A roundup of the interesting, absurd, and eccentric stories that I missed while I was on vacation:
Just as journalists cannot write about John Kerry without mentioning Vietnam, nor the War on Terror without using the word "quagmire," any reporter covering the education beat can't talk about valedictorian controversies without muttering the sacred words of warning, "Blair Hornstine." I have to admit, though, to never having heard of her Massachusetts counterpart, Sharisse Kanet.
The Education Gadfly anticipates a tornado of biased reporting about NCLB in the upcoming months. The 2004 test results will be available this summer and schools that may be labeled as failing are already on the attack. The guidelines for producing a biased report about testing are extensive and 100% correct, from what I've seen, although "Stack the deck with experts" should be "Stack the deck with experts named and unnamed," thanks to the willingness of reporters to fall back on the common line, "Critics say...."
Behind every administrator condemning this action, there's an overburdened elementary teacher thinking, You go, girl. Unapologetically old-fashioned teacher Lori Thomas is still paying for that "drop of soap," though.
Devoted Reader Kevin S. has been bombarding me with emails about "the sorry state of education in Louisiana." The man's not exaggerating.
Thank God my parents went with the car for my 17th birthday. It certainly got me further than in life than a pair of fake boobies would have. Am I the only one who sees something tremendously icky about this?
Okay, this story is too much of a tease. They CAN'T just tell us "eight clicks" without giving us SOME indication of how this could possibly happen. Oh, and Fark's reference for this? Best. Headline. Ever.
I'll take this win, even if it is on a technicality.
What's saddest about this story is that there are probably multitudes of English teachers out there who actually didn't know why Shakespeare used that particular word. Teacher Jennifer, who sounds both engaging and knowledgeable, was probably reprimanded for making other teachers look dumb as well as for offending some highly contentious parents. As for the administrator who chastised Jennifer, I'd call him by his rightful name, but I don't want to go to Hell for it.
And people complain about the illogical items on American standardized tests. Sheesh. At least our questions don't seem like they were written by Monty Python (registration required). That much said, I'd love the chance to respond to any stuffy English professor who had the gall to ask me, "What is the point of me teaching you?"
The American Literary Society has come up with the ultimate plea for special treatment on behalf of all the literary "victims" in the world. The sacred arguments of disability, low-self-esteem, and immigration issues were all invoked in an attempt to convince us that the traumatic lives of bad spellers justifies changing the English language. I say, if you can't find anything better to do with your time than picket a spelling bee, you're living a pretty pathetic life, my friend.
But I'm not picking on those bad spellers. Some of my best friends are bad spellers (hee hee).
Posted by kswygert at June 14, 2004 10:26 AM