Category: Education

Teach Your Children Well

On By Norbert HauptIn Education, Political, Religion4 Comments

Saw this on Facebook today:

No, I do not agree.

Contrary to what many people think, the Pledge has nothing to do with our founding fathers. It was written in August 1892 by the socialist minister Francis Bellamy (1855-1931). It was originally published in The Youth’s Companion on September 8, 1892. Bellamy had hoped that the pledge would be used by citizens in any country.

It didn’t have “the Flag of the United States of America” in it at the time. That was not added until 1923.

“Under God” was added during the Eisenhower administration in 1954 to counteract communism. Bellamy’s daughter objected to that change.

Making children recite memorized slogans in a public forum, under peer pressure, is a form of brainwashing and propaganda. Just like school prayer.

We should give our children the gift of critical thinking. When they know how to think for themselves, they can decide to what and who they should have allegiance for, based on merit, not on memorized slogans, especially if they don’t know the origins of those slogans.

Once they are adults, they should have been exposed to a number of political philosophies and different religions, and it should be an easy and obvious choice for them to decide which ones they want to subscribe to.

Why is DeVos Good for America?

On By Norbert HauptIn Education4 Comments

Please help me understand!

The U.S. Senate just confirmed 51 – 50 the nominee Betsy DeVos for the position of Secretary of Education.

DeVos appears to have little knowledge of our educational system. She has never taught, has no education in “education” and is in fact an outspoken critic of the very system and institution she is now assigned to lead and run.

I understand that not everything our president does is going to be popular with everyone. But DeVos for this position is just so very wrong. How can 50 senators not recognize that? Are all 50 senators willing to sacrifice the education of an entire generation of children just to gain political favors?

It is baffling to me.

Can somebody, please, explain to me why Betsy DeVos should be Secretary of Education?

Please!

Every Teacher in the Country is Throwing up Right Now

On By Norbert HauptIn Education, Feelings2 Comments

throwing-up-over-devos

Betsy DeVos Confirmed as Education Secretary

We now have placed the lives and futures of all the country’s teachers and students into the hands of a dimwit religious rich woman under the leadership of a buffoon.

The Dumbing Down of America is Well Underway and the Oligarchy is Solidified.

Betsy DeVos Wants to Advance God’s Kingdom

On By Norbert HauptIn EducationLeave a comment

The billionaire philanthropist whom Donald Trump has tapped to lead the Education Department once compared her work in education reform to a biblical battleground where she wants to “advance God’s Kingdom.”

Trump’s pick, Betsy DeVos, a national leader of the school choice movement, has pursued that work in large part by spending millions to promote the use of taxpayer dollars on private and religious schools.

— Politico

What a bright outlook.

We are going to use our taxpayer money for “America to become great again” by systematically dumbing down our children so in future generations they will continue to vote for more trickle-down economics, corporate welfare and tax cuts for billionaires.

  • Anthropogenic global warming is a hoax.
  • Evolution is an evil delusion.
  • Human life begins at conception, except when the life is Muslim, an illegal alien in America, black, or homosexual.
  • Science is bad unless it’s studying fossil fuel advancement.

Ok, enough from my soap box today.

The Phenomenal Dumbing Down of America and the SpaceX Hoax

On By Norbert HauptIn Crack-Ups, Education, Science, Technology1 Comment

Check out this video and PLEASE tell me that this is a parody!

Then read down into the YouTube comments below (which I have often warned here never to do) and see how many people support these idiotic statement made in this video. Even if the person posting this video does it as a parody, these people commenting certainly don’t get it.

How can there be people in the United States, moving a mouse causing movement of cursor on a computer screen hosted by YouTube, sent to their house via satellite from some data center in Sweden, that do not believe the earth is a sphere? Do these same people use GPS in their cars?

I don’t think there is anyone outside of the United States that would buy into such batshit crazy nonsense. Europeans certainly aren’t. They are too busy building BMWs, and particle accelerators, and watches. The Chinese certainly aren’t. They are too busy building EVERYTHING.

I was at Home Depot yesterday, buying a replacement rod for blinds (made in China) and a few washers (made in China). Everything at Home Depot is made in China. Everything at WalMart. Everything at Sears. EVERYTHING. It’s because Chinese kids go to school 260 days a year and they’re not wasting time debunking science. The Chinese are busy teaching science.

Then there is our friend the dumbing-down-America in chief, Donald Trump. He is going to make America great again. Just trust him. He’s gonna do it. And he’s gonna build a wall, and Mexico is gonna pay for it. Because he’s a business man. He knows how to build great buildings.

Go vote for Trump. Make America dumber yet!

And then tell me this video is a parody, so I can rest again.

 

Proposed Illinois Law Would Deny Birth Certificate to Children of Single Mothers

On By Norbert HauptIn Education5 Comments

Illinois Republican representatives John D Cavaletto and Keith Wheeler sponsored a bill that would amend the state’s Vital Records Act:

‘…provides that if the unmarried mother cannot or refuses to name the child’s father, either a father must be conclusively established by DNA evidence or, within 30 days after birth, another family member who will financially provide for the child must be named, in court, on the birth certificate.’

‘Provides that absent DNA evidence or a family member’s name, a birth certificate will not be issued and the mother will be ineligible for financial aid from the State for support of the child.’

As if single mothers were not already victimized enough in our society! Now let’s victimize the children, too!

I agree, it should not be the responsibility of the public to take care of the children fathered by irresponsible men and their victimized women. It is not acceptable to father children and then not take responsibility for them. Young women should evaluate whether they can afford children before they have them. Society should not have to pay for the children of deadbeat fathers.

But denying them birth certificates is outright bizarre. How exactly does that solve any problem, but create even more hardships for the most exposed and vulnerable people in our society?

It is education that solves this problem. Teaching young men a sense of responsibility. Making birth control available to young women. Subsidizing birth control (by funding organizations like Planned Parenthood) is a huge preventative measure and immensely cheaper than welfare for the victims. Family planning should be part of every curriculum in high school. Condoms should be readily available to girls.

It’s all about education folks!

Childcare Costs and the Minimum Wage

On By Norbert HauptIn Education14 Comments

I have been vocal about my opposition to raising of the minimum wage in these pages. Type “Minimum Wage” in the search box above for more links.

Here is an example from the real world. I happen to work in the subsidized childcare business. In California, as cited in this example, and all around the country, low-income families receive assistance for their childcare costs if their income is below a given threshold as it relates to family size. These programs have been in place since welfare reform under the Clinton administration in the mid 1990s. Overall, the programs have been very successful, as they benefit the children, who are not at fault that their parents are poor, or irresponsible, or didn’t plan well. Money put into education is many times more effective than money put into the correctional system later – if education failed. But that is a subject for another article.

We have a system in place where low-income people get assistance with their childcare. If such a low-income worker gets an “artificial raise” due to an increased minimum wage, that raise can easily move the person out of the current income threshold for free childcare and now the parent has to contribute to the childcare cost.

This could mean that in the end, the parent may actually end up with less money in her pocket than before. The only difference is: The state does not pay anymore, it’s the employer that does. The state saves the expense, and in pretty much all cases the money will be used to sponsor another needy family and child, one that was on the waiting list for funds and care slots.

Artificial tinkering with a balanced system does not work in nature, and usually it does not work in economics, and the side-effects of artificially inflating somebody’s pay go much further and have more ripple-effect than meets the eye. This was just one example.

P.S:

The article has some inaccuracies, one of which I thought I should point out:

Alerna Capiro is now paying the child care fee. She hires her mother, Etelvina Capiro, to babysit her 2-year-old. The state pays Etelvina a nominal amount for that care. Why does grandma do it? She said because it is her granddaughter.

The grandmother that takes care of the child is considered by the state a “license-exempt provider.” In some states those providers are also called “informal providers.” There is a regional market rate at which the state reimburses such providers, and it is not at all “nominal.” It can be significant. There is an entire sizable childcare provider community based on informal providers around the country, and in some states more funds go to informals than formal providers.

 

A Well-Deserved Spanking

On By Norbert HauptIn Education1 Comment

I saw this today in my Facebook feed.

Well Deserved Spanking

Yes, some of us grew up in environments where spanking was practiced. I received a spanking or two when I was a child. But I must say that I always thought they were ridiculous. My parents did not score points when they spanked me. They looked progressively weaker. Fortunately, I can’t remember more than three of four occasions. On one, it was my grandfather. But all that is anecdotal.

My question to those who agree with this slogan and share it: Who decides what a well-deserved spanking is? The child? The parent? Who decides?

And who protects the children?

Having been around social workers, childcare providers, educators and child advocates for most of my career, I believe that there are too many stark raving batshit crazy parents out there beating up their helpless children because they — well, they deserved a good spanking.

If a parent has to resort to beating, that parent likely has never learned how to properly educate, and the well-deserved spanking today just needs to be followed up by another one tomorrow — because the damn kid never learns.

Minimum Wage Hikes are a Terrible Idea

On By Norbert HauptIn Business, Commentaries, Education9 Comments

In 2013, the average Pizza Hut restaurant had revenue of $861,000. I just went to a Pizza Hut restaurant in New York State a few weeks ago, and my bill was about $24, tip not included. So if that restaurant served 100 people like me a day, it would add up to about $861,000 for the year. It all sounds reasonable.

A Pizza Hut restaurant is not much different from a McDonalds, or a Subway, or any other fast food restaurant. If they do more than a million dollars a year, it’s phenomenal. Most are struggling along. Many barely make it.

Having government raise the minimum wage from say $8 to $15, almost doubling the payroll, will surely put many restaurants out of business. Many are starting to add kiosks now so customers can order on a screen, without a human assisting. I have seen kiosks on tables at Olive Garden, I have ordered at a kiosk at Panera, and I recently saw that McDonalds is adding kiosks for customers.

Raising the minimum wage on restaurants for low-skilled or unskilled laborers is not solving the problem. We like to talk about everyone “deserving a living wage.” Those rich employers just have to make it work. Tell that to the owner of the Pizza Hut, who barely makes ends meet, and sometimes has loss years because he can’t get enough customers every day (remember, he needs a 100 every day of the year).

There are people with college degrees working as paramedics, firemen, teachers and yes, soldiers, who start out making $16 an hour. That’s what these jobs pay at the entry level. Compare that to the skill you need to flip a burger – something you can learn in a few days, and tell me again that everyone “deserves” $15 an hour.

It just does not work that way.

Forcing employers to pay higher wages to low-skilled employees inflates their costs and ends up with one of two results:

  1. They go out of business since they can’t make ends meet.
  2. They lay off staff or shorten their hours and bring in kiosks or other automation.

Both result in job loss. Fewer service jobs. More unemployment for low-skilled workers. More dependency on government handouts. Fewer jobs in the country. Higher prices for basic goods and services.

Raising the minimum wage for low-skilled workers sounds like a noble thing. After all, everyone “deserves a living wage.”

Nonsense.

Those that obtain an education and plan a career where workers are needed and therefore the pay is high will get that higher pay.

We have a terrible shortage of doctors, nurses, engineers, computer programmers, and many other professional careers that pay six figures each. Nobody deserves a living wage. The economy, the collective “all of us” are willing to pay doctors, nurses, engineers and computer programmers a lot of money because those jobs are hard, they are stressful, they have long hours, and they require many years of education.

The solution to our economic problems are not government subsidies, or regulatory interference. That never works. The solution to our problems is education.

But education is hard work.

Why Early Education is Important

On By Norbert HauptIn Education2 Comments

Last week I had the good fortune and honor to be in the audience when the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, addressed a roomful of early education professionals. It was refreshing to hear a cabinet-level person talk about the federal government’s commitment to early education.

Early education in the United States has been a stepchild program for many decades. Many people view it as babysitting. This has kept salaries for preschool teachers and daycare workers low, and it has kept adequate funding both at the state and federal level to a minimum. This has been a very misguided strategy and it has helped lead to the decline of our educational system in general, and an erosion of our competitiveness with the rest of the world. If we don’t teach our kids when they are little, they never learn how to learn, they perform poorer in high school, they don’t go to college, and all too often they end up in prison.

Brain research has shown that an infant forms about 700 neural connections a second. In a ten-hour day, that makes over 25 million new connections. So if you drop your baby off at daycare at 7:00 in the morning and pick him up at 5:00 in the afternoon, you are carrying 25 million more connections home than you dropped off.

Have those connections been formed by cognitive stimulation that a professional educator can provide? Or did your baby sit in some room all day, staring at the compelling distractions and commercials on a television screen?

Research also has found that educational level and income of parents are mirrored by their children’s performance in school. Children growing up in poorer households tend to do more poorly in school. Children of richer parents do better.

This is a powerful reason why our nation should be investing heavily in its human infrastructure. The children born today will be our CEOs, our politicians, and our teacher in 40 years. Will they be competitive with those in China? It costs some $8,000 a year to pay for a child in preschool. It costs society $50,000 a year to support a single prisoner. What is the better investment?

I often hear the conservative argument that we should not subsidize early education because it just encourages deadbeat people to “breed” more at the expense of the rest of us. To this I ask the question: Is it the child’s fault that the parent was a deadbeat, or a single teen mother, or a drug addict? Of course not. The child was simply not lucky enough to be born as the child of a rich or educated person.

If you count the 25% of the brightest and most successful children in China, the number is larger than all the children we have. If we want to be competitive with China in this century, we cannot “waste” a single child, a single brain, a single day of 25 million more neural connections.

Early education is not just babysitting. It’s the foundation of the health of our nation, the basis upon which our economy will rest 20 years hence, and the prerequisite for the tax base that will support us when we are old. Early education is really important.

 

 

 

 

 

 

American Anti-Intellectualism and the Software Industry

On By Norbert HauptIn Education, ScienceLeave a comment

41% of Americans believe that definitely or probably humans and dinosaurs coexisted. Source.

A sitting congressman, Paul Broun, a medical doctor no less, told a crowd that evolution and the Big Bang were “lies straight from the pit of hell.” Source.

The chairman of the Senate environmental panel brought a snowball to the floor as evidence that climate change is a hoax. Source.

Congressman Todd Akin said it was his understanding from doctors that it’s rare for someone to become pregnant from rape.  He said, “The female body has ways to try and shut that whole thing down.” Source.

By our public promotion of anti-intellectualism, this country is losing out to economic and cultural forces overseas. Our manufacturing jobs are moving overseas.

However, the world’s top brains are still coming to the United States to “make it here.”

Last week I attended an introductory meeting by a company that specializes in being a sales broker for software companies – Corum.  In the room were about 40 or so founders or CEOs of local San Diego software companies. In the beginning, each of us stood up to introduce ourselves, our companies and our products in a 30-second elevator speech. I didn’t keep an exact tally, but about 75% of the executives were foreign-born. Of all the people introducing themselves, there were no more than ten who were obviously born and raised in the United States – the rest had some kind of accent – ironically – including myself.

This is admittedly a very small sample, and it’s anecdotal, but it was a striking realization to me: Foreigners come to the United States, start software companies, and then grow them and make them successful.

Where are the American born software business superstars?

They are apparently a minority.

When I Went to School…

On By Norbert HauptIn EducationLeave a comment

…I had to walk at seven o’clock in the morning, in the snow, uphill, both ways!

Just kidding.

But, when I went to school, at age 11, I had to learn Latin. I had to memorize Latin vocabulary, 20 words a day, and do translations from German into Latin and back. After about 4 years of that, we had to read Ovid‘s poems in the original Latin.

For tests, we had to read classic Roman texts and translate them into German. Or we had to translate German content into grammatically correct Latin. You got points deducted for grammar mistakes, like mismatched adjective endings.

I am grateful, because it taught me how to think. They didn’t use multiple choice tests or standardized tests. I am sure it was a challenge for the teachers to grade because they had to read two page poem translations for every student. In the end, the students knew the material, and the teachers knew that the students knew.

I think we should stop using standardized tests, multiple choice tests, and start teaching kids how to think. I think we should spend more effort on teaching art, and music, and poetry, and wood shop, and metal shop, and robotics.

I know, because when I was a kid, I had to walk at seven o’clock in the morning, in the snow, uphill, both ways!