“Ooh Yeah!”: Remembering Randy Savage (1952-2011)

Not one, not two, not three, not four, but five flying elbow-drops from the top rope, seemingly smashing the Ultimate Warrior into oblivion, followed, of course, by his reunion with Miss Elizabeth.  If you were one of the millions who grew up watching the WWF (now the WWE), then you know exactly what I am talking about.  Randy “Macho Man” Savage vs. The Ultimate Warrior in a retirement match at Wrestlemania VII.

Book Review: Write These Laws on Your Children

Robert Kunzman. Write These Laws on Your Children: Inside the World of Conservative Christian Homeschooling. Boston: Beacon Press, 2009.

My oldest son is four years old and a few months away from beginning kindergarten.  Right now, at least for his first year, we are intending to send him to public school.  Quite honestly, we did not make this decision because we are all that impressed with the public school system in Louisville (a political mess is an accurate description of JCPS), but private school isn’t an option right now and, despite the many proponents of homeschooling in Louisville, we still have significant concerns about homeschooling.

Anyways, that is the context for my reading of Robert Kunzman’s excellent book, Write These Laws on Your Children: Inside the World of Conservative Christian Homeschooling.  And I must repeat, Write These Laws is an excellent book, well worth your money if this is a subject that interests or impacts you.

Kunzman is not a Christian, but he is not anti-Christian.  A former high school teacher and present college professor, he is well-aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the public school system, sharing many of the concerns which homeschooling parents so often cite.

Teacher Unions: Sucking the Life Out of Education Everywhere

Let me say up front: I am not a fan of unions.  Quite frankly, I am of the opinion that,  in nearly every instance, unions have outlived their purpose.  Furthermore, I would like to suggest that one of the best chapters of Smart Kids, Bad Schools is Brian Crosby’s chapter on teacher unions, appropriately titled, “Outlaw Teachers Unions.”

Perhaps you would like some examples of the ridiculousness of teacher unions?  Consider these examples, all of which can be found in Crosby’s book:

• Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger sought merit pay for teachers (in his words, “teacher employment [should] be tied to performance, not to just showing up”).  The response from the United Teachers of Los Angeles was that such a concept was “la-la land” (chapter 29).

Book Review: Smart Kids, Bad Schools

Brian Crosby. Smart Kids, Bad Schools: 38 Ways to Save America’s Future. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2008.

If you are like me, you view the educational system in America as one which is both incredibly complicated and flawed.  On one hand, the options for educating your child are seemingly endless: public schools, secular private schools, religious private schools, homeschooling, unschooling, charter schools, etc.  Of course, each of these options have their strengths and weaknesses, and further complicating matters is that the quality of each option is largely dependent on where you live.

Despite these complicating factors, most Americans agree that the educational system is broken, especially the public school system.  To illustrate this, Crosby gives a variety of relevant statistics, such as the facts that twenty-five percent of American children read below grade level and one-third of children cannot find Louisiana on a map.  Perhaps what is most depressing is that statistics such as these no longer shock us.