Updates: 03-11-200903-04-2009 02-16-2009 01-08-2009 12-18-2008 12-13-2008 12-03-2008 11-26-2008 11-15-2008 09-25-2008 09-18-2008 09-03-2008 08-13-2008 07-11-2008 05-28-2008 04-15-2008 03-28-2008 03-22-2008 03-13-2008 03-11-2008 03-06-2008 01-30-2008 01-23-2008 01-16-2008 01-09-2008 12-29-2007 12-12-2007 11-28-2007 11-22-2007 11-16-2007 11-13-2007 11-07-2007 10-31-2007 10-20-2007 10-17-2007 09-26-2007 09-12-2007 08-29-2007 08-23-2007 08-11-2007 07-19-2007 07-11-2007 07-04-2007 06-27-2007 06-20-2007 06-14-2007 06-06-2007 05-30-2007 05-23-2007 05-16-2007 05-09-2007 05-02-2007 04-25-2007 04-18-2007 04-11-2007 04-04-2007 03-28-2007 03-21-2007 03-14-2007 03-08-2007 03-07-2007 03-01-2007 02-28-2007 02-21-2007 02-14-2007 02-07-2007 01-31-2007 01-24-2007 01-17-2007 01-10-2007 01-03-2007 12-20-2006 12-13-2006 12-06-2006 11-22-2006 11-15-2006 11-08-2006 11-01-2006 10-25-2006 10-18-2006 10-11-2006 10-03-2006 09-27-2006 09-20-2006 09-13-2006 09-06-2006 08-30-2006 08-23-2006 08-16-2006 08-09-2006 08-02-2006 07-26-2006 07-12-2006 07-05-2006 06-28-2006 06-21-2006 06-14-2006 05-31-2006 05-22-2006 05-17-2006 05-10-2006 05-03-2006 04-26-2006 04-19-2006 04-12-2006 04-05-2006 03-29-2006 03-22-2006 03-15-2006 03-10-2006 03-08-2006 03-02-2006 02-24-2006 02-15-2006 02-14-2006 02-11-2006 02-09-2006 02-03-2006 01-24-2006 01-19-2006 01-10-2006 01-04-2006 12-20-2005 12-08-2005 12-01-2005 11-15-2005 11-10-2005 11-03-2005 11-02-2005 10-24-2005 10-20-2005 10-16-2005 10-05-2005 09-29-2005 09-22-2005 09-19-2005 09-07-2005 08-11-2005 08-08-2005
|
Weekly Math UpdatesNovember 26 , 2008 Contents:
The True Story of Thanksgiving Happy Thanksgiving. I sent this link out last year but I think it's more appropriate than ever to remember the true message of Thanksgiving and what caused the bounty. It was the elimination of socialism amongst the pilgrams and a switch to free market economics. If you don't know this story, please read it here: http://www.mises.org/story/336 John Stossel Dinner Speech Last week I attended the PCE dinner where John Stossel spoke about education issues. Here is a quick summary of some of my notes. Warning: since it's a week later, I'm not 100% sure I'm catching the full meaning behind my notes. John has won a lot of Emmy awards for his hard hitting reporting of consumer business issues. Several years back, he turned his attention toward government issues of concern, and oddly, he hasn't won a single emmy, but I think he's endeared himself to the general American public more than ever. John is a libertarian. He believes we need a return to the principles of our Founding Fathers. He sees government monopoly of things as a real problem in our country because government breeds mediocrity. Only a free market makes people excel and he brought up Milton Friedman's work "Free to Choose" as a great book on this subject. He mentioned how his studies of other countries have shown the keys to success are contained in two things we don't have in our country: 1) autonomy for schools He said that business is voluntary so both people only enter a deal if they both think it's a win for them. Because business is free market, it creates win-win scenarios for people. He contrasted that to government which is a zero-sum game. It's force. Someone wins and someone loses. He said it took the Soviet Union 70 years to fail under communism because it's a slow decay. The bailouts we're having in our country are slow death to us. He said we need a creative destruction system. Failing companies should become the fertilizer for other companies to grow and succeed. When asked what the most interesting innovation was in education, he said KIPP schools. When asked about good books to read, he replied "The Road to Serfdom" by Hayek, Laize Faire books, and books by Thomas Sowell. He was asked another question I didn't write down but his answer was we need to stop forcing the bottom kids into college. It's not for everyone. Someone also asked John about buying a copy of one of his education pieces from ABC and John replied it would be $10, but you can get it on YouTube for free. :) Obama's Education Secretary Well, I'm not sure if it's 100% official yet, but there's a very strong chance that Obama will pick Linda Darling-Hammond as his education secretary. This is an individual who is in favor of reparations, universal preschool, and social justice curriculum. If you haven't heard of this curriculum, think dumbed-down left-wing politicized curriculum interested in "righting-wrongs". Here are a couple of links if you're interested in more about this: Stanford professor leads Obama transition team (article on Hammond) http://www.kennethgdavenport.com/2008/10/real-ayers-danger-education-radicalism.html Social Justice Math: http://www.radicalmath.org/main.php?id=SocialJusticeMath Articles of Interest German home schooling family seeks asylum in U.S.
Study: Math teachers a chapter ahead of students (clip)
US officials flunk test of American history, economics, civics Whoa! This was a shocker. I didn't know we were at war with Britain... ;)
Court to decide whether campus evangelism a crime That whole free speech thing is so overrated... The Test Passes, Colleges Fail (NY Times)
Till next week, Oak Norton
|
|
Copyright 2005-06, All Rights Reserved |