Category Archives: Out of The Past ~ The Archive Edition

As time allows, we continue to review many previously posted columns and articles from the first generation of several of the family of Kettle Moraine Publications, drawing from in excess of 90,000 published articles – yet many could have been written today. Others were a forewarning of (as H.G. Wells once wrote) “Things to Come.” So today we return to the days of yesteryear, or is it, Back to the Future? C’mon Marty – tell me which it is – or will we even have a future?

Schrock Taylor: Towards Better Reading

I was once told, You chase yourself in circles, searching for answers that are not to be found within, for if they were, you would have found them by now. Look elsewhere!

I often think of that advice in relation to the ever-worsening problems of public schooling. If the answers were there…there in any one of the 51 Departments of Education, or in any one of the thousands of schools being directed, manipulated, and warped by federal directives — the educational gurus would have found them long ago. Instead, educators rush about, grabbing for brass rings; fishing for fads; pushing for progress…all the while refusing to honestly seek answers…elsewhere. Continue reading

Welcome to the New Metropolis

A Study in Education

What you are about to read was Originally published on Metropolis.Cafe’ when the site was but two weeks old. We felt that it is so timely to bring back to the forefront. ~ Editor

At the time the Constitution was written, education was not even considered a function of local government, let alone the federal government.

But the Federal Governments Department of Education’s shaky constitutionality goes way beyond that.

Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution enumerates the things over which Congress has the power to legislate. Not only does the list not include education, while there is no plausible rationale for squeezing education in under the commerce clause, We are sure the Supreme Court found a rationale, but it cannot have been plausible. Continue reading

1495 ~ Performing a Historectomy on America

Published in the ‘American Journal’ on the first generation Federal Observer, January 14, 2002

If you want to destroy a house, undermine the foundation. If you want to destroy a nation, do the same. If you want to debase people who are defined by ideas, destroy the ideas. If you want to bring down a society that is sustained by its history, perform a historectomy.

First, let me make clear that I am not referring to a hysterectomy, or removal of the uterus, but a historectomy, or removal of our history. Continue reading

Why We Desperately Need To Bring Back Vocational Training In Schools

Even more appropriate today than when first published. ~ Ed.

Instructor helps a student participating in a woodworking manufacturing training program

September 1, 2015 ~ Throughout most of U.S. history, American high school students were routinely taught vocational and job-ready skills along with the three Rs: reading, writing and arithmetic. Indeed readers of a certain age are likely to have fond memories of huddling over wooden workbenches learning a craft such as woodwork or maybe metal work, or any one of the hands-on projects that characterized the once-ubiquitous shop class.

But in the 1950s, a different philosophy emerged: the theory that students should follow separate educational tracks according to ability. The idea was that the college-bound would take traditional academic courses (Latin, creative writing, science, math) and received no vocational training. Those students not headed for college would take basic academic courses, along with vocational training, or “shop.” Continue reading

Caruba: A Very Different Generation

December 17, 2008 ~ They are called “Millennials” and, with the election of Barack Obama, have been dubbed “Generation O.” Born from 1980 to 2000, they are as different from their parents as previous generations were different from theirs.

It is common that older generations frequently look at the new one as creatures from another planet. Every new generation develops its own slang, has its own cultural heroes, and most importantly has been imprinted by the events of their early years as well as the kind of care they received from their parents. Continue reading

1055 ~ Dumbing Down Standardized Tests: The Art Of Dodging Objective Reality

Published in ‘Village of the Damned’ on the first generation Federal Observer, December 4, 2001

“We will never devise the perfect test, a test that accurately assesses students irrespective of parental education and income, the quality of the local schools, and the kind of community a student lives in, but we can do better,” opined Richards C. Atkinson, president of the University of California system. Atkinson insisted, calling again on Nov. 16 for the elimination of the “SAT I” as an admissions requirement at the University of California’s eight undergraduate campuses.

In fact, while “perfection” is indeed an impossible standard, a test which does this extremely well does exist, and it’s called … the SAT. Continue reading

1586 ~ Caruba: Our National Education System – a $49 Billion Dollar Disaster

Published in Village of the Damned on the first generation Federal Observer, January 28, 2002

Do you ever wonder why home-schooled children consistently do better academically than those passing through this mind-numbing system?

You had to know something was terribly wrong while you watched President George W. Bush stand at the podium and laud Sen. Teddy Kennedy. I thought he was going to stop talking just long enough to French kiss him. Nothing good can come of these two colluding on an education program and nothing will!

After you get through reading the 1000-page Education Bill, dubbed “Leave No Child Behind“, you will have concluded that the Federal government is now so fully in charge of your local school system that you have only one option. You will either home school your children or you will turn them over to a system that so mirrors the Communist model for education, they will belong to Big Brother long after they have left home to create their own families. Continue reading

1078 ~ Black Democrats Push School Prayer

Published in the first generation Federal Observer, in the category, Deliver Us From Evil!, December 7, 2001

It was not surprising to see several state legislatures consider school prayer bills in the aftermath of Sept. 11. What was surprising was who sponsored some of those measures.

In Florida and Pennsylvania, the principal sponsors of bills to bring God back to the classroom are not conservative Republicans but black Democrats.

In Tallahassee, the state House in April easily passed a bill written by Rep. Wilbert “Tee” Holloway, D-Miami, to allow student-led prayers at graduations and student assemblies. With no sponsors in the state Senate, the measure went nowhere.

Things will be quite different when the next session convenes in January, Holloway vowed. As a parent, Holloway said prayer has been taken from him and his children. Under his proposal, students can recite non-sectarian prayers with no guidance from school administrators at events where attendance is not required. Continue reading

1233 ~ Who Controls Our Children’s Education?

Published on the first generation Federal Observer in the category, Village of the Damned, December 19, 2001

~ Foreword ~
WASHINGTON, December 2001 – The Senate easily approved a massive school reform bill on Tuesday, sending it to President Bush for his signature.

The bill authorizes up to $26.5 billion for public elementary and secondary schools, much of it targeted to help narrow the achievement gap between low-income students and their wealthier counterparts.

A product of months of bipartisan compromises, the bill also requires states to test students in reading and math yearly in grades three through eight.

Schools that perform poorly will get additional resources, but students in those schools will also get new options, including attending another public school or getting tutoring or other supplementary services. Continue reading

Notes from Granny…

September 5, 2009 ~ It is now a major issue across America with folks finally saying NO to AKA and his indoctrination efforts toward our kids.

I have scanned over many of my news sources – have rec’d many emails from folks around the country – all being related to the UPROAR over AKA’s attempt to sway our Children to his ANTI-AMERICAN way of thinking. This is not a sit by in silence event – parents are up in arms – and – – – others are all bent over showing their kids how to bend over. Continue reading