Wednesday, November 23, 2005

The Coming Water Wars — 051123

There are storm clouds on the horizon.

An interesting report in today’s Pueblo Chieftain.

It seems that the bigger city to our immediate north is getting upset about our county’s efforts to comply with existing state 1041 statutes…..

More...

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Stopping Kelo v. New London In Colorado

This will be interesting to watch.

The Pueblo Chieftain reports that there is a movement inside the state legislature to prevent what happened in New London from happening in Colorado.

For those not aware of the Kelo v. New London case, a city seized private property and converted it to commercial with the sole justification that it would improve the city’s tax revenues to have the land used for commercial purposes instead of residential. This ruling on the part of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) put EVERYONE’S home in jeapordy. This is the epitome of judicial activism at its worst. Why? Because the Constitution of the United States reads that such actions, under the auspices of “eminent domain” can be done for “public use”. It says nothing about commercial use. And here, the SCOTUS overstepped it’s authority, vis-a-vis the Constitution.

Now, legislatures across the nation are moving to block local governments from doing the same in their own area. This is a good first move. I would think that a good second move would be to impeach the justices of the SCOTUS who voted in favor of New London. But I’ve yet to see Congress do anything so couragous as to do their duty and remove a federal judge that has ruled against the Constitution.

I’m curious where OUR Congressional delegation stands on Kelo v. New London. I’ll probably report on THAT later….

Friday, November 18, 2005

PA 101: The Teaching-Student Connection

CSU-P, in fact, most colleges and universities in the country, are experiencing low “retention rates.” Here’s a primer on how to fix it.

Colleges and universities across the country, includng CSU-P, are experiencing low graduation rates. In other words, a lot of students drop out without completing their degrees. There are probably many reasons for this. CSU-P reports that a large percentage of it’s incoming freshmen are not prepared academically to do college level work, so they get frustrated and quit.

Pop quiz question: In order to ensure high graduation rates, institutions of higher education should:

a) not admit students who probably won’t succeed
b) insist that secondary schools do a better job of preparing students for college
c) design curricula and employ teaching methods to bring students up to speed
d) provide an environment with an emphasis on learning e) all of the above.

The correct answer is e) all of the above and the best answer is c) design curricula and employ teaching methods that start where the student is. A) is the least satisfactory answer. It’s not that tough to make a silk purse out of a silk dress. It’s a lot harder to make one out of a sow’s ear. But excellent teachers can do it.

So, method a) is cheating. Method b) is a chicken and egg thing: the colleges and universities have to turn out primary and secondary teachers and administrators who are capable of getting their students ready to do college level work. However, colleges and universities need to make it clear what will be expected of students in college.

Method c) requires that colleges and universities actually teach. It has always puzzled me that extensive coursework in teaching and a certificate is required of lower level teachers, but colleges only require that their faculties have masters’ or doctorates. If you can’t certify a high school graduate to teach high school, then you can’t certify a college graduate to teach college just because they managed to endure. So, the first step in implementing c) is to hire faculty who have demonstrated ability in teaching, not research or publishing. And demonstrated ability means that they can take C level students and get them to do A level work. It will mean rewarding faculty members who can do this.

Then you’ve got to design the curricula so that it starts where the students are. This means pre-testing and post-testing to judge progress and effectiveness of the curricula. It will mean more frequent tests during the term to make sure students are keeping up. It means that every freshman may have to take a class on learning, study habits and managing stress. Some of them may have to go through non-credit pre-requisite classes before starting on their major coursework. (On-line instruction may be good for this.) And the students need to be able to see that the coursework is relevant to what they will do when they graduate.

It will also mean that faculty will be asked to increase their student contact office hours so they can help those who are having trouble. It will mean making more advanced students available as tutors.

It will mean reducing class size, especially in the lower levels. When I was in college, admittedly 30 years ago, it was not unusual for the freshman level classes to consist of a hundred or so students in a lecture hall. Basic composition classes had 30 or 35. For these critical beginning classes you have to reduce class size so that the student can get individual attention.

As far d) environment goes, provide plenty of study areas around the campus that are sancrosanct: no partying. Make sure the atmosphere on campus is focused on learning, not sports, partying, political activism, or whatever. (It amazes me how many people think that college students, most of whom have to work part-time, have all kinds of free time to volunteer for this, that, or the other cause, and make them feel guilty if they don’t.) Provide counseling and other services to make sure that students aren’t doing poorly because they’re trying to hold down three jobs, can’t find child care or are distracted by personal or family problems.

Yes, this will cost money. But if the results are there, people won’t mind.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Hail to the Chief

Kitty Kennedy gets a second chance.

According to reports, Kitty Kennedy has been re-elected to be president of the District 60 School Board. The vote was unanimous, with Kitty abstaining from voting for herself.

Her previous tour has been, as some people would say, ‘interesting’. Between scandals regarding people holding positions on the board that probably should not have been, due to rampant ‘truancy’ issues, hints of shenannigans regarding the spending of bond monies delegated to the improvement of the schools in the district, apparent inappropriate influence being exerted by members of the school board over the administrators of the schools, she had quite a learning experience in the previous two-year term. I certainly hope she learned well from those experiences.

As one general officer who addressed the assembled classes at Benning School for Boys put it, “Good judgement is based on experience. Experience is based on poor judgement.”

And on that note, let us look to the future….

More...

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

On the Other Hand….

....this is interesting.

Just got off the phone from talking with Congressman Salazar’s office ‘help’.

They were of no help whatsoever.

I was alerted by an item from Glenn ‘the Blogfather’ Reynolds that the House of Representatives was to vote on turning over control of the interent to the UN TONIGHT.

Almost, but not completely, stunned by this report, I called Congressman Salazar’s offices in Pueblo to (1) ask of them his position on this matter and (2) give him my opinion of this [not ‘no’, but ‘h—- no!’].

Unfortunately, none of the multitude of sweet-young-feminine-things I wound up talking to, either local or long-distance had ANY CLUE as to what our John was thinking on this matter. Not to mention how he would vote. Indeed, one individual, who was indirectly presented as John’s Chief of Staff in his DC offices, tender years that she bore, thought the vote was not tonight. This contrary to a realiable source of information.

So, I gave the sweet-young-thing my opinon of turning over control of the internet to a bunch of rapcious, nefarious, bribe-taking, brothel running bureaucrats. I tried to be ‘polite’. I think I succeeded as the distaff did not beat me about the head and shoulders, afterwards. Indeed, she added her support to the position. To the sweet-young-thing, too.

The first question I have of MY Congressman is, “Are you a sexist? Are there any ‘men’ on your staff?”

The next question is, “Why doesn’t anyone other than YOU know what’s going on?”

I await your reply to my questions. And, I’m looking forward to see how you voted on this, issue. As well as on others.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

This Is NOT at Good Indicator

Bird flu has jumped to pigs.

According to THIS report, it looks like we’ll all become vegans. Either that or start eating sushi, if the report is accurate. But good sushi is hard to come by here along the Front Range.

As I had commented earlier, between this bird flu and the mad cow, the price of meat is going to go through the roof. Now pork is at risk.

Better start stocking in beans as a source of protein. Fortunately pinto beans are really cheap….for the moment.

The good news is that this event occured in 2004. But we have not heard of massive die-offs of pigs. The indicator, however, is that this virus can jump from one large group, in this case from class avis (birds)  to class mammalia (including pigs). Guess what….we Homo sapiens are of the class ‘mammalia’ too. So there is something of a ‘risk’ here.

I suspect that the reason we have not heard of more pigs dying is because the herd that died, was not interacting with other herds of pigs, as migratory birds interact with other birds.

The point remains, that, if the report is accurate, this virus IS subject to mutations that can allow it to jump from the bird population to the mammalian.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Speech Meet: Another Perspective

A walk on the dark side and on the bright side at a local speech meet.

I critiqued at a speech meet recently. While I feel most of the students did a really good job and all have potential, I guess I have an overall feeling of a loss of innocence.

I did a round of dramatic interpretation and it was all mental disorders and abuse. One of the questions on the evaluation was something to the effect: do you feel the speaker had insight into the mood and meaning of the author? I felt like saying, “Not really, and I hope to gosh she never does.”

Whatever happened to first love, the death of a pet, or being in a new school for dramatic interpretation?

Poetry interpretation was a little better. There was one young man whose theme for his recitation was poems on poetry. Granted, we’re supposed to evaluate their selections for literary merit, but wasn’t this a little obvious? It was sad in a way, because his delivery was on the corny side, but he had a good voice. (The kind of voice, if used right, can make “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” sound like Shakespeare.)This kid could have done “Charge of the Light Brigade,” something from “Beowulf,” or “Morte d’Arthur” or “To an Athlete Dying Young” and really made hay from it.

However, another young lady did a selection that had more abuse and misery in it. She did a really good job, but again, what happened to innocence?

Finally, in original oratory, we had gay marriage and the threats of natural disasters and terrorism. Two out of the five were inspirational/motivational in nature, and the third criticized parents (justly, actually). So it wasn’t all despair.

Extemporaneous speaking is painful just because it’s a tough thing to do.

Humor was good.

On the bright side, it was really good to see youngsters who were interested in current events and reading something besides the lyrics on the latest rap album. They were respectful of the judges, the other adults and each other. More power to them. So I suppose I’ll do it again.

Nuggets In the [Pueblo Chieftain] News — 051109

A couple of interesting items in Pueblo Chieftain’s regular feature, What Others Are Saying.

First item, we have a comment from the Rocky Mountain Snooze on the attempts by the United Nations (UN) to takeover management of the famous internet.

Think of that. The UN thinks we’re doing a ‘bad job’ of managing the internet in our—if you’ll pardon my ‘French’—laissez-faire fashion. So they think THEY should do it for the world.

What a fascinating concept. We’ll turn over the free flow of information to a group of unresponsive, irresponsible, bribe-taking incompetents. THAT will certain improve things. But the question is for whom? Probably the remainder of dictatorial leaders who would rather NOT see their nefarious activities broadcast to the world. That would be a ‘good thing’ for them. And probably a ‘good thing’ for the UN. After all, since Hussein was deposed, they’ve probably had a serious cash-flow problem.

They need to find new sources…..why not the internet. Information for sale, whatever flavor you want, if you’ve got the money to line the UN officials’ pockets.

The third item is interesting too. Here, the Blade, in Toledo, Ohio, cuts itself while shaving.

The fact is that the [National] Guard was never intended to be thrust into the front lines of a foreign war. It was supposed to be a group of well trained citizen soldiers who could be activated in case of weather disasters and other emergencies on the home front.

The REAL fact is that whoever wrote that is totally wrong. The mission statement of the National Guard DOES contain a clause about going to fight in wars overseas. If they doubt that, they should take another block of instruction on American History through their local extension division of the University of Ohio. They obviously slept through their high school classes. Or perhaps it’s that the public education system in Ohio has REALLY ‘slipped’.

They do make a decent point about the utility of the National Guard during a natural disaster. Katrina is a prime example of that. That WAS a gaff. The mechanized infantry brigade of the Louisiana National Guard was out of position to support their own state, their being in Iraq.

The system for employment of the National Guard brigades, such as Louisiana’s is that they mobilize first in their home state and begin training up for their mission. The training continues at various locations around the country, to include such hi-tech sites as the National Training Center and other similar facilities to hone their unit into one of the sharpest combat tools the world has ever seen. Then, after almost six months of training, they perform six months of combat operations overseas.

It’s a VERY good system. However, as with all so many things in the military, timing is VERY important.

I don’t know WHO it was who agreed that Louisiana’s infantry brigade should be overseas during the regularly scheduled hurricane season. I mean, it’s not like they show up at random throughout the course of the year. They occur only during a few months. But, it would have been VERY easy for them to be doing their six months prep-up stateside, during the season. And their six months overseas during the ‘off’ season.

From my perspective, this is a staff foul-up. The Bush administration is not to blame. Rather, I think the Louisiana Adjutant General, his Chief of Staff, the State Area Command (STARC) staff officers for Intelligence, which is supposed to pay attention to the weather, and Operations, who should have asked the Intelligence staff puke about what threats could affect the state while the unit is gone, should all have their [figurative] heads on pikes outside the STARC headquarters, as an example for all others that STAFF WORK IS IMPORTANT and we will not tolerate sloppiness. It’s just too expensive.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

The First Debate—051105

Welcome to the 21st Century, where the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy becomes the reality of ‘debate’.

I had the distinct privilege, along with the pleasure, of judging my first debate tournament in Colorado, yesterday.

A fine time was had by all, except, perhaps, those that were doing their first oral presentations before total strangers in a competitive environment….

More...

Friday, November 04, 2005

CSU-P’s Top Administrator Thinks It Can Be Master Class

A message from the CSU system Chancellor is mostly fluff without substance.

As a follow-up to my blog a couple of days ago, here’s a link to some nice emptiness from Larry Penley, the Chancellor for the CSU system.

Notice how the article doesn’t really say anything except that Dr. Penley thinks the university has potential. He says he thinks CSU-P can become a top regional Master I university. But while some general themes are listed, there’s no outline of steps to be taken to achieve that goal, and no mention of how that would benefit Pueblo, and no mention of what Pueblo can do to help. Exactly how are they planning to “develop a strong connection to the community and promote economic development?”

Dr. Penley talks about quality of service to the students, but exactly what are the services Dr. Penley thinks the university should be providing?

Finally, there is no mention of success for students in terms of careers. As I noted earlier, Puebloans will define success in terms of what kinds of jobs students get upon graduation, but the closest Penley comes to addressing this concept is noting a goal of providing “access to success” to students.

As I’ve said before, just because Puebloans don’t have as many college degress per capita as other places, doesn’t mean they’re stupid. Cut the nice sounding phrases and tell us what the plan REALLY is.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Anti-Drug Event w/Helicopters

Only those who don’t DO drugs get to fly THESE things.

Pat Heine, Pueblo Police Department, informs us that there is an anti-drug program scheduled for tomorrow at the State Fair Grounds.

It will include the arrival a pair of Army National Guard helicotpers. One of them is described as “BIG”. I tried to get what model is was, but considering it’s Army and it’s “BIG”, I suspect it’s a CH-47, Chinook. Wear a good scarf. They kick up a LOT of ‘dust’ with their prop-wash.

Sounds interesting. Especially for kids who want to learn how to fly.

They’ll be landing between 3 and 5 pm at the Preferred Parking lot; vicinity of Arroyo and Mesa.

Here are details fo the entire program.

More...