Mondays are hard

I teach my elementary teachers on Mondays, 4:30 to 6:30. Last night I spent another hour after that with a crying student. I found out I was supposed to apologize for having high standards! Joy. Came home, walked the dogs, ate, passed out.

Kucinich rocks!

That's all.

ADHD

I have a hard time with this one. I think it's children's natural state to have attention deficit and to be hyperactive and I do not think we should drug them because they are. That is not to say that I doubt disorder's existence, I just doubt that it is as common as it is diagnosed. I am listening to Talk of the nation and they are talking about the latest study that shows that an individual may grow out of the ADHD, that is that the part of brain responsible may just take little longer to develop in ADHD individuals, but once it does these people no longer have ADHD. A woman calls in says she was told she had ADHD, so if she doesn't have it anymore, how would she know!?!

Vouchers, again

From Salt Lake Tribune: With 85 percent of the state's precincts reporting, 62.1 percent of Utahns voted against school vouchers and 37.8 percent voted for them.

More to follow.

Chalk?

Has anyone seen Chalk? What did you make of it?

On a different note, I asked my students "If you had to think of something that is as different from mathematics as possible what would it be?" I got a fair number of "I can't think of anything different".... What would be your answer?

And something well, maybe not as unrelated as it may appear. The other day (10/18 show) I listened to The Bryant Park Project and they had two people who were going to some sort of right conference. They were asked for three most important issues that would decide who they would vote for. The answers were, in this order: the abortion issue, the marriage issue, and the judges that the candidate would appoint. When asked "Why these?" the woman answered "I'm a mother of two children, and I'm concerned about their future." So am I.

Nothing to do with math

I couldn't resist:

Vouchers

I am really not too huge on advertising. I've ever only worn one shirt ever (well, two, but one is really warm and fuzzy and free and unfortunately has word MICHIGAN on it, I guess you could think state, not the university, although highly unlikely) that had any sort of writing or picture on it that is larger that half a centimeter by 2 centimeters. Anyhow, I have put up two Stop vouchers signs on Friday, and taken one For vouchers sign down, not personally of course, so I was pretty proud of my accomplishments. I also explained the whole thing to a person who claimed not to have known much about it and he said he was going to vote against them, but it could be that was said only because he thought his tip depended on it (he was cutting my hair). Anyway, for those of you who do not know, the voters will be deciding on vouchers for private schools: will the parents who decide to send their children to private schools be allowed to receive up to $3000 towards tuition from state education funds? Anyway, you can see the whole bill here, but some my favorite parts are (italics was added by me):

Eligible private schools:
....
(g) employ or contract with teachers who:
(i) hold baccalaureate or higher degrees; or
(ii) have special skills, knowledge, or expertise that qualifies them to provide instruction in the subjects taught;
(h) provide to parents the teaching credentials of the school's teachers; and
(i) provide, upon request to any person, a statement indicating which, if any,
organizations have accredited the private school.
...

The scholarship application form shall contain the following statement:
"I acknowledge that:

(1) A private school may not provide the same level of services that are provided in a public school.
(2) The private school in which I have chosen to enroll my child has disclosed to me
the teaching credentials of the school's teachers and the school's accreditation status.
(3) I will assume full financial responsibility for the education of my scholarship
student if I accept this scholarship.
(4) Acceptance of this scholarship has the same effect as a parental refusal to consent to services pursuant to Section 614(a)(1) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1400 et seq."

The polls seem to be saying that the vouchers will be voted down. I hope they are right.