April 1, 2009 • 12:14 am 3
UPDATE: I voted today (April 3). The reasons I voted for these two should be obvious, but in case one is confused, let me spell it out. Their opponents are liberal whose views do not match mine.
OK, I had to come out of retirement to post my vote-getters next Tuesday.
Filed under: Education, Elections, Wisconsin , Department of Public Instruction, election, Randy Koschnick, Rose Fernandez, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Supreme Court
February 17, 2009 • 1:33 am 0
Yeah, if you’re like me, you’ve only got one race, but it’s an important one, the primary for the position of Superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction.
I’m endorsing and voting for Rose Fernandez. James Wigderson has some background.
Filed under: Education, Wisconsin , Department of Public Instruction, Education, Rose Fernandez, Wisconsin
January 5, 2009 • 9:58 pm 2
The state superintendent is largely an administrative post, with little actual power over setting policy, but able to use the position to advocate for their priorities across the state.
The superintendent is responsible for governing Wisconsin’s public schools, administering state and federal aid, and offering guidance to teachers and administrators. The superintendent also crafts a spending request every two years to run the agency and provide state aid to public schools, which is subject to approval by the Legislature. [Emphasis mine]
So they have little power, except what’s enumerated in the second paragraph in the quoted part?
So why would anyone want to run?
Filed under: Education, Wisconsin , Wisconsin Department of Public Instrution
January 2, 2009 • 12:45 pm 2
Our friend capper at Cognitive Dissidence lets us know of two bloggers, one definitely and the other most likely, who will be running for public office.
Zach Wisniewski announces that he is in the race for the South Milwaukee school board. I can certainly recommend Zach, as even though he’s somewhat to the left of me, this is less important on a local level. According to capper’s post, Zach has a passion for children and a commitment to fiscal restraint. These are two good qualities for a school board member.
capper also tells us about Janet Evans running for school board in Franklin. Janet posts at In the Race (a CommunityNOW blog) and Righty Blog.
Janet would certainly be a good addition to the Franklin school board.
Best of luck to Zach and Janet.
June 9, 2008 • 11:36 pm 0
James and Doreen will be putting their kids in private school next year and he tells us why.
Sad because I realize this may even be isolated, but it only takes one or two to muck things up.
(H/T Real Debate Wisconsin)
Filed under: Education, Waukesha , Education, private schools, Waukesha School District
May 19, 2008 • 1:24 am 0
Very interesting quotes here.
Board members Kurt O’Bryan and Frank Finman said they question the quality of education for students entering the district, saying they were glad some of their children are getting out before it collapses.
“I look at my two children in the school district, I see my 11th-grader, who I think is going to escape out the door before the roof caves in,” Finman said. “And I look at my eighth-grader and the education she’s getting, and compare that to the education her older sister’s getting, and they aren’t even comparable.”
O’Bryan said part of a referendum is about how it is presented to residents.
“If we all agree that our backs are against the wall, then I think we should pursue one,” O’Bryan said. “The scenario you have to give them is that it’s either this or it’s this. One option is the referendum and the other is to shut this district down, which this board has the power to do.”
Time is also an issue for board members because they blame the failure of the 2005 referendum on a lack of planning. While they didn’t come up with an exact date, the November election was mentioned several times.
Yeah, lack of planning. Or perhaps, Roger Danielson. Anything except that Waukesha residents are opposed to seeing their taxes go up just “to see the roof cave in” or to see it “shut down” when the next one fails.
Is Mr. O’Bryan’s comment the nuclear option? Is he calling the voters’ bluff?
Way to instill confidence in the schools.
Filed under: Education, Taxes, Waukesha , Frank Finman, Kurt O'Bryan, Waukesha School District
May 16, 2008 • 1:30 pm 2
Priya Venkatesan ‘90, a former Writing 5 lecturer and research associate at Dartmouth Medical School, is threatening to name seven of her former students in a potential civil rights lawsuit against the College, DMS and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Venkatesan announced Friday….
Venkatesan, who said she left Dartmouth voluntarily on March 17, contends that she was subjected to “inappropriate and unprofessional” behavior while at the College.
So what did the students do to bring the wrath of this teacher on them?
As an example of Venkatesan’s rejection of views different from her own, the student highlighted Venkatesan’s cancelation of class for a week after the class applauded a student who contradicted Venkatesan’s opinions about post-modernism.
Venkatesan said the incident occurred when she was lecturing about “The Death of Nature,” a book by Carolyne Merchant, and the witch trials of the Renaissance. The student went on a “diatribe” about the inappropriate nature of challenging patriarchal authority, Venkatesan said. Vakatesan respected the student’s right to express this opinion, she said, but the manner in which he vocalized his views and the applause afterward were disrespectful and offensive.
They wouldn’t just accept what she would say!
Ms. Venkatesan lectured in freshman composition, intended to introduce undergraduates to the rigors of expository argument. “My students were very bully-ish, very aggressive, and very disrespectful,” she told Tyler Brace of the Dartmouth Review. “They’d argue with your ideas.” This caused “subversiveness,” a principle English professors usually favor.
Definitely disrespectful.
Ms. Venkatesan’s scholarly specialty is “science studies,” which, as she wrote in a journal article last year, “teaches that scientific knowledge has suspect access to truth.” She continues: “Scientific facts do not correspond to a natural reality but conform to a social construct.“
Ah, now I can respond to my Darwinian and global warming friends in true post-modern fashion.
Filed under: Education , Education, post-modernism
May 7, 2008 • 9:38 pm 1
Wisconsin Rep. Scott Newcomer had an piece last week in the Waukesha Freeman.
The concerns he raises are valid.
Possessing an understanding of how to manage any purchase that is financed, invest money, budget properly and responsibly use a credit card is vital to a person’s well-being and is a key component of our country’s economic future.
[snip]
In a survey by Visa in 2007, only 5 percent of adults reported learning about money management in elementary or high school. More than 40 percent of people were self-educated about money management or had learned the hard way.
[snip]
By teaching the public financial responsibility we improve the economy as a whole. Such a large focus is placed on the housing, credit and financial market slumps, but how are these problems accounted for? An educated public could have made more intelligent investment decisions and behaved more responsibly when looking for a loan or home mortgage.
In spite of the good points, it also demonstrates how conservatives can get into a “government should do something” mentality.
Taking the tack that “parents can’t/don’t do it” is used to justify many things being taught in public schools today. Instead of requiring that schools stick to subjects that would benefit kids, math (and this is where economics could be taught without more “overhead”), science, civics (do they teach this anymore, or am I just showing my age again?), and other essentials, schools have gone into psychology, sociology, black history, women’s studies, etc.
What’s the answer? I believe it’s getting back to basics and ridding schools of “fluff” that should properly be taken care of in extracurricular activities.
Filed under: Economics, Education, Wisconsin , Economics, Education, Scott Newcomer
February 26, 2008 • 8:25 pm 0
Elmbrook now dealing with teaching gender roles
Having already updated crucial sex education lessons, the Elmbrook School District’s human growth and development committee is now dealing with another critical issue: gender roles.
The committee was established to revisit and rewrite the human growth and development curriculum for the Elmbrook School District. The group will need to present a proposal to the school board, who would need to approve it before the curriculum is implemented.
Last month the committee dealt with the appropriate grade level at which students should be taught about oral sex.
Things have definitely changed since I went to school.
Filed under: Education , Brookfield, Education, Elmbrook Schools, Wisconsin
February 16, 2008 • 8:33 pm 0
In the week we received the issue of TIME magazine with a feature article on teachers, we also received a magazine with a bit about John Corcoran, a retired teacher who admitted being illiterate while he taught school for 17 years. He now has a foundation promoting literacy.
Perhaps you, like me, were incredulous at how this could happen.
For 17 years Corcoran taught high school for the Oceanside School District. Relying on teacher’s assistants for help and oral lesson plans, he said he did a great job at teaching his students.
“What I did was I created an oral and visual environment. There wasn’t the written word in there. I always had two or three teacher’s assistants in each class to do board work or read the bulletin,” said Corcoran.
There you have it.
