Reblogged from PWC Education Reform Blog:

On the lists of “What’s in / What’s out” that I saw at the end of the year, education trends seems to be consistently missing. One trend in particular, group learning, was conspicuously absent. From Susan Cain, author of “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking.” in her op-ed The Rise of the New Groupthink: Our schools have also been transformed by the New Groupthink. Today, elementary school classrooms are commonly arranged in pods of desks, the better to foster group …

Just a few comments on this great post (See Independent Learning is Out – Group Think is In, the post mentioned above.).

One thing I like to do is define my terms.

group·think
[groop-thingk] noun
1. the practice of approaching problems or issues as matters that are best dealt with by consensus of a group rather than by individuals acting independently; conformity.
2. the lack of individual creativity, or of a sense of personal responsibility, that is sometimes characteristic of group intereaction.

Obviously, the term groupthink has a bad connotation. However, Liberals and other big government folk want collectives. Collectives remove individual responsibility. In fact, as far as some are concerned, collectives have the virtue of making somebody else responsible.

The other thought? If we know groupthink is bad, why would there be a disproportionate push for collectives? Because we form collectives out of necessity, to get things done that one person cannot do alone, we have to have collectives. Thus, the virtue of collectives is obvious. Moreover, the people who head collectives have both the incentive and the resources to laud the virtues of collectives. The introverts who enjoy working quietly by themselves, on the other hand, have little incentive and no resources to praise the virtues of solitude. At best, someone might write an article or pen a song and speak of being alone with their thoughts. Yet rarely does anyone speak well of that experience.

Therefore, accountants praise the cost savings of open-plan offices, and collective officials (both government and corporate) praise conformity, realizing if they are ever to exercise full control, they need as their subjects the most subservient of conformists.

Nonetheless, the Bible tells us that there is virtue in being alone with our thoughts.

Psalm 46:10 King James Version (KJV)

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Reblogged from PWC Education Reform Blog:

Yes, you read that correctly.  The National Sexuality Standards for K – 12 have been released.  Under Race To The Top, (RttT),  all states which have signed on to RttT will have to implement instructional materials and programs that meet these Sexuality standards in all of their public schools. {see UPDATE below} Virginia schools will not have to comply, yet, but the only reason Virginia schools won’t have to comply with RttT is because of Governor McDonnell’s direction.  We may have to implement these …

EDUCATION

With respect to Education Issues, Romney record looks okay. However, in 2012, he no longer specifically mentions the subject of education on his website. Instead Romney talks about Human Capital. Here he proposes to reform our big government programs for retraining workers. In addition, he stresses immigration reform that focuses on attracting the “best and the brightest”. Unfortunately, Romney’s plan does not include getting government out of the education business.

With respect to worker retraining, Romney blames Obama for the ineptitude of the Federal Government. Romney promises to consolidate Federal functions and block grant money to the states, and such talk probably explains a few gubernatorial endorsements. Many politicians too much enjoy spending other people’s money.

In his 1994 run for the Senate, Romney supported abolishing the Department of Education. He has since walked back those remarks back.

Education News provides the following:

In the second 2007 presidential debate in South Carolina, he said:

“I’ve taken a position where, once upon a time, I said I wanted to eliminate the Department of Education. That was my position when I ran for Senate in 1994. That’s very popular with the base. As I’ve been a governor and seen the impact that the federal government can have holding down the interest of the teachers’ unions and instead putting the interests of the kids and the parents and the teachers first, I see that the Department of Education can actually make a difference.”

The Federal Government is holds down the interests of teachers’ unions? That’s true when Obama and the Democrats are in charge?

The Club For Growth offers a relatively positive assessment of Romney’s record on education.

Mitt Romney is on record supporting charter schools, school vouchers, and home schooling. As governor, Romney focused on charter school expansion rather than implementing a voucher program. He pushed to eliminate the state-mandated cap on the number of charter schools  and successfully vetoed a moratorium on the opening of new charter schools, passed by the Massachusetts Legislature in 2004.   (from here)

A Washington Post blog observes that as a practical matter Romney (and Gingrich) has the same education policy as Obama.

The president and his two most prominent Republican challengers each have some unique ideas for schools, but by and large they support the test-driven, school-rating, pro-charter-school policy that has ruled the United States for more than a decade, no matter which party controlled the presidency or Congress. (from here)

This Education Week article, GOP Hopefuls Favor Scaled-Back K-12 Federal Role, describes the position of each of the GOP candidates. Of all the GOP candidates, Romney appears to favor the strongest Federal role. However, since he supported the No Child Left Behind Act (has apparently reversed that position) (see here), Santorum’s record is a bit ambiguous.

Why nothing about Bill Gates? So long as he spends his own money, it is his business how he spends it. I just wish him luck.

Arne Duncan, however, wants to spend taxpayer monies. When he can offer no more justification than inane nonsense, I think worthwhile point out the stupidity.

In this short little interview, Duncan uses the word “complacent” three times. Here is how he answers the first question.

ZAKARIA: How does the United States compare with the rest of the world, particularly the rest of the advanced or the rich countries in education? If you were to put it very simply.

DUNCAN: Not nearly as well as we should. And I think part of my job is to wake up the country. I think we’ve been far too complacent.

Thus, Duncan begins by enumerating a bunch of dismal statistics, all the while failing to mention who has been complacently managing our failing schools.

What does Duncan propose to end “complacency”?

• We have to “invest” more ($30 billion).
• We have to extend the school calendar.
• We have to increase teacher pay.

Sound familiar? For all practical purposes, when we listen to Duncan, we hear a shill for the teachers’ unions. None of this will benefit children. It will benefit labor bosses and the politicians they have bought.

Consider the irony when Duncan makes this statement.

Our children in this country are as smart, as talented, as committed, as entrepreneurial as children anywhere in the world. But children in other countries, India, China and South Korea, going to school 25, 30, 35, 40 more days than children here.
 W

What does “entrepreneurial” mean? When someone is “entrepreneurial”, they behave like an entrepreneur.

entrepreneur n : someone who organizes a business venture and assumes the risk for it [syn: enterpriser]

Who in his right mind expects children to learn to be entrepreneurs in a government-run – socialist – public school system? 

Consider this quote.

Money does not necessarily correlate with student achievement… in this country in the last 30 years, we have more than doubled the amount of money we are spending per child… and the results have gotten worse, not better. – Michelle Rhee, former D.C. Public Schools Chancellor, February 9, 2011 (from here)

What Duncan proposes to do is sink more of our money into a black hole. As this document (SBC White Paper On Education In America: It’s Not About The Money) shows, since 1970, we have doubled per pupil spending. Nonetheless, we have nothing to show for it — except more powerful teachers’ unions.

To fix our schools, we must make structural changes. If Duncan thinks it desirable for children to be entrepreneurial, then why doesn’t he suggest letting parents hire entrepreneurs to educate their children. Why do we have to wait for him to make the suggestion? Do children belong to the Federal Government or to their parents?

On Tuesday, November 8, 2011, Virginia will hold an election. You have the opportunity to vote. Do a little research. Then vote for the right to educate your child your way. Vote for the candidates who believe in parental rights and school choice.

Want to find out what mystifies Liberal Democrats? See what they say. In her post, Governor’s mistake, Vivian J. Paige cites an editorial she wrote, The governor’s untimely mistake.

Which makes the governor’s refusal to apply for $60 million in federal funding for prekindergarten all the more mystifying. (from here)

Why did Governor McDonnell refuse to apply for $60 million dollars in Federal funds? The answers are in the comments on Paige’s post and in one of the articles she cites, Virginia won’t seek federal pre-K funding. 

• The funds come with costly Federal mandates.
• Accepting these funds would expand the reach of Washington bureaucrats and regulations in Virginia.
• There is no guarantee the Federal Government will continue funding the new programs. Accepting these temporary funds commits Virginia taxpayers to fund permanently a new program.  

So what mystifies Paige? It seems she cannot understand why McDonnell does not want spend our money like a Democrat.

Consider Paige’s explanation. It is all about a supposed problem. 

Experts will tell you that investing in pre-K education benefits us all, as we save the costs of repeating grades or building prisons. Economists will tell you that investments in education are a source of economic growth.

Recognizing the value of pre-K, many parents have opted to enroll their children in such programs, often at significant cost and sacrifice. It is the parents who lack the resources, knowledge or both whose children are not able to participate and who spend their lives trying to catch up to their peers. These are the children who fall further and further behind, often dropping out before they even graduate from high school. (from here)

What Paige ignores are all the problems created by her solution. Her supposed benefit, government-run pre-K education, has costs. Because money does not grow on trees, Virginia taxpayers would have to pay for all those costs.

What mystifies Liberal Democrats is the advantage we all gain when we each spend our own money — the money we earn – for our own benefit. When spend our own money on the things we want, we make a conscious effort to evaluate both the costs and the benefits. On the other hand, when we spend other people’s money for the benefit of other people, we don’t pay much attention at all. That leads to huge inefficiencies.

Consider voter turnout.  On Tuesday, November 8, we can expect a voter turnout of between 30 – 35 percent (see High stakes rest on races expected to boast low voter turnout). When government spends so much of our money, that’s an absurdly low turnout, but the reason is obvious. Our government has gotten too complex. When we go to the polls we cannot figure out how to vote or why it would be worth the bother.

There is only one practical solution. We must limit what our government can do. We need to vote for leaders willing, ready, and able to cut our government down to size. We need to vote for people who see themselves as one of us, willing to let us decide how to spend our own money.

GET OUT THE VOTE! On Tuesday, November 8, make sure your family and friends VOTE!