Waiting for Superman is a recent docu-movie that every American needs to watch.
Follow this link to learn more about the film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1566648/
I would have been a good teacher. I always wanted to be a teacher but I decided against it after my second year in college after realizing that teaching was corrupted by the system. When I graduated from High School I was pretty sure I could do better than some of the ones I had most recently experienced and yet by the second year of taking education courses in college I realized the system was the problem and I knew I was not cut out to follow the rules they had laid out.
I had some really great teachers, Vivian Phelps and Alta Abrams were most influential when I was young and attended a one room school house in Kenya. Even more important in my education were the teachers at Delamare Boys secondary school in Nairobi. It was a British school with only boys... that means no girls. Uniforms and very strict enforcement of the rules. I loved it and I had a great education there. Teachers like Mr. French who taught History, Mrs. Sofat, a pretty Indian lady that always wore a sari taught English and sexy Miss. Pinto that taught art, (she was hot). The PE coach was Mr. Velzine who also was an Olympic coach for the Kenyan running teams. Why do you suppose I remember their names? It is because they were important in my success. Not a single one of them was easy but rather they made us work hard and they made us better. They were tough. And corporal punishment was administered freely.
In 1971 I attended Anderson High School in Anderson Indiana for my senior year. Except for auto shop it was basically a useless waste of my time. I was in an economics class one afternoon with Mr. Denny and he was sound asleep snoring loudly. Everyone in the class was goofing off and laughing but I was so mad I went to the office and asked to meet with the principal. I was shown to the office of Mr. Chadbourne, the VP and he explained "Tenure" to me. I was so disgusted I asked my dad about it later ( he was a former teacher) and he assured me that what I had been told was true but there was nothing anyone could do about it. Simply amazing, you could not be fired for being inept!
Yet I still wanted to teach and I still think I would have been good at it. I sort of had my chance while I was a Deputy Sheriff and was a DARE instructor and an SRO. In fact after five years of having been at Conifer High School and battling with the principal most of the time he finally told me that he really thought I should go into education.....he said I would be a good teacher. Yes!
However, I had learned during my ten years of working in the schools that the education system in America is broken. I was once asked to observe a calss by a very popular junior high teacher that had one class from hell. She simply wanted someone to know what she faced every day and be a witness in case one day one of her students killed her. She bravely faced that class every day but feared that someday it could go badly. I advised her afterwards that I was deeply concerned that the administration would allow that situation to exist at all. I discovered that she was far from alone in that kind of experience. Never would that enviornment have been tolerated at Delamare.
The very same system that protects a lazy bum of a teacher from being fired also allows a very good and dedicated teacher to be fearful of personal harm from her class. That's just plain stupid, but as Ron White says, "You Can't Fix Stupid ". If I was king for a day I would abolish the NEA and the Department of Education. I would privatize all schools and let them work to make a profit instead of being a sink hole of despair with no bottom.
Now let me be clear, I was priveleged to work with a whole bunch of really great teachers in the time I spent in the schools. Most of them were very qualified and very dedicated to their craft. I saw year after year of their students leave their classes better human beings than when they arrived. I also worked with a few tremendous principals that made their schools great learning environments. The thing is they performed wonderfully inspite of the system that resists change. Nearly every one of those miracle workers shared frustrations with me about what they thought could make education better. I never ran into a teacher that went into the profession so they could have the summer off and an easy job. But at the same time they never planned on being a social worker and a policeman and a parent to the students.
The movie "Waiting for Superman" is excellent. It is long over due and is the most important expose on the failure of our public school system in a long time. I urge you to watch it. The facts are simple and plain for all to see. This illustrates once again that our public schools are no longer doing the job. There are solutions but are we ever going to be ready to implement them. Charter schools and vouchers are a good start but the most important thing we could do would be to attach the funds to the student. Start making the schools compete for the students and the money. As good schools began to draw good families the rest would change the way they do business.
In this movie listen to Bill Gates..... he does know what he is talking about.
Tim
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
Define Folly
Define folly: a costly and foolish undertaking; unwise investment or expenditure.
The following is an excellent piece that illustrates why destroying our own productivity in the interest of reducing global warming while the rest of the world races ahead is detrimental and futile.
The best chance for the earth is American ingenuity. Through our own progress and technology we have the best chance of overcoming the problems and finding the solutions. However, it will not happen if we destroy our ability to do so.
It is time to acknowledge that there is a major segment of our society that is convinced that the only thing great about America is that we are the problem. America is greedy, abusive and exploitative and therefore America must be punished and the way to achieve this is through restrictive limitations on our success.
What faster way to achieve this goal than through crippling our economy and our energy independence.
It is time to ask, "What Is The Real Agenda ?" Why are we not fast tracking development our own oil resources? The President is hinting that he may be willing to open our Strategic Oil Reserves. This is a 38 day supply at present consumption, that once used up... then what. This needs to be off limits, saved for the potential catastrophic event that would by nature have already eliminated the vast majority of daily oil
consumption. In that scenario we will undoubtedly be under martial law.
If the President does open the reserves, then you need to ask some very hard questions. If we know it only makes a very small difference for a very short time then why do it? Sabotage?
If much of the world, Russia, China, Venezuela, Mexico and obviously the Muslim Middle East all hate the USA but love our dollars as long as we continue to send them by the shipload, what will they do when we can't send the money? Can you imagine one of the above that would not love an opportunity to shut off our supply, to create an embargo just as we have done to each of them? Add to this that about half of this country is unwilling to fight to actually win a war in the middle of the worlds most volatile battle ground.
We are not fighting just a radical jihadist ideology in the Middle East but also a radical liberal elitist progressive element here in America. The environmentalists, the socialists and big labor entitlement mobs have hijacked the Democrat party with the complicity of the main stream media who refuses to tell the simple truth that our country is broke.
Our news and talk shows all like to have expert guests on to discuss the problems in the world and here at home. But they really want to get back to the more important issues like Charlie Sheen and other celebrity nonsense. What we need is for America to call in to the Dave Ramsey Show. Imagine what he would tell Uncle Sam. Why is it that everyone knows that he is right when he tells you to get out of debt, stop using the credit card and plan for the future but for some ridiculous reason none of that advice is relevant for our country.
I'm fed up with watching it all and feeling like there is nothing I can do. I'm increasingly angry that our elected politicians seem more and more inept listening to them bicker with each other. It is a lot like the bickering we criticize when we see images of Arab politicians in the Middle East. Just different suits. Watching the nonsense in Wisconsin, Indiana, New jersey and Ohio along with the issues in California and Arizona and along our Southern Border really concerns me. We are in desperate need of some real leadership.
If I could send a message to our president it would be this:
Mr. President, it is time for you to make two phone calls. No not to Glenn Beck's red phone.
The 1st call needs to be to Dr. Phill . You need to discuss your animosity toward this country that has placed it's trust in you and has elected you to lead in these perilous times. Get over the whole neo-colonialist anti imperialist white guilt issue. Your own father's former boss Jomo Kenyatta coined the phrase, "Forget the past." and "Harrambe" Swahili for lets pull together. You are OUR president.
2nd call needs to be to Dave Ramsey. You need to listen to some sound financial advice from someone who is not in politics and not from Chicago, but from Tennessee, a state that does not even have an income tax. But that is another debate...........
Mr President, imagine what you could accomplish if you embraced this amazing country called America?
Here for a quick look at our potential watch this short video of Americans at work...
It's an amazing country....I'm just sayin,
Tim Woodsome
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