Let's All Stand And Deliver For A Moment of Silence

Let's All Stand And Deliver For A Moment of Silence

One of my ex's who was from West Virginia had a film that touched a chord with her because of her roots. The movie was October Sky and it did so because it was about the story of how a West Virginia group of kids, who weren't expected to grow up to be nothing more than coal miners in the local coal miners defied the odds and became rocket scientist who ended up working at NASA.

It's a nice story and it does take the route of the whole cheering for the underdogs or those who seem to have lost all hope of ever changing their predicament in life. Besides that, it had my youthful doppelganger Jake Gyllenhaal in it. So perhaps since I get told the Donnie Darko bullshit often enough and I have my hair typically combed in that 1950's classic look, it doesn't help this case.



I can relate to this because I have my own "expected to achieve nothing but against all odds advances and surprises everyone" local story. That is, Stand and Deliver. It happened in my own back yard, after all. This is the story of Jaime Escalante who was teaching at Garfield High school. This school right in my back yard growing up and is one of the schools I could have gone to.

Mr. Escalante took a group of students who's school didn't even have the books to teach a Calculus class, and these folks weren't expected to go anywhere in life, and got them to pass with honors. Then after they passed the test the students were accused of cheating because they passed it all too well. Now this is just me getting all down with my brown self, but of course it was because they were from a poor ass school and were never given a chance. They retook the test and still passed. Jaime Escalante give them the Ganas to believe they can achieve such things.

Well, yesterday Jaime Escalante died.

The California maths teacher who inspired the film Stand And Deliver, Jaime Escalante, has died aged 79.

Escalante, a Bolivian immigrant, transformed a tough high school in Los Angeles by motivating struggling students to excel at maths and science.

The school had more students studying advanced calculus than all but three other state schools in the US.

Escalante died in Reno, Nevada, where he was undergoing treatment for bladder cancer, AP news agency reported.

Edward James Olmos played Escalante in the 1988 film Stand And Deliver.

Olmos said Escalante had proved that inner city students were able to perform at the highest level, and left an important legacy for American education, AP said.

And before you have the chance to say it.. yes, I strangled him and his body's decomposing in my locker, ese.


I strangled him and his body's decomposing in my locker.

The story of Jamie should be one that every teach should take to heart. In one of his last interviews he said this about teaching.

"Believe, believe. Believe in your kids. They will surprise you."

Just listen to the guy.



I like him for the sole reason that he illustrates how terrible the majority of the teachers are. Everyone was failing that high school, finally a good teacher shows up, they pass, he leaves the school and everyone starts failing again. It's sad but true. The Garfield High math program floundered after Escalante left in 1991 for a teaching job in Sacramento, California.

"One of the greatest things you have in life is that no one has the authority to tell you what you want to be. You’re the one who’ll decide what you want to be. Respect yourself and respect the integrity of others as well. The greatest thing you have is your self image, a positive opinion of yourself. You must never let anyone take it from you."

He's the perfect example of how a teacher should be and if you're going into that profession, you should take a few notes from him. Inspire and expect more of your kids. Believe in what they can do even though the odds are strong against them.

There will be no free rides, no excuses. You already have two strikes against you: your name and your complexion. Because of those two strikes, there are some people in this world who will assume that you know less than you do. *Math* is the great equalizer... When you go for a job, the person giving you that job will not want to hear your problems; ergo, neither do I. You're going to work harder here than you've ever worked anywhere else. And the only thing I ask from you is *ganas.* *Desire.*

It's common knowledge that teachers don't get the respect they really deserve in our society. The pay level is pretty abysmal. So for someone to take the job that is otherwise thankless and to put that much of yourself into it should be respected and commended on.



So if you will, take a moment and think about the teachers that changed your life and actually told you something you retained or changed your view on education. Let's make a moment of silence that will also be lumped together with Jamie Escalante..

So.. How About That School System?

So.. How About That School System?

Perhaps this may sound like I'm in the position as a teacher here because this is generally stuff anyone how doesn't work in the school system doesn't really give a fuck about. Well, they'll say "Teachers get a bad rap" or "We should support our teachers", and yet still live in a society that really doesn't care.

If you've spent any time in or around public school since the original No Child Left Behind Law was enacted back in 2002, you've probably heard teachers complain that: "It makes them teach to a test" and "it punishes low preforming schools by giving them even less funding". Well no more! President Obama's secretary of education Arne Duncan is here to end this nonsense by making sure those low preforming schools can't even tell how much money they're going to get because that's entitlement. And entitlement is wrong.



Public education funding has been falling off a cliff in probably every state in the country. In California, my great land that I call my home, they finally seized that much sought after price of lowest per capita public education funding for K-12 education! YES, WE CAN! This has gone hand in hand with the promotion of charter schools and "merit pay" both locally, state wide, and nationally with Obama's "Race to the Top" where states who end barriers to charter school creation and merit pay can compete for a pool of 4 billion in federal education funding for this year.

The main goal of this push is the weakening and destruction of the teachers unions, one of the last strong public sector unions in the country, and the privatization of K-12 eduction, to allow companies to finally squeeze some profit out of a largely untapped market. I'd have to say I doubt Bush could have gotten away with proposing anything like this. There's barely any room to the right of this politically, outside of pure voucher programs.



I know this all sounds pretty boring to you, the parents and future parents of this shitty public education attending children. But if anyone of you is interested, here's an article on why Charter Schools are complete and utter shit. Why Charter Schools Suck Dick

For those who don't want to click, the short version is this; They are better funded (for now) and can discriminate on who they admit, allowing them to artificially select for higher test scores and non-special needs children. Here's an article basically saying that the school systems are about as racially integrated now as before Brown v. Board of Education, and with the recent rise of charter schools, seem to be trending farther downward. JUST CLICK HERE TO READ IT...

If you can't afford to pay for a private school you have no business living in America to begin with nor are you properly able to bring up a child. So please don't try to do so. Charter schools are so fucking bad. They're barely better than homeschooling. I went to a charter school before private school and I got a really piss poor education as well being fucked up socially. That sort of shit happens when you have to wake up dawn to catch a bus to get across town. I'm not saying Private school is so much better.. but as shitty as my private school was when they pimped out their stupid religious message, they still taught a whole lot better than when I was going to a charter school.



Charter schools have also been statistically shown to not be any better academically so it's basically all they're good for is fucking up your kids. Much like throwing a sea water fish you get at the beach into a fish tank and hoping it survives a couple of days.

I have to say that reading about the failure of education makes me more depressed then reading about the failure of Health care. It does make you feel like if public education was the nation's #1 priority and had the same kind of funding our military does, with only absolutely brilliant people teaching K-12, we'd be well on our way to a utopia in a couple of decades. But as it currently stands, I can't decide if this is more or less depressing then the fact that southern schools are basically turning into christian indoctrination camps.



Now you'll probably ask how one would be able to measure what students learn in school in the absence o standardized testing. Maybe we can easily judge it by all sorts of metrics like literacy rates. Plus measuring achievement or whatever is okay, we just shouldn't tie in funding into it.

We also shouldn't close down low-performing schools and move the kids to other low-performing/borderline schools, increasing the amount of time they spend on the bus (decreasing the amount of time they have for schoolwork, etc.) and increasing the chances that their parents won't be able to meet with the teachers as often, since those low performing schools are usually in poor neighborhoods where car ownership is not as high as the suburbs.

It's a very simple way to kill off public education. Sure, closing the school they transferred from removes that school's scores from the district, but all they are doing is movng the problem around and creating a cascading effect, since those kids are going to eventually drag down the schools they are transferred to. They need to address the problems in the original school.



I'm actually really surprised by all this. I would think Republicans would not those schools closed as some of those kids could end up in the same schools with their kids and possibly drag their kids' schools down in the scores... Ha ha ha ha. Just kidding. Everyone knows those rich families sent their kids to a private school that actually cares about the level of education they give.. unless it's catholic. Then it's just bible camp.

In all this the district has been looking at bonuses for experienced teachers to go into low-performing schools, but they aren't going to have time to help raise the scores, because the state/feds can exert so much fucking pressure on them by hanging a huge pay check over their heads slightly above their reach. Instead the vicious cycle of deliberately underfunding/fucking over public schools and then using that as an excuse to underfund/dismantle public schools has always infuriated me.



You see, once a school fails to meet the minimum requirements for the standardized testing, they are in trouble. Even if they make changes and start bringing the scores back up, if they don't meet the acceptable ratings pretty fast, the school is closed by the state and the school staff is reassigned to other schools, and the students are bused to other schools.

Sure, they can re-open the school under a new name (what the fuck does changing the name does for test scores, I do not know) such as making it a magnet school and with only a fraction of the former students (I don't know why either). Some of it's suppose to change with some new legislation going into effect this year - there is suppose to be more time for schools to get back up, but it's still a lot of pressure - without the bonuses, they get paid the same as teachers at a good school and if the school doesn't come up fast enough, they can get reassigned elsewhere.



There was a debate over the district being pro-active and closing low-performing schools before the state got the chance to and then allowing them to re-open as charter schools run by private companies. It really fucks over low-income neighborhoods, which is where most of these schools are. The way it's been done in Texas, it's literally a great way to fuck over minorities and non-English speakers.

So yeah.. That's my long winded opinion on the state of our public schools. How can we fix it? Well, Waldorf schooling does seem like a good option. But ultimately I would be talking out of my ass if I even suggested I knew how to fix the problem here. All I can tell you is that the solutions that have come up so far are not going to improve on the situation.


I'm sure this has something to do with Waldorf schooling... HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR

Four Eyes = Bigger Brain!

Four Eyes = Bigger Brain!

For all my life I have worn glasses. Well, for all of my life I was suppose to wear glasses... It's another issue entirely if I actually did or didn't. But what can I say, I'm sort of blind. Not really, I just need them to help with that extra boost so my eyes don't strain too much. I don't think they were ever a real reason for me to get mocked. I mean, I don't remember ever being called four eyes or anything like that. But as it turns out, it seems that having a pair of glasses is not a bad thing after all as this new study shows that people with glasses are smarter than those without.

Researchers in Singapore examined the eyesight and intelligence levels of 1,204 children aged 10 to 12. They found that the brightest kids were twice as likely to be short-sighted than children who weren't too clever.

Previous studies have linked the amount of time kids spend reading to whether or not they have poorer eyesight.

But the new study - carried out by the National University of Singapore - linked intelligence with being short-sighted, regardless of how much reading the kids did.

The results were published in The Independent newspaper.

Unfortunately I can't find anything more detailed but it's very interesting to say the least. What would be the cause behind this apparent link between eyesight and intelligence? And if this is true, what other genetic or hereditary traits are there that would affect a persons intelligence and is there a way of rectifying this imbalance and promoting egalitarianism that doesn't involve the methods of the Khmer Rouge?



Yeah, so what if I'm a social retard, I'm smarter than you and the fact that I have glasses just proves it! Science gives me a win for a change. While one would think that a larger brain simply squishes your eyeballs and laeds to astigmatism, it actually doesn't. So what is it that actually makes a correlation between glasses and smarts? I mean, it has to be something, right?

Maybe it's just that when you read a lot you use up a lot of energy reading the words. Smarter books usually have smaller print. My examples are The Cat in the Hat vs. Hamlet. I've also noticed that old people are dumb and their print is usually very big. Have you've seen those phones with the huge numbers on them? Coincidence, I think not. Talk about an IQ test in the type of phone you use. Or perhaps it's a result of holding things close to your face.. like books.



It could just be that other people perceive people with glasses as more intelligent, and it leads to more self confidence. I know that when I wear my glasses I'm usually thought of as;
A) A Jew
B.) A person to go to for an inquiry

What I do know for sure is that people who wear glasses are less suited for physical activities ue to their handicap, thus it leads one, at least for me, to pursue matters of the mind. For one thing, it allows you time to ponder the big questions in life.. especially now that you can actually see them. You know, those tough questions...

I'm not sure if you other glasses wearing folks have ever had a lot of questions tossed at you, but the strangest one I ever heard was

"When people with glasses have sex, do they do it with their glasses on or off?"

I guess it all depends on how attractive the other person is. You know, I don't ever think I have had sex with my glasses on. Considering that I have a girlfriend who has a thing for nerdy glasses, I'm kind of surprised by that. Even more so that I haven't done so in the 29 years of my life. I already said that I'm not really that blind. I could go with or without the glasses.



Even though I'm sure that the last question doesn't reflect this next statement, but it looks like we're going towards the right direction if this next news story is to be believed, then there's a chance that it can go hand in hand with this other news story..

The percentage of Americans who are nearsighted has gone way up in 30 years.
That's according to a study published last month in the Archives of Ophthalmology. Susan Vitale, an epidemiologist at the National Eye Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, and her co-authors looked at a national survey that gave vision tests to Americans in the early 1970s. It was then repeated with a similar group of people 30 years later. "The prevalence of myopia, or nearsightedness, in people age 12 to 54 went from 25 percent to 41.6 percent," explains Vitale. "So that's about a 66 percent increase."

Could that mean that Americans are.. actually getting smarter? Stranger things have happened. But there you have it. But then again, maybe I should be happy about that news. To be honest I do dig a girl in glasses. You see, I feel like I'm getting a little short changed here. My girlfriend has glasses and never wears them. So totally unfair, don't you think? It's like having hot vinyl gear and not showing it off. Let's look back at my childhood and see where all this started. I guess with G.I. Joe. Yes, that real American hero show based on army men.



It all has to do with the Baroness. Does it cover all we talked about? Check, check and check. Triple check. I mean, the Baroness had to be smart in order to evade being captured by G.I. Joe all that time. Then she's got that cat suit going on and the glasses? Oh man.. That does indeed cover it all. Thanks to science, it's well known now that she was very smart.

So what's the attraction with the glasses? I do believe that it does have something to do with the brains. When growing up you see your teachers with glasses, as they are indeed the more educated ones, and it does imprint this idea about who is someone of knowledge and it's right there. It's also a little bit of that innocence that you just hope to corrupt. Yeah, that is definitely hitting it right on the head.

I hope I opened your eyes to a couple of new facts. Like the one that I'm smarter than you. Perhaps now my girlfriend will wear her glasses more often. Show off those very large, round beautiful... eyes.

Boys Beware

Boys Beware

This is the most important thing you have to beware of, young men-

Yes.. BE WARNED!

Homosexuality can hit you where it hurts! The Junk!

That was your needless pointless reading material. Only, you had to read nothing. Way to save yourself some eye strain.