There is no reason to think, in other words, that the students in House District 15 should have gotten such profoundly superior results to the “students” in Strategic Vision’s survey. Nor could Strategic Vision’s results have been the result of any sort of mathematical or methodological oddity. Consider their claim that literally none of the 1,000 students they surveyed were able to answer more than 7 of the 10 questions correctly — lower than the average score achieved in Cannaday’s test.

There are, rather, only two possibilities. Either the Strategic Vision survey was entirely fabricated — or Cannaday’s was.

The bill requires public schools to guarantee students the right to express their religious viewpoints in a public forum, in class, in homework and in other ways without being penalized. If a student’s religious beliefs were in conflict with scientific theory, and the student chose to express those beliefs rather than explain the theory in response to an exam question, the student’s incorrect response would be deemed satisfactory, according to this bill.

Mayoral Candidate Anna Falling Wants Creationism Exhibit

A push to exhibit the Christian story of creation at the Tulsa Zoo failed four years ago. Republican candidate for Tulsa mayor, Anna Falling, is bringing the issue front and center.

It’s the same exhibit and the same arguments, but now it is given from the bully pulpit of a candidate running for mayor.

“Some may ask why this issue during a Mayoral campaign? And I say why not?” said candidate Anna Falling.

Oklahoma GOP Platform (via)

7. We believe that the scientific evidence supporting Biblical creation should be included in Oklahoma public schools curricula, and if any evolution theory is taught, that both should receive equal funding, class time, and material. Teachers should have the freedom to cover creation science without fear of intimidation, reprimand, or lack of professional respect.

[...]

Curriculum
1. Curricula should include [...] the option of using the Bible as HISTORY [emphasis added] or literature text.

Study Questions Okla. School Performance

A new study claimed that one in four Oklahoma high school students couldn’t identify the first person to be President of the United States.

The study, which found that students also struggled to answer other basic questions, has some people questioning the effectiveness of Oklahoma schools.

Researchers from the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs questioned 1,000 high school students and said that only 3 percent of them would be able to pass the United States Citizenship Test.

Once again, the Republican/conservative noise machine puts itself firmly and squarely on the wrong side of history:

On the very first day of the school year, 12-year-old Mileena Rodriguez was reminded by President Barack Obama himself that hard work can take you places. Mileena listened to Obama’s plea to study hard and stay in school Tuesday, watching along with several of her classmates at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School and students across the country. For all the hubbub among adults over the back-to-school speech, many youngsters took the president’s message to heart.

“He said that we’re the future, and he’s right,” said Mileena, who wants to be a forensic scientist. “That’s a president telling you, `I care about you getting your education.’ Just imagine what kids like us can do if we actually listen.”

…

At Thomas Jefferson High School in Auburn, Wash., a racially and economically diverse district outside Seattle, sophomores listened attentively to the address. Fifteen-year-old Ariana Steele said the message connected with her.

“When you see someone of such power saying what your parents say or your teachers have said, like all your life, it really makes it more powerful to you and it really makes you want to try more,” she said.

And William Geist, a San Francisco fifth-grader who likes to sleep late, listened closely to Obama’s story of studying with his mother at 4:30 a.m.

“Now since I heard this speech, I’m like, `Man, I’ve got to get up early in the morning. I’ve got to get ready for school. I’ve got to do this,’” William said.

WHICH.
WAS.
THE.
POINT.

The insanity of this moment on the right should not be forgotten. Its not just that these people on the right thought Obama might be partisan in a speech to schoolchildren. No, its that they compared it to a Nazi/Soviet/Communist indoctrination brain-wipe! We saw the effects of these crazy people running our country, and yet somehow out of power they’ve grown more deranged.

Any cursory glance at American history shows us that while legislation, war, and economy are major elements of the presidency – it is also the power of the national bully pulpit, the ability to command attention and inspire that is such a huge part of the presidency. That goes for presidents of all parties – from people like Washington to Lincoln to both Roosevelts and beyond.

Our presidents inspire us in times of weakness and in strength. Whether they come from wealth or are one of us, that’s part of the power of the office that we give them at the ballot box.

Maybe its because we haven’t seen it for a while that it’s so shocking to some when President Obama does it.

The president’s much ballyhooed address has been the subject of right-wing hand wringing since it was announced weeks ago. Several schools refused to air it. In my home, the most stinging criticism of the speech came from my younger child, who lasted 10 minutes before pronouncing it ‘boring,’ grabbing her Hannah Montana wig and leaving the room in a huff.

Lucy, on the other hand — the child who accompanied me into a voting booth and pulled the lever last November — thought Obama seemed ‘nice and smart.’

‘He was funny at points,’ she said, ‘but he was also serious.’ He told kids to do their homework. To stay in school. That ‘you can’t let your failures define you — you have to let them teach you.’ At no point did either of my children turn to me and observe, ‘OMG, that is so Hitler.’

Yes, lets hire a creationist to run the state education board. Lord. Then again, this is a decision made by Gov. Rick Perry – previously of Texas secession advocacy and even before that, Lieutenant Governor to… George W. Bush.

So, it makes perfect sense.

Onward, backwards regional southern party, onward!

For the first time, Maryland ranks top in the nation for the share of high school graduates who passed at least one Advanced Placement test.

The College Board reported yesterday that 23.4 percent of Maryland students in the Class of 2008 earned passing scores on one or more AP exams, which cover material comparable to what is taught in a first-year college course. The state edged New York, the home base of the nonprofit test publisher, to post the highest such rate in the AP program. Virginia was third, with 21.3 percent of graduating students having passed an AP test.

I still think social promotion stupidly coddles students, however.

Substitute teacher Jim Piculas does a 30-second magic trick where a toothpick disappears then reappears.

But after performing it in front of a classroom at Rushe Middle School in Land ‘O Lakes, Piculas said his job did a disappearing act of its own.

“I get a call the middle of the day from the supervisor of substitute teachers. He says, ‘Jim, we have a huge issue. You can’t take any more assignments. You need to come in right away,’” he said.

When Piculas went in, he learned his little magic trick cast a spell that went much farther than he’d hoped.

“I said, ‘Well Pat, can you explain this to me?’ ‘You’ve been accused of wizardry,’ [he said]. Wizardry?” he asked.

The guys who did this video have a cool Stephen Colbert puppet you should check out. (via)

This reminds me of why I dislike Florida so.

Stoking the fire, a study published in the April edition of the Journal of Adolescent Health found that those who received comprehensive sex education were 50 percent less likely to become pregnant than those who received abstinence-only education. The study also found that those who received comprehensive sex education were 60 percent less likely to become pregnant than those who received no sex education at all.

“I do think that there’s strong evidence that comprehensive sex education is more effective at preventing teen pregnancies,” said Pamela Kohler, lead author of the study and program manager at the University of Washington’s Center for AIDS and STD. “I think we pretty much debunked the myth that comprehensive sex education causes teenagers to have sex.”

Programs that focus exclusively on abstinence have not been shown to affect teenager sexual behavior, although they are eligible for tens of mil lions of dollars in federal grants, according to a study released by a nonpartisan group that seeks to reduce teen pregnancies.

“At present there does not exist any strong evidence that any abstinence program delays the initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence or reduces the number of sexual partners” among teenagers, the study concluded.

The report, which was based on a review of research into teenager sexual behavior, was being released Wednesday by the nonpartisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

The study found that while abstinence-only efforts appear to have little positive impact, more comprehensive sex education programs were having “positive outcomes” including teenagers “delaying the initiation of sex, reducing the frequency of sex, reducing the number of sexual partners and increasing condom or contraceptive use.”

“Two-thirds of the 48 comprehensive programs that supported both abstinence and the use of condoms and contraceptives for sexually active teens had positive behavior effect,” said the report.

The Portland school board on Wednesday approved a measure allowing middle-school students to gain access to prescription birth control medications without notifying parents.

The proposal, from the Portland Division of Public Health, calls for the independently operated health care center at King Middle School to provide a variety of services to students, including immunizations and physical checkups in addition to birth-control medications and counseling for sexually transmitted diseases, said Lisa Belanger, an administrator for Portland’s student health centers.

All but two members of the 12-person committee voted to approve the plan.

The school principal, Mike McCarthy, said about 5 of the school’s 500 students had identified themselves as being sexually active.

The school board has no right to go over the heads of parents like this. These are minors, and a school should not have the power to give prescription medicines to a minor without the permission of parents. Much like my support for parental notification for abortions for minors, it is morally wrong to usurp a parent’s rights in this manner. It’s not a slippery slope, it’s a vertical drop into oblivion here. The state is within its rights to mandate things like inoculation before a child can attend school, but these things are obtained with the participation of the child’s parents. This case just invalidates the parents – why bother have them then?

Decisions like this repulse me. They are wrong. They are wrong-minded. They violate families. It’s nanny-statism at its worst.

Mutual fund managers invest more money in companies that are run by people with whom they went to college or graduate school than in companies where they have no such connections, the study found. The investments involving school ties, on average, also do significantly better than other investments.

Now, I’m a horrible schmoozer in the first place and I only ended up with one real friend from college (I was in his wedding) but perhaps if I stuck to it I would be able to call up Chauncy and Winthrop and trade stock tips over a round of golf or some crap.