NCLB; Something to be proud of!

Many of you discussed that Education was an important issue for you in these elections. Perhaps it is an issue that should be of importance to you all the time, and not just now seeing as we live in a society that values entertainment higher than education.

Soon after Bush took Presidency he enacted the "No Child Left Behind" act and oh what a marvelous thing. Equal education for all. Right? Sure, if that's what you want to believe. We need to hold our schools and teachers accountable. Great! Right? Sure. We need to ensure our children are Literate. Yeah! Why didn't anyone think of this before?? Well, they did, this was just a new twist to it.

Either way the federal government feels the itch to enforce, or ensure, whichever way you wish to look at it, that parents and teachers are doing what they are supposed to do because leaving it at the local level is insufficient. Or perhaps it is a way to make it "fair" for all, to prevent children from struggling in school, to help children "believe" that they are succeeding when they really are not because the schools have the ability of lowering standards according to the demographics. Perhaps this is the best thing for our nations education, or perhaps it's the reason why we are the one of the worst in education?

Poet Lamont Carey voices his thoughts on the issue:

So, arguing whether or not this act was a good one really has to be dissected and analyzed. But one thing that I tend to always believe, is that if the government or a bunch of beuracratic politicians came up with the idea, chances are it's not going to work very well. But hey, you never know right, one of these days they might actually prove us wrong.

In the case of "No Child left Behind", it is in my humble opinion, that the best judges of this act would have to be the ones who deal with it every single day in the classroom trying to "abide" by it: TEACHERS.

Below you'll find a clip of a young teacher making an argument against "No Child Left Behind". SHe makes a fair and objective argument, as she does not pointing the finger at Bush or other politicians but rather keeps her focus on the plan itself. Rather than ranting and complaining she analyzes and interprets and concedes to certain points in the Act (which is really important when you are trying to pursuade your viewers to agree with you).

It's starts off a bit wierd which could lead to a horrible introduction and turn viewers away or it could be a grasping introduction that makes viewers want to keep watching. You be the judge of that.

More importantly though, now that most of you are getting ready to vote for the first time in your life, it's important that you educate yourself on issues like these. Do you know where your presidential candidate favorite stands on NCLB? Youtube held a presidential debate back in July and this was one of the questions they asked the Democratic hopefuls. They were asked if it should be scrapped or revised. I found a video of Huckabee answering this question in an interview as well, so to be fair to the opposite point of view I am including a hyperlink to that video as well.

NCLB; A teachers argument

Blog Prompt #2: How much control do we really have?

The other night a friend of mine started telling me about this movie he saw and that I should watch it. He said it would leave me thinking, asking questions, probably confused, and likely disgusted. Great, I thought, so I asked him what was the name. "Zeitgeist" he said, a German expression that means "the spirit of the age". The he informed me that I could download it for free on the website or buy it for only $5. Hmmm, I thought, interesting. Doesn't sound like they're too interested in making money, but more in spreading thoughts or awareness. Just the thing I like.

He proceeded to give my husband and I a little insight into the movie and it only sparked our interest more. So the next day he burned us a copy of the one he bought, which apparently is promoted on the website, so long as it is not for selling purposes, and my husband and I sat down to watch it. In the end the movie left me quiet a bit disturbed, confused, and shocked at some points, but at others, I felt a sense of affirmation and logically convinced. One point in the movie addressed an issue of much importance to me: Education.

For some time now I have been convinced of the fact that while the younger generations seem to be far more intellectual than the older ones, the younger generation is also allowing themselves to be dragged through a misty fog of Hollywood fashion and celebrity gossip. This is the priority of our current society as we walk through the cashier lane of the grocery store and are bombarded with gossip magazines that tantalize us so much we can't refuse to pick them up, or flip through the hundreds of reality shows, half of them being the lives of celebrities, or being informed yet once again by the news that Hillary Duff was once again arrested.

Students who study journalism or media would say to me that the Media only gives the public/society what they want. How much control does the media have over us though? I'm sure that 80% of you would say: NONE. I wear what I want to wear, I say what I want to say, I believe what I want to believe. But is that really the truth? What you know about something, about anything, do you know about it because you actually researched it, or do you know about it because someone told you that was how it is/was?

I downloaded a clip of the movie that I wanted to share with you where it discusses US education, the influence of the media, and then something probably most of you have never even heard of: The North American Union. After you have watched the video discuss your thoughts on your blog. But before you watch the video I want you to read the statement that the director has on his website:

Welcome to the Official Site for 'Zeitgeist, the Movie.' Since the emergence of the work in late June, 2007, many other websites, organizations and posts have fallaciously claimed connections to the work. Please note that 'Zeitgeist', along with this site, has no direct affiliation with anything else online.

Zeitgeist, produced by Peter Joseph, was created as a nonprofit filmiac expression to inspire people to start looking at the world from a more critical perspective and to understand that very often things are not what the population at large think they are. The information in Zeitgeist was established over a year long period of research and the current Source page on this site lists the basic sources used / referenced and the Interactive Transcript includes exact source references and further information.

Now, it's important to point out that there is a tendency to simply disbelieve things that are counter to our understanding, without the necessary research performed. For example, some information contained in Part 1 and Part 3, specifically, is not obtained by simple keyword searches on the Internet. You have to dig deeper. For instance, very often people who look up "Horus" or "The Federal Reserve" on the Internet draw their conclusions from very general or biased sources. Online encyclopedias or text book Encyclopedias often do not contain the information contained in Zeitgeist. However, if one takes the time to read the sources provided, they will find that what is being presented is based on documented evidence. Any corrections, clarifications & further points regarding the film are found on the Clarifications page. Non-Profit DVDs / Free Video Downloads are available through the Downloads page.

That being said, It is my hope that people will not take what is said in the film as the truth, but find out for themselves, for truth is not told, it is realized. Thank You




P.S.: For those of you who are unfamiliar: words that are in a different color and underlines are hyperlinks I have included for you to go to find more information.

MLK Long Weekend!

MLK says to take the weekend off!! Don't worry about blog entries this weekend.

Welcome back; Happy New Year! Spring 2008

It's the beginning of a new semester and with that comes the stress of delegating classes, studying, tests, maybe work, family, friends, personal time and fun time and trying to be successful in all areas. Have you ever really thought about how you manage everything in your life? Really thought about it; broken it down sort of thing? Maybe you don't have time to really think about how you manage your everyday life, and maybe it isn't that important to you to think about it. But if you're not thinking about how you manage your life and just going with the flow, chances are you probably don't really think about other issues. And it's more than just thinking about issues, it's challenging, questioning, analyzing and exploring issues. Breaking them down into pieces and examining them. Just like a business person or accountant would do with numbers, or how a biologist/chemist would do with cells/atoms and elements.

If this is your first time writing in a blog I challenge you to examine, question and analyze this idea of writing your thoughts, opinions on an internet blog as a journal. How does this make you feel? Consider the fact that you have security settings that you can manipulate and that you are being required to do this for a class rather than a decision you have made on your own. Consider its purpose and your audience. The style of writing you should adhere to.

If you have had a blog in the past, your own, or for another class, then I challenge you to examine, question and analyze your experience with having a blog. Consider why you had one, how it made you feel, and how you manipulated the security settings for your own sense of security. Consider changes you may make. Consider how writing a blog may have helped or hindered your writing ability.

So this is your very first blog prompt for the semester!! Are you excited? LOL! Probably not, but that's ok. Maybe, hoopefully, eventually, you will begin to actually enjoy this process. Just remember: Always think outside the box!