Students and Duluth City Planning: Fresh Ideas

"Architecture students create designs for a better Duluth"
John Myers, Duluth News Tribune (December 13, 2012)

"University of Minnesota architecture and landscape architecture graduate students showed Duluth civic and business leaders what their finished projects might look like once the city's trouble spots are turned into treasures.

"Imagine waking up in your bedroom in what had been an idle ore dock on Duluth's waterfront - with stores, offices and restaurants down the hall and an outdoor skating arena just outside your door.

"Imagine turning an abandoned granite quarry in West Duluth into a world-class ice-climbing destination and speed-skating oval....

"...An effort by 36 graduate students in the University of Minnesota's College of Design did more than just imagine those scenarios - they spent the fall quarter of their final year in school designing and planning the projects. On Wednesday, the grad students in architecture and landscape architecture showed Duluth civic and business leaders what the finished projects might look like...."

Duluth, Minnesota, across from Superior, Wisconsin, is half of a port city at the west end of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Taconite pellets get transferred from rail cars to ore carriers on a series of huge ore docks. One of those docks isn't in use.

Some See Ore-Loading Chutes - - -

Some of the students saw that expanse of unused ore dock, and started thinking. They propose "...transforming the massive structure of wood and steel into a multi-use destination with condos, shops and public recreation space. Their concept even turns the giant ore-loading chutes into bleachers for an outdoor skating arena...."
(December 13, 2012)

Others have plans for parts of Duluth that are unused or hard to maintain. Then there's old Casket Quarry in West Duluth. It's already being used for ice climbing - unofficially. What some students suggest is officially recognizing what's already being done, and re-engineering the place a bit.

Sounds like a plan to the Lemming.

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Lemming Tracks: Designing Better Street Lighting"
  (March 21, 2012)
• "Houston, Texas; Civic Pride; Futuristic Architecture; and Admiral Horatio Nelson"
  (February 1, 2012)
• "Ohio City Dusting Off 1978 Restoration Plan"
  (December 21, 2011)
• "Minneapolis Skyways: Warm Winter Walking"
  (November 9, 2011)
• "This Post is Not About the Royal Wedding"
  (April 28, 2011)

The Lawyer Who Became an Architect

"NZ architect of the year is elevated by emotion"
Claire McCall, nzherald.co.nz (April 4, 2012)

"There's a scene in the classic Coen Brothers' film The Big Lebowski when Walter Sobchak spits out that: 'life does not stop and start at your own convenience'. Architect Lance Herbst can relate to this line from his favourite movie. Herbst Architects has just been named winner in NZ Home magazine's 2012 Home of the Year awards. But architecture was not a calling.

"Herbst may be at the top of his game now but he cannot recount stories of drawing buildings as a youngster or rearranging the spaces of his childhood home in the Constantia Valley, Cape Town.

" 'At school, I took an aptitude test and they said I should be a lawyer.'

"But he left South African College School determined not to be a lawyer, and with very few plans in mind. Herbst was lucky, then, to have a number of good friends who lived in houses that captured his imagination. Built in the 70s, they were examples of LA-style modernism, all low-slung and white.

"When he was invited to architect Ernest Ford's home..."

That's when Lance Herbst discovered that architecture doesn't have to be an exercise in sensory deprivation, or a paean to blank walls and straight lines.

There's more in the article: about Lance Herbst; concentric circles; and a beach with trees. Fascinating stuff. Also, somewhat frustratingly, a photo of Mr. Herbst. But not of any buildings he's designed.

And Now, For Something Completely Different: Aptitude Tests and the Lemming

A sentence in that article took the Lemming back a few dozen years: "At school, I took an aptitude test and they said I should be a lawyer." Aptitude tests are wonderful things, the Lemming's been told, for revealing what course an eager young student should take.

The Lemming took quite a few. One said that the Lemming would make a really good Air Force officer: or hairdresser. No kidding.

So, the Lemming set forth and got jobs as a beet chopper, radio disk jockey, computer operator, historian, and writer. Among other things. Not at the same time, of course.

'And the moral of this story is - - -'

Aptitude tests are, in the Lemming's opinion, useful guides. But if the aptitude test says 'sheepskin pickler,' and someone really wants to be a floral designer? The Lemming thinks it wouldn't hurt to get a job at some florist's, and give that option a shot.

Same goes for someone who's pegged as a floral designer (DOT 142.081-010), and really wants to be a sheepskin pickler (DOT 582.685-126).

Allegedly-related posts:

• "Frank Gehry's Weisman Museum: Surprise?"
  (October 1, 2010)
• "The Varma Mansion: Revisited"
  (May 23, 2010)
• " 'Good architecture really isn't so complicated' "
  (December 26, 2009)
• "Architects, City Planning, Le Corbusier, Pulp Fiction, The Masses, The City of the Future, and Me"
  (December 16, 2009)
• "Antoni Gaudi - Buildings With That Home-Cooked Look"
  (July 15, 2008)

Lemming Tracks: "Sexual Harassment" in the Information Age

The Lemming will be back, later today, with something lighter.

First, though, there are two items from the news that warrant attention. The first is a followup on the latest lunacy from America's government schools. The second is an example of why the Lemming doesn't want laws that force niceness down our throats.

"Sexual Harassment," When Everyone's Looking

This post is about a "sexual harassment" charge that wasn't decently hushed up.

As for what happened to the principal: maybe forcing him into retirement was a bit extreme; maybe not. The Lemming doesn't have enough facts to have an opinion.

Is it possible that the nine-year-old boy is a big meanie, and is to blame for the principal losing his job? Maybe. Maybe not.

Could the mother of the nine-year-old be seeing her son's treatment from the point of view of a parent? Could be.

Anyway, here's the Lemming's rant on what happened in the Gaston County School District.

Ex-Principal: 'It's Not Fair'

"Principal forced to retire amid 9-year-old boy's suspension"
wsoctv.com (December 6, 2011, updated December 7, 2011)

"A Gastonia principal who accused a 9-year-old of sexual harassment retired abruptly Tuesday night.

"Principal Jerry Bostic told Eyewitness News he retired as of 5 p.m.

"He told the Gaston Gazette the Gaston County School District gave him one hour to decide whether to quit or be fired.

" 'One mistake in 44 years, and I'm not given the benefit of the doubt. I really don't believe I was treated fairly,' Bostic told Eyewitness News...."

Maybe what happened to Mr. Bostic really was 'unfair.' "One mistake in 44 years" suggests quite a few things to the Lemming. Several of which are mutually exclusive:

• Mr. Bostic
  • Is 44 years old
  • Has been
    • Employed for 44 years
      • Anywhere
      • In the Gaston County School District
        • In a variety of positions
    • A principal for 44 years
      • With G.S.D.
      • In several school districts
• The 9-year-old's suspension
  • Was Mr. Bostic's only lapse in judgment
  • Something that
    • Didn't happen
    • Wasn't Mr. Bostic's fault
    • Was demanded by School District policy
      • (Remember "zero tolerance?")

Not all of those things could be true, obviously: and the Lemming doesn't have enough facts to have an opinion about how fair - or unfair - Mr. Bostic's dismissal was.

The WSOC TV article clears up one point, right at the end. Mr. Bostic had been with Gaston County Schools for 44 years: 35 as an administrator; 15 at Brookside Elementary.

'Sexual Harassment' and He Said / She Said

The Lemming has done time inside academia, on both sides of the desk. It's possible, in the Lemming's opinion, that folks with the school district are telling the truth. There are other possibilities, too. Back to that WSOC TV article:

"...Chiquita Lockett said her son, Emanyea, was suspended from Brookside Elementary last week for calling a teacher 'cute.'

"The school initially claimed it sexual harassment, adding Emanyea used the word 'fine' in a suggestive tone. School officials said in addition to the comment about the teacher, Emanyea had been warned about calling students bad words...."
(WSOC TV)

Again, the Lemming doesn't have enough facts to sort out what happened from what "the school," Emanyea's mother, and Mr. Bostic:

• Remember
• Wish had actually happened
• Want folks to believe

It's the Lemming's opinion that "the school" would have been well advised to do at least one of the following, before making a public statement:

• Find out what Emanyea actually did
• Think about what should be said in the statement
• Notice which decade we're at

Everybody involved in the "sexual harassment" thing at Brookside Elementary is probably rather tense just now: so it's no wonder that their stories don't match. Or that "the school" seems to have been changing it's version of events as reality intruded.

Which threatens to get the Lemming distracted by the (un) reliability of eyewitness testimony, video cameras, and how not to deal with embarrassing situations. Which is another topic. Topics. Some of which the Lemming ranted about last week:

• "2009 Preakness Beating: Phones, Freedom, and a Ranting Lemming"
  (December 2, 2011)

"Cute," Dictionaries, Sexual Harassment, and Getting a Grip

The word "cute," by itself, can mean quite a few things, including:

1. Princeton's WordNet
   1. Attractive
      • especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness
   2. Obviously contrived to charm
      
2. Google dictionary
   
   1. Attractive in a pretty or endearing way
   2. Sexually attractive
   3. Affectedly or superficially clever

Saying "cute" in some contexts could, using definition 2B, could be considered "sexual harassment."

On the other hand, coming from a 9-year-old, after too many cases of "sexual harassment" being more about snits than sex: someone in the school district should have checked the calendar to see which decade they were in.

Before someone has a stroke: Yes, the Lemming knows that "sexual harassment" happens. Real sexual harassment. The Lemming also remembers when "she's as smart as a man" was supposed to be a compliment.

Moving on.

"We Regret" - That, the Lemming Believes

There's one part of the school district's collective story that the Lemming believes.

Back to WSOC's article:"...The story went viral with reports showing up on Fox News, CNN and the Huffington Post in addition to papers and blogs across the country.

"But Tuesday, the district released a statement apologizing to the family and saying there was no sexual harassment.

" 'We regret this situation happened. The superintendent has attempted to contact the family to offer an apology to the parents and student. The school system is also sending an official letter of apology to the parents and student,' the statement says in part...."
(WSOC TV)

The Lemming has no trouble believing that the school district's leadership regrets that "this situation" happened. It's almost certainly an embarrassment, joining the ranks of exposed bunglers in education.

Particularly since the folks at Brookside Elementary and Gaston County Schools may not have realized how important it is these days, to get your story straight before blurting something out in public.

From Yellow Journalism and Spunky Girl Reporters to Blogs and Camera Phones

There was a time, not many decades back, when American journalism was a rather tidy affair: a gentleman's club, if you will, 'yellow journalism' and 'spunky girl reporters' notwithstanding.

That was then, this is now.

For the last few years, folks of the 'right sort' enjoyed a degree of protection from The Masses. We weren't likely to hear about a nine-year-old accused of sexual harassment, or a teen girl strip-searched, unless we knew the family or lived in the neighborhood.

Ah, those were 'the good old days.' For some folks.

Information technology, and the social structures developing around it, have changed America's 'good old boy' network: and are in the process of ruining the retirement plans of despots in the Middle East and elsewhere.

On the whole, the Lemming likes the "chaos" that happens when The Masses start learning more than what their 'betters' think is good for them.

"Something That Everyone Needed to See"

Before one last excerpt from WSOC TV, some good news about Emanyea.

Now that they're being watched, the school district won't count the suspension against Emanyea; and he'll allegedly get help with catching up on classroom time missed. That's very generous of them, the Lemming thinks. Also an example of enlightened self-interest.

Meanwhile, his mother has something to say:

"...'This is something that everyone needed to see,' Lockett said, 'just to see what's happening within our school systems.'

"Lockett said she will likely pursue legal action...."
(WSOC TV)

The Lemming thinks that America has seen quite enough silly lawsuits: but in this case, Lockett may have a valid point. If she decides to go ahead with legal action, the Lemming hopes she's got documentation for everything, and a lot of money.

Related posts:

• Education's loony side
  
  • "Police Handcuff Dangerous Student! School Protected From Erasable Marker!"
    (April 6, 2010)
  • "Rabbit Terrorism: You Can't Make This Up, Folks"
    (July 27, 2010)
    • In Germany
      • America faces tough international competition for 'craziest school system'
  • "Newark Schools Protected From Dangerous Six-Year-Old and His Cub Scout Gadget"
    (October 16, 2009)
  • "Strip Searching a Teenage Girl: The Wild and Wacky World of School Discipline"
    (June 26, 2009)
  • " 'Fairness' Run Amok in Japanese Schools?"
    (June 7, 2008)
    • I am not making this up
• Assumptions and values
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (July 24, 2009)
  • "Lemming Tracks: Accountability? In Education?!"
    (March 4, 2011)
  • "Lemming Tracks: 'Voting Our Way = Ice Cream' "
    (October 19, 2010)
  • "Home Schooling, Religious and Moral Instruction, and American Culture"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (March 6, 2010)
    Particularly
    • Don't Read the News: Study It
    • NOT ALL CHRISTIANS ARE DOLTS
  • "How to Read the News: Or, Missouri Teen Suicide, Lori Drew, and Victims"
    (December 7, 2007)
  • "Who Needs Facts? Cultural Assumptions and Politics"
• Living in a big world
  • "Chauvinism Knows No Borders"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (July 23, 2011)
  • "Cultural Chaos, Divisiveness, and CNN"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (April 1, 2010)
  • " 'Criticism is Terrorism:' Chavez and Twitter 'Terrorists' "
    (February 1, 2010)
  • "What is an Information Gatekeeper?"
    Another War-on-Terror Blog (August 14, 2009)
  • "Tolerance: Yes, it's a Good Idea"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (August 3, 2009)

Lemming Tracks: Accountability? In Education?!

The Lemming is a self-described "recovering English teacher," with experience on the inside of American academia. Quite a few folks in the academic establishment were, in the Lemming's opinion, fine people. As for the government school system: the Lemming is glad to be out.

That doesn't sound very "apathetic." The Lemming's explained this blog's name, and just what sort of "apathy" you'll find here, in "."

This morning, the Lemming heard someone on the radio mention that the principal and most of the staff had been fired: something to do with the school's abyssal performance. I hadn't been paying attention, and there wasn't anything after that about where the school was.

The Lemming's curiosity was roused, and a Google search yielded - nothing terribly recent.

On the other hand, these articles from last year did turn up in the results:

• "R.I. School That Fired Entire Staff Rehires Them"
  CBSNews.com (May 17, 2010)
• "R.I. School District Agrees to Rehire Fired Teachers"
  Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (May 17, 2010)
• "UPDATE: Entire Beach High School staff to be fired as part of reorganization"
  Savannah Morning News, via savvannahnow.com (March 25, 2010)
• "All teachers, principals fired at poor-performing R.I. high school"
  Douglas Stanglin, USA Today(February 24, 2010)

These are the articles with a comparatively favorable fact-to-fluff ratio. As for the rest, the Lemming doesn't think it's much of an exaggeration to say that firing, and sometimes rehiring, a school's staff is - depending on who you read -

• An appalling affront on the rights of labor
• A long-overdue reminder that teachers should be competent
  • Administrators, too
• Measuring up to standards is
  • Unfair
  • Part of living in the real world

Since the Lemming's been inside the American academic establishment, whole schools failing to make the grade, when it came to teacher competence, was no surprise. Knowing the subjects being taught, and passing that knowledge on to students, hasn't necessarily been a top priority for quite a while. Indoctrinating students in the 'correct' attitudes - but maybe we've gotten beyond that.

Before anyone has a stroke, the Lemming's household, here in central Minnesota, has a good working relationship with the local school system. The folks running the place are okay, and do, in the Lemming's opinion, a pretty good job of teaching skills and passing along knowledge.

And all of the Lemming's kids who survived to school age decided they'd prefer home schooling, starting with grade seven. Home schooling? It may not be what you think it is. (A Catholic Citizen in America (May 20, 2010)

The Lemming's been a high school teacher: and the prospect of having job performance evaluated on the bases of what a few dozen teenagers absorb from your efforts isn't exactly a calming thought.

On the other hand, the Lemming thinks there's more than paying union dues to being a good teacher.

A problem that the Lemming sees with the idea of 'teacher accountability' is that folks working in the government schools will be evaluated by what some bunch of federal bureaucrats thinks looks good on their performance reviews.

Maybe the Lemming is being too cynical.

Apathy, 'Apathetic Lemming' style:

• " 'Search Neutrality:' Deciding What We're Allowed to Find?"
  (January 22, 2011)
• "American Midterm Elections, Reuters, the AP, and Me"
  (November 2, 2010)
• "Sandalwood Farms: A 'Radical' Idea Whose Time has Come?"
  (October 17, 2010)
• "FCC, Internet, Rules, Technology, and Business"
  (June 21, 2010)
• "EEEK! Synthetic Organisms From DARPA!"
  (February 7, 2010)

Shirley Booth Didn't Kill Lincoln at a Ford Dealership?

"A textbook case of stupid?"
Robert Basler, Oddly Enough blog (January 3, 2011)

"I feel I have been slighted, and I must speak my bitterness.

"Let me back up for a moment. The Washington Post has been reporting on textbooks being used in some Virginia schools which are riddled with errors about history.

"The numerous mistakes include the wrong number of states in the Confederacy during the Civil War, the wrong year the U.S. entered World War I, etc.

"One historian came up with a list of textbook errors 10 pages long, 'including inaccurate claims that men in Colonial Virginia commonly wore full suits of armor.'

"Several of these books were written by a New Yorker, who the Post says is not a trained historian. Apart from the textbooks, she is also the author of works such as, 'Oh, Yikes! History's Grossest, Wackiest Moments.'

"So now I guess you can see why I'm upset with the State of Virginia...."

Mr. Basler, you see, has a book to sell. Two, actually.

And his potential contributions to the education of America's youth are, somewhat sadly in the Lemming's opinion, being ignored by education officials. Mr. Basler has a solution to that oversight:

"...But don't just take my word for it, Virginia education officials.

"In a few days you will receive Volume One of my own U.S. history textbook, ending in 1867 when actress Shirley Booth pushed President Abraham Lincoln off that balcony to his death at a Ford dealership here.

"All I ask is that you take off your suits of armor, sit back and have a look at it...."

The Lemming was in the education racket once: and unless things have changed a great deal, it is the Lemming's opinion that the kids are okay. Few had the Lemming's unquenchable (if somewhat unfocused) thirst for knowledge. But several decades back most of the teens taught by the Lemming were able to pick up the basics of whatever subject was taught.

It's unlikely, in the Lemming's opinion, that homo sapiens sapiens has changed all that much in about a third of a century.

From the look of it, American education hasn't changed all that much, either. Not the government schools, anyway.

Which is why the Lemming's household started homeschooling. And that's another topic.

Sort-of-related posts:

• "Top Eight Goofiest Photos, 2010? Quite Likely"
  (December 13, 2010)
• "Top Ten Goofy 2010 True Stories: From the Oddly Enough Blog"
  (December 7, 2010)
• "Flying Cucumber? Psychedelic Skyrocket? Dress?!"
  (July 26, 2010)
• "Frankenmodel: Or, 'After This Job, You Die' "
  (January 29, 2010)
• "Rental Wedding Guests, And Other Weirdness"
  (June 9, 2009)

Serious posts about home schooling and an alternative:

• "School District Celebrates Religious Freedom Day: By Banning Bibles"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (July 1, 2010)
• "American History Textbooks: Good for Schools, Good for Home Schooling"
  (April 17, 2010)
• "Police Handcuff Dangerous Student! School Protected From Erasable Marker!"
  (April 6, 2010)
• "Lemming Tracks: Home Schooling isn't What You May Think"
  (March 31, 2010)
• "Home Schooling, Religious and Moral Instruction, and American Culture"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (March 6, 2010)

'My Dog Ate My Blog?!'

Well, that's interesting:

My Dog Ate My Blog
"Almost Educational!"

Here's what their "About Us" page has to say:

"My Dog Ate My Blog is the creation of editors, writers, and marketers in the education industry looking for an outlet for their general creativity and immaturity.

"Our writers and contributors will be focusing on the categories of politics, technology, and pop culture, with an (almost) educational spin. If those topics don't sound appealing to you, well, we're at a loss. You are officially on the wrong blog...."

Okay: that's not all of what they say on that page: I'm trying to encourage you to go look for yourself.

One of their author's bios reads, "I'm red-green color blind and I abhor cheese. Jealous?"

This is not your stuffy, dry, prolixity-prone potpourri of pompous pedantry.

If you consider a day indubitably ill-spent if you don't read a sentence without words like 'ameliorate' or 'contradistinction:' Like they said, "You are officially on the wrong blog." Unequivocally.

The most recent post, when the Lemming checked, was:

"The Question of Frivolous Lawsuits"
sarah, My Dog Ate My Blog (December 1, 2010)

"Lawyers lurk everywhere. They are the authors of every phrase beginning with 'No purchase necessary,' and of every other long, inscrutable passage that you sign without reading. They are why you can't rent a car, skydive, check your coat, or be on reality television without making a promise not to sue. They are the reason that everything from gym equipment to beaches feature warnings that lifting weights or swimming can result in 'serious injury or death.' Philip K. Howard, the author of the best-selling Life Without Lawyers bemoans all the ways in which lawyers have ruined everything fun. In his view, lawyers have ripped the see-saws out of playgrounds (too dangerous), banned tag from recess, stopped tree-climbing–and soon, he implies, will bring an end to laughing, singing, dancing, and joy...."

Long paragraphs aside, it's a well-written piece. With the occasional factual error: like "...Each Halloween, parents across the country unwrap and inspect their children's candy out of a fear that some sick and sadistic neighbor has poisoned it. Many parents won't let their kids trick-or-treat alone for fear that someone will kidnap them right off the front stoop. These events would be horrifying international news stories if they ever actually happened–they never have...."
(emphasis mine)

That's technically accurate.

Joseph Wetterling, for example, wasn't on his front stoop: he was snatched from the driveway of his home in 1989. And it wasn't Halloween. (ABC News: more at Jacob Wetterling Resource Center, Jacob Wetterling Foundation)

I don't recall reading or hearing about poisoned Halloween candy. Not recently, anyway. Several decades back, though, the occasional pin or razor blade turned up in a treat. Sometimes that made the news - but like I said, it was several decades back, and some of them were hoaxes. Snopes.com recalls the 2000 case in Minneapolis, when someone with the unlikely name of James Joseph Smith put needles in Snickers Bars. The source Snopes cites is "Man Charged with Putting Needles in Halloween Candy," The Associated Press, Minneapolis Star Tribune (November 2, 2000).

Back when the Lemming was doing time in academia, I learned to research - carefully - before I used terms like "never" or "always." I haven't tracked the Smith case back through Minnesota's criminal records - but it does look like that 'never have' is a little optimistic.

Still - it's a pretty good read.

And the central point, that a calm approach to emotional cases is a good idea, is valid: in the Lemming's opinion. The supporting evidence? Well, can't have everything.

One more thing: My Dog Ate My Blog (love that name - it's memorable and funny) has a good, mnemonic / easy-to-remember URL: mydogatemyblog.com - that redirects you to http://www.guidetoonlineschools.com/blog. The guidetoonlineschools.com website, also has a memorable URL, since it's the - what else? Guide to Online Schools website.

The Lemming is running out of 'today,' when it comes to getting today's posts written, so - moving on.

Lemming Tracks: 'Voting Our Way = Ice Cream'

The basic idea is okay: giving students an idea of what voting was like.

How that idea was executed? Well, the Lemming has discussed "apathy" before.

"Lawsuit: CPS pushing Democrats"
OH Courts, Cincinnati.com (October 18, 2010)

"Three van loads of Hughes High students were taken last week – during school hours – to vote and given sample ballots only for Democratic candidates and then taken for ice cream, a Monday lawsuit alleges.

"The complaint was made by Thomas Brinkman Jr., a Republican candidate for Hamilton County auditor, and the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending & Taxes against Cincinnati Public Schools.

" 'They plan to bring four more high schools (to vote) this week,' Christopher Finney, COAST attorney, said Monday after filing the suit.

"It seeks a temporary restraining order to prevent school officials from participating or helping students participate in partisan politics during school hours or with school property or employees involved.

"But the school district's lawyer denies any school connection.

" 'No CPS personnel engaged in the promotion of candidates or any political party, CPS attorney Mark Stepaniak noted in a written release.

"CPS spokeswoman Janet Walsh said taking students on school time to vote has been done before. 'It has to be scrupulously nonpartisan,' Walsh said...."

Given the sort of Monty Python logic the Lemming has come to expect from American courts, Cincinnati's government schools may very well win this one.

Particularly if the ballots just happen to be destroyed, and someone speaks with the students and their parents about graduation requirements. No evidence? No testimony? No conviction.

Is it unthinkable: that a school system, or some folks in the system, would destroy evidence and threaten witnesses? The Lemming would like to think so.

But then, the Lemming would like to think that 'religious freedom' day wouldn't be celebrated by banning Bibles. (A Catholic Citizen in America (July 1, 2010))

We live in interesting times.

Rewarding Desired Behavior: That's Smart

The idea of associating ice cream with voting, though: that's smart. And makes sense. Providing some sort of treat after a child has performed action is a way to reinforce desired behavior. Parents used that sort of practical psychology for a very long time. Up to around 50 years ago. What's fashionable in child-rearing now, in America, the Lemming doesn't know.

'Non Partisan,' 'Educational,' and Voting With Your Feet

This sort of 'non-partisan,' 'educational' activity is one reason why this family home schooled (and are home-schooling, in one case) our kids in graded 7 through 12. Their choice, by the way.

Posts touching on American education:

• "Beaten High Schooler to be Home Schooled"
  (April 9, 2008)
• "School District Celebrates Religious Freedom Day: By Banning Bibles"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (July 1, 2010)
• "Home Schooling: Students Miss the 'Socialization' "
  A Catholic Citizen in America (May 28, 2010)
• "Home Schooling: It May Not be What You Think"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (May 20, 2010)
• "Police Handcuff Dangerous Student! School Protected From Erasable Marker!"
  (April 6, 2010)
• "Lemming Tracks: Home Schooling isn't What You May Think"
  (March 31, 2010)
• "Home Schooling, Religious and Moral Instruction, and American Culture"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (March 6, 2010)
  Particularly
  NOT ALL CHRISTIANS ARE DOLTS

Teachers in Space! Almost. Sort of.

"2,000 Ping Pong Balls in Zero G, And Not a Paddle in Sight "
Space.com (October 8, 2010)

"Here's something you don't see every day: 2,000 ping pong balls and 30 middle-school teachers floating around in zero gravity.

"This weightless snapshot was taken in the skies above Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, to capture a moment when teachers were demonstrating Newton's laws of motion for their students.

"The recent zero gravity jaunt was part the Weightless Flights of Discovery program, an effort to engage middle-school students in science and math. Weightless Flights, in its fifth year, is led by aerospace and defense firm Northrop Grumman...."

The Lemming prefers terms like 'free fall:' but that's probably nitpicking. Looks like the teachers are having fun - and recording the moment, in at least one case. A video would probably be best for classroom use.

Weightless Flights of Discovery are a sort of teachers-only version of what NASA provided on the Vomit Comet, back in 1999. (AVweb (September 6, 1999))

Bouncing 30 middle-school teachers and 2,000 ping-pong balls through these parabolic flight spreads the experience around - albeit vicariously. The Lemming figures that this looks like a lot of fun for the teachers - and will probably do until we have field trips for this sort of thing. Again.

More:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

Geisel Library: University of California, San Diego's Big Glass Landmark

"UC San Diego's Geisel Library Named Among 25 Most Modern Libraries in World"
UC San Diego Libraries (July 21, 2008)

"Iconic Flagship Building is One of Only Two Academic Libraries Worldwide to Make the List

"Geisel Library, the University of California, San Diego's main library building, has been named one of the 25 most modern libraries in the world. The distinctive modernist building, which resembles a hovering spaceship, was noted—along with the others on the list compiled by www.bestcollegesonline.com—for 'sleek architecture and the latest technology.'

"Geisel Library was designed in 1970 by architect William Pereira, who was renowned for his futuristic, space-age designs, including the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. The reinforced concrete and glass library building, which houses four of the university's nine libraries, rises eight levels above the ground in an inverted pyramid...."

No question about it: that's a library with a distinctive shape.

I'm not convinced that it's the most efficient design for a library: but it sure does look impressive. From the photos, it looks like folks using the library have to climb at least one level's worth of steps, just to get to the first working floor of shelving: but I suppose part of the collection could be stored in the pedestal.

Or maybe there are escalators. Or elevators.

Still: that's a highly distinctive, and memorable, design.

More photos, from Dan Hyde at Bucknell University:


(from Dr. Suess and UCSD Library, San Diego, California Trip, Wednesday June 27, 2001, By Dan Hyde, used w/o permission)

More:

• "About the Geisel Library Building"
  UC San Diego Libraries
• "Dr. Suess and UCSD Library, San Diego, California Trip"
  Dan Hyde (June 27, 2001)
• "GEISEL LIBRARY HEATING, VENTILATING, AND AIR CONDITIONING (HVAC) ISSUES QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS"
  UC San Diego (December 15, 1995)
• "UCSD Geisel Library"
  360° panoramic photography by Michael R Wheeley

Age of the Earth, Illustrated: Almost A Century Ago

The Lemming thought that a chart that went with this article looked a little cool. Also, for me, nostalgic. I remember seeing illustrations like that in my school textbooks.

If the science presented here seems a little - dated? - you've been paying attention. The bibliography at the end of RLM's piece is mostly from the second and third decades of the 20th century. We've learned a little more since then.

"The Geological Succession of Life in Kentucky"
Roy Lee Moodie, University of Kentucky

"The origin of the earth, from the viewpoint of geology and astronomy, is best accounted for by the Planetesimal Hypothesis, which is to the effect that, the earth, instead of originally being a molten mass, grew to its present form by the accretion of cold bodies from outer space. When the earth had attained about two-thirds its present size it is held that there was enough attractive force to retain a warm blanket of atmosphere. The presence of living things then became possible; simple plants and animals may then have begun to live.

"AGE OF THE EARTH

"The age of the earth is usually expressed in terms of millions of years, but such statements are largely meaningless since none of us can comprehend the vast stretches of time indicated by even a million years. It will help somewhat to understand the meanings of geological time if we say that the Mammoth Cave, in Edmonson County, had been in existence for many thousands of years when the most ancient Egyptians were first entering the Nile Valley, long before any of the pyramids had been thought of, thousands of years before the city of Babylon was built. Huge mountain chains had arisen and were worn down long before the waters of the earth had dissolved the first tiny crevice of the colossal cavern. When we realize that solid rock blocks creep down a slope at the rate of about one inch a century, or that a thousand years may bring about almost imperceptible changes in earth's feature, then we gain some concept of the meaning of geological time.

"DIVISIONS OF GEOLOGICAL TIME
"DIAGRAMMATIC SECTION OF EARTH'S CRUST


(From UKY, used w/o permission)
"Fig. 2. Kentucky geological history occupies only the middle part of the geological column shown here...."

I'll repeat that last bit: "...Kentucky geological history occupies only the middle part of the geological column shown here...." Since there are seven divisions of time in the chart, the middle part would be the Paleozoic. Which, again according to the chart, would be under a maximum thickness of 98,000 feet of rock.

That's about 18½ miles.

I'd make a crack about the paper assuming that the surface of Kentucky was over a dozen miles below sea level - but let's get real. The chart says maximum thickness.

Given what was known at the time, the ideas presented in that paper weren't particularly crazy. But scientists of that era kept collecting and analyzing data, which is what they're supposed to do. There are reasons why geologists eventually gave up on the Planetesimal Hypothesis. Which is another topic.

This page, by the way, is part of an online publication of a 1931 symposium.

The Kentucky Paleontological Society, on the same site, a directory or two up, or over, or down - depending on your frame of reference - is more up-to-date.Related posts, at

• "Change, American Culture, Trilobites, Humanity's History, and the Big Picture"

Rabbit Terrorism: You Can't Make This Up, Folks

"Court rejects teacher's suit against student for 'rabbit terrorism' "
The Local, Germany's News in English (July 10, 2010)

"A German court on Tuesday threw out the case of a schoolteacher against a pupil who allegedly tormented her by scrawling pictures of rabbits on the blackboard to aggravate her rabbit phobia.

"The court in Vechta, northern Germany declined to hear the complaint by the 60-year-old geography teacher, who was seeking an injunction against the 16-year-old girl to stop her from making the drawings or spreading rumours that the plaintiff had a paralysing fear of rabbits....

So, naturally, the teacher takes the teen to court. Because rabbits don't bother her at all. And nobody is supposed to say that they do.

Back to the article:

"...Chief Judge Hermann Pieper did not give a reason for the ruling, but said the case was business as usual. The teacher, who did not appear in court, has the option to appeal...."

"...Two years ago at another school, the teacher took a pupil to court in a similar case and reached a settlement in which the teenager agreed never again to claim that the plaintiff 'freaked out' when she saw a rabbit or heard the word...."

The alleged rabbit terrorist had been at the school where this teacher was absolutely not bothered by rabbits at all, when the previous rabbit incident occurred. So maybe the teen plotted to make witnesses see the teacher break down, sobbing, when she wasn't at all bothered by a picture of a rabbit.

If this sounds crazy, you probably don't live in Germany. Apparently this sort of thing isn't all that unusual in that country:

"...Judge Pieper said that while the case may seem curious to outsiders, 'mobbing and strife in the schools' were frequently brought before the court."

I don't know what to think of that teacher. If she's really terrified of rabbits, the word rabbit, or a picture of a bunny rabbit on a blackboard: a school full of teenagers is among the last places she should be. For her sake, and that of the teens.

If she's not, and just likes to yank someone's chain: she missed a great opportunity. By watching a copy of Night of the Lepus (1972, MGM), she could have gone to court and sued MGM for everything they've got.

On consideration, though: that would probably mean traveling to America - and I'm not sure that the courts here are quite as eager to jump on those 'emotional pain and trauma' cases any more.

---

A tip of the hat to irish_brigid, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this article.

Another Martian Cave: Discovered by Seventh Graders

"7th-Graders Discover Mysterious Cave on Mars"
Space.com (June 21, 2010)

"A group of seventh-graders in California has discovered a mysterious cave on Mars as part of a research project to study images taken by a NASA spacecraft orbiting the red planet.

"The 16 students from teacher Dennis Mitchell's 7th-grade science class at Evergreen Middle School in Cottonwood, Calif., found what looks to be a Martian skylight — a hole in the roof of a cave on Mars.

"The intrepid students were participating in the Mars Student Imaging Program at the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University. The program allows students to frame a research question and then commission a Mars-orbiting camera to take an image to answer their question...."


(from NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU, via Space.com, sued w/o permission)
"California 7th graders discovered this Martian pit feature at the center of the superimposed red square in this image while participating in a program that enables students to use the camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. The feature, on the slope of an equatorial volcano named Pavonis Mons, appears to be a skylight in an underground lava tube"

The working assumption now is that the Martian 'skylight' is in the top of a lava tube: the sort of feature we see in places like Hawaii, where there's a volcano nearby.

That pit is a new discovery, but it isn't the first of its kind: there's another, spotted earlier, on Pavonis Mons.

Still, it's an uncommon feature - and one that may give us a look 'inside' Mars. Back to the article:

"...The students have submitted their site to be further imaged by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which could reveal enough detail to see inside the hole in the ground...."

I remember being in seventh grade - and we weren't doing class projects with NASA then, or asking a robot spaceship to take another picture of something we'd found. On Mars.

This is an exciting time to be living in.

Related posts:

• "A Hole in the Ground! Big Deal? It's on the Moon"
  (January 2, 2010)
• "The Caves of Mars"
  (October 26, 2009)

---

Other posts, about "Mars, Mostly."

Related posts, at

• "A Serious Search for Other Worlds, Life, and - Maybe - Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence"

American History Textbooks: Good for Schools, Good for Home Schooling

Project Special Education

"For teachers who are not scientists, historians, or experts in sex education: but are teaching these subjects to special students anyway, Project Special Education (PSE) offers a solution.

"Project Special Education's DATELINE: America, PROJECT EXPLORE and IMAGES are a fresh and effective way to teach your special students about American history, science, and human sexuality.

"Content-rich texts, reinforcement-oriented exercises, and exciting reading keep students interested, and help them learn...."

I'm Biased: I Think This Stuff's Good

I worked at Project Special Education's sister company, Vocational Biographies, for about 20 years, so my opinion that parts of this website, like the 'multilogo' over there, are pretty cool.

Of course, I would think so: I assembled the thing from pre-existing artwork.

And I think that Project Special Education's Dateline: America product is pretty good. Again, I would: I had a small part in producing the original.

That was then, this is now.

I haven't worked at Vocational Biographies since the spring of 2006, but I get called back now and again when one of the companies have something for me to do on their websites. I was back this week, with a little updating on their page about Dateline: America.

Somebody Publishes History Textbooks: So What?

The whole Project Special Education line of products is, I think, valuable for people teaching secondary-level students who are fairly smart, but didn't keep up with reading skills. There's a sort of explanation on the P.S.E. "What is Project Special Education?" page.

I'm particularly interested in the American history series, because my first major was in history - and in my opinion the subject often isn't handled all that well. Sure: it's possible to kill interest in history by reducing it to a dusty series of unrelated names and dates. (Imagine how popular soccer might be, if kids were forced to memorize the names of every team to make the world cup, before they were allowed to see a grainy photo of a soccer ball.)

Dateline: America isn't like that. It probably isn't the ultimate resource for teaching history to high schoolers. But until you find that academic El Dorado, I think it'll do. And checking it out won't take more than a minute or two:

• Dateline: America

Am I 'pushing' Dateline: America? Yeah, actually, I am.

Most of Project Special Education's customers when I worked for the companies were traditional schools. Dateline, America is a pretty good resource for parents who home school their kids, too. It's designed for teachers, by people who were teachers themselves - or at least understood what's involved - so most of the preparation is already done.

And yes: it works for home schooling. That's not a guess: all four of our kids have been (or are being) home-schooled from seventh grade through high school graduation. And we're using Dateline: America for the American history units. It works.

Don't let the "special education" part of the name fool you: it's not 'dumbed down' geared for stupid kids.

What sets the Project Special Education products apart from most high school texts is that they're designed for easy reading.

Let's put it this way: although utilizing polysyllabic vocabulary and assemblages of sentences whose structures are not only of unnecessary, but of superfluously elaborate, complexity may impress and bedazzle - Writing simple statements is better.

Better, that is, if the idea is to inform.

Dang! I was going to work "pleonastic redundancy" into that jaw-breaker of a sentence. Oh, well: You get the idea, I think.

Vaguely-related posts:

• "Police Handcuff Dangerous Student! School Protected From Erasable Marker!"
  (April 6, 2010)
• "Lemming Tracks: Home Schooling isn't What You May Think"
  (March 31, 2010)
• "Ötzi, Tattoos, Acupuncture, and Things We Don't Know"
  (March 5, 2009)
• "Worst High School Analogies, plus Gilbert and Sullivan"
  (August 29, 2007)

Lemming Tracks: Home Schooling isn't What You May Think

---

WARNING

The Lemming went on a rant in this post. Not only that, but you'll find it just simply crawling with Catholic cooties. If you like your assumptions conventional, and aren't particularly partial to reality checks, I suggest you avoid this post and check back in about an hour.

The Lemming will try to find a photo of a cute rabbit or something for the next post

---

"Home Schooling, Religious and Moral Instruction, and American Culture"
A Catholic Citizen in America (March 6, 2010)

"I'm one of those home-schooling parents you hear about from time to time. Oddly enough, the ones I know aren't particularly outstanding for being poor, uneducated and easily led: and do not intentionally wallow in self-righteous ignorance.

"But what do I know? I'm one of those home-schooling parents you hear about.

"Sorry: That's about as close to a rant as I allow myself...."

That's a post from another one of my blogs. And yes: I'm one of those people. My kids were home schooled from grade seven through high school graduation.

One of them's about to graduate from a tech school and is going into commercial art, another graduated from Concordia with a music degree, a third is a writer and musician, and my son is pretty good at writing software and debugging computers. He's 13, so he may decide to go in another direction, which is also okay with me.

If he decides to be an auto mechanic, he'll make more money than I ever did.

Which is another topic.

The point is, we are not inbred freaks crawling out of the swamp. Like most home schooling parents, we give a rip about our kids and think that we can do a better job of educating them than the state. It doesn't help that I used to be an English teacher: I know American education from the inside.

The home-schooling parents we know aren't all just like us. But they're smart people, most of them are active in the community, and - this is important - they aren't ignorant crackpots.

Shameless Self-Promotion? Sure, Why Not?

I don't feel too guilty about promoting another one of my blogs here. The topic of this blog is 'cool stuff that I find online,' as my oldest daughter put it.

I don't know how 'cool' that post is: but it presents home schooling in a way that you're not likely to find in the traditional, old-school news services.

Besides, I think some all-too-common American assumptions are overdue for a reality check.

"Religious and Moral Instruction" Means "Fundamentalism"?!

"...The Associated Press apparently came up with 'for most home-school parents, a Bible-based version of the Earth's creation is exactly what they want' from 'Federal statistics from 2007 show 83 percent of home-schooling parents want to give their children "religious or moral instruction." '

"Wow...."

NOT ALL CHRISTIANS ARE DOLTS

"My wife and I gave our children the option of being home schooled for grades 7-12. And yes, part of the reason was 'to give their children "religious or moral instruction." '

"But we're Catholics. For us 'religious and moral instruction' means clueing our kids in on what the Church has taught for about two millennia now, and how God and the prophets worked with Israel's descendants.¹ That's the religious part. The 'moral instruction' includes telling them that snorting cocaine is a really stupid idea, and that obeying the law is a good idea.

" 'Religious and moral instruction' does not mean that we teach them that some dude who looks like Charlton Heston in the role of Moses made everything we can observe in 144 hours, a few thousand years back...."

If that sounds like I got rather heated on the subject: you're quite right. I've known a few people whose spiritual leaders have clinkers in their thinkers about the Bible and what's been learned in the last few hundred years: and who really believe what their preacher says about those 'Satanic' scientist. I've also known a few who might not have ditched Christianity - and all religion - if it hadn't been for the ranting of the first group.

Me? I'm one of those folks who like facts, and prefer it when the facts can be fitted together in some sort of coherent, rational structure. Without trashing most of what's been discovered in the last 2,000 years or so. Which is part of the reason I became a Catholic.

But that's definitely another topic. ("Firebase Earth," A Catholic Citizen in America (April 5, 2009), "Why Did I Convert to Catholicism?," (November 24, 2009), for starters)

Vaguely-related posts:

• "Dinosaurs, Mutant Chickens, Evolution, and Faith in God"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (June 29, 2009)
• "Beaten High Schooler to be Home Schooled"
  (April 9, 2008)

Barnacles, Brains, and Staying Awake

"Barnacles"
Life on Australian Seashores, Marine Education Society of Australiasia (MESA)

"Barnacles are most unusual animals. They are arthropods, in the same major group as insects and spiders, and are most closely related to decapod crabs, prawns, lobsters and yabbies.

"Unlike most of their relations, barnacles are usually fixed to a rocky surface. The larvae go through several distinct swimming stages as plankton, before settling into place onto a rock. The juveniles pick their place to settle because they can detect their adults by chemical means...."

The page is a pretty good introduction to barnacles, with links to related pages on the website and a list of books 'for further reading.' This is definitely a page created as an educational tool, by dedicated academicians. Kudos, for keeping a fairly easy-to-read style - and useful illustrations.

One thing you won't find in the diagram of an adult barnacle's anatomy is a nervous system. There's a reason for that: Although barnacles have a central nervous system, it degenerates a bit when they settle down as adults.

I think most of us have known people like that: folks who dropped into a familiar routine after their teens, and don't seem to have done much with their brains after that.

Never could see the appeal in that sort of life, myself: but then, one of my favorite quotes is "There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person." (G. K. Chesterton, The Quotations Page - quoted May 31, 2009 in this blog)

Enough philosophizing.

More, decidedly not light reading, about barnacle brains:

• "Neurophylogeny: Architecture of the nervous system and a fresh view on arthropod phyologeny"
  Integrative and Comparative Biology, Life Sciences, Oxford Journals (Volume 46, Number 2)

Bubbles!

Bubbles
Exploratorium

"Sticky Water

"The Shape of Bubbles

"When Bubble Meets Bubble

"Soap

"Bubble Colors"

There's more, of course. That's just the splash screen/index for the Exploratorium's section on bubbles.

I've been to the Exploratorium in San Francisco - about three decades back. It was a marvelous place then, and probably still is. The folks who founded it had decided that people learn more if they're able to get involved with processes. Which is a sophisticated way of saying that the Exploratorium encouraged people to wade in and get hands-on with science.

The organizers were careful, of course. The horseshoe crab had a handler who made sure that the weird critter didn't get hurt, for example.

The online section of bubbles should be fun to go through - and 'educational' without making you want to scream.

I checked the page source, and there's quite a lot of text that's supposed to show up on each page. Right now, my browser's not showing any of it, so all I get is a really big white page with pictures like this on it:

Impressive, of course - but without the accompanying text, somewhat arcane.

Well, maybe it's just my system. Although everything I've checked today, before and since, displays correctly. I'll reboot the browser, after posting this.

---

Update (January 23, 2010)

Aha! The background graphic hadn't loaded. And whoever designed the page - or the designer's supervisor - had decided to make the pages' font white. And make the default page background white, too. The background graphic is fairly dark, so the white text shows up just fine. If the page background had been a dark color, it wouldn't have made a difference.

Oh, well.

Teaching Kids to Spell: Yesterday's Fads, Today's Experts, and My Experience

"Top Twelve Spelling Trends and Fads"
Pennington Publishing Blog (September 24, 2009)

"Spelling instruction certainly has had its share of crazy instructional trends and fads. As an author of two spelling books, a reading specialist, and a teacher of elementary school, middle school, high school, and community college students, I have seen my fair share of them over the last thirty years.

"For example, during the height of the whole language movement of the 1980s, California stopped adopting spelling programs and refused to fund the purchase of spelling workbooks. Principals were even encouraged to confiscate spelling workbooks from veteran teachers.

"In the spirit of factcheck.org, I have listed and rated a dozen of the most popular instructional spelling trends and fads over the last thirty years as 'TRUE' or 'FALSE,' in terms of recent spelling research...."

Then there's a list of 12 cool ideas that didn't work out quite the way their fans thought they would. And, a short evaluation of whether or not they were based on fact.

As a recovering English teacher, I recognize a few of the items, like "whole word" spelling. That seemed like a good idea: since good readers and spellers can recognize strings of letters as units - complete words - teach kids to see words that way from the start. Just one problem, the way I see it: recognizing whole words is something a person can do after learning to read and spell.

I'm not sure what I think of "...'TRUE' or 'FALSE,' in terms of recent spelling research." I'm not convinced that "experts" have their heads screwed on straight, just because they published recently.

For example:

"...11. What works for one student to develop conventional spelling ability does not work for every student. Not all students learn how to spell in the same way.

"FALSE Effective spelling instructional strategies work for every student. Differentiated instruction should derive from diagnostic assessment data...."

That "work for every student" doctrine sounds fine - and would be true, if human beings were all identical.

You can get pretty good results by using a technique that works for the 50th percentile most of the time - and labeling the kids who don't learn that way as "trouble makers," "class clowns," or "lazy." It's a little rough on the misfits: but hey, the nice, normal, average kids come through the process just fine.

A Short (?) Personal Digression

Yes, I'm taking #11 a little personally.

I'm pretty good at academics, so my grades only got me into the principal's office once. I've since realized that I've got what I call "trick wiring" in my head, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I also wouldn't wish it on anyone else. It seems to be hereditary - my father was like this, and so are two of my kids. Those two have been known to look at me and say, "thanks, Dad." The way a son or daughter might say, "thanks for making me mow the yard."

During elementary and high school, I learned to stay awake in class, by keeping just enough of my consciousness focused on the teaching process to keep up: and letting the rest of my mind do something more interesting. Like tracking Earth's rotation by observing the movement of the sunlit patch of floor, or thinking about the floor plan of the school, or studying the shape of the lighting fixtures.

And no, that's not "normal."

People seem to feel better when they've got names for things, so I'll share one of the many names for my trick wiring: Asperger's syndrome. I more-or-less fit almost half of the listed symptoms - so there may be something to it.

One of the signs of Asperger's is "Showing an intense obsession with one or two specific, narrow subjects, such as baseball statistics, train schedules, weather or snakes". (Mayo Clinic) Of course, that's for children.

As an adult, I still have a range of interest that includes only three things: That which

• Exists withing the universe
• Exists beyond
• Might exist

Spelling wasn't all that much of a problem with me, apart from the usual "i before e" stuff: so maybe there is something to the "one size fits all" approach to teaching spelling, after all.

Back to That Quite Interesting Post

The Pennington Publishing Blog post is a pretty good review of the wonderful and weird world of educational fads over the last few decades - and of what the experts are saying right now.

I'm glad I read it: it was an interesting trip down memory lane, and a confirmation that I made the right decision, getting out of education.

Newark Schools Protected From Dangerous Six-Year-Old and His Cub Scout Gadget

"It's a Fork, It's a Spoon, It's a ... Weapon?"
The New York Times (October 11, 2009)

"Finding character witnesses when you are 6 years old is not easy. But there was Zachary Christie last week at a school disciplinary committee hearing with his karate instructor and his mother's fiancé by his side to vouch for him.

"Zachary's offense? Taking a camping utensil that can serve as a knife, fork and spoon to school. He was so excited about recently joining the Cub Scouts that he wanted to use it at lunch. School officials concluded that he had violated their zero-tolerance policy on weapons, and Zachary was suspended and now faces 45 days in the district's reform school...."


(by Mustafah Abdulaziz for The New York Times, used w/o permission)

I hate to think what will happen when the Newark school system administrators discover the weapons potential of human teeth and fingernails.

It's not just Newark, of course. After Columbine and other school killings, "zero-tolerance" became a wonderful way for people in leadership positions to 'solve the problem.' So, teachers who are either as ditsy as the administrators or who want to keep their jobs turn in dangerous thugs like Zachary.

Eventually, I suppose that enough Americans will get fed up with this particular sort of nonsense.

(As I've been explaining quite often lately, the Lemming is "apathetic" only in the sense that I don't care intensely about the, ah, correct things. Kids being sent to reform school for carrying a big, bad camping utensil: that I care about.

Which reminds me of an incident, quite a few years ago, involving the local school, a skunk, a wood pile and some dynamite.

---

A tip of the hat to irish_brigid, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this.

Interior Design: Yes, it Can be Taught

"Interior Design Fact Sheet"
College of Human Development and Education, NDSU (North Dakota State University)

"A professional interior designer is one who is qualified by education and experience to identify, research and creatively solve problems relative to the function and quality of people's interior environments. The course of study in interior design leads to a first professional degree.

"Background Information

"Students pursue courses in aesthetic awareness, visual communication and technical skills that enable them to successfully complete studio projects in residential and commercial interiors including: institutional, entertainment, educational, hospitality, health care, retail and office space. Students learn how to approach design problems through a methodology that includes data gathering, product specification, identification of details, contractual documents and design business procedures...."

I don't think that training will make everyone into good interior designers, any more than I think you can train anyone to be a good auto mechanic or brain surgeon.

On the other hand, a program like what NDSU describes might help someone who wants to become an interior designer pick up skills and knowledge more quickly and efficiently than trying to learn on-the-job.

This fact sheet is a pretty good resource, intended for someone who is considering an interior design career. And, by some of the entries, apparently for someone who is still in high school.

This isn't one of the more exciting pages I've linked to. Actually, the content's a tad on the dry side. I picked this because I'm rather interested in design - interior and otherwise - and this NDSU fact sheet has a very good fact-to-sentence ratio.

Fluffy, it isn't.

A Mouse in the Sky - For Now

"New Mouse Constellation Chosen By Children"
Space.com (July 1, 2009)

"The night sky has a new, albeit temporary, constellation: a mouse dubbed "Wee Sleekit Beastie" by a Scottish schoolgirl.

"The mouse was the winning entry for a competition to design a new constellation for the International Year of Astronomy (IYA 2009), which is this year.

"The mouse (whose named [!] means 'Ode to a Mouse') was created by Laura, a year 7 pupil at Dalmeny Primary School in Edinburgh...."

The brief article gives a brief overview of the program - and describes a clever and, I think, educational way of assigning a star to each school.