This Week in Stoopid: Of Humans, Moose and Bears – the Texas Bored of “Education” and Montana’s Cowardly and/or Dastardly GOP [*cough* well, Of Humans]

I try all week, every week, to avoid reading the news.  I’d much rather read new of good tidings than bad these days, with everything going on in the world.   Of course, I fail miserably. (This may have to do with my refusal to unsubscribe from my various newsletters.)  But, I just can’t help but click on the thing I know will piss me off.  This week’s Stoopid is particularly painful, because 1/4 of my family hails from Montana.  As for Texas, well…there’s always bbq…and Austin…and the Space Centers…

I love Montana.  I spent practically every other summer there, from the year my step-father (who was my piano teacher) married my mother, back in 1982 till I went to university.  My step-dad’s family hail from Billings.  My step-grandmother – who is distantly related to the artist and writer, Frederick Remington – was a high school English teacher.  My step-grandfather , who could play every instrument under the sun, was a band director. He taught me how to play percussion.  I have this great “A River Runs Through It” photo of my step-grandfather, knee-deep in his waders in the and fast-flowing river behind the cabin, casting his fly into the rush – my dog, Scruffy picking her way over the stone in the creek bed alongside him.   I really miss him.  My step-grandmother is still truckin’, but has Alzheimer’s.  She’s lost what used to be a very sharp mind (of course, she also adored Bill O’Reilly, a.k.a. he-who-will-never-darken-my-tv-screen-with-his-RWnutjob-presence), but is quite happily puttering away at an assisted living home.  My grandparents had/have a cabin up in Red Lodge, in Custer National Forest. not far from Yellowstone.  A creek runs next to it, and way out in the back clearing, moose bed down with their calves.  Bears wander by occasionally.   On one of our last visits up there before we moved to New Zealand, I had a rather closer encounter with a black bear than I would have liked.  I was walking.  I sat down on a tree stump.  I heard Steven shouting and pointing .  I jumped up and looked behind me just in time to see the backside of the big, sneaky, fuzzy bouncing back into the woods.   I guess, it just got curious and crept up behind me to take a peek.  It was also, apparently, more afraid of little old me than it should have been.  Good times.

That’s what I love about Montana.

What I don’t love about Montana? – its GOP.  What are they doing now?  Still trying to ban homosexuality – by blatant disregard of the Montana Supreme Court.  It’s the party’s official platform, even though the Montana Supreme Court killed the relevant/related laws in 1997.  Even people like State Senator, John Bruggemen R-Polson who make toothless, empty, vanity brave statements like, “Should it get taken out? Absolutely. Does anybody think we should be arresting homosexual people? If you take that stand, you really probably shouldn’t be in the Republican Party,” can’t bring themselves to make a case for action in convincing the Legislature to excise the platform.  Obviously, this isn’t that important of an issue.  Equal rights? Who needs them?  The Crime section of the GOP’s platform explicitly states, ““We support the clear will of the people of Montana expressed by legislation to keep homosexual acts illegal.” Super fishy, I’d say.  But, considering people like my crazy step-uncle  (i.e. he who is has been  working on a 100 volume treatise on Stalingrad for the last 10 years, and who could not be more bigoted, prejudiced, misogynist, homophobic, racist and armed), not surprising. *Sigh*

Speaking of…

Hey there, Texas  State Board of Education! *waves, with one finger*  What’s with the resolution stating that , “”diverse reviewers have repeatedly documented gross pro-Islamic, anti-Christian distortions in social studies texts across the U.S. and that past social studies textbooks in Texas also have been “tainted” with pro-Islamic, anti-Christian views.”   So, the textbooks are being too nice to Islam and Muslims for your liking?   Gee, textbook revenue must really be going downhill.   Here’s an idea.  Maybe you could just rip out all that sketchy, pro-Islamic-skewered history in those textbooks and just superglue in a photo of a mosque with a giant “666” scrawled in a red Sharpie over it, and name the book, “People Who Have Always Been More Evil Than Christians, and Will Always Be More Evil Than Christians.”

Is that “pro-Christian” enough for you?

*words in bold brought to you by the “5 word challenge” through the VOX Diaspora

—————————————–

Grandpa and Scruffy at the river behind the cabin - Red Lodge, Montana (my brother in the background) - Summer 1986

Read Full Post »

an Education Rant

*see quote in the previous post first:)

ok – as a former teacher of sorts – i was an assistant teacher in Montessori school for a couple of years – i am totally appalled by the salaries of teachers – why should a bunch of people who can throw a ball into a holey basket get paid more than people charged with the nation's education is beyond me – i realize some of the teachers you may have had weren't the best ever – but what do you expect – the incentives to be a good teacher are so low, you're lucky they even show up anymore – the pay is ludicrous, the kids are snarky, and the support system from policy-makers is non-exsistent – that this country puts a ridiculously low premium on education is blatantly obvious – especially when the first classes to go when a school is low on fund is anything to do with the arts – (nevermind that sports programs seem to have nine lives when it comes to choosing which programs to cut – i admit, sports can be important, but not at the expense of a good education or an education in the arts) – i just read an article in the NYT the other day which basically said that eventually all the orchestras in the US were going to be almost entirely populated by Chinese, Japanese, Koreans (in addition to the Europeans they have now) – congratulations to the US of A – in addition to being crap at science and math, you are also crap at teaching kids how to appreciate the intricacies of a Rembrandt or why Mozart's Requiem is so unbearably sad – it's insulting to the kids – kids nowadays are much more sophisticated in tastes than before – if they can learn to appreciate a Prada handbag, or Juicy couture, they can certainly learn to appreciate the skill it took to make a suit of armor or a Picasso!
anways, a lot of my friends are teachers – and good ones – good teachers don't stop when they come home – they always are thinking of stuff to do with their students – they can't help it – they're full of ideas – the solution is to jack up funds for paying teachers much better, and paying them for getting higher degrees in their chosen subject, and making sure they KNOW HOW TO TEACH – the situation is ridiculous! – i tutored at learning centers for the four years after quitting teaching – do you have any idea how many children didn't know their multiplication tables? or how to do long division? – in 10th grade! – put more emphasis on teaching the basics – way back starting in kindergarten – make sure no kid gets left behind from there – give extra funding for teacher aides in every classroom – or put a program in place for interns – a manditory internship for people wanting to teach eventually (having that extra person there to help the kids who are having problems can allow the teacher to get on with teaching) teachers having to be teacher, disciplinarians and psychologist  – put in place some support for them – in all the schools – i realize i was really spoilt in Montessori school (i also went to Montessori school until 4th grade, then public after that) – the school i taught in was excellent – the kids were great, the teachers were top notch – we all worked very hard, and it showed with the kids – they were a pleasure to teach and it was a great place to be a teacher – but parents shouldn't have to pay through their nose for this kind of an education – there shouldn't be a difference in education in inner city schools and rich suburbs – unless the PTB have in interest in keeping poor people down – and i could argue that they do…

i'd say a lot of help should come from the government – however, our government is currently putting all it's monies into another country called Iraq and education-wise has done absolutely nothing to alleviate the current situation, trying to fix the education system with lame programs like that stupid No Child Left Behind (don't even get me started) and unending scholastic testing – and of course, there's the whole debate over EVOLUTION – yes, some imaginary man in the sky created the solar system because it's way too complex not to have been – what is that? (again, don't get me started) – when the "leader of the free world" believes that god talks to him and also believes in Intelligent Design (i bet you anything, he can't do long division), what chance do our future leaders have? – in the meantime, our nation's male atheletes are getting millions for playing with balls (and largely being terrible role models for kids) – not even to mention models getting millions for being the equivalent of walking clothes hangers (role models?) – where's the incentive to do well in school? where's the incentive to teach?

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Read Full Post »