ha ha ha no child left behind

during my interview with teach for america, they asked me how the organization
and its mission fit into my professional goals. i replied that i was always interested in policy, especially related to education, but i felt the need to experience education policy in action before i could fix what was broken. in my two years in the corps, i experienced a lot of broken things. i saw classrooms that were under resourced , thousands of dollars spend on standardized test study guides geared toward my high school students who were barely reading at a seventh grade level, private companies overtaking schools with promises of change, but really concentrating on how to make a profit. i saw first hand how no child left behind really meant not leaving *certain* children behind. my students in the inner city,
were left behind every year, despite my best intentions otherwise.

so i get excited when other people, far more eloquent than me, join in
this discussion of the broken
education system . i completely agree when ravitch mentions
that state and cities know their schools better and know what methods
and practices are effective in achieving success. i find it problematic
when policies are written to the lowest common denominator (failing
schools) and don't take into consideration the locality of these
failing schools or assume what works in one district surely must work
in the next.

i'm not saying that each case is radically different or that there aren't similarities shared among failing schools. issues like acquiring and retaining quality teachers, funding, finding ways to challenge and inspire students are common, but as policymakers, we have to appreciate the nuances that surround each district. as i found in simply teaching on both the east and west coast, the method in which education plays out in the community is dramatically different.

no child left behind is analogous to buying one type of cream and applying it to all your ailments: a broken foot, the common cold, menstrual cramps, chylamidia, the flu, allergies and cancer. no child left behind isn't the wonder drug that is going to cure this country's broken public education system, if anything, it continues to exacerbate it.

dammit

well, the public has spoken and the barry bond's 756 ball is not going to space as i repeatedly voted for the past 10 days. it's going to cooperstown with an asterisk . boo.

long live the cupcake!

oh holy shit. i think everyone knows how obsessed i am with cupcakes. i think they are so super cute and fun to make and come on, who doesn't like receiving and eating a cupcake? they are like a ray of sunshine with a cute paper bottom.

so i get super excited when other people share in my joy of the cucpake and thank you 2005 texas legislature for passing the safe cupcake amendment .

soon, we will have an army of cupcake enthusiasts and i couldn't be happier!

happiness is a funny thing

what a great article in the new york times about the difference of happiness levels among men and women. in case you are wondering, men are happier than women. duh. does this come as a surprise? backing away from my feminist soap box, and not stating the obvious of the lack of gender evolution, i still think that the pull to "have it all" meaning a fantastic professional life and an equally fantastic personal life is still really strong. placing that desire against the backdrop of a male dominated professional sphere, women having "double duty" (caring for children as well as their aging parents); there aren't enough hours in the day.

I especially appreciate at the end of the article (spoiler alert) how he talks about the need for paid maternity leave and universal preschool. hey everyone, jump on that bandwagon!

thank you mayor jerry sanders

thanks to pinkdome here is an intimate look at a policy maker struggling between his head and his heart. mayor sanders was initially against a city ordinance allow same sex couples to marry, but only recently decided to support it. you can see the evolution unfold here .

i don't get it

let me preface this by saying, i'm not a lawyer, i'm not anti lawyer because some of the most important people in my life are lawyer.

saying that, what the f judge noel a. ferris

i get being annoyed by people. as my bff tells me all the time, i am the patron saint of eternal frustration, but i feel like my frustration is primarily grounded in wanting to do something else; for example, i get frustrated at drivers who go the wrong way in parking lots because i want to park my car quickly and grab a cup of coffee; what's the judge wanting to do? close this case and move onto another immigrant seeking asylum so she can make them cry too?

nbc hates happy customers

it was bound to happen sooner or later; two shows that i love: grey's anatomy and the office will going going to tete a tete beginning thursdays later on this month. while i love my tivo and it has treated me well in the past, it lacks the function of recording a different channel than the one you are currently watching. so, i have to commit to a show in order for it to be tivo'd. i hate commitment. sometimes i feel like an awkward love octagon in the office, sometimes i feel like an equally awkward love clusterfuck in the er, i just can't anticipate my moods.

when i first heard about the rumored match up, it didn't bother me that much; i was happy to pay the $1.99/episode of the office via itunes and having them at my disposal. sometimes, on a rainy weekend (or sunny weekend, it doesn't really matter) i will watch them again because it's the perfect 27 minute distraction i need. i don't have the same connection with grey's though; i can't relive their drama again, it hurts the heart. but michael, jim, pam, kelly and ryan? are you serious? bring it.

well nbc said a big fat no that idea . they've decided to pull their line up from itunes because they feel the market will pay more than the $1.99 asking price and itunes refuses to increase their cost. huh. i guess the billions of dollars you make every single day just isn't what it used to be. and even though they will offer downloads to pc (not macs yet mind you, when the fuck will that happen), it doesn't fix the problem of having the shows as my very own.