President Obama, Congress face ticking education time bombs: Fiscal cliff, college costs and student loan deadline
John Konop steered me to this article from MSN.com on the compelling education policy challenges facing President Obama and Congress.
Seems like a lot to get done, some of which has to be done in a matter of weeks.
Here is an excerpt but try to read the full piece before commenting:
…First up is sequestration, the automatic, government-wide spending cuts set to knock out 8.2 percent of the funding to almost all of the Education Department’s programs — unless Congress acts before the end of the year to avert the cuts.
Programs intended to reduce educational inequities will take a hit of $1.3 billion, according to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. Special education, already funded far below the levels Congress originally promised, will be slashed by more than $1 billion. Most of the reductions won’t take effect until next fall, when the 2013-14 school year starts, but Impact Aid, which helps districts that lose revenue due to local tax-exempt federal property, would be cut immediately.
Education advocates are optimistic a plan will be hashed out that will leave most major education programs relatively unscathed.
“Even Republicans understand that cutting education spending is not something that is popular with voters,” said Michael Petrilli, a former Education Department official and executive vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative education think tank…..
… In Congress, both parties agree that college costs are spiraling out of control, but there’s not much government can do to control that. What it can control is student aid, and the debate about federal loans raises a familiar disagreement about the role of government. In 2010, when Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress, the federal government cut banks out of the process and started administering all loans directly. Many Republicans favor restoring the private sector’s role in issuing federally backed and subsidized loans.
Higher ed also comes with a delicate set of ticking time bombs. Student loan interest rates, capped at 3.4 percent for new subsidized Stafford loans, are set to double July 1, the expiration date for a stopgap Congress passed last year. Pell Grants, the main source of federal aid for low-income students, face the same type of crisis as entitlements like Medicare and Social Security: a cost curve that’s become difficult to contain as more people take part……
.. Lawmakers are more than half a decade overdue to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The Education Department has been copiously granting waivers to No Child Left Behind, the Bush-era iteration of the act, giving states flexibility with performance targets.
There’s bipartisan agreement in Congress that the law should be fixed and reauthorized. “While the administration’s efforts to grant waivers are helpful for states operating under the tenets of No Child Left Behind, these fixes are temporary and piecemeal,” Sen. Tom Harkin, the Democrat who chairs the Senate committee responsible for education, said in an email.
But the Obama administration has shown little desire to put the policy back in lawmakers’ hands. Duncan didn’t mention reauthorization in a lengthy speech in October laying out his agenda.
“Waivers are not a pass on accountability, but a smarter, more focused and fair way to hold ourselves accountable,” Duncan said in that speech.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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91 comments Add your comment
Pride and Joy
November 20th, 2012
8:46 am
Sequestration, I welcome it.
When educrats are forced to make big cuts they won’t be allowed to get away with always cutting the most important people — the teachers.
In times of real austerity, if an educrat dared to cut many teachers instead of many admin positions, they’d be run out on a rail, tarred and feathered, which is what they’ve deserved for years but didn’t get because the government was always pouring money into the pit, my money.
Bring on the cuts. I welcome them so that we can cut administrative nonsense positions, administrative ridiculous travel expenses and eliminate the “friends and family” jobs program.
indigo
November 20th, 2012
8:48 am
A responsible Government would have long since gotten to work on these issues in order to make the best possible choices for the people.
Unfortunately, our Government is anything but responsible. So, look for a last minute quick fix that will only exacerbate the problems.
Lee
November 20th, 2012
9:14 am
“Education advocates are optimistic a plan will be hashed out that will leave most major education programs relatively unscathed.”
And thus, the problem.
EVERYBODY, bar none, thinks their pet program should be maintained and spending cut somewhere else. I’m beginning to think this county is too far gone. If you wanted the Titanic to miss the iceberg, you should have turned the rudder 30 years ago.
I fear for our grandchildren. I really do.
Mountain Man
November 20th, 2012
9:20 am
Talking about the fiscal cliff – if you take social security (which is in the black still) and medicare, and transportation out of the budgeting process (they all have their own dedicated revenue streams), then defense makes up nearly 40% of the remaining budget. I am talking about ALL defense costs – Department of Homeland Security, DOD, war expenses (have bbeen “off-budget”), veterans benefits. Interest is 17%, and Medicaid is 12% (and growing, unfortunately). Of that Medicaid number – 25% goes to nursing home care for seniors. So where do we need to cut spending the most?
Less Govt Please
November 20th, 2012
9:53 am
“… In Congress, both parties agree that college costs are spiraling out of control, but there’s not much government can do to control that.”
It’s Government that has caused the cost of college education to sky rocket. They provide the guaranteed loans which is the catalyst for colleges and universities to raise tuition. Why not if the governement is picking up the tab!
Mortimer Collins
November 20th, 2012
9:56 am
Perhaps parents should rely less on the govt and more on themselves but I guess thats asking to much from these “adults”.
Centrist
November 20th, 2012
10:00 am
Vacation week for bloggers. The only part of the above that caught my eye was this true statement:
“Education advocates are optimistic a plan will be hashed out that will leave most major education programs relatively unscathed.”
There will be no snap back on over decade old tax rates, or sequestration – even if a “Grand Bargain” is not struck. It will all be postponed well into next year for the new Congress to hash out with Obama. Kicking the can down the road is what Congress does best.
flipper
November 20th, 2012
10:04 am
Let’s hope the cuts go into effect. The quicker the Feds get out of education the quicker it will improve.
Roxanne Pilat
November 20th, 2012
10:05 am
Student Loan update
RCB
November 20th, 2012
10:15 am
Congress always has a crisis they need to “fix”. They created this so-called fiscal cliff and now want to be alarmists over what they should have done last year. No sympathy here because we get what we vote for.
Concernedmom30329
November 20th, 2012
10:26 am
Pride and Joy
You only need look at DeKalb to see that what you wrote isn’t true. A board member recently showed that spending on the central office has actually increased in DeKalb this year. It is pathetic and rather scary that bureaucrats can’t seem to help themselves. Atkinson clearly believes that what happens at the Central Office is far more important than what happens in schools.
http://whatsupwiththat.nancyjester.com/2012/11/16/salary-analysis-fy2008-fy2013/
Hillbilly D
November 20th, 2012
11:27 am
Kicking the can down the road is what Congress does best.
The quicker the Feds get out of education the quicker it will improve.
I agree with both of those.
bootney farnsworth
November 20th, 2012
11:36 am
a decade ago there was fierce competition in the student loan arena, and the prices were a good bit lower than they are now. today the fed is virtually the only game in town, and the prices show it.
seems the gov’t hated monopolies – except their own.
that, more than any reason, is why the cost of higher ed has skyrocketed in the last decade. when the money does not come directly out of your pocket, you quit paying attention to what things cost
bootney farnsworth
November 20th, 2012
11:39 am
congress has no interest in cutting costs in higher ed. lessen the costs, lessen the control
Pride and Joy
November 20th, 2012
12:26 pm
Concernedmom30329 — it hasn’t been “that bad” yet. When teachers are cut and cut and cut and there are 40 students in an elementary classroom, there will be protests, walk outs, raising Cain.
For too long, Wal-Mart has wiped its feet on the backs and faces of its own employees and FINALLy they had enough and are unionizing and protesting and walking out. It’s THAT bad.
When the government stops giving money to school systems and things get that bad — teachers and parents will protest together and walk out. I’ve got my picket sign ready — and I’m willing — are you?
Alan Collinge
November 20th, 2012
12:44 pm
” In Congress, both parties agree that college costs are spiraling out of control, but there’s not much government can do to control that.”
…This comment is absolutely, and ridiculously FALSE. Congress can, and must return standard bankruptcy protections to all student loans. Why? Because until they do, the Department of Education will have an inexcusable fiscal motivation to encourage default rather than normal repayment. Only bankruptcy can ensure that if the students lose, the government also loses. This is an ESSENTIAL element of any healthy lending system, and in its absence, it has been shown clearly that the student loan system becomes predatory, and inflationary.
When the government actually is losing a non-trivial amount of money on defaults (such as what bankruptcy will accomplish), The Department of Education won’t be so quick to look the other way every time Congress raises the lending limits. In fact, given the default rate currently of 16% in the first three years, Id say Congress needs to recommend lowering the lending limits, kicking a large number of schools (mostly for-profit) out of the system, and firing the entire decision making staff at the Office of Federal Student Aid. These people are, and have always been corporate plants from Sallie Mae, NCHELP, and a plethora of other lending companies who have attached themselves to the Department of Education for the purpose of getting as much money for as little work. These people don’t work for the taxpayers/citizens. They disdain the borrowers, and abuse the taxpayers like pinyatas. There will be no problems replacing them with actual public servants who want to do right by the citizens. Then, prices will come down. This is the ONLY WAY to get prices, borrowing down, degree value up, defaults down, and the public from taking up torches and pitchforks to Washington DC and wreaking havoc on the bad faithed, bad citizens who orchestrated this.
I’m guessing the author is Doug Lederman’s little brother or something so I’ll take it easy on him…but please…don’t make claims like you just made for another 5-10 years if you aren’t actually sure of it. Don’t repeat what the banking lobbyists, or ED bureaucrats whisper in your ear. They almost always exagerrate the truth to the point of being a lie. I suspect they assured you that government was powerless to control price, when in fact the opposite is true…its a very direct relationship between a reduction in loan availability and the price of tuition. When one dives, so must the other follow. See Studentloanjustice.org/argument.htm
John Konop
November 20th, 2012
12:54 pm
I have said it many times on this blog, that with money getter tighter, public education needs to tighten the belt and increase quality at the same time. The formula that would work is consolidating high schools and colleges/Vo-tech/JC asap with facility, administration and facilities. Also we need to increase on line/home school options combined with joint enrollment options. Finally we need to leverage college students, community volunteers and the chamber to help supplement the classroom as well as provide internships/co-op jobs.
Jack ®
November 20th, 2012
1:01 pm
Despite any cuts to education funding, a child can still get a good education if the child has caring parents that are capable of assisting in his/her studies. Big IF there. I have a grandchild in the 5th grade (public school) that’s reading at a 12th grade level. She’s from a two-parent home and her mother was teaching her to read before the child was able to walk.
Heika
November 20th, 2012
1:33 pm
The above comments are why I don’t post many serious remarks here nor use my real name…when I even bother to post comments in the first place. Virtually all of the suggestions are terrible and/or depressing to read, and my directly questioning any of them will mean I have to waste my time arguing with someone’s indestructable version of “common sense” for hours on end. So the only thing I can do here is crack jokes, roleplay, or talk about how I wish this place was moderated like Something Awful. Even making people pay $10 to post here would cut down on the dribble and make people, I don’t know, actually use peer-reviewed literature to back up their ideas for once? A person can dream, can’t they?
John Konop
November 20th, 2012
1:44 pm
Heika,
………… Virtually all of the suggestions are terrible and/or depressing to read, and my directly questioning any of them will mean I have to waste my time arguing with someone’s indestructable version of “common sense” for hours on end……..
In all due respect please help me understand why my suggestions are so “terrible’?
williebkind
November 20th, 2012
1:56 pm
Heika
November 20th, 2012
1:33 pm
I would not pay for the AJC much pay to talk to a prima donna like you.
DeKalb Inside Out
November 20th, 2012
2:01 pm
Education tighten their belts … Ha! According to the US DOE, spending per student is as high as it’s ever been in Georgia.
Even when ordered by the board administrations refuse to make cuts aside from RIFing teachers.
TD
November 20th, 2012
2:13 pm
AS STATES RIGHTS ARE JUGGLED THE ‘ISSUE REMAINS W/ THE PEOPLE….’WE HAVE ALLOWED IT TO HAPPEN…SO…CHANGE IT….TEACH YOUR CHILDREN CHANGE WHAT U CAN & FIGHT WHAT YOU “KNOW’ IS WRONG…..FACTS HELP MORE THAN EMOTIONAL OPINIONS…
HS Public Teacher
November 20th, 2012
2:35 pm
@Pride and Joy,
You make a rather large and incorrect assumption. You said that with budget cuts, the educats will not be able to cut teachers.
That is so wrong. Look to history. The educrats historically continue to give themselves pay raises while cutting teacher salaries and teacher positions. Why do you think that class sizes have exploded over the past few years?
Teachers are being asked to handle large increases in class sizes and also to take on additional work within the school so that other positions can be reduced as well. In some schools, teachers are asked to perform custodial work.
Of course, what I am referring to happens in Georgia where there is no real teacher union to protect teachers or to have any type of “checks and balances” with the educrats.
Pride and Joy
November 20th, 2012
2:40 pm
HS Public Teacher — it’s not that bad yet.
When I was in high school, we had 40 in my English class.
When studetns are crammed 40 to a classroom in elementary school and when things really get bad enough, change will come — but as long as the feds keep taking my money and giving it to crooked boards who keep it for themselves without making horrific cuts in the classroom, the “friends and family” plans will continue.
It has to be bad enough for teachers and parent to protest and walk out.
It’s just not that bad enough right now. When was the last time teachers protested or walked off their jobs in GA?
Pride and Joy
November 20th, 2012
2:41 pm
and HS Public gteacher — it is YOUR job to do what it takes to form a union for teachers.
You complain there “are no unions” to protect you. Then protest, walk out, picket, change the laws — DO something. Except blog.
Lexi
November 20th, 2012
2:49 pm
“In Congress, both parties agree that college costs are spiraling out of control, but there’s not much government can do to control that.”
The federal government is by far the number one driver of inflation in higher education. It has increased the demand for seats in college classrooms by encouraging misfits to aspire and apply to colleges, and has subsidized the purchase of higher education through a panoply of gifts such as Pell grants, far below market interest loans and more specialized targeted “grants.” State programs such as Hope have exacerbated the upward pressures on prices, and colleges have little incentive to control costs when third parties are perceived to be footing the bills.
I doubt anyone reading or contributing to this blog is old enough to remember when federally guaranteed student loans were readily dischargable in bankruptcy. The hardship exception has been tightened over the years, but has existed since at least the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978. And, making it easier to discharge student loans will put upward, not downward, pressures on prices as borrowers will be less wary of borrowing for imprudent educational objectives. Finally, now that the federal government has expropriated (from private lenders) the lion’s share of federally insured student loan business we can expect even more pandering to college students in exchange for their votes–hardly a prescription for controlling costs.
@ pride and joy
November 20th, 2012
2:54 pm
You are right. It is time for teachers to follow in the footsteps of Walmart’s employees and walk out. Teachers are expected to perform too many duties on the pay that they receive. People who vent and blame everything on teachers need to spend one day in the classroom. That is all that it would take for them to stop blaming society’s problems on teachers. You could not pay unemployed degreed people to assume he role of a teacher. They would not last a day.
2003ultra
November 20th, 2012
3:08 pm
One thing that no one here has mentioned is the mandated standard of care that has ballooned SPED costs. When we begin to see cuts in funding without relaxation of standards in some areas, the pain of the cuts will be unfiarly attributed to the regular ed and the honors/AP level students. Sports and the Arts will disappear. I am not advocating for dismantling the SPED programs, but I am advocating for a fair appraoch to budget cuts. If you cut the SPED funding (already underfunded) by 10%, the SPED per-pupil expense should be cut by 10%. A “managed” approach to absobtion of the funding cuts.
Also, the adminstrators do not simply give themselves pay raises. Your local school board controls the budget and the raises given. The federal and state governments, with their rmandates for tracking and reporting created additonal positions. In our local district the administrators are all working 50 to 60 hour weeks for 50 weeks. The teachers work 35 hour weeks and work far fewer days. In fact, if you paid everyone on a per diem you’d find most teachers with more that 10 years on the job earn more per day than the administrators.
John Konop
November 20th, 2012
3:46 pm
DEK,
………..Education tighten their belts … Ha! According to the US DOE, spending per student is as high as it’s ever been in Georgia.
Even when ordered by the board administrations refuse to make cuts aside from RIFing teachers……..
In fairness districts like Cherokee County have cut back on expenses as you know. Second when you factor in fuel prices, teacher raises, healthcare cost….. the dollar amounts per pupil have not kept up with inflation. With that said via the economy we need to cut back, as I suggested, but we should look at it by district not macro state numbers, and by services provided.
Unless we consolidate resources better we cannot afford the current education model and provide the same level of services.
Gerald
November 20th, 2012
5:18 pm
It is not clear to me that Federal Government involvement in education has had any meaningful results. On the contrary, the ceaseless issuance of standards, measures, programs, loans, etc. have reulted in greatly increased expenditures per puplil, increased administration, harassed teachers and less and less competitive high school and college graduates. It’s possible that the Department of Education had good intentions; I don’t know as I don’t know the people involved. However, what is indisputable is that we are spending vast sums for little or no improvement in results.
On the college level, I graduated from Georgia Tech in 1967. At that time, it was possible to attend for a year (3 quarters) for $1500. Inflating that at the 3.5% rate of CPI for 45 years would yield a sum of little more than half the cost for a 2 semester year for current in state students. The extra costs may fund more enjoyable facilities for students, more administrative positions, and whatever else – but the graduates were as highly valued then as now. I had 30 job interviews at graduation and 27 offers – so from my perspective, the extra cost currently funds something other than results.
Sequestration is nothing more than a political chicken game, with no real intention of doing anything. So, I would guess that Education spending by the Feds will continue as usual, and resutls or lack of same will continue as well.
Pride and Joy
November 20th, 2012
6:17 pm
To @Pride and Joy…
You’ve misunderstood. I don’t advocate teachers walking out because their job is too hard or the pay is too little. I advocate walking out because of administrative corruption.
Teaching conditions and pay have greatly improved since I was a kid and in this awful economy, teachers are earning a wonderful salary and benefits.
Bill Campbell
November 20th, 2012
6:24 pm
With no leadership ability from Obama..don’t expect anything but more lies!
gsmith
November 20th, 2012
6:38 pm
the only people in this country who should be allowed to vote are the people PULLING THE CART , the ones who are on the cart and receive welfare , food stamps and other goodies and dont pay income tax SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO VOTE!!! that would solve most the problems in this country. let the ones amongst us who were smart and tough enough to make a success of themselves in this country VOTE and lead this country. and make it the greatest country on earth like it USED TO BE. why in the hell do we want people who dont work, dont want to work, who have multiple children that they cant take care of VOTE?? why do we want uneducated lazy slobs vote? why do we want people who are not citizens of the united states to vote?? do you think these people have the CAPACITY TO KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR AMERICA??? DO YOU REALLY THINK THESE PEOPLE ARE CAPABLE OF RUNNING THIS COUNRTY ? DO YOU THINK THIS COUNTRY WOULD HAVE BECOME THE GREATEST NATION ON EARTH IN SUCH A SHORT TIME IF THESE PEOPLE WERE RUNNING THE COUNTRY ??
Progressive Humanist
November 20th, 2012
6:58 pm
gsmith- Due to tax reductions pushed by Republicans over the years, nearly 50% of the people in this country don’t end up paying income tax, including nearly everyone who makes $50k a year or less, owns a home, and has children, once the deductions are calculated. Are you in that group? Because if so, according to your own criteria you shouldn’t be allowed to vote. So you think that only those who make $50k a year or more should be able to vote? Great idea there. Good luck with that. And why all the yelling? Do you think you’ll convince more people if you write in all caps?
Point/Counterpoint
November 20th, 2012
7:55 pm
If the Feds don’t send the money the state will come get it from you. Get ready, since they have done away with the so called birthday tax the only way local government can raise funds in by property taxes and they will skyrocket
South Georgia
November 20th, 2012
8:32 pm
Get the feds out of education. The feds have driven the cost of college up by creating false demand through Pell and unsecured loans for anyone who can sneeze. The regulation is unbearable. Colleges are spending tremendous amount of money keeping records and maintaining useless compliance info that is of no value because USDOE will loan money to a SPAM sandwich.
Truth in Moderation
November 21st, 2012
1:42 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyg-DYm7b0A&feature=related
Well, there’s always hope. If this Harvard dropout can become a “BILL”IONAIRE, there is hope for those who “Think Different”. They can become billionaires as well. School is an obstructionist of genius, pouring malleable minds into unbreakable molds, keeping high-minded nails hammered down. Yet history has shown us that one’s yearning for inspiration and the sublime cannot be suppressed, but bursts forth as the ripened fruit of personal passion.
Enter the Apple….and Steve. He has shown us a different way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhsWzJo2sN4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B-XwPjn9YY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lvMgMrNDlg&feature=related
Progressive Humanist
November 21st, 2012
7:53 am
Great idea. Everyone should just become a billionaire by inventing new technology. It’s so simple. Why didn’t someone think of that before? And we could have all the doctors, teachers, and engineers bypass college too, open their own personal practices, and just use their “personal passion” and creativity to do the things they do, sans education. Brilliant!
Private Citizen
November 21st, 2012
8:02 am
Gates is a crook. He’s been fined a billion dollars for anti-trust violations. I stopped using Microsoft computing 15 years ago, and don’t use Apple either. So go figure that out. I probably do more computing than most folks, too. no gimmicks for me
By the way, I use the same type operating system used to run Google and Amazon.com. And a few aircraft carriers, too. This same approach is filtering down to the Android phones, different form factor, same underpinnings.
Private Citizen
November 21st, 2012
9:27 am
what is indisputable is that we are spending vast sums for little or no improvement in results
Oh don’t you worry. Someone will author a press release to fix that.
Truth in Moderation
November 21st, 2012
11:33 am
“Steve Jobs insult response”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF-tKLISfPE&feature=endscreen
He says to BEGIN with the customer. This is something public schools have failed to do. They were designed in the Prussian style top-down control with the purpose to produce citizens subservient to the State. It is interesting to note that Steve Jobs’ biological parents were snobby ACADEMICS who lacked self control and had a baby out of wedlock while still in college. A humble blue-collar couple (Steve’s dad was a mechanic) were thrilled to adopt him, but the birth mother made them promise to send him to college. Thankfully, Steve himself rejected that path, and the rest is history.
Progressive Humanist
November 21st, 2012
12:12 pm
I love when the nutcases present anecdotal “evidence” based on a sample of one (n =1) and suggest that that’s how everything works. The anomaly because the rule written in stone. But it’s common for delusional cult members to suggest that knowledge, education, and science are bad things. I just feel bad for their children.
Truth in Moderation
November 21st, 2012
1:07 pm
@Digressive Humanist
So, you claim to be a shrink? No one was more delusional than Sigmund Freud, “the depraved, drug addicted deviate”, who was undeniably the Father of Psychology. Yes, he did “think differently, but he had a medical school degree.
http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Was_Freud_A_Depraved_Drug_Addicted_Deviate.html
Progressive Humanist
November 21st, 2012
4:04 pm
Ah, Freud, another anomaly that becomes the rule, according to the delusional cult member who believes that knowledge, education, and science are evil.
And no, I did not claim to be a shrink, nor will I offer you my services. I’m a cognitive psychologist and a professor, or in your twisted world, a tool of Satan who is trying to lead mankind away from your magical primate hypothesis on the origins of the universe.
Truth in Moderation
November 21st, 2012
5:00 pm
“the delusional cult member who believes that knowledge, education, and science are evil.”
Please give a specific example.
@DH
So you are a cult follower of Benjamin Bloom?
Progressive Humanist
November 21st, 2012
5:59 pm
Specific example: You believe there is such a thing as “Christian science” and in order to convince your autistic son that the Theory of Evolution (real science) was false, you told him that had Darwin’s theory been true you would have aborted him, thus “proving” creationism. Truly twisted.
Another example: You argued above against the value of post secondary education and actually suggested it was a bad thing.
I am a cult follower of no one. A cult would generally imply religious belief, and while some people of your persuasion insist that science and/or evolutionary theory are religions, the term “religious belief” suggests belief in some sort of mystical, omnipotent, all knowing, being who had a hand in creating the universe. I do not believe in such a thing, thus I am not a cult follower. Now you, on the other hand….
Truth in Moderation
November 21st, 2012
7:32 pm
Nice dodge of my question. I used the term “scientific creationism”. I’m not a Christian Scientist. You also have poor reading comprehension. I gave a PERSONAL ACCOUNT of what would have happened if I had not become a Christian. You seem to think I was born a Christian and always believed in the Bible and the God of Creation. Nothing could be further from the truth! Your so-called arguments are useless against my PERSONAL testimony. You are here today because your own mother CHOSE LIFE.
Are you a cult follower of Benjamin Bloom?
Where did the INFORMATION encoded in DNA come from?
Truth in Moderation
November 21st, 2012
8:14 pm
The Atheists Humanists Agnostics (AHA) club president at Dart-mouth must be Ann’s evil twin.
He “sent out a campus-wide e-mail announcing the program on Tuesday and promising a “full-out romp against why one of the most beloved people of the century, Mother Teresa, is as Hitchens put it… ‘a lying, thieving Albanian dwarf.’”
“The event has ignited controversy on the Ivy League campus, with students telling Campus Reform they were upset AHA was hosting such an event…..AHA President Adam Hann, however, defended the event, but admitted he had intentionally used “provocative” language in the e-mail to excite interest among students.”
http://www.campusreform.org/blog/?ID=4503
Progressive Humanist
November 21st, 2012
8:44 pm
I am quite well aware that you’re not s scientist of any kind. There’s no such thing as scientific creationism. That’s an oxymoron and the fact that you believe in it shows the level of your intellect. I never implied you were born a Christian. All babies are born atheists and are only indoctrinated into religious cults later. I have no idea when your indoctrination happened and I don’t care about your “personal testimony” (read: anecdotal delusions). It’s just clear that you lost touch with reality at some point and from your posts I would question your fitness as a mother.
Once again, the term “cult follower” suggests religious belief in a mystical deity, most often a primate, that caused the creation of the universe, usually through the powers of mental telepathy. No, I don’t believe Bloom or anything else meets those criteria. You’re the only one of us who believes that something out there meets that criteria, sans evidence, which qualifies you as being indoctrinated.
Truth in Moderation
November 21st, 2012
9:51 pm
THIS IS WHY “HUMANIST” WON’T COMMENT ON BLOOM!
“The New Face of Psychiatry” by Beverly Eakman
“Tax-exempt, foundation-subsidized bigwigs like G. Stanley Hall, Abraham Flexner, John Gardiner, Theodore Sizer, Ronald Havelock, John Goodlad, Benjamin Bloom, and Ralph Tyler — viewing life’s dilemmas through the prism of the World Federation of Mental Health — saw it differently. For openers, they worked to ensure that school curriculum and testing ditched the traditional focus on excellence and academics to concentrate on a subjective socialization (i.e., socialist) agenda that targeted the child’s “belief system.”
To illustrate the radical nature of this step, one need only quote from the “father of modern education,” John Dewey. In his acclaimed book School and Society he wrote: “There is no obvious social motive for the acquiring of learning [and] … no clear social gain at success thereat.” Fast-forward to 1981 and to the “father of outcome-based education,” Benjamin Bloom. In All Our Children Learning, Bloom averred that “the purpose of education is to change the thoughts, feelings and actions of students … by [challenging] the student’s fixed beliefs.”
Parents, please read this article in its entirety! These people are DANGEROUS.
http://thenewamerican.com/culture/family/item/512-the-new-face-of-psychiatry
THIS IS “COGNITIVE” PSYCHOLOGY!
Progressive Humanist
November 21st, 2012
10:08 pm
Go on. You’re showing your true colors and it’s quite amusing to watch someone lose their composure like this. How bizarre…
Progressive Humanist
November 21st, 2012
10:10 pm
More links to affiliates of the John Birch Society, please. I’m sure they’re all credible.
Truth in Moderation
November 21st, 2012
11:38 pm
So Humanist, do you concur with your fellow believer’s characterization of Mother Teresa as ‘a lying, thieving Albanian dwarf?”
BTW, your academic defense is pitiful.
Truth in Moderation
November 22nd, 2012
12:46 am
OK Humanist, it’s time to clarify your values. Draw a Forced Choice Ladder with 12 steps. Mark the top of the ladder “strongest feelings, pro or con” and the bottom of the ladder “weakest feelings, pro or con.” I am going to give you a few forced choice questions. After reading them, write key words from the item according to the strength of your FEELINGS, pro or con, about the issues of national concern in 1972.
1. Protest- Violent protest as a method of bringing about changes.
2. Modify- Modifying school curriculum to make it more relevant to the present society.
3. Programs- Greater community involvement in school programs.
4. Drugs- Developing programs in schools to combat drug abuse
5. Draft- A volunteer service to do away with the draft.
6. Finance- Greater federal financing for education.
7. Politics- Greater emphasis on selecting desirable nominees for high political positions.
8. Law- Laws, such as no knock, that infringe on personal rights.
9. Control- National control to reduce pollution and protect natural resources.
10. Sex- Non-marital sex as a way of life.
11. Teaching- Improving teaching techniques to emphasize humanistic values.
12. Modle- Adult education aimed at providing a better adult model for youth.
13. National- A national curriculum which all children would learn.
14. Religion- Making religious programs mmore relevant to everyday life.
15. Guardsmen- Using National Guardsmen to control college student confrontations.
16. The declining value of the dollar.
All items quoted from, Values Clarification: A Handbook of Practical Strategies for Teachers and Students. By Simon, Howe, Kirschenbaum. pp. 108-109
Note: This was an important way to spend class time in the ’70’s.
Truth in Moderation
November 22nd, 2012
12:59 am
In fact, the Get Schooled blog is one ongoing “values clarification” assessment. Maureen serves up the “item” as a topic, individual responses are tracked and analized. The main thing they are interested in is determining an individual’s “locus of control.”
“Pennsylvania’s Educational Quality Assessment, for example, asked children as young as eight to answer a large number of what-would-you-do-if questions and to complete word-association-type exercises that smacked of sophisticated, clinical personality inventories. The Interpretive Literature explaining the tests (when one could get hold of it) detailed what was being assessed: the child’s “locus of control,” whether a child was “externally or internally motivated,” a student’s “amenability to change,” plus a willingness to “conform to group goals” and “receive stimuli.” Another quasi-academic test, the Testing Essential Learning and Literary Skills exam, indicated in the Foreword to fellow professionals that the purpose was to sniff out “indicators of gullibility,” with a caveat further on that the test “also appears to measure knowledge to some extent.”
http://www.newswithviews.com/Eakman/beverly39.htm
Progressive Humanist
November 22nd, 2012
8:05 am
Maureen, I didn’t realize you were part of an evil plot to track and analyze the values of the posters on your blog. Very diabolical indeed. No wonder “dangerous” cognitive psychologists like myself take part here.
Side note: I’d love to take the time to explain the purposes of Bloom’s taxonomy, the theory behind locus of control, etc. (which are quite benign and have real value in how we conceptualize human learning), but there’s no reason to respond to childish conspiracy theories from someone who apparently never takes off the tinfoil hat.
Truth in Moderation
November 22nd, 2012
11:09 am
Get Schooled is a for-profit privately owned blog. It is not part of the editorial section of the newspaper.
How do you think they make their profit? It’s called “market research.”
Everything I have said is well documented. I have personally met Anita Hogue, the mom who exposed the “locus of control” items on the Pennsylvania state assessment. I can assure you, the intent was not “benign”. Beverly Eakman thoroughly documents her story in her book, EDUCATING FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER.
Charlotte Iserbyt thoroughly documents the infiltration of “cognitive psychology” into the public school curriculum by Benjamin Bloom’s TAXONOMY OF EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE DOMAIN. Shades of Marxism.
http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com
BTW, What is this ranting about a “tin foil hat?”
“there’s no reason to respond to childish conspiracy theories from someone who apparently never takes off the tinfoil hat.”
This is your defense????? REALLY? You are a disgrace to psychologists everywhere!
Truth in Moderation
November 22nd, 2012
11:41 am
Oh, Humanist,
Since you won’t be celebrating Thanksgiving today, you can use the time to fill out the Forced Choice Ladder (from post November 22nd, 2012 12:46 am) and post the results. That way your values will be “clarified” for the rest of us.
Also, you never answered my question,” Humanist, do you concur with your fellow believer’s characterization of Mother Teresa as ‘a lying, thieving Albanian dwarf?”
Please answer so I can finish my psychological analysis of you.
Thanks!
November 22nd, 2012
12:46 am
Progressive Humanist
November 22nd, 2012
1:28 pm
Oh, I’ll be enjoying Thanksgiving. Just waiting for the bird to get finished in the oven. Then we’ll be enjoying turkey, oyster dressing, good beer, a visit from family, and hopefully a win by the Dallas Cowboys.
I tried to read your Beakman article on the dangers of psychiatry, but I had to stop because I was laughing too hard. It was a rambling opinion piece with quotes taken out of context, information sloppily patched together, and a conspiratorial bent by someone who doesn’t have the education to assess the subject matter. That’s what you consider evidence? Hilarious. Maybe one day I can introduce you to the concept of peer review.
I would be hurt by your insults if you were qualified to make such evaluations, but you’re not, so I’m not. I just find it amusing. I really feel no obligation to try to defend an entire field of science against loony housewives with bachelor’s degrees, mythical beliefs, and too much time on their hands.
I have no opinion whatsoever on Mother Teresa except that she was working in the name of a fictitious entity.
A psychological analysis done by you would be worth about the same as one done by Fred Phelps or Glenn Beck- too much nutty opinion, too little education.
Have a happy Thanksgiving and please refrain from damaging your child with any more psychological abuse for the time being.
Truth in Moderation
November 22nd, 2012
1:31 pm
Steve couldn’t have said it better:
“Here’s to opportunity and innovation, to the unbridled human spirit, and to achievement that big government liberals can’t take credit for.”
Read, “SELF-TAUGHT PRODIGY FROM SIERRA LEONE AMAZES MIT ENGINEERS”
http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/12034?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cnnewslink+%28Collegiate+Network+Newslink+Feed%29
Truth in Moderation
November 22nd, 2012
2:04 pm
“with quotes taken out of context, information sloppily patched together, and a conspiratorial bent by someone who doesn’t have the education to assess the subject matter.”
BACK UP YOUR ASSERTIONS.
“I would be hurt by your insults if you were qualified to make such evaluations, but you’re not, so I’m not.”
YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT MY DEGREES ARE.
“I really feel no obligation to try to defend an entire field of science against loony housewives with bachelor’s degrees, mythical beliefs, and too much time on their hands.”
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY IS NOT SCIENCE. IT IS MARXIST MIND CONTROL. IT IS BASED ON DECEPTION—-STUPID “ASSESSMENTS” WITH HIDDEN INTENT TO DISCOVER THE “LOCUS OF CONTROL” OF THE HAPLESS TEST TAKER.
Benjamin Bloom documents his agenda in TAXONOMY OF EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: Book 2 AFFECTIVE DOMAIN:
“Chapter 5 describes how the affective-domain structure can be used to classify both objectives and TEST ITEMS, and it permits the reader to test himself on how well he can use the TAXONOMY. Chapter 6 relates the affective domain to the contemporary views of curriculum, evaluation, and educational research and suggests some points for further exploration.” Preface, page v
Humanists don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, they celebrate Thankmyself. Please keep your theology straight.
Truth in Moderation
November 23rd, 2012
12:37 am
Bloom defines the Affective Domain as “Objectives which emphasize a feeling tone, an emotion, or a degree of acceptance or rejection. Affective objectives vary from simple attention to selected phenomena to complex but INTERNALLY CONSISTENT QUALITIES OF CHARACTER AND CONSCIENCE. We found a large number of such objectives in the literature expressed as INTERESTS, ATTITUDES, APPRECIATIONS, VALUES, AND EMOTIONAL SETS OR BIASES.”
TAXONOMY OF EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: BOOK 2 AFFECTIVE DOMAIN p. 7
“After seeing the first draft of the chapters in Part 1 and the category descriptions of Part 2, Bertram B. Masia was persuaded to write the sections on TESTING OF AFFECTIVE OBJECTIVES in Part 2 of the Handbook.”
p. 13
Note that the TAXONOMY specifically promotes TESTING for ATTITUDES, VALUES, AND BELIEFS. This is consistent with the Pennsylvania state assessment with items to measure “locus of control.”
Truth in Moderation
November 23rd, 2012
1:11 am
CALLING ALL ACID ANN COULTER HATERS!
That noble Jesuit Fordham University has found the perfect speaker replacement- Peter Singer. Here’s a peek at his bio:
“In addition to supporting bestiality and immediately granting equal legal rights to animals, Singer has also advocated euthanizing the mentally ill and aborting disabled infants on utilitarian grounds.”
Get all the inspiring details…
“FORDHAM WELCOMES BESTIALITY ADVOCATE TO CAMPUS, REJECTS ANN COULTER”
http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/12038
Maureen, do you approve of this?
Truth in Moderation
November 23rd, 2012
1:41 am
Peter Singer quotes:
Singer, hailed by Time and The New Yorker magazines as among the world’s most influential people alive, favors legal reforms that would allow people to end their lives if they are terminally ill. He also argues that the life of a baby who is seriously disabled should be actively — and humanely — terminated if the baby’s parents and the doctor make that decision. He opposes simply withholding or withdrawing life support, which he says can lead to a slow and inhumane death.
“Killing a defective infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person,” he wrote, explaining that by “person” he means an individual who can anticipate the future. “Sometimes it is not wrong at all.”
“I never believed in a god,” he said. “There may have been times when I wondered if there might be a god, but it always seemed to me wildly implausible that a god worth worshiping could allow the Holocaust to occur.”
Although his family has a Passover seder — “with a beet root instead of a lamb shank” — and he celebrates Purim with his grandchildren, and Rosh Hashanah, Singer says Jewish traditions “did not play much of a role in my life.”
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/06/24/3098966/peter-singer-worlds-most-dangerous-man-or-hero-of-morality
Truth in Moderation
November 23rd, 2012
2:08 am
30 week old baby YAWNS! So cute!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/video/2012/nov/21/foetus-yawns-womb-video
Truth in Moderation
November 23rd, 2012
10:54 am
Here is what “Progressive Humanist” a self proclaimed “Cognitive Psychologist,” said about me regarding my post where I credited my Christian faith (including the traditional belief in the truth of the Biblical account of creation) as causing me TO CHOOSE LIFE for my potentially handicapped unborn child instead of ABORTION:
“Have a happy Thanksgiving and please refrain from damaging your child with any more psychological abuse for the time being.”
“I love when the nutcases present anecdotal “evidence” based on a sample of one (n =1) and suggest that that’s how everything works. The anomaly because the rule written in stone. But it’s common for delusional cult members to suggest that knowledge, education, and science are bad things. I just feel bad for their children.”
“All babies are born atheists and are only indoctrinated into religious cults later. I have no idea when your indoctrination happened and I don’t care about your “personal testimony” (read: anecdotal delusions). It’s just clear that you lost touch with reality at some point and from your posts I would question your fitness as a mother.”
Notice his constant attack on my mental aptitude and stability and my fitness as a mother. This is no accident. Read the quote below and watch the video (scroll down until you see “Fabricated Mental Illness Diagnosis Is A Tactic To Justify Re-Education Brainwashing”)
http://deceptivelingo.blogspot.com
“Beyond Torture: The Gulag of Pitesti Romania”
“This video exposes how socialistic regimes use citizens, authority figures, or “doctors” to pronounce citizens “mentally ill” or “crazy”, in order to enlists the cooperation of others to go along with the governments’ arresting, and silencing dissenters and then using horrific brainwashing and re-education procedures on them. They experimented on these men with Pavlovian tactics at Pitesti in order to discover the best strategies that would erase the personality without leaving visible marks.
In communism there were some special prisons which were laboratories – Laboratories in which they believed they could create a communist personality. – When you said “I still believe in God” within five minutes you were full of blood.
One of these laboratories was the gulag of Piteste in Rumania often described by Dumitry Bacu as a place controlled by anti-humans…
This film is an absolutely a remarkable account of the horrors commited in this socialist “re-education” camp, where especially christian priests underwhent the most evil torture and sadist treatments in order to “free” them of their belief in god. The diabolic care and creativity which rests within the planned procedures of depersonalisation shows beyond any doubt that the socialists were using these camps not just to punish dissenters but to develop and refine pavlovian techniques of psychological subjugation.
- This film is highly recommended and will be added to the upcoming toplist on leftism”
http://deceptivelingo.blogspot.com
Truth in Moderation
November 23rd, 2012
11:37 am
“America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within.” -Joseph Stalin
“The late comrade Andropov, the former head of the Soviet KGB, called this war of Communist aggression, “the final struggle for the MINDS and hearts of the people.” Interesting comment, since Jesus pointed out that the greatest commandment was that the Heart and Mind belongs to God.
Though communist Russia fell, communism didn’t end; it’s aggressors spilled onto American soil, escalating the spread of it’s aggression using our institutions to rot our society from within. To find out how to recognize and help stop this spread, Dean Gotcher’s site authorityreasearch.com has a team of researches that provide information in different areas of “social engineering” that are very interesting and eyeopening.
Dean Gotcher, the son of a school teacher, while working on his own teacher’s credential noticed his faith waning and began looking deeper into what he was being taught at teachers’ college. He discovered that the work of respected names in the teaching profession, such as Freud, Maslow, Bloom, Rogers, Marcuse, Horkheimer, Russell, Fromm and especially John Dewey, were used by, or were part of, a thinktank called “The Frankfurt School”.
The Frankfurt School was created in 1923 to effect a Marxist cultural revolution. “When Hitler came to power, the Institut was closed and its members fled to the United States and migrated to major US universities – Columbia, Princeton, Brandeis, and California at Berkeley.” Proposing a solution to ‘organise the intellectuals and use them, member Willi Munzenberg said, “We will make the West so corrupt that it stinks’.” Only then, after they have corrupted all its values and made life impossible, can we impose the dictatorship of the proletariat’”
“To further the advance of their ‘quiet’ cultural revolution – but giving us no ideas about their plans for the future – the School recommended (among other things):
“1. The creation of racism offences.
2. Continual change to create confusion.
3. The teaching of sex and homosexuality to children.
4. The undermining of schools’ and teachers’ authority.
5. Huge immigration to destroy identity.
6. The promotion of excessive drinking.
7. Emptying of churches.
8. An unreliable legal system with bias against victims of crime.
9. Dependency on the state or state benefits.
10. Control and dumbing down of media.
11. Encouraging the breakdown of the family.”
Because the Marxist dialectic (diaprax – dialogue plus praxis) is such a prolific tool of corruption, Gotcher’s research, “Diaprax Exposed”, is extremely helpful in recognizing and exposing indoctrination through this practice. Being aware of such movements help us to make sense of the rapid degeneration of the West, and lets us know that we really are in a war. Now is not the time to opt out of this conflict. The stakes are far too high to choose non-involvement.”
http://deceptivelingo.blogspot.com
Truth in Moderation
November 23rd, 2012
12:38 pm
Masking Terms – Buzz Words Designed to Deceive
“Aesopian Language is communications that convey an innocent meaning to outsiders but hold a concealed meaning to informed members of a hostile or underground movement. It is based in reference to Aesop’s Fables. It is referred to by Herbert Marcuse, of The Frankfurt School, in his book One-Dimensional Man where it is used somewhat interchangeably with Orwellian language.
Aesopian Language refers to the idea that certain usages of language work to ’suppress certain concepts or keep them out of the general discourse within society’. An example of such a technique is the use of abbreviations to possibly prevent undesirable questions from arising.”
Some masking terms you’ve probably heard:
GLOBALISM: Accepted Socialism, Marxism, and Communism and intolerance for Biblical absolutes.
HEALTHY: Moral Absolutes & Christianity are forbidden
AFFECTIVE DOMAIN: The area of learning that deals with feelings, beliefs, values, attitudes, motives… all those inner factors that determine behavior and responses to stimuli. By changing or modifying the affective domain, educators can control behavior–or so they believe. (See Mastery Learning)
ASSESSMENT: A means of measuring student progress toward national and state goals.
HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS (HOTS): Psychological manipulation using “application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation” (the higher level of Bloom’s Taxonomy) without the factual knowledge needed for rational and objective thinking. Students base their “own” conclusions (to which they are led by a trained teacher-facilitator) on biased, politically correct information and disinformation. (See Lower Order Thinking Skills and Chapter 3 of Brave New Schools.)
CONFLICT RESOLUTION: A psychological technique for dealing with (often hypothetical) conflicts. It manipulates a child’s value system, trading old absolutes and convictions for compromise positions. In a legal context, it is used to avoid litigation. (See Consensus Building and Common Ground)
CONSENSUS BUILDING: The process by which students, schools, communities or groups of people learn to compromise individual beliefs and ideas in order to seek “common ground” and come to consensus. This pre-planned consensus may be dictated from the top-down (national to local), yet be promoted as grass roots ideologies. It is a brainwashing technique that changes beliefs through pressure to conform to group-thinking. (The Marxist Dialectic)
COOPERATIVE LEARNING: Small groups of students with varied abilities who learn to share responsibility for achieving group goals. High achieving students carry the weight of a group assignment for which all receive the same group grade. It is supposed to eliminate competitiveness and individualism while teaching cooperation, problem solving, and responsibility for achieving group success instead of personal success. Promoting collectivism, it lowers academic standards by forcing high achievers to bear the burden of success for others.
CRITICAL THINKING: Challenging students’ traditional beliefs, values and authorities through values clarification strategies and Mastery Learning. (See Sex Ed and Global Values)
Psychological warfare tools:
BRAINWASHING: Washing the concept of right and wrong from the mind, teaching that Parental authority is irrelevant, and family loyalty is an outdated notion. Loyalty to the group (a soviet mindset) is needed for Global Socialism.
COGNITIVE DISSONANCE: Mental confusion and emotional tension caused by incompatible values. Created through classroom stimuli such as hypothetical stories or pagan ritual that conflict with home-taught values, it forces most children to rethink and modify their values to resolve the conflict.
DELPHI TECHNIQUE: Communication technique used to manipulate a diverse group toward a consensus position through circulating information for comment in several rounds synthesizing the responses until all agree. If a participant’s view cannot be synthesized with the groups after repeated rounds, then the premise must be declared invalid and WILL NOT BE RECORDED. Breaks down moral barriers and shifts students world view from the old to the new paradigm.
DUMBING DOWN: Teaching that “Deconstructs” and intentionally leaves an entire culture intellectually defenseless. Utopian ideals are taught in place of facts.
COGNITIVE DISSONANCE: Mental confusion and emotional tension caused by incompatible values. Created through classroom stimuli such as hypothetical stories or pagan ritual that conflict with home-taught values, it forces most children to rethink and modify their values to resolve the conflict.
Read more at: http://deceptivelingo.blogspot.com
Observer
November 23rd, 2012
3:26 pm
Truth in Moderation, you’re a real bore.
Truth in Moderation
November 23rd, 2012
3:55 pm
New digital mask, Humanist?
Truth in Moderation
November 23rd, 2012
5:13 pm
Agent Provacateurs by Beverly Eakman
Just who is really running those public meetings?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIhuc5d2zcg&feature=related
Private Citizen
November 24th, 2012
10:16 am
TiM, That’s a good inventory of propaganda terms translated. Thank you.
Private Citizen
November 24th, 2012
10:47 am
TiM, Methinks you collectivize the Frankfurt school a little much. I like Adorno (the frustrated pianist). I agree with your overall observation, however your sourcing concept may require a little additional work. The Frankfurt school was almost 100 years ago and based in different conditions from today. Back when Marx was spinning his stuff, there were muddy roads, outdoor shack bathrooms, and child labor. How did Europe transcend the Marxist rabble? They do not seem set to send their teachers on myriad snipe hunts with these bizarre concepts that show up with so much frequency / regularity in U. S. teaching and K-12 government schools management.
Progressive Humanist
November 24th, 2012
9:38 pm
No, Moderation, Observer appears to be someone besides me who is tired of your fruitcake routine.
Progressive Humanist
November 24th, 2012
9:53 pm
Private Citizen @ 10:16,
I hope you realize that it’s the list itself that is the propaganda. Whoever came up with Moderation’s list took innocuous terms and twisted their meaning, erroneously described them, and attempted to give them a political slant. That’s propaganda.
For instance, the phrase “affective domain” can be found in any assessment text because characteristics like students’ emotions and personal traits do come into play in a classroom, and knowledge of them can be a factor in classroom management. But nowhere will you see it recommended that affective traits be taught, manipulated, or used to determine grades. Quite the contrary. In the undergraduate and graduate level assessment courses that I teach, I stress that teachers should only include academic skills in objectives, instruction, and assessment- algebra problem solving skills, reading comprehension level, knowledge of historical facts, etc.
Likewise, collaborative learning is commonly used in classrooms today, but not because of a nefarious plot by socialists. Students can often learn more when trying to think through a problem together than they would sitting there listening to a teacher drone on. In a group they can articulate their understanding of the concept and “compare notes” on possible solutions. In addition, collaborative work can provide practice in a real-world dynamic- in our careers many of us work in groups and have to coordinate our actions with those of others. People in most fields work with other people to fulfill their job responsibilities, so students are practicing skills they’ll use later in life. But contrary to what is described in the list above, a group grade is not recommended. In fact, while I encourage my students to incorporate collaborative learning occasionally, I require them to use a system that assigns individual grades, not group grades. The issue of students leaning too much on the high achievers is something to be avoided via individual accountability; it’s not a goal to have students do that, nor is it a goal to lower the achievement of higher level achievers. That’s an asinine idea.
To understand why higher order thinking skills are considered important, you have to know something about how memory works. Episodic memory is very tenuous and inevitably disappears over time. Most of what students learn in school falls under the umbrella of episodic memory and therefore is sure to fade. Procedural memory, on the other hand, tends to stay with us forever. Examples of this would be remembering how to ride a bike or how to play an instrument we’ve mastered. People who have amnesia lose episodic memory, but they retain procedural memory and semantic memory (language). By having students practice higher order thinking skills, we are asking them to use more active cognition and go beyond simple encoding and recall of basic information. Instead, when they use this more active thinking, they are practicing a process, and we hope they transfer the academic information into procedural memory that will never fade.
To attribute any of these to a political agenda is the height of silliness. I hope you can see that it is the ridiculous list that is the propaganda because it suggests a nefarious conspiracy while misrepresenting the subject matter. Once you begin to believe that the propaganda (like the list above) is the truth, then you have entered the process of being indoctrinated. Don’t accept the falsehoods.
Progressive Humanist
November 24th, 2012
9:58 pm
Moderation,
You don’t get to say what is science and what is not. You’re not qualified to do so. The fact that you believe there is something called “creation science” is evidence that you cannot discern science from myth. Indeed, you cannot discern reality from fiction. In fact, I regard your belief in the “truth of the biblical account of creation” as evidence of a lack of education. Your understanding of science does not reach an 8th grade level.
Cognitive psychology sometimes uses correlational research, but ideally utilizes true experiments and quasi-experiments. In doing so, it employs large randomized samples when possible, control groups, control of extraneous variables including covariates, introduction of an intervention, pre and post measurements, and statistical analysis to identify causation. it builds hypotheses, makes predictions, and tests them. This is the exact same process used in medical studies and is the hallmark of science.
Your inaccurate views of science and irrational hostility towards psychology are more reminiscent of a scientologist, but whatever cult you choose to identify with is of no concern to me. However, I would say that abortion is an inappropriate topic to discuss with children because they don’t have adequate knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and the process of sexual reproduction. Discussing the topic with a child and putting the conversation in the context that suggests that he might have been aborted is even more troubling. And having that conversation with a child who is mentally disabled and therefore did not have the capacity to process the information rationally is something I would regard as child abuse. If that was your only mistake in childrearing then you may be a fit parent. If that example is part of a larger pattern, then I would say that you lack that fitness. I hope that’s clear enough.
Now you can go on with your incoherent ramblings about socialism, Marxism, and the evil plots of educators.
Truth in Moderation
November 25th, 2012
4:16 am
“But nowhere will you see it recommended that affective traits be taught, manipulated, or used to determine grades.”
I personally documented that the original Georgia CRCT assessments were based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. The law does not distinguish between Cognitive or Affective domain. I directly asked the state assessment director, then a Mr. Stan Bernkopf (sp), and he never denied that it could be done. I documented, through my then Senator Clint Day, using FOA, that ETS won the contract to write the item specifications for HOTS level questions. THERE IS NO LAW PROHIBITING THEM TO BE HOTS AFFECTIVE DOMAIN. ETS was in on the ground floor of the writing of the Taxonomy. Henry Chauncey and Henry Dyer of ETS were listed in the Acknowledgments of the Book 2 Affective Domain as having attended “one or more of the conferences at which the development of the affective domain was discussed.” Warren Findley of the University of Georgia was also present. All my documentation was turned over to my school board member, who is still in office. Anita Hogue has already documented HOTS Affective Domain was used in the Pennsylvania assessment, and THERE WERE STATE CORRECT ANSWERS. Her story and documents are in EDUCATING FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER, BY Beverly Eakman. I personally worked with Anita Hogue and know her story first hand. I know what was going on at the Ga. Dept. of Ed. first hand. I investigated this for about four years.
Truth in Moderation
November 25th, 2012
4:31 am
Humanist, as a mere Cognitive Psych., you do not have a degree in clinical psych. or Psychiatry (with a medical degree), THEREFORE YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO PRACTICE MEDICINE WITHOUT A LICENSE. All you do is practice psychological DECEPTION so you can write your DISTRACTOR STRATEGIES and ITEM SPECIFICATIONS. Of course you see me as an enemy, I AM EXPOSING YOUR DIRT. Your attempts to threaten me and to discredit me ARE PITIFUL. Just remember what happened to the Christian minister who was TORTURED FOR HIS FAITH by your sort. HE WAS MORE THAN AN OVERCOMER BECAUSE OF HIS FAITH. The psychologists threw the pits of HELL at him, and Christ protected his mind, and he FORGAVE THEM. There is still hope for you. The path you are on now is FUTILE.
Truth in Moderation
November 25th, 2012
6:03 am
“However, I would say that abortion is an inappropriate topic to discuss with children because they don’t have adequate knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and the process of sexual reproduction. Discussing the topic with a child and putting the conversation in the context that suggests that he might have been aborted is even more troubling.”
Really? Isn’t explicit sex ed now taught in all grades, following the design of the Marxists? Check this out:
“Sexual education classes at NYC public high schools and middle schools might feature some usually unmentioned lessons next year.
Among those lessons? Bestiality, anal sex, oral, sex, phone sex, porn and more, WSBT reports.
According to the report, the Department of Education has recommended students learn “everything there is to know about sex” in the new curriculum.”
“Public School Sex Ed Class Could Inform On Oral Sex And Bestiality”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/24/public-school-sex-ed-class-could-teach-on-oral-sex-and-bestiality_n_1028670.html
“I would say that abortion is an inappropriate topic to discuss with children”
Yeah, right. TELL THAT TO THE SEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT:
“County health officials say they will try to spell out more clearly the range of services available to minors after an incident in which a pregnant Ballard High student got an abortion, apparently without her mother’s knowledge, some time after visiting a school-based health-care center.
The consent form parents and guardians sign for children to use the county-administered health centers states, “Youth may independently access reproductive-health care AT ANY AGE,” but it does not explicitly cite abortion.
“Not every individual is aware of what is included in ‘reproductive-health care,’ ” acknowledged T.J. Cosgrove of Public Health — Seattle & King County, which runs the centers for the school district. “We’re going to work constructively with our partners and experts in adolescent health to strategize the best ways to communicate that.”
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2011445397_abortion26m.html
One problem Humanist, YOU ARE LYING ABOUT THE AGE OF MY CHILD. YOU DON’T KNOW IT.
And according to the public schools, IT IS A MOOT POINT.
You said:
“Discussing the topic with a child and putting the conversation in the context that suggests that he might have been aborted is even more troubling.”
Again, YOU DON’T KNOW THE AGE OF MY CHILD. When a student OF ANY AGE can go to the SCHOOL CLINIC and access reproductive health care, AND GET THEIR OWN ABORTION, WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT, your statement is disingenuous at best. I’ll be nice and not call you stupid.
You are a self-proclaimed pro-abortionist. WHY WOULD ANYTHING YOU SAID BE “TROUBLING” to you? All workers at the abortion clinics are evolutionists and are pro-abortion (Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood). Hard core pro-lifers are Christians and Creationists.
Sorry Humanist, but this isn’t ROCKET SCIENCE.
“And having that conversation with a child who is mentally disabled and therefore did not have the capacity to process the information rationally is something I would regard as child abuse.”
First off, you are ignorant of my child’s condition. He is Aspergers/GIFTED. He is not intellectually impaired, but has a higher GPA and SAT score than you ever DREAMED of having. He is well versed in AP level Genetics. SCORED A 5 on the exam. AS WELL AS ALL HIS OTHER AP EXAMS, like BC Calculus.
“I would regard as child abuse”
OH REALLY, Mr. Cognitive Psychologist? You are such an EXPERT? I’ll let my son know that you would have GLADLY had him aborted, because you are a PROGRESSIVE HUMANIST who is a fan of Margaret Sanger.
After all, if we aren’t ridding ourselves of INFERIOR DNA, we can’t call ourselves “PROGRESSIVE” can we?
Private School Guy
November 25th, 2012
9:54 am
The feds either need to get out of education or fully take it away from the states. While the concept of national public education frightens some it works in many countries. As a federal employee teachers would be able to seamlessly transfer to a similar job in another state and move benefits as well. There might also be less corruption at the local level. One seldom hears someone say “I don’t want to move to that state or neighborhood because the post office is bad there”. While many will gnash their teeth at such a thought there has been so much mismanagement of federal funds in local school that this needs to be considered. It is also hard to imagine how they can not be involved when programs under the ADA and TItle I are required by law.
Prof
November 25th, 2012
12:16 pm
The original blog topic here does interest me, dealing as it does with the approaching congressional deadlines for undergraduate student loans, which seem to me as problematic as the mortgage loans were about 4-5 years ago. Too bad the posts don’t get back to that subject.
Without really wanting to get into the mudslinging that has been going on since before Thanksgiving between Truth in Moderation and Progressive Humanist, I do think I should point out that in fact the latter evidently is a college/university professor of Psychology. Cognitive Psychology is simply a sub-specialty of that field. He/she thus knows and teaches the psychological theories which inform much of the field of Education, and are put into practice by those in clinical psychology and psychiatry.
I also would remind the latter of the old story of Tar-baby from the Uncle Remus stories based on old African folktales: the person who fights with Tar-baby just winds up stuck to Tar-baby and covered with tar. Avoid Tar-baby.
Progressive Humanist
November 25th, 2012
1:59 pm
Prof,
I understand where you’re coming from. However, my view is that liberals, academics, and scientists have been too passive over the years, if for different reasons. Liberals, by nature, value diversity and desire to cast a wide net, attempting to draw a variety of perspectives into their ranks. This means that they sometimes are slow to call out extreme views, ultimately allowing lies to fester. We have to call out the birther-types for what they are- hateful loons.
Academics and scientists, on the other hand, have desired to remain above the fray. They want to avoid discussing non-scientific propositions (like creationism) within the same context as their weighty and substantive fields. They don’t want to get their hands dirty, so to speak. But the result of this has been that the lunatic fringe at times controls the conversation. Then we get people running around yelling that we should “teach the controversy” about issues like evolution or climate change, when in fact no controversy actually exists among those who have studied the problem at the highest level and know the most about it. The fringe just wants equal time for their outlandish myths.
While I will often come off as abrasive and critical, I refuse to be passive. When I hear right wing fanatics insist that the “free loaders” who don’t pay taxes are mostly Democrats (an empirically false assertion), then I’m going to argue against that premise. Likewise, when someone suggests that the practices we employ in education are based on Marxist mind control strategies designed to brainwash the masses, then I will point out how absurd that argument is, and an argument that ridiculous is usually put forth by someone who is either highly uneducated or who has a tenuous grip on reality.
But it’s about time for me to get back to work, so Moderation can have the floor and essentially continue to scream her conspiratorial rants to an empty auditorium.
Truth in Moderation
November 25th, 2012
3:06 pm
Thank you Prof and Progressive Humanist for your TEXTBOOK RESPONSE to my DOCUMENTED defense of my position. Of course, they have OFFERED NONE for theirs and resort to CHANGING THE TOPIC and using SLANDER to shoot the messenger. As “psychos”, both have studied the art of psychological warfare, because indeed, THAT IS THE ENTIRE PURPOSE OF THEIR SO-CALLED SCIENCE! Watch “Agent Provacateurs” by Beverly Eakman and you will see how predictable their methods are to the trained observer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIhuc5d2zcg&feature=related
Citizens and teachers, don’t let them destroy your children and DRAIN THE PUBLIC EDUCATION TAX COFFERS. While you are underemployed or on FURLOUGH, look at what these cognitive psychologists make:
“Cognitive Psychologist Salary
According to a 2006 survey by the U.S. Department of Labor, median annual earnings for industrial-organizational psychologists — a popular area for cognitive psychologists — were $86,420. A 2007 survey by the American Psychological Association (APA) reports that overall, the average salary for cognitive psychologists in a 9-10 month faculty position was $71,000. The 2007 overall MEDIAN
salary for an 11-12-month doctoral-level research position was $90,000.
The U.S. Department of Labor predicts “faster than average” growth in all areas of psychology over the next few years. As technology becomes more advanced, the demand for cognitive psychologists is expected to rise due to an increased need for human performance and human-computer interaction specialists, as well as organizational psychology professionals.”
http://www.degreesfinder.com/online/health-care/cognitive-psychology-degree/
Since the Federal government currently plans “faster than average” spending on these people, THESE MUST BE THE SHOVEL READY JOBS OBAMA PROMISED! I can assure you that the stuff they are shoveling can be found on the floor of any BARN!
Prof
November 25th, 2012
3:44 pm
@ Progressive Humanist. And yes, I certainly do understand and appreciate where YOU are coming from. I agree that too often academics tend to be rather timid but ironic, and removed from the fray. You don’t strike me at all as “abrasive and critical,” but assertive. But still, remember that fighting pointlessly with a Tar-baby can, in Satchel Paige’s words, “angry up the blood.”
Truth in Moderation
November 25th, 2012
7:35 pm
Prof corresponds with Progressive Humanist….the new Screwtape Letters.
“My dear Wormwood…” LOL!
Truth in Moderation
November 25th, 2012
8:57 pm
“Cognitive psychology sometimes uses correlational research, but ideally utilizes true experiments and quasi-experiments.
In doing so, it employs large randomized samples when possible, control groups, control of extraneous variables including covariates, introduction of an intervention, pre and post measurements, and
statistical analysis to identify causation. it builds hypotheses, makes predictions, and tests them. This is the and is the hallmark of science.”
“SOMETIMES uses correlational research” Why? Because it is scientifically invalid?
“Correlational research can be accomplished by a variety of techniques which include the collection of empirical data. Often times, correlational research is considered type of observational research as nothing is manipulated by the experimenter or individual conducting the research. For example, the early studies on cigarette smoking did not manipulate how many cigarettes were smoked. The researcher only collected the data on the two variables. Nothing was controlled by the researchers.
It is important to note that correlational research is not causal research. In other words, we can not make statements concerning cause and effect on the basis of this type of research. There are two major reasons why we can not make cause and effect statements. First, we don¹t know the direction of the cause. Second, a third variable may be involved of which we are not aware.”
http://www2.webster.edu/~woolflm/statmethods.html
“IDEALLY utilizes true experiments and QUASI-experiments.” An ideal is never reality.
True experiments ARE THE ONLY SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS. This is IMPOSSIBLE TO ACCOMPLISH regarding measuring the minds of human individuals. Because of their complexity, it is IMPOSSIBLE to have a true control for one variable as it is done in the physical sciences. Also, BY DEFINITION, the scientific method does not deal with realities beyond physical existence, such as attitude, values, and beliefs, and how they impact the behavior of individuals. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD WAS NEVER DESIGNED TO MEASURE THE HUMAN MIND, SOUL AND SPIRIT.
“employs large randomized samples WHEN POSSIBLE”
Well, if you don’t IT’S NOT THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND YOUR CONCLUSIONS ARE MERELY SUBJECTIVE. With humans, it is impossible to generate randomized samples.
“statistical analysis to identify causation”
IF THE DATA COLLECTED WAS NOT OBTAINED ACCORDING TO A TRUE EXPERIMENT, your statistical analysis is WORTHLESS….EXCEPT FOR PROPAGANDA VALUE. Figures don’t lie, but liars figure.
“exact same process used in medical studies”
This is an outright falsehood. Measuring hormone levels in a specific amount of blood is NOT the same as subjective observation of human behavior.
Truth in Moderation
November 25th, 2012
9:10 pm
“liberals, academics, and scientists have been too passive over the years, if for different reasons. Liberals, by nature, value diversity and desire to cast a wide net, attempting to draw a variety of perspectives into their ranks.”
Oh, I get it. Liberals, academics and scientists ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE.
The corollary, then, is that liberals are stupid and unscientific.
Scientists are intolerant and stupid.
Academics are smart snobs who can’t do math.
Perhaps we agree more than previously thought!
Truth in Moderation
November 25th, 2012
9:42 pm
“My Dear Wormwood,
…….The Trouble about argument is that it moves the whole struggle on to the Enemy’s own ground. He can argue too; whereas in really practical propaganda of the kind I am suggesting He has been shown for centuries to be greatly inferior of Our Father Below. By the very act of arguing, you awake the patient’s reason; and once it is awake, who can foresee the result? Even if a particular train of thought can be twisted so as to end in our favor, you will find that you have been strengthening in yourpatient the fatal habit of attending to universal issues and withdrawing his attention from the stream of immediatesense experiences. Your business is to fix his attention on the stream. Teach him to call it “real life” and don’t let himask what he means by ‘rea.l’”
THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS by C.S. Lewis, p. 3
Private Citizen
November 26th, 2012
12:31 pm
ah… CS Lewis got all his stuff from Mark Twain. At least quote the real stuff…
I’d start with “the lightning rod salesman” http://infomotions.com/alex2/authors/twain-mark/twain-political-695/
and proceed to most applicable for today of all the classic tales, HONEST GRAFT. http://www.panarchy.org/plunkitt/graft.1905.html
EVERYBODY is talkin’ these days about Tammany men growin’ rich on graft, but nobody thinks of drawin’ the distinction between honest graft and dishonest graft. There’s all the difference in the world between the two…
Truth in Moderation
November 26th, 2012
9:03 pm
“Good artists borrow; great artists steal.” Steve Jobs
“Great artists steal inspiration not implementation.
Therein lies a monumental, industry defining difference. Apple, namely Steve Jobs, saw a mouse and graphical UI, but he didn’t make a copy of Xerox’s STAR, he made the Mac. He didn’t look at it and see what it was and then copy it — he looked at it and saw what it could become and then created that.”
http://www.imore.com/great-artists-steal
If Lewis is a thief, so be it. HE IS IN GOOD COMPANY.
“Both shocking and amusing, C S Lewis’s satire The Screwtape Letters was a bestseller in its day, selling over half a million copies. It was a brilliant riposte to the creeping atheism, existentialism and materialism of Lewis’s time, attracting the smart reader who normally may have dismissed Christianity as a moral guide; Lewis’s Screwtape works relentlessly not simply to turn the victim towards sin, but to a fashionable resignation about the ‘way of the world’ that denies human progress.”
http://www.butler-bowdon.com/the-screwtape-letters-