Intercepts

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:49 | Permalink | Comments

"Fractions have had their day, being useful for by-hand calculation," says University of Pennsylvania math professor Dennis DeTurck. "But in this digital age, they're as obsolete as Roman numerals are."

DeTurck thinks we should stick to decimals and not teach fractions until after a student learns calculus.

"Part of that is our kids are remarkably sophisticated consumers. They want to know why they are forced to do complicated and difficult calculations. You can't say, 'Have faith and it will all become clear,' " DeTurck said. "Kids figuratively throw up their hands. It is no longer seen as relevant. By the time they see the relevance again they have missed the intermediary stuff."

Kids don't see the relevance of anything that isn't related to their daily lives as kids. That's why we send them to school. It's thinking like Professor DeTurck's that will lead us to a society where these kids will be prepared for nothing except a job in a pizzeria... and even then they will struggle to come up with a method for dividing a pie into equal portions of 0.125.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:14 | Permalink | Comments

This time of year I like to send people to visit the web site of the Saint Nicholas Center to learn about Nicholas of Myra and the origins of many Christmas traditions. Apparently there are some folks who have been trying to get an independent movie about him off the ground for several years. They, too, have a web site, and I've posted one of their trailers here.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 06:18 | Permalink | Comments

When a government comes up with a ill-conceived plan for public education, is it a good or a bad thing when that government also doesn't bother to fund it?

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:50 | Permalink | Comments

Campaign journalism often consists of too many reporters chasing too little news, so the question of where Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee stands on education is garnering more attention than it might otherwise.

As I noted last Monday, Huckabee is drawing support on education from ideological opposites, represented on one end by conservative home-schoolers and on the other by NEA New Hampshire. This is causing other ideological opposites to question his sincerity. Is this really so unusual a strategy for an Arkansas governor to use?

Huckabee's education stance arose in two contexts this morning. The first was a smack from columnist George Will, who is appalled by NEANH's endorsement of Huckabee.

"It likes, as public employees generally do, his record of tax increases, and it applauds his opposition to school choice," wrote Will.

Huckabee's campaign states unequivocally: "Governor Mike Huckabee is a supporter of school vouchers, and has always been a supporter of school vouchers; he supported them as far back as his first run for public office, as a U.S. Senate candidate, in 1992."

Michele McNeil of Education Week isn't buying that line. In a post headlined "Should Huckabee Be Wearing Flip-Flops?" she turns up a paper trail that depict Huckabee as not quite the voucher champion he now claims to be.

"Incidentally, Huckabee has not been out on the campaign trail, jumping up and down asserting that the NEA got it wrong," McNeil wrote.

I'm inclined to take the Huckabee campaign at its word - that he supports vouchers. But so what? Has he instituted vouchers? No. Has he proposed a voucher initiative? No. Has he taken any action in any form on vouchers? No. Would he consider alienating some of his supporters by championing vouchers in a practical way? No.

If NEA New Hampshire has been deceived by Huckabee, it can only be because it wanted to be deceived. A teachers' union can "endorse" someone - even a voucher supporter - while privately hoping he crashes and burns (ref. Joe Lieberman) if it serves a greater organizational purpose. Equally telling was the admission by NEANH President Rhonda Wesolowski that the union "didn't ask Huckabee much about No Child Left Behind, since he wasn't a member of the Congress that passed the law."

Ha! He's running for President of the United States. If it were a serious endorsement, wouldn't they want complete details of his position on their biggest national issue? Barack Obama wasn't a member of the Congress that passed NCLB. Did they let him blow it off, too?

Huckabee's "support" for vouchers is no different from Obama's "support" for merit pay. It's rhetorical. So I don't think it's inconsistent for Huckabee to receive a rhetorical endorsement from NEA New Hampshire.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 11:22 | Permalink | Comments

A firm in Michigan that provides substitute teachers in 26 counties reported that teacher absences spike 30 to 40 percent on Mondays and Fridays.

"It can tax the system," said Scott VanLente, Professional Education Services Group sales and marketing director.

No kidding. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that "many substitute teachers prefer not to work on Fridays or Mondays, either."

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:50 | Permalink | Comments

I don't know anything about this incident except what is in this story from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, but I thought it was an interesting conundrum. Here are the relevant excerpts:

"The president of the local teachers union slammed the School Committee last night for allowing what he described as slanderous comments to be made about a teacher during a public meeting two weeks ago.

"William R. Bourbeau, president of the Fitchburg Education Association, made his remarks at the start of an otherwise upbeat committee meeting, where departing members were saluted and a local physician’s generosity was celebrated.

"Two weeks ago, during the public forum that starts and closes each meeting, the committee heard from a parent who said he was unhappy with the district’s handling of an incident involving his 9-year-old daughter."

The story then quotes Bourbeau:

"'If this committee had followed its own policies, it would have discovered that the teacher who was named in the complaint had already been fully investigated and cleared by both the building and district administration,' Mr. Bourbeau said. 'Instead, this committee permitted this parent to slander one of its own employees before this committee at its last meeting on Dec. 3.'

"He quoted committee policies regarding complaints about staff that he said were not followed in this case.

"'Neither policy states that when a complaint has been fully investigated and the teacher has been cleared of all charges that the unhappy parent has the right to present the unfounded allegations at an open meeting of this committee,' Mr. Bourbeau said. 'There certainly is no policy that compels the School Committee meeting to be utilized as a tool for harassing the employees of its district.'

"After Mr. Bourbeau’s remarks, committee member James F. Connors said the First Amendment would preclude anyone being muzzled during the open forum. He said the parent in this case did not use any names, so the remarks were not inappropriate."

There's a lot of fun stuff to talk about regarding Mr. Bourbeau's legal theory (which would probably outlaw most O.J. jokes), but doesn't it seem like he has done almost exactly what he accused the parent of doing?

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:47 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read:

1) Many Misconceptions About NEA and Huckabee
2) Biden Sees Your Phony Statistic and Raises You 10%
3) Days of Labor Peace Coming to an End
4) Connecticut Teacher Has Movie Flashback
5) Scheduling Note
6) Last Week's Intercepts
7) Quote of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 16:07 | Permalink | Comments

EdNews gets a top ten list of concerns in education from Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:57 | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 10:21 | Permalink | Comments

I don't usually follow celebrity news, but thanks to This Week In Education I learned that actor Will Smith plans to open a school. Smith and his wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith, homeschool their own kids.

I have no idea what his positions are on curriculum, operations and reform, but I'm feeling pretty optimistic about his endeavor after seeing this video.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 14:07 | Permalink | Comments

I'm puzzled that a video of Mike Huckabee speaking before the NEA Representative Assembly last July is suddenly a major edusphere topic. The clip was posted on the day it happened by EducationVotes, which is NEA's channel to YouTube.

Yesterday it was embedded on the ironically named Breaking News: The LRC Blog with the headline "Huckabee extolling high government school salaries--incredible!"

This prompted the ironically named NewsAlert to embed it under the headline "Huckabee: Errand Boy For the Teachers' Unions."

At 11:54 p.m., Mickey Kaus in turn posted a link to the NewsAlert entry, noting "Today's video: Huckabee sucks up to the teachers' union."

Somehow Eduwonk managed to squeeze in a final post about the video before the final six minutes of December 11 passed. Under the headline "Competition Comes to Education!" Eduwonk states, "Here's Huckabee planting one on the NEA. Via Kaus."

Not wanting to be left out, I submit this, my own video from the very same speech, featuring Mike Huckabee making a joke about puppy urine (starts at the 1:50 mark). For a bonus you get a look at Barack Obama's extremely weak support of merit pay. It hasn't gone viral yet, but this grapevine just might take it over the top.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 11:22 | Permalink | Comments

It's either a slow news day, or even the education writers are on strike, so we bring you this little diversion:

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 10:35 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read:

1) 52,000 New K-8 Students, 42,500 New K-8 Teachers
2) Colorado Public Employees Union Hooks Up with CWA
3) Minnesota Discovers Federalism
4) Now Utah Education Association Brags About NEA Voucher Campaign Involvement
5) Shape of Things to Come
6) Last Week's Intercepts
7) Quote of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 14:46 | Permalink | Comments

Well, I could be wrong about that looming presidential endorsement:

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 09:05 | Permalink | Comments

The NEA New Hampshire endorsement is now in the books (Hillary), but hold on. The Illinois Education Association yesterday announced its endorsement of Barack Obama.

Meanwhile, AFT is already very active in Iowa in support of Hillary, and coordinating its efforts with AFSCME and Emily's List.

At this point, I think Dennis Kucinich is the only Democratic candidate who has not been endorsed by a teachers' union (although I'm sure I'll get an e-mail proving me wrong).

I don't know how long it will take to hear about what happens in this weekend's NEA board of directors meeting, but I would be very surprised if we don't have some national news out of there by Monday morning.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:45 | Permalink | Comments

MSNBC reported yesterday that NEA New Hampshire will announce it has endorsed Hillary Clinton and Mike Huckabee for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations, respectively. The timing of the announcement steals even more thunder from the upcoming NEA national endorsement, likely to come in the next 10 days.

NEA President Reg Weaver said he hoped other state affiliates will wait to "concur or not concur" with his recommendation.

Meanwhile, the Boston Globe reports NEA New Hampshire "plans a big announcement tomorrow in Manchester, possibly with Senator Hillary Clinton there. A separate event for Huckabee has not been put together."

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:11 | Permalink | Comments

James Buss, the Wisconsin teacher and former union president who thought it would be funny to post anonymously on a conservative blog the following:

"Kids like Eric Harris and Dylen Klebold members of the Young Republicans club at Columbine. They knew how to deal with the overpaid teacher union thugs. One shot at a time!"

is now a cause célèbre for free speech advocates who want the charges against him dropped.

"If you look at all the factors in this case, it 's pretty clear it would be a mistake to charge," said Larry Dupuis, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin. "At worst, it was somebody expressing admiration for somebody who did something reprehensible. But the more reasonable explanation is this is somebody who is trying to mock the conservative view of teacher salaries."

University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Donald Downs says Buss is protected by the First Amendment because his post was a parody.

"It has to be intended to incite violence. If it's tongue-in-cheek, there's virtually no way they can claim that," he said. He said the "First Amendment protects all sorts of unsavory, controversial speech."

For the record, I agree that Buss should not be criminally charged. After all, I once threatened to take a hostage at the NEA convention if Dennis Kucinich tried to sing "Sixteen Tons." But I wonder how forgiving these folks would be if Buss had turned out to be a former president of the local NRA, instead of NEA.

UPDATE: Buss will not be charged. But the police report was entertaining.

* Buss told police he "just wanted to see if the hate towards teachers from other posters was so strong that other posters would endorse my facetious post."

* Buss, who in a statement described himself as politically "moderate," told police he misspelled words and used incorrect grammar and punctuation to enhance his characterization of "Observer" as "a right-wing zealot."

* Buss told police that he did not intend his post, which he called "mischievous," as a threat, but he understood how someone could perceive it as "advocating a Columbine-like attack on schools."

* During a search of Buss' home, police seized two computers and two rifles.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:32 | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 09:22 | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 12:39 | Permalink | Comments

In an "update" to his tale of Disney persecution and woe, EdWize's Leo Casey does exactly what you might have expected:

"UPDATE:

"Michael Antonucci, an anti-teacher union, anti-public education blogger who has crossed swords with us at Edwize many times in the past, asserts that Disney’s deletion is not what it appears to be — that it is simply some sort of technical glitch.

"As I made quite clear in my original post, I don’t pretend to know the exact timing of the change in the Disney web site. What I do know is that I went to that very same page of honorees by year to identify names of teachers I could contact when I circulated the Stossel protest letter, and all of the 1992 honorees whom I knew were listed at that time, as was my own name. I obviously would have noticed if my own name was missing when I read the list. At some later point, someone went into the web page and removed my name. This is simply not a case of some tired intern doing a poor job of translating one list, in which every honoree is list alphabetically, into another later list by year, as Antonucci suggests without any evidence. I linked to the Google cache simply because it was the available proof that the honoree list on the web site had been changed, and that my name had once been there.

"It is also the case that contrary to the assumptions Antonucci makes, the Disney executive who dealt with American Teacher Awards knew full well who organized the protest letter — an email solicitation from me to another honoree was forwarded to him, and he sent out an email to a number of honorees that named me, and it was forwarded back to me. Moreover, both the email and regular solicitations had those who wanted to sign the letter return their consent to me.

"I did check to see if a number of the teachers who signed the letter also had their names removed, and noted this was not the case. If they had, I would have made that point in my post."

As much as Casey would now like to make this story about me, I'll simply repeat the facts, which he refuses to address in the context of his accusations that Disney removed his name from its web site in a deliberate act of retribution for the Stossel letter:

* Twenty-five honorees signed the letter. Twenty-four remain on the page.

* Twenty-five other honorees who did not sign the letter and who are not associated with Casey in any way are also missing from the page. All of the missing names are honorees from the years 1990-1995.

* What you have to believe if you believe Casey's story: That someone in charge of that particular portion of the vast Disney web site, sometime after October 1, 2007, (some 19 months after Casey's letter) decided in an act of petty vengeance to delete Casey's name from a web page that lists the past recipients of a now-defunct award. That they singled out Casey from among all the signatories of this letter for this act, and, to disguise their insidious plan, randomly omitted 25 other names from the same five-year period to insure plausible deniability.

* The evidence that Casey produces to support his claims: His name is missing from the web page.

Despite being a card-carrying member of Disney's shadowy conspiracy to irritate Leo Casey, I truly don't care if you choose to believe his tale. Just choose to believe it after you have considered the alternatives.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:42 | Permalink | Comments