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The JackB

"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." Groucho Marx

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Education

Is Private School Worth It?

January 12, 2010 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

Sometimes I wonder if old Jack is an idiot or a fox in disguise. Every year I write about the struggle to keep the kids in private school. Every year I spend time talking about the pros and cons and wonder how I have managed to do it for as long as I have.

Tuition Woes- Or Tuition, Tuition, Tuition
The Day School Dilemma- Paying For Private School
Paying For Private School- Part II
Private School Woes
What Should Children Learn in School?
Private School Blues & What is a High IQ Worth Anyway

And here I face my arch nemesis, one more time. “Hello tuition, so we meet again.” The thing is that this time around I think that the supervillain might actually win. Every year I have managed to pull a rabbit out of my hat. Somehow, some way I have managed to find a way to make it work.

I should be proud of my accomplishment, but instead I feel sad and foolish. I joined the rat race and played the game. Like a hamster on a wheel I ran and ran and now I am spent and broken down.  And I have to ask myself how I ended up in this place.

The unspoken truth is that I feel like I have failed. And if you are one of the 17 long time readers you know that I believe that it is important to teach children how to lose and to let them fail. You know that I consider it to be critical because they have to learn coping skills.

Jack has failed. I own that.

I did it, I said it and now I am moving beyond it. I don’t need to provide a laundry list of all the things that I did wrong anymore than I need one that lists what I did right. I am one of millions of people who got caught in the net of this terrible economy. A perfect storm of epic proportions has helped to create this mess.

I keep saying that 2010 is the year of Jack and I will die before I let it be otherwise. Now the only question is how to make that happen.

+++++++++++++++++++

So here we are, facing the question of what to do about school. The local public school remains unacceptable. I don’t believe that it will provide the children with the education that they deserve. So now what? What options are available?

Moving might be an option. It is something that has been on the back of my mind for a long time. It hasn’t happened because it seemed to require too many sacrifices.

1) Leaving the state- I have applied for positions outside of here, but haven’t been hired. It seemed foolish to move to a new place without a job.

2) Moving within the city- Up to now hasn’t been affordable. The increase in mortgage has been more than the cost of the private school.

3) Give up the house- Well, thought about this a bunch of times and it never seemed like a good option. But I am starting to reconsider.

+++++++++++++++++++

I am not totally giving up on the school but I am not relying on it either. I can’t. I am facing the reality of the situation. My children will be very unhappy about leaving. It won’t be easy to tell them, but I am not going to let that keep a bad situation going.

However, if I do figure out how to pull that rabbit out of my hate again they can stay. It is not a great plan, especially as it applies to the long term. But sometimes you have to adopt short term measures to get to that long term place.

Filed Under: Children, Education

Do schools kill creativity?

December 3, 2009 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Education

Back To School

September 9, 2009 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

My kids started school last week and it has been one giant adventure.

My daughter is in kindergarten where she and her friends are busy trying to decide who is going to marry whom. Heavy negotiations are taking place.

Her older brother’s response to all this is “girls are weird” and the astute observation, “moms are just bigger girls aren’t they.”

I smile and tell him that he has no idea, but one day he will.

In between all this my son wants to know why everyone else went to Hawaii or somewhere else and we didn’t. I laugh and tell him poverty builds character.

Fortunately he shrugs his shoulder and is content to resume playing with Legos.

Last night I asked him if his class saw the president’s speech. He said no so I guess that I don’t have to worry about him being brainwashed. But he did say that they are supposed to discuss something about Obama, but he is not sure what.

And then he looks at me and says that I was right, third grade is harder than second but not impossible.

The dark haired beauty started kindergarten last week so she has plenty to add about all of this. In addition to the stories about the boys she has had plenty to tell me. She is ecstatic about having homework and makes a point of showing me her homework folder every day. She is so excited about it she wants to know why she doesn’t have homework on the weekend.

I laugh and say that it won’t be long before she does. She doesn’t know why I am laughing and is a bit miffed by it. I give her a big hug and tell her not to worry. And then I look into those dark eyes and ask if she’ll stay five a bit longer.

She agrees and tells me that she will stay five until she turns six and that I’ll just have to deal with it. Oy, I love this girl but she is determined to kill me. I know now that the preteen years and beyond are going to be interesting.

Late at night I go online and check out the school’s new website. They just rolled this puppy out and I am impressed. They have done a nice job with it and I can see that it is going to make a great resource.

There is a calendar with a list of events and each of their teachers logs homework and school projects on it as well. It makes it really easy to keep up with things and the digital photos that they upload from the classrooms are pretty cool too.

It all feels good and at the moment the private school dilemma is at rest but it won’t be long before that particular monster comes out of the closet looking for food again.

In the interim all is well. They are happy and we are happy and sometimes that is all you can ask for.

Filed Under: Children, Education, Schools

Playing it Safe

June 3, 2009 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

You can blame a lot of things on a man turning 40. There are all of the traditional and stereotypical things going on here. The desire for a sports car, the need to feel young and vibrant etc.

I admit to feeling all of those things. But I also can say that I truly don’t feel old. Ok, so that is a contradiction to some of what I have said. I do feel the pressure of time. I do feel like there are more responsibilities and fewer chances to take a risk. All that is true.

But it doesn’t change the overall feeling inside that I really am not old. I may not look like I did at twenty. I may have some mystery aches and pains that didn’t exist, but mentally I don’t feel like an old guy.

Ask my children and they’ll tell you that their dad is a big kid. I chase them around the house ans wrestle with them. Little Jack and play handball. I challenge and win races against he and his friends all the time.

Ok, not that impressive to beat a bunch kids. But give me a break. In ten years they’ll be on the verge of entering their peak and I’ll be fifty. Got to take advantage of the opportunity to win while I can. And believe me, I am not conceding anything when I am fifty.

************************
Spent several hours at a school event last night. It was a dinner for the kindergarten class of 2009-10. The dark haired beauty was in rare form. Not long before we left she told me that she is a big girl and it won’t be long before she is married and has a baby in her tummy. She emphasized the tummy part by sticking her belly out at me.
I smiled and told her that she has plenty of time to learn and grow before she becomes a mommy. She told me that she is ready. So I leaned over and told her that I am ready to speak to any boy that wants to help her become a mommy. She looked at me and told me that I wasn’t going to speak to them, I am going to punch them in the nose.
Good to see that she understands the score. Truth is that little girl is going to take some little boy and turn him inside out. But just in case, I will be there. Good to know that she knows that.
Anyway, at the dinner I made a point of playing with the kids and then moseyed off to hang out with some of the fathers. We made the usual small talk about life. Batted around the idea of retirement and how if we pulled our kids out of private school we could retire earlier.
I laughed. Some of those guys are making so much money it is hard to believe that retirement is an issue that they worry about. Some of them played it safe, doctors and attorneys who moved into the family practice. I don’t fault them for it.
At times I have wondered if I didn’t make a mistake by playing it safe. There are easier paths to walk than the one that I have chosen. There are fewer bumps and bruises to be had by hiking the trail that has already been blazed. But that is not me. I like trying to Shoot the Moon. I like the razor’s edge.
The trick is be aware of where you are at. I don’t want to become the next Icarus. If it works. If I find that way to make it all happen then all is good. And if it doesn’t, well, I have a fall back plan. The hard part is that falling back could end up being a literal experience and that is where my age comes into play.
It is not that you can’t get back up, but the bruises and aches have a way of hanging on a bit longer than they did in the past. I guess that we’ll see what happens.

Filed Under: Children, Education, Things About Jack

You Can’t Fire Bad Teachers- Thank You LA Unified School District

May 4, 2009 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

This is the kind of article that should have parents up in arms, assuming that it is factual and accurate. Just reading the lead irks me more than I can tell you. Read the story and you’ll see.

A Times investigation finds the process so arduous that many principals don’t even try, except in the very worst cases. Jettisoning a teacher solely because he or she can’t teach is rare.

Let’s take a few minutes to review some more of this:

It’s remarkably difficult to fire a tenured public school teacher in California, a Times investigation has found.

The path can be laborious and labyrinthine, in some cases involving years of investigation, union grievances, administrative appeals, court challenges and re-hearings.Not only is the process arduous, but some districts are particularly unsuccessful in navigating its complexities. The Los Angeles Unified School District sees the majority of its appealed dismissals overturned, and its administrators are far less likely even to try firing a tenured teacher than those in other districts.

The Times reviewed every case on record in the last 15 years in which a tenured employee was fired by a California school district and formally contested the decision before a review commission: 159 in all (not including about two dozen in which the records were destroyed). The newspaper also examined court and school district records and interviewed scores of people, including principals, teachers, union officials, district administrators, parents and students.

Among the findings:

* Building a case for dismissal is so time-consuming, costly and draining for principals and administrators that many say they don’t make the effort except in the most egregious cases. The vast majority of firings stem from blatant misconduct, including sexual abuse, other immoral or illegal behavior, insubordination or repeated violation of rules such as showing up on time.

* Although districts generally press ahead with only the strongest cases, even these get knocked down more than a third of the time by the specially convened review panels, which have the discretion to restore teachers’ jobs even when grounds for dismissal are proved.

* Jettisoning a teacher solely because he or she can’t teach is rare. In 80% of the dismissals that were upheld, classroom performance was not even a factor.

When teaching is at issue, years of effort — and thousands of dollars — sometimes go into rehabilitating the teacher as students suffer. Over the three years before he was fired, one struggling math teacher in Stockton was observed 13 times by school officials, failed three year-end evaluations, was offered a more desirable assignment and joined a mentoring program as most of his ninth-grade students flunked his courses.

As a case winds its way through the system, legal costs can soar into the six figures.

Meanwhile, said Kendra Wallace, principal of Daniel Webster Middle School on Los Angeles’ Westside, an ineffective teacher can instruct 125 to 260 students a year — up to 1,300 in the five years she says it often takes to remove a tenured employee.

It is incredible and not in a good way.

L.A. Unified officials have struggled with the system more than most.

Of the 15 tenured employees on record as fighting their terminations before review commissions in the last decade and a half, nine won their jobs back.

The main reasons: Commissions did not find the district’s evidence damning or persuasive enough.

The district wanted to fire a high school teacher who kept a stash of pornography, marijuana and vials with cocaine residue at school, but a commission balked, suggesting that firing was too harsh. L.A. Unified officials were also unsuccessful in firing a male middle school teacher spotted lying on top of a female colleague in the metal shop, saying the district did not prove that the two were having sex.

The district fared no better in its case against elementary school special education teacher Gloria Hsi, despite allegations that included poor judgment, failing to report child abuse, yelling at and insulting children, planning lessons inadequately and failing to supervise her class.

Not a single charge was upheld. The commission found the school’s evaluators were unqualified because they did not have special education training. Moreover, it said they went to the class at especially difficult periods and didn’t stay long enough.

Four years after the district began trying to fire Hsi, the case is still tied up in court, although she has been removed from the classroom. Her lawyer declined to comment on her behalf. The district’s legal costs so far: $110,000.

Sometimes the strength of a union can be detrimental. Membership in a union should not provide blanket protection without care or concern for the actions of union members.

Over the years I have heard many stories from friends who are teachers or otherwise employed in the district. There have been plenty of stories that are positive and make you feel good, but there are far too many that make you cringe.

Teachers are exceptionally influential. I have long argued that they should be paid more because their work is invaluable. But at the same time a bad teacher is incredibly dangerous too. It is very serious problem and we need to take action to improve things.

Filed Under: Education, Politics, Teachers

Israel On College Campuses

February 26, 2009 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

Many Jewish college students have been struggling with the way Israel is treated on campus. It is becoming more common for adversaries of the state to hold anti-Israel demonstrations and activities on campus.

Quite a few of these activities are not friendly gatherings of students handing out flowers and suggesting that we just give peace a chance. Many are populated by rampant antisemitic commentary and false accusations about the misdeeds of Israel. Counter demonstrators routinely tell stories of being threatened, intimidation is routine.

The demonstrations rarely are balanced. You don’t attend them to hear speakers present both sides. They are hate rallies in which the speakers do their best to whip the crowd into a frenzy. They are part of a movement that is doing its best to delegitimize Israel and make it untenable to voice dissent for fear of repurcussions.

UCLA professor Judea Pearl wrote an essay that is worth reading.

…when an e-mail from a colleague at Indiana University asked: “Being at UCLA, you must know about this symposium … pretty bad.” Attached to it was Roberta Seid’s report on the now famous “Human Rights and Gaza” symposium held a day earlier at UCLA (see “UCLA Symposium on Gaza Ignites Strong Criticism,” Jewish Journal, Feb. 11, 2009).

To refresh readers’ memory, this symposium, organized by UCLA’s Center for Near East Studies (CNES), was billed as a discussion of human rights in Gaza. Instead, the director of the center, Susan Slyomovics, invited four longtime demonizers of Israel for a panel that Seid describes as a reenactment of a “1920 Munich beer hall.” Not only did the panelists portray Hamas as a guiltless, peace-seeking, unjustly provoked organization, they also bashed Israel, her motives, her character, her birth and conception and led the excited audience into chanting “Zionism is Nazism,” “F—-, f—- Israel,” in the best tradition of rhino liturgy.

Point of information: In the late 90’s I worked on campus at UCLA and have a few stories of my own about what was happening then. I was confronted several times by male students who suggested that it wasn’t safe for me to disagree with them. Perhaps I’ll share more about this later.

Pearl continues on and suggests that Jewish faculty members should have anticipated this and done more to try and help to steer the conversation so that it wasn’t so one sided. He writes about the many dilemmas presented by a society that tries to protect rocket launching terrorists and decries self defense.

And he discusses how it has become harder to be an outspoken Zionist for fear of the repurcussions.

These are dilemmas that had not surfaced before the days of rockets and missiles, and we, the Jewish faculty, ought to have pioneered their study. Instead, we allowed Hamas’ sympathizers to frame the academic agenda. How can we face our students from the safety of our offices when they deal with anti-Israel abuse on a daily basis — in the cafeteria, the library and the classroom — and as alarming reports of mob violence are arriving from other campuses (San Jose State University, Spartan Daily, Feb. 9, and York University, Globe and Mail, Feb. 13)?

Burdened with guilt, I called some colleagues, but quickly realized that a few have already made the shift to a strange-sounding language, not unlike “Honk, Honk.” Some have entered the debate phase, arguing over the rhino way of life vs. the human way of life, and the majority, while still speaking in a familiar English vocabulary, are frightened beyond anything I have seen at UCLA in the 40 years that I have served on its faculty.

Colleagues told me about lecturers whose appointments were terminated, professors whose promotion committees received “incriminating” letters, and about the impossibility of revealing one’s pro-Israel convictions without losing grants, editorial board membership, or invitation to panels and conferences. And all, literally all, swore me into strict secrecy — we have entered the era of “the new Maranos.”



I am sad to say that I wasn’t surprised by any of this. It is not so long since I was producing daily updates about the War in Gaza. In return I was repeatedly attacked on the blog and via email with some of the most hateful speech I can think of. I was called a racist and a nazi. I was told that the world would be a better place if I died.

People did their best to try and intimidate me. Intimidation is a central part of their tactics. It is what they do best. If you don’t toe the party line, if you dare deviate then you are attacked from every angle. Physical threats combined with attempts to ostracize you socially and professionally.

I’ll continue to advocate fair and balanced of criticism of all countries. Israel can and should be criticized. But when the Anti-Israel crowd continues to include epithets suggesting that Jews should go to the gas chambers and similar hate speech it is impossible to accept their claims that their criticism is not antisemitic. These types of attacks are attacks on all of us and must be opposed.

Unless we take action we are going to read more stories about intimidation at the universities. It is past time to draw a line in the sand and hold the universities accountable for activities that take place under their purview.

Crossposted on Yourish.

P.S. for those who are interested here is a link to some resources you can use to help educate people.

Filed Under: Education, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, University

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