A Blessed Week of Ignorance

I have no idea what's going on, and it's a nice feeling for a change.

My vacation, from the day before Christmas Eve until New Year's Day, when I head back to work, is drawing to an end, and I've spent the time so far nearly news-free.

I read about the slaying of Benazir Bhutto, and about the tiger that managed to maul some guys at a zoo, but that's about it.

I skipped the local news, so I have no idea who got shot, or killed in a car crash, or burned in a fire. I don't know if anything was stolen, broken into or destroyed. I don't know if anyone got molested, robbed, beaten, persecuted or jilted.

And it feels great.

For a few days I was able to not be surrounded by mayhem; I didn't have to intellectually digest every rotten incident.

Most people in the news business have to hear about all the death and crime, the corruption and incompetence of local, state and federal government, and it's amazing what that does to your demeanor. You internalize it -- at least I do -- and it creates this blanket of pessimism that can get pretty thick.

To be able to spend a few days with friends and family, to get quality time that isn't interrupted by foul news reports or analysis, to be ignorant of all the horrible things in the world that I can't do a damn thing about anyway ... well, it's such a relief.

And, even at 36 years old, spending a little time with a Nintendo Wii was both entertaining and awe-inspiring, considering that I was around for the advent of Pong.

So, that's it -- no work, no posting, no news hunting for a week ... and I started to turn human again. As my return to work looms, I'm determined to make some quality resolutions for the new year -- Seeing as I can go day to day without worrying about my neighborhood getting blown up or not having food and shelter, so to not fully participate in the calculation of my quality of life is just silly and wasteful.

Wise Words from Ben Stein

Here's something interesting that came in my mail today:

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in. My Best Regards.

Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

School Daze

If you pay attention to news stories about the New Haven public school system, there's one phrase that pops up pretty much every time: No Child Left Behind.

The No Child Left Behind Act, which you can -- and should -- read about at the source, is criticized incessantly by school officials, from teachers to the superintendent.

They complain that the act forces schools to spend all their time "teaching to the test," at the expense of arts, culture ... and recess.

They complain that the act forces schools to maintain a high standard -- and high performance -- but does not provide extra money.

Some states, Connecticut one of them, even tried legal action against the federal government over this act.

I like the No Child Left Behind Act, I think it was one thing I am happiest for from the Bush administration.

Here's why:

The No Child Left Behind Act is an effort by the government to force abysmal schools to show to the public what they are doing with the millions of dollars they take each year from the state and federal governments.

Taxpayers are getting beat twice for education, and yet only about half the kids in the country are getting educated.

The act forces schools to recognize that rich or poor, black or white, it doesn't take just money to put a kid in a desk and have someone who knows something about something to tell a kid something and have that kid remember it.

In fact, it doesn't take a lot more than an effort on the part of the student and the teacher.

The teacher should make the effort or face losing their job. The kid should make the effort or face a bleak future, period.

The No Child Left Behind Act simply asks a school how they can spend millions and millions of dollars a year on education, and not be providing an education!

If taxpayers are the ones funding education, then I think we should get to make the rules, too. School officials -- like superintendents -- make more than $100,000 a year. That's just too much. I think a school superintendent should make no more than 75,000 a year, period. And teacher shouldn't make more than 60,000.

Now, before anyone jumps down my throat ... I think it should be that way because those are decent wages, and if you get people that really care about the education of the children, then they can deal with that kind of money, especially with the perks. It's more than I make, and I have a good job, so if I can live on it, so can they. If they want to choose money over being a teacher, so be it. Go ahead.

If you make it about the money, then you're going to get people that are in it for the money, and then they ktake the money.

And then that's where the money goes.

The biggest complaint seems to be the whole "teaching to the test" blather I keep hearing. So? What the hell is wrong with teaching kids enough that they can pass a test of their crucial cognitive skills?

How is that not automatically labeled the most idiotic concept in the history of the world?

So, what should they be learning how to do in school? Dance? Sing? Be completely inundated with "culture"?

No! They should be learning how to read, how to study, how to answer questions in a literate manner. They should learn to speak English, and add numbers. And if they can't do that then something is wrong.

And if the school system can piss away $25 million to $100 million dollars and not be able to have the majority of kids learn at a normal level, then they're simply not spending the money on the right things.

I'm old enough now to say this:

• When I was in grammar school, we had no air conditioning, and no cafeteria.
• We weren't allowed to wear shorts to school. We had a couple of assemblies a year, maybe 2 field trips.
• Our classes were math, science, history, English, reading, art and music, and recess. That was it.
  
• If you did poorly, you failed, and had to go to summer school. If you still failed, you stayed back a grade. No one wanted to stay back a grade because then they would be "the kid who got held back."

Now, it's totally different. School has become something other than school. It's become this place where people think you should make children into little adults where they make their own decisions, and have fun, and enjoy going there. They go there and learn how others live, how people feel differently. They go there and learn how people dance in every frigging continent on the globe.

That's not school. School isn't supposed to be fun, it's supposed to challenge you. You're supposed to go there and learn things, and learning is hard work.

It's easier to give slower kids easier work, because then they finish and you can move on without conflict or difficulty.

Yeah, I know, some of you have kids that are just the smartest things, and they go to school and they love it and have a great experience and are smart. Congratulations, you have a smart kid.

But when you put average and below-average kids in an environment like that, where the if they fail the challenge the challenge is made easier, then they're not going to get smarter, which, hello, is the goal of schooling.

So, no, I don't think the No Child Left Behind Act is detrimental to education, I think it's detrimental to bloated, misguided school systems that need to be revamped. The problem is that the people in power are the ones who should be tossed out, and they won't let that happen.

The most important aspect of the act is that it finally takes money away from failing schools instead of just dumping more money on them. It says to a failing school, "You threw that money out the window. Now, work with less."

It forces a school to restructure itself from the administration down -- if they get rid of the all the crap that has nothing to do with the education part of the education system, there's plenty of money to run a good system and pay to test the kids annually.

School vouchers and the No Child Left Behind Act are perhaps the last chances to make our education systems work.