With very little notice or marketing, the International Baccalaureate students 
of Cactus Shadows High School are hosting a panel this evening where, “the panelists will be sharing their views about what is to be done to improve not only the Cave Creek school district but all schools across the nation.”
The panel will be preceded by a screening of the propagandists film, “The Race to Nowhere”. If you have followed the commotion around this film, you would know that this film complains about the supposed stress of making students work hard (boo hoo) , while presenting no evidence as to why the US is falling behind the world academically. The Race to Nowhere implicitly advocates for further dumbing down of the curriculum of our schools.
If the IB students really wanted to understand American education they would be screening Waiting for Superman, a film in part that bemoans rich affluent suburban schools who are failing their students. Sound familiar? Or they should have offered a screen of the film 2 Million Minutes how countries around the world are preparing their students and eating our lunch in the process.
The most interesting aspect here is that while the IB students invited mostly those from the education establishment, they did also invite Ms. Linda Bentley from the Sonoran News.
I attended the forum and found it interesting that Linda Bentley told the audience it's been over 40 years since she's been in a school. One would think a reporter that writes about local schools so frequently would actually visit them to discover what happens in today's classrooms. She might be pleasantly surprised at what she discovers. She could even report on it!
ReplyDeleteAnd her excuse for advocating against the override? Government mandates. The local school district does not control government mandates. It is illogical and antagonistic that she would hold this against the schools or kids in her neighborhood, especially the well-spoken IB students from Cactus Shadows that held the forum.
Excellent forum. Great mix of panelists and the dialogue was interesting and kept at a very professional level. Wonderful moderation by Robert Miller as well.
I would attend another forum.
As far as the documentary, I believe it is worth it for parents to watch. It serves as a good reminder to parents that children should not be robbed of their childhood in exchange for a performance factor. The over-scheduling and lack of 100% free-time for kids is a real issue that should be monitored by parents. We all need to be reminded every once in awhile that there is much more to life, and to a successful and happy life... than bookwork. Young engineers learn their first and best lessons about structural integrity when their fort falls down.
Don't have a cow over the forum being tied to this movie. They are doing the same thing in my kids' NY school district with the same movie. It is probably suggested by the movie company.
ReplyDeleteSince this is the only place to correct SN articles: Today's article on CCUSD and LearnYes possibly being in violation of FCC do not call registry. Two corrections: 1) the regulation is an FTC regulation, not an FCC regulation. FCC is the enforcer. 2) the do not call registry does not apply to political telemarketing calls (look it up on the do not call registry info page Ms. Bentley) so there is no violation as insinuated.
ReplyDeleteSorry @1:56 you are wrong and Ms Bentley is correct.
ReplyDeleteFederal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations prohibit telemarketers from using automated dialers to call cell phone numbers. However, political groups are excluded from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) definition of telemarketer, thus robocalls from or on behalf of political organizations are permitted under the FTC rules however they are prohibited by FCC rules that prohibit all robocalls (including charity and political calls) when made to cell phones and certain other numbers, without express consent or an emergency purpose.
I have no idea what your source is for the above information. It could be wikipedia for all i know. Here is the official source document from the FTC which is the document that I used: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt107.shtm which is the ftc document. Points 28 and 29 cover the political calls. Point 3 on the list has a link to the rule review held by the FTC.
ReplyDeleteI still believe I am correct and that Ms. Bentley is incorrect.
Here is a link to the Federal Register with the original amended law establishing the DNC Registry. http://www.ftc.gov/os/2003/01/tsrfrn.pdf It is clearly an FTC law.
ReplyDeleteI did however, find the source of the information cited by Ms. Bentley and above. It is none other than the FCC. However, with examination, the documentation on the FCC website reads more like a marketing piece, than an actual government document. Plus, I cannot find supportive material that substantiates it. However, the fact that you have an overlap of government agencies making a claim of responsibility (and one giving possibly inaccurate information about it as well as issues of government waste - why do two agencies need to oversee) is probably a much bigger story for Ms. Bentley than the one that pointed her in the wrong direction.