Onion of the Day: Hamas, even stronger than yesterday.
As the pictures of the attack by Hamas on Israel come to light, my stomach turns as I read about the brutality, torture, and indiscriminate massacres of civilians, including women and children. My watching of video reports has been minimal because I struggle watching the heinous acts of Hamas.
Why? What justifies such violence against fellow humans? How can one human do such atrocities to other humans? I don’t understand. I hope I never understand. There is no explanation that I will ever accept.
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Question of the Day: What is going on in the world? In our country?
I felt the period between 1962 and 1974 was one of the most volatile in our country’s history. During this period, we faced the Cuban Missile Crisis, the cold war, the assassination of JFK, RFK, and MLK, Jr. as well as an attempted assassination of Governor Wallace. There was a war in which 56,000 young Americans were killed for reasons that to this day I do not understand. There was violence on our campuses because of the war, and there was violence in our major cities, including Detroit, because of racial tension between blacks and whites. Vice President Agnew and President Nixon resigned in shame. We faced an oil embargo, gas shortages, and inflation that was so bad, the government put in price controls. It was emotionally exhausting. I never imagined that we would face another period such as this in my lifetime.
I am starting to believe the period of 2016 through the next few years will match and exceed the above period. We are well on the way. This last week has been emotionally draining. Personal and political tensions are continually rising, and it is only going to get worse as we get closer and closer to the 2024 presidential election. Sometimes, I just want to crawl into a cubby hole and escape from the reality of the craziness in our country and the world.
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As a follow up to the article I posted yesterday in my blog, it was interesting to read that the best performing school system in our country is the school system run by the U.S Military according to an article published today in the N.Y Times. Here are excerpts from the article.
With about 66,000 students — more than the public school enrollment in Boston or Seattle — the Pentagon’s schools for children of military members and civilian employees quietly achieve results most educators can only dream of. On the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federal exam that is considered the gold standard for comparing states and large districts, the Defense Department’s schools outscored every jurisdiction in math and reading last year and managed to avoid widespread pandemic losses.
Their schools had the highest outcomes in the country for Black and Hispanic students, whose eighth-grade reading scores outpaced national averages for white students.
Eighth graders whose parents only graduated from high school — suggesting lower family incomes, on average — performed as well in reading as students nationally whose parents were college graduates.
The schools reopened relatively quickly during the pandemic, but last year’s results were no fluke.
While the achievement of U.S. students overall has stagnated over the last decade, the military’s schools have made gains on the national test since 2013. And even as the country’s lowest-performing students — in the bottom 25th percentile — have slipped further behind, the Defense Department’s lowest-performing students have improved in fourth-grade math and eighth-grade reading.
How does the military do it? In large part by operating a school system that is insulated from many of the problems plaguing American education. Defense Department schools are well-funded, socioeconomically and racially integrated, and have a centralized structure that is not subject to the whims of school boards or mayors.
For starters, families have access to housing and health care through the military, and at least one parent has a job. Teachers are also well paid, supported by a Pentagon budget that allocates $3 billion to its schools each year, far more than comparably sized school districts. While much of the money goes toward the complicated logistics of operating schools internationally, the Defense Department estimates that it spends about $25,000 per student, on par with the highest-spending states like New York, and far more than states like Arizona, where spending per student is about $10,000 a year.
This shows that it can be done. There is a lot to learn here.
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Last night’s playoff baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies ended one of the greatest plays ever to end a playoff game. Please check out my Video of the Game. No words are necessary.
Feel free to share my blog or to sign up to receive it directly in your email. See the sign-up below the Video of the Day.
Quote of the Day: “If the Department of Defense schools were a state, we would all be traveling there to figure out what’s going on,” said Martin West, an education professor at Harvard who serves on the national exam’s governing board.
Orchid of the Day: The Petagon Schools for Military Children
Onion of the Day: Hamas
Question of the Day: See above
Video/Image of the Day: Braves vs. Phillies WILD Ending to Game 2 of NLDS | 2023 MLB Postseason – YouTube
In 1961, I and other Black students of Army soldiers were forced to attend one of the 2 ( all Black) segregated schools in Columbus, GA because Ft Benning didn’t have a high school. On Post, we boarded the buses with our white friends and at one of the 3 all white schools (I believe it was Baker High) we boarded other buses to our respective schools. This ridiculous scenario needs no further comment.
My experience at Spencer High was unnerving because the majority of the books we used were cast offs from Baker, Jordan and Columbus (?) high. The teachers gained my respect for the way they persevered using less than adequate materials in many cases. I remember how big the Home Economic wing was.
Until Georgia, I had attended schools on Post in Fort Knox, Ky. I didn’t know how good I had it. Teachers and students had all that was needed to learn, experiment and explore options. There were rules and you followed them or else! If you acted out, your parents were notified. No, it wasn’t perfect; however learning was the priority.
Sharon,
I knew you would enjoy reading this and I knew you would have a comment. When I was reading the article, you were the first person who came to my mind. I am so sorry for what you had to do through at high school. It was criminal how you were treated. Growing up in River Rouge, we had segregated elementary schools but by the 8th grade we all attended the same high school where I received an excellent education along with everyone else in the school. Attending River Rough HIgh School was one of the most rewarding and educational experiences I have ever had. Although I attended high school during the height of racial tension in our country, my class was blessed with black and white students who knew how to get along with each other. We were high performers in the classroom and athletic fields and courts. Many of us black and white who continue to be friends to this day.