For years, Tucson 2nd grade teacher Anne Lee has had her students recite Pledge of Allegiance in three languages–English, Spanish and American Sign Language. One of her students whose father is a member of the Minuteman Civil Defense organization got wind of the practice, and inevitably, a grand fecal oscillatory collision resulted.
“When Lance Altherr learned last week that his son was reciting the pledge in Spanish, he was outraged. He spoke with Lee and then Principal Paula Godfrey, demanding they stop the practice. They wouldn’t, and Altherr moved his son to a different class,” reports the Arizona Star. “In the days before the Internet, that’s where the drama would have stopped. But Altherr…took his case to the Internet, sending out mass e-mails and posting on message boards.”
Godfrey did some due diligence with her school district’s legal department and Arizona’s Department of Education. No problema, they said. To her credit, she even asked the Veterans of Foreign Wars if they deemed the practice offensive.
“The VFW gave her mixed signals on the matter,” reports the Star. “A VFW official first said in an e-mail that it was ‘not disrespectful to say the Pledge of Allegiance in either’ language ‘as long as it was stated as written.’ But when the heat turned up, the VFW’s national director sent the [Tucson Schools'] Governing Board an e-mail Thursday demanding a stop to the practice of Spanish-language pledges.” So far the school and Ms. Lee are sticking to their guns.
I seem to recall hearing that a Republican from Arizona is running for President this year who has had a little trouble with his party’s conservative wing on immigration issues. I wonder if Juro De La Bandera could be Campaign 2008’s version of the flag burning amendment?
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Perhaps Woody Allen was right when he said the 90% of success is just showing up. Nearly every one of the 600+ teachers in the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage school district earned a $2,000 bonus under Minnesota’s “Q Comp” program, meant to reward quality teaching. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports in the 2006-07 year, 603 teachers “exceeded standards,” and six “met standards.”
Not a single one fell below standards.
Asked about the six who merely met standards must feel, state Sen. Chris Gerlach, R-Apple Valley, laughed. “Those must be the ones under indictment or something,” he told the paper. A merit-pay system that isn’t more selective, he said, is simply a pay increase.
Last year, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger pronounced 2008 would be “The Year of Education” in the Golden State. Now, it’s hasta la vista, baby.
Sharon Noguchi of the San Jose Mercury News looks at what lies ahead for California schools and doesn’t try particularly hard to mask her contempt: “Likely coming soon to a public school near you: ballooning class sizes, a wave of teacher layoffs and more outdated textbooks — courtesy of the spiraling state deficit. What a difference a few months — and a projected $14.5 billion budget deficit — make.”
The $4.8 billion dollars in projected cuts to education over the next 18 months are the deepest in nearly three decades, she notes, adding the cuts are based on optimistic economic predictions. “Art, music, elementary-level science, physical education? Forget about them,” says Noguchi. “The proposed cuts are daunting because schools have little discretionary spending. About 85 percent of their expenses pay salaries and benefits, locked in by union contracts. And much of other spending — for instance, updating textbooks — is required by law.”
The Princeton Alumni Weekly has named Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp its 13th most influential alumni of all time (thanks, eduwonk, for the find). I admire her as much as anyone – although clearly not as much as the Princeton alums who put together this list – but it’s curious to look at the venerable names staring up the ladder at Kopp.
Ralph Nader, whose bona fides as a consumer advocate should have secured his place even before the 2000 election, made The Atlantic’s recent list of 100 most influential Americans ever, but that’s not good enough for Princeton. He’s tied at #25 with Donald Rumsfeld, who can thank Nader and the Floridians who voted for him, for his second tour as Secretary of Defense. Richard Feynman? The atomic bomb, quantum computing and nanotechnology? Less influential than TFA. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com? Barely in Kopp’s rearview mirror at #20. But shed no tears for any of them. Save your sympathy for eBay boss Meg Whitman. She gave Princeton $30 million to build a new residential house, named Whitman College, and didn’t even make the list.
Finally, someone needs to click over to Wikipedia’s list of Princeton University people as soon as possible and do a little editing. It’s a Who’s Who featuring hundreds of heads of state, governors, U.S. Senators, Supreme Court Justices, and bold-face names from literature, business, science, math and academia. One name is conspicuous in its absence, however: Wendy Kopp.
Caught Being Good
Eli Broad
Billionaire philanthropist donates $23.3 million to help start 17 new charter schools in the Los Angeles district.
Charles Clotfelter
Duke University economist study suggests that teacher absences lead to lower student test scores—even when substitutes fill in.
Kitchen Table Math
Iconoclastic, fun and edgy. Welcome to the Core Knowledge blogroll!
Names on the Chalkboard
Everyday Math
Texas State Board of Education rejects Everyday Math for lack of rigor but sets off a firestorm. Can they reject any book?
Culture-based Teaching
Lovely idea. Too bad there’s no evidence it improves achievement in reading and writing.
Clowns
Researchers in England find “clowns are universally disliked by children.” Kids as old as 16 find them scary.
On the Board With Checkmarks
Boys
Boys are five times more likely than girls to be reprimanded in elementary school, even though girls are just as likely to misbehave, according to new research from the U.K.
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