Oh, brilliant.

Dumbing down college degrees further, semester by semester.  Basic Economics has been replaced as a core class by something simpler that emphasizes Keynes's theories.  And now, my state has decided to do away with basic Algebra as a requirement to graduate.  

Wonderful.  By so doing, they're devaluing the degrees of those that took Algebra.  I mean, I can sort of see it for trade schools, for trades that have little to do with math (which are damn few), but not for liberal arts colleges and universities. 

Coming soon: Master's degree required for a basic, entry-level position at most jobs.

Wow. Just...wow.

Look.  I understand, somewhat.  She's got a sickly kid and no money to run him to the doctor every time he comes down with something, her kid misses school, and it's "unexcused." 

I get that.  I got no problem with it. 

What I have a problem with it that public schools are so much more concerned about asses in seats to get them those precious government dollars that they say that kids must be in school, no matter what, if there isn't a doctor involved. 

Where my sympathy for the mother getting arrested for what amounts to three "unexcused absences"  fails is here: she's a substitute teacher, which means she understands just what bullshit the district is likely to get up to.  She sees, first-hand, the narrow-minded bureaucracy in action.  She should understand why sixty percent of teachers don't leave their own kids in public school, and should understand that public school = child abuse.

Why the fuck doesn't she homeschool?

DTFO, and go get some serious help.

I am a survivor of rape (during my childhood).  I do know that it can, and does, leave lasting psychological and spiritual damage.  I can empathize, to a certain point.

That point was pole-vaulted over when this whiny little speshul snowflake insisted that classical mythology is no longer suitable to be taught in a fucking literary humanities class because it hurt her little feelings. 

I read the myths in question.  I read them when I was about eight or nine years old, just a year or two past the point of the worst of the abuse, and before it had totally halted.  They never triggered any flashbacks.  There were things that did (like the idiot psychologists, forced visits over weekends with my abuser, running into my abuser unexpectedly in the town where we lived, etc.), but instead of whining about it, I pushed past it and dealt with it as best I could. 

Some people don't understand that these works of art have been a part of the curriculum for longer than their grandparents have been alive, and should not be removed due to the oversensitive sensibilities of one fucking person who does not have the right to never be offended by anything. 

Some people should drop out of college, go wrap themselves in cotton batting so tightly they can't move, see, or hear anything that might "trigger" them, and go live in their parents' closets. 

I'd even be willing to pay them to remove themselves from society, and from the gene pool.

My family keeps wondering why the kids aren't just in public school.

The imp has a spelling test, today (if they don't run out of time--it's a Friday thing, but Friday's cancelled).  He's in kindergarten, if y'all remember.  He's also reading fairly well. 

He is not being bullied.  At all.

Not like this poor little five-year-old girl in Pascagoula, Mississippi, who was kicked in the face repeatedly while playing on the slide (though the school somehow thinks she beat her own face misshapen, and blacked her own eyes because they didn't see it happen). 

And definitely not like this poor twelve-year-old boy who was hospitalized with a skull fracture (and leaking spinal fluid) by another boy two years older and three times bigger. 

There's a point where kids ought to be taught to stand up to bullies, and then there's a point where the bullies need to be forcibly removed from interacting with other children.  Unfortunately, most public schools are beyond unwilling to do anything but close their eyes and blame the victim. 

Honestly, were I either of those children's parent, I'd be yanking my kid out of the schools, homeschooling them, and suing the pants off of the district.

And in our local public school district...

...we have this.

Granted, innocent until proven guilty, and it's entirely possible that some kid that wanted something he didn't get made something up, but I'd rather not have my kids in public schools where getting screwed by a teacher is a greater likelihood than in private, parochial school. 

I'd be happiest if they'd cooperate with being home schooled.

Cooler than shit.

Apparently, there is a music school in Holland--called The Metal Factory--that does more than just music.  They also do "entrepreneurship: the management side, booking, merchandising... also history and music theory": something that university music programs here don't do. 

Here, in the U.S., a degree in music is almost worthless, outside of teaching.  The only things my university's program requires are dedication, a willingness to spend almost twice as long as anyone else (and rack up debt so doing), and a butt-ton of instruments and vocals classes, as well as a complete and total lack of stage fright (concerts and recitals are very, very much required).  It doesn't require something students can use to make a living.  It doesn't seem to hold the expectation that the students can make a living with it.

I like that the Dutch school emphasizes the practical with the music, the theory, and the history.

If I hadn't ruled out public school already...

...this would do it. 

This is about fifteen or twenty minutes north of us. 

The thing I don't get is why, with charges of statutory rape and sodomy, this creature has a bail bond of only $5,000. 

Yes, you read that right.  Only five thousand dollars.  Not fifty, not five hundred.  Five thousand. 

And people wonder why I equate public school with child abuse.

Oh, come on, people!

So, kids are suspended if they fight back when bullied.  Now, they get felony charges for wiretapping for recording the bullying?

I have one thing to say, here:

The kid's parents enabled their son's abuse by putting him in that environment, and they are further abusing him by leaving him there.  It was not an easy decision for me to agree to put my kids in private school.  There is no way on earth I'd ever put them in public school.

Public school = child abuse.  End of story. 

FFOT: The dumbing-down

On Wednesday, I wrote about the dumbing-down of an economics course.  Yesterday, as a faculty member, I got an email from the same twit in the econ department announcing a dumbing-down of the entire fucking degree.  They've just announced that they have a "new Bachelor of Science in Economics degree that we are beginning in the fall semester.  This is a 30 hour degree that does not require students to complete the Business core, but does require a second major or a minor."  

And yes, that is a direct quote from the email.  

In other words, a student can decide that that business degree is just too hard, but they've always wanted to go into finance, and by golly, it looks like now they can!!!  

I am so unbelievably angry about this that I can't even find the right words.  I don't comprehend why this is happening in the first place--aren't we, as a university, supposed to challenge the students to do as much as they possibly can do?  Aren't we supposed to refuse to cater to the little darlings that need to do more work than they're willing to do?

Why the fuck are we repudiating what we're supposed to be????

Aw, fuck.

"As registration begins, you might have some advisees who ask if ECON 180 is being offered in the fall.  We have created a new course, ECON 101 Economics of Social Issues*, that replaces ECON 180 beginning in the fall.  ECON 101 will satisfy the same general education requirement as ECON 180. We think the new course will be a greatly improved course for non-business majors over ECON 180.  This summer semester will be the last time ECON 180 is offered."

Great.  We're going from teaching the principles of how economics actually works through supply and demand to the unicorn farts and rainbows model that the speshul snowflakes wish was real.  

I don't know whether to ascribe this to active malice or active stupid.

*Emphasis is mine.

FFOT: WTF???

So, when I woke up this morning, I'd forgotten it was Friday.  By the time I remembered, the day was in full swing, but I didn't have anything to write about (other than wrenching my bad knee in my sleep--again).

Until I checked the news a bit ago.

And found something that fully disgusts me.

A university administrator for the University of Colorado has been placed on paid administrative leave while they gather enough chutzpah to fire the bitch.  Paid leave.

Because apparently, running a phone sex/soft core porn business during office hours apparently didn't pay enough.

And apparently, it just doesn't do to straight out fire her for neglecting her university job.  We can't expect her to do the same amount of work as her colleagues after all--she's a woman, and she's black.

The whole situation has me so infuriated and disgusted that I cannot muster the invective appropriate to the situation.

Update:  I forgot to link the story.  It's here.

Oh, hell no.

No, not just hell no, FUCK no.

If they pull this shit (and they're working on it, with Common Core), I'm going to say to hell with school in general, and teach my kids at home.

I knew it.

My colleagues are so fucking out of touch that they think Hemmingway is a developmentally appropriate read for third graders.  That's eight and nine year olds.  Never mind the (stated lack of) complexity of the vocabulary and sentence structure--what about the themes and imagery? 

Yep, according to the thcientific meathurements of the newly-invented "Lexiles," Mr. Popper's Penguins is more complex than To Kill a Mockingbird, and F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night is appropriate for a fifth grader in the complexity of sentence structure and vocabulary.  Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory--a violent celebration of anti-Christianity and Communism--is deemed appropriate for a third grader.

And my colleagues?  They say "Wouldn't it be wonderful if our elementary students read The Sun Also Rises?"

People wonder why I hold public schools in general and Common Core in specific in such contempt.  By their measures, the only thing complex enough for a high school reading level is a product and consumer safety manual (but then again, that's probably the aim of the program.  Damn them.). 

Catholic school.  It's the only thing outside of home schooling that I'll accept.

Real effective, there.

Apparently, the Big Education establishment has realized that lockdowns in active shooter situations just makes it easier for the shooter to find sufficient victims.  They've authorized teachers to remove students from campuses under attack, telling them to run and hide, or fight if necessary.

With a fire extinguisher.

I don't know, here, guys.  I'm not an expert, but...don't you think that maybe permitting teachers to get a concealed carry permit, and carry a gun might, maybe, be a little more effective than spraying a shooter with a fire extinguisher?  Or are you expecting your teachers to be able to do that and then take the shooter's gun? 

Because that's not real likely to work.

'Bout time.

With kids rejecting Michelle Antoinette's idea of a healthy school lunch as being yucky or insufficient,* I'm surprised that more schools aren't jettisoning her stupid guidelines.

*Seriously?  Part of a chicken patty on a mini-croissant?  Does she seriously think that's enough for a high school student? 

How in the world...

Okay, if a person has child pornography on their computer, and has been actively looking at it for years, in what twisted world can they possibly be considered "not a danger to children," and permitted to work around them?

Oh.  The Leftopia of Great Britain.

At least they fired him for a while.  Thanks to the various teachers' unions here in the United States, such "teachers" not only can't be fired, but are left sitting in a lounge somewhere in their district drawing full pay--if they're teachers in New York.  It's not much better in most other districts. 

Yeah...so not putting my kids in public school.

WTF???

I mean seriously: what the fucking fuck?  Prostitution in a school???  All of the participants under sixteen???  What the fucking fuckety fuck? 

And I will guaran-damn-tee you that this wasn't the "isolated incident" that school officials would like to believe it is.  You would not believe how much goes on inside the school building, during school hours, that adults have no idea about.  I'd bet there's probably ten incidents that they don't know about.

And I thought my school years were a little wild...all we did was smoke (tobacco and pot), drink, and some of my classmates fucked each other without the exchange of money. 

What a stupid, senseless waste.

The school in Moore, Oklahoma--the one hit by a mega tornado--did not have a tornado safe room. 

Um, hello, people: we are smack-dab in the middle of Tornado Alley.  How in the hell did this slip by everyone, who in the hell thought it was a good idea, and how the fuck do they think they can justify it?

Tell it, brother.

A young man in high school, Jeff Bliss, was caught on a classmate's cell phone camera telling off a history teacher for refusing to teach, doing nothing more than handing out packets. 

The disturbing part of the story is that she kicked him out of class for speaking truth to her: "If you would just get up and teach them instead of handing them a frickin’ packet, yo. There’s kids in here who don’t learn like that. They need to learn face-to-face. You’re just getting mad because I’m pointing out the obvious." 

Her response was to tell the young man to quit wasting her time.

That isn't a teacher.  That's a chair-warmer.  That's a classroom monitor.  That should be paid less than an actual teacher is paid. 

I do have a textbook I'm writing.  I do expect my students to read it.  What we do in class is different from what is in the textbook, but what we do reinforces the textbook: I actually walk them through the steps of writing a  paper with a sample topic after they've read the unit. 

I do not hand them a textbook and go "there you go.  I won't help you learn it; leave me alone."  Not if I have any choice and control in the matter (which I didn't last semester).  I don't do that with packets, either.  I don't assign busy work.  Everything we do in class ties directly into the project we're working on.  And if a student asks, I'm happy to explain how it does, or go further in depth with any part of the project.

I cannot imagine handing most students a packet and expecting that to be the whole of the thing.  I may learn best like that, but I am fully aware that most of my students don't.

Brilliant job, people!

You have a young lady interested in the STEM fields...and you expel her and have her charged with a felony because she acted on that interest.  Way to go, public schools!  You sexist, racist* fucks.

If anyone wants to know why I don't want my kids exposed to Lord of the Flies-style socialization, brainwashing against personal responsibility, and brainless zero-tolerance policies.  

*I didn't mention it because I didn't think it was as important as a teenager being interested in the hard stuff, but the girl is black.  But since they jump all over us for being racist when we disagree with King Putt's policies, I figured it was only fair to return the favor.