Education thread

[Vrede too]

... Today simply don't know what dark matter is, but we have ample evidence of its existence. We've learned some of its properties. We're able to rule out several things (ordinary gas, dust, etc.) that it is not.

Because even without knowing what dark matter is, we can see it's effects. Those effects are evidence for its existence, and the more we learn about the nature of the effects - how it interacts with ordinary visible matter, with light, etc. - the more it tells us about dark matter....

http://www.blueridgedebate.com/memberli ... ofile&u=96

[k9nanny]

Oh, restring, our dear Canadian friend.
Ancient people knew volcanoes existed, but, lacking the science, they created stories of gods and goddesses. How do we know that alternate universes aren't on the other side of those black holes?

Today, we know about the existence of things our ancestors could never imagine. Can't there be much that we haven't even imagined? Wouldn't it be arrogant and short sided to believe we know it all?

I like to think there is still mystery in the universe. I myself have had a few unexplainable experiences, yet I believe the eventual explanation is science, not superstition or capricious deities. Hell, we could be the creation of a single author, who could rub us out with his eraser.

Remember, despite science, there are many who still believe HIV, hurricanes, and birth defects are divine punishment.
As a species, we have a long way to go.

[Vrede too]

NC petitions:

Place a Moratorium on School Vouchers
Keep Our Children Safe
Achievement School Districts are a bad idea
RESTORE OUR TEACHING PIPELINE!

[Vrede too]

A Big Loss For Vouchers In The Lone Star State

At least on this NC is to the anti-education, pro-madrassa side of Texas.

[Vrede too]

How is Betsy DeVos Bad for Public Education?
Let us count the ways.

[Vrede too]

Latest D.C. Voucher Study: Program Doesn’t Improve Students’ Academic Achievement

The Department of Education just released a new study of the Washington, D.C., school voucher program. And the findings confirm what we’ve known for years: The program doesn’t improve students’ academic achievement. In fact, it has resulted in statistically significant negative impacts on student test scores.

The study found that students using a D.C. voucher performed 7.3 percentage points worse in math than their peers. The program especially hurts students in elementary schools, which comprise 68 percent of the voucher students in the study and are the largest demographic in the program. These students performed worse in math and reading: 14.7 percentage points lower in math and 9.3 percentage points lower in reading.

This conclusion isn’t a surprise considering similar results were reached in recent studies of voucher programs across the country. The studies have found negative impacts on student achievement for voucher students in Ohio, Louisiana and Indiana....

God works in mysterious ways.

‘Scopes Monkey Trial’ Attorney Clarence Darrow Continues To Face Opposition In Dayton, Tenn.

One Tennessee woman has all but thrown down a gauntlet and demanded a duel in opposition to a proposed statue of Clarence Darrow, the attorney who defended teacher John T. Scopes when he taught evolution in a Dayton public school.

Philadelphia sculptor Zenos Frudakis is creating the statue, which is scheduled to be dedicated in July at the Rhea County Courthouse – the site of the infamous “Scopes Monkey Trial.”

Darrow will once again square off against William Jennings Bryan, the creationist prosecutor who argued Scopes had illegally taught evolution at a Dayton high school in 1925. Bryan’s statue has stood alone outside the courthouse for more than a decade....

June Griffin – described by the Chattanooga Times Free Press as a “boisterous Rhea County right-winger” – objects to Darrow’s return to Dayton.

“I oppose it because it doesn’t belong there. That is sacred territory, where people from all over the world came to see these idiots that didn’t believe that God created the world and man,” Griffin recently told the paper. “They came from Oklahoma, Texas, in wagons. They traveled to see such a strange creature that would not believe the Bible.”

Griffin wants to confront anyone who thinks the Darrow statue is a good idea: “No lawyers, only personal confrontation. Engage them in the debate right there.”

If that doesn’t work, she’s apparently willing to consider an armed clash. Griffin suggested that the statue’s defenders form a militia and meet her forces (whoever they might be) on a nearby mountain: “If worst comes to worst, I will challenge them to meet us in their uniforms at King’s Mountain, just like John Sevier did, and we'll settle it over there.” (Sevier was a Tennessee founder who led a militia in a Revolutionary War battle.)

... Rhea County Commissioner Bill Hollin has also voiced his displeasure about the pending statue, citing his personal religious beliefs. Hollin said he “sees no reason to celebrate the man who lost the trial and whose opponent contributed so much to Dayton,” according to the Times Free Press. However, Hollin has said he plans no official action to oppose the statue – no mention of militias or mountaintop skirmishes....

Ummm, Commissioner Bill Hollin, John T. Scopes and Clarence Darrow won.

Bryan was initially the victor in the trial, and Scopes was convicted – although that was later overturned on a technicality. But most historians agree that Bryan lost in the court of public opinion, where his strident fundamentalist views appeared to be simplistic and out of date.

Post-Scopes, the national tide began to slowly turn in favor of teaching evolution – or at least in not preventing it from being taught. In 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled state laws like those in Tennessee and Arkansas could not forbid the teaching of evolution (Epperson v. Arkansas). In 1987, the high court invalidated a Louisiana law that mandated “balanced treatment” between evolution and creationism in public school science classes. And in 2005, in the case Kitzmiller v. Dover that was filed by AU and its allies, a federal judge struck down teaching creationism’s cousin, intelligent design, in public schools....

For now, we’re pleased to hear that Darrow is coming back to Dayton. His presence there will help to tell the whole story of an epic clash between evolution and creationism that still resonates today.

Science rules.

[Vrede too]

Trump Picks El Chapo to Run D.E.A.

NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—Just days after picking Betsy DeVos to run the Department of Education, President-elect Donald Trump has tapped another wealthy outsider by naming Joaquín Guzmán, known as “El Chapo,” to head the Drug Enforcement Administration.

In an official statement, Trump said that El Chapo’s “tremendous success in the private sector” showed that he has what it takes to “shake things up” at the D.E.A.

Trump’s appointment of the former drug lord surprised many in Washington, in no small part because acrimony between the two allegedly prompted El Chapo, in 2015, to put a hundred-million-dollar bounty on Trump’s head.

But, appearing on CNN, the Trump surrogate Kellyanne Conway said that the selection of El Chapo should surprise no one. “Mr. Trump always said that he would surround himself with the best people,” she said.

When asked why Trump had readily offered a job to El Chapo while still mulling the fate of another former adversary, Mitt Romney, Conway said, “El Chapo might not have voted for Mr. Trump, but that’s because he’s Mexican and in jail, and Mitt Romney is neither.”

The appointment of the former drug kingpin is far from a done deal, however, as associates of El Chapo report that he is “concerned” that being a member of the Trump Administration would be bad for his brand.

Funny, but in reality El Chapo is far more qualified to run the DEA than Betsy DeVos is to run the Department of Education, far more.

[O Really]

Seriously, it would be hard to find anyone less qualified for any job than De Vos is for Secretary of Education. But Carson is close.

[Vrede too]

At least Carson has a very high level education, had a career with tremendous responsibility, was a rock star in his field, and had some smallish team managerial experience (nothing like El Chapo's ), though little of relevance to his current job. Betsy DeVos has none of these. Seriously, how bad do you have to be to be the worst Trump cabinet pick?

[O Really]

Don't forget Rick Perry.
Once you check off criteria like political favor, party loyalty, and fundamental competence in something, there should still be a lot of candidates capable of doing a job that consists largely of being the face in front of a bunch of professional agency management. But for some reason, Trump has managed to pick people who can't be explained by any rationality other than intent to wreck. Even though many good eligible people would decline a position in Trump's administration because, Trump, there are still many who are better than those selected. For example, say you looked at the top school systems in the country. You'd have to skip over the first few like #1 Massachusetts, NJ, NH CT, MD, VA because they're blue or bluish. But before you get out of the top ten, you hit Nebraska, Iowa, and Utah. I'll bet somebody toward the top of one of those systems would have been willing to be Secretary of Education.

[Vrede too]

I'd say that Betsy DeVos is far less qualified than Rick Perry, but you may be correct that he's a worse cabinet pick, ugh. Good point about a top tier red state education official, almost any of them, being better than DeVos.

[O Really]

DeVos, right-wing high dollar roller, brother of Blackwater founder Erik Prince, and Amway heir is certainly a political pick, but she has been active in Michigan politics related to education. Her main un-qualification to run a federal agency is that she opposes the purpose of the agency and now has the power to screw up the works. If Trump wanted to close Education, he should just have appointed a liquidation manager and shut it down.

[Vrede too]

... If Trump wanted to close Education, he should just have appointed a liquidation manager and shut it down.

From your lips . . .


Are we not educated? We are DeVos!

[O Really]

Well, not that I personally agree, but one could make an argument that the Department of Education isn't necessary at a cabinet level. It's only been a separate department fewer than 40 years, and is primarily a fund-distributor and data collector. But in the wrong hands, it's got great potential for evil, with strings and requirements on funding. It can also make use of the old axiom that "statistics don't lie - but statisticians do." I wouldn't doubt for a moment what DeVos would be happy to hinky up the data to show, for example, that having black kids in the classroom brings down the overall IQ of the class. So I'm just saying that we'd be better off to close the department than to have DeVos run it.

[Vrede too]

... So I'm just saying that we'd be better off to close the department than to have DeVos run it.

I won't agree with that . . . yet. We'll see how she does vs. institutional resistance, educational science and public outrage. Other than her fat wallet it's not like she has a track record of competence. Plus, dismantling DoE may be the ultimate Trump/DeVos goal, anyhow.

[Vrede too]

At 3 a.m., NC Senate GOP strips education funding from Democrats’ districts

Cutting education in Democrats’ districts is an evil, though clever, way to turn Democrats into Republicans.

[Vrede too]

8th graders refuse to take a photo with Paul Ryan because they don't "want to be associated with him"

[bannination]

8th graders refuse to take a photo with Paul Ryan because they don't "want to be associated with him"

I barely cared about politics in the 8th grade. I guess access to information is everything.

[rstrong]

As a parent I'm not sure I'd want some politician walking into a school and using my kid as a prop for a photo op.

[Vrede too]

I barely cared about politics in the 8th grade. I guess access to information is everything.

I wore a black armband in 7th grade during the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam and almost got beat up for doing so. Otoh, there weren't "nearly 100" of us. I also wanted to be an ecologist, which died scientifically in my first college Forestry class, but was eventually realized in my activism.

As a parent I'm not sure I'd want some politician walking into a school and using my kid as a prop for a photo op.

It was a school trip to Washington D.C., but your point is otherwise valid.