Generally speaking, in order to get an “A” grade, you have to demonstrate that not only did you learn the material but that you demonstrated an understanding far beyond what was expected for the course. You could say that someone deserving of an “A” would know the material so well that they wouldn’t even make careless mistakes on a test — the material would be far too simple to provide any wrong answers. In the case of a school, an “A” would mean that the school is turning out students who not only meet the standards but go well beyond them. But what do you do if your schools aren’t performing so well and you still want to say they get an “A”? Well, if you’re the Public Education Department in New Mexico, you redefine what it means to get an “A”.
Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Grading on a Curve — for Schools
Thursday, February 9th, 2012Alex P. Keaton and the Fourth of July
Sunday, July 3rd, 2011
I have an early memory — probably from about age four or five — of Fourth of July fireworks. We had gone to see the big fireworks show and I was in bed trying to go to sleep. Back then, however, firecrackers and bottle rockets were completely legal and larger explosives were not uncommon. To a young child, however, the noise was terrifying — I knew for sure that one of those fireworks I was hearing was going to land on our roof and burn the house down with all of us in it. And perhaps that’s why I’m an ultra-liberal these days. Yes, before you head out to that Fourth of July parade or fire up the Independence Day barbecue, you might want to take a look at what a new study has to say about the lasting effects of such festivities.
Don’t Say Gay in Tennessee
Saturday, May 21st, 2011
I gather it’s not easy being gay in Tennessee. If you listen to country music, most of it seems to be about the value and nobility of small town life — hard labor, cheap beer, and church on Sunday. There’s not much room in there for difference, let alone anything not considered manly. It seems the rest of the state isn’t much different from Nashville’s music. The state senate has recently approved a bill that would prevent teachers from discussing anything related to homosexuality before the ninth grade.
Giving New Dads Time Off
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011
Calling the current system “Edwardian,” Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg wants to overhaul Britain’s rules governing maternity and paternity leave. Specifically, he wants to increase the amount of time men take off from work after their child is born. Currently, women are allowed up to a year of maternity leave; under the new rules, if they return to work before that time is up, the father would be able to use the remainder of the unpaid leave.
A Parent’s New Year’s Resolutions For 2011
Sunday, January 2nd, 2011
At the start of the New Year, it’s traditional for people to make sweeping statements about how they plan to improve themselves or their situation in the coming year. I could certainly do that — I definitely need to lose weight, I’d like to yell at the kids a little less, I really ought to work more on getting my book published — but that would only benefit me or, at most, my family. So I thought I’d take a look at the big picture and come up with some resolutions that will help kids all over.
So with that in mind, here is A Parent’s New Year’s Resolutions for 2011:
What Schools Must Have
Friday, December 3rd, 2010
As insane as it might seem, when times are tough, economically, it’s always education — the future of our society, our country, even our species — that seems to get cut first. School nurses get laid off, along with librarians and counselors. Art classes are pretty much gone, as are the band and orchestras of our youth. There’s no money for after school activities and lunches are made off-site and trucked in like military MREs. Now, however, a California court has ruled that there is one part of the school day that simply can’t be cut, regardless of how bad a fiscal crisis a school district is facing.
Philadelphia Pays The Price For Discrimination
Thursday, November 18th, 2010
Four years ago, the city of Philadelphia realized that they were giving a huge subsidy to a community organization to help them serve the citizens of the City of Brotherly Love even though that group systematically discriminated against a large part of the population. So the city told the Boy Scouts of America’s Cradle of Liberty council that they would either have to change their anti-LGBT policies or begin paying fair-market rent for the city-owned, half-acre property that the group had been using as their headquarters for nearly 80 years. Not surprisingly, the Boy Scouts didn’t like that.
Is Your Child Real?
Friday, October 8th, 2010
When you look at your kids, do you ever wonder whether or not they’re real? Are they real children or just elaborate fakes, cheap imitations of the real thing, shadows of that which they pretend to be? That’s the question Cathy Lynn Grossman, writing in USA Today’s Faith and Reason section, posed regarding children conceived via in vitro fertilisation. Her query was prompted by the news that the Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to Robert Edwards, the British scientist who pioneered the process in 1977. “Do you think,” she asks, “a baby conceived in [a] test tube is still a child in the eyes of God?”
A Farewell To Adventure
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010
San Francisco’s Stern Grove is a very special place for our family. It is a place of beginnings and endings. It is a place to share and to learn. The Grove is one of San Francisco’s great treasures. I got married there and mourned the passing of my father there. Both my wife and I have performed there and enjoyed many a summer concert with friends and family. I taught swimming just across the street under the expert eye of the great Charlie Sava, at the pool that now bears his name. I’ve even gotten my hair cut in the grove, back stage, during a performance by the San Francisco Opera. But perhaps the fondest memories I have of Stern Grove are the earliest.
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