How's This For Caring?

I found an interesting website by a following a link posted at The 108th Edition of the Carnival of Education, hosted by Dr. Homslice.

As many of you no doubt know, New Orleans Public Schools were decimated by Hurricane Katrina and the federal govt. has swooped in to push charter schools upon the city's children. By following the links provided I was able to find the website for an organization called Teach NOLA. The website offers two links for potential teachers, one for certified and one for uncertified. Certified teachers are directed to a page that contains this greeting:

teachNOLA seeks the nation's most outstanding certified teachers to make a difference by teaching in New Orleans charter schools.

Uncertified teachers' link leads them to a page that says this:

teachNOLA seeks the nation's most outstanding young, mid- and post-career professionals to make a difference by teaching in New Orleans' Recovery School District.

In short, the charter schools are being given the best of the best, while the public schools, referred to as Recovery School District, have to fight over what's left.

Sounds like the perfect plan for the reform crowd to "prove" charter schools are better.

Don't the children of New Orleans deserve better?

A new Monday Quote

Congrats to Michael, who correctly answered that H. L. Mencken made last Monday's quote.

Now for this week's quote. Who was it that said:

In the United States anybody can become president. That's the problem.

Well time for me to start my Monday denial chant. It is NOT Monday, It is NOT Monday, It is NOT Monday . . .

And the Answer is, Plus a New Quote

Anonymous guessed correctly that Thomas Jefferson made last week's quote. Interesting that Charles Beard though quoting the founding fathers would make you be considered a radical. I wish I had the date for that quote from Beard, it would really be interesting to see if it was made in the last few years.

And now for this week's quote:

For every problem there is a solution that is clear, simple and wrong"

I've gone a little more obscure on this one to make it more interesting.

Ugh, another Tuesday

I hope this Tuesday is better than the last one. After my last post Mr. Teacher complained that no beautiful co-workers notice when he's out. I still contend that it is worse when a beautiful co-worker thinks you were gone when you were there all day.

Here's a laugh to (hopefully) start your Tuesday wright:

Monday's Mad Quote

Feeling a little rebellious? Then this quote is just for you:

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in the government

And here's another quote to help you figure out who the dangerous rebel was that made the previous quote:

One of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our fathers used in the great struggle for independence . . .Charles A. Beard

We're #1!

Here in Texas, the birthplace of NCLB type "reforms" we've obtained considerable status in regards to other states. For example Texas is:

- 1st in the percentage of uninsured children
- 1st in food insecurity
- 1st in child abuse deaths
- 1st in the number of incarcerated adults
- 2nd in the percentage of the population that goes hungry
- 2nd in teen pregnancy
- 5th in the overall poverty rate
- 6th in crime
- 47th in income and food stamps benefits for the neediest
- 50th in the percentage of fully-immunized two-year-olds

In his never ending quest to make his friends rich and look like he cares about Texas children remedy these deplorable numbers, Gov. Goodhair Perry has proposed cutting state services even further to pay for property tax reductions. Texas schools will receive zero new dollars over the next two years, meaning that once again Texas will be the only state in the union to cut per student funding.

Yahoo!

The complete report can be read at Tom Paine.

I Should've Called in Dead

I should've just stayed home Tuesday, it was one of those days, but instead I chose to ignore two very important warning signs.

1. My iron caught fire when I was doing my clothes.

2. When I did get to work a beautiful co-worker asked me why I'd been out the day before . . .I'd been there the whole day.

Is there any wonder why I hate Tuesdays?

Monday's Mad Quote

Here is the first of what I'm going to call Monday's Mad Quotes:

I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them all and took their land

Any guesses?

Now remember, it is NOT Monday, it is NOT Monday, it is NOT Monday . . .