President Obama recently commented that the reason American K-12 education is falling behind other industrialized nations is because kids don’t spend enough time in school. His plan to save our education system from its slow death spiral is simple: on a national basis we should make school days longer and extend the average school year into more of the summer months. Really? The answer to returning our school systems to their once greater glory is to force our children to sit through even more hours upon hours of the liberal indoctrinal drivel that has displaced real teaching in our nations schools? Give me a break. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The spine of our public education system is broken, and no amount of Federal intervention is ever going to fix it. Why? Because it is the full weight of the U.S. Department of Education riding our education system pony style that broke it in the first place. Want to know how to fix it? Read on.

Primary school in open air. Teacher (priest) with class from the outskirts of Bucharest, around 1842.

Before we do anything, we as parents must step back and take stock of the fact that it is our individual responsibility to provide a quality education to our children, not the responsibility of the government. School districts were formed as tools to allow communities to pool their resources in order to assist parents in meeting that responsibility. The current system, which is governed by federal regulations and union contracts, has perverted that original purpose and replaced it with a behemoth of a machine whose goals have more to do with societization than education. The very school systems that we created to assist us have now usurped us, and dictate to us how our children should be taught instead of the other way around. The education of our children is our own individual responsibility. It easy to ignore that fact, but until we face it again as a people our education system is doomed.

What do we do about it? Simple. We take it back.

First of all, the U.S. Department of Education as it exists today needs to be abandoned. The federal government has no place in our public education system, and the very existence of this bloated, rotting bureaucracy is a slap in the face of every student, parent, teacher, administrator and locally elected school board member in America. Our school boards are elected by us to manage a school system that is owned by us, and they need to act that way. When the federal government decides that they are in charge, the elected members of our school boards have to stand resolute and do what they were elected to do. Represent us. If they won’t, they must be replaced. The U.S. Department of Education won’t go away on its own, but if communities across the nation turn their backs on them, and ignore them, they will become functionally impotent, with no more hold on our schools.

Part of the reason the U.S. Department of Education has gained such a stranglehold on our failing school system is that we became lazy. It’s too easy to sit at home, complaining that the system is a mess, and wondering when the government is going to fix it. As parents we have to hold our schools accountable again, and not to some federal agency, to us. We entrust our children to the school system because we believe that the specially trained teachers employed there are better able to teach our children, but how do we know? What do these people actually teach our kids? Reading? Writing? Math? Arguable considering the trending test results. Volunteerism? Activism? Socialism? Those seem to be common themes, but again, how do we know?

It is time that we demand an accurate accounting of everything that our educators are teaching our children. Every teacher must be required to inform every parent of what they intend to teach our children in their classrooms. Their syllabuses and talking points should be posted publicly, and be subject to parental review. If a teacher plans to spend their hour teaching my child how to solve simple algebraic equations, then the pre-class report will be nice and simple. A copy of the worksheet can be posted online on that class’s web page. If a teacher plans to explain to my child why a single payer health care system is preferable to a free market system, then they can post those talking points to the website as well. If the teacher plans to spend their hour teaching the proper construction of a functional irrigation system and instead the conversation turns to the effects of federal endangered species regulations on the local economy, that can be posted to the online class notes, too. These online class notes can be preserved year to year and be a tool for parents to decide what kind of a person they want teaching their kids. If we read them and find that a particular teacher manages to turn daily discussions of Shakespearean literature into daily discussions about the benefits of strong labor unions, we will be able to make educated decisions as parents as to whether or not this is the kind of person we want educating our children.

I know…you teachers out there are reading this and are up-in-arms right now screaming at me that we have no right to hold your occupation under a microscope. Too bad. You chose a profession where your actions will have a profound effect on the direction of the lives of our children. My children. And I want a say in how that education is provided. If putting your occupation under a microscope is the only way to do that, then so be it.

These are simple but important things that we can do to return our education system to its greater glory. Take back control of our childrens’ education from the federal government. Require adequate representation from the school board members that we elect to steward our schools. Demand accountability and transparency from our teachers. Not so tough, right?

Remember, your child’s education is your responsibility, and the school system is nothing more than a tool to help you provide your child the best education that you can. We can sharpen that tool, we can throw the tool out and get a new one, or we can throw the tool out for good and teach our kids at home. In the end, it’s our call. Either way, arbitrarily lengthening school days and school years on a national basis is just face makeup and yet another ploy to keep the power out of our hands and keep it in the hands of government.  That’s what got us into this educational conundrum in the first place.

Back on November 7, 2008, when President Obama was still President Elect Obama, the official website of his presidential transition was www.change.gov. When the site was first posted, on the page labeled “America Serves,” Obama outlined his plan that would require that students perform a certain number of hours of community service.

change.gov>americaserves -- November 7, 2008

Within hours of the website going live, the blogosphere was abuzz with reports of the suprising content of the page, such as aye chihuaha’s post on Flopping Aces (which is the source of the above screenshot). The official transition website stated:

“Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year.” (emphasis added)

As the outrage rippled through the web, Obama’s transition team got wary of the impending backlash and within hours amended the site.

change.gov>americaserves - March 17, 2009

The new language in question, still available on the site, now reads:

Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by setting a goal that all middle school and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year and by developing a plan so that all college students who conduct 100 hours of community service receive a universal and fully refundable tax credit ensuring that the first $4,000 of their college education is completely free. (emphasis added)

Now, this might seem innocuous, until you read House Bill 1388, introduced on March 9, 2009, that “reauthorize(s) and reform(s) the national service laws” and creates a congressional committee that will analyze “whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed.”

HR 1388 IH
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1388
To reauthorize and reform the national service laws.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 9, 2009
Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York (for herself, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. SESTAK, Mr. HARE, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. TONKO, Mr. POLIS of Colorado, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. HINOJOSA, and Mr. COURTNEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor
A BILL
To reauthorize and reform the national service laws.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
…
TITLE VI–CONGRESSIONAL COMMISSION ON CIVIC SERVICE
…
SEC. 6104. DUTIES
…
(b) Specific Topics- In carrying out its general purpose under subsection (a), the Commission shall address and analyze the following specific topics:
…
(6) Whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed, and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation and overcome civic challenges by bringing together people from diverse economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds. (emphasis added)(truncated)

It is clear now, that the Obama Administration, together with the Democrat controlled congress, intends to institute a sort of civil service “draft” that would force America’s youth into compulsive community service. It is also a clear violation of the United States Constitution, which reads:

Amendment 13 – Slavery Abolished. Ratified 12/6/1865.

1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. (emphasis added)

There is no doubt anymore as to the direction President Obama wants to take our country. He has quite effectively taken Saul Alinsky’s rules for radicals and applied them to running (ruining?) our country. His administration has broken all traditions and attacked the previous administration at every turn. In addition, his guard dogs have publicly and systematically attacked every commentator that has dared challenge his agenda. Together with the far left wing of the Democratic Party, he has used the current “economic crisis” as a launching pad to take control of our country and justify an expansion of the federal government that is unmatched in history.

In the name of protecting our economy, he has spent our nation into a deficit that is twice as large as any in the history of our country and threatened the very tenets of the economic system that allowed our country to become the superpower that it is today. This plan to further radicalize our youth by forcing them into involuntary servitude is just another stake in the heart of our nations freedom, and it cannot be allowed!

The main stream media is completely ignoring the direction that the underlying current of Obama’s administration is taking our country in, while at the same time ballyhooing his every individual action, and then spending countless hours on the television, on the radio, and in the print lionizing, idolizing, and exalting President Obama in ways that are eerily reminiscent of the fervent, compulsory praise given to previous and existing leaders such as Mao, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Chavez, Pol Pot, and Castro. It is ironic that in the past incarnations of this obviously socialist leaning economic direction, which our main stream press seemingly wants and supports, one of the first sacrifices of individual rights that are made in the name of that economic “good” is the freedom of speech. At the same time that so called journalists are heralding the destruction of free market principles, and personal economic freedom, they are also beating the death knell of their own beloved freedom of the press.

Very soon, sooner than we might think, the people of this nation are going to have to choose between continuing down an almost irreversible path to Marxist socialism, and standing up for the country that we know and love, and turn the tide against the mutiny in our political system that threatens to hijack the American way of life we know. Obama’s view of socioeconomics is so startlingly similar to those of freedom’s greatest enemies that it makes me cringe, and he is using their lessons to mold our country into a new socialist mecca! He will systematically dismantle our current form of government and economic system and replace them with his own warped vision of a new United Socialist States of America.

And how will he enforce these new policies and agendas?

“We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded. -Barack Obama

It all starts with the youth. It begins by rallying them to an innocuous common cause and then using the bonds created in the pursuit of that cause to hold them together, and bind them into a malleable force. Then, when they have become a large, powerful force, they can be pointed in any direction and pushed. Then, with very little effort, the energy of that force can expound into a terrible tsunami that can destroy anything in its path!

This is scary beyond belief, and hearkens back to the Nazi Party’s “Hitler-Jugend.” As every youth in Nazi Germany was required to join “Hitler-Jugend” (Hitler Youth), soon, every youth in America will be required to join “Obama Ujana” (Obama Youth), where he will be able to rally, bind, mold and aim them into a social weapon that conservative America will be powerless to defend against.

Hitler Youth recruitment poster. The wording translates to: "Youth serves the leader. All ten year-olds into the Hitler Youth."

Not only is this a thinly veiled attempt to indoctrinate our youth into a left-wing dominated mindset, it is a carefully conceived plan to galvanize Obama’s permanent campaign and cement him as an enduring iconic power in American life.

“I begin with the young. We older ones are used up. We are rotten to the marrow. We are cowardly and sentimental. We are bearing the burden of a humiliating past, and have in our blood the dull recollection of serfdom and servility. But my magnificent youngsters! Are there any finer ones in the world? Look at these young men and boys! What material! With them, I can make a new world. This is the heroic stage of youth. Out of it will come the creative man, the man-god.

“When an opponent declares, ‘I will not come over to your side,’ I say calmly, ‘Your child belongs to us already…What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing but this new community’.” – Adolf Hitler

Look very closely at your children. Picture them, standing at attention in their one piece powder blue uniform wearing a navy blue beret and red armband adorned with the now universally known symbol of the permanent Obama campaign, chanting in cadence:

Obama Ujana!

Obama Ujana!

Obama Ujana!

Obama Ujana!

Obama Ujana!

Obama Ujana!

If this idea sickens and scares you as much as it does me, start contacting your Representatives and Senators now! Call them, write them, and don’t stop there. Tell them that our children are not their social labor force, and they are not fodder to promote their radical social agendas. Contact President Obama and tell him that your children are YOUR children, and that you will not allow them to be indoctrinated into his civilian national security force and become his own “Obama-Jugend”.

-Wisdom

Isn’t our leader in great company?

“You say, away with you Communists; we say, away with you imperialists.” – Mao Zedong

“I want you to know that everything I did, I did for my country.” – Pol Pot

“I have said it already, I am convinced that the way to build a new and better world is not capitalism. Capitalism leads us straight to hell.” – Hugo Chavez

“I am not a communist and neither is the revolutionary movement.” – Fidel Castro

“If the opposition disarms, well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves.” – Joseph Stalin

“Revolutionary Social-Democracy has always included the struggle for reforms as part of its activities. But it utilises “economic” agitation for the purpose of presenting to the government, not only demands for all sorts of measures, but also (and primarily) the demand that it cease to be an autocratic government.” – Lenin

“All great movements are popular movements. They are the volcanic eruptions of human passions and emotions, stirred into activity by the ruthless Goddess of Distress or by the torch of the spoken word cast into the midst of the people.” – Adolf Hitler

“How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think.” – Adolf Hitler

“It’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” – Barack Obama

This article was posted all over the net on Dec 11, 2006.

Arctic may lose all ice by summer 2040

Tuesday Dec 12 11:45 AEDT

Global warming could leave the Arctic without ice during the summer as early as 2040, a study by a team of US and Canadian scientists shows.

“The effects of greenhouse warming are starting to rear their ugly head,” said Mark Serreze, a scientist at theNational Snow and Ice Data Centre at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

The research found that the extent of sea ice each September could be reduced so abruptly that, within about 20 years, it may begin retreating four times faster than at any time in the observed record.

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All you have to do is ask one of these idiots how much snow is going to fall next year, or what the average temperature is going to be next year. Hell, ask them how much snow is going to fall, and what the temperature is going to be tomorrow for that matter. THEY CAN’T TELL YOU!!!! How can they even come close to telling us what the weather is going to be like in 20 or 40 years?
This is just another example of junk science where the extrapolation of data is engineered to “prove” the theory that is put forth. These weenies are so intent on keeping their grants that they’re willing to lie to everyone to keep the money flowing.
Wisdom

On October 18, members of the Sweetwater County Fire District #1 fire department spent a part of their morning teaching a fire prevention class to a group of preschoolers. The firefighters, mostly volunteers, came to the preschool in Rock Springs at the request of the preschool teachers, who knew that one of the firefighters’ children was a student at the school. The firefighters have done these kinds of classes hundreds of times, teaching children fire prevention and safety, and encouraging good will between them and the communities they serve. And, as the old saying goes, “An ounce of prevention….”

This time, though, there was a catch. A catch that came in the form of a Violation Notice from the Rock Springs Fire Department.

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Ah, the principal. Everyone remembers their principal, right? He (or she) is the head of the educational body. He was the guy whose office was seen only by the most disciplinarily helpless classmates. He had a paddle hanging on the wall in the reception area as a reminder to what would happen if you got out of line, and in the case of one of my classmates, a special paddle with her name on it. Most kids were never on the receiving end of that paddle, but just the knowledge that it was there, ready to be used, kept most of us in line. He also stood in the hallway before and after school greeting every child he saw by name, asking how their day was, how their parents were doing or how their pet dog was doing after tangling with that porcupine last week. Somehow, with some seemingly supernatural sense, the principal knew everything that was going on, at any time, inside and outside of the school.

His words over the intercom were few and far between, but when they were spoken, you knew they were important. I remember that I was in fourth grade when the principal’s voice came over the intercom to announce that President Reagan had been shot. Not a sound was made by student while he spoke, telling us that this was a strong nation, and we would survive whatever came our way. Not a sound was made by a student as the thirty seconds of silence that he asked for passed. It wasn’t that specific news that held our attention, either. It was the man who spoke it. We listened so well, because this was a man we respected, and we knew that if it was important enough for him to speak to us over the intercom about, it was damn well important enough for us to give him our undivided attention as we listened.

The principal was many things. A manager, supervising the teachers in their day to day job of educating, a maintenance man, changing light bulbs and working on boilers, a counselor, always there to lend an ear to a child in need, and a teacher, filling in for teachers who couldn’t be there. He was a politician, balancing the needs of his school with the requirements of the school board, and an arbitrator, keeping the peace between angry parents and harried teachers. He was a man with an important job.

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Without a doubt, teachers are the most visible part of the educational system. Along with being the backbone, they are the face of the educational body. They are the ones that our children see every day. They are the ones that we, as parents, usually have contact with when we have need to have direct dealings with the schools. And they are the ones who often band together in associations that work both with and against government agencies at all levels from the school boards to the White House.

In addition to being visible, teachers probably bear the most responsibility of any part of the education system. They are the people with whom we entrust our children to provide them with a quality education and a safe environment. They are expected not only to be proficient in the subjects they teach, but to also be capable day care providers, first aid givers, child psychologists, coaches and referees. They have to be schedulers, managers, and competent arbitrators. They are answerable to their students, their principals, their superintendents, their school boards, legislators, governors, congressional delegates, the President, and most of all, sometimes hundreds of parents at any one time. That is a lot of responsibility for any person to bear, and it takes a special kind of person to do it well.

If you search your memory, you can probably think of many teachers you’ve dealt with over the years that stick out in your mind as having born all those responsibilities, and more, quite well. You’ll remember many teachers who did all these things and did them with a smile on their faces and their heads always held high. Sadly, though, you’ll probably also remember a few who couldn’t handle it, who couldn’t balance the responsibilities required of their job, and definitely couldn’t handle it with a smile on their face.

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The third injury warranting immediate medical attention is the backbone of the education system, the teachers. Now before you go all NEA on me, let me say that it isn’t all teachers, just like it isn’t all bus drivers or the entire lunch room staff, but it isn’t just a few anymore either. There’s a lot teachers with problems these days, and you know who you are.

First of all, as a parent, let me get this out of the way. Teachers: Don’t ever, under any circumstance, give me homework. I’ve been to school, have a diploma, have a degree, and have my own work to do. I make more money than any two of you. I don’t ever want to come home again to an assignment given to one of my kids that says, “have your parent do,” whatever! If you’re going to grade my kids based on my performance, then I’m going to start paying you based on my kids’ performance.

Furthermore, if you’re going to give my kids homework, then teach them how to do it. I understand that sometimes homework is given to reinforce what is learned in class, but come on! My kids get homework on an almost nightly basis that they have no idea how to do! I’m happy to help them, but you’re the one getting paid to teach them, so do it.

There are some things that I never, ever want to hear from a teacher again.

First, “You’re child is probably bored in here. He already knows how to do all this so he’s not learning anything.” What?! If you can’t teach him anything, find a teacher who can!

Second, “I’m sorry your child is behind, but I just don’t have time to give her the attention she needs.” Bull! We’re required by law to hand our kids over to you for an education, and you’re required by law to provide it. Either teach, or find us someone who can.

Third, “You need to talk to your legislators and tell them we need more money.” No. No. No. You want to be a lobbyist? Go to the capital and be a lobbyist. Don’t use me to lobby for you. My customers don’t call their legislators and say, “Hey, can you see what you can do about getting Island a raise?” Furthermore, don’t use my children as lobbyists. In fact, don’t use my child as a sounding board to espouse your political agendas at all. I’ll handle that part of their lives. Don’t teach them how important you think it is to have wolves in Yellowstone National Park, or how wrong you think it is to be invading a foreign country. Don’t teach them your PETA pledge or your Earth First crap. You go ahead and teach them the structure of our form of government, who does what, and how they are elected. I’ll take care of the rest of his political training.

I expect you to spend the days with which you have my children teaching them reading, writing, arithmetic, history, economics and the like. If you are unable to do this because a lack of education on your part, or because your ability to do so is clouded by some bull crap political agenda, then get another job.

Next installment? More about teachers. Sorry, but there’s just too much to cover in one episode.

Wisdom

Food. It does a body good. If it’s good food. If you get enough of it. If you get a chance to eat it.

It starts small, with little inconsistencies. For instance, on one nacho day, the kids get plenty of cheese. On the next, they get a little sprinkle of cheese but can have a bit more if they throw in an extra quarter. A child at an elementary school gets four cheese sticks with his meal, while a child at the junior high gets two. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought these meals were supposed to be nutritionally balanced. How can that be when there are different portion sizes from meal to meal? And speaking of portion sizes, I have talked to at least a half dozen parents who say their kids either go through the day hungry or purchase extra portions so they can feel full. I’m no mathematician, but by my calculations, when adding the cost of extra portions to a student meal, an adult meal costs less for the same amount of food. Sounds a little sour to me.

In addition, at the junior high, kids are cutting in line at lunch not only because it’s the only way that they can eat in time not to be tardy for their next class, but also because if they wait at the end of the line they probably won’t have any selection left by the time they make it to the front. Is it too much to ask that our kids, first or last in line, get the same selection as everyone else, and enough food so their stomachs aren’t rumbling through the rest of the day? Is it too much to ask that our kids be given enough time to eat their food without having to stuff it down their gullet? I was taught that it wasn’t healthy to eat like that, so why is it part of the required curriculum at our schools?

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In this installment, we’re going to look at a minor injury to the body of Sweetwater County School District Number One that can cause major injuries to everyone else. The transportation system. Even though this is just a minor wound, it warrants attention, because like a real wound, if it is ignored it will fester and lead to other, bigger problems. Let me be fair here, driving a school bus isn’t an easy job. There are traffic rules, safety rules, and scores of kids to deal with every day. Many drivers wake up every morning looking forward to the time they are going to spend that day with the children on their bus. They follow the traffic rules, provide a safe environment for the children, and become a positive part of every student’s day.

Some drivers, though, aren’t so positive, and some aren’t so good at what they do. Just recently my son’s bus driver forgot to drop him off at his stop, adding twenty minutes to his trip. It wasn’t until the driver finished his route that he realized there was still someone on his bus. My daughter’s bus driver forgot to drop her off several times. In fact, just recently, her bus driver refused to drop her off at her stop because her stop, which has been her stop all year, wasn’t on his list. So instead, her bus driver dropped her off at another stop (which he told her he wasn’t supposed to do because she didn’t have a note) so she could get a ride home from a family friend. When my wife called the bus barn the next morning, they said her bus driver “was really worried all day about whether that little girl made it home all right.” Apparently, he just wasn’t worried enough to make sure. It’s nice to know that I can depend on someone to get my kids home.

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The public education system in Sweetwater County School District #1 is broken. It may be that the public education system is actually broken all over the state, or even all over the country, but my kids only go to school in this district, so this district is all I can vouch for. As I’ve read the arguments tossed back and forth through the various media outlets, I’ve attempted to pinpoint what exactly is broken in the system, but the deeper I look, the more obvious it is that this isn’t a simple set, splint, go home, take two aspirin and call me in the morning kind of break. It’s more of a long surgical repair, four months in traction and stay heavily medicated for several more kind of compound fracture.

It would be easy to blame just the teachers, or just the school board, but that wouldn’t give justice to the extent of the injuries that our school system suffers from. No, these injuries radiate to every limb of the school system body, and no small little bit of blame is going to pay the medical bill. With that said, let’s get into details. And before you “educators” start screaming “hearsay”, let me throw in this disclaimer — all incidents hereby and herein referred to in the following series of writings were experienced in whole or in part by me personally, or were related to me directly by those involved. No rumors, story making, or make believe, just the cold hard fractures, er — facts.

This insight into the inner non-workings of the education system is going to be brought to you, in the interest of media friendliness, in installments. If you’re a member of one of the groups that I’m targeting in one of the following installments, please don’t feel like I’m singling you out. I’m not. In fact, I intend to target every fracture, er — faction of the education system. Also, if your group isn’t mentioned, don’t feel left out. You’re not. I probably just haven’t gotten to you yet.

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