Tuesday, December 13, 2005

ADVICE ON INSTRUCTION

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

(Proverbs 22:6)

QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.”

(Thomas Jefferson)

“Only the educated are free.”

(Epictetus)

"The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed a standard citizenry, to put down dissent and originality"

(H.L. Mencken)

“Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another."

(G.K. Chesterton)

LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR

The following letter by Michael S. Heath, Executive Director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, was sent to Governor John E. Baldacci last Tuesday asking for his help with the problem of public indecency at the store on Water Street in Augusta. The Christian Civic League received no response to the letter.  Before leaving for Cuba last week, the Governor said through a spokeswoman that he does not intend to intervene in the matter. 
 
The Honorable John E. Baldacci
Governor of Maine
Augusta, Maine

Sir:

Maine has long enjoyed a reputation as a place set apart, a refuge from the crime, vice, and corruption which plagues the rest of the nation. The honesty and integrity of her citizens and elected officials are still unmatched anywhere else in the world. Yet this reputation is in jeopardy because of the public indecency on display at a shop on Water Street in Augusta. Overnight, our fame has turned to notoriety, as news of this public indecency has been broadcast to the four corners of the world, including Tokyo and Australia, Pakistan, and Vietnam.

The news spread rapidly not because such behavior was innovative or liberating or productive, but because it represents a new low in the morals of the American people. The shameful photos of our women standing on display in a shop window gave an opportunity to our foes throughout the world to shake their heads and gloat over our downfall.  The news also spread rapidly because such behavior is unique. No where else in the world does this occur.  One newspaper said that such behavior “brings a bit of New York to Maine.” It does not, for such behavior is illegal in New York City, and rightly so.

That such behavior is occurring only a mile from the Capitol Building in Augusta casts a shadow over our local and state government, calling into question their ability and even their desire to ward off a serious threat to the moral integrity and the safety of our society. We must not allow the goings-on in Water Street to become the new symbol for Maine.  The moral, political, and economic consequences are too obvious to ignore.

Therefore, I am requesting that you interpose your authority as governor to bring a quick resolution to this problem; and to that end I am requesting a meeting with you to discuss how this may best be accomplished. I am painfully aware that you have turned down my repeated requests for a face-to-face meeting on a number of issues. Nonetheless, the gravity of this matter requires me to request a meeting yet one more time.  If you decide again not to meet with me, I would request that you agree to meet with a delegation of Evangelical pastors to discuss how this very critical threat to our civil life can be addressed. 

Yours faithfully,

Michael S. Heath
Executive Director
The Christian Civic League of Maine
 

EXPERT ON PUBLIC SCHOOLS
EXPRESSES SHOCK
OVER REPORT BY STATE PANEL

In an interview with THE RECORD, Charlotte Iserbyt, a former top-ranking official in the Department of Education under Ronald Reagan, expressed shock over the recently-issued draft report recommending a proposed overhaul of the public school system in Maine. The report, entitled “The Select Panel Report,” recommends consolidating Maine’s 286 administrative districts into 35, and emphasizes instruction by computer in order to enable the students “to compete with their counterparts across the globe in a rapidly-evolving global economy.” In the interview, Iserbyt stated that she has long been aware that Maine is used as “a pilot state for educational restructuring.” According to Iserbyt, radical new theories of education are tried first in Maine, then introduced to the rest of the country.

Iserbyt first became aware of the problem after attending an education conference in Oklahoma in 1974. When she asked her fellow participants for their opinion on the so-called “Magic Circles” which were being used to change the values of students, she was greeted with a blank stare. As it turned out, Maine was being used as a laboratory for the “Magic Circles,” which eventually became part of classrooms across the nation.

Iserbyt says that the fact that one of the authors of the report, Seymour Papert, is the world's leading authority on computerized instruction is proof that Maine is being used as a pilot state. Iserbyt was present at many meetings attended by Papert, and characterizes his political views as “New Age.” 

Apart from the ineffectiveness of computerized instruction – Iserbyt states that it has been proven to be harmful to learning – the greatest danger of the approach recommended by the select panel is that it undermines traditional values of morality and the very concept of the human personality itself. Iserbyt offered a quote by a leading figure in modern education, Benjamin Bloom. Bloom said “The purpose of education is to change the thoughts, feelings, and actions of students. Good teaching is changing the student’s feelings.”

When asked if parents should remove their children from the public schools, she replied “Yes, absolutely.  A higher percentage of public school teachers put their children in private schools than any other profession.”

Iserbyt also pointed out that the Sinclair Act under which the current school districts were organized, was a failure. Iserbyt said “Many problems, including poor performance and delinquency resulted from regionalization.”    The consolidation under the Sinclair Act was also done in the name of economic savings.

The system proposed in the report resembles no other system as much as the educational system used in Cuba, Iserbyt said. 

HOW BAD ARE THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS?

The following is an EIGHTH GRADE final exam administered in 1895 in Salinas, Kansas. A comparison with modern day educational standards shows how far public school education has deteriorated.

(Time, one hour)

Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.

Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.

Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.

What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of do,
lie, lay and run.

Define Case, Illustrate each Case.

What is Punctuation? Give rules for the principal marks of Punctuation.
- 10.

Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic

(Time, 1.25 hours)

Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.

A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?

If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cts. per bu., deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?

District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?

Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.

Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per m?

Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.

What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?

Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History

(Time, 45 minutes)

Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.

Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.

Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.

Show the territorial growth of the United States.

Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.

Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.

Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?

Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865.

Orthography

(Time, one hour)

What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic orthography, etymology, syllabication?

What are elementary sounds? How classified?

What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?

Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.

Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e'. Name two exceptions under each rule.

Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.

Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, super.

Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: Card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.

Use the following correctly in sentences, Cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.

Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography

(Time, one hour)

What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?

How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?

Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?

Describe the mountains of N.A.

Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.

Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.

Name all the republics of Europe and give capital of each.

Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?

Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.

Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

CHRISTMAS DINNER
THREE CENTURIES AGO

Parunts don’t git toys an’ things,
Like you’d think they ruther.-

Mighty funny Chris’mus gif’s
Parunts give each other

Pa give Ma a barrel o’ flour,
An’ Ma she gives to Pa

The nicest dinin’ table
She know he ever saw

(James Whitcomb Riley)

Now thrice welcome Christmas,
Which brings us great cheer,
Minc’d pies and plumb porridge
Good meat and good fare,

With pig, goose, and capon,
The best that may be
So well doth the weather
And our stomachs agree.

(Christmas song, 1695)