Sad sign of schools in trouble: No recess

January 2, 2007

Here’s one indicator that testing has gone way too far and is damaging children rather than improving their education: A bill in the Texas House of Representatives requires school districts to consider recess.

Like Dave Barry, we can’t make this stuff up. Rep. Mike Villareal, who represents part of Bexar County in District 123 (near San Antonio) has a bill in the hopper, H. B. 366, which requires districts to have advisory groups to stress the value of recess. (Text of the bill is below the fold.)

Would schools be so crazy as to cancel recess? Yes, that’s been our experience. Cancelling recess gives an elementary school an extra 30 minutes of class time every day. So, to impress administrators somewhere, some schools cancel recess. Despite studies showing that recess boosts learning and test scores, schools are cancelling recess.

Nuts. (Quick, what battle is that from?)

Read the rest of this entry »

15 Comments | Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), Education, Education reform, No Child Left Behind Act, Public education | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Washington’s Valley Forge vision that never was

January 2, 2007

At Boston 1775, J. L. Bell discusses what is known about the accuracy of reports that Gen. George Washington had a vision of an angel while the Continental Army camped at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. I cannot improve on Mr. Bell’s telling of the story, so go read it there.

7 Comments | 1776, Accuracy, America's founding, Bogus history, George Washington, History, History blogs, History Revisionism, Hoaxes | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Churchill, on war and executions

January 2, 2007

“When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite.”

  • Winston Churchill, The Second World War: Moral of the Work, vol. III, The Grand Alliance (1950)

Churchill, 1946 portrait by Douglas Chandor, Smithsonian (NatlPortraitGall)

 

  • Sir Winston Churchill, 1946 portrait by Douglas Chandor, courtesy of Smithsonian Institution, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.

 

Leave a Comment » | Accuracy, Good Quotes, History, Iraq, Winston Churchill | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Special on Presidents’ funerals

January 2, 2007

The White House Historical Association recently published a special feature on presidents’ funerals. Their website has an interactive display worth checking out.  I predict the network anchors will have this site up on their computers while they talk — it carries details of several presidents’ funerals, and a nice photo display.

I found the link through an article in the Austin American-Statesman. It mentions the print version of the historical journal, but I cannot find a link to it, nor any other mention of it (if you go to the paper’s story, note that their link to the White House Historical Association site was incorrect as of early on January 2).

Some tidbits gleaned from Ms. Faulkner’s article: The official government name for pall bearers is “body bearers.” The official name for a rifle honor corps is “firing party.” On the day after the death of a president or ex-president, a gun is fired every half hour at Army installations from reveille to retreat. On the day of burial, those installations fire a 21-gun salute at noon and a 50-gun salute (one per state) at five-second intervals following the lowering of the flag.

The Army’s Military District of Washington has prime responsibility for presidential funerals, but ex-presidents and their families are involved in the planning.

“Like most men my age, I have given a thought or two to my funeral,” Ford said in a November 2005 eulogy for presidential historian Hugh Sidey. “As a former president, I’m almost required to since the military periodically updates its own plans and each presidential family is solicited for personal touches.”

Ford had originally asked retired Time Magazine correspondent Hugh Sidey to deliver the euology at the funeral, a tip of respect to journalists in general. Unfortunately, Sidey died last year. (I also cannot find Ford’s tribute to Sidey; if you find the link, please send it along.)

Leave a Comment » | Current History, Gerald Ford, History, Presidents | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Flag respect on display for Ford funeral

January 2, 2007

Actions convey messages. Actions communicate. How one acts in regarding the U.S. flag, at different times when action is required, tells something about character — whether one was even paying attention when respect for the flag, and the ideals it portrays, was explained.

President Ford's casket in the Capitol Rotunda - photo by Todd Heisler, NY Times

President Ford’s casket lies in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. New York Times photo by Todd Heisler.

Here are a few things you may observe during the services for President Ford: Read the rest of this entry »

7 Comments | Accuracy, Bogus history, Flag etiquette, Gerald Ford, Presidents | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Proposed end to corporal punishment in Texas

January 1, 2007

Last August I noted in this column the Dallas Morning News story about Everman, Texas, where the local school district not only allows paddling — corporal punishment — but appears to endorse it as a key part of education.

Now comes a new legislature, and Texas State Rep. Alma Allen has filed a bill to ban corporal punishment, H. B. 379. To assuage those who argue that corporal punishment is necessary to maintain classroom discipline, the bill authorizes teachers and other school employees to use physical restraint to protect students from injury, and to get contraband.

Of course, this is the similar to the bill Dr. Allen introduced in the last session. It went nowhere, and without a dramatic change in tone in the state, this bill is likely to die in committee, too. But watch that space anyway.

Allen is a life-long educator representing District 131 in Houston. She holds an M.Ed from Texas Southern, and a D.Ed. from Houston. She retired as an administrator in the Houston Independent School District.

The full text of the bill is below the fold.

Read the rest of this entry »

23 Comments | Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), Corporal punishment, Education, Education reform, Paddling or spanking, School discipline | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Kearny, NJ, supports voodoo history

January 1, 2007

A brave kid in Kearny, New Jersey, recorded his high school history teacher doing what can be fairly described as preaching religion instead of teaching history.  That should be good enough warning to good and careful history teachers to keep doing their jobs right.

Some citizens of Kearny, however, take a different view:  On a city-run internet bulletin board the student gets little support, and his father gets threatened.  Jim Lippard at the Lippard Blog has a summary of key details.

And you thought your class a tough room to work?

And a tip of the old scrub brush for tracking the story to Pharyngula.

Postscript:  Does anyone know how to pronounce the name of that town?   Like Kearns, Utah, or is it like Kearny, Nebraska? 

5 Comments | Accuracy, Bogus history, Civil Rights, Curricula, Voodoo history | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Gerald Ford, National Park Ranger

January 1, 2007

Gerald Ford was a very likable guy.  Since his death last week, I have been impressed with the number of people who have stepped forward with different stories about how Ford was just a regular guy called to duty.

Researching the updating of the story about the sale of creationist books in the Grand Canyon, I stumbled into a press release from the National Park Service.  It turns out that Ford is the only president ever to have worked as a National Park Ranger (well, the National Park Service itself has only been around since 1901, so that lets out about half the presidents from even the possibility — though, of course, Yellowstone was established in 1862 1872).

In the summer of 1936 Ford worked in Yellowstone National Park.  He had duties that sound rather quaint and definitely antiquated today:  Ford was a guard on the bear feeding truck.  Bears have to fend for themselves in today’s National Parks.  No, it’s not due to budget cuts in bear food.  Bears do better as wild creatures, and so feeding was stopped to discourage them from becoming tame and dependent on humans.

Gerald Ford, ranger mensch.

2 Comments | Boy Scouts of America, Current History, Gerald Ford, History, Leadership, National Parks, Natural history, Natural resources, Presidents | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

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