Do you think Evolution should be taught in schools?

There are great scientists in the United States, they lead the world in many fields. There must be very different approaches to education in different states, because this question boggles the mind. We're in the 21st century, are we not?

I know the girls in the video are not representative of the population as a whole, but I find it disturbing that the question is asked at all...



The present crop of GOP candidates have been asked the same question and their responses are not very encouraging for people with scientific minds (apart from Huntsman, who believes in both Evolution and global warming!). Some of them prefer to call Creationism by the more scientific name of Intelligent Design. I have the impression that if the bible stated that 2+2=5, they would try to say 2+2=4 is a nice theory, but no thanks.

And don't forget than a certain undecided would-be candidate is a former beauty queen who gave an answer similar to the girls' in the above video when Katie Couric asked her about it...

If the presidential candidates were in a beauty contest, their views would be seen as quaint or comical, but they're competing to become the leader of the free world!

Believing in Creationism requires faith and it belongs in church. Understanding Evolution requires an education and that's what schools should offer. Most GOP candidates would make sure young people would have as little as possible of the latter.

And they say America is exceptional?

Exceptional as in greatest or exceptional as in out of step with the rest of the developed world?


At least somebody came up with a funny response to the other video:



(H/T to View_From_Here)

Education and Sarah Palin

The modern world belongs to the half-educated, a rather difficult class, because they do not realize how little they know. ~William R. Inge

Sarah Palin on education

2007:

I’ve also committed to help provide local school districts with more predictability, for better planning by supporting “early funding of education.” I’ll introduce a separate education appropriation bill and ask that it’s passed. Our local school districts deserve to know what they have to work with early enough for them to create efficiencies through planning. (State of the State Address to the 24th Alaska Legislature Jan 17, 2007)

2008:

It is our energy development that pays for essential services, like education. Victor Hugo said, “He who opens a school door, closes a prison.” It’s a privileged obligation we have to “open education doors.” Every child, of every ability, is to be cherished and loved and taught. Every child provides this world hope. They are the most beautiful ingredient in our sometimes muddied up world. I am committed to our children and their education. (State of the State Address to the 25th Alaska Legislature Jan 15, 2008)

2008, during the vice presidential campaign:



In February 2009 Sarah Palin decided to opt out of an effort to write nationwide education standards in reading and math. It was reported at the time:

The effort is in its development stages, with state and federal education officials, and others, trying to agree on what the core standards should be. Agreeing to adopt the standards is a step for later. Besides Alaska, the other states that have turned away from the effort are Missouri, South Carolina and Texas.

Anchorage School District Superintendent Carol Comeau, who is in charge of nearly half of Alaska's 120,000 public school students, said she was disappointed with the governor's decision. As a parent and educator, she said, she wants to know how Alaska's kids compare.

Alaska has many long standing problems when it comes to education .

Comparisons don't favour the state:

• Alaska's dropout rate, at 8 percent, was double the national average in the 2005-2006 school year, according to the latest figures available from the U.S. Department of Education.

• 38 percent of today's ninth-graders will have no high school diploma 10 years from now, according to the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education.

• Alaska ranks 50th, or last, in the number of ninth-graders who will likely have a bachelor's degree in 10 years, according to the commission.

Also in 2009, there was the question of the stimulus funds:

Anchorage School District Superintendent Carol Comeau and about 30 other superintendents from urban school districts met with Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Monday while they were in Washington, D.C., for an education conference. They met in the Executive Office Building, Comeau said, mostly to talk about how school systems will spend stimulus money.

"It's a significant opportunity for some significant change that's going to impact -- long-term -- kids, especially kids in poverty." Comeau said.

Sarah Palin still hasn't decided how to spend $115 million in what's known as the "state stabilization fund," money that's supposed to help states balance their education budgets.

How did Sarah Palin deal with it?

Gov. Sarah Palin just told reporters that she’s accepting only 55 percent of the federal economic stimulus money being offered to Alaska. The governor said that she will accept only about $514 million of the $930 million headed to the state.

“We are not requesting funds intended to just grow government," she said.

The biggest single chunk of stimulus money that Palin is turning down is $160 million for education.

She ended up accepting most of the stimulus money, the Alaska Legislature saw to that. If she could have gone through with rejecting stimulus funds for education just to make her point about growing government, the children of Alaska, so cherished and loved, the most beautiful ingredient in the world, would have been the losers.

How does Sarah Palin regard her own children's education?

Sarah Palin's children missed out (and still do) on a lot of their schooling. Considering the volume of travel expenses claims, Sarah's own statement about spending time with them (when she was governor), the VP campaign, when the children were with her most of the time, the book tours and other travel to the Lower 48 in the past two years, their school attendance is indeed poor.

Track and Bristol never gave college any serious thought. Willow and Piper appear to have many absences from school on a regular basis.

Trig is still to enter the school system, but Sarah Palin didn't exactly champion his future needs when she slashed the budget for special education by 62% in 2008 and 2009.

During her months as governor, federal funding under No Child Left Behind was likely to have been put in peril for school districts with parents who did not comply with state truancy laws and did not permit the school district properly to account for minor children's extended absences. Sarah Palin set a very bad example for parents in Alaska.

No politician or talking head would say that education is a bad thing, it wouldn't sound very good.

But there's an enormous difference between words and actions and in the case of Sarah Palin and her attitudes to education, some of her own words come to mind: She doesn't walk the walk.

Earlier posts about Education and Sarah Palin.

(Clicking on the above link will show all posts, with this very post at the top)

Sarah Palin's standards

Gov. Sarah Palin's has decided to opt out of an effort to write nationwide education standards in reading and math.

Forty-six states have signed on to the initiative to devise standards for reading and math testing that would let the performance of students in one state be compared with those in another.

The effort is in its development stages, with state and federal education officials, and others, trying to agree on what the core standards should be. Agreeing to adopt the standards is a step for later. Besides Alaska, the other states that have turned away from the effort are Missouri, South Carolina and Texas.

Anchorage School District Superintendent Carol Comeau, who is in charge of nearly half of Alaska's 120,000 public school students, said she was disappointed with the governor's decision. As a parent and educator, she said, she wants to know how Alaska's kids compare.

But other educators said Palin is right to be wary of outside standards being imported to Alaska.

Alaska doesn't compare to other states very well:

• Alaska's dropout rate, at 8 percent, was double the national average in the 2005-2006 school year, according to the latest figures available from the U.S. Department of Education.

• 38 percent of today's ninth-graders will have no high school diploma 10 years from now, according to the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education.

• Alaska ranks 50th, or last, in the number of ninth-graders who will likely have a bachelor's degree in 10 years, according to the commission.

I don't know what Alaska's standards are, but they don't appear to be working. Sarah Palin and the educators who are wary of importing outside standards may escape unfavourable comparisons, but what they're really doing is letting Alaska students down.

Sarah Palin said in a press release:

"Alaska's decision not to participate until after we monitor this is based on our desire to spend our time and public resources to improve instruction in the classroom and to form productive relationships between schools and the communities they serve.

"If this initiative produces useful results, Alaska will remain free to incorporate them in our own standards."

The state education commissioner, Larry LeDoux, said the resources wouldn't necessarily be used now but later when the standards were adopted, when changing curriculum in the state would cost millions of dollars.

"We just don't want to give up everything to the feds," LeDoux said.

The anti-fed brigade don't seem to understand that they're foregoing the opportunity to help set future standards by contributing to the discussion.

Under Sarah Palin, Alaska will continue to reject federal initiatives and Alaskans will pay the price.

The words Sarah Palin put out in early May, when she joined the Republican group National Council for a New America, sound very hollow.

Stapleton said Palin plans to be involved with the group "as long as everyone knows that Alaska always comes first."

What comes first is Sarah Palin's posturing. These days Alaska only comes into the picture to provide the governor with some soundbites...

RECALL Sarah Palin
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Sarah Palin's quotes

I found these quotes from Sarah Palin on the issues of education and special needs:

1. You mentioned education and I’m glad you did. I say, too, with education, America needs to be putting a lot more focus on that and our schools have got to be really ramped up in terms of the funding that they are deserving. Teachers needed to be paid more. I come from a house full of school teachers. We have got to increase the standards. No Child Left Behind was implemented. It’s not doing the job though. We need flexibility in No Child Left Behind. We need to put more of an emphasis on the profession of teaching. My kids as public school participants right now, it’s near and dear to my heart. (Palin/Biden debate)
2. It is our energy development that pays for essential services, like education. Victor Hugo said, “He who opens a school door, closes a prison.” It’s a privileged obligation we have to “open education doors.” Every child, of every ability, is to be cherished and loved and taught. Every child provides this world hope. They are the most beautiful ingredient in our sometimes muddied up world. I am committed to our children and their education. (State of the State Address to the 25th Alaska Legislature Jan 15, 2008)
3. I’ve also committed to help provide local school districts with more predictability, for better planning by supporting “early funding of education.” I’ll introduce a separate education appropriation bill and ask that it’s passed. Our local school districts deserve to know what they have to work with early enough for them to create efficiencies through planning. (State of the State Address to the 24th Alaska Legislature Jan 17, 2007)
4. The State should target early education programs to specific at-risk groups that truly need them. These groups will benefit from access to high-quality programs currently out of their reach. We must find a way for these children to obtain a safe and positive environment in their early years. Today, social & economic pressures sometimes encourage both parents to return to work outside the home. My administration will publish useful educational material for parents about children in their early years. (Palin-Parnell campaign booklet: New Energy for Alaska Nov 3, 2006)
5. I believe we need to respect families and provide greater access to curricula and programs that teach ethics and character. The ABC method is a local program that depends strongly on these principles. ABC students have nightly homework, back to basics curriculum, patriotism, ethics and citizenship training. Programs such as ABC have core principles of trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and good citizenship. (Palin-Parnell campaign booklet: New Energy for Alaska Nov 3, 2006)
6. OK, good. Because another thing that we’ll talk about also is the role that I will play that is very near and dear to my heart. And that’s helping families with special needs children and being able to strengthen our National Institute of Health also and find cures for presently incurable diseases. (2008 Fox News interview on “Hannity & Colmes” Sep 17, 2008)

Sarah Palin's actions appear to conflict with her words. In five of the quotes above, she professes her commitment to education and special needs, but her recent opposition to federal funds seems to be at odds with such a commitment.

I included quote number 5 because I tought it was funny. "programs that teach ethics and character" and "trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and good citizenship" sound hilarious coming from Sarah Palin!

The quotes can be found here and here.
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Education quotes

The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

It'll be a great day when education gets all the money it wants and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy bombers. ~Author unknown

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. ~Andy McIntyre

To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks. ~A.A. Milne

Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army. ~Edward Everett

He who opens a school door, closes a prison. ~Victor Hugo

Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. ~Mark Twain

Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another. ~G.K. Chesterton

The modern world belongs to the half-educated, a rather difficult class, because they do not realize how little they know. ~William R. Inge
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Sarah Palin, you are a criminal

Gov. Sarah Palin just told reporters that she’s accepting only 55 percent of the federal economic stimulus money being offered to Alaska. The governor said that she will accept only about $514 million of the $930 million headed to the state.

“We are not requesting funds intended to just grow government," she said.

The biggest single chunk of stimulus money that Palin is turning down is $160 million for education. There’s also $17 million in Department of Labor funds (vocational rehabilitation services, unemployment services, etc.), about $9 million for Health and Social Services and about $7 million for Public Safety.

When I wrote the earlier post "Stimulus for schools", I honestly didn't think she would find a way not to put the money into education. I thought it would be just a case of deciding how the money would be used. It never occurred to me that she could refuse any of it.

Sarah Palin's small government is no longer amusing, the soundbite is gnawing into the lives of people. Most of the money she's turning down concern services for people. It could have improved the quality of life of a great number of her constituents.

This posturing, designed to impress her moronic followers in the Lower 48, is dishonest, cynical and in my opinion, criminal.

How many children are going to miss out on the opportunity for a better education? How many people are going to remain unemployed with no hope of receiving training that could improve their chances of obtaining better jobs? How many families are going to suffer from impoverished Health and Social Services?

Sarah Palin, you were elected to serve the people of Alaska, not to pander to the needs of the big corporations, of your favoured groups or to further your political career in the national scene.

You are a criminal, Sarah Palin. You have committed crimes against the environment, against wildlife. You have committed other crimes your Personnel Board saw fit to put to one side.

Your latest crime is against society, against the people of the state of Alaska.

You are a deluded, ignorant, vain, ageing beauty queen. You cannot govern the state of Alaska with a modicum of humanity or dignity. How can you possibly dream of governing the most powerful country on the planet???

Full story: ADN.
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Stimulus for schools

This is something to keep our eyes on:

Anchorage School District Superintendent Carol Comeau and about 30 other superintendents from urban school districts met with Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Monday while they were in Washington, D.C., for an education conference. They met in the Executive Office Building, Comeau said, mostly to talk about how school systems will spend stimulus money.

"It's a significant opportunity for some significant change that's going to impact -- long-term -- kids, especially kids in poverty." Comeau said.

Sarah Palin still hasn't decided how to spend $115 million in what's known as the "state stabilization fund," money that's supposed to help states balance their education budgets.

It would be interesting to see what Sarah Palin's decisions will be regarding the education of children in poverty...

ADN item.
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Truancy gate

I received another comment that deserves to be turned into a post.

How about truancy-gate?

Sarah Palin's children miss out on a lot of their schooling. Judging by the volume of travel expenses claims, Sarah's own statement about spending time with them and the VP campaign, when the children were with her all the time, their school attendance is indeed poor. How does that fit in with current legislation?

Among other things, federal funding under No Child Left Behind can be put in peril for school districts with parents who do not comply with state truancy laws and do not permit the school district properly to account for minor children's extended absences.

In Alaska the compulsory attendance laws certainly apply to the governor's minor children. Failure to comply can endanger funding for other people's children:

Title 14, Chapter 14.30. PUPILS AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS FOR PUPILS
Article 01. COMPULSORY EDUCATION

Sec. 14.30.010. When attendance compulsory.

(a) Every child between seven and 16 years of age shall attend school at the public school in the district in which the child resides during each school term. Every parent, guardian or other person having the responsibility for or control of a child between seven and 16 years of age shall maintain the child in attendance at a public school in the district in which the child resides during the entire school term, except as provided in (b) of this section.

(b) This section does not apply if a child

(1) is provided an academic education comparable to that offered by the public schools in the area, either by

(A) attendance at a private school in which the teachers are certificated according to AS 14.20.020 ;
(B) tutoring by personnel certificated according to AS 14.20.020 ; or
(C) attendance at an educational program operated in compliance with AS 14.45.100 - 14.45.200 by a religious or other private school;

(2) attends a school operated by the federal government;

(3) has a physical or mental condition that a competent medical authority determines will make attendance impractical;

(4) is in the custody of a court or law enforcement authorities;

(5) is temporarily ill or injured;

(6) has been suspended or expelled under AS 14.03.160 or suspended or denied admittance under AS 14.30.045 ;

(7) resides more than two miles from either a public school or a route on which transportation is provided by the school authorities, except that this paragraph does not apply if the child resides within two miles of a federal or private school that the child is eligible and able to attend;

(8) is excused by action of the school board of the district at a regular meeting or by the district superintendent subject to approval by the school board of the district at the next regular meeting;

(9) has completed the 12th grade;

(10) is enrolled in

(A) a state boarding school established under AS 14.16; or
(B) a full-time program of correspondence study approved by the department; in those school districts providing an approved correspondence study program, a student may be enrolled either in the district correspondence program or in the centralized correspondence study program;

(11) is equally well-served by an educational experience approved by the school board as serving the child's educational interests despite an absence from school, and the request for excuse is made in writing by the child's parents or guardian and approved by the principal or administrator of the school that the child attends;

(12) is being educated in the child's home by a parent or legal guardian.

These are my own questions and thoughts about this issue:

Did a tutor travel with the Palins during the campaign? I would think not. Piper told Matt Lauer that she was finding it difficult to catch up with school work after the campaign was over.

Are they being educated at home by a parent? Naaah! Can you imagine being educated by Sarah or Todd? It could be possible, but only if the curriculum consisted of 1001 ways of dressing a moose, shooting wolves from a helicopter, driving a snowmobile or tending nets for catching fish.

I honestly can't see how any of the above apply to the Palins.

The only possible conclusion is that they do not place much value on formal education and don't care about the law. Their attitude to education jeopardizes the federal funding that could be available to provide for the children of other parents, who happen to value it.

One way or another, there are losers. And some would find it impossible to get these precious years and opportunities back.

Thanks for the information, Anonymous.
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