Here we go again.
In Iowa, we admit to sending something like 10,000 illiterate third-grade graduates to fourth grade every year. This is generally considered less than optimal. especially in light of knowledge that these kids, in about ten years, will be fully qualified to vote.
We spent eleventy-some million dollars to discover this problem and about that much more developing an innovative solution: A do-over. Have them repeat third grade. Oh, the horror:
Critics in Iowa say ending social promotion for third-graders could erode students’ self-esteem, and they question the wisdom of retaining children based solely on their performance in one subject area.
(Hey, Teach. Few cud say out lowd what is the name of my rithmutik book is my steem for me wud go up evin hier.)
Please excuse me for advancing the radical notion that by the time a child has spent four years in a school system he should have been given a fighting chance to understand that Dick is the Boy, Jane is the girl, and Spot goes bow-wow.
Dec 10, 2011
Dec 8, 2011
Let Hitler cure your megrims
Please step over to Random Acts of Patriotism for the Hitler take on John Moses Browning's 1911 versus the Teutonic brick. If it doesn't make you laugh you're not a true gun nut.
H/T Borepatch
H/T Borepatch
Dec 7, 2011
Climb Mount Niitaka
...and the sneak raid was on.
Travis McGee: "With every passing year it will seem more quaint, the little tin airplanes attacking the sleeping giants."
There's not much we can do about the Japanese attack seeming quaint to the uninformed young, but we can try to make sure they remember it happened.
Travis McGee: "With every passing year it will seem more quaint, the little tin airplanes attacking the sleeping giants."
There's not much we can do about the Japanese attack seeming quaint to the uninformed young, but we can try to make sure they remember it happened.
Oh, Brave New World
I still cling bitterly to the belief that the last important inventions were the Model 94 Winchester and the Zenith Transceanic radio. But it can be hard.
About once a month New Dog Libby's dietary needs send me reluctantly to WalMart for 44 pounds of Purina Dog Chow in an Ol' Roy bag. This was such a day. The crowd was thin, thank God, but I had forgotten to activate my anti-impulse circuits.
The new, cheap flat-panel HDTV is better in every respect that the bulky monster it has replaced. Merely saving space in the small living room made it worthwhile, never mind the better picture and curse-free setup.
Nevertheless, I feel like a primitive Baptist who has just discovered Charles Darwin.
About once a month New Dog Libby's dietary needs send me reluctantly to WalMart for 44 pounds of Purina Dog Chow in an Ol' Roy bag. This was such a day. The crowd was thin, thank God, but I had forgotten to activate my anti-impulse circuits.
The new, cheap flat-panel HDTV is better in every respect that the bulky monster it has replaced. Merely saving space in the small living room made it worthwhile, never mind the better picture and curse-free setup.
Nevertheless, I feel like a primitive Baptist who has just discovered Charles Darwin.
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