I took a "Special Education Certification" test yesterday afternoon. Pretty sure I did OK. I will know in a few days. I studied quite a bit of course and I should soon have another teacher "certification" under my belt. Not that it really matters. Very few good teaching jobs left in Texas. Unless you know or blow someone. Be that as it may, I was warned by a number of colleagues that the "common sense" answers on this particular exam are usually the wrong ones. Of course they are. These tests are devised by over "educated" Utopian dickweeds who don't know what they are about. Anyone with even half a brain can see this.........Divorced from reality is that crew.
Part of the problem with our country it seems. Common sense is thrown out the window for "feel good" solutions in all walks of life. How is that going to work out for us when we find ourselves in a real shooting war?
What a bunch of poseys we have become.
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Damage The Country With Your Degree In Education
I have been thinking a good bit about these so called "Degrees in Education" of late. Don't get me wrong; there are very many wonderful teachers and other education professionals who hold this type degree, but there are far too many folk who actually believe (and practice) some of the concepts taught in these programs. That is a problem and detrimental to the nation's educational system(s).
In Texas, and most other states, a person without an Education Degree can not teach (in govt and most private schools) without going through some sort of "alternative certification program." These are offered at universities, community colleges, and private (OMG for profit), institutions. No small problem there, and, having first hand knowledge, I can tell you that there is very little of real value learned. Nothing that actually prepares a teacher for the "real world." A good bit of theory is about all there is to it. I have found that there is very little that is more useless than "educational theory." I have sat through quite a few meetings where the phrase "studies have shown" or some such nonsense is bandied about. I look around and see the sighs, rolled eyes, and general glazed over look that some of my more experienced (and jaded) colleagues have and I know that a line of bullshiiiite is being forced upon us. I have sort of wondered myself if two years is already not enough.
In the "old days" a person with a college degree would get hired to teach the subject(s) that they have become expert (or some semblance thereof) in. A mathematics major would teach math; history major teach history; so on and so forth. That person would either become an effective teacher or not. Usually those not effective or who did not enjoy it would find something else to do. Not so today. A great many of our "educators," (I hate that word), hold these useless education type degrees and in fact know really very little about the subjects they are assigned to teach. Some rise above their ignorance and become very good at their job but I would say that a great many just coast along. This is detrimental.
What needs to be done, in my humble opinion, is ditch a whole lot of this useless theory and get back to teaching the basics. If all of this theory on the correct way to educate our children was so good; then why is our educational system so messed up?
A lot of it has to do with "do gooders" in the educational system having no clue on what they are about.
Most of those hold some type of "degree" in Education.
In Texas, and most other states, a person without an Education Degree can not teach (in govt and most private schools) without going through some sort of "alternative certification program." These are offered at universities, community colleges, and private (OMG for profit), institutions. No small problem there, and, having first hand knowledge, I can tell you that there is very little of real value learned. Nothing that actually prepares a teacher for the "real world." A good bit of theory is about all there is to it. I have found that there is very little that is more useless than "educational theory." I have sat through quite a few meetings where the phrase "studies have shown" or some such nonsense is bandied about. I look around and see the sighs, rolled eyes, and general glazed over look that some of my more experienced (and jaded) colleagues have and I know that a line of bullshiiiite is being forced upon us. I have sort of wondered myself if two years is already not enough.
In the "old days" a person with a college degree would get hired to teach the subject(s) that they have become expert (or some semblance thereof) in. A mathematics major would teach math; history major teach history; so on and so forth. That person would either become an effective teacher or not. Usually those not effective or who did not enjoy it would find something else to do. Not so today. A great many of our "educators," (I hate that word), hold these useless education type degrees and in fact know really very little about the subjects they are assigned to teach. Some rise above their ignorance and become very good at their job but I would say that a great many just coast along. This is detrimental.
What needs to be done, in my humble opinion, is ditch a whole lot of this useless theory and get back to teaching the basics. If all of this theory on the correct way to educate our children was so good; then why is our educational system so messed up?
A lot of it has to do with "do gooders" in the educational system having no clue on what they are about.
Most of those hold some type of "degree" in Education.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
For The First Time In My Adult Life ...........
For the first time in my adult life (where have we heard that?) I am afraid for the future of our nation. Why? A myriad of reasons. Here are a few.
The BP oil spill is a "man caused disaster" of perhaps biblical proportion. It must be said that the "biblical proportion" part may be overstated. It is probable that the oceans will break down the petroleum and the environmental damage will be minimized. You must note that I did not say minimal however. The salt and fresh water marshes that have been affected will take a very long time to come back. The fishing industry, both commercial and recreational, have taken a huge hit and many of those who make their living in these endeavors will not be coming back. The tourism industry will be affected to a great extent but that should not be long term. Of course this is all dependent on BP "plugging the damn hole." It will be plugged before long (hopefully)or we are certainly all up the ass of the Prophet. While the environmental damage is and will be quite significant the thing that really scares me is the radical faction(s) in the federal government now have an excuse to damage or destroy an industry that is of prime importance to the economic well being and national security of the nation. How? By severely curtailing off shore oil drilling. Now I may be in favor of a temporary "moratorium" on deepwater drilling - It is apparent that the oil industry has little idea how to stop a major oil spill at those depths, but it is assured that lessons are being learned the hard way. It would have been better for all concerned of course if the oil industry had a real game plan before a disaster of this magnitude, but it is obvious they did and do not. Of course they should be required to "plug the damn hole," pay for clean up, and restore livelihood to those adversely affected. It is interesting the BP is the company involved in this disaster. They do appear to have a very bad safety record. Either they are extremely unlucky or they have some major safety deficiencies to rectify. Be that as it may, a temporary deepwater moratorium does make some sense, but shallow water drilling and of course land work should continue unabated. It truly frightening but somewhat predictable that the government may try to totally derail the industry at the cost of untold thousands of direct and indirect jobs.
Now back to deepwater drilling- Pemex (Mexico) apparently is operating deepwater rigs in the Gulf. India and China and of course Cuba considering (if not already are) drilling in the Gulf in the Cuban economic zone. Agreements have been signed by Cuba and Russia also. So if these countries are to drill deepwater then our nation still is at great risk to having unabated petroleum foul the Gulf and wash up on our shores. Will the moratorium on deepwater drilling affect the aforementioned nations? Not at all. Can the U.S. force a deepwater moratorium on foreign interests. Not legally. Our government could I suppose invoke a bastardized version of the Monroe Doctrine to enforce compliance. That may of course require military coercion - something that will not happen. The naval forces of Mexico are pretty darn good, with anti air and ASW capabilities, are probably close to top notch for a third world nation, but would be swept from the ocean in a matter of hours by the sea power of the U.S. Cuba has no navy to speak of any more. A few Osa class missile boats I believe are the only naval forces left functional. Not a threat. The diplomatic and military outcome of tampering with Russia, China or India over Gulf oil rigs would be problematic. No any military response to foreign deepwater drilling in the Gulf is out of the question. So what good does a moratorium on deepwater drilling do in reality? Very little. If it be temporary, so be it. A time out if you will and probably a good idea. However, the moratorium may be a first step in the dismantling of an industry that is of vital importance to the nation. That is what scares me. Fundamental change you see.
Now let us examine another subject. The assault of illegal immigration upon this nation's sovereignty. This is a national defense issue of great importance. There is at this time a war being fought on our southern border that is every bit as dangerous as the conflicts in the Middle East and Afghanistan. What are we doing to protect our citizenry in the border states and beyond? Very little it seems. Some border patrolmen, county deputies, small town cops, state troopers, etc etc. are not enough to stop the invasion nor prevent the war from spilling over into our southern counties. We will hear some leftists complain that the border violence is a direct result of drug consumption by those in the U.S. They have a valid point here, but in reality that does not matter. What does matter is that the border and even interior Mexico are becoming more and more anarchic and that violence will and has found its way over the border. This does not even include the possibility of Mohammedan terrorists crossing the border. Does national defence not matter? Seal that border and do it now and with any means necessary. This would seem the most rational policy. Instead what we have are attempts by states to control the problem that will be hampered by the same federal government that is required to protect this nation. A very scary (and perhaps treasonous) scenario indeed.
I guess now we should discuss Mohammedan terrorism, both state sponsored and "independent." There is no doubt that this nation and our allies are still in grave danger from the spectre of Islamic terrorism. It has been near a decade since the horrible attack on our country. We are not the only nations so affected. There have been attacks in Spain and the U.K. Troops from all over the globe have been killed in the war against "the religion of peace." Oh sorry, we are not in a war with Islam? Excuse me. History shows otherwise. Now again there are those, mainly from the left (Pat B. and some right wing radicals like Dr. Duke excepted), who insist that our support of Israel and our "exploitation" of Mohammedan resources are the main factors of the conflict. They insinuate that if we would just drop our support for the "Zionist entity" and remove our boot from Muslim lands then all would be forgotten and we could all live in harmony. Perhaps they have a valid point, but that matters little. At any rate, does a cop concern himself with the socio economic background of a criminal when making an arrest? No. We as a nation need not concern ourselves too greatly on why we are hated by most Mohammedans either. It is enough for the cop to make an arrest based on criminal action as well it should be. It should also be enough for us in this nation not to concern ourselves to greatly with the "whys" in the conflict with Islam. It is enough that we are in conflict and should fight the battle without one hand tied behind our back. In a sane world there would be no such thing as an Iran, Al Qaeda, Hamas, etc. etc. The problem would have already been resolved satisfactorily. The fact that it is not scares me.
What else. Well for one thing this country needs to take a look at some sort of education reform. The classic liberal education (not politically liberal) does not seem to be working for us any longer. Our nation's children are falling behind. Curriculum is dumbed down and this is detrimental to our national security. Of course children should be taught history, social studies, English literature, etc. etc. but a greater emphasis should be placed on mathematics and the hard sciences. There is a lot of fluff in the public school systems that do very little to educate kids for the real world. There are a lot of kids who are not, as the say, "college material." There is no shame in this. Some kids just are not interested in college and in reality some are not "geared that way." There should also be some real world vocational training in the systems that can teach a kid to frame houses, work on automobiles, start small business, food prep training, etc. etc. Some districts have this already of course, but a great many rely solely on a "college prep" curriculum for all. It wastes a good deal of time for those not so inclined to further their "formal" studies.
The federal government probably should have a role in education of course, but the majority of the decision making needs to be at the local level. Of course there are a great many school districts that struggle financially just to provide the basic "readin, writin and rithmathtic." This is a huge problem and we in this nation need to find a solution. Quickly.
These are just a few of the problems this great nation faces but we need to start somewhere to get this nation back on track. We will surely go the way of the Roman Empire if we do not begin the process now.
For the first time in my adult life I am truly afraid for our future.
The BP oil spill is a "man caused disaster" of perhaps biblical proportion. It must be said that the "biblical proportion" part may be overstated. It is probable that the oceans will break down the petroleum and the environmental damage will be minimized. You must note that I did not say minimal however. The salt and fresh water marshes that have been affected will take a very long time to come back. The fishing industry, both commercial and recreational, have taken a huge hit and many of those who make their living in these endeavors will not be coming back. The tourism industry will be affected to a great extent but that should not be long term. Of course this is all dependent on BP "plugging the damn hole." It will be plugged before long (hopefully)or we are certainly all up the ass of the Prophet. While the environmental damage is and will be quite significant the thing that really scares me is the radical faction(s) in the federal government now have an excuse to damage or destroy an industry that is of prime importance to the economic well being and national security of the nation. How? By severely curtailing off shore oil drilling. Now I may be in favor of a temporary "moratorium" on deepwater drilling - It is apparent that the oil industry has little idea how to stop a major oil spill at those depths, but it is assured that lessons are being learned the hard way. It would have been better for all concerned of course if the oil industry had a real game plan before a disaster of this magnitude, but it is obvious they did and do not. Of course they should be required to "plug the damn hole," pay for clean up, and restore livelihood to those adversely affected. It is interesting the BP is the company involved in this disaster. They do appear to have a very bad safety record. Either they are extremely unlucky or they have some major safety deficiencies to rectify. Be that as it may, a temporary deepwater moratorium does make some sense, but shallow water drilling and of course land work should continue unabated. It truly frightening but somewhat predictable that the government may try to totally derail the industry at the cost of untold thousands of direct and indirect jobs.
Now back to deepwater drilling- Pemex (Mexico) apparently is operating deepwater rigs in the Gulf. India and China and of course Cuba considering (if not already are) drilling in the Gulf in the Cuban economic zone. Agreements have been signed by Cuba and Russia also. So if these countries are to drill deepwater then our nation still is at great risk to having unabated petroleum foul the Gulf and wash up on our shores. Will the moratorium on deepwater drilling affect the aforementioned nations? Not at all. Can the U.S. force a deepwater moratorium on foreign interests. Not legally. Our government could I suppose invoke a bastardized version of the Monroe Doctrine to enforce compliance. That may of course require military coercion - something that will not happen. The naval forces of Mexico are pretty darn good, with anti air and ASW capabilities, are probably close to top notch for a third world nation, but would be swept from the ocean in a matter of hours by the sea power of the U.S. Cuba has no navy to speak of any more. A few Osa class missile boats I believe are the only naval forces left functional. Not a threat. The diplomatic and military outcome of tampering with Russia, China or India over Gulf oil rigs would be problematic. No any military response to foreign deepwater drilling in the Gulf is out of the question. So what good does a moratorium on deepwater drilling do in reality? Very little. If it be temporary, so be it. A time out if you will and probably a good idea. However, the moratorium may be a first step in the dismantling of an industry that is of vital importance to the nation. That is what scares me. Fundamental change you see.
Now let us examine another subject. The assault of illegal immigration upon this nation's sovereignty. This is a national defense issue of great importance. There is at this time a war being fought on our southern border that is every bit as dangerous as the conflicts in the Middle East and Afghanistan. What are we doing to protect our citizenry in the border states and beyond? Very little it seems. Some border patrolmen, county deputies, small town cops, state troopers, etc etc. are not enough to stop the invasion nor prevent the war from spilling over into our southern counties. We will hear some leftists complain that the border violence is a direct result of drug consumption by those in the U.S. They have a valid point here, but in reality that does not matter. What does matter is that the border and even interior Mexico are becoming more and more anarchic and that violence will and has found its way over the border. This does not even include the possibility of Mohammedan terrorists crossing the border. Does national defence not matter? Seal that border and do it now and with any means necessary. This would seem the most rational policy. Instead what we have are attempts by states to control the problem that will be hampered by the same federal government that is required to protect this nation. A very scary (and perhaps treasonous) scenario indeed.
I guess now we should discuss Mohammedan terrorism, both state sponsored and "independent." There is no doubt that this nation and our allies are still in grave danger from the spectre of Islamic terrorism. It has been near a decade since the horrible attack on our country. We are not the only nations so affected. There have been attacks in Spain and the U.K. Troops from all over the globe have been killed in the war against "the religion of peace." Oh sorry, we are not in a war with Islam? Excuse me. History shows otherwise. Now again there are those, mainly from the left (Pat B. and some right wing radicals like Dr. Duke excepted), who insist that our support of Israel and our "exploitation" of Mohammedan resources are the main factors of the conflict. They insinuate that if we would just drop our support for the "Zionist entity" and remove our boot from Muslim lands then all would be forgotten and we could all live in harmony. Perhaps they have a valid point, but that matters little. At any rate, does a cop concern himself with the socio economic background of a criminal when making an arrest? No. We as a nation need not concern ourselves too greatly on why we are hated by most Mohammedans either. It is enough for the cop to make an arrest based on criminal action as well it should be. It should also be enough for us in this nation not to concern ourselves to greatly with the "whys" in the conflict with Islam. It is enough that we are in conflict and should fight the battle without one hand tied behind our back. In a sane world there would be no such thing as an Iran, Al Qaeda, Hamas, etc. etc. The problem would have already been resolved satisfactorily. The fact that it is not scares me.
What else. Well for one thing this country needs to take a look at some sort of education reform. The classic liberal education (not politically liberal) does not seem to be working for us any longer. Our nation's children are falling behind. Curriculum is dumbed down and this is detrimental to our national security. Of course children should be taught history, social studies, English literature, etc. etc. but a greater emphasis should be placed on mathematics and the hard sciences. There is a lot of fluff in the public school systems that do very little to educate kids for the real world. There are a lot of kids who are not, as the say, "college material." There is no shame in this. Some kids just are not interested in college and in reality some are not "geared that way." There should also be some real world vocational training in the systems that can teach a kid to frame houses, work on automobiles, start small business, food prep training, etc. etc. Some districts have this already of course, but a great many rely solely on a "college prep" curriculum for all. It wastes a good deal of time for those not so inclined to further their "formal" studies.
The federal government probably should have a role in education of course, but the majority of the decision making needs to be at the local level. Of course there are a great many school districts that struggle financially just to provide the basic "readin, writin and rithmathtic." This is a huge problem and we in this nation need to find a solution. Quickly.
These are just a few of the problems this great nation faces but we need to start somewhere to get this nation back on track. We will surely go the way of the Roman Empire if we do not begin the process now.
For the first time in my adult life I am truly afraid for our future.
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