Here's one for your 3pm coffee break...Americans do not know basic civics, according to a report released today.Do you think the state's EOC test writers who write questions for the state's Civics EOC exam know the answers to their own questions?
USA TODAY:
The study, the third in a series by the non-profit Intercollegiate Studies Institute, finds that half of U.S. adults can name all three branches of government, and 54% know that the power to declare war belongs to Congress. Almost 40% incorrectly said that it belongs to the president.
Those who have held elected office lack civic knowledge; 43% do not know the Electoral College is a constitutionally mandated assembly that elects the president. One in five thinks it "trains those aspiring for higher office" or "was established to supervise the first televised presidential debates."
"Without knowledge of your country's history, key texts and institutions, you don't have a frame of reference to judge the politics and policies of today," says Richard Brake, head of the institute's American Civic Literacy Program.
Click here for the ACLP's Press Release.
E.C. :)
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http://globallabor.blogspot.com/2008/10/ayersobama-update-david-blaine-award.html
Something of interest to consider as to how it is applies at GCS.
Mort Kondracke has a wonderful new solution to the problems of public schools. I have no problem with eliminating local school boards, as GCS has shown that they add no value to education, whatsoever. But, I have some doubts that teacher corporations are the answer, especially because it would ultimately be the teachers' unions that would be in charge. What we have seen in states with strong teachers' unions, education becomes about teachers and the union, not about children and education. So, let's create school vouchers to allow true school choice for students and their parents. The competition from charter and private schools will force public schools to improve. It is so simple to be obvious.
On the other hand, having most students graduate at the 10th grade and enter a useful trade school is not a terrible idea. Let's face it, most of the drop-outs are those students anyway. College-bound students are not usually the drop-outs anyway.
Three governors -- Republican Jon Huntsman Jr. (Utah) and Democrats Deval Patrick (Mass.) and John Lynch (N.H.) -- have set up pilot projects partially implementing proposals of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, issued last year.
Significantly, their initiatives have been blessed by leaders of the National Education Association, though its rival, the American Federation of Teachers, opposes them.
Under the proposal, states would take over schools from local boards, teachers would form corporations to run schools on contract and hire principals, salaries would go up significantly to attract first-rate teachers and standards would be set to international norms.
Most students would graduate after 10th grade and go on to upgraded trade or tech schools, while others stayed and took college-level courses. And money saved would also fund preschool for needy kids.
If one governor fully implemented the proposal, his or her state could be a competitiveness juggernaut, set a model for the nation -- and begin solving America's biggest long-term problem.
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