Detroit is Functionally Illiterate

Over 50 years of Democrats' stranglehold on the city, and 47% of adults in Detroit are illiterate. That means they can't read, or don't care about the report that says "Detroit spent $15,945 per pupil for the 2010-2011 school year. By comparison, the average per pupil expenditure during the 2007-2008 school year nationally was $10,259."

And look folks, it's certainly not the Teachers' fault--and their union will tell you so.

"The Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT), however, is adamant that the problem actually lies with the city’s failure to effectively enforce school attendance.

“I don’t think that that the teachers’ union has a responsibility for making sure that adults can read,” DFT president Keith Johnson told TheDC."

Detroit | Functionally Illiterate | National Institute for Literacy | The Daily Caller

The Report

Area studies that promote racism, separatism, and disrespect--look out

Arizona legislature is not only trying to clean up the border problem, the drug cartel problem and the diseases that cross over (TB, hepatitis, Chagas, etc.) but it's going after the hate mongers (school administrators and school teachers) who cross dress as agents of diversity and multiculturalism.

"THE LEGISLATURE FINDS AND DECLARES THAT PUBLIC SCHOOL PUPILS SHOULD BE TAUGHT TO TREAT AND VALUE EACH OTHER AS INDIVIDUALS AND NOT BE TAUGHT TO RESENT OR HATE OTHER RACES OR CLASSES OF PEOPLE."

House Bill 2281

The law prohibits any school or charter school from including in its program of instruction any courses or classes that:

•Promote resentment toward a race or class of people;
•Are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group; or
•Advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals

Looking through the Fall opportunitites

Our community has a wealth of opportunities for adults to learn, to create and to think. I have laid out on the kitchen counter Center Stage, the programming for the Senior Center (adults 50 and over), UAPL Fall Programs 08, with programs for adults, teens and children, and UA Lifelong Learning & Leisure, Fall 2008. I could be busy morning to night, and with the exception of a few pricey trips ($1800 for a trip to Charleston & Savannah or $900 for Tulip Time at the Greenbrier), at a very reasonable price or free. At the Senior Center I could hear on Friday at 10 a.m. Ed Lentz, local historian, talk about the American Presidential Elections for $5 per class ($30 for 6). Or I could go Tuesday evenings to 4 lectures in the City Council Chambers for $40 to hear various university professors, including John Quigley, Moritz College of Law, Ohio State. After looking up his research , I think I'll pass. Another blame US first guy.

Quigley points to a series of interventions by the United States after assuming dominance of the region in the 1950s: the facilitation of a coup in Iran that overthrew a democratically elected regime and replaced it with the totalitarian Shah; a similar attempted CIA-backed coup in Syria; CIA backing of Western-loyal parliamentary candidates in Lebanon precipitating a civil war; and the backing of U.S. friendly totalitarian King Hussein in Jordan.

“In the United States, none of these interventionist actions gained public attention,” he writes. “But in the Middle East, a perception developed that the United States was out to promote its own interests.” These anti-U.S. perceptions were further solidified by the continued one-sided U.S. backing of Israel and Cold War decisions to support causes like the Islamist revolutionary Mujahideen in Afghanistan, Quigley writes.

Ultimately, anti-American sentiment caused by these actions coalesced into the current Islamist movement that gave us 911 and the resultant “War in Terrorism,” he writes. “Osama bin Laden’s militias grew out of the Afghan resistance,” Quigley writes. “Bin Laden framed his anti-United States arguments in the language of Islam, but he was voicing the same anti-colonialist sentiments that had been directed against France and Britain in the early 20th Century.”

I heard enough of this at the Lakeside programming this summer to last awhile.

Then for more enrichment, I could go to classes offered by something called "Dating Directions Certified Matchmakers," which will teach me how to flirt, go online, and set dating goals. Hmmm. I've been married 48 years, so I think I'm beyond that. Oh, here's a good one: Exploring past lives with guided regression--wear comfortable clothing! Or I could do a 2 session "Living your Passions" with guided visualization and positive thoughts. Whew! This is getting way too hot.

I could study near death experiences with someone doing it for 20 years (and it has fundamentally altered her viewpoint on death!) or observe a real life death autopsy (90 minutes on tape) at COSI or attend a session with a certified laughter Yoga instructor--wear comfortable clothing!

Also the city offers belly dancing basics with finger cymbals (this should work well with the flirting class), composting the worms (might work with the autopsy class), and introduction to beer (for the laughing Yoga?).

One trip the Senior Center offers that looks within my price range if I could find a girl friend to go is a trip to two of the homes of Rosemary Clooney, girl singer of the 40s, 50s and beyond, actress and author (and aunt of what's his name). We would stay overnight in the French Quarter Inn (of Maysville, KY), and make rolls at a bakery. This is $269 per person, double occupancy. This doesn't sound like something my husband would be interested in, but mid-October would be lovely in Kentucky. Then for $15 I could do the Holiday Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo--that would be Christmas, you know. There are some financial classes that look good--tax free investing, investment and stock market trends and indicators, how to down size and organize, legal counseling and investment counseling one-on-one. Medically there is a hearing screening and Life Line Screen for various blockages like abdominal aortic aneurysm (I think a lot of communities are offering this) and nutrition classes.

The UAPL has some interesting art and movie series, like "Objects of Wonder," which will coincide with the Museum of Art's offering this fall. We're members, so that might be an interesting peek ahead of time of what we'll see at the opening. "Objects of Wonder" features "a trove of treasures held in the more than 300 libraries and collections at OSU. The curator of the exhibit will be speaking--free, no registration required. There's an Italy travel show--having just been there, that looks good. I'll skip the movie on Darfur and the Afghani cabbie who died in military custody, but Young @ Heart was at Lakeside this summer and I missed it. There are several law topics, like Domestic and Probate Law 101, and General Law. There's a guy talking about the war between Woody and Bo. Of course, there are classes about the internet and book clubs to join. There are two art lectures, one on Manet and one on Cassat that look good.

Same ol', same ol'

Obama's education plan is business as usual says World Magazine. Just more billions thrown at even younger children.

Since Congress passed the first Elementary and Secondary Schools Act in 1965, every president has offered his signature education proposal. Carter promised to establish a federal Department of Education (and did); Reagan threatened to abolish the same (and didn't). Bush I had his Goals 2000, Clinton his Improving America's Schools act, Bush II his No Child Left Behind. Education reform has become such a fixture of the campaign season no one seems to wonder why education still needs reforming—didn't we already do that? In government bureaucracies, "reform" usually means something other than reform. Obama's plan is no exception.

Lakeside 2008--The end of summer

Golden August Sunset at Lakeside
We got here on July 5 after our lovely tour of Italy, and my brief stay in the hospital from a gastrointestinal bug which required lots of IVs and bedrest. But from that week on, we’ve had a wonderful stay at our summer home, particularly enjoying the many arts activities and seminars. Here’s a brief run down. I didn’t attend a lot of these, of course, since I needed a little time to paint, draw, read, visit friends, entertain, walk along the lake, and ride my 40 year old no-gear bike. Lakeside pulpit and programming leans a little too far toward liberal guilt (been there done that in my 30s and 40s) for my tastes--peace and justice, removal of Indians, global health--but I was still able to pick and choose some very interesting topics, especially local Ohio history. Over all, our Director of Education, Gretchen Curtis, did a fabulous job, and yesterday she reported over 9,000 in attendance at the daytime programming during the summer of 2008.

Week 1: June 23-25 Lives & Legacies of Charles & John Wesley
June 26-27 Religious Environmentalism in the U.S.

Week 2: Jun 30-July 3 Health & Wellness Week (with Nursing CE credit)

Week 3: July 7-11 U.S. Presidential Elections: Then and Now (10:30 a.m.)
Spiritual Biography (1:30 p.m.)

Week 4: July 14-18 Four Gospels with Tim Grannon (10:30 am)
The Great Lakes (1:30 pm)

Week 5: July 21-23 Historic Chautauqua
July 25 Historic Building Design and Preservation

Week 6: July 28-Aug 1 Middle East Foreign Affairs (10:30 am)
Global Health Challenges (1:30 pm)

Week 7: Aug 4-8 22nd Annual Peace with Justice Week

Week 8: Aug 11-15 Interfaith Week

Week 9: Aug 18-22 5th Annual Civil War Week

Week 10: Aug 25-27 Indian Removal from Ohio (Senior Venture Week)
Aug 28-29 Lakeside Neighbors

Thur 10:30 a.m. History of Camp Perry: 1907 to Now
SSG Josh Mann, Historian, Ohio Army National Guard
Thur 1:30 p.m. History and Operation of the Marblehead Limestone Quarry
Ted Dress, Night Supervisor, LaFarge Quarry, Marblehead OH
Fri 10:30 a.m. Bus Tour of LaFarge Quarry
Fri 1:30 p.m. Celebrating Chocolate: Sweet Ending to Lakeside’s 135th Season
Gretchen S. Curtis, Lakeside’s Director of Education

Also there were 3:30 seminars for book reviews, nutrition programs and Foreign Affairs Forum; Sunday history lectures; and week-day walking tours, tree identification walks and herb classes. Week-end events of plein air art, boat and auto shows, ice cream social, craft fair, and quilt show brought in thousands from outside the grounds.

The final week, Senior Venture Week, was open to all Lakesiders this year (in the past I think we had to pay a fee on top of our gate pass). Last week's archeological tour of Johnson's Island and this week's tour of the Marblehead Quarry were really some of the most interesting local events I've attended. A homeschooler from Port Clinton brought her 2 children for Ohio history credit. Wasn't that smart? Thursday and Friday I was very busy, and it was topped off with a delicious offering of CHOCOLATE!

Gretchen lectured on and served chocolate