Getting Schooled In Wisconsin

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Here’s a lesson that is both ironic and sad at the same time. According to the U.S. Department of Education, two-thirds of the eight graders in Wisconsin cannot read proficiently. But assuming the kids are skilled enough to watch TV, they can now see their teachers demonstrating to keep their generous union benefits. So, while things do not seem to be going well in the classroom, any thought of holding teachers somewhat responsible is cause for a protest march.

As a former high school teacher, it pains me to criticize those trying to educate American children. You will never become rich doing that and the job can be maddening. Today, many children are the victims of a permissive society that often refuses to hold kids responsible for their actions. Cowardly parents make excuses for the failure of their kids rather than finding a solution to their poor academic performance. Instead of preparing their children for rigorous academic challenges, derelict parents sit it out.

But teachers are supposed to overcome apathetic parenting and at least give the kids a fighting chance to succeed. That is a challenge that’s supposed to be met.

As I’ve written before, in my eight grade class at St. Brigid’s School on Long Island there were 60 students and one nun in the classroom. All of them could read proficiently and, believe me, some of the parents were not exactly Ozzie and Harriet if you understand what I’m saying. The nun brooked no nonsense. She forced us to learn.

But that was then.

In ten years starting in 1998, Wisconsin doubled the amount of money spent on each public school student to more than $10,000 per pupil, per year. And test scores went down! Doing the math, the equation seems to be that money is not the key to knowledge.

Discipline is.

The teachers in Wisconsin should be compensated to the best of the state’s ability. But the educational gravy train is off the tracks. There’s no more money. The taxpayer is tapped out.

So, in the future, if you want to teach kids you’ll have to take less to do it. That may not be fair but that’s the lesson that Wisconsin is teaching us. The writing is very clear on the blackboard: No more public money is on the way.

I left teaching because I understood the limitations of the job. I knew at a young age that my income would be restricted and that my life would be fairly predictable.

Selfishly, I wanted more.

But I respect those who devote their lives to teaching immensely. I want them to have as much as the market will bear.

Sadly, that point has now been reached.

There is a man who like to ask controversial questions on Yahoo Answers and then add his comments. Here is one of his latest:

Why was Obama in Madison right before the civil unrest began?

Our president and his administrative officials were in Madison for 2 weeks planning and orchestrating this current round of civil unrest in Madison, and his chronies have spread it to other states.

Madison, do not forget, was where Obama took part in the founding of ACORN.

Those protests are not peaceful. They have destroyed ongoing talks and shouted down their victims, they threaten people and present their massive outsider numbers to intimidate the forces of the rule of law. They ignore every rule of law in place with respect to how they treat the capitol, they are damaging the building and abusing its staff, and most of them are not even from Wisconsin. There are doctors handing out fake sick passes on the sidewalks. Most of the vehicles I saw were from other states, as were the majority of the buses.

Obama was there 2 weeks before and left several of his staffers behind to continue the planning stages for this revolt.

It is NOT a peaceful protest.

There is a lot more going on behind the scenes than we are told about by the mainstream media. Between the rioting here in America and the rioting around the world, our position is becoming more precarious. It is my hope that people will wake up and ask the tough questions that very few people seem to be asking.

Technorati Tags: Bill O'reilly, school teachers, Wisconsin riots

Joel Northrup is a sophomore who is home-schooled and wrestles for Linn-Mar High School.

At the Iowa State Wrestling Championship this year, he was supposed to wrestle a Ceder Falls female freshmen. He put much thought into the situation, and made the tough decision not to wrestle Cassy Herkelman, and decided to default.

Northrup claimed that his religious beliefs were the reason for his decision and stated, “Wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times. As a matter of conscience and my faith I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner. It is unfortunate that I have been placed in a situation not seen in most other high school sports in Iowa.”

There was another girl in the tournament, Megan Black, who was also in Joel Northrup’s weight class, and he fortunately did not have to worry about this dilemma with her, as she was pinned in her first two matches. In previous years though, Northrup was to wrestle against Black, and refused to wrestle her at that time as well. She respected his decision then, and respects him for keeping with that choice even though it would be hard.

Although Northrup has always dreamed of winning the state competition, and worked his hardest to get to the point he was at, he kept to his beliefs, which is a decision I fully support. He was able to continue in the tournament because he defaulted instead of forfeiting, and hopefully will not have to face Herkelman again.

I have three sons that wrestle in high school, and there was a girl on their team. Fortunately for them they were not in the same weight class and never had to worry about this problem.

Technorati Tags: Cassy Herkelman, Iowa, Joel Northrup, Megan Black, state competition, wrestling

One rule teachers are supposed to abide by is that they cannot call in sick to attend any protest events.

I found these videos on YouTube:

This is one of the comments left of the video:

I am a? doctor. I will stand outside of the schools of these teachers and hand out excuse slips to all students who need them. The students should be able to to lie and manipulate the truth every bit as much as these ‘teachers’.

Technorati Tags: doctors, excuses, fake, protest, teachers, Wisconsin

Click here to view the embedded video.

Technorati Tags: George W. Bush, pitch, World Series

Hello all!

The holiday season is upon us and it’s time to start thinking about festivities. I have been putting together a new Christmas site called Christmas Ways.

As I am getting older, I find that the Christmas traditions of my family are becoming more important to me and I want to be able to share these things with my children and grandchildren.

The website has been created to provide visitors information on all aspects of Christmas, including the following categories:

• Christmas Around the World
• Christmas Books
• Christmas Crafts
• Christmas Decorations
• Christmas Food
• Christmas Gifts
• Christmas Health
• Christmas Memories
• Christmas Music
• Christmas Nativities
• Christmas Parties
• Christmas Traditions
• Christmas Trees

Come take a look – it’s still in it’s beginning stages, but I am adding a few articles each day. Please feel free to contact us with suggestions or if you would like to submit an idea or article to the new site.

You can find it at: http://www.christmasways.com

Merry Christmas!!

Technorati Tags: Christmas gifts, Christmas ideas, Christmas Ways, family traditions, new website

Health Care proponents should be outraged that he is not at home helping to pass their ridiculous bill. (I’m not too upset at that part!)

Al Gore should be outraged that President and Mrs. Obama traveled in two different jets across the Atlantic. How much of a carbon footprint did that make!

Anyone who supports our troops should be outraged that Obama couldn’t find the time to talk to General McChrystal about sending more soldiers to support the fight against Afghan insurgents.

Where are your priorities, Mr. President?

Here is Politico article discussing John Boener’s viewpoint:

House Minority Leader John Boehner torched President Barack Obama Wednesday for his European trip to pitch the Chicago Olympics bid, criticizing the president for “going to go off to Copenhagen when we’ve got serious issues here at home that need to be debated.”

Obama’s trip has been maligned by most Republicans as the health care overhaul remains in a continued state of flux in Congress and the top general in Afghanistan awaits word on a troop increase.

The White House first said it was unlikely that Obama would go to Denmark because he thought it important to help push health care through Congress.

But earlier this week, the White House announced Obama thought the health care debate was far enough along that he could escape for the day to lobby the International Olympic Committee’s voters to bring the games to his home town.

Boehner clearly isn’t in that camp.

“Listen I think it’s a great idea to promote Chicago but he’s the president of the United States, not the mayor of Chicago,” Boehner said. “And the problems we have here at home affect all Americans and that’s where his attention ought to be.”

See the article at: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27742.html

Technorati Tags: Afghanistan, Chicago Olympics bid, Copenhagen, John Boehner, Obama, troop increase

When General McChrystal appeared on 60 Minutes on Sunday, he said that he has only talked to Obama one time during that last 70 days.

Here is an excerpt from an article on CBSNews.com:

In his confidential report, which was leaked to the Washington Post on Sept. 21, Gen. McChrystal warned that defeating the insurgents will not be possible if the United States fails to “gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum” over the next 12 months.

McChrystal reportedly has prepared a separate request for tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops to be sent to the 68,000 already in Afghanistan.

Since Sept. 21, when the Washington Post leaked information from McChrystal’s confidential report, the White House has been on the defensive over its Afghanistan strategy.

As CNSNews.com reported on Tuesday, Barack Obama campaigned on a promise to reinforce U.S. troops in Afghanistan, which he described as war we “have to win.”

As president – in March 2009 – Obama announced a “comprehensive new strategy” for Afghanistan: “I want the American people to understand that we have a clear and focused goal to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan and to prevent their return to either country in the future,” he said. (See story)

But last week, Obama said he was not willing to send troops “beyond what we already have” until he was sure the United States is employing the right strategy in the region.

It seems to me that instead of gallavanting across the world, his more pressing concern should be to figure out what to do to keep our troops safe and win the war. I’m just sayin’.

Technorati Tags: Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, more troops

House Democratic leaders will move ahead with a “resolution of disapproval” against Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) on Tuesday afternoon, following through on their threat to sanction the conservative lawmaker for heckling President Obama last week.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) will formally introduce the resolution Tuesday afternoon, according to Democratic insiders, and the vast majority of Democrats – as well as some Republicans – are expected to vote for it.

Article: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27151.html

Note: The House voted to go ahead with this resolution. Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show that even though Joe Wilson did not deserve it, he hoped they would go ahead and approve the measure because  it will come back to bite them!

Technorati Tags: heckling, Jow Wilson, resolution of disapproval, sanctions

Bernard’s father was shown the photos of his son. He asked that they not be published, because he felt they were disrespectful to his son’s memory.

Despite his request, the photos were shown. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates called Tom Curley, President of the Associated Press to express his anger that the family’s wished had been ignore.

“Why your organization would purposefully defy the family’s wishes knowing full well that it will lead to yet more anguish is beyond me,” Gates wrote. He also said that the release of the photo “appalling” and a breach of “common decency.”

How do you feel about the AP’s decision to publish the photo of Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard after he was hit by the grenade? Was it appropriate or an invasion of privacy? In a time where news from around the world can be broadcast in the blink of an eye, the AP did choose to hold the photo until after Bernard’s funeral. Was that enough or should the photo remain unseen by the public?

If it were my son, I wouldn’t want that picture to be released. The family’s request should have been honored.

Technorati Tags: , Associated Press, father, Joshua M. Bernard, photo, Robert Gates, Tom Curley

Click here to view the embedded video.

Technorati Tags: gibbs, press conference, reporter, white house