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Public Schools Change Young Evangelicals' Values 
by Phyllis Schlafly Tuesday, December 30, 2008 Why did 18-to-29-year-old evangelicals vote for Barack Obama despite his apostasy on the fundamental moral issues of abortion and same-sex unions? They voted 32 percent for Obama, twice the percentage of that demographic group who voted for John Kerry in 2004. Many of these young people identify "social justice" as the reason that led them to relegate the prime moral issues of life and marriage to the back burner. But the term "social justice" does not define a moral cause -- it is left-wing jargon to overturn those who have economic and political power. What caused young evangelicals, the children of the so-called "religious right," to change their moral imperatives so dramatically? Most likely it's the attitudes and decision-making they learned in the public schools, which 89 percent of U.S. students attend. The public schools took a major left turn in the 1960s, when humanist John Dewey and the instructors he trained at Columbia Teachers College began their put-down of objective truth and authoritative notions of good and evil. In the 1970s, Sidney Simon's best-seller "Values Clarification" taught students to cast off their parents' values and make their own choices, often aided by Kinsey-trained sexperts determined to change our sexual mores. By the 1980s, many radical antiwar activists of the 1960s had become tenured college professors, so teachers colleges and public schools opened their doors to "social justice" instruction. Among these '60s radicals was Weather Undergrounder William Ayers, who escaped prosecution only because of government misconduct in collecting evidence against him and then emerged as a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Ayers developed quite a following as he taught resentment against America. In 2008, he was elected by his peers as vice president for curriculum studies of the American Education Research Association, the nation's largest organization of education professors and researchers. In 1983, Humanist Magazine featured an article that boasted, "The battle for mankind's future must be waged and won in the public school classroom." Ayers put it this way: "Education is the motor-force of revolution." Ayers became a leading advocate of "social justice" teaching -- i.e., getting students to believe that they are victims of an unjust, oppressive and racist America. Community organizers can then use these young people to vote and otherwise carry out Ayers' "revolution." Ayers has been on a decades-long mission to transform education into anti-American indoctrination and to get young people to demand government control of the economy, politics and culture. We see the result in the 2008 post-election surveys: Seven out of every 10 voters between the ages of 18 and 29 now favor expanding the role of government and agree that the government should do more to solve the nation's problems. It's obvious which party and which candidates will get their vote. Ayers worked closely with Barack Obama in the 1990s when Obama headed the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which gave $160 million in grants to so-called school-reform projects. Ayers and Obama guided some of this Annenberg money to community organizers such as ACORN. The National Association of Scholars reports that use of the term "social justice" is today understood to mean "the advocacy of more egalitarian access to income through state-sponsored redistribution." That is academic verbiage for Barack Obama's assertion that he wants to "spread the wealth around." "Rethinking Schools" is a Milwaukee-based organization that publishes instructional materials to assist teachers how to "weave social justice issues throughout the curriculum." Lessons include "Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Numbers" and "Reading, Writing and Rising Up: Teaching About Social Justice and the Power of the Written Word." Howard Zinn, author of the anti-American "People's History of the United States," urges educators to prioritize "social justice" education over political neutrality. In a 1998 interview, he said "quiet revolution" to move us toward "democratic socialism" was his goal in writing "People's History." The thinking of teachers is further molded at expensive conferences, financed by billing the taxpayers. The National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) sponsors seminars with titles such as "Our Work as Social Justice Educators," "Teaching for Social Justice in Elementary Schools," "Dismantling White Privilege and Supporting Anti-Racist Education in Our Classrooms and Schools" and "Creating Change Agents Who Teach for Social Justice." This "social justice" curriculum results in a heavy cost in time not spent on the basics. Young Americans who are exposed to Ayers' radical left-wing ideas generally have little background information to help them evaluate bias and errors. Barack Obama's selection for secretary of education is his crony Arne Duncan, who most recently made news by recommending the creation of a Chicago Social Justice High School-Pride Campus, where half the students would be homosexuals and the other half straight. Somehow that school was canceled just about the time that Obama announced Duncan's appointment. Phyllis Schlafly is a national leader of the pro-family movement, a nationally syndicated columnist and author of Feminist Fantasies
Excellence in Education? Posted by Bobby Eberle
December 18, 2008 at 7:42 am Hope and change. Hope and change. The words are still ringing in my ears. Throughout the Obama campaign for president, all we heard was that we needed "hope" so that we could have "real change." That vague statement carried a weary electorate into the voting booth, where they proceeded to hand the Democrats a resounding victory. Now, we are beginning to learn what hope and change are all about. In this case, we'll focus on education. Obama has announced his pick for the secretary of education. Pending Senate confirmation, Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan will be charged with overseeing education policy for the entire country. Granted, the federal government has no constitutional role in education, but since the department exists, we all have to deal with the consequences of its actions. And what are those consequences? If Duncan does what he did for Chicago, the American people will find out what "change" is all about... change for the worse. According to a story by CNSNews.com, in 2007 "only 17 percent of eighth graders tested at or above grade level in reading in Chicago Public Schools." Duncan has been in charge of these schools since 2001. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) report for 2007, Chicago public schools have consistently performed below the national average during Duncan’s tenure. Students in eighth grade are those most likely to have been in the Chicago system for a majority of Duncan’s tenure. CNSNews.com used the scores for these students to best determine the results of Duncan’s administration.
BASIC denotes partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work at a given grade.
PROFICIENT represents solid academic performance. Students reaching this level have demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter.
ADVANCED represents superior performance.
After conversations with the CNSNews.com reporter, I learned that CNSNews.com defined "grade level" as being "proficent" or above. I completely agree with this definition. Based on how the NAEP defines "basic," one can clearly see that "basic" is not at grade level. Thus, for 2007, in reading, 16% of the Chicago students tested at "proficient," and 1% tested at "advanced," for a total of 17% at grade level (Page 41 of the report). In addition to the pathetic ranking for reading, only twenty-three percent of students in 2007 scored at or above grade level in writing. Similarly, "[b]y 2005, the only year Chicago participated in the NEAP assessment program, 16 percent of eighth grade students were at or above grade level in science." And it's not only the poor performance of the schools under Duncan's watch that should get the attention of the American people. As head of Chicago's school system, Duncan also supported and approved plans for a "special public high school for homosexuals." As CNSNews.com reports in another story: Social Justice High School, Pride Campus was one of a number of projected public schools that Duncan approved for Chicago. The school was planned to open its doors to all students while offering support for homosexual and lesbian students and including notable gay and lesbian figures in its curriculum.
In describing the school, Duncan said, "Given how large and diverse we are, I think there’s a niche there." He also added, "We want to create great new options for communities that have been traditionally underserved." A niche there? What happened to focusing on reading, writing, and arithmetic? Isn't that what will make American students competitive around the world? Isn't that what education is all about? The "community" that has been traditionally underserved in American is the American student thirsting for knowledge! Instead, American public schools have begun the laboratory for social experimentation. In accepting the nomination by Obama, CNSNews.com reports that Duncan said he would like to "take the lessons he learned in Chicago with him when he moves to Washington." The story quotes Duncan as saying, "I'm also eager to apply some of the lessons we have learned here in Chicago to help school districts all across our country." If "help" means lower academic standards and increased focus on social experimentation rather than core educational subjects, then we are all in for trouble. Hope and change... hope and change. I certainly hope (and pray) for a different kind of change. |
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New Jersey public school accommodates Muslim prayerThere is no problem with this as long as non-Muslim students are accorded the same privileges. However, the involvement of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas funding case and an organization that has had several of its officials convicted of terrorism-related offenses, is a red flag, and suggests that this effort is part of the larger effort by Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups to assert a more visible presence for Islam in American public life, and pushing for accommodation of Islamic law wherever Islamic law and American law conflict. An update on this story. "Muslim prayer-in-school controversy might be solved," by Andrea Alexander for NorthJersey.com, February 25: WAYNE — Four students knelt on a classroom floor during lunch at the Albert Payson Terhune Elementary School today and performed the afternoon Muslim prayer ritual.It was the first time the students had prayed in the school during school hours. And it may end a controversy over what arrangement the district should make to ensure the children’s constitutionally protected right to exercise their religion during school hours. School parent Rola Awwad has been seeking a private place for her 10-year-old son, Adam, to pray in school since the fall. The district offered to let him pray at recess — either outside or in classroom while his classmates are there. At first, Awwad called the offer “unacceptable,” and the situation attracted attention from Muslim advocates who suggested bringing the issue to the state for resolution. But Adam decided on his own to pray at lunch, Awwad said. He joined three friends today in a classroom with other students present. They performed the ritual in the back of a room. “If it continues like this, it will be very nice,’’ Awwad said. She said her 7-year-old daughter, Amana, also prayed in her second grade class, and she thanked the teacher for the arrangement. Her son had worried other students would make fun of him if they watched him pray, but schools Superintendent John Sico Jr. assured her the district wouldn’t let that happen. As the students prayed, classmates played games, he said. Sico said he consulted the Imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County and felt he received support for his position. Imam Mohammad Qatanani told The Record he had had a good talk with Sico and will meet with Mrs. Awwad today “to understand the issue from her side more.” “As far as I am concerned the issue is resolved,’’ Sico said. “We did the right thing. The kids did the right thing. No one was making fun.’’ Afsheen Shamsi, spokeswoman for the Council on American Islamic Relations, which has intervened with the district on Awwad’s behalf said the accommodation was a correct step. “It’s a question of finding the right balance and making sure the student is comfortable and the district is comfortable,’’ she said. She said CAIR had considered bringing the issue before the state Board of Education. But Awwad said she wants to wait and see if the accommodation continues to work for her children. All students are constitutionally guaranteed the right to pray during the school day as long as it doesn't interfere with learning. Muslims pray five times a day to reaffirm their faith and submit to follow divine commandments. The prayer is said during prescribed times; in the fall, when clocks roll back at the end of daylight savings time, the afternoon prayer must be said during the school day, Awwad explained. Federal guidelines say schools can't prevent students from praying during school, but they can't sponsor religious activities or lead students in prayer. For instance, those guidelines specifically mention a student's right to quietly read the Bible during lunch. But they are not clear on what action to take when the religious expression is more demonstrative, as it is in Adam's case....
Academia: sanctuary for the worst of the worst. December 29, 2008 Via the Moving Picture Institute.
Posted on December 27, 2008 
-By Warner Todd Huston, Stop the ACLU.com
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has launched a wonderful little feature that will run until Barack Obama takes the oath of office next month. They are calling it “Dear Mr. Obama” and it is a heartwarming exercise in child indoctrination and brainwashing. The Post-Gazette will be publishing letters from local students to Obama asking him for all sorts of global warming fixes, Iraq war enders, and big government programs. Sadly, it appears that the government schools these kids have been subjected to have failed to teach their charges about anything like the American system, federalism, even science seems neglected. But they SURE taught their kiddies that government is there to spend, spend, spend, that government is to be treated like our collective parents, and that the war in Iraq is obviously an evil venture. Obviously. And, yes little kiddies, The One, your very own Obamessiah, is flying to the rescue like a super hero. Cue the theme music — I’d suggest the theme to 2001, like Elvis used, is appropriate for the sentiment here. The Obamessiah has entered the building! The tykes are all about the alternative energy these days. They are full of exhortations to The One that he should force upon us all a reliance on wind power and solar cells. Obviously these youngsters have not been taught that no alternative energy source has thus far been found that is cheaper than oil and the fossil fuels. These kids are under the illusion that just instituting a government program is all it takes to overcome the science of the matter and make them cost effective and feasible. Yes, all we need is a word from our new religious icon in Washington DC cum Obamalot. The first letter was amusing for its complete fraud. It is supposed to be from a ten-year-old child, yet it talks about alternative energy, the war in “Irak” and lays out a fairly detailed idea for a new method of education. It is painfully obvious that no ten-year-old ever wrote this letter. Also we see little Neil Pandya, age 10, who asked Obama to lower the age limit on driving. Apparently, Neil was not told that states are supposed to legislate that restriction, not the federal government. Sadly, states’ rights is not a subject taught to our young Mr. Pandya. Several of the children are worried about mythical man-made, global warming and have been indoctrinated that Obama can control such things from the Mount Olympus of Washington. Here, for instance, are the worries of little Anna Devinney. The first one is pollution. A lot of animals are dying because of pollution. Fish are dying from garbage being dumped into their habitat. People are dumping barrels of toxins into the oceans and many sea animals are losing food. Another problem in the U.S. is global warming. In the future, all the land will be flooded with water because the icebergs are melting and the sea level is rising.
To be so misled by one’s teachers is so disheartening. The thing we can take from this is that who ever said kid’s can’t learn is way off base. Unfortunately, what they are learning is a thorough left-wing agenda. To paraphrase a famous saying, it isn’t that our kids don’t know anything. It’s that what they know is all wrong. Unfortunately, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, thinking it’s cute, is all too willing to display for all to see what a failed education looks like. (Image credit: wedalert.com)
Posted on December 15, 2008 It’s the end of the year, and just in time for Jason Mattera to bring us the Young Americas Foundation top ten list of the worst academia abuses of 2008. Going to college as a conservative, after all, is only OK if you keep your head down and your mouth shut. Tolerance is preached, not practiced, on college campuses where unhinged liberalism runs wild and free speech is only something to give lip service to. Don’t quite buy the hype? Here are just a few examples from Jason’s disturbing list (emphasis in the original): Banned conservative speakers, stolen votes, assaults on religious liberty, gay English classes, and forbidden Thanksgiving & Christmas celebrations Political correctness ran amuck in our nation’s school system this past year, and Young America’s Foundation has once again compiled our “best of the worst” academic abuses for 2008. From “free speech zones” to transgendered speakers at military academies, the following list may make you both laugh and cry in the same breath. That probably isn’t too surprising, however, since we are talking about academia after all… 1. The free speech “zone.” A student at Yuba College in California was sent an ultimatum by the school’s president: discontinue handing out gospel booklets or face disciplinary action and possibly expulsion. That’s right—gospel booklets. Ryan Dozier, the 20-year-old student, had the audacity to distribute Christian literature without a school permit, which restricts free speech to an hour each Tuesday and Thursday. Yuba College even directs students to where on campus they are allowed to exhibit free speech. In this case, it’s the school theater. Campus police threatened to arrest Ryan if he didn’t comply with the “free speech zone,” oblivious to the fact that students don’t need permission to exercise the First Amendment’s free speech and religious clauses. … 6. You can’t pray here! The First Amendment, is it a bestowed right given from above and protected by our government or a meaningless, antiquated concept to be disposed of? If you’re the folks at the College of Alameda in California, you’d pick the latter. How else do you explain their threatening to expel a student who prayed on campus? It all started when a student, Kandy Kyriacou, visited her professor to give her a Christmas gift. But when Kandy saw that her teacher was ill, she offered to pray for her. The professor agreed. That’s when Derek Piazza, another professor, walked in and freaked out that a prayer—gasp, a prayer—was occurring on college premises. “You can’t be doing that in here,” Piazza purportedly barked. Kandy received a retroactive “intent to suspend” letter from the administration, claiming that she was guilty of “disruptive or insulting behavior” and “persistent abuse of” college employees. Further infractions would result in expulsion, the letter read. … 10. Who knew? Universal health care is actually a non partisan issue. Administrators at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota—the nation’s largest Catholic women’s college—unexpectedly blocked young conservatives on campus from hosting Bay Buchanan, a popular conservative commentator and U.S. Treasurer under President Reagan. College officials deemed Ms. Buchanan’s remarks on “Feminism and the 2008 Election” too politically charged, citing concerns about the school’s tax status. Those same “concerns,” mind you, didn’t prohibit the school from sponsoring programs that push for universal healthcare and minimum wage increases or hosting Frank Kroncke, an anti-war radical who is reliving the Vietnam days. But Bay Buchanan? Well, she’s partisan, according to St. Catherine’s administration.
And those are just three examples — make you sure you go see the entire list. Of course, there will undoubtedly be those who will whine that this is just cherry-picking, that most college campuses aren’t like this and conservatives are just trying to give liberals a bad name. I don’t doubt that some liberals will look at this list and see absolutely nothing wrong. The thing is, the abuses on this list are by no means an anomaly. You can find countless examples of egregious behavior like those listed above at FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. On college campuses, thanks to the liberal strangehold found on virtually every campus, it’s free speech for me and not for thee. Only certain kinds of expression are allowed. Yet somehow, we’re still expected to spend thousands of dollars “educating” our children there. Hat Tip: Hot Air Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog.
Obama's Pick: Pending Senate confirmation, Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan will be charged with overseeing education policy for the entire country 
By: justicereq'd, Political Writer I don't know why this should be a surprise to anyone, since the very system that educated the half-bright socialist that Obama has tagged for the position of the nation's top educational advisor is a product of the system that promotes that children shouldn't be taught rules, (grammatical or otherwise), that they should learn about "diversity", have homosexual education from kindergarten through grade twelve and become indoctrinated in all the latest UN "buzz" words. Academics are relative to one's anticipated position in life and true education should not be wasted on the common workers. Obama is and has been very closely linked to the socialist (mindless) movement, therefore it should be of no surprise that he has chosen one to head the bureaucracy of the Dept of Education with one who himself has a limited ability to speak correctly, clearly or concisely --- in the words of a prominent politician, a useful "idiot". Obama's extensive studies of and agreement with the works of a former New York Tribune reporter are transparent in his choices for cabinet members --- who also are/were enthusiastic students of Karl Marx. For most of the past 20 years, the NEA has mandated the teachings of the UN's World Core Curriculum, the "gift" of one Robert Mueller, former Assistant Secretary of the UN, occultist who states that he received the information from his Eastern Indian mystic guide. The NEA itself was the "brain-child" of socialist John Dewey [dominant head of the Intercollegiate Socialists Society, co-author of the first Humanist Manifesto] who declared that he would remove Christianity from America by going through the school systems; where did he acquire this concept you may ask and what does it have to do with the education in America today? Quite simply here is an excerpt from the agenda which Mueller has vowed to extend: The overall hierarchical organization has three major divisions; one having responsibility for world political progress, or government in its true sense, the second having responsibility for teaching in its three aspects, education, religion, and healing, and a third division having responsibility for all economic progress, industry, labour and capital relations, scientific discovery, finance as it pertains to all fields, intellectual culture, and the arts. This third division is the largest of the three, with many different departments of work. From where did the agenda originate? From one Adam Weishaupt, whom had stated centuries before that : We must win the common people in every corner. This will be obtained chiefly by means of the schools, and by open, hearty behavior, show, condescension, popularity, and toleration of their prejudices, which we shall at leisure root out and dispel. Dewey's manifesto agenda was for a religious "synthesis" as part of a new "socialized & economic world order" Now if those individuals aren't reason enough to check out of the teachings of "public" school systems in America, one might suggest a trip back a little further to Dewey's philosophical mentors: socialist G. Stanley Hall, one Alice Bailey, occultist/theosophist [reference Lucifer Publishing Co., a/k/a Lucis Trust, a/k/a Lucifer Trust ] and her theosophical, spiritist mentor, one Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Going full cycle, the official publisher for the UN is Lucifer/Lucis Publishing Co. which also publishes the educational agenda for public education. Take a look at what socialist mentor George Counts had to say regarding education: "... the teachers should deliberately reach for power and then make the most of their conquest" in order to "influence the social attitudes, ideals and behavior of the coming generation... The growth of science and technology has carried us into a new age where ignorance must be replaced by knowledge, competition by cooperation, trust in Providence by careful planning and private capitalism by some form of social economy."
Humanist Manifesto II 1973: “We deplore the division of humankind on nationalistic grounds. We have reached a turning point in human history where the best option is to transcend the limits of national sovereignty and to move toward the building of a world community in which all sectors of the human family can participate. Thus we look to the development of a system of world law and a world order based upon transnational federal government.” “It is the moral obligation of the developed nations to provide…massive technical, agricultural, medical, and economic assistance, including birth control techniques, to the developing portions of the globe…. Hence extreme disproportions in wealth, income, and economic growth should be reduced on a worldwide basis.” Chris, in the early 1990's I reviewed a book by Brannon Howse "An Educational Abduction", which confirmed information which I had already gleaned from other sources. More than 15 years later, he is still trying to education American parents as to what their children are being taught in taxpayer funded public schools, what parental rights are in the educational system and the source and foundations of what is now being taught. I will provide below the link to Brannon's evaluation of the current situation and his take on the Obama appointee(s). Shalom alechem haver tov, justicereq'd, Political Writer Brannon Howse: December 18 from December 18, 2008
Topic One: Barack Obama's pick to be the U.S. Secretary of Education is Arne Duncan. Arne currently heads the Chicago school system and is the man that was behind the idea to create (the failed) "School for Social Justice Pride Campus" which would be the first "gay, lesbian and transgender" high school. Topic Two: Obama "proud" to have gay band perform at his inauguration. Topic Three: Surprise, Surprise! We saw this coming: Two girls sexually assaulted at North Bay Barnes and Noble. Hey B&N if you put out garbage don't be surprised when rats come into your store. Brannon Howse: December 11 from December 13, 2008
Topic One: Obama hopes to "reboot America's image" with the world's Muslims by using his middle name in his swearing-in ceremony. Reports are that Obama will give a major speech in a Muslim nation in the first 100 days of his presidency. Topic Two: The Wall Street Journal reports on the Obama health-care express. Why is Brannon opposed to national health care? Brannon explains how the Delphi Technique will be used, as it was in education reforms, to make Americans believe they had input in the implementation of socialized medicine. Topic Three: President Bush says he does not take the Bible literally and that he prays to the same God as those with different religious beliefs. Bush has said on other occasions that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. We take your calls on whether you think this is a sign of someone that is either being politically correct, does not really know what it means to be a Christian or is still drinking spiritual milk instead of eating meat? Topic Four: Madoff is not the biggest Ponzi scheme in American history, the U.S. Government Social Security program is the biggest Ponzi scheme in our nation's history. Topic Five: Cliff Kincaid is our guest to explain how American taxpayers are sending their money to a Saudi billionaire who owns shares in Citigroup.
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Teaching Economics 
by Walter E. Williams 12/31/08 Many professors, mostly on the liberal side of the political spectrum, use their classrooms to proselytize students. I have taught economics for the past 40 years and challenge anyone to find even one student, among the thousands who went through my classes, who can say, "Professor Williams used his class to proselytize students." While acceptable at most universities, it is nothing less than academic dishonesty to do so. Like others I have my own values and opinions, such as those expressed in some of my nationally syndicated columns, but they never become a part of classroom discussion. Learning how to think straight, as opposed to what values and opinions to hold, is the crucial part of education. Part of that learning is to be able to understand the distinction between subjective statements, for which there are no commonly accepted standards of proof, and positive statements for which there are. For example, the statement "Scientists cannot spit the atom" is a positive statement because if there's any disagreement, there are facts to which we can appeal to settle the disagreement. Just visit Stanford's linear accelerator and watch them do it. By contrast, the statement "Scientists should not spit the atom" is a subjective statement. There are no facts to which we can appeal to settle any disagreement. Disagreement can go on forever. A fairly good proxy for whether a statement is subjective is the presence of words such as should and ought. This lesson is closed by telling students that it is not being suggested that they purge their vocabulary of subjective terms such as should and ought because they are excellent tools to trick others into doing what you want them to do. However, in the process of tricking others, one need not trick himself. A related lesson is dealing with terms such as better and best and worse. This lesson might be approached by my asking students which is the best system for resource allocation: capitalist, socialist or communist? After several fall for my bait, I tell them that the correct response is to tell me it's a nonsense question. It is akin to asking their physics professor: Which is the best state: a liquid, gaseous, solid or plasma state? However, if the physics professor were asked: Which is the cheapest state to nail a nail into a board? He could answer the question and probably say that it is the solid state. Going back to the question about capitalism versus socialism and communism, asking which system maximizes personal liberty and societal wealth, the answer would be capitalism, at least here on Earth. Another pitfall to straight thinking is sometimes called the cause and effect fallacy. That fallacy is made when a person sees event B coming on the heels of event A and then says A caused B. There may no causal relationship at all. Such is the case when the rooster crows and shortly thereafter the sun rises. That is easy to see but many historians assert that the 1929 stock market crash caused the 1930s Great Depression. Little is further from the truth. Instead, it was caused by inept fiscal, monetary and regulatory policies of the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations. There are a number of other pitfalls to straight thinking that I lecture on as introductory material before we begin to explore economic theory. I tell students that if they hear me say something subjective, without my having prefaced it with "in my opinion," they are to raise their hand and tell me that they took my class to learn economics and not to be indoctrinated with my values. Personally, I want students to share my values that personal liberty, along with free markets, is morally superior to other forms of human organization. The most effective means to accomplish that goal is to give them the tools to be tough, rigorous, hard-minded thinkers and they will probably reach the same conclusions as I have. Dr. Williams serves on the faculty of George Mason University as John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics and is the author of More Liberty Means Less Government: Our Founders Knew This Well.
Only 17% of 8th Graders in Schools Overseen by Obama Education Secretary-Designee Can Read at Grade Level ByMatt Cover(CNSNews.com) – In 2007, only 17 percent of eighth graders tested at or above grade level in reading in Chicago Public Schools – the school system administered by Arne Duncan since 2001.
President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday tapped Duncan to become secretary of education in the upcoming administration.
Duncan, hailed by Obama as a reformer, said he would like to take the lessons he learned in Chicago with him when he moves to Washington. “I'm also eager to apply some of the lessons we have learned here in Chicago to help school districts all across our country," Duncan said after Obama formally named him to the job in Chicago.
According to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) report for 2007, Chicago public schools have consistently performed below the national average during Duncan’s tenure.
The report measures students at the fourth and eighth grade levels in the subjects of reading, math, science, and writing, and ranks them at below basic, basic, proficient, or advanced levels.
Students in eighth grade are those most likely to have been in the Chicago system for a majority of Duncan’s tenure. CNSNews.com used the scores for these students to best determine the results of Duncan’s administration.
By 2007, only 17 percent of Chicago eighth graders were at or above grade level in reading. Thirteen percent scored at or above grade level in math. Twenty-three percent scored at or above grade level in writing.
By 2005, the only year Chicago participated in the NEAP assessment program, 16 percent of eighth grade students were at or above grade level in science.
Nationally, students did much better on average in reading, math, science, and writing.
In 2007, 29 percent of eighth grade students scored at or above grade-level in reading, 31 percent in math, and 31 percent in writing. In 2005, 27 percent of eighth grade students were at or above grade level in science.
Nationally, Chicago is the third largest school district with over 408,000 students. Its budget for 2007-2008 was $4.6 billion, according to information released by Chicago Public Schools. $862 million of that was supplied by the federal government.
Under Duncan, Chicago Public Schools spent $10,555 per pupil, with $9,488 going toward education-related expenses in 2007.
During Duncan’s tenure, the Chicago district did not significantly increase its scores in reading, rising only one point on average from 2002 to 2007 – from 249 of a possible 500 in 2002, to 250 in 2007. The national average in 2007 was 263. Seventy-five percent of Chicago students scored less than 273 on the reading assessment.
In math, Chicago Public Schools’ average score increased from 254 in 2003 to 260 in 2007. The national average for 2007 was 280. Seventy-five percent of Chicago students scored below 283 in the math assessment.
In writing, the average score for students in Chicago Public Schools increased from 136 out of 300 in 2002 to 146 in 2007. The national average in 2007 was 154. Approximately 50 percent of Chicago students scored below 148 in the writing assessment.
In science, the Chicago Public Schools average score was 124 out of 300; the national average was 147. Three-quarters of Chicago students scored below 146 on the science assessment.
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