After listening to Fox News defame Jesse Ventura for saying that our government was involved in the 9/11 attacks, I am even more concerned for our country.
To quote Fox News: Perhaps what Ventura is missing is that there is probably more incontrovertible evidence and more witnesses who have already established what happened on Sept. 11, 2001 than most major historical events. To dispute the conventional historical account is intellectually dishonest and nonsensical. – FOX News
I believe the US Government is corrupt. Not to say that every person serving in the government is corrupt but that the system has been so twisted and perverted that I do not see anyway to fix it, unless the Tea Parties and the Ron Paul's of this nation rise up and take it back. I wonder just exactly how we would go about doing that. We have tried marching on Washington with about a hundred thousand people to stop the health bill only to have Fox News refuse to tell the correct number of people who were there. If Fox News will not tell the truth .... With Fox News denying the facts about 9/11, I am discouraged and frightened for my country. Not to say I believe Fox News to be the answer to America's problems but right now it is a source for much truth. It is a concern to see it not only failing to tell the truth but denying that truth.
I don't think America the home of the brave and the land of the free exist anymore or perhaps I should say its days are numbered. I hope I am wrong. God is still in control and could change the way things are going in our nation. This would involve the Church waking up, repenting, and start preaching about the need for true repentance and the belief in a God that will judge a nation and its people. Pray for our nation.

Improving Education

Teacher unions are great if you want to teach without the threat from an unreasonable principal but that is the only good thing I can really say about unions. For the most part I am against Teacher Unions because they support a liberal agenda and use the teacher dues to lobby for their liberal agenda. It is for this reason I will not join the NEA or the United Federation of Teachers. I believe the unions protect incompetent teachers. Read the article in The New Yorker entitled: “The Rubber Room”. This article is about incompetent teachers and it is such a travesty to our school system. The article relates the reason it is so hard to improve failing schools. It is well known that it is very difficult to hire good teachers in failing schools because there is so much extra paper work and headaches with discipline and unreasonable parents who blame the teachers for not being able to control their children. Principals in these schools are under so much pressure. This pressure filters down to the teachers and to the students. This creates an unhealthy atmosphere for learning. I believe teacher unions make it difficult to change our schools. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/08/31/090831fa_fact_brill

Most big cities have their poor under privileged schools. Most are found in the intercity and most are failing. However there are some real success stories out there. The unions have very little if anything to do with successful schools. I believe that parents and teachers coming together to make a difference in creating a successful school make the difference. One example of an successful school is found in Tampa, Florida. The Muller Elementary School has created an environment where the students have exceeded the state test scores. The principal, Bonnye Taylor, overcame the odds of 74 % of the student population at poverty level by creating an enjoyable learning environment that inspired student to learn. She commented, “Our school-wide, theme-based curriculum is designed to motivate attendance,” Taylor said. “We get all the students involved and we make the units fun to learn, which translates into kids wanting to be here.” http://advancement.sdsu.edu/marcomm/features/2006/urbanschools.html

There has to be an answer to these school dilemmas. I believe it is the responsibility of parents, teachers, and administration of each individual school to communicate and come together for the children. I believe that each school needs to create its own learning community that make learning fun. This endeavor is difficult especially when there is a lack of money. However, there are many grants out there for teachers and schools. Schools need to explore all avenues and opportunities to improve student achievement.

(Let me put in my views: I would not support any government intervention even though that seems to be President Obama’s new agenda. This disturbs me for many reasons but the most pressing one for me is that I believe he is trying to take the focus off the health issue which is failing.) Enough said, this is another issue I want to deal with in this blog.

I would welcome anyone to comment on their successful schools or a difference of opinion about unions.

What has Happened to Education?

Oh, how I wish I could wave a wand like Harry Potter and take our educational system back at least 50 years. It was a time when teachers taught and students learned. It was a time when the Bible and prayer were not only accepted but also wanted. The Bible was a part of the educational system even if it was not read its principles were a part of daily life: honesty, integrity, and doing your best were expected and taught.

As opposed to today we did not have failing schools and literacy was not an issue as it is today. We did not have the discipline issues, because parents took the responsibility for how their child behaved in school and backed up the teacher. We did not have teachers who had so much paperwork that teaching time was needed to complete it. We did not have the government pressure to teach so many standards in one year. We did not have the pressure of jobs being threatened if the teacher, principal, or school, did not measure up to the end of the year test. It is this end of year test that is the criteria for measuring up each year.

Oh, how I wish the government would get out of the education business.