More Cronyism in Education

Well, I mentioned it last week with Bill Maher's post, and here it is again. Neil Bush's Ignite! Learning, Inc. is under investigation by the Education Department's inspector general. It seems federal education money may be inappropriately spent on the company's products for schools districts to use. It also seems the products don't work very well. Take for instance Ignite's Curriculum on Wheels (also known as the COW), an education software program/projector screen on wheels that costs $3,800 a piece (not including subscription costs). It is apparently an overpriced piece of crap.

Norman Mailer, 1923-2007

The only things I ever really knew about Norman Mailer was that he was a writer, and he was very anti-War. Then I read his obituary in the Washington Post. I never realized what a life this man lived. Some of the highlights that impressed me: he helped create the sexual mystique of John Kennedy before he was elected President, he was married six times, and he punched Gore Vidal in the face. When I have more time, I would like to try and read some of his books.

Keeping up with my posts

When I started this blog a few weeks ago, I said I would try to post every day. For a while, I was able to do about every other day. Than this week came along and really wore me out. I averaged about 4 hours of sleep due to my job, my classes, and the assignments that accompany my classes. This was one of the most stressful weeks I have had in a long time, as a direct result of my new job. Because of it, has been about 5 days since my last post. Needless to say, I have not been posting every day.

The way it is looking, I will probably not be posting every day. My new schedule has me commuting to another city to attend night classes Monday through Thursday, as well as working part or all day nearly every day during the week. I will try and post as often as I can in the next couple of months. Perhaps next semester, I will take a lighter load of courses. There is so much I would like to post and comment on. There is a who world of things on the Internet I would like to explore and share. Please continue to check into my blog from time to time. Thanks for the understanding!

The unneccessary polarization of American

Here is another one: Sushi vs. Steak. What do liberals prefer? What do conservatives prefers? Who gives a shit?

Another parent of a special needs child

Photojournalist Dan Habib has written a guest blog post for the Washington Post website for his new movie, Including Samuel. This is a film about his experiences with his son, Samuel (who has cerebral palsy), and trying to give him "inclusion". This means not only inclusion in school, but in other areas of life. The movie also Chronicles the experiences of other individuals with disabilities. In his post, Mr. Habib notes something very important when it comes to how parents deal with raising kids with disabilities:

"My experience is that parents of children with disabilities face a different balancing act. One big struggle is balancing time spent supporting a child with a disability vs. the family's other child(ren). Others include marshaling the time, energy and financial resources needed to manage a child's medical care and therapy, and the scarce resources left for yourself, your relationship with your spouse, and your work."

I will not be able to see this movie in the theater, because there are no scheduled screenings in the midwest. However, I will try and get a hold of a DVD whenever it is available.

I want my country back!

As Michael Mukasey's nomination goes to the Senate floor for probable confirmation, it makes me think about how this country has really changed since 9/11. I don't know whether to feel angry, sad, or nauseous.

It's not just the brazen amount of nationalism that swept the country . . . or the rush to Iraq without understanding who our real enemy was . . . or the poor quality of intelligence that duped Americans into war . . . or the poor post-war planning . . . or the half-ass job we do treating our veterans . . . or Abu Ghraib . . . or Guantanamo Bay . . . or secret detention . . . or extraordinary rendition . . . or government spying upon it's own citizens . . . or the government's inability to rebuild infrastructure . . . or the government's inability to come to the aid of it's own citizens after a natural disaster . . . or lawless mercenaries becoming rich via American tax dollars . . . or the xenophobic fuss over immigrantion . . . or the homophobic fuss over gay marriage . . . or America's tarnished reputation as "the land of the free" . . . or the opposition party's lack of testicular fortitude . . . or the media's inability to say what really needs to be said about the administration . . . or being the most hated country in the world . . . or many other problems I could continue to list.

I think what saddens me now is how low the bar has been set for the next administration. Take Senator Schumer's comment on why he is caving and supporting Mukasey:

"When an administration so political, so out of touch with the realities of governing and so contemptuous of the rule of law is in charge, we are never left with an ideal choice. Judge Mukasey is not my ideal choice. However, Judge Mukasey, whose integrity and independence is respected even by those who oppose him, is far better than anyone could expect from this administration".

Mukasey may be better than anyone can expect from the Bush administration, but that still doesn't mean he is an acceptable choice. Can anyone doubt that before 9/11, if an Attorney General nominee couldn't say that something isn't torture when it clearly is, he would be put out of the nomination process so quick it would make people's heads spin? Has our country sunk this low? It is times like these when I find myself saying, "I know the weather is cold, but Canada doesn't sound so bad right now".

But I'm not giving up on America. It's my home, I love it, and that is why I am so angry at it. We had a golden opportunity after 9/11. We could have taken the tragic events of that day, and made ourselves a better country. Some say, "everything changed on 9/11". Our country changed, but for the worse. Some say that we are winning the war on terror. While we haven't been attacked again (and, of course, that is a good thing), I would say we are actually loosing that war. Outside of invading Afghanistan (which we have actually screwed up), we reacted in all of the wrong ways after 9/11. We have compromised our values, our reputation, and our general welfare. Sometimes, it feels like our country doesn't know how to do anything except eat, watch TV, bomb countries, torture and scream "kill the terrorists". I love American, but I am very ashamed to be living in it during this time in history.

I know radical change can be a dangerous thing in large doses, but that is exactly what we need when the next administration that takes over. We need more than "well, at least he (or she) is better than Bush". I want the America that not only protects its citizens from foreign attacks and incursions, I want the American that protects it's citizen's from the destruction of disasters. I want the America that not only rebuild things in foreign countries, I want the America who can also rebuild things in its own country. I want the America that remembers what "Give me Liberty, or Give me Death" means. I want the America that the world really looks at as "the land of the free". I want the America I used to remember damnit!

Commenting on "Dropout Factories

Ms. Cornelius at The Shrewdness of Apes raises a couple of good issues in response to the dropout factory article. First, she gives a fresh perspective on just how important GEDs really are. Secondly, she brings up the elephant in the room that all educators/education policy experts must consider when looking at the achievement gap:

"How do you 'make' someone value an education when everything in society denigrates the educated?"

Finally, she is able to relate this comment to the importance of GEDs. Sometimes, you have to live a little before really understanding the importance of a good education. My favorite quote:

"It may be that some people just aren't ready to do the work needed to get a high school diploma. They may need to try to go out into the world and work for a while until they are ready to dedicate themselves. Because, ultimately, you can't give someone an education, all wrapped in a shiny bow-- you can offer them the opportunity for an education, and no matter what, everyone will create an education from the choices they make. "

It should never be too late in life for a good education.