Conservatives deal with facts and reach conclusions; liberals have conclusions and sell them as facts.
The Times writes about a trend with which I’ve long been familiar: student participation in parent-teacher conferences. The article leads with a school district that has benefitted from this trend, since more people show up for the conference than have in the past. The article also points to parents who
Continue readingAs we were driving back to the ‘burbs from an outing in San Francisco today, we saw a rare sight: an older lady nattily attired in furs. Standing near her was a young woman, screaming into the lady’s face. The children were mesmerized. First, they’d never seen furs and, second,
Continue readingIs this a recommendation for Obama’s education advisor? Darling-Hammond, a teacher-friendly educator, has been tapped by President-elect Barack Obama to head his transition team on education policy. I thought education was supposed to benefit the children. I’m feeling a little sour on the subject right now because I went to
Continue readingIt’s time to end the post mortem and get moving, the only problem being that “getting moving” is proving to be as rancorous amongst conservatives as was the political cycle itself. One of the schisms I’m seeing in my own blog is between pro-Life and pro- (or, at least, not
Continue readingThanks to Deanna for bringing my attention to a story about a young girl’s experiment with the diversity and tolerance that is so touted in America’s liberal elite communities. In Oak Park, Illinois, a wealth “liberal” community much like my own, a 14 year old public school child, noting how
Continue readingI suspect that, once Obama starts raising taxes, buyer’s remorse is going to set in with incredible speed. This article focuses on the local economy, but is a harbinger of what will happen when taxes go up on a larger, national scale: A temporary 1.5 percentage point sales tax increase
Continue readingThe title of my post is not true. But it could be, which is really, really sad: American elementary and high school textbooks contain many “gross misrepresentations” of Judaism, Christianity and Israel, according to a book-length study released this week by the San Francisco-based Institute for Jewish and Community Research.
Continue readingYes, Minister! was a very, very funny British TV show from the 1980s, before Britain (and the BBC) went completely round the bend. There is no better argument for school choice and non-socialized medicine than this funny clip from that show: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLDb2V86Ei0&eurl=http://www.iwf.org/inkwell/[/youtube] Hat tip: IWF
Continue readingAs a California tax payer, my taxes have, for years, been paying for college educations for illegal immigrants. I certainly admire anyone who is able to work hard and get into college, but I have a fundamental objection to paying my hard earned money so that someone who is in
Continue readingFull marks to Sandra Tsing Loh for honestly expressing her disapproval of the fact that both of her candidates (that would be Obama and Biden) abandoned the public school system when it came to their own children. And she explains why their abandonment is more than merely symbolic: Let us
Continue readingI think most of us watched Randy Pausch’s last lecture, delivered when he was retiring due to terminal cancer. Although the cancer finally claimed Pausch, the messages about getting the most out of life, about living with joy and immediacy, linger on. Charles Lipson, himself a teacher, concludes that Pausch
Continue readingI just attended the end of year program at my children’s elementary school. I won’t run on here about how adorable my children were or how charming the other children ewre (accept that as given). Instead, I want to focus on the show’s content, which I found both fascinating and
Continue readingA few weeks ago, both my kids got in the mail an invitation from their school to attend an “Albatross Award” ceremony to honor their good qualities. Mr. Bookworm, who brought the mail in, was very excited: “You’re getting awards. This is great.” (I mention Mr. Bookworm specifically here so
Continue reading. . . but this is sad: Brigitte Bardot was convicted Tuesday of provoking discrimination and racial hatred for writing that Muslims are destroying France. A Paris court also handed down a $23,325 fine against the former screen siren and animal rights campaigner. The court also ordered Bardot to pay
Continue readingYou have to read this to believe it, but I’ll give you a hint: a school in New Hampshire had an evening celebrating Saudi culture that included marginalizing all the girls! After you read it, imagine the other possibilities, such as a Jewish party celebrating Cossack culture, or the late
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