New Curriculum: Math, Science And Socialism

Home schooling's starting to look more and more appealing these days. Apparently teachers in Seattle have been teaching their students that private ownership is evil, by banning Legos:

According to the article, the students had been building an elaborate "Legotown," but it was accidentally demolished. The teachers decided its destruction was an opportunity to explore "the inequities of private ownership." According to the teachers, "Our intention was to promote a contrasting set of values: collectivity, collaboration, resource-sharing, and full democratic participation."

More like promote socialism. One hopes they at least found time to teach, I don't know, math or English or something. But looking at the state of American schools, I'm guessing they probably skipped those lessons.

Three Random Stories

Three quick Sunday stories:

Teachers are under appreciated heroes that deserve our respect and far more money. Here's an example of the selfless sacrifices our teachers and administrators make:

Drugs in school is a serious problem. But here's one for the books.

A Florida middle school principal is charged with possession of cocaine and soliciting to purchase cocaine on school property.

The felony carries a minimum sentence of three years in prison.

Police say Anthony Giancola, principal of Tampa's Van Buren Middle School, was arrested in the school lobby Thursday after buying 20 dollars' worth of crack from an undercover officer while students were on campus.

It's gotten to the point where our teachers need to become drug addicts, we put them under so much pressure.

Next, Iran moves on in their climb to world domination - something that's not hard to do if no one is trying to stop you:

Iranian media say the country has successfully launched its first rocket capable of reaching space.

But officials later said it was for research and would not go into orbit.

Experts say if Iran has fired a rocket into space it would cause alarm abroad as it would mean scientists had crossed important technological barriers.

Iran has made little secret of its desire to become a space power and already has a satellite in orbit launched by the Russians.

I thought this was an American problem:

LONDON — The newest fashion among schoolgirls is getting knocked up, according to one pregnant 14-year-old whose four friends are also expecting.

British teen Kizzy Neal says she's been approached for advice from other pregnant girls her age ever since she conceived, reported London's Daily Mail.

"When my friends see my bump they say they wish they could have a baby, then three weeks later they're pregnant and don't know what to do," Neal said.

"It seems to be fashionable to get pregnant. ... Teenage girls think babies are cute, but they forget the physical side of being pregnant, then having to give up your own childhood to look after a baby," she told the paper.

Neal says she got pregnant the first time she had sex with her 13-year-old boyfriend.

Sick.

Who's Up For Some Arts and Crafts?

Sorry for all the stories about teachers, but this one is so wholly unsettling, that I just have to post it. From Metro.co.uk (so was the last one):

A Dutch primary school teacher who is dying of cancer is overseeing one last project among her beloved pupils - they are making a coffin for her.

Eri van den Biggelaar, 40, has just a few weeks left to live after being diagnosed last year with an aggressive form of cervical cancer. Always popular at school, she asked the arts and crafts teacher to build a casket for her.

'Why don't you let the children make it?' replied her colleague and woodwork teacher Erik van Dijk.

Now the youngsters, who normally plane wood for baskets and placemats, are putting the finishing touches to what will be the final resting place for Miss Biggelaar. The children have sawed more than one hundred narrow little boards and glued them together, and only the lid needs to be done now.

The coffin is standing in the middle of one of the classrooms. Some of the children play with it, climbing into it and pretending to be U-boat captains.

While Biggelaar is no longer able to work, she is keeping track of the coffins progress, looking at sketch plans and being kept up to date about it by pupils, aged between four and 11, who visit her at home.

She says: 'Life and death belong together. The children realised that when I explained it to them. I didn't want to be morbid about it, I wanted them to help me.'

I've never really liked the dutch.

Teachers - Unsung Heroes

What the Hell is a supply teacher, anyway?

In an incident that perhaps gives a new meaning to the phrase 'supply teacher', a 59-year-old substitute teacher has been arrested on suspicion of repeatedly taking cocaine in front of the class she was teaching.

The arrest came after two girls – one nine, the other ten – reported that Joan Donatelli had been dipping a pen cap into a small plastic bag filled with white powder, then putting the pen lid to her nose.

Police subsequently found traces of white powder in the classroom. When they confronted Donatelli at her home, she handed over a small green bag of powder and two pen caps – both of which tested positive for the drug - and admitting to using cocaine in front of the children.

'She stated that she had a probloem [sic], that she had an addiction, something she's been struggling with,' said Sergeant Frank Previte, of the Lewiston, NY police.

The school confirmed that Donatelli used to teach at the school full time, but is now retired, although she acts as a substitute. During her time as a full-time teacher at the school, as recently as 2004, she would have been one of the teachers involved in the school's drug education curriculum.

No, No Timmy; It's "Allahu Akbar!!!"

Ugh:

The Department of Education says that it will open a public school next fall dedicated to Arabic language and culture.

The Khalil Gibran International Academy is one of 40 new schools that will their debut in the city next September.

Education officials say that although half the classes at the school will be taught in Arabic, they want to enroll a diverse student body.

The school is set to open in Brooklyn.

2007 State Of The Union: Good Stuff!

(Here's a full transcript of the speech)

Well, the State of the Union was far better than I thought it'd be. It definitely had some high points, which I'll mention while pretending the low points didn't exist (who needs a downer like hearing about more No Child Left Behind?)

First of all, GW mentioned what the MSM has refused to, the booming economy. Send this quote to all your friends who don't know the economy is booming:

A future of hope and opportunity begins with a growing economy -- and that is what we have. We're now in the 41st month of uninterrupted job growth, in a recovery that has created 7.2 million new jobs -- so far. Unemployment is low, inflation is low, and wages are rising. This economy is on the move, and our job is to keep it that way, not with more government, but with more enterprise. (Applause.)

Next week, I'll deliver a full report on the state of our economy. Tonight, I want to discuss three economic reforms that deserve to be priorities for this Congress.

First, we must balance the federal budget. (Applause.) We can do so without raising taxes. (Applause.) What we need is impose spending discipline in Washington, D.C. We set a goal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009, and met that goal three years ahead of schedule. (Applause.) Now let us take the next step. In the coming weeks, I will submit a budget that eliminates the federal deficit within the next five years. (Applause.) I ask you to make the same commitment. Together, we can restrain the spending appetite of the federal government, and we can balance the federal budget. (Applause.)

Next, I loved this line about health care:

In all we do, we must remember that the best health care decisions are made not by government and insurance companies, but by patients and their doctors.

Take that Hillary, with your "universal health care!" You make me sick...

GW's whole part about Islamofascism was great! Here's a large chunk of it:

For all of us in this room, there is no higher responsibility than to protect the people of this country from danger. Five years have come and gone since we saw the scenes and felt the sorrow that the terrorists can cause. We've had time to take stock of our situation. We've added many critical protections to guard the homeland. We know with certainty that the horrors of that September morning were just a glimpse of what the terrorists intend for us -- unless we stop them.

With the distance of time, we find ourselves debating the causes of conflict and the course we have followed. Such debates are essential when a great democracy faces great questions. Yet one question has surely been settled: that to win the war on terror we must take the fight to the enemy. (Applause.)

From the start, America and our allies have protected our people by staying on the offense. The enemy knows that the days of comfortable sanctuary, easy movement, steady financing, and free flowing communications are long over. For the terrorists, life since 9/11 has never been the same.

Our success in this war is often measured by the things that did not happen. We cannot know the full extent of the attacks that we and our allies have prevented, but here is some of what we do know: We stopped an al Qaeda plot to fly a hijacked airplane into the tallest building on the West Coast. We broke up a Southeast Asian terror cell grooming operatives for attacks inside the United States. We uncovered an al Qaeda cell developing anthrax to be used in attacks against America. And just last August, British authorities uncovered a plot to blow up passenger planes bound for America over the Atlantic Ocean. For each life saved, we owe a debt of gratitude to the brave public servants who devote their lives to finding the terrorists and stopping them. (Applause.)

Every success against the terrorists is a reminder of the shoreless ambitions of this enemy. The evil that inspired and rejoiced in 9/11 is still at work in the world. And so long as that's the case, America is still a nation at war.

In the mind of the terrorist, this war began well before September the 11th, and will not end until their radical vision is fulfilled. And these past five years have given us a much clearer view of the nature of this enemy. Al Qaeda and its followers are Sunni extremists, possessed by hatred and commanded by a harsh and narrow ideology. Take almost any principle of civilization, and their goal is the opposite. They preach with threats, instruct with bullets and bombs, and promise paradise for the murder of the innocent.

Our enemies are quite explicit about their intentions. They want to overthrow moderate governments, and establish safe havens from which to plan and carry out new attacks on our country. By killing and terrorizing Americans, they want to force our country to retreat from the world and abandon the cause of liberty. They would then be free to impose their will and spread their totalitarian ideology. Listen to this warning from the late terrorist Zarqawi: "We will sacrifice our blood and bodies to put an end to your dreams, and what is coming is even worse." Osama bin Laden declared: "Death is better than living on this Earth with the unbelievers among us."

These men are not given to idle words, and they are just one camp in the Islamist radical movement. In recent times, it has also become clear that we face an escalating danger from Shia extremists who are just as hostile to America, and are also determined to dominate the Middle East. Many are known to take direction from the regime in Iran, which is funding and arming terrorists like Hezbollah -- a group second only to al Qaeda in the American lives it has taken.

The Shia and Sunni extremists are different faces of the same totalitarian threat. Whatever slogans they chant, when they slaughter the innocent they have the same wicked purposes. They want to kill Americans, kill democracy in the Middle East, and gain the weapons to kill on an even more horrific scale.

In the sixth year since our nation was attacked, I wish I could report to you that the dangers had ended. They have not. And so it remains the policy of this government to use every lawful and proper tool of intelligence, diplomacy, law enforcement, and military action to do our duty, to find these enemies, and to protect the American people. (Applause.)

This war is more than a clash of arms -- it is a decisive ideological struggle, and the security of our nation is in the balance. To prevail, we must remove the conditions that inspire blind hatred, and drove 19 men to get onto airplanes and to come and kill us. What every terrorist fears most is human freedom...

Good stuff! One of my favorite lines: "They preach with threats, instruct with bullets and bombs, and promise paradise for the murder of the innocent."

And as a final note, one part that made me sick to my stomach was when GW delivered this great line:

Ladies and gentlemen, nothing is more important at this moment in our history than for America to succeed in the Middle East, to succeed in Iraq and to spare the American people from this danger.

And the Dems actually didn't applaud! I mean, WTF is wrong with these people? They practically (and finally) admitted that they don't want America to succeed in Iraq!

And the speech ended with a definite high point, with GW introducing us to several people who show how great America is.

All in all, a great speech (with the exception of having to look at Nancy Pelosi the whole time) with some definite high points! I'll post video once it's on Youtube, until then, it can be viewed at Whitehouse.gov.

Abu Ghraib "Art"

Allahpundit has a good post over at HotAir: "Abu Ghraib art exhibit to open in Berkeley later this month" with a funny-if-it-weren't-the-disgusting-truth ending.

Some of the classy "art"? Well there's this piece:



I don't get it, but then again, what do I know about art?

"That's Wrong"

Here's a story that makes you proud to be an American:

Veterans Day faces expulsion by schools

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- For World War II veteran Sam Stia, a legislative proposal that would cease requiring New Jersey schools to teach about Veterans Day and Memorial Day can be summed up in two words.

"That's wrong," Mr. Stia, 83, said from his Hamilton home, where he flies an American flag at half-staff to honor fallen soldiers. "We're just giving our flag away and our patriotism away."

Mr. Stia and other veterans are steamed about the proposal, which state lawmakers unanimously passed last month. It now awaits action by the governor. It was included as part of a larger measure designed to help control property taxes, mostly by abolishing some laws on school purchasing and public hearings.

Other holidays about which schools no longer would be required to teach include Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, Arbor Day and Commodore Barry Day, which commemorates Revolutionary War hero John Barry. [ed - Notice that MLK Day isn't on that list -]

New Jersey schools must observe the holidays under a 1967 law designed to promote "the development of a higher spirit of patriotism." Florida, Nebraska and Washington are among states with similar laws.

New Jersey American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars groups have asked Gov. Jon Corzine to veto the bill so schools still have to teach about Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

"It's not right. They're not going to know the sacrifices that were made so they can enjoy the protections that they have," said Hank Adams, New Jersey VFW adjutant and an Army and Coast Guard veteran.

The governor hasn't decided how to proceed. "We're reviewing that bill," Corzine spokesman Anthony Coley said.

The law wouldn't ban schools from holding holiday commemorations, but requiring schools to honor the days guarantees children would learn about veterans, said Ray Zawacki, department adjutant for the American Legion of New Jersey.

"If it wasn't for veterans, we wouldn't have been able to maintain the freedoms the Constitution provided to us," said Mr. Zawacki, a Vietnam War Navy veteran.
Mr. Zawacki said schools frequently ask veterans groups to send speakers into schools before the holidays.

But state Sen. John Adler, a sponsor of the bill, cited a 2004 report by a state commission that recommended giving schools more flexibility to decide holiday observations. He questioned whether schools even bother to recognize the holidays.

"I don't believe that most schools fulfill the spirit of the law and the mandate," he said. [ed- Good, then it doesn't need to be abolished -]

Mr. Adler said he understood and respected the veterans' concerns, but argued that curriculum, not state mandates, should drive instruction.
"I don't think the state should be in the business of telling districts to do every single thing," he said.

New Jersey school officials support the bill.

"It's simply time and flexibility," said Mike Yaple, spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association. "There's nothing in the legislation that can undermine the amount of pride and honor a community feels toward their veterans."