And I Thought Teaching to the Test Was Bad

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AP World History teachers at a high school in Fairfax County, VA are getting a little international notoriety thanks to a piece in the Washington Post that was picked up by Boing Boing.  It seems the teachers don't want their students using any outside materials/influences for their studies.

"You are only allowed to use your OWN knowledge, your OWN class notes, class handouts, your OWN class homework, or The Earth and Its Peoples textbook to complete assignments and assessments UNLESS specifically informed otherwise by your instructor.''

That was not all. Students could not use anything they found on the Internet. They were not permitted even to discuss their assignments with friends, classmates, neighbors, parents, relatives or siblings.

What about complete strangers? The teachers had thought of that. "You may not discuss/mention/chat/hand signal/smoke signal/Facebook/IM/text/email to a complete stranger ANY answers/ideas/questions/thoughts/opinions/hints/instructions." The words were playful, but the teachers were serious. Any violations, they said, would mean a zero on the assignment and an honor code referral.

The rules are bad enough – as the Post writer notes the teachers are banning curiosity – but what bothers me even more is the teachers' apparent rationale for their rules as related by their principal:

Westfield Principal Tim Thomas told me he will decide soon whether these rules are okay. He couldn't say much on the record, but gave me the impression that the teachers, who did not respond to my request for comment, were only trying to be fair. Some students have more help and resources than others. They should not be allowed to use materials classmates cannot get. The teachers wanted them to come up with their own ideas, not borrow them from Wikipedia.

Really?

I'm all for trying to give every kid what they need to succeed, but to try and mandate that every kid use exactly the same tools in the name of fairness is just plain ludicrous.  Let's face it, some kids are smarter than others, some kids have a better work ethic than others and some kids will take initiative to learn as much as possible while others will do the bare minimum to get by.  Limiting one child's resources in order to level the playing field for another child is not only unfair to the former, it sends a terrible message to the latter. Just imagine this kind of thinking being applied when the kids get out in the working world:

Former Student: "Hey boss, I don't think it's fair that Ralph over there is getting promoted and I'm not."

Boss: "Well, he's really been doing a great job.  In fact he seems to consistently get his work done 50% faster than anyone else in the department and the quality of his work is excellent.  He always seems to find a supplier that none of the rest of you know about and they always seem to do superior work at a significant discount."

Former Student: "Well, that's because he works from home at night on his computer. His mom used to be in the business years ago and she gives him lots of advice on how to do his job. I don't have a computer at home and neither of my parents worked in this industry so I'm at a disadvantage.  It's just not fair."

Boss: "I fail to see how this is my problem.  If you want a promotion then I suggest you figure out a way to make sure you can improve your production.  If you can't do that then you might want to look for another job."

The lesson is this: fair does not mean that we all are exactly alike, have exactly the same resources at home, have exactly the same IQ, etc.  In the school's case fair is that each kid is provided with the same support from the school (textbook, chair, classroom materials, etc.); it is not hamstringing one kid to benefit another.

Basically, when we parents tell our kids "Life ain't always fair" this is what we mean.  You aren't always going to have the best tools or the most resources, but it's up to you to do your very best with what you have.  That's what you can control.

Local Mommy Blog Bites the Dust

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The Triad Smarty Pants blog is going dark.  The announcement today:

Hi Smarties,

I'm sad to say that today is our official last post in the Triad. We've really enjoyed delivering all the Smarty Scoop for you for two years and appreciate the support each and every one of you has given us every single day! However, due to some recent changes in the direction of our brand and business, we deemed it necessary to discontinue the TSP site for now. 

We wish you the best of luck with your journey through this crazy little thing called mommyhood and stay Smarty!

Come visit us in Charlotte any time - www.charlottesmartypants.com!

Sincerely,
Jen Plym
Chief Founding Mommy
http://www.charlottesmartypants.com
http://www.triadsmartypants.com

I wasn't exactly an avid follower since I'm neither a mom or particularly smart, but I kept an eye on the blog because I'm interested to see how "new media" fares locally.  For that reason I'm sorry to see them throw in the towel in the Triad, but hopefully they'll thrive in Charlotte.

Freedom of the Press in the Land of Palin

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I'm interested to know what you think after reading the following caption from a picture taken on the campaign trail in Alaska:

Alaska Dispatch founder and editor Tony Hopfinger sits with his hands cuffed in a Central Middle School hallway after being arrested by private security, left, while he was trying to ask U.S. Senate Republican candidate Joe Miller questions as Miller was leaving a town hall meeting on Sunday. An Anchorage Police Department officer, second from right, gathers information from the scene.

I don't know about you but this just plain pisses me off.  A private security detail "arresting" a reporter doing his job.  Thankfully other reporters were there covering the event, and this NPR story provides an overview:

The editor of Alaska Dispatch, was grabbed, handcuffed, and detained by private security guards working for Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller at an election rally in Anchorage, Alaska. Tony Hopfinger was trying to interview Miller after the event when the guards grabbed him, handcuffed him and held him in a hallway for about 30 minutes. They told him he was "under arrest." And they threatened other journalists with the same treatment if they spoke with Hopfinger.

From the Alaska Daily News who also had a reporter there:

The editor of the Alaska Dispatch website was arrested by U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller's private security guards Sunday as the editor attempted to interview Miller at the end of a public event in an Anchorage school…

Hopfinger has not been charged but the owner of the Drop Zone, the private security firm that's been providing Miller's security, accused Hopfinger of trespassing at the public event, a town hall sponsored by the Miller campaign. The owner, William Fulton, also said Hopfinger assaulted a man by shoving him…

Hopfinger, who was holding a small video camera, said he was attempting to draw out a statement from Miller on why he was disciplined by the Fairbanks North Star Borough when Miller worked there as a part-time attorney. After Miller walked away, Hopfinger said, he was surrounded by Miller supporters and security guards and felt threatened, so he pushed one of them away.

Fulton said the man shoved by Hopfinger was not hurt…

One of the guards grabbed Hopfinger's video camera. Later, Hopfinger said that when he got the camera back, the segment covering the span of the arrest was missing. An Anchorage police officer offered to take the camera into custody and have it examined in the crime lab to investigate whether evidence had been destroyed, but Hopfinger declined. He said he needed the camera and the remaining video for his work.

While Hopfinger was still in handcuffs, the guards attempted to prevent other reporters from talking to him and threatened them too with arrest for trespass. A Daily News reporter interviewed Hopfinger anyway. No other reporters were arrested, though a few shoving matches and chest bumps ensued as the guards attempted to cordon off Hopfinger and block photographs and videos from being taken of the bizarre school scene.

Is it just me or are we living through the looniest political season in modern American history? 

Popularity Contest

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Anyone familiar with the publishing business and/or the rubber chicken circuit will be thoroughly unshocked by this revelation:

Mitt Romney boosted sales of his book this spring by asking institutions to buy thousands of copies in exchange for his speeches, according to a document obtained by POLITICO…

The hosts ranged from Claremont McKenna College to the Restaurant Leadership Conference, many of whom are accustomed to paying for high-profile speakers like Romney. Asking that hosts buy books is also a standard feature of book tours. But Romney's total price — $50,000 — was on the high end, and his publisher, according to the document from the book tour — provided on the condition it not be described in detail — asked institutions to pay at least $25,000, and up to the full $50,000 price, in bulk purchases of the book. With a discount of roughly 40 percent, that meant institutions could wind up with more than 3,000 copies of the book — and a person associated with one of his hosts said they still have quite a pile left over.

 

Do Unto Others

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The video below was shared by a friend on Facebook.  I lost contact with my friend when I left home for college and I consider it one of the great gifts of this age of social media that I've been able to reconnect with him and several other of my friends that I'd lost contact with over the years.

What's unique about this particular friend is that he is gay.  Back in the early '80s when we were in high school he wasn't yet officially out, and to my recollection we never discussed his or anyone else's sexual preferences.  But after watching this video I'm left to wonder if I ever made any hateful or harmful comments about "fags", to wonder if I ever hurt his feelings because I said things that teenage boys say about gay people because, quite frankly, we're scared to death someone might think we're gay.  I wonder if my own insecurity led me to truly hurt someone that didn't do anything to deserve it.

For those who don't want to watch this video because you disagree with the gay or lesbian lifestyle I would urge you to think about something; try to remember how insecure, confused and lost you felt when you were a teenager. If you were a straight boy you were terrified that your "manliness" would somehow be questioned, and you were petrified that you would be rejected by the girls you were interested in. Now imagine how insecure you'd feel if you realized that you weren't like most of the other boys, that you were very different than your parents in a most fundamental way.  The teasing and taunting that a straight kid who's not a part of the in crowd receives is bad enough, and we can only imagine how much worse it is for a kid who's trying to come to terms with being gay.

The speaker in this video is right that we need to help stop the bullying and cruelty that children face every day.  This is nothing new and it's a problem that I think every generation has dealt with, but that doesn't mean we can't do something about it.  I think part of the solution is treating bullying at schools in much the same way that fighting has been treated.  From what I see at my kids' high school, fights are much less common today than they were when I was in school and I think that's a result of the "boys will be boys" thinking being replaced with "we will not tolerate any fighting" thinking.

The larger part of the solution lies with parents.  I'm sure that in the sanctity of our own homes many of us say things that we'd never say in public.  Maybe it's a slightly inappropriate joke that we think is harmless, or maybe it's a diatribe against "those people", but without really thinking about it we send our kids a message that people are different and somehow beneath us. I'm confident that in many homes the inappropriate jokes are accompanied by that old Seinfeld line "not that there's anything wrong with that," but the message is still being sent.  I'm also confident that in many homes there are overt and vehement statements made against groups that the parents don't agree with, but that does not relieve them of the responsibility of teaching their kids that no matter how they feel about that other child's race, sexual orientation, etc. they cannot tease or bully that child.

Of course we live in the real world, and no matter what we say as parents our kids will be kids, and they'll say hurtful things to other kids so they can look cool or somehow feel more important. That's life, but as parents what we can do is come down hard on them and let them know it's not acceptable behavior.  We can also take a look at ourselves and recognize our own weaknesses, our own human frailty, and endeavor to do better.

Personally I only hope that those I may have hurt or offended will forgive me.

Twitter Fight!

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So, the Winston-Salem ballpark has reemerged as a hot button issue because of this:

The Citizens Baseball Stadium Review Committee got its first look last night at financial information about the progress of BB&T Ballpark during a discussion that was not open to the public.

The committee voted unanimously to close the meeting because, it said, the financial information that the members would discuss — likely the stadium’s revenues, expenses and profit through June 30 — is confidential and protected by North Carolina law.

The Winston-Salem Journal objected to the closing of the meeting. Earlier yesterday, the city rejected a request by the Journal for the financial information supplied by the team to the city.

In a letter to the Journal, City Attorney Angela Carmon wrote that “disclosure of such confidential, competitively sensitive business information could cause substantial competitive harm or otherwise adversely impact the business interests of the Ballpark Entities.”

The Committee's decision to meet behind closed doors led to a scathing column from the Journal's Scott Sexton and then a little tete-a-tete broke out on Twitter between Mayor Joines and Sexton:

JoinesTweets

Sextontweet
A little later this appeared on the Journal website:

Mayor Allen Joines said today he will talk with the Winston-Salem Dash to see if the baseball team can release some financial information that might not otherwise be publicly available…

Joines said that the private information in the financial data includes vendor contracts, and that the team is in the process of negotiating those.

“The bottom line is, we need to determine what are the critical things the public would like to know,” Joinessaid. “I don’t think they want to see a vendor contract. I think they want to know what the attendance was and what the general total revenues are. Hopefully we can get something that is a compromise that we can share.”

 

Endorsements for Kennedy

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Billy Kennedy, the Democrat running for the seat in NC-5 against incumbent Rep. Virginia Foxx, has recently picked up two endorsements.  The first was from the Winston-Salem Journal, which isn't surprising since they'd probably endorse a cardboard cutout over Foxx.  The second, and in my opinion, more important endorsement came from Zach Galifianakis.  Don't know Galifianakis?  Well, he's the one-man wolf pack from The Hangover and native of Wilkesboro. From Mark Binker's post at the News & Record about the endorsement :

So why does Galifianakis care? He’s from Wilkesboro, for starters. His parents still live there. He owns property in the county. And he has deep family ties to the Democratic party. His uncle, Nick Galifianakis, served in the N.C. House and the U.S. House, and ran unsuccessfully against Jesse Helms for U.S. Senate in 1972. In fact, it was Nick Galifianakis’ Greek heritage that prompted Helms’ famous slogan: “Jesse Helms: He’s One of Us.”

Two Takes

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Earlier this week the two candidates for Congress from North Carolina's fifth district debated each other. Here's what their respective campaigns sent out via email afterwards.

First, from incumbent Virginia Foxx:

Foxx Wins Congressional Debate

Ashe County, NC — Today Congresswoman Virginia Foxx debated her opponent at a public forum in Ashe County.  In the debate, Foxx highlighted her fiscal conservatism and her vision to get North Carolina back to work.  She also exposed her opponent's extremely liberal views on taxes, government spending, and health care.
 
Voters know that there is just one proven conservative in this race—and that’s Virginia Foxx.  Today’s debate illustrated that Virginia embraces common sense conservative ideas like reducing government spending, keeping taxes low and slashing job-killing federal red tape. 

 But the debate also exposed how out of step her opponent, Billy Kennedy, is with North Carolina voters.  He supports big government programs like the trillion dollar health care bill, a job-killing energy tax and the failed stimulus program.

 The choice this election is between strong conservative values or Washington’s failed liberal policies. Unfortunately Virginia’s liberal opponent would be a rubber stamp for big-government policies that mean more government, more debt and less freedom. In fact, Kennedy can't stop talking about all the new spending he supports.  North Carolina simply cannot afford to send big spenders like Kennedy to Washington.

Virginia is working to keep America the land of the free and a country of opportunity for everyone.  And she isn’t afraid to take on the liberals who run Washington.  As today’s debate made clear, Virginia Foxx is a conservative voice that North Carolina families and small businesses can depend on.

I think it's cool that all one needs to do to win a debate is to declare yourself the winner.  I need to remember that in the future.

Now from Foxx's challenger Billy Kennedy:

The Good Lord Gave Us Brains Too

October 13, 2010

Dear Friends,

Do you want to know how badly Billy Kennedy beat Virginia Foxx in last night's debate?

Click here to see one outstanding exchange.

Last night Billy showed voters he is up to the task of representing us in Congress, and he very clearly demonstrated why we are so proud to stand beside him.

The stakes couldn't be any higher.  Want you join us with a contribution of $10, $20, or $30 dollars?  

Our grassroots campaign is gaining traction everyday.  With an enthusiastic endorsement from the Winston-Salem Journal and a resounding win in last night's debate, we have the momentum to surprise all those Washington insiders who say it can't be done.

Early voting starts tomorrow and we are only 20 days away from the election.  Your contribution will help us share this message with voters from Watauga to Winston-Salem. 

Billy came out swinging at last night's debate.  The standing-room-only crowd agreed that Kennedy had won the night.

The incumbent seemed genuinely shocked that the audience was not with her. The greatest shock, no doubt, was that she found herself completely undone by a farmer from Bethel.

Join with us now.  We need you.

All best,

Jaret Glazer
Billy Kennedy for Congress
Finance Director

Once again I like the self declaration of victory, but I have to award style points for the headline, which referenced a line of his during the debate.  Anytime the "liberal" candidate can preempt the "ultra-conservative" candidate with a reference to God you have to give him props. 

Who knew that winning or losing was subjective? Oh wait, it's politics; everything's subjective.