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God and Man at Yale

   Just finished Bill Buckley's very first published book.  What struck me most about the work was that Buckley was only 25 years old at the time.  Quite an achievement to have such a thoughtful, serious, and provacative book published at such a young age.  I thought his reasoning and logic suffered from some disconnects.  The text jumped around alot, although that did not prevent him from delivering his message.  Not alot has changed since 1951.  Colleges, Universities, and now even high schools suffer from a "collectivist"mentality among so many of its professors, lecturers, and teachers.  The problems expounded upon by Buckley have seeped into the high schools as a result of the liberalization of Departments of Education across the country.  The kinds of values promoted by Buckley and other conservatives such as myself are looked down upon by Ed. Department staff.  While most teachers in America's high schools do an admirable job, it is likely that every student will face one or more aggressive liberals or "collectivists" (as Buckly would call them) during their four year high school experience.  The impact these "agenda" driven teachers have on students is unknown, but would make for a worthy research project for some enterprising graduate student.  Oh, I forgot, there's no way any Department of Education advisor would approve such a research endeavour.  Too Bad.
Tags: education  
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College & Low-income Students: It's Culture Stupid!

   Recently there was an editorial in my local newspaper written by an ex-5th grade teacher lamenting the fact that she saw one of her prize students from years earlier working at a fast food restaurant.  I'm thinking many teenagers work fast food, but this woman went on and on, speculating that this intelligent student was forced by economic reasons to work and help support the family instead of going to college.  This may very well be the case, but the woman had no proof.  The obvious message was that every smart kid should go to college, regardless of the cost, their own desires, etc.  Well, I responded with my own story of a student who rose up from extreme poverty to graduate froma  state college with a double major and honors.
 
   The following day I ran across this report by Brink Lindsey of the Cato Institute ( http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9246 ).  This thought-provoking peice challenges the common belief that poor students avoid college because they can not afford it.  Instead, cultural factors such as time spent with parents and the nature of that interaction are much more significant indicators of college attendance.  One study showed that when achieveing at a equalivalent level, race and income level had little impact on college attendance, meaning that students of all races and income levels who truly were academicaly successful in high school went on to college. 
 
   Brinkley does not dispute the fact that socio-economic staus correlates with college attendance, but he points to other studies that explain this fact other than mere income.  One study showed that regardless of income level, students that were encouraged to practice and study was a higher indicator of college attendance and achievement than simple income level.  Another interesting study showed that high income families on average talked with their kids three times more often than low income parents.  In addition, the comments made by higher income parents were more often encouraging by a ratio of 6 to 1.  Low income familes, on the other hand, made twice as many discouraging comments as positive comments to their kids. 
 
   Granted, it's harder to be positive when you are concerned about making ends meet but it seems that this study shows why some poverty kids do pull themsleves out of the situation.  Just think about the stories of people like Colin Powell and others.  They had a influential parent that always encouraged them in a positive way.  This is just another of so many exmaples as to why throwing money at a problem (subsidizing educational opportunities for many students) does not necessarily solve it.  Responsibility among students and parents is a powerful and productive tool.
Tags: education  
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Indoctrination in the Classroom

   When it comes to issues about educatiuon I am not the most popular teacher at the high school I work at.  I support parental-choice, charter schools, vouchers, etc.  Every child does have a "right" to an education in this country (I do work at a pulbic school) but there must be choice and options available to parents.  But there is a danger out there that every conservative needs to be aware of, and that danger is the growth of charter programs that target cultural/regilious/ideological indoctrination.  Pulbic funds for charter schools (which basically are pulbic schools) are being used by some educators and programs to develop quasi-cultural/religious schools that ought to be considered a clear violation of the 1st Amendment.
 
   Case in point is the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA) a K-8 school in Minnesota. (see http://www.startribune.com/local/17406054.html )  This program sounds too much like the educational reforms imposed on public schools in Germany and Japan in the 1930s.  The Nazis and Japanese militarists revampted the curriculum to promote the kind of citizen they desired in a  totalitarian system.  At TIZA this indoctrination includes being forced to participate in Muslim prayer sessions and a so-called after-school program called Islamic Studies.  Islamic Studies follows the 'election' philosophy in communist bloc nations; elections are held but there is only one choice so in fact their is no choice.  The Islamic Studies program is suppsoed to be after-school but buses do not leave until that "voluntary" program is over.  This so called voluntary, enrichment program is in fact not voluntary at all.
 
   Why do departments of education and school boards stand by and allow this to happen?  TIZA sounds more like a private school than a public school that allows for choice and respect for individual social, cultural, and religious differences.  The State of Minnesota should be ashamed allowing such a charter school to continue to receive public funds. And TIZA is not the only one.  There are numerous charter programs across the coutnry doing a similar thing.  One program in Los Angeles promotes the radical ideas of MECHA and hispanic separatists.  The dangers of programs such as these will not be evident now but in a dozen years when these students are voters there will be a very negative impact on America. 
 
P.S.  Michelle Malkin has picked up on this story also: http://michellemalkin.com/2008/04/09/establishing-islam-in-minnesota/
         Michelle has a more complete report on this issue: http://michellemalkin.com/2008/04/11/sharia-in-the-schools-monitoring-the-american-madrassa/
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