Lacking Good Answers

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune today reported that thousands of students have been failed by standardized testing.

Fired RI Teachers Return to School

Byte the Hand that Feeds You

President Obama addressed graduates at historically Black, Hampton University on Sunday, May 9. During the speech he made some unusual comments about technology. The President said the era of i-Pads and X-boxes had turned information into a diversion that was imposing new strains on democracy.

"You're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank that high on the truth meter," Obama told the students.

"And with i-Pods and i-Pads and X-boxes and Play-Stations . . . none of which I know how to work . . . information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation. So all of this is not only putting pressure on you; it's putting new pressure on our country and on our democracy."

These comments to young graduates were certainly odd coming from a President who was elected, in large part, because of the tech revolution and the youth vote.

Pawlenty's Race to the Top

It isn't clear whether Gov. Tim Pawlenty wants to help students or just wants to be the next GOP nominee for President. Whatever the case, Pawlenty is re-introducing his old school legislation.
The governor's education bill would change teacher licensing, pay and tenure structure. Despite having been roundly rejected before, Pawlenty is determined to try, try again, newly claiming the provisions in his bill will make Minnesota competitive in the fed's unfortunately named, "Race to the Top" program.
Since Pawlenty has not substantially altered his failed proposal, one is forced to consider that the re-introduction of this bill is principally designed to aid Pawlenty's political race to the top office.

Text Rage

Cruel and Unusual

Should public school educators use paddling as a method to teach children?

Most of our nation's school districts abandoned the practice of paddling years ago, but corporal punishment remains legal in 20 states -- mostly in the South.

A Congressional subcommittee is currently holding hearings on the matter. Chairperson of the committee, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, wants to end the practice through federal legislation. "When you look that the federal government has outlawed physical punishment in prisons," she told reporters, "I think the time has come that we should do it in schools."

Should we allow teachers to paddle, spank or otherwise physically abuse children? No -- not unless we want them to learn that adults consider physical violence to be a reasonable and effective method of problem-solving.