Humpday Happenings...
If you take the time to carefully look around you these days, you'll find yourself in a minefield...or sorts.
You'll see gross inequities between classes, outright class warfare being waged, divisive methodologies and agendae whose sole purpose is to "level the playing field".
And it's this same playing field that has in fact, become a minefield.
Now, what can one do when faced with such a situation?
The first step is to think about WHERE that first step is going to be placed...and how lightly you will tread thereafter.
You just don't cover your ears and stomp your foot around...
(that's how the Iranians detect mines anyway)
We cannot simply call up a minesweeper, or flail device to clear the area...that only works in combat situations.
We have to tediously survey our surroundings...look for things that seem "out of place", and if need be, get on our hands and knees to test the ground immediately adjacent to our feet.
We have to clear one square foot at a time, and by that I mean disseminate what we are being told and what we read daily.
Then, and only then can be proceed ahead...or we can pull back and "let someone else do it for us".
Face it, with the way things are today, if we misstep, we can cause a world of hurt for ourselves, financially-speaking.
Take THIS story for example:
*** (( Indiana poverty rate up - State ranks 12th at 16.1 percent
-Evansville Courier Press - 18 Sep 2010-
WASHINGTON — More than 1 million Hoosiers lived below the poverty line in 2009, according to a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau, a dark symbol of the toll taken by the recent economic downturn.
The number of Indiana residents living below the poverty line jumped from 12.9 percent in 2008 to an estimated 16.1 percent last year, a larger increase than the national average that saw the national poverty level move from 13.2 percent to 14.3 percent.
The number of Americans living in poverty increased by about 3.8 million to an estimated 43.6 million — a 51-year high.
Indiana ranked 12th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia in the number of residents below the poverty line, according to Census Bureau figures, totaling about 1.023 million — an estimated 194,000 more than in 2008.
The federal government defines poverty as a family of four earning no more than $22,050.
In calculating income, for instance, the Census Bureau does NOT include in-kind benefits, such as FOOD STAMPS, or TAX CREDITS that families may receive.
Figures show the percentage of individuals living below the poverty line in the Bluegrass State fell from 17.3 percent to 17 percent last year.
Still, the state ranked eighth. In Illinois, the numbers increased from 12.2 percent to 13.2 percent. ))
So much for the "Heartland of America" and that Midwest charm, hmm?
But, things can ALWAYS be worse.
*** Take this story about the east Allen County School System:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20100922/LOCAL04/309229976
Sure they get to keep FIVE high schools open, but they also want to CLOSE SIX elementary schools...
(in lieu of a K-12 "campus setting"...how the hell is that going to work out in this day and age?)
Speaking from experience, I much preferred the old method - elementary and high schools ONLY...none of this "middle-school" flap to muck with, but I'm just saying that worked fine for my generation.
And, in case you didn't know, the LAST TIME we had a growing achievement rate for our grads was WAY back in 1970.
(the year I graduated)
Since then, achievement scores either DROPPED or have remained STAGNANT (nationwide).
Now WHY do you suppose that is, anyway?
In 1971, I know the Philly school system did one thing that kicked the "snowball" down that mountain:
They DID AWAY with dress codes for the students.
Gone was the proper attire we came to know and love when we were in school.
And with that began the descent into mediocrity.
I say that because in SPITE of ALL the new technologies and ALL the new programs and ALL the hand outs and giveaways for those held to lower standards, student achievement (overall) did NOT rise one damn bit.
When school systems dropped the rote, the hardcore basics, and much of the discipline that USED to be in schools, wholesale drops in achievement soon followed. At best the levels in some school districts remained THE SAME.
Amazing, huh?
Who knew?
Yeah...things can ALWAYS be worse, can't they?
How about this little "gem"?
*** (( Teacher bonuses don’t raise scores - Nick Anderson Washington Post
WASHINGTON – A study released Tuesday found that offering teachers annual bonuses of up to $15,000 had no effect on student test scores – a result likely to inflame debate about performance pay programs sprouting in schools nationwide.
The experiment – in Nashville, Tenn., public schools – calls into question a key aspect of market-driven initiatives to improve schools that have become the vogue in some education circles.
"Pay reform is often thought to be a magic bullet," said Matthew Springer, a Vanderbilt University education professor who led the study. "That doesn’t appear to be the case here."
With backing from federal and state governments and private foundations, a growing number of public schools in recent years have embraced paying teachers at least in part on how much they raise student achievement.
President Obama has encouraged the movement despite skepticism from some teachers unions and from lawmakers within his party.
Central to such reforms is the notion that teachers should be rewarded when their students achieve outsize gains on standardized tests – rather than setting pay by seniority and credentials such as master’s or doctoral degrees.
Obama administration officials and a wide range of experts were quick to note that the study did not examine the effect of performance pay in combination with other measures to improve teaching.
Eric Hanushek, an expert on the economics of education at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, said the Vanderbilt study did not address a key question.
"The biggest role of incentives has to do with selection of who enters and who stays in teaching," Hanushek said. ))
Sorry, but handing out "bribes" to educators to RAISE student scores isn't going to work, because, like I ALWAYS say:
It comes down to the STUDENT...and the PARENT(S)!
You can pay a teacher $100K a year, and if they have a class of lack-luster inner city urchins more concerned about their life OUTSIDE the classroom, and have parents that don't give a rat's ass because they're hooked on smack, tooling around the upper atmosphere most days, the kids are NOT going to be able to LEARN...and won't even WANT to learn.
Not when these kids can watch their baby-mama sit back and get her monthly welfare "assistance" check for doing NOTHING but complaining about everything and everyone (between tokes on that blunt).
Didn't know taxpayers had to ASSIST people to be lazy-asses...these people seem to have that covered REAL well as it is.
And all THAT is certainly NOT the teacher's fault, is it?
*** But at least our city's UNION workers are happier these days, as evidenced by THIS story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20100922/LOCAL/309229969/1002/LOCAL Wow, THESE workers get a 1.5% RAISE, and the NON-UNION workers get only a 1% raise...sounds slightly unfair to me.
Of course the folks don't realize that ANY and ALL raises WILL impact on those nasty PENSIONS that, as we learned were wonderfully unsustainable, unless you prefer pyramid "schemes", AND believe in the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.
Yet there IS some relief in the form of justice on the streets these days, thankfully...
*** (( Meth search nets dealing arrest / The Journal Gazette
A Fort Wayne man was arrested Monday after police investigated a tip he was dealing meth.
Police went to the man’s home in the 4500 block of Lafayette Street just before 2 p.m. Monday and were granted permission to search the home. Inside they found materials commonly used to make meth, court records said.
When police questioned the resident, Christopher Kelley, 34, he told officers he traveled to sell meth and had people come to his home to buy the drug, according to court records.
Kelley faces felony charges of dealing methamphetamine and possession of materials used to make meth. He was being held in lieu of $12,500 bail. ))
Now isn't that amazing?
Sounds JUST like several houses that are in MY particular ghettohood...that REMAIN open, month after month, in spite of my reporting to the FWPD about similar activity like what was discovered at THIS meth house.
Sure the DRUGS at the houses might differ, meth for one, crack or weed for another, but the M.O. is exactly the SAME.
Traffic coming to the houses, multiple stops lasting less than 5 minutes, lookouts scoping out every vehicle going by...yeah, that sort of thing.
Hell, I see that most every day, but the houses remain open.
I also see CODE violations with the NUMBER of people in these hovels. City code says so many square feet PER PERSON, and with SO MANY people in a small house (we're talking a lot less than 1000 sq. ft), you just KNOW that's not following code. But it does make living arrangement "fun", right?
Nothing like rental life in the blighted part of town, eh?
Still...it can ALWAYS be worse.
And at the rate we're moving, it's going to be a LONG time clearing enough of these "mines" to be able to continue our journey, no matter WHERE we find ourselves living.
Sure seemed a LOT easier (and better) back in the 60s and 70s, didn't it?
I miss those days.
But at least AUTUMN arrives today...about 2309 hrs. EST, in case you were wondering.
Good news at last!
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.