Who knew???

NEWS ARTICLE: School of the Future: Lessons in failure How Microsoft's and Philadelphia's innovative school became an example of what not to do

NEWS ARTICLE: Gates Foundation: Teachers trump class size

You mean that you can’t just throw a bunch of money at education and expect it to get better? You mean quality teachers actually matter? Maybe those crazy Republicans are onto something… Naaahhhh!

Gun Control to Major Tom...

A couple of quick posts re: gun control

First of all, realize that in general I am against gun control, though I do support the idea that guns should be sold with accompanying safety devices (although it is the owner’s option whether or not to use the devices).

Second of all, I am very interested in following the story related to a recent law passed in Montana. It seems that they are using the 2nd, 9th, and 10th amendment to effectively repeal federal gun control laws in their state. The 9th amendment allows the federal government to regulate intrastate commerce, so anything the crosses stateliness can be federally controlled. However, if the courts determine the inverse to be constitutional (which maybe the case as per the 10th amendment), then anything that does not cross state lines cannot be federally controlled. (There are some really interesting things going on here if you are a fan of logic, and the validity of conditional arguments). So, Montana has said that any gun made, sold, and owned within the state boundaries is not subject to federal gun control laws.

This has interesting and obvious implications. It will be neat to see the outcomes associated with this. The most interesting aspects are associated with the legal implications. What other federal laws could be “repealed” under States’ Rights and the 10th amendment? The fireworks should be fun to watch. As a fan of the Constitutional Party, I love the possibilities!!!

On another note, it seems Utah and Texas are considering similar laws, and for you who are worried about your children being able to use their guns, here is a nice puzzle for them.


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Government Warning

Finally, a government warning that is useful.

http://www.gocomics.com/ziggy/2009/04/02

Leadership

I recently had to read an article on the implementation of technology in the classroom by Yong Zhao (et. al.). It was a good article, and I gained some insights which I might blog about in the future, but the point of today’s blog entry is a single quote in the article from one of the participants in the study. I’m not sure it matters, but the person who said this is identified by the authors as a male teacher in a “multimedia” classroom in a high school. The teacher is also identified as a military veteran.

"In the military, the bosses said this is what we want done. You’re gonna do it. Now how you’re gonna do it, that’s up to you… you do it the way you think it needs to be done. It maybe will not be the way I chose to do it. But that’s part of being a leader is saying I’m gonna let you do the job, taking a risk. But I think that’s a big problem we have in education is leadership isn’t leadership. It’s administration. And there’s a big difference between leadership and administration. I’m tired of being administered. I’d like to be led for a change."

Just as a bonus, I’ll throw in a quote that I’ve often heard from a gentleman at my church. I don’t know if the quote is original to him, or not, but he says, “Leadership is inspiring others to want to follow.”

Now, I’m not going to sit here and badmouth my school’s leadership for two simple reasons, one is they really aren’t all that bad, and the second is I like my job. But I would like to comment on leadership in general. I for one have felt just like the man in the study when it comes to our nation's politics. I think that one of the things we’ve seen in this country in the past 6 – 9 months is a desire to be truly led. I think we saw that in the presidential election. People said "things are screwed up, and we are going to vote for the party that says, 'we will lead you through the hard work of fixing things,' instead of the party that says, 'everything is going to be fine, just trust us to take care of it.'" I think we saw something similar when Pres. Bush was elected because (in part) he challenged some of the things that had become status quo under Pres. Clinton.

Even many who disagree with Pres. Obama have acknowledged that he is at least taking a proactive approach to a variety of issues, and on many he is straying from his base (e.g. charter schools, merit pay, etc). I am interested to see what happens as we continue to move past the “honeymoon” period and into his presidency. I hope that Washington will begin to shift towards leadership and cooperation, and away from rhetoric and obstruction.

Politics, as usual?

Well, I feel like the well of inspiration for my blog entries is already beginning to dry up, and it’s only been about 2.5 weeks… So, as a remedy, I began looking for news and op-ed sites for blog fodder. I didn’t quite find one that hit a nerve as a likely source of regular ideas, but I did find this site: The Political Compass

I think it’s a neat site. It, like many other sites, provides a quiz so you can see where your political views fall on a continuum, but unlike most of the others I’ve seen, it doesn’t limit you to a Left vs. Right ranking. Sure, it does have a left/Right ranking, but it also has an Authoritarian vs. Libertarian ranking.

I thought this was kinda unique. It still clumps the Left/Right ranking based on both fiscal and social criteria (I’d like to see a quiz that separates these), but it also has a reflection on your view of government and its role in the daily lives of citizens. At this point in my life, I think that the role of government has had a bigger influence in the way I vote than my actual views on specific social and fiscal programs/issues.

The site has a Facebook app, so you can take the quiz on Facebook and share your results with all your friends, which I may do soon. In the meantime, enjoy the quiz and be sure to vote!

A Law by Any Other Name

I just read a mini-article on Edutopia asking the question, "Does 'No Child Left Behind' need a new name?"

First of all, how about the idea that the law was originally called the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act" and was signed by LBJ in '65. Bush just gave it a PC name in 2001 when he expanded the act to mandate testing (and other things).

So, now that we are talking about the same document, and have established that there is a precedent for changing its name (as established by Bush), then I suppose you can continue in the Bush tradition and change the name of the law if you want to.

However, “A [law] by any other name would smell just as…” I do not think that any document with the NCLB label will get a fair shake, especially from the NEA and other similar organizations. With that said, the real issue is the fact that this law is hated. Why? This is the question that needs to be answered, and based on the answer to this question reforms should be made… Starting with the name.