Archive for September, 2007
Should ‘No Child Left Behind’ continue as law of the land?
President Bush called today for renewal of his “No Child Left Behind” federal education law.
As a writer and a former teacher, I’m all in favor of education, literacy, and all those other good things associated with an intelligent culture. But every time I read or hear anything about this particular federal law, I cringe just a little bit.
Many have criticized the measure and the reasons are as varied as the critics: it’s either non-funded or at best poorly funded; it sets artificial goals that ultimately diminish special, personal student learning needs; it unfairly penalizes teachers, etc.
My dissatisfaction has more to do with the way the NCLB act reinforces a troubling educational and cultural trend that I believe has been building for years: It shifts most of the burden for learning away from students and parents and lays it on teachers and school systems.
For several decades, at least since the late-’60s or early-’70s, parents and children have behaved as though teachers and schools are responsible for their education. Here’s a news flash for you, parent and children: YOU are responsible for your education and your children’s education. Yes, YOU.
The teachers and school systems are really just tools that YOU must use.
It seems so obvious to me that demanding teachers and school systems to somehow “make our kids smart,” really is irresponsibility at an appalling level. Since when can the world’s best teachers, working with the finest computers and textbooks, MAKE a kid learn — if that kid doesn’t want to learn and his/her parents don’t know or care one way or the other??
Maybe something needs to be done to wake up parents and children and make them accountable for their own learning — THEN give them the teachers, school buildings, computers, and other tools to learn. Then, truly, no child will be left behind.
Ah, well, what do I know? I’m just a guy who reads the papers.
Technorati Tags: No Child Left Behind, education, parents, children, learning, accountability, just a guy who reads the papers
Would ‘CITO’ work in the war against terrorism? John Edwards thinks so
Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards announced a plan for an international organization which would pool resources and information in the worldwide war on terrorism. He’s calling it the “Counterterrorism and Intelligence Treaty Organization” or CITO.
In theory, such international efforts ought to be handled in already existing organizations like the United Nations, perhaps. In reality, there is no venue where serious sharing of information and resources is happening to battle extremists and terrorism. Perhaps such an organization as CITO would fill the gap, who knows?
Certainly, as Edwards pointed out, the Bush Administration’s efforts against terrorism make many of us uncomfortable with their cavalier attitude toward some of our cherished American freedoms. I, for one, never liked the idea of anyone snooping through my library card records. Nope, I don’t checkout any thing subversive, nothing pornographic, but I really can’t see that such efforts would have much to do with the war on terrorism.
My biggest problem with CITO is this: I haven’t yet met an international organization that really works in the long run. Many things the UN does are very worthwhile, especially their humanitarian work. But nobody gives the UN high marks for military effectiveness, nor for any efforts against terrorists or extremists.
Perhaps CITO would work better. At least it’s worth thinking about.
Ah, well, what do I know? I’m just a guy who reads the papers.
Technorati Tags: CITO, counterterrorism, John Edwards, terrorism, civil liberties, UN, just a guy who reads the papers
Nuclear transport issue is one most of us choose to ignore
When I was a kid, I used to try really hard not to think about some of the science stuff I’d see or read about — things like a wayward asteroid hitting the earth, that day in the far, far future when the sun goes nova and incinerates the earth, and the reality that I lived fairly near Omaha, Nebraska, a prime nuclear target during the Cold War.
I got pretty good at denial, as did most of us Baby Boomers who were trying to get on with growing up and planning lives during that Cold War period. So good at it that we probably never think much about anything nuclear anymore. At least not until we hear about a glitch in the everyday procedures for handling all those nuclear weapons we still have. Seems an Air Force crew recently flew a B-52 bomber mission to transport some cruise missiles from a base in North Dakota to a base in Louisiana. But someone forgot or failed to notice that the missiles still had their LIVE nuclear warheads. (You can read the story by CLICKING HERE.)
Sources tell us that the warheads really posed no threat, what with all the safety devices. And they were completely under military control every mile of the way.
But the story got me thinking about a more ominous “nuclear denial” we perform daily: How many tons of nuclear materials would you think are transported back and forth across the nation, through cities and small towns, highways and byways, etc., every day and night of our lives??
I just googled “transport U.S. nuclear” and found the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) website. It’s staggering to read there that, “about 3 million packages of radioactive materials are shipped each year in the United States, either by highway, rail, air, or water.”
We can take some comfort, I guess, in knowing that apparently there haven’t been any nuclear incidents, leaks, explosions, exposures, or whatever in decades of such scary work.
I’m not sure how comfortable I am, however, in knowing the NRC and Department of Transportation together work on this stuff. I guess there’s something less than reassuring to see the state of our nation’s highways and bridges — also under the care of the DOT.
But keep up the good work, all you NRC and DOT people out there. Maybe denial is the best attitude us “folks-on-the-street” can take. That and doing all we can to vote some intelligent, wise leadership into power in Washington. That hasn’t worked out so well in recent CENTURIES, but hey, we must press on and keep trying!
Ah, well, what do I know? I’m just a guy who reads the papers.
Technorati Tags: nuclear warheads, nuclear material transportation, Air Force, NRC, Department of Transportation, nuclear denial, just a guy who reads the papers
Iraqis fail to meet benchmarks — should we be surprised?
The big surprise isn’t that the Iraqis have failed to meet most benchmarks set in 2006. At least, given any news coming out of that nation for the last year or more, it shouldn’t be a big surprise.
The big surprise is that most supporters of this sorry, sad war won’t let the latest Iraqi failures dampen their determination to keep the war going.
Many simply support the war in Iraqi through blind, stubborn determination to “stay the course.” Others are pretty much just ignorant of the whole “war on terror” and what really needs to be done. You heard me — my liberal nature is showing through: I truly believe most conservatives who support Bush’s various policy decisions and lack of policy are simply ignorant. Either ignorant or stubborn.
We ought to get out of Iraq and we ought to get out now. Nothing we’ve done over there or can expect to do will unite warring factions and tribal factions who have been forced to live together for centuries by one strongman or outside government or another.
Having said all that, I must add this: I know from a brother who has been there that we are accomplishing some good for the people of Iraq. We are building schools. We are assisting needy Iraqis in a multitude of ways. In doing that, and to that extent, we are planting seeds which COULD some day lead to a more tolerant, free society in Iraq.
But probably not in our lifetime.
Ah, well, what do I know? I’m just a guy who reads the papers.
Technorati Tags: Iraqi benchmarks, Iraq war, leaving Iraq, helping Iraqis, just a guy who reads the papers
Bush finds some quality time on the ground in Iraq
Shades of fake turkeys on Thanksgiving Day — President Bush made another surprise visit to Iraq! News reports say he slipped out of Washington secretly (that’s no small trick, I guess, given the size and nature of Air Force One??) and made a quick stop in al-Anbar province on his way to the Asia Pacific Summit in Australia. (You can read more by CLICKING HERE.)
Given the dangers the President of the United States faces going anywhere near a war zone, I have no problem with the secrecy surrounding the trip. My difficulty is with the timing. September is the month when supposedly we’ll be learning whether or not the troop surge is working. Of course, not being stupid, you and I all know there will be mixed results, with the President touting success and Congressional Democrats crying failure.
My younger brother spent some time stationed in Iraq last year. He was on a squad of guys who investigate those IEDs — ones that explode are examined to trace who made them and where; ones that fail get a good going over to discover why they failed to explore. Touchy, touchy job, and the whole family’s glad he knew how to stay in one piece. (Sadly, a younger man in his squad lost an arm and leg in an explosion.)
I guess, metaphorically speaking, Bush and Congress all have the knack down pat for staying in one piece — send OTHERS to Iraq to face the bombs and snipers. Good for Bush today, I guess, because at least he’s on the ground over there (or was) and meeting with the Iraqi leaders. (They’re back from summer vacation now, I guess.)
But bad for all of us that this President Bush lacked the good sense to get us out of that nation in a hurry — which his father, President Bush I, at least got right.
Ah, well, what do I know? I’m just a guy who reads the papers.
May God help us and all the Iraqis that we might see this idiotic, horrible war end soon.
Technorati Tags: President Bush in Iraq, Iraqi leaders, Iraq war, just a guy who reads the papers