out of office - when reports clearly show he wasn’t the aggressor - (they went on a witch hunt to implicate Gore as well)
after the little rock rapist raped a woman in little rock twice in a hotel room, plus a female university student in England - for which the state dept file magically disappeared just before the sex predator began its long slither into the white house
By Pope rednecks - Amerikkka's Al Qaeda I
October 10, 2006 05:13 PM | Link to this
I guess Dusty thinks the AP College Football rankings are the academic rankings…
If Dusty lived in Aladamnbama, she’d be one of the morons with the Tide box cover on a stick.
By Political Foreskin
October 10, 2006 05:17 PM | Link to this
I just heard this on FOX: A woman from Peoria Ill. has filed a lawsuit in federal court to prevent the Library of Congress from displaying historical and patriotic documents like the Bill of Rights or the Declaration of Independence because they inspire young American males to become senate pages.
By Pope rednecks - Amerikkka's Al Qaeda I
October 10, 2006 05:21 PM | Link to this
plus a female university student in England - for which the state dept file magically disappeared just before the sex predator began its long slither into the white house
Could it be - is tftt - turdburgling fairy tranny tommy - the bastard love child of The Greatest President Ever?
Nawww, no effing way - tftt/tommy is way too retarded.
By Markus
October 10, 2006 05:27 PM | Link to this
JK @ 12:51-
“Markus, you completely avoided the questions. I’ll repeat them for you: (1) how many kids do you have in public school RIGHT NOW? (2) How often are you, your pompous self, actually IN a public school facility, surrounded by today’s children? Just curious.”
Quite frankly, that’s none of your damn business. What’s it to you JK? Why aren’t you REFUTING what I said instead of whining about what my personal relationship in on public schools? It’s easier to attempt to discredit than address, isn’t it? M-huh.
By ohnoyoudidnt
October 10, 2006 05:37 PM | Link to this
Shock and awe in Baghdad.
Ammo depot on fire.
By Markus
October 10, 2006 05:43 PM | Link to this
The Democrit plan to win control back next month: Foley scandal & Iraq War pullout!
Nothing on economic policy, nothing on military policy (we all know what that is.. downsize and rely on the UN!); nothing on fiscal policy; nothing on tax policy (we all know what that is.. get ‘em up!); nothing on the war on islamofascism policy (we all know what that is.. it’s not a real problem!); nothing on offering alternatives to fix the impending SS doom (we all know what that is, just tax the successful and business owners more to pay for it!); nothing on how to be more reliant on our own domestic oil production again (we all know what that is.. ditch cars and buy a cart & jackass and live in a 10’x10’ box like the Japanese!); nothing on fixing the disaster of public eduation (we all know what that is.. mo’ money!); nothing on how we can manage healthcare better (we all know what that is.. federalize it “free” for everyone!); nothing on stopping the illegal Mexican invasion (we all know why they won’t.. same as Republicans.. votes!); nothing on how to get jobs back into America (we all know what that is.. give the unions even more power!).
No, all the Democrit party and bloggers cacn say is FOLEY! IRAQ!
I’m not at all impressed with what the Democrit party has laid out with just one month left. Once again the party with no orginal ideas, just the same old dried up liberal BS and two new gripes and they think they’ve got a win in hand. Don’t trust those polls, liberal ladies… the pollsters never tell you the demographic breakdown of who they questioned for a reason.
By Markus
October 10, 2006 05:48 PM | Link to this
C’mon Republicans, gain a set and PLAY THIS AD against the RAT party!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h3GPc_yMCE
MAN what a great ad… and so true.
By Dusty
October 10, 2006 05:48 PM | Link to this
Golly geee,
These guys have really been checking out Southern Universities. Sorry they couldn’t get in but Southern standards are high. And we can tell a phony Southerner (Yankee) a mile off.
Most Southerners are adverse to foul language and as you can see here, these boys would NOT fit in. I mean they even call CocaColas something like “sodas”, for Pete’s sake. Now who could put up with THAT?
Anyway, fellows, hang in there. Remedial classes are still being offered at some of the smaller Universities.
By Pope rednecks - Amerikkka's Al Qaeda I
October 10, 2006 05:50 PM | Link to this
Get, thanks very much for the link to the email regarding the closeted GOP homosexuals that are involved in the Foley coverup - where did you get that?
Since that poof Drudge outed the page, out all of them. These aren’t closeted perverts like Andie, Markie Markus or tfttommy on a blog, these are people in our government, spreading lies and hypocrisy.
By time for the truth
October 10, 2006 05:51 PM | Link to this
Could it be - is tftt - turdburgling fairy tranny tommy - the bastard love child of The Greatest President Ever? Nawww, no effing way - tftt/tommy is way too retarded.
NAMBLA’s sick jokes about rape are the kind of filthy perverted yankkkee filth we expect from such leftist scum as this abortion bucket escapee.
BTW - NAMBLA the “greatest President ever” is clearly Sir Ronald Reagan (PBUH) - not some white trash rapist from Little Rock!!
By ohnoyoudidnt
October 10, 2006 05:53 PM | Link to this
Oops, forgot to blame Bill.
Shock and awe in Baghdad.
Ammo depot on fire!
Bill Clinton’s fault.
By getalife
October 10, 2006 06:01 PM | Link to this
Pope,
I got it from Midori on Mike’s blog.
She bashes Andie over there.
By Political Foreskin
October 10, 2006 06:01 PM | Link to this
Wooten’s article today was very provocative. Perhaps he broaches the subject about “why cant Johnny read?”. Johnny cant read, and he hasnt been able to read since world war two.
I think it’s laziness. I was there. I saw my fifth grade classmate’s consternation as they tried to decipher Shakespeare, and the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. Maybe it’s not their faults that they quit. Maybe all of my classmates were alchohol syndrome babies. The explosion of pot smoking in the sixties didn’t help. Somehow I missed it. I never smoked pot in the sixties. I was well into my twenties before my first pot party, and then it took six months of pot parties to actualy get off. I thought that people were faking the high, and I told them so. I really did!!!! (I’m so embarrassed).
Far out, man. Oh the waste of humanity, really. I think the WHO said it best. “You’re all wasted”.
BTW: the greatest rock and roll song ever written is the WHO’s, “Bargain”.
By Filthy Godless Liberals
October 10, 2006 06:04 PM | Link to this
Did I read this correctly, Al Qaeda’s Concubine is on a homosexual witch hunt?
Well, good for you Conc! We knew you’d eventually come round to seeing things the same way Pat Robertson does.
We’ve been telling you for years about the dangers these freaks pose to children, what took you so long to figure it out?
Did you hear a Jerry Falwell sermon or is it because a Republican got caught?
Can I get an Amen?
By Markus
October 10, 2006 06:05 PM | Link to this
Yeah you got it, ohyesyoudidit!
Everything is Clntoon’s fault leading up to the current situation with North Korea and global islamic terrorism.
What are you b!tching about anyway? Hurricanes are Bush’s fault (oops, we didn’t HAVE any this year, sorry Gore!); tsunamis are Bush’s fault; the failure of state and local governments and corruption is Bush’s fault; teen blow jobs are Bush’s fault (not Clinton who MADE it sensational).
No, you are right… everything is Clinton’s fault.
By Political Foreskin
October 11, 2006 09:00 AM | Link to this
Laptops? or Lapdances…..THAT is the question. I’m hot for teacher!
Wasn’t it Eve who gave the apple to Adam? Was he Eve’s teacher? No! Eve was the one who took the strip-aerobics class from the snake-devil. It was the first “girls gone wild video”. Adam never had a chance.
Actually, what exposed Adam and Eve’s sin was eating the apple itself. You see, God was a landscaper, and he had more than enough apple trees and didn’t want any more.
So when the cr*apped-out apple seedlings started cropping up all over the garden, God knew what those two vegans were eating.
This is the same way the dinosaurs spread trees all over the globe. They ate the seeds and planted them as they roamed. (true)
Johnny Appleseed? The dinosaurs cr*apped out bigger seeds than him.
Shame on adam and eve. Shame on the dinosaurs.
The first story in the bible discounts “dominion christianity” once and for all.