Monday Musings...
Well, if you're glad to see Summer leave, this week might just be your cup of tea.
This Wednesday, Autumn arrives, and we know that that means...
FALL FOLIAGE....(a GOOD thing) and eventually, naturally having to RAKE UP all those future fallen leaves (a NOT-so-good thing).
Can't really have ONE without the OTHER now, can you?
Think of it as nature's way of BALANCE in the cosmos.
But balance is something in short supply in the HUMAN realm these days.
Shouldn't happen this way, yet it does...
Case in point:
*** The "president" of Iran (the toady little camel-jockey that doesn't know what a razor OR a necktie is for) is BACK at the U.N. touting what a "great" nation Iran is...(or will be). In another interview, he talks about the stoning sentence of the American hiker being "made up", and that his nation's release of the woman was a HUMANITARIAN GESTURE.
Well, Iran is about AS humanitarian as my neighborhood is crime-free and full of productive citizens ALL doing the right things in life...!
I have a humanitarian gesture for Mahmoud...it's called the middle-finger salute!
THAT humanitarian enough for 'ya, Bub?
Ahmadinejad went on to say that Iran MUST be accepted by the USA as a "major power".
Here's that story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20100920/NEWS04/309209991
I will admit that Iran IS a major SOMETHING, but a "power" wouldn't be MY first choice...
More like a major RPIA for the rest of the free world.
Or a MAJOR boil on the world's ass...
He goes on to say that his nation has a major role to play in the world. (nice "gang signs" MISTER president)
Tell you what...he keeps his crap up, and he WILL have a role to play...that being the newest SCORCH MARK on the planet!
Hillary Clinton even feels that Iran is developing into a military dictatorship, to which Ahmedinejad replied that "she needs to gather more CORRECT information to base her statements on ACCURATE information".
I don't know...she seems (in this case) to be pretty much on the mark here (for a change).
And if that doesn't make you feel pissed off, try this:
*** Tucker Carlson had a really good show on FOX last night about EDUCATION.
It was titled: Fighting For Our Children's Minds, and it focused on "new" methods for bringing up student achievement across the country.
Here's the link to the CLIFFS NOTES about the special:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,592684,00.html
And here's a link going back to MAY of this year:
http://dailycaller.com/2010/05/14/why-do-educators-keep-putting-dunce-caps-on-our-kids/
Those of you living in the LONE STAR STATE know exactly what a lot of this is all about already, due to the huge flap about TEXTBOOKS.
The "revisionist history" is being called to task by concerned people and parents who are demanding that their students get the opportunity to study the REAL history of this nation (among other things).
But that's not all...
The program also focused on something called TURNAROUND...the wholesale "laying off" of the entire school staff and allowing them to REAPPLY for the same jobs, while "shaking up" the school admins by transfers and replacements, because the KIDS are not learning.
The FWCS has ALREADY done this to several schools in Fort Wayne, and I can't wait to see how much BETTER those schools will "suddenly" become (not holding my breath on this one for obvious reasons).
We're not done YET, either...
Get ready for FLOCABULARY...!
(*blink* - *blink*)
If you thought EBONICS was "fun", people, you ain't seen nothing yet...
Here's their website:
http://www.flocabulary.com/
If you LOVE rap and hip-hop, you're gonna cream your jeans over this newest educational tripe.
Funny thing, it all "sounds" productive as all get out.
Tell that to all those charter and private schools that DON'T use it, but score consistently HIGHER than our public schools.
Thanks to all the boomcar-driving morons, I've come to DETEST rap music with a passion.
But NOW, people would put it IN our classrooms (like dancing in the damn middle of the street AFTER school isn't enough?).
This all sounds like a lame attempt to "reach" a SPECIFIC portion of the student population...and even a more specific ETHNICITY.
All of a sudden, the REGULAR WAY of teaching isn't GOOD ENOUGH for them? Or is it just too "white" for them?
Seems a bit BIASED, doesn't it?
It would appear to be more divisive than unifying a method for teaching ANYTHING.
I'm not hearing math being taught using CLASSICAL music (and both of them ARE closely related, believe it or not), or using COUNTRY music (way too white for the inner city), or even HARD ROCK (Pantera performs the Pythagorian Theorem)
I can imagine teachers coming home with MIGRAINES after teaching FLOCABULARY all damn day.
Kinda like the headache you get (as a parent) when your toddler HAS to watch the annoying BARNEY VIDEO about 20 times a day for the past few weeks!
You get the idea.
People say kids can remember LYRICS better than schoolwork.
Maybe, but that never stopped MY generation from remembering our STUDIES while we ALSO learned song lyrics.
Try memorizing Don McLean's AMERICAN PIE (all 7+ minutes)...AND studying for the World History test on Friday.
We did it...and without our teachers turning the fall of Rome into some Simon & Garfunkel ode to history!
Kids need STRUCTURE, and RAP doesn't promote structure, but rather rails AGAINST it.
Sorry, but if you're home(y)-schooling your inner city urchins, this COULD work...perhaps...maybe...some day.
When schools fully realize that they have a more insurmountable task TODAY than they did 30-40 years ago, because of the decline of the family unit and the changes in the mores of our society, THEN they can figure out better ways to teach the kids.
But as long as they all but ignore the fact that what happens AT HOME grossly affects what transpires within those ivy-covered walls, not much will change, except to dump more money into systems designed to fail.
It's certainly NOT all the educators' fault...the fault lies squarely upon the shoulders of parents too absorbed in THEMSELVES to worry about their kids.
Yet, it IS always easier to blame the schools...and we should not become to used to doing that, lest we travel a path that takes us further into scholastic limbo.
*** Finally today...
This week is the beginning of much of the NEW season for television shows.
New shows popping up where once familiar shows aired, and new time slots for familiar shows.
Yeah, it's gonna be TIVO -HELL for those with the technology.
As for me?
I plan to pick and choose wisely.
The new Tom Selleck show, Blue Bloods (a multi-generational law-enforcement family) looks good, with Donnie Wahlberg (Band of Brothers) in a supporting role, as does this remake of the classic series Hawaii 5-0 (always loved the theme song).
Another personal favorite, The Big Bang Theory moves to Thursdays, right before the new Shatner show, a comedy (based on the book) $#*! My Dad Says, and although the show went through some rework before airing, Shatner CAN do comedy damn well (Remember Boston Legal?), but a parents group IS boycotting the show due to the show's title "profanity"...even IF it's "alleged".
Now THIS parents WILL bitch about, but RAP in the classroom?
Not hearing much about THAT.
And here I thought that kids weren't "supposed" to watch anything that MIGHT be considered the least bit "objectionable"...silly me. Let 'em all stay out all night and up all night...let the TEACHERS worry about WHY they can't learn or are falling ASLEEP in class (hard night playing Grand Theft Auto III)...s'ok, right?
Still, don't let things like this become an electric wet blanket on YOUR viewing this week.
YOU watch...YOU learn...and YOU decide. Simple enough, eh?
In the meantime...
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.