Black Leaders in Greenville SC Refuse to come to the aid of black student
Where are the black leaders in Greenville County when the black public school students need them? Are the black leaders too busy to see to it that the black students get a level playing field in the class room or are they just too comfortable with the good life they are living and too comfortable to muddy the waters in order to make sure that the black youth gets a chance at a good future? What about the leaders who are supposed to see that all citizens are treated equally? Where are the people who are elected to the public offices to representing the people in order to make sure that everyone is treated equally? This writer thinks they are like the Governor of this state, they are off the job. Meanwhile the public school system in Greenville County is using the black athletes to bring in millions of dollars per year, while at the same time it is NOT making sure that the athletes are getting a complete education. In the meantime our black students are being used up on the playing fields and then thrown out into the world to fend for themselves without the proper academic tools to ensure them a successful future.
Meanwhile the black preachers are too busy having meetings and patting each other on the backs and the elected officials are too busy net working for a popular position in the Senate or House of Representatives to ensure their future. Where is the Governor when he is needed, walking around with two pigs, one pig under each arm and looking for another way to rob the citizens of more tax money and freedoms that we the people are entitled to?
We need to take a look at these people.
First, the Preachers are duty bound by God the Father and his son Jesus Christ to help anyone and everyone they are asked to help. Yet they refuse to take the time to do so. Strange they are never too busy to pass the collection plate at every service they have.
They are paid very well for their services and yet they are sitting back in their big cars and comfortable homes allowing the black students to be used up on the playing fields of schools all over Greenville, SC with little or no regard to the future of the students. I thank my God for men like the very honorable Reverend Grady Butler; this man will help anyone regardless of race, creed, or color.
Now that is God’s man.
Heaven help all of the preachers who I have asked to intervene for the black students that have been stereotyped as intellectually inferior and therefore cannot do anything but play sports and go to jail for the least infraction of the rules and or policies of the school, while the white students get a far less punishment or no punishment at all. Where are the State Senators and the members of the state House of Representatives when they are called upon to help? Who do the politicians answer to for all of the broken promises they made to get elected and then, like the now elected Superintendant of education, not only breaks the promises but to this writer is just plain telling lies to get to where they want to go in life. Where are our labor laws that we once had? Where is the insurance commissioner we once had? How long is the public going to put up with this misrepresentation of all of the people that are supposed to be working for the people? What are the Preachers going to tell God when their time comes to meet him and to have to explain why they refused to help his children; yet, they are supposed to belong to the same family? The Greenville County school board raised their right hand and promised to make sure that the schools represented all students and they lied. I know of only 3 members that actually care about the students. The drop out rate in the Greenville County school system is the nations highest. 30,000 students dropped out of school in 2006 in SC, lead by Greenville County, If the school board really cared they would find a way to keep the kids in school, but they do not care. What is this money maker called Certificate of Attendance? What is this Certificate of Occupational Studies? What is this General Certificate? None of these Certificates are any good except for the money that the school system gets for the HEAD COUNT.
The school board’s favorite son,
Bobby
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Study by the American Psychological Association
2. What has been the impact of ZT on students of color and students with disabilities?
Part of the appeal of zero tolerance policies has been that, by removing subjective
influences or contextual factors from disciplinary decisions, such policies would be
expected to be fairer to students traditionally over-represented in school disciplinary
consequences. The evidence, however, does not support such an assumption. Rather, the
disproportionate discipline of students of color continues to be a concern and may be
increasing; over-representation in suspension and expulsion has been found consistently
for African American students and less consistently for Latino students. The evidence
shows that such disproportionality is not due entirely to economic disadvantage, nor is
there any data supporting the assumption that African American students exhibit higher
rates of disruption or violence that would warrant higher rates of discipline. Rather,
African American students may be disciplined more severely for less serious or more
subjective reasons. Emerging professional opinion and qualitative research findings
suggest that the disproportionate discipline of students of color may be due to lack of
teacher preparation in classroom management or cultural competence. Although there are
less data available, students with disabilities, especially those with emotional and
behavioral disorders, appear to be suspended and expelled at rates disproportionate to
their representation in the population. There is insufficient data available as yet to draw
Page 7
Zero Tolerance Task Force Report 7
any conclusions about the causes of disciplinary disproportionality for students with
disabilities.
3. To what extent are zero tolerance policies developmentally appropriate as a
psychological intervention, taking into account the developmental level of children and
youth?
In this section, the task force considered evidence relating to the developmental
capacities of youth that are relevant to the use of punishment in school, focusing on
research on adolescent development. Research relevant to juvenile offending has found
extensive evidence of developmental immaturity. Particularly before the age of 15,
adolescents appear to display psychosocial immaturity in at least four areas: poor
resistance to peer influence, attitudes toward and perception of risk, future orientation,
and impulse control. The case for psychosocial immaturity during adolescence is also
supported by evidence from developmental neuroscience indicating that the brain
structures of adolescents are less well-developed than previously thought. Developmental
neuroscientists believe that if a particular structure of the brain is still immature, then the
functions that it governs will also show immaturity; that is, adolescents may be expected
to take greater risks and reason less adequately about the consequences of their behavior.
Finally a growing body of developmental research indicates that certain characteristics of
secondary schools often are at odds with the developmental challenges of adolescence,
which include the need for close peer relationships, autonomy, support from adults other
than one’s parents, identity negotiation, and academic self-efficacy. Used inappropriately,
zero tolerance policies can exacerbate both the normative challenges of early adolescence
and the potential mismatch between the adolescent’s developmental stage and the
Page 8
Zero Tolerance Task Force Report 8
structure of secondary schools. There is no doubt that many incidents that result in
disciplinary infractions at the secondary level are due to poor judgment on the part of the
adolescent involved. But if that judgment is the result of developmental or neurological
immaturity, and if the resulting behavior does not pose a threat to safety, it is reasonable
to weigh the importance of a particular consequence against the long-term negative
consequences of zero tolerance policies, especially when such lapses in judgment appear
to be developmentally normative.
4. How has zero tolerance affected the relationship between education and the juvenile
justice system?
There is evidence that the introduction of zero tolerance policies has affected the
delicate balance between the educational and juvenile justice systems. Zero tolerance
policies appear to have increased the use and reliance in schools on strategies such as
security technology, security personnel, and profiling. Although there have been
increased calls for the use of school security technology and school resource officers in
the wake of publicized incidents of school homicide in the late 1990s, there is as yet
virtually no empirical data examining the extent to which such programs result in safer
schools or more satisfactory school climate. Although such approaches may be useful as
part of a comprehensive approach to preventing school violence, more data on their
efficacy is urgently needed so that schools can know whether these methods, which tend
to be more resource-intensive, are of sufficient benefit in promoting safe schools. Zero
tolerance may have also increased the use of profiling, a method of prospectively
identifying students who may be at-risk of violence or disruption by comparison to
profiles of others who have engaged in such behavior in the past.
Part of the appeal of zero tolerance policies has been that, by removing subjective
influences or contextual factors from disciplinary decisions, such policies would be
expected to be fairer to students traditionally over-represented in school disciplinary
consequences. The evidence, however, does not support such an assumption. Rather, the
disproportionate discipline of students of color continues to be a concern and may be
increasing; over-representation in suspension and expulsion has been found consistently
for African American students and less consistently for Latino students. The evidence
shows that such disproportionality is not due entirely to economic disadvantage, nor is
there any data supporting the assumption that African American students exhibit higher
rates of disruption or violence that would warrant higher rates of discipline. Rather,
African American students may be disciplined more severely for less serious or more
subjective reasons. Emerging professional opinion and qualitative research findings
suggest that the disproportionate discipline of students of color may be due to lack of
teacher preparation in classroom management or cultural competence. Although there are
less data available, students with disabilities, especially those with emotional and
behavioral disorders, appear to be suspended and expelled at rates disproportionate to
their representation in the population. There is insufficient data available as yet to draw
Page 7
Zero Tolerance Task Force Report 7
any conclusions about the causes of disciplinary disproportionality for students with
disabilities.
3. To what extent are zero tolerance policies developmentally appropriate as a
psychological intervention, taking into account the developmental level of children and
youth?
In this section, the task force considered evidence relating to the developmental
capacities of youth that are relevant to the use of punishment in school, focusing on
research on adolescent development. Research relevant to juvenile offending has found
extensive evidence of developmental immaturity. Particularly before the age of 15,
adolescents appear to display psychosocial immaturity in at least four areas: poor
resistance to peer influence, attitudes toward and perception of risk, future orientation,
and impulse control. The case for psychosocial immaturity during adolescence is also
supported by evidence from developmental neuroscience indicating that the brain
structures of adolescents are less well-developed than previously thought. Developmental
neuroscientists believe that if a particular structure of the brain is still immature, then the
functions that it governs will also show immaturity; that is, adolescents may be expected
to take greater risks and reason less adequately about the consequences of their behavior.
Finally a growing body of developmental research indicates that certain characteristics of
secondary schools often are at odds with the developmental challenges of adolescence,
which include the need for close peer relationships, autonomy, support from adults other
than one’s parents, identity negotiation, and academic self-efficacy. Used inappropriately,
zero tolerance policies can exacerbate both the normative challenges of early adolescence
and the potential mismatch between the adolescent’s developmental stage and the
Page 8
Zero Tolerance Task Force Report 8
structure of secondary schools. There is no doubt that many incidents that result in
disciplinary infractions at the secondary level are due to poor judgment on the part of the
adolescent involved. But if that judgment is the result of developmental or neurological
immaturity, and if the resulting behavior does not pose a threat to safety, it is reasonable
to weigh the importance of a particular consequence against the long-term negative
consequences of zero tolerance policies, especially when such lapses in judgment appear
to be developmentally normative.
4. How has zero tolerance affected the relationship between education and the juvenile
justice system?
There is evidence that the introduction of zero tolerance policies has affected the
delicate balance between the educational and juvenile justice systems. Zero tolerance
policies appear to have increased the use and reliance in schools on strategies such as
security technology, security personnel, and profiling. Although there have been
increased calls for the use of school security technology and school resource officers in
the wake of publicized incidents of school homicide in the late 1990s, there is as yet
virtually no empirical data examining the extent to which such programs result in safer
schools or more satisfactory school climate. Although such approaches may be useful as
part of a comprehensive approach to preventing school violence, more data on their
efficacy is urgently needed so that schools can know whether these methods, which tend
to be more resource-intensive, are of sufficient benefit in promoting safe schools. Zero
tolerance may have also increased the use of profiling, a method of prospectively
identifying students who may be at-risk of violence or disruption by comparison to
profiles of others who have engaged in such behavior in the past.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
From the cotton fields to the football fields
The time is here to take a look at the difference in the cotton fields and the high school and college fields.
We all know the football fields in high schools and colleges all across America are dominated by black athletes. These young men are all filled with the dream of becoming a super star and going on to the pros. While in reality only about 1/10th of 1 percent make it to the pros.
The young athletes are stereotyped and some of them stereotype themselves. When the reality of the real world sets in it can be devastating to the dreams and desires of the young athletes who are not prepared academically for the real world.
The Greenville County school board has done nothing to change the goals of our young athletes who do not make it to the college level. All they are interested in is how munch money they have brought in to the treasures office.
Let’s take a look at the difference in the football field and the cotton field; the people went to the cotton fields in the 1700 and the 1800s, they slaved all day for no pay but they were fed and housed, and they were not allowed to be educated.
Jump ahead to the 20 century. The black race dominates the field of athletics. They still are not getting paid and there are very few who are getting an education. They do not get housing, they do not represent the top academically in the class as a whole.
Not much difference, we are still using them to benefit the system and we leave them without the knowledge to make a living, especially in Greenville, South Carolina where racism and bigotry is alive and well. Some of the school board members will tell anyone who asks that “color doesn’t matter anymore”. I say if it doesn’t matter, then why do the coaches often tell the black students that they can play pro ball and get rich? Why doesn’t that less than successful school superintendent, Penny Fisher, do something to change the situation? I will answer this question. They do not care what happens to the students once they have brought in all of the money they can generate.
I wonder what would happen if the minority ball players refused to play for just two weeks, would the Friday night lights still burn? I doubt if they would.
Greenville County, SC high school system has a little over 1% of the teachers who are minorities out of over 5000 teachers. They do not get the training in the different culture which is needed to cope with the minorities. This is critical in dealing with the multi-cultured school system that we have.
The teachers have no idea what the mind set of black students is unless the teachers are black and this is why we have such a high drop out rate (highest in the nation). The ratio of white teachers to black teachers is absolutely unacceptable.
There are 1 million 2 hundred thousand students in highs schools across the nation. Less than 10% of 1% ever makes it to the pros. This is the reason that its past time for the schools and coaches to stop telling the students that they can get out of the ghettos if they can make it to the pros. Stop holding up super star football players and basketball players and telling the students that this is the way out.
Start holding up people like Elijah McCoy, I know you have heard the term “that is the real McCoy.” McCoy was a black man and an inventor.
Granville T. Woods was a black man who invented the device that allowed a moving train to be able to telegraph from the moving train to the railroad station.
Garrett Augustus Morgan - We still stop at his stop lights when it turns red.
George Washington Carver - this man was a genius. Look at what he discovered from Georgia clay - peanuts and pecans.
Dr Charles Drew - SAVED MORE LIVES THAN ANYONE EXCEPT JESUS CHRIST. Dr. Drew invented a way to separate the Plasma from whole blood thus enabling the plasma to be kept longer. Dr. Charles Drew started the very first blood bank here in the US, and in England.
All we tell our young black students is to run fast and get a touchdown. And to get that win so the money will keep coming in, so we can then waste a great deal of it and over pay some school superintendent.
Folks this is wrong.
More tomorrow.
The favorite son of the Greenville County, SC school board,
Bobby
We all know the football fields in high schools and colleges all across America are dominated by black athletes. These young men are all filled with the dream of becoming a super star and going on to the pros. While in reality only about 1/10th of 1 percent make it to the pros.
The young athletes are stereotyped and some of them stereotype themselves. When the reality of the real world sets in it can be devastating to the dreams and desires of the young athletes who are not prepared academically for the real world.
The Greenville County school board has done nothing to change the goals of our young athletes who do not make it to the college level. All they are interested in is how munch money they have brought in to the treasures office.
Let’s take a look at the difference in the football field and the cotton field; the people went to the cotton fields in the 1700 and the 1800s, they slaved all day for no pay but they were fed and housed, and they were not allowed to be educated.
Jump ahead to the 20 century. The black race dominates the field of athletics. They still are not getting paid and there are very few who are getting an education. They do not get housing, they do not represent the top academically in the class as a whole.
Not much difference, we are still using them to benefit the system and we leave them without the knowledge to make a living, especially in Greenville, South Carolina where racism and bigotry is alive and well. Some of the school board members will tell anyone who asks that “color doesn’t matter anymore”. I say if it doesn’t matter, then why do the coaches often tell the black students that they can play pro ball and get rich? Why doesn’t that less than successful school superintendent, Penny Fisher, do something to change the situation? I will answer this question. They do not care what happens to the students once they have brought in all of the money they can generate.
I wonder what would happen if the minority ball players refused to play for just two weeks, would the Friday night lights still burn? I doubt if they would.
Greenville County, SC high school system has a little over 1% of the teachers who are minorities out of over 5000 teachers. They do not get the training in the different culture which is needed to cope with the minorities. This is critical in dealing with the multi-cultured school system that we have.
The teachers have no idea what the mind set of black students is unless the teachers are black and this is why we have such a high drop out rate (highest in the nation). The ratio of white teachers to black teachers is absolutely unacceptable.
There are 1 million 2 hundred thousand students in highs schools across the nation. Less than 10% of 1% ever makes it to the pros. This is the reason that its past time for the schools and coaches to stop telling the students that they can get out of the ghettos if they can make it to the pros. Stop holding up super star football players and basketball players and telling the students that this is the way out.
Start holding up people like Elijah McCoy, I know you have heard the term “that is the real McCoy.” McCoy was a black man and an inventor.
Granville T. Woods was a black man who invented the device that allowed a moving train to be able to telegraph from the moving train to the railroad station.
Garrett Augustus Morgan - We still stop at his stop lights when it turns red.
George Washington Carver - this man was a genius. Look at what he discovered from Georgia clay - peanuts and pecans.
Dr Charles Drew - SAVED MORE LIVES THAN ANYONE EXCEPT JESUS CHRIST. Dr. Drew invented a way to separate the Plasma from whole blood thus enabling the plasma to be kept longer. Dr. Charles Drew started the very first blood bank here in the US, and in England.
All we tell our young black students is to run fast and get a touchdown. And to get that win so the money will keep coming in, so we can then waste a great deal of it and over pay some school superintendent.
Folks this is wrong.
More tomorrow.
The favorite son of the Greenville County, SC school board,
Bobby
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Does Zero Tolerance work in public schools
1. Have zero tolerance policies made schools safer and more effective in handling
disciplinary issues?
We examined the data concerning five key assumptions of zero tolerance policies.
In general, data tended to contradict the presumptions made in applying a zero tolerance
approach to maintaining school discipline and order:
• School violence is at a serious level and increasing, thus necessitating
forceful, no-nonsense strategies for violence prevention. Although violence
Page 4
Zero Tolerance Task Force Report 4
and disruption are unacceptable in schools and are hence key concerns that must
be continually addressed in education, the evidence does not support an
assumption that violence in schools is out-of-control. Serious and deadly violence
remain a relatively small proportion of school disruptions, and the data have
consistently indicated that school violence and disruption have remained stable, or
even decreased somewhat, since approximately 1985.
• Through the provision of mandated punishment for certain offenses, zero
tolerance increases the consistency of school discipline and thereby the
clarity of the disciplinary message to students. Consistency, often defined as
treatment integrity or fidelity, is indeed an important criterion in the
implementation of any behavioral intervention. The evidence strongly suggests,
however, that zero tolerance has not increased the consistency of school
discipline. Rather, rates of suspension and expulsion vary widely across schools
and school districts. Moreover, this variation appears to be due as much to
characteristics of schools and school personnel as to the behavior or attitudes of
students.
• Removal of students who violate school rules will create a school climate
more conducive to learning for those students who remain. A key assumption
of zero tolerance policy is that the removal of disruptive students will result in a
safer climate for others. Although the assumption is strongly intuitive, data on a
number of indicators of school climate have shown the opposite effect, that is,
that schools with higher rates of school suspension and expulsion appear to have
less satisfactory ratings of school climate, less satisfactory school governance
Page 5
Zero Tolerance Task Force Report 5
structures, and to spend a disproportionate amount of time on disciplinary matters.
Perhaps more importantly, recent research indicates a negative relationship
between the use of school suspension and expulsion and school-wide academic
achievement, even when controlling for demographics such as socioeconomic
status. Although such findings do not demonstrate causality, it becomes difficult
to argue that zero tolerance creates more positive school climates when its use is
associated with more negative achievement outcomes.
• The swift and certain punishments of zero tolerance have a deterrent effect
upon students, thus improving overall student behavior and discipline. The
notion of deterring future misbehavior is central to the philosophy of zero
tolerance, and the impact of any consequence on future behavior is the defining
characteristic of effective punishment. Rather than reducing the likelihood of
disruption however, school suspension in general appears to predict higher future
rates of misbehavior and suspension among those students who are suspended. In
the long term, school suspension and expulsion are moderately associated with a
higher likelihood of school dropout and failure to graduate on time.
The Greenville County school board in Greenville County SC is pits when it comes to education
I think its past time for the school board to stop their self servering networking and implement some Common sense, they killed common sense, now the schools are facing a life time of failuar.
The Greenville County's favorite son
Bobby Caldwell
disciplinary issues?
We examined the data concerning five key assumptions of zero tolerance policies.
In general, data tended to contradict the presumptions made in applying a zero tolerance
approach to maintaining school discipline and order:
• School violence is at a serious level and increasing, thus necessitating
forceful, no-nonsense strategies for violence prevention. Although violence
Page 4
Zero Tolerance Task Force Report 4
and disruption are unacceptable in schools and are hence key concerns that must
be continually addressed in education, the evidence does not support an
assumption that violence in schools is out-of-control. Serious and deadly violence
remain a relatively small proportion of school disruptions, and the data have
consistently indicated that school violence and disruption have remained stable, or
even decreased somewhat, since approximately 1985.
• Through the provision of mandated punishment for certain offenses, zero
tolerance increases the consistency of school discipline and thereby the
clarity of the disciplinary message to students. Consistency, often defined as
treatment integrity or fidelity, is indeed an important criterion in the
implementation of any behavioral intervention. The evidence strongly suggests,
however, that zero tolerance has not increased the consistency of school
discipline. Rather, rates of suspension and expulsion vary widely across schools
and school districts. Moreover, this variation appears to be due as much to
characteristics of schools and school personnel as to the behavior or attitudes of
students.
• Removal of students who violate school rules will create a school climate
more conducive to learning for those students who remain. A key assumption
of zero tolerance policy is that the removal of disruptive students will result in a
safer climate for others. Although the assumption is strongly intuitive, data on a
number of indicators of school climate have shown the opposite effect, that is,
that schools with higher rates of school suspension and expulsion appear to have
less satisfactory ratings of school climate, less satisfactory school governance
Page 5
Zero Tolerance Task Force Report 5
structures, and to spend a disproportionate amount of time on disciplinary matters.
Perhaps more importantly, recent research indicates a negative relationship
between the use of school suspension and expulsion and school-wide academic
achievement, even when controlling for demographics such as socioeconomic
status. Although such findings do not demonstrate causality, it becomes difficult
to argue that zero tolerance creates more positive school climates when its use is
associated with more negative achievement outcomes.
• The swift and certain punishments of zero tolerance have a deterrent effect
upon students, thus improving overall student behavior and discipline. The
notion of deterring future misbehavior is central to the philosophy of zero
tolerance, and the impact of any consequence on future behavior is the defining
characteristic of effective punishment. Rather than reducing the likelihood of
disruption however, school suspension in general appears to predict higher future
rates of misbehavior and suspension among those students who are suspended. In
the long term, school suspension and expulsion are moderately associated with a
higher likelihood of school dropout and failure to graduate on time.
The Greenville County school board in Greenville County SC is pits when it comes to education
I think its past time for the school board to stop their self servering networking and implement some Common sense, they killed common sense, now the schools are facing a life time of failuar.
The Greenville County's favorite son
Bobby Caldwell
Friday, December 21, 2007
give everyone a D
FORUM
« After Summers Comes The Fall Main Columbia: Yes to Ahmadinejad, Still No To Minutemen »
September 19, 2007
school score among seniors at 50 colleges surveyed - 25 elite universities and 25 other randomly selected schools. Some 14,000 freshmen and seniors took the test.
Among the questions were these:
The line "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.." is from
Give Everyone A "D"
Posted by John Leo
The Intercollegiate Studies Institute released its second annual survey of civic awareness among American college students, and the results are just as depressing as last year's. "The average college senior know astoundingly little about America's history, government, international relations and market economy," according to the ISI report, "Failing Our Students, Failing America."
Harvard seniors scored a "D+" average on a 60-question multiple choice exam. That was the highest A. the Federalist B. the preamble to the ConstitutionC. the Communist ManifestoD. the Declaration of Independence E. an inscription on the Statue of Liberty
The dominant theme of the Lincoln-Douglas debates was:
A. treatment of Native Americans, B. westward expansion C. whether Illinois should become a stateD. ProhibitionE. slavery and its expansion
The Constitution of the United States established what form of government:
A. direct democracyB. populismC. indirect democracyD. oligarchyE. aristocracy
The survey, conducted by the University of Connecticut's department of public policy, generally found that the higher a college was listed in US. News & World Report rankings, the lower it ranked in civic learning. At the eight worst-performing colleges-including Cornell, Yale, Duke, Berkeley and Princeton, the average senior did worse than the average freshmen, an example of what the report calls "negative learning." The worst-performing college, Cornell, the report said, "works like a giant amnesia machine, where students forget what they once knew." Only 28 percent of Cornell seniors knew or guessed that the Monroe Doctrine discouraged new colonies in the Western Hemisphere.
The ten colleges where civic knowledge increased from freshman to senior year were mostly lesser-known institutions: Eastern Connecticut State, Marian College, Murray State, Concordia, St. Cloud State, Mississippi State, Pfeiffer, Illinois State, Iowa State and the University of Mississippi.
Surveyed colleges ranked by Barron's imparted only about one-third the civic learning of colleges overlooked by Barron's.
One reason why civic knowledge lags is the trend away from teaching dates and factors in general, in favor of analysis, trends and a student's personalized take on the past. And with the rise of postmodern theory and cultural relativism, many students have been taught to scorn the traditional values of the west - equality, freedom, democracy, human rights - as masks for the self-interest of the rich and powerful. If follows from this view that history, particularly American history, is mostly propaganda inflicted on the young.
ISI asks: "Is American higher education doing its duty to prepare the next generation to maintain our legacy of liberty?" The answer in the report is no. In 1896, at Princeton's 150th anniversary, Woodrow Wilson argued that a central purpose of higher education is to develop citizens capable of steering the nation into the future because they have a steady grip on the past. "The college should serve the state as its organ of recollection, its seat of vital memory," he said. But in the survey, Princeton ranked as the fifth-worst school for civic learning. And most of the other 49 schools weren't much better.
Permalink
http://www.mindingthecampus.com/forum/2007/09/give_everyone_a_d.html
« After Summers Comes The Fall Main Columbia: Yes to Ahmadinejad, Still No To Minutemen »
September 19, 2007
school score among seniors at 50 colleges surveyed - 25 elite universities and 25 other randomly selected schools. Some 14,000 freshmen and seniors took the test.
Among the questions were these:
The line "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.." is from
Give Everyone A "D"
Posted by John Leo
The Intercollegiate Studies Institute released its second annual survey of civic awareness among American college students, and the results are just as depressing as last year's. "The average college senior know astoundingly little about America's history, government, international relations and market economy," according to the ISI report, "Failing Our Students, Failing America."
Harvard seniors scored a "D+" average on a 60-question multiple choice exam. That was the highest A. the Federalist B. the preamble to the ConstitutionC. the Communist ManifestoD. the Declaration of Independence E. an inscription on the Statue of Liberty
The dominant theme of the Lincoln-Douglas debates was:
A. treatment of Native Americans, B. westward expansion C. whether Illinois should become a stateD. ProhibitionE. slavery and its expansion
The Constitution of the United States established what form of government:
A. direct democracyB. populismC. indirect democracyD. oligarchyE. aristocracy
The survey, conducted by the University of Connecticut's department of public policy, generally found that the higher a college was listed in US. News & World Report rankings, the lower it ranked in civic learning. At the eight worst-performing colleges-including Cornell, Yale, Duke, Berkeley and Princeton, the average senior did worse than the average freshmen, an example of what the report calls "negative learning." The worst-performing college, Cornell, the report said, "works like a giant amnesia machine, where students forget what they once knew." Only 28 percent of Cornell seniors knew or guessed that the Monroe Doctrine discouraged new colonies in the Western Hemisphere.
The ten colleges where civic knowledge increased from freshman to senior year were mostly lesser-known institutions: Eastern Connecticut State, Marian College, Murray State, Concordia, St. Cloud State, Mississippi State, Pfeiffer, Illinois State, Iowa State and the University of Mississippi.
Surveyed colleges ranked by Barron's imparted only about one-third the civic learning of colleges overlooked by Barron's.
One reason why civic knowledge lags is the trend away from teaching dates and factors in general, in favor of analysis, trends and a student's personalized take on the past. And with the rise of postmodern theory and cultural relativism, many students have been taught to scorn the traditional values of the west - equality, freedom, democracy, human rights - as masks for the self-interest of the rich and powerful. If follows from this view that history, particularly American history, is mostly propaganda inflicted on the young.
ISI asks: "Is American higher education doing its duty to prepare the next generation to maintain our legacy of liberty?" The answer in the report is no. In 1896, at Princeton's 150th anniversary, Woodrow Wilson argued that a central purpose of higher education is to develop citizens capable of steering the nation into the future because they have a steady grip on the past. "The college should serve the state as its organ of recollection, its seat of vital memory," he said. But in the survey, Princeton ranked as the fifth-worst school for civic learning. And most of the other 49 schools weren't much better.
Permalink
http://www.mindingthecampus.com/forum/2007/09/give_everyone_a_d.html
Thursday, December 20, 2007
The Death of common sense in the Greenville county sc school system
Greenville County School District Killed and buried common sense when they instituted the Zero Tolerance Policy. Common sense cultivated such lessons as when to come in out of the rain.When you found yourself in a hole it was time to throw the shovel down and climb out.Common sense taught us such things as life wasn't always fair and sometimes maybe it was our fault.Common sense taught us that if we could trust anyone it was our teachers and our preachers.Common sense started taking a beating when the school teachers started sleeping with our students, the very people that we entrusted with our children and common sense became even more ill when our schools lost all creditability.The final blow was when the combination of giving phony grades to athlete so they could bring in the money on Friday nights.The final death blow came when the “from the school house to the jail house Zero Tolerance Policy was implemented in our public schools.The less than successful Greenville County school Board led by the less than successful school superintendant Penny Fisher. The Greenville County School system has 3 members on the school board that are 3 of the finest people it has become my pleasure and blessing to call my friends and one that is my Brother.The 3 people are always out voted but they keep struggling to make the right decisions for the students of Greenville County School district.I believe the rest are great net workers and all they care about is the bragging rights to enable them to say, I am a member of the school board.This is my personal opinion. What is this weakness they have?They ran God out of the school system out of fear, not of God but fear of the ACLU.Tell me Folks, if a person will not stand up for Jesus Christ, what they will stand up for.That is ok; Jesus will not stand up for them in the presence of the father.What is this? Do the teachers in the Greenville County School really give phony grades to the athletes so they can bring in the money?Do they really give certificates for just coming to school and is the diploma useless?What about the certificates for occupational studies?What about the General certificate?
Can someone please explain this to me?
Why would the schools do this to the students knowing that they certificates are as useless as the school board and the school superintendant? USELESS. This is my opinion with the exception of the 3 members.
More to come tomorrow.
The Greenville County School boards Favorite son,
Bobby
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
What TIME says about our off the job Gov. Mark Sanford
What TIME says about our off the job Gov. Mark Sanford:
http://www.time.com/time/press_releases/article/0,8599,1129509,00.html
Hey Mark - Greenville is still part of SC. We still need representation in Columbia since we have none for the upstate and Greenville has not yet succeeded from the state.
Just whose Governor are you?
http://www.time.com/time/press_releases/article/0,8599,1129509,00.html
Hey Mark - Greenville is still part of SC. We still need representation in Columbia since we have none for the upstate and Greenville has not yet succeeded from the state.
Just whose Governor are you?
Monday, December 17, 2007
Jail Houses or School Houses
Jail House or School House
Greenville South Carolina
The complaints that are coming from Pain elementary school is that the children are being treated like they are in the army.
If any child speaks out, the parents say that the teacher takes away recess and will not permit any child to speak in the lunch line.
Come on now, that’s the way to teach students at an early age to hate school.
There has to be some lee way when it comes to 6 year olds.
They have to have some way to vent all of the pent up energy.
Maybe the school board needs to stop patting themselves on the back for piling up so much debt that it will be 50 years before the school building program is paid off, by that time we will need new schools, and look into the situation at Plain Elementary school.
I wonder if the school board member that represents Plain has ever been in the school before.
Greenville SC has the 58th largest district in the nation and some of the teachers need to be reviewed
Along with the principles.
The rumor is that the principle’s at the schools have the sole authority to hire the teachers that are going to teach at his or her school.
The rumor is also that at least one school in the district has to have the Police in one school or another at least once a month.
Is our school’s becoming a police state?
Is the school district going to continue to be in lock down or will it become an institution of learning which is something it has not been for the past 30 years or so?
The further up the grade ladder the poorer the students perform in academics.
The students actually start decreasing in learning, so by the time they reach the eighth grade they are so disgusted with school that they are ready to quit.
Folks, Schools are not supposed to be jail houses and to expect 6 year olds to act like they are mature enough to sit quietly all day is asking just too much.
Come on now if the teachers do not want to be bothered with children then they should pick another profession.
We spend $ 425 million dollars plus what the different sports program brings in to not have teachers that do not understand children and realize that they must be allowed to be children.
The teachers do not mind sending the children home with some candy or, wrapping paper, Christmas gifts, cookies and a number of other items for the 6 year olds to sell for the class room supplies, but they do not want them to act like kids.
Folks, we are spending a fortune and the teachers and principals are having the kids to go out and peddle the items for the class room supplies.
Where is the School Superintendent? Where is the School Board member that represents Pain Elementary School?
Where are the parents that are putting up with this mess and abuse of 6 year olds?
The Greenville County school students have a lot of Lawyers in this town that will represent the school students FREE of charge.
Come on parents stop this abuse of the first graders, haul the district into the courts and if this is done enough, then the schools will stop this Hitler like Police state because the Board members will never do anything to stop this terrible situation (with some exceptions)
The School Superintendant Penny Fisher will never stop this. Penny makes a lot of money and she will never muddy the water by doing the right thing by the students.
Is this the reason that Greenville County runs so many Drop out Mills?
The school boards favorite son,
Bobby
Greenville South Carolina
The complaints that are coming from Pain elementary school is that the children are being treated like they are in the army.
If any child speaks out, the parents say that the teacher takes away recess and will not permit any child to speak in the lunch line.
Come on now, that’s the way to teach students at an early age to hate school.
There has to be some lee way when it comes to 6 year olds.
They have to have some way to vent all of the pent up energy.
Maybe the school board needs to stop patting themselves on the back for piling up so much debt that it will be 50 years before the school building program is paid off, by that time we will need new schools, and look into the situation at Plain Elementary school.
I wonder if the school board member that represents Plain has ever been in the school before.
Greenville SC has the 58th largest district in the nation and some of the teachers need to be reviewed
Along with the principles.
The rumor is that the principle’s at the schools have the sole authority to hire the teachers that are going to teach at his or her school.
The rumor is also that at least one school in the district has to have the Police in one school or another at least once a month.
Is our school’s becoming a police state?
Is the school district going to continue to be in lock down or will it become an institution of learning which is something it has not been for the past 30 years or so?
The further up the grade ladder the poorer the students perform in academics.
The students actually start decreasing in learning, so by the time they reach the eighth grade they are so disgusted with school that they are ready to quit.
Folks, Schools are not supposed to be jail houses and to expect 6 year olds to act like they are mature enough to sit quietly all day is asking just too much.
Come on now if the teachers do not want to be bothered with children then they should pick another profession.
We spend $ 425 million dollars plus what the different sports program brings in to not have teachers that do not understand children and realize that they must be allowed to be children.
The teachers do not mind sending the children home with some candy or, wrapping paper, Christmas gifts, cookies and a number of other items for the 6 year olds to sell for the class room supplies, but they do not want them to act like kids.
Folks, we are spending a fortune and the teachers and principals are having the kids to go out and peddle the items for the class room supplies.
Where is the School Superintendent? Where is the School Board member that represents Pain Elementary School?
Where are the parents that are putting up with this mess and abuse of 6 year olds?
The Greenville County school students have a lot of Lawyers in this town that will represent the school students FREE of charge.
Come on parents stop this abuse of the first graders, haul the district into the courts and if this is done enough, then the schools will stop this Hitler like Police state because the Board members will never do anything to stop this terrible situation (with some exceptions)
The School Superintendant Penny Fisher will never stop this. Penny makes a lot of money and she will never muddy the water by doing the right thing by the students.
Is this the reason that Greenville County runs so many Drop out Mills?
The school boards favorite son,
Bobby
Saturday, December 15, 2007
SC drop out Mills
This report is from the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation written by Brian J. Gottlob. This study was released by the Friedman Foundation and the SC Policy Council.
Research has documented a crisis in the in South Carolina's graduation rate. State officials report a graduation rate of about 70%, researchers from South Carolina and else where place the rate at just above 50% and among Minorities it is less than 50%.
South Carolina has the worst drop out rate in the nation.
The drop out number in 2006 was 30,000 students. After spending years in school, 30,000 did not graduate and this is more costly to the state of SC than it would have been if they had stayed in school.
South Carolina has 340,000 working age drop out and it is costing the state of SC $98,000,000 per year for the rest of their lives.
These estimates are just from 3 sources, lost revenue from taxes and fee's, increased Medicaid cost, and incarceration cost.
Each new class of drop outs produces public cost of $98 million per year.
Total cost of 4.9 Billion dollars over a life time of 50 years. End of quote.
I do not know how it is possible for a Monopoly to fail so miserably, it seems to me that if I owned the only store in town that sold screw drivers, then if anyone bought a screw driver they would have to buy it from me and how could I lose money? The Greenville school board wants to be the king of all decisions made for our children. They love the power they have over other people's lives and the idiots in the legislature just keep coasting along not making the necessary changes and letting the school board throw away millions of the tax payer’s money each year and the school keeps yelling WE NEED MORE MONEY. This is one of the myths that the people who are failing in their jobs use as an excuse for their failures.
South Carolina needs to have competition among the schools, similar to the way Florida started doing and it is working there.
Competition among the schools will produce more students who will be able to graduate than ever before.
The status quo is churning and turning out people with no hopes of a prosperous future and who can expect nothing more than a mediocre future by just scratching out a living or living off public assistance.
PS: CONGRATULATIONS TO DURAN FREE FOR GRADUATING WITH TOP HONORS (CUM LAUDE) AT USC UPSTATE!!! (OUR NEW NURSE!!!)
Thank you Dr. Barton, President of Greenville Technical College, for giving a young woman a chance to have a future in this ever turbulent life!!!
Research has documented a crisis in the in South Carolina's graduation rate. State officials report a graduation rate of about 70%, researchers from South Carolina and else where place the rate at just above 50% and among Minorities it is less than 50%.
South Carolina has the worst drop out rate in the nation.
The drop out number in 2006 was 30,000 students. After spending years in school, 30,000 did not graduate and this is more costly to the state of SC than it would have been if they had stayed in school.
South Carolina has 340,000 working age drop out and it is costing the state of SC $98,000,000 per year for the rest of their lives.
These estimates are just from 3 sources, lost revenue from taxes and fee's, increased Medicaid cost, and incarceration cost.
Each new class of drop outs produces public cost of $98 million per year.
Total cost of 4.9 Billion dollars over a life time of 50 years. End of quote.
I do not know how it is possible for a Monopoly to fail so miserably, it seems to me that if I owned the only store in town that sold screw drivers, then if anyone bought a screw driver they would have to buy it from me and how could I lose money? The Greenville school board wants to be the king of all decisions made for our children. They love the power they have over other people's lives and the idiots in the legislature just keep coasting along not making the necessary changes and letting the school board throw away millions of the tax payer’s money each year and the school keeps yelling WE NEED MORE MONEY. This is one of the myths that the people who are failing in their jobs use as an excuse for their failures.
South Carolina needs to have competition among the schools, similar to the way Florida started doing and it is working there.
Competition among the schools will produce more students who will be able to graduate than ever before.
The status quo is churning and turning out people with no hopes of a prosperous future and who can expect nothing more than a mediocre future by just scratching out a living or living off public assistance.
PS: CONGRATULATIONS TO DURAN FREE FOR GRADUATING WITH TOP HONORS (CUM LAUDE) AT USC UPSTATE!!! (OUR NEW NURSE!!!)
Thank you Dr. Barton, President of Greenville Technical College, for giving a young woman a chance to have a future in this ever turbulent life!!!
Thursday, December 13, 2007
The Pits of Education is found in Greenville, SC
Welcome to the drop out mill country 12-13-2007
South Carolina is falling further and further behind the rest of the nation in education. Take Greenville, South Carolina for instance; here we have 65,000 students and 65,000 illiterate adults. When you ask for a doctor in this town you may get a veterinarian. That’s the kind of educational system we have.
The system is too large and the Greenville County Board of education is very self serving. They are so dumb that they started a building program for new schools which turned out to be the biggest bidding contract in SC history as well as turning out to be the costliest. Does the school board not know that there is a stopping point to spending people’s money?
The original contract was for $768 million dollars. The contract at this time has cost 1 BILLION and 300 million and we are not finished yet. (I personally think they all went to school in Greenville, SC.)
Folks, the board wants to be important, not for the students and furthering education, but so that they can control the county. Next to the SC Legislature they are the most powerful entity in the state. In some cases SC law doesn’t apply to the school board. Our illustrious school board members (except for a few) are the net-working kings of America with the attitude of: ‘If you can help me I will vote your way’…although we do have 3 great, caring, school board members who are always out voted.
I bet you think that everyone in Greenville, SC wants all of the students to learn so that they can have a successful future, WRONG; all they care about is money and more money to spend (as long as it is other people’s money). The best way to control anyone is to keep them ignorant so they will have to depend on the rich for their living.
The high school athletes bring in to the school system $ 16,000,000 per year and not one coach or manager knows the GPA of any one of the athletes. So much for a c average to play sports, kudos for the school board.
This is from SC Policy Council: “South Carolina SAT scores are the regions lowest and the second lowest in the nation." The only reason we are not on the bottom is that Maine requires all of their students to take the SAT’s. In SC around 44% of the students take the test. If SC required 100% of the students to take the SAT’s we would beat out Maine for the bottom spot with plenty of room to spare.
The fewer students that take the test the higher the average of that school - sounds reasonable to me.
Say 1 student takes the test and passes and ten from another school takes the test and 7 of them pass the test, then the school that had only one student take the test would make 100%, and the school that tested 10 students where only 7 passed would score only 70%.
Greenville is in a big hole and we have an off duty Governor, unless of course you are rich, or he may be busy walking around with two squealing pigs under his arms. Kudos for Mark Sanford (and the dummy writing this helped get him elected).
"One hundred and eight (108) schools saw their SAT scores drop from 2006 to 2007" (SC Policy Council).
Folks, we are going backwards and the price keeps climbing while more and more people are losing their homes. But what the heck, who cares? Certainly not the school board nor would the Governor. After all if you only represent the very affluent then you don’t have to work very hard at your job because most of us in Greenville, SC are just above the poverty level.
More to come tomorrow. Let me know what you think.
Bobby C .
(The school boards favorite son)
South Carolina is falling further and further behind the rest of the nation in education. Take Greenville, South Carolina for instance; here we have 65,000 students and 65,000 illiterate adults. When you ask for a doctor in this town you may get a veterinarian. That’s the kind of educational system we have.
The system is too large and the Greenville County Board of education is very self serving. They are so dumb that they started a building program for new schools which turned out to be the biggest bidding contract in SC history as well as turning out to be the costliest. Does the school board not know that there is a stopping point to spending people’s money?
The original contract was for $768 million dollars. The contract at this time has cost 1 BILLION and 300 million and we are not finished yet. (I personally think they all went to school in Greenville, SC.)
Folks, the board wants to be important, not for the students and furthering education, but so that they can control the county. Next to the SC Legislature they are the most powerful entity in the state. In some cases SC law doesn’t apply to the school board. Our illustrious school board members (except for a few) are the net-working kings of America with the attitude of: ‘If you can help me I will vote your way’…although we do have 3 great, caring, school board members who are always out voted.
I bet you think that everyone in Greenville, SC wants all of the students to learn so that they can have a successful future, WRONG; all they care about is money and more money to spend (as long as it is other people’s money). The best way to control anyone is to keep them ignorant so they will have to depend on the rich for their living.
The high school athletes bring in to the school system $ 16,000,000 per year and not one coach or manager knows the GPA of any one of the athletes. So much for a c average to play sports, kudos for the school board.
This is from SC Policy Council: “South Carolina SAT scores are the regions lowest and the second lowest in the nation." The only reason we are not on the bottom is that Maine requires all of their students to take the SAT’s. In SC around 44% of the students take the test. If SC required 100% of the students to take the SAT’s we would beat out Maine for the bottom spot with plenty of room to spare.
The fewer students that take the test the higher the average of that school - sounds reasonable to me.
Say 1 student takes the test and passes and ten from another school takes the test and 7 of them pass the test, then the school that had only one student take the test would make 100%, and the school that tested 10 students where only 7 passed would score only 70%.
Greenville is in a big hole and we have an off duty Governor, unless of course you are rich, or he may be busy walking around with two squealing pigs under his arms. Kudos for Mark Sanford (and the dummy writing this helped get him elected).
"One hundred and eight (108) schools saw their SAT scores drop from 2006 to 2007" (SC Policy Council).
Folks, we are going backwards and the price keeps climbing while more and more people are losing their homes. But what the heck, who cares? Certainly not the school board nor would the Governor. After all if you only represent the very affluent then you don’t have to work very hard at your job because most of us in Greenville, SC are just above the poverty level.
More to come tomorrow. Let me know what you think.
Bobby C .
(The school boards favorite son)
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