I accept evolution. I still think this is a waste of a question. Are the candidates going to vote on evolution? Will they repeal our ancestry? I am free to teach evolution at school. I don't have to teach the so-called alternatives.
Ask them why teachers are required to obtain more education for a job that pays less relative to that level of education. Ask them why the entire school year comes down to a three hour test. Ask if they would encourage their kids to become teachers.
Please don't give them the chance to grandstand on this non-issue. They would like nothing more than to get this question during a televised performance.
This reminds me of the beginning of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy where Arthur Dent's house is about to be demolished. The notice of demolition was posted in a basement but he was "at fault" for failing to check that basement office. Shortly thereafter the Vogon fleet arrives to demolish Earth and blames humanity for failing to check the local office at Alpha Centauri. The logic/lack thereof is similar.
Now we teachers are supposed to raise test scores without homework. Maybe the Easter Bunny will bring me a set of lesson plans that will accomplish that. It reminds me of the following story that has been circulating among teachers:
No Dentist Left Behind
My dentist is great! He sends me reminders so I don't forget checkups. He uses the latest techniques based on research. He never hurts me, and I've got all my teeth. When I ran into him the other day, I was eager to see if he'd heard about the new state program. I knew he'd think it was great. "Did you hear about the new state program to measure effectiveness of dentists with their young patients?" I said.
"No," he said. He didn't seem too thrilled.
"How will they do that?"
"It's quite simple," I said. "They will just count the number of cavities each patient has at age 10, 14, and 18 and average that to determine a dentist's rating. Dentists will be rated as excellent, good, average, below average, and unsatisfactory. That way parents will know which are the best dentists. The plan will also encourage the less effective dentists to get better," I said. "Poor dentists who don't improve could lose their licenses to practice."
"That's terrible," he said. "What? That's not a good attitude," I said. "Don't you think we should try to improve children's dental health in this state?"
"Sure I do," he said, "but that's not a fair way to determine who is practicing good dentistry."
"Why not?" I said. "It makes perfect sense to me."
"Well, it's so obvious," he said. "Don't you see that dentists don't all work with the same clientele, and that much depends on things we can't control? For example, I work in a rural area with a high percentage of patients from deprived homes, while some of my colleagues work in upper middle-class neighborhoods. Many of the parents I work with don't bring their children to see me until there is some kind of problem, and I don't get to do much preventive work. Also, many of the parents I serve let their kids eat way too much candy from an early age, unlike more educated parents who understand the relationship between sugar and decay. To top it all off, so many of my clients have well water which is untreated and has no fluoride in it. Do you have any idea how much difference early use of fluoride can make?"
"It sounds like you're making excuses," I said. "I can't believe that you, my dentist, would be so defensive. After all, you do a great job, and you needn't fear a little accountability."
"I am not being defensive!" he said. "My best patients are as good as anyone's, my work is as good as anyone's, but my average cavity count is going to be higher than a lot of other dentists because I chose to work where I am needed most."
"Don't' get touchy," I said. "Touchy?" he said. His face had turned red, and from the way he was clenching and unclenching his jaws, I was afraid he was going to damage his teeth. "Try furious! In a system like this, I will end up being rated average, below average, or worse. The few educated patients I have who see these ratings may believe this so-called rating is an actual measure of my ability and proficiency as a dentist. They may leave me, and I'll be left with only the most needy patients. And my cavity average score will get even worse. On top of that, how will I attract good dental hygienists and other excellent dentists to my practice if it is labeled below average?"
"I think you are overreacting," I said. "'Complaining, excuse-making and stonewalling won't improve dental health'... I am quoting from a leading member of the DOC," I noted. "What's the DOC?" he asked. "It's the Dental Oversight Committee," I said, "a group made up of mostly lay persons to make sure dentistry in this state gets improved."
"Spare me," he said, "I can't believe this. Reasonable people won't buy it," he said hopefully.
The program sounded reasonable to me, so I asked, "How else would you measure good dentistry?"
"Come watch me work," he said. "Observe my processes."
"That's too complicated, expensive and tim
Part of the problem (aside from simple stupidity) is that people increasingly do not live in the tightly knit communities of the past. If the police knew the parents and the kids in the community they would have likely told the kids to leave the tree alone and informed the parents that there was a problem. In this instance the police "followed procedure" instead of common sense because they did not know the families and did not consider the human elements of the situation. Their actions also show how the growth in population dilutes the power of the individual's vote. The police and their politician bosses might be more thoughtful if they believed that this heavy-handed act would result in their dismissals.
The UK seems well on the way to becoming a police state. They have cameras on every street and they cannot own the means to defend themselves. Of course, we are seeing more stories like this on our side of the pond. The only way the US will resist this trend is to turn to Libertarianism and demand that the Bill of Rights be respected by all branches of government.
Why bother with the cards? We could just go down to some office, have them perform a retina, finger print, or face scan, and database us using those as keys. No card, no chip, no bar code, no "mark of the beast." Just your smiling face and baby blues. You'd never forget your driver's license because your hands and face are the license. I can't say I like the idea (I enjoy my fleeting delusions of privacy), but I expect it to happen in my lifetime.
Hansen's Energy Pro tastes good. My wife can't stand the taste of most energy drinks but like Hansen's. If you can find it by the case at a wholesale club it is cheaper than most others.
I like Red Bull for the energy rush and because of the Vitamin B.
I can't stand the taste of Monster - One sip and I poured the rest out.
Jones Soda Co. makes soem of the best tasting e-drinks. Check Target for these.
I consume energy drinks because I teach gifted middle school kids and I want to have at least as much energy as they do!
Slashdot Mirror
AFAICT everyone there seems to be trolling each other.
"Another one reason to be car-free." If you are car-free, guess where they will put the tracking device? Hint: BOHICA
I accept evolution. I still think this is a waste of a question. Are the candidates going to vote on evolution? Will they repeal our ancestry? I am free to teach evolution at school. I don't have to teach the so-called alternatives.
Ask them why teachers are required to obtain more education for a job that pays less relative to that level of education. Ask them why the entire school year comes down to a three hour test. Ask if they would encourage their kids to become teachers.
Please don't give them the chance to grandstand on this non-issue. They would like nothing more than to get this question during a televised performance.
This reminds me of the beginning of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy where Arthur Dent's house is about to be demolished. The notice of demolition was posted in a basement but he was "at fault" for failing to check that basement office. Shortly thereafter the Vogon fleet arrives to demolish Earth and blames humanity for failing to check the local office at Alpha Centauri. The logic/lack thereof is similar.
Now we teachers are supposed to raise test scores without homework. Maybe the Easter Bunny will bring me a set of lesson plans that will accomplish that. It reminds me of the following story that has been circulating among teachers: No Dentist Left Behind My dentist is great! He sends me reminders so I don't forget checkups. He uses the latest techniques based on research. He never hurts me, and I've got all my teeth. When I ran into him the other day, I was eager to see if he'd heard about the new state program. I knew he'd think it was great. "Did you hear about the new state program to measure effectiveness of dentists with their young patients?" I said. "No," he said. He didn't seem too thrilled. "How will they do that?" "It's quite simple," I said. "They will just count the number of cavities each patient has at age 10, 14, and 18 and average that to determine a dentist's rating. Dentists will be rated as excellent, good, average, below average, and unsatisfactory. That way parents will know which are the best dentists. The plan will also encourage the less effective dentists to get better," I said. "Poor dentists who don't improve could lose their licenses to practice." "That's terrible," he said. "What? That's not a good attitude," I said. "Don't you think we should try to improve children's dental health in this state?" "Sure I do," he said, "but that's not a fair way to determine who is practicing good dentistry." "Why not?" I said. "It makes perfect sense to me." "Well, it's so obvious," he said. "Don't you see that dentists don't all work with the same clientele, and that much depends on things we can't control? For example, I work in a rural area with a high percentage of patients from deprived homes, while some of my colleagues work in upper middle-class neighborhoods. Many of the parents I work with don't bring their children to see me until there is some kind of problem, and I don't get to do much preventive work. Also, many of the parents I serve let their kids eat way too much candy from an early age, unlike more educated parents who understand the relationship between sugar and decay. To top it all off, so many of my clients have well water which is untreated and has no fluoride in it. Do you have any idea how much difference early use of fluoride can make?" "It sounds like you're making excuses," I said. "I can't believe that you, my dentist, would be so defensive. After all, you do a great job, and you needn't fear a little accountability." "I am not being defensive!" he said. "My best patients are as good as anyone's, my work is as good as anyone's, but my average cavity count is going to be higher than a lot of other dentists because I chose to work where I am needed most." "Don't' get touchy," I said. "Touchy?" he said. His face had turned red, and from the way he was clenching and unclenching his jaws, I was afraid he was going to damage his teeth. "Try furious! In a system like this, I will end up being rated average, below average, or worse. The few educated patients I have who see these ratings may believe this so-called rating is an actual measure of my ability and proficiency as a dentist. They may leave me, and I'll be left with only the most needy patients. And my cavity average score will get even worse. On top of that, how will I attract good dental hygienists and other excellent dentists to my practice if it is labeled below average?" "I think you are overreacting," I said. "'Complaining, excuse-making and stonewalling won't improve dental health'... I am quoting from a leading member of the DOC," I noted. "What's the DOC?" he asked. "It's the Dental Oversight Committee," I said, "a group made up of mostly lay persons to make sure dentistry in this state gets improved." "Spare me," he said, "I can't believe this. Reasonable people won't buy it," he said hopefully. The program sounded reasonable to me, so I asked, "How else would you measure good dentistry?" "Come watch me work," he said. "Observe my processes." "That's too complicated, expensive and tim
"Your gun lesson analogy is a bad one. Firing guns is not a natural urge written into our genes." You might NOT be a redneck if...
The UK seems well on the way to becoming a police state. They have cameras on every street and they cannot own the means to defend themselves. Of course, we are seeing more stories like this on our side of the pond. The only way the US will resist this trend is to turn to Libertarianism and demand that the Bill of Rights be respected by all branches of government.
Why bother with the cards? We could just go down to some office, have them perform a retina, finger print, or face scan, and database us using those as keys. No card, no chip, no bar code, no "mark of the beast." Just your smiling face and baby blues. You'd never forget your driver's license because your hands and face are the license. I can't say I like the idea (I enjoy my fleeting delusions of privacy), but I expect it to happen in my lifetime.
Hansen's Energy Pro tastes good. My wife can't stand the taste of most energy drinks but like Hansen's. If you can find it by the case at a wholesale club it is cheaper than most others. I like Red Bull for the energy rush and because of the Vitamin B. I can't stand the taste of Monster - One sip and I poured the rest out. Jones Soda Co. makes soem of the best tasting e-drinks. Check Target for these. I consume energy drinks because I teach gifted middle school kids and I want to have at least as much energy as they do!