Thursday, April 13th, 2006,
by Fred (,
education, evolution, FSM, intelligent design, Kansas, politics
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So what happens when one of the ignorant cavedwellers who voted for Kansas’ new anti-science science curriculum comes face to face with the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a deity created specifically to show how ignorant the Kansas Board of Education is? Not pretty.
Creature’s picture irks Board of Ed member
State Board of Education member Connie Morris took exception Wednesday to a picture of a made-up creature that satirizes the state’s new science standards hanging on a Stucky Middle School teacher’s door.Fellow board member Sue Gamble told The Eagle that Morris asked for the picture to be removed.
The creature, called the Flying Spaghetti Monster, is the creation of Bobby Henderson of Corvallis, Ore. It looks like a clump of spaghetti with two eyes sticking out of the top and two meatballs flanking the eyes.
Henderson created the entity and an accompanying mythology on the origin of mankind to make fun of Kansas’ recent debate over the teaching of criticisms of evolution, including intelligent design.
In November, the board voted 6-4 to allow criticisms of evolution to be taught in Kansas schools.
Who won the battle? FSM, of course.
Gamble said she told the principal that it was his decision whether the monster could stick around.
“I advised the principal that Morris has no authority,” she said. “I told him to deal with his staff as he saw fit, not by what a state board member says.”
The picture was still on the door at the end of the school day Wednesday.
[via evolution]
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Tuesday, April 11th, 2006,
by Fred (,
education, Illinois, nanny state, nutrition, politics
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Committee blocks Illinois school junk food ban
An Illinois legislative committee voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to block the State Board of Education’s plan to bar junk food from elementary schools.The ban championed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich would prohibit the sale of soda, chips and candy in vending machines.
The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules blocked it 10-1.
Good. Hopefully the ban will be killed entirely, and not just re-worked. Clearly, a diet composed entirely of candy bars and grape soda is unhealthy, but even sugary snacks are acceptable in moderation. Illinois is just caving to the food fascists at the CSPI and their kin.
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Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006,
by Fred (,
education, Missouri, taxes, vouchers
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Missouri SB 962, the Missouri Student Success Scholarship Tax Credit Program provides that
any taxpayer who makes contributions to a nonprofit scholarship granting organization may claim a credit against the tax otherwise due … in an amount equal to one hundred percent of the amount the taxpayer contributed during the tax year for which the credit is claimed
The bill limits the total amount of tax credit available to $40 million per year. The scholarships at issue in the legislation are
grants to students to cover all or part of the tuition and fees at either a qualified non-public school or a qualified public school, or other approved educational expenses, including supplemental services including private tutors and books or transportation to a public school outside of a student’s resident school district.
Needless to say, any time money goes to private schools, even indirectly via tax credits for private donations to private organizations offering scholarships for use at such schools, the usual coalition of organizations used to suckling at the public education teat gets up in arms. This time they’re particularly hyperbolic.
“This is the beginning of the end of public education as we know it,” said Jo Wanda Bozeman, the president of the Parkway Education Association.”These vouchers are designed to create two separate school systems in this country, not based on race but one for the well-to-do and one for the lower and middle classes.”
The program doesn’t exactly create vouchers - it encourages donations to private “scholarship granting organizations” through tax credits. Missouri law already provides 45 different tax credits for qualified taxpayers. This just adds another one. Given that taxpayers can get a credit for participation in public schools’ sponsorship and mentoring programs, why not offer a credit for contributions to scholarship funds to allow students to attend schools where such programs are less necessary?
The specific complaints of the Parkway teachers union representative are, of course, misplaced. To begin with, it’s a little odd coming from Parkway, whose students would not be eligible in the first place and whose public schools are actually decent. Putting that aside, it’s clear that this bill is not the beginning of the end of public schools. Recipients of scholarships can use them to attend other public schools, after all, and public schools that perform adequately would likely retain their students even if private school scholarships are available.
The idea that this bill creates a class-based two-tier educational system is particularly absurd. Rich residents of St. Louis and Kansas City already have the opportunity to put their kids in private schools. The scholarships are only available to students from families whose total annual income does not exceed an amount equal to 185% of the income standard used to qualify for a free or reduced price lunch under the national Free or Reduced Price Lunch Program. For school year 2006-07, the income guideline for a family of four is $37,000. Not exactly well-to-do.
The teachers unions need to spend more time improving how they teach and less time freaking out that the free flow of cash might be restricted.
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Tuesday, March 21st, 2006,
by Fred (,
creationism, education, intelligent design, religion
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Archbishop of Canterbury says no to creationism in schools
The spiritual leader of the world’s Anglicans does not believe that creationism — the Bible-based account of the world’s origins — should be taught in schools.”I don’t think it should, actually. No, No,” said Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, reflecting on the bitter education debate over religion and science that has so divided the United States in particular.
Williams, head of a church which has no problem with the Darwinian theory of evolution, told the Guardian newspaper: “I think creationism is, in a sense, a kind of category mistake, as if the Bible were a theory, like other theories.”
Asked if he was comfortable with the teaching of creationism in schools, the mild-mannered and usually cautious theologian said: “Not very. Not very.”
Too bad Missouri legislators aren’t Anglicans.
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Tuesday, March 14th, 2006,
by Fred (,
education, incentive pay, Ladue, Missouri, unions
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The Post-Dispatch has an article today on the Ladue schools’ merit pay system, which has rewarded teachers who excel with better pay since 1953.
In Missouri, the concept seems to be similarly explosive. Rep. Allen Icet, R-Wildwood, introduced a bill this year to allow school districts to boost pay in subject areas where there are teacher shortages. Byron Clemons, vice president of the St. Louis teachers union, branded it a merit pay bill. The union, Clemons said, is strongly against merit pay because of its subjectivity. The bill is pending.
The union’s opposition to incentive pay has always been wrong. Why shouldn’t teachers who perform better get paid more than teachers who perform worse? This system has worked for decades in all other professions. The unions claim such systems are subjective, but Ladue’s system seems objective almost to a fault. of course, the merit pay issue is now intertwined with testing, which the teachers union also opposes.
Ladue has been using incentive pay for more than 50 years. Its students scored 58% above the state average in 2005 on the third grade CATS test in math and 77% above the state average in Communication Arts. The middle schoolers scored 100% better than the state average in math and 78% better in Communication Arts. The high schoolers were 112% above the state average in math and 68% above the state average in Communication Arts. What’s the problem again?
If the schools are ever to improve, there has to be accountability. Clearly, some teachers are bad teachers, and should be forced to get better. Equally, some teachers are excellent, and should be rewarded as such. Rep. Icet’s bill, HB 1151, is a good place to start.
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Wednesday, February 15th, 2006,
by Fred (,
education, school reform, St. Louis
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InternetWeek has four writers each extol the virtues of the major browsers (IE7, Firefox 1.5, Opera 8.5 and Maxthon 1.5): IE7 Vs. Everyone Else. I’ve been using the IE7 Beta 2 Preview, and have been favorably impressed. The techno-elite will still shun all things Microsoft, and the jury is probably still out on security issues, but the tabbed browsing is good (in a Took You Long Enough sort of way), and I like the streamlined interface. And yes, I know that most of the new features are already available in Opera and Firefox.
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