Tearjerker Books

tears…..

I know that there has to have been at least one book that brought out the Kleenex, but I can't think of one. I read a lot and I am a big pile of mush. The odds of me not reading something sad and me not reacting to it are too great to have not happened. I am willing to bet a million dollars that I have read a book that made me cry, I just can't remember it.

The American Jobs Depression, and How to Get Out of It

I don’t know what to say about why the republican­s are actively pursuing an economic strategy that is completely based on supply side economic theory while the country’s economic reports are coming in month after month showing no growth. Apparently­, the lessons from the Bush years haven’t made a dent in their thinking and this is evident because they haven’t abandoned the fallacious economic theories instead they have doubled down on the anti tax theory.We need a big bold economic plan like the ones F,D,R unleashed and its not as if our country’s bridges, tunnels sea walls and foundation­s don’t need some serious work. Every job created puts revenue back in the tax rolls, back in the economy and slowly builds to more jobs because of increased demand for services and on we go to growth. If only someone in Washington would do listen.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Wall Street: From Protest to Politics

What the politician­s and their donors are counting on, and it’s a mistake, is that the American people are so stressed and consumed by their own personal financial problems that whatever protest they might make will soon fizzle out because they don’t have the resources to hunker down and keep fighting.N­ow that the unions across the board have joined OccupyWall­Street and that the Occupy movement has spread it has taken a life of its own, I think that Washington D.C had better stop with every other bill they are working on and vote to pass the JOBS Act now to at least show that JOBS are important. The democratic leadership needs to double down on fighting for every JOBS bill that they have introduced previously­, they need to join with the A.G’s from New York and California in investigat­ing the foreclosur­e frauds, they need to tell the people that enough with the hysterical cutting of important social programs, we are here to invest in this country and in our people. Show the 99% support, you democratic political leaders. Do your job.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

If you could change how schools work?

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postaday2011

If I could change how schools worked, isn’t that the billion dollar question for our country right now? Actually, it has been the question for the past two decades. Somewhere we lost our way with the public educational system and I think that we are having a hard time trying to pinpoint exactly where and how it went awry. I disagree with what conservatives are pushing for, and that is more spending cuts in the educational budgets and trying to weaken the teachers unions. I think that we have put too much emphasis on standardized testing and have stressed too much teaching to the standardized test.

I believe that teachers need to have smaller classrooms so that they can really get to know the strengths and weaknesses of all their students. I also think that using your advanced students to help the other students creates a team oriented environment, creates sharing and common ground thereby hopefully reducing the emergence of cliques and the us versus them mentality. Less social stress in the classroom goes a long way to promoting a healthier atmosphere for learning.

I also think that schools need to provide the financially poorer students with access to healthy breakfasts, lunches and snacks. Students who have full warm bellies are geared to success, physically and mentally, they also feel that someone cares for their well-being over and beyond their home life. Children do exceptionally well when they have a broader support system other than their family unit. When a child has a great teacher, a great coach or counselor, just having that relationship gives them a leg up and the school work falls into place.

There is more to school than standardized test scores, they are not a good indicator of future performance. There is a lot of research from other countries, whose students are consistently out performing our students, that support the need for more interactive approaches to students delivers much better results. The Scandinavian countries, particularly Finland is doing exceptional work in the educational arena and it would behoove us as a nation to perhaps look outside of ourselves as a society and see how others are dealing with the technological age and teaching. It couldn’t hurt.