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Not in the clamor of the crowded street, not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but in ourselves, are triumph and defeat.--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
REDIRECT ALERT! (Scroll down past this mess if you're trying to read an archived post. Thanks. No, really, thanks.) Due to my inability to control my temper and complacently accept continued silliness with not-quite-as-reliable-as-it-ought-to-be Blogger/Blogspot, your beloved Possumblog will now waddle across the Information Dirt Road and park its prehensile tail at http://possumblog.mu.nu. This site will remain in place as a backup in case Munuvia gets hit by a bus or something, but I don't think they have as much trouble with this as some places do. ::cough::blogspot::cough:: So click here and adjust your links. I apologize for the inconvenience, but it's one of those things. Friday, January 28, 2005
Road to Hell, Paving Department
From smart NASA guy and regular reader Steevil, a link to an article about the far-reaching consequences of the No Child Left Behind Act in Lil' Rhody: RONALD R. BLAIS, Staff Reporter
[...] Assistant Superintendent of Schools Linda Newman said the decision to scuttle the event was reached shortly after the January 2004 bee in a unanimous decision by herself and the district’s elementary school principals.
I also wonder if it's so ungood for children to be left behind and not be treated equally, why is there such a thing as a school board? You know, since everyone can't be the superintendent, it's obviously ungood that there be this sort of artificial hierarchy. A spelling bee, she continued, is about "some kids being winners, some kids being losers."
"You have to build positive self-esteem for all kids, so they believe they’re all winners," she said. "You want to build positive self-esteem so that all kids can get to where they want to go." [...] "And then, when they're adults and realize the real world operates on the basis of risk and rewards, and that success requires knowledge, and that not everyone can be a winner everytime, and that they got fooled by a bunch of self-serving lardy-bottoms with cushy no-accountability jobs, well, then we can all sit back and laugh our butts off at them for being such gullible little stupid kids! Right!?"[...]The administrators’ decision to eliminate the bee wasn’t a difficult one, Newman said.
Time to get new administrators, Lincoln. I'm no great fan of spelling bees--I've posted several times on my kids' outings with the competitions. Some people rightly note that being a good speller isn't necessarily a sign of high intelligence, and also rightly that sometimes emphasis is placed on spelling that could better be spent on cognition and critical thinking skills. And some kids (and their parents) do get too caught up in the competitive element. I think it is bad for those kids, because, let's face it, it's IS just a spelling bee, not rocket surgery. (Thanks for that metaphor, LittleA.) But to sit there and yammer that competition is inherently damaging, simply because it requires that someone win and someone lose, and that NOT competing somehow builds "positive self-esteem," well, it's just inane.
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