Can we declare our independence from Florida? Just in interest of propping up the national IQ.
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.
I posted this in links yesterday, but I’m putting it here because I thought it was funny and worth more notice. I really hate these intelligent design (creationism) people and the way they continue to try and pervert science and education. Expelled and Ben Stein are even worse because they try to link Nazism and Fascism to science and evolution. Their tactics, of course, are right out of the Goebbels playbook.
The legislature down there in America’s appendage passed a bill that calls for the theory of evolution (caution: may contain science-like material) to be downgraded to just contradictory noise in order to allow creationism based “intelligent design” into the classroom.
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.”
Once again data shows us what smart people already knew.
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.
I am sorry but this is crazy. The school board in Portland, Maine has lost their minds.
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.
I had an… interesting discussion with my Mom a few days ago on the relative merits of me leaving college (this happened 11 years ago and it’s going to go on my permanent record) and my position on the issue aside, here’s what I believe to be one of the major benefits of the folks who do what I didn’t.
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.
M.I.T.’s dean of admissions resigns and admits she lied about her college degrees. Maybe it’s because I don’t have one, but it’s always been intriguing to me the almost magical power someone exerts by saying they have a college degree. In the last 12 or so years since I’ve been in the real world, I’ve found people with tons of advanced degrees who are absolute idiots while others with just “the basics” are brilliant.
Check out this video of teachers flipping out in the classroom. Now, the pinhead in the interview, Mark Eiglarsh, makes the nutty case that teachers yelling at bad behaving kids is “emotional abuse”. Why is it people who apparently have not been a classroom in the last 20 years automatically line up against teachers? I graduated from high school (The Fightin’ Cobras!) in 1994 and so many of the kids were just absolute monsters who simply did not want to be in the classroom. In the ensuing 13 (!) years, it can only have gotten worse. I’m surprised in this country that we don’t have more teachers bringing bodily harm to their charges. Yes, wanton abuse from a teacher should never be tolerated, but the disrespect from pupils towards their teachers is rampant in a culture that too often tells kids that they’re perfect in every way no matter what they do.
As to the use of cell phones in class, I sort of understand the need to have them in emergencies (Columbine comes to mind) but once they’re in the building they must be turned off and not used. And if they are, out they go - no second chances.
I’m only pointing this out because the fact that the last few winners have been home-schooled has been used as a talking point by the right-wing in order to both slam public school and flaunt the alleged superiority of home-schooling (a practice I find odd, personally, but I’m not going to totally get down on what is generally parents striving to have the best educational environment for their kids).
Katharine “Kerry” Close, a 13-year-old speller from Spring Lake, N.J., won the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday night.
Kerry was named the Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion in the 20th round after correctly spelling the word “ursprache,” which is defined as “a parent language, especially one reconstructed from the evidence of later languages.”
The H. W. Mountz School provides a challenging educational environment for its 300 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The average class size of 17, together with in-class support and other extra-help programs, offers a comprehensive instructional delivery system to meet our children’s educational needs.
Governor Ed Rendell is offering the money a local school district to continue a popular program.
The Tribune-Review reports that Rendell wants to give money to the Upper St. Clair School District in an effort to keep International Baccalaureate Program.
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