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EducationalFreedom.com News Update
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February 05, 2004
Links and commentary provided by Cathy Henderson.
HOMESCHOOLING IN THE NEWS
1) House eases home-school rules
2) Parent appeals for school team for home-schooled son
3) School districts could have to monitor home-school tests
4) Virtual schools turn up volume on marketing
INSTITUTIONALIZED EDUCATION
5) Police: Miami-Dade teen confesses to killing classmate
6) Police: Miami-Dade teen confesses to killing classmate
7) Parents' rights in questioning of kids to get official opinion
8) House-move parents 'are hypocrites'
9) Bush Increases Funding for the Arts
10) Learning trend: Kindergarten becomes an all-day affair
11) Ga. plan strikes 'evolution'
12) One strike and you're out of school
13) TEFLON TEACHER
THE EXPERTS
14) Vaccine additive linked to brain damage in children: Mercury-based
preservative tied to autism, ADHD, U.S. resaearchers say
15) Parents push to limit use of antidepressants
16) Company 'held back' data on drug for children
FAMILY-BASED LIVING
17) Peer Attachment Disorder
COMMENTARY
18) "Free" Education and Literacy
19) Oklahoma U Crushes A Prof's Free Speech
20) Entire United States Expatriates (Fred Left Behind)
21) Beware of vaccine bullies
22) Faking It (A Brief Textbook Of American Democracy)
THE LIGHTER SIDE
23) No clowning around
24) Clearly not for faint of art
RECOMMENDED READING
25) Rational Review News Digest
26) Dale Reed's Math Pages
SUPPORTING EFC
27) EFC DVD Rental Program
28) Amazon.com
29) What the Heck!
HOMESCHOOLING IN THE NEWS
1) House eases home-school rules
"RICHMOND -- The House yesterday passed legislation relaxing the academic
qualifications required of parents who teach their children at home.
Delegate Rob B. Bell III's bill would require parents to have only a high
school diploma to home-school their children. "
[Thankye Massa Guvmint, for more homeschooling "freedom". Ain't we got
Rights.]
http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20040203-095113-4765r.htm
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/2aszq
=========
2) Parent appeals for school team for home-schooled son
"After learning that district officials believe her son is ineligible to
play on McDougle Middle School's baseball team, a home-schooling parent
plans to plead with the school board tonight -- for the second time -- to
consider the idea."
[Or. We could work on separating taxpayer "education" dollars from
community sports and stop these never-ending "negotiations".]
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-443730.html
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/3de2k
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3) School districts could have to monitor home-school tests
"Home-schooled students taking achievement tests would have to be monitored
by school district officials under a bill considered Tuesday by the Senate
Education Committee. The committee set SB156 aside until Thursday after
hearing from supporters and opponents. The measure would require
superintendents or other school officials to monitor standardized tests
given to students who are taught in alternative settings."
[And homeschooling is "legal" in all 50 states. Let the celebrations begin.]
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/7866152.htm
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/3dt43
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4) Virtual schools turn up volume on marketing
New academy plans $300,000 blitz; next 3 weeks are crucial
"In a media blitz worthy of Madison Avenue, three statewide virtual charter
schools are spending big bucks this monthto attract even bigger bucks - in
the form of hundreds of public school students and the hundreds of
thousands of tax dollars they represent. ... Larry Kaseman, executive
director of the Wisconsin Parents Association, which provides support to
home-schooling families, is concerned about the aggressive marketing
efforts by the virtual schools' for-profit partners. ... even though the
virtual schools emphasize that their approach is different than
home-schooling, Kaseman sees the virtual schools' marketing as clouding the
distinctions."
[These minor skimishes will never end, and never be won. As long as
taxpayer monies are there to be taken, the development of weapons with
which to capture that ground will never end. Come to terms with it. Take
a stand worth taking: separate school and state. Throw the Ring of Power
back into the fiery hell from which it originated.
www.sepschool.org ]
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/feb04/204381.asp
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/36bt3
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INSTITUTIONALIZED EDUCATION
5) Police: Miami-Dade teen confesses to killing classmate
"A teenager has confessed to killing an eighth-grade classmate in a school
bathroom, and the knife used to slash the victim's neck was found in his
backpack, police said Wednesday. ... Joan Whitley, the mother of
12-year-old seventh grader Maurice Whitley, waited outside the school
building for two hours after she heard about the student's death. When she
found her son, she couldn't stop hugging him. ...she said. 'It could happen
at any school. ... You just have to pray for your kids.'"
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/7863980.htm
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/2vxjw
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6) Police: Miami-Dade teen confesses to killing classmate
"Gough's slaying brings the total number of violent school-associated
deaths across the nation this school year to 35 -- more than the previous
two years combined, said Kenneth S. Trump, a national expert on school
safety. School-associated deaths are defined as those happening on campus,
as a child heads to or from school or at school-sponsored events. That is
the highest yearly death toll since the 1999 Columbine shootings, Trump said."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/gen/ap/FL_Student_Death.html
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/3fgvj
=========
7) Parents' rights in questioning of kids to get official opinion
In December, Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley shook up Valley school
officials when he sent a letter warning them that parents have no legal
right to be called or present if police interview their child on campus.
Most schools require principals to call parents, and wait for them to
arrive, if mothers or fathers say they want to be there. The only exception
is when parents are suspected of abusing a child. Romley said the policy
slows down investigations and is against the law. He instructed schools to
rewrite or drop what he called an outdated policy.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0204opinion04.html
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/2ra67
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8) House-move parents 'are hypocrites'
"Middle class parents who move homes to get their children into better
state schools are the 'real moral hypocrites' of the education system,
according to the headmaster who is writing Tony Blair's biography. Dr
Anthony Seldon, headmaster of the fee-paying Brighton College, will tell a
conference in London today: 'Parents often spend considerable sums and go
to remarkable lengths to move homes to shoehorn their children into the
best, for which read the most middle class, schools. Parents who struggle
hard to find the fees to give their children better opportunities at
independent schools, while paying taxes for others to use the state sector,
merit the moral high ground.'"
[This tour of the Moral High Ground has been provided courtesy of
Convoluted, in cooperation with The Propaganda Machine. Convoluted. ]
http://education.independent.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=487588
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/37l6f
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9) Bush Increases Funding for the Arts
"Despite a ballooning deficit and objections from members of his own party,
President Bush announced that he would increase funding for the National
Endowment for the Arts. It was Laura Bush who confirmed on Thursday the $18
million boost in the federal contribution to art programs around the
country. ...'For the first time, the Arts Endowment will create educational
programs that reach every level of students, elementary level and secondary
age students,' Mrs. Bush said. 'President Bush and I want every child to be
excited about the arts.'"
[Awwwww. And children, aren't you just tickled pink what can be spent in
the name of promoting the general welfare. And if you think that's fun,
wait'll you see the size of the mortgage on your future labor.]
http://www.talonnews.com/news/2004/january/0130_bush_nea.shtml
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/yslw2
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10) Learning trend: Kindergarten becomes an all-day affair
"Thirty-five years ago, only 11 percent of US schools embraced the idea.
But by 2000, 60 percent of school districts nationwide had kids enrolled in
full-day programs. ... 'Everything we've seen ... points to the fact that
children are far more academically advanced by being involved in a full day
of kindergarten.'"
[And what is it ... exactly ... that proves that being far more
academically advanced ... at age 6 ... results in a life worth living? The
1st grade teacher is has an easier job and is happier. Is anyone
else? Mom? Dad? Child?]
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0129/p01s03-ussc.html
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/2kvvw
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11) Ga. plan strikes 'evolution'
In schools, divisive idea would go by a new name
"The state's school superintendent has proposed striking the word evolution
from Georgia's science curriculum and replacing it with the phrase
'biological changes over time.'"
[ROFLROFL. And from the opposing viewpoint, they'll replace the word
"creationism" with "God's changes over 7 days."]
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/01/31/ga_plan_strikes_evolution/
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/26chf
=========
12) One strike and you're out of school
"Dustin Seal, then a high school senior, was expelled after authorities at
his Knoxville, Tenn., high school found a 3-inch knife in his car. Even
though the knife wasn't Dustin's, and even though the friend who'd left the
knife in Dustin's car claimed responsibility for it, the administration
didn't budge: Under the school's 'zero tolerance' policy, every student
found with a weapon on campus had to be expelled."
[These policies are ridiculous yes. But so is some of the whining about
the "limited alternatives".]
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2004/02/02/zero_tolerance/index.html
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/yr8wx
=========
13) TEFLON TEACHER
"The New York City high-school chemistry instructor is still collecting
paychecks, despite 14 years of disciplinary probes and unsatisfactory
ratings from officials at three different schools. McMahon has been bounced
from schools after allegations of making 'insensitive and racist' remarks
to students, insubordination, incompetent teaching, improper grading and
sexual harassment. "
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/17288.htm
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/39fcd
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THE EXPERTS
14) Vaccine additive linked to brain damage in children: Mercury-based
preservative tied to autism, ADHD, U.S. resaearchers say
"After assuring parents that additives in vaccines don't cause brain
damage, scientists have found what they believe could be a 'smoking gun'
linking these additives to autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity
disorder in children. In a study that was rushed to print on-line today,
two months ahead of its scheduled publication in the journal Molecular
Psychiatry, U.S. researchers have discovered an apparent link between
thimerosal, a controversial mercury-based preservative once commonly used
in childhood vaccines, to an increased risk of neurological disorders such
as autism and ADHD."
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=a14f5ee1-2e76-4aba-82c4-96b74d5997ef
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/2m4uq
=========
15) Parents push to limit use of antidepressants
"... dozens of anguished parents pleaded with the FDA yesterday to put
warnings of suicide risk on the drugs' labels as soon as possible. Over and
over, they described youths becoming agitated after starting the pills, and
seemingly sudden impulses that turned deadly. ...
In 2002, almost 11 million prescriptions were dispensed to patients younger
than 18 for SSRIs and other newer antidepressants to treat depression and
other conditions, the FDA said. "
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040203-120657-4989r.htm
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/2hupa
=========
16) Company 'held back' data on drug for children
Antidepressant had no effect, leak reveals
"The British manufacturers of an antidepressant drug that was last year
banned from use in children knew as long ago as 1998 that it did not work
and deliberately avoided publishing the full data because of the risk to
their lucrative adult market, according to a leaked internal document. A
position paper dated October 1998 shows that managers at SmithKline Beecham
- now GlaxoSmithKline - were concerned at the commercial implications of
two clinical trials in which their drug Seroxat was given to children and
adolescents with major depression."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0%2C11381%2C1137559%2C00.html
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/255go
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FAMILY-BASED LIVING
17) Peer Attachment Disorder
'That's what it's come to . . . We see children who are adult oriented as
being aberrant'
"What is it with so many children today? Sullen and surly, they ignore
their elders and live to be with their peers. Two Vancouver specialists
have a theory, but grownups won't like it, ALANNA MITCHELL reports. They
believe the parental bond is being broken, with harrowing results."
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040131/COVER31/TPFocus/
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/ywhzg
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COMMENTARY
18) "Free" Education and Literacy
"A common view promoted by advocates of 'free' or public education is that
a system primarily based on fees would cause many children to forego an
education. Subsequently, literacy rates would decline, and America would
slide down a slippery slope toward low economic growth and stagnation. ...
Why then, did Mann and other so-called reformers lead a call-to-arms to
bring public, free schools to all children? One reason is that consumers
preferred the quality of the private schools. Although attendance per se
did not decline from 1830 to 1840, attendance in public schools began to
fall faster and faster. Mann and his followers developed many arguments to
attack the private schools. Such arguments ranged from bad parents who
refused to educate their children, to calls of private education being
'undemocratic.'"
http://www.mises.org/fullstory.asp?control=1425
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/3apsz
=========
19) Oklahoma U Crushes A Prof's Free Speech
"I am associate professor of geology and geophysics at the University of
Oklahoma in Norman. I receive teaching evaluations that run from average to
outstanding. ...as I sit here writing, three of my four classes have been
cancelled. I am scheduled to be moved out of the office I have occupied for
the last twelve years into a dank hole in the basement that was never
intended to be used as office space. Recent events are the culmination of
four years of retaliation, intimidation, and harassment. ... My troubles
began in March of 2000 when I published a 'letter to the editor' in the
campus newspaper that some people found offensive. Responding to a female
columnist who claimed that possession of a firearm made every gun owner a
potential murderer, I pointed out by way of analogy that her possession of
an unregistered sexual organ made her a potential prostitute. For writing
this letter, twenty-five charges of sexual harassment were filed against me
by people I had never met. My attitudes, convictions, and beliefs were put
on trial in a secret Star Chamber proceeding. After I admitted (gasp) that
I was a member of the National Rifle Association, I was asked this
question: do you think the Nazis were bad people?"
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=12003
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/ysvpv
=========
20) Entire United States Expatriates
Fred Left Behind
"In the country that is now where America used to be, the government is the
cause of most major problems instead of a solution, however inefficient, to
a fair number of them. The government keeps you from educating your
children, holds standards down, prevents you from hiring the best people
you can find to work in your business. It won't allow local jurisdictions
to control crime, prevents localities from enforcing such moral standards
as they see fit, virtually illegalizes the religion, of most of the
population, and generally won't permit people to live as they like."
http://fredoneverything.net/NewWorld.shtml
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/2zsco
=========
21) Beware of vaccine bullies
"Why on earth should we vaccinate our newborn baby against Hepatitis B -- a
virus that is contracted mostly through intravenous drug use and sexual
contact? That is the question my husband and I had for the doctors and
nurses at the hospital where our son was born two and a half months ago.
... When we told the hospital staff that we simply wanted more time to
think about giving the Hep B shot to our son -- doesn't "informed consent"
mean we should be truly informed? -- we were badgered aggressively."
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/mm20040204.shtml
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/yr9a5
=========
22) Faking It
A Brief Textbook Of American Democracy
"Large jurisdictions discourage autonomy. If, say, educational policy were
set in small jurisdictions, such as towns or counties, you could buttonhole
the mayor and have a reasonable prospect of influencing your childrens
schools. If policy is set at the level of the state, then to change it you
have to quit your job, marshal a vast campaign costing a fortune, and
organize committees in dozens of towns. It isn't practical. In America,
local jurisdictions set taxes on real estate and determine parking policy.
Everything of importance is decided remotely."
http://www.fredoneverything.net/DemocracyText.shtml
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/22kt3
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THE LIGHTER SIDE
23) No clowning around
"Things are tense in our house. Our daughter is about to turn 4, which
means we have to hold a birthday party, which means my wife is, at the
moment, insane."
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/7786045.htm
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/ysc69
=========
24) Clearly not for faint of art
Whenever I write about art, I get mail from the Serious Art Community
informing me that I am a clueless idiot. So let me begin by stipulating
that I am a clueless idiot. This is probably why I was unable to appreciate
a work of art I viewed recently, titled: Chair.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/7732864.htm
TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/22ows
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RECOMMENDED READING
25) Rational Review News Digest
News:
http://www.rationalreview.com/news/
Rational Review News Digest
Early morning e-mail delivery, Monday through Friday
Subscribe:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rrnd/join
=========
26) Dale Reed's Math Pages
Are you looking for some interesting math ideas and web sites? If so,
this is a comprehensive list of sites for math and logo programming.
Check it out.
http://www.educationalfreedom.com/pages/dale_reed/index.html
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SUPPORTING EFC
27) EFC DVD Rental Program
http://mentura.com/dvdrentals/EducationalFreedom.com.html
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28) Amazon.com
Shop at Amazon.com and support EducationalFreedom.com!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/educationalfr-20
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29) What the Heck!
Vote for EducationalFreedom.com in the WHat the Heck Top 25
Libertarian Sites Poll. Get us on the list!
http://www.whattheheck.com/cgi-bin/topsites/topsites.cgi?efreedom
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