We dudes have an email chain. Im cleaning out my inbox right now and passing alot of the stupid bullshit we talk about every day. Here are some of the best subject lines of the past 5 or so years:
campin', fishin', drinkin', lovin
man-plans
gym short cassanova
what is...things you do to your wife while shes sleeping!
lying to women
nice shorts, dick
ball shadow
India, you assholes
cowboys are my weakness (wtf???)
beard helmet
stinkeye monopoly
club med Karachi
How Isiah Thomas is like Robert Mugabe
Thrustday
Spritz!
Meat Pie Mums
Regurgitating Gordon Wood
Good Luck in the Woods
Sweatshops: Another Day, Another Dollar
Crucial Retard Demographic
Longitudes and Platitudes
Saturday Night's Alright
Dottie Pepper
Happy go-pukey
pillowsnake
dirtnuggistan
Werewolf is Boys Naked
paranoid mandroid
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
DC mutual masturbation society
Exhibit 10 billion of why I hate DC. Sitting through lunch with one of these self-important assholes would be more like a punishment than a prize. Pass the gin, Dougie.
Friday, June 13, 2008
ummm, what?
OK. My friend and I recently saw this license plate. I know the first thing I thought when I looked at it, he thought the same. So has everyone else to whom I have shown this picture. Now the question for you is, what does this mean? And if it means something other than what everyone thinks it must mean, well, why put it on your license plate in the first place?
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations
The current education system is a mess. We have 51 different systems of standards, 51 different systems of accountability, 51 different systems for collecting and analyzing data, we even have 51 different ways of certifying teachers. For 21st century society we are rooted in the 19th century...may as well make the secretary of education start using a horse to travel around the country.
The worst part of this problem is that everyone, regardless of their background or expertise, has an opinion on how to fix it. Perhaps the one area that President Bush could point to as a success in his administration is the passage and implementation of No Child Left Behind. For the first time the federal government stepped in and put teeth behind the movement to equalize the education of every child in America. Long have the feds pushed states to implement standards and curriculum for all subjects and grade levels, however states have dragged their feet. It got to the point that for us to be serious about changing the system a system of rewards and punishments needed to be instituted. Now there are a lot of things wrong with the law and unfortunately the President cannot hang his hat on the implementation because certain folks in the administration screwed things up (see Reading First). But the basic goals are right and if you don't start somewhere then when/where do you start?
One of the biggest criticisms of the law centers on the requirement that all students be tested in reading, math, and science in grades 3-8 and once in high school. The results of the reading and math scores are used to gauge whether schools and districts are adequately educating all of their students. Surprise! Not all schools are doing a good job! As a result we have folks blaming everything from the funding levels to the tests to George Bush for their problems. On this last point identify the two older gentlemen in the background of this picture and get back to me on Bush and the Republicans being at fault for the writing and passage of NCLB.
So, how do we fix the problem? We can start by not putting the blame for failing schools on others! Teachers, principals, superintendents, teacher prep programs, etc need to look in the mirror and decide what they are in control of. The students are not the problem in this equation. It is the adults-worrying more about their job security than educating children-that are holding us back. NCLB is not the problem in America's classrooms. The problems are unprepared teachers, under-funded facilities, culture wars, poor research quality, etc. The next incarnation of NCLB needs to do a better job of addressing these issues but for now local districts and states need to make more of an investment in the classroom and not hide behind federal law.
The worst part of this problem is that everyone, regardless of their background or expertise, has an opinion on how to fix it. Perhaps the one area that President Bush could point to as a success in his administration is the passage and implementation of No Child Left Behind. For the first time the federal government stepped in and put teeth behind the movement to equalize the education of every child in America. Long have the feds pushed states to implement standards and curriculum for all subjects and grade levels, however states have dragged their feet. It got to the point that for us to be serious about changing the system a system of rewards and punishments needed to be instituted. Now there are a lot of things wrong with the law and unfortunately the President cannot hang his hat on the implementation because certain folks in the administration screwed things up (see Reading First). But the basic goals are right and if you don't start somewhere then when/where do you start?
One of the biggest criticisms of the law centers on the requirement that all students be tested in reading, math, and science in grades 3-8 and once in high school. The results of the reading and math scores are used to gauge whether schools and districts are adequately educating all of their students. Surprise! Not all schools are doing a good job! As a result we have folks blaming everything from the funding levels to the tests to George Bush for their problems. On this last point identify the two older gentlemen in the background of this picture and get back to me on Bush and the Republicans being at fault for the writing and passage of NCLB.
So, how do we fix the problem? We can start by not putting the blame for failing schools on others! Teachers, principals, superintendents, teacher prep programs, etc need to look in the mirror and decide what they are in control of. The students are not the problem in this equation. It is the adults-worrying more about their job security than educating children-that are holding us back. NCLB is not the problem in America's classrooms. The problems are unprepared teachers, under-funded facilities, culture wars, poor research quality, etc. The next incarnation of NCLB needs to do a better job of addressing these issues but for now local districts and states need to make more of an investment in the classroom and not hide behind federal law.
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