Monthly Archives: October 2006

If Drugs Were Legal – Google Video

For the record – drug use screwed up a large part of my little brother’s too short life. Even worse, I grew up in the 1970′s – even had a friend who sold drugs on the side – and never used anything illegal (how lame is that?).

LAUSD added more charter schools in fall
via
Cato-at-liberty » It’s Not Fair, Your Schools Are Designed to Work Better!

District officials, as well as the president of the teachers union, bristle at assertions by the Charter Schools Association that middle and high school charters are significantly outperforming their district counterparts.

A fairer comparison would be with the district’s magnet schools, which outperform charters, school board member Jon Lauritzen said.

“I think it’s basically unfair to compare an entity that is able to take their entire budget and focus it entirely on their own schools,” he said. “They have some real advantages over our schools in the flexibility of actually providing the type of education that a particular community wants, whereas we are trying to provide a curriculum that works for everyone all across the school district.”

Lauritzen is right about the comparison. Probably the strongest factor is a school’s success is the attitude of the parents. Motivated students usually come from motivated parents. Motivated parents will make an extra effort to place their kids in better schools. So both “magnet” and “charter” schools are getting the best students. The ordinary public schools are getting the average students (and worse). Comparing student performance between the different schools tells you much more about the students than the schools.

For one dramatic example – in Orange County I have met public school teachers who took a substantial pay cut to come the Irvine school district from Los Angeles. In the LA school district teaching was very difficult, due to unmotivated students and disinterested parents. In Irvine – as at my local public school – parents are very interested, and the kids reflect their parent’s interest.

As another example, I went to one classroom activity where the teacher ended up with more(!) parent volunteers that students. One of the parents mentioned that at her kid’s old school (in Santa Ana?) the teacher would be lucky to get more than one or two volunteers. When I see a request for parent volunteers, the teacher usually specifies the maximum number of volunteers she can use. (Come to think of it, I do not remember a teacher ever specifying a minimum…) Public schools can do well when the parents (and students) are motivated.

I like the idea of both “charter” and “magnet” schools, as it gives motivated parents the chance to place their kids in a better learning environment – with other motivated students. But you cannot compare schools when the student populations are very different.

UCSD Students Fear “Operation College Freedom”

Some of us on campus tried to do the simple act of circulating a letter
opposed to wasting so much money on this ["Operation College Freedom"]
in the name of the war on terror and further militarizing our campus.

Unfortunately, the climate of fear at universities in the US has gotten to
such a height that no one would sign on. We even asked for suggestions and
changes in the wording, but no one replied with those either.

Maybe the letter wasn't all that great, but 3 people specifcally told us
that they were "scared" to put their names on the letter.

Wired News: SS Nabs Teen for Online Vent
Federal authorities had found the page and placed Wilson on their checklist. They finally reached her this week in her molecular biology class. The 14-year-old freshman was taken out of class Wednesday and questioned for about 15 minutes by two Secret Service agents. The incident has upset her parents, who said the agents should have included them when they questioned their daughter.
…..
They also said the agents should have more quickly figured out they weren’t dealing with a real danger. Ultimately, the agents told the teen they would delete her investigation file.

Assistant Principal Paul Belluomini said the agents gave him the impression the girl’s mother knew they were planning to question her daughter at school. There is no legal requirement that parents be notified.

Oh yes, this is a fine example of how good government should behave in a free society (not). Got to suppress the terrorist threat from teenage girls. Without this sort of constructive expenditure of government resources, we could have – who knows how many? – presidential assassinations.

This should scare a lot of teenagers into not wanting to question our government. Make them into good little conformists. Next time you are at your local high school, check out the posters and notices. How many are about obediance? Are we educating informed and active citizens, or scared serfs? What do you think?

Suspended Lawman’s Wait for Resolution Stretches to 4 Months
Hunt was suspended the day after he failed to unseat Carona in a politically charged fight that created divides throughout the department. Carona was backed by most area politicians, but Hunt earned the support of the department’s deputies. In the end, it was statements Hunt made during the campaign — such as suggesting that Carona’s administration had been tarnished by scandal — that apparently led to his suspension.

This is an instance where we could use a bit more of a free market – and illustrates a problem. The most qualified potential opponents to a locally-elected Sheriff are going to be largely found within his own department. If playing the role of both an opponent and employee is essentially impossible, then the position of the elected Sheriff is perhaps too secure.

Years ago, Carona was the head of what amounts to a group of security guards for the Orange County courts – not exactly the sort of experience essential to heading a large police organization. When Carona first ran for Sheriff, two of the candidates (one of them Carona) came and spoke at a local venue. My first impression of Carona – admittedly tenous – was that I did not trust the guy.

Looked at from another aspect, this may illustrate why meeting politicians on a local level may be a very good idea. Televised speeches and written articles can be carefully crafted by intermediaries to hide a candidate’s true nature. On a direct physical meeting there are all sorts of clues that may give away the candidate’s character, to the keen observer.