Downfall of America

 I was reading www.ESPN.com and came across this story which has left me feeling a wee bit perturbed.

Fans plan rally against Gary Kubiak

ESPN.com news services 

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

A pair of Houston Texans fans who believe coach Gary Kubiak should be fired are organizing a 

rally for Sunday to make their point, the Houston Chronicle reported. Fans Brad White and 

Scott Carter are hoping the demonstration before Sunday's season finale against the Jacksonville Jaguars 

will help convince team owner Bob McNair to change coaches, according to the report. "I want to 

stress that I don't want people to come out to bash Kubiak," White told the Chronicle. 

"We don't want vulgar sig ...

I then went and read the readers comments and it is truly sad.  Not one person 

made the point of asking why these individual's are wasting their time protesting 

over a football coach.  Seriously, take that wasted energy and donate your time 

to charity.  If you desperately need to protest something, how about protesting 

the lack of funding for education; corruption in government; or the eroding rights 

of USA citizens.  These are worth protesting about.  

After spending some time the last couple of weeks and having some spare time to 'surf.'  

I am more disheartened than ever.  Are we really headed into the circus mentality.  

As long as our entertainment is good, we will not and do not want to deal with the real issues in life?  

In the last few weeks of Christmas parties and other assorted social events, people are 

discussing football, movies and banality.  While I understand the social norm, is not to discuss

 politics and other controversial subject matters at social occasions, perhaps that is 

part of the problem.  Maybe, we should be having more discussions related to relevant 

social issues at thesefunctions. Instead of keeping the discussions at the lowest common denominator 

perhaps we she be working to consistently raise it.  Perhaps, these we would be more worried 

about bread and less about circuses.

A view on education - A chain is only as strong as its weakest link

Here are some very interesting 2009 U.S. Census Bureau Statistics:

Educational Attainment by Degree-Level and Age-Group (American Community Survey) Percent of Adults 25 to 64 with a Bachelors Degree or Higher - 2009

Difference in Median Earnings Between a High School Diploma and a Bachelors Degree 25 to 64 Year Olds - 2007

Some thoughts:

1. We are in a innovation and technology based economy yet only 29.8% of the population has a Bachelors degree.
2. In South Carolina only 55% of high school students graduate 'on-time.' 
3. Using the US average, a person with a Bachelors degree will earn approximately $858,200.00 more in their lifetime (not adjusting for inflation).  
4. A C of C out-of-state student would see a $9.8:1 return on investment over a lifetime.  An in-state students would see $20.4:1 return.
5. A student with a Bachelors degree is almost 2.8 times less likely to be unemployed

People ask me all the time what I think about the state of education in this state, country etc.  I think the numbers are stating their own case.  

  

A Meeting at my Daughter's School (A Rant of the Highest Order)

Before I start my rant, let me just say that I appreciate the teachers and their efforts.  I have no doubt that the feelings and intentions behind what is discussed here are pure and that they truly believe that this is the best course of action for the children.  With that said, we all know however, where the path of good intentions can sometimes lead us...

Last night a 'mandatory' parent's meeting was held at my daughters middle school about a proposed class trip to Disney.  As I sat through this unorganized jumble of a meeting, I just had to laugh at the total lack of foresight among these individuals.  Let me see if I can shed some light on the lack of logic that was presented and offended so last night.

First, they decided to tell the kids about the trip before they told the parents.  The trip cost is $550 plus needing money for a few lunches, a dinner and other assorted details (like required t-shirts that they just did not bury into the price for some unfathomable reason).  My daughters' school is a Title I school meaning there is over 70% of the students are eligible for the free/reduced lunch program.  In reality, this means that over 70% of the students in this school have household incomes under $40,000 a year. I at least expected to hear about ways that they would have scholarships or sponsorship opportunities for children unable to afford this trip (perhaps even some fundraising to efforts to reduce the costs for all of the kids) but alas... While, we are lucky and can probably squeak this out for our child, those parents who can not afford such a trip gets a free trip to 'bad guy' land!  My guess, it is probably not the 'happiest place on earth'.

If that was not fun enough, they are asking the parents to produce a $100 non-refundable deposit by Monday (since they only have 50 spots available for potentially 84 child who could go on the trip).  They also put conditions on the kids being 'allowed to go.'  The have to maintain an overall 85% average grade (though report cards do not come out until Tuesday).  The also have to score 75 on this behavior scale that they have implemented.  Now the researcher in me got real interested at this point.  This scale is based on four dimensions (including evaluating my child's emotional maturity) with four items measuring each dimension.  Except, they forgot to photocopy the scale so no one can see it.  They did however, put it up on the projector in a nice ten point font for all of us to see (if we had 20/20 vision sitting in the front row).  They did however have little strips of paper to give us with our child's current score on this 'scale.'  As a researcher I am now to laugh at the ridiculousness of the proceedings.  You mean I am to determine if I am willing to put up a $100 non-refundable deposit based on a score to which I do not have access to the measurement tool and have no idea as to how children are being scored on this said scale even if I had a copy.  They stated in the meeting that they children needed to achieve a score of 75 but said nothing of what this score means. Is that score concept based on the average score of someone at this grade level?  Are the expectations in a higher percentile?  Did they pull the number out of their behinds?

So being the researcher I am, I have now spent time looking to find this scale in the academic or education literature anywhere.  I want to see if it has been tested empirically and if it has any validity.  They stated that they are using the scale to ensure that our children are ready to take said trip.  Therefore, they are looking for this to be a predictive model.  It then stands to reason, that this should be a well established model.  So what do I find? Nothing (at least with any substance).  I can not find a single article where this model has been empirically tested.    It seems to be 100% edu-babble but I may be incorrect.  The principal is suppose to email me citations, so we shall see.

In order to fairly assess the results of the meeting in total let me review my impressions upon leaving: 1) I am down $550; 2) mystified by the total lack of logic; and 3) disturbed by the lack of sensitivity displayed by the organizers.  All in all, a productive meeting.  Mickey Mouse would be proud!

Wayne.

Post Script: To the principal that stated that the students not only have to ask questions in class but that in order to score well on this assessment tool, they have to be good questions.  Who are you to determine what is a good question and what is not?  Then again, I will soon be sharing many questions with you and your superintendent if the answers you give are not good.

Grading Hades...

I love my job.  Really I do - except for two things: 1) committee work; and 2) grading.  Today, I am in grading Hades.  There is never so frustrating a time for a teacher of any type I would imagine.  You think you were crystal clear in class and then wow...where did they get that idea from?   Most students are doing well so I know I taught it and obviously the lessons were well taken by the majority of the class - but I guess it comes down to the inevitable.  Those who work hard and are dedicated to the growth and development do well and those who shirk the work get their just due.  I know I should not, but I do feel bad.   I wish I could inspire all of them to work really hard and grow and develop but reality says I am probably being naive.


Well back to the doldrums for me.


Wayne.

Funny isn't it...

I have been thinking about complaining a lot. Now I am trying to write this without complaining but essentially it is. Not such a weird coincidence but could be described as a cruel irony. I do not get it. The last few days I have had a ton of people just complaining constantly to me. Whenever I ask, what they are doing to make it better, most look at me with a blank face. I do not get this attitude. If there is something about your job, relationship etc that you do not like why not attempt to make it better. If you know you can not change the thing, why not just accept or walk away. All complaining does is make you miserable. That seems so counter-productive.

This is not to say that I do not complain. I firmly believe that everyone complains at some point. The question is what do you do with those complaints? I have a ton of respect for people who try to make positive change. Even if they fail, at least they tried to improve their lot. If you are truly miserable at doing something, why are you doing it? I do lots of thing I do not like but nothing that makes me miserable. Okay you got me, I go to committee meetings but even there I try to get one committees that I think can do some good so that my pain is not wasted.

We live in an interesting world. Our time on it is relatively short - why not try to enjoy it?

Wayne.