Is Language in Decline? And Should Teachers Stop that Decline?

Read this.

Now read this.

Hmmm. . .what to do, what to do?

Mission Statements: The Politics of Words

View the Mission Statements:

Hoover Institute

Thomas B. Fordham Institute

The Forum for Education and Democracy

Recommended reading. . .

I have mentioned these and wanted to be sure you had access to the suggestions. If you ever read any of these and want to talk, I would be more than happy to chat. . .

I Don't Believe in Atheists, Chris Hedges

American Fascists, Chris Hedges

Meeting Jesus again for the First Time, Marcus Borg

The God We Never Knew, Marcus Borg

CLP opportunities

One section of the CLP on May 15 addressing the Bush Administration and Education will explore these issues.

And my portion will be with this in mind from former U. S. President Theodore Roosevelt:

"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."

"Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star", 149
May 7, 1918

What students read?

Consider this study, claiming to identify what students read by grade.

Cinco de Mayo

Know your Cinco de Mayo history!

NCLB, Reading First—Continued Failures

"Students enrolled in a $6 billion federal reading program that is at the heart of the No Child Left Behind law are not reading any better than those who don't participate, according to a U.S. government report."

Read the article here.

And more here.

The report:

Reading First Impact Study: Interim Report

Twenty-five Years after A Nation at Risk

Is Democracy at Risk?

This report evaluates the quality of schools today, placing that evaluation in the context of the past twenty-five years of reform launched by the report in 1983, A Nation at Risk.

How should we respond to this?

What ethics and actions must we teach in a democracy?

As we approach the end of ED 11 this spring of 2008, let's consider the broad responsibilities any and all teachers have for students in a democratic society.

What ethics and actions must we teach in a democracy?

Consider Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, own parameters for civil disobedience during the Civil Rights movement: Letter.

Education in the News

Poverty's impact on brain development

NCLB Changes. . .Helpful or Hurtful?

Some music

The Nation, "Fake Empire" (video)

If you like that, watch/listen: The National's "Apartment Story"

Thursday April 24

Be sure to read:

What These Children Are Like, Ralph Ellison

And my discussion of the standards movement over the past thirty years.

No Crisis

Know the history behind drop-out rates in US schools.

US Education Ranks Poorly. . .Again!

Target: Education

Whale Aptitude

An Alternative Commencement Address: Vonnegut, 1981

Kurt Vonnegut: Southampton College, 1981