WASL Fails to Make the Grade

There has been a lot of debate here in the state of Washington over whether the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) test should be the focus of the curriculum for our children. There have been arguments over the scoring of the tests and whether this focus is actually helping our children improve or hindering them. One news bit on the radio stated that dropping the WASL focus will enable the teachers to teach the children in a way that will help them improve their math scores, which is the section that consistently has the lowest scores.

I object to the WASL personally for two reasons. The first is the fact that I have a 10-year old son who is incredibly intelligent. From the age of two he has had a fascination with learning. He took an interest in the human anatomy so we bought him an anatomy book for children that explained about different parts of the human body, what their function was and so on. He was giving adults information that most college students outside of the medical program couldn't tell you about the human body before he was in kindergarten. His focus has grown to include paleontology, archeology, history, geography, mathematics, astronomy, physics, and on and on and on. His teachers refer to him as a sponge because he just soaks up every topic that he encounters.

Because of his thirst for knowledge, he is a little bit more of an advanced student than most of the other kids. He finishes his assignments rather quickly and, in order to keep him from distracting the other kids that are still trying to puzzle it out, he is allowed to read quietly. One teacher remarked that they have a difficult time getting most kids to read at that age, but she has a more difficult time getting Jared to stop reading to pay attention to the instructions for the next assignment.

I have always loved his thirst for knowledge and learning. I see a bit of myself in him that way. He has always loved school because he loves learning. This is where I have difficulty with the WASL focus for education. Kids are now under tremendous pressure at a young age to meet an educational standard early on. My son's desire to go to school is diminishing because they have taken his love, learning, and replaced it with stressful memorization and recall. He has a terrific memory, but when he is under a lot of pressure he struggles to recall the information and he does not score as well. And when his scores drop, what do you think that is doing to his self-esteem at that age?

Think about how it affects the quality of teaching our kids are receiving as well. Teachers job security depends on how well they prepare the kids to take this test. That puts stress on them which they in turn put on the children so that they can keep their jobs. I don't fault the teachers for this. I blame the program that they are forced to work with. They no longer have the time to look for ways to make the subjects entertaining and interesting to feed the children's desires for exploration and examination. And entertainment is probably just as important as the education. I bet that, no matter what age you are, you have forgotten the majority of the information you learned in high school in the subjects of history, chemistry, geometry, any subject outside of your college major and later career, but I bet you can remember quite clearly some of the movies you watched, your favorite books and/or your favorite songs. Kids need the entertainment factor to give them the long-term retention of information that the education administrators desire for the students.

The second problem I have with the WASL program is actually an issue I have with the educational system as a whole. The WASL program is just a more intensive version of this problem and that is that it does nothing to prepare you for real life. Education today is primarily based on memorizing facts and figures and recalling the information accurately during the test. But what happens when kids get out into the world and discover that the answer to the question is neither A, B, C or D? They don't have the problem-solving and decision-making skills necessary to find the answer and they struggle because none of their memorized facts and figures fit the situation.

Life is meant to be experienced hands-on and education should be the same way. I remember my high school math teachers telling me that the reason we needed to learn the math concepts was because we would use them later in life. I hated that answer because they were just avoiding the issue that the subject was BORING and DIFFICULT and made no sense to those of us who didn't have a college degree. And I know many people who have never used algebra, geometry and certainly not calculus since they graduated.

I applaud those teachers who use interesting and challenging projects to get their point across like the ones whose students have to design and build bridges to understand physics and engineering. Those kids will always remember that BECAUSE THEY ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING WITH IT!

So those of you who are concerned about the quality of education our children are getting, I hope you will push for those programs that fill our kids with a love for learning, that gives them the opportunity to explore, that entertains them, and that gives them hands-on experience in solving life's challenges.

The Talk

The other day my wife called me and told me that she had "the talk" with our 10 year old son. Somehow the topic of sexual harassment came up and my wife asked him if he knew what that meant. He replied that he did and when she asked him to elaborate he explained that it was when someone touches you or kisses you in a way that you do not like without their permission.

My wife was impressed with the maturity of his response and decided to take it one step further by stating that the term sexual harassment stems from the word "sex" and she asked him if he knew what that meant. He responded that he did and confidently explained that "sex" is a mathematical term meaning "six" (i.e. sextuplets).

Now if I were having this conversation, my response would have been, "Well, good. As long as you understand that," allowing him to remain in his innocence. But my wife, being the good parent she is, decided it is time he knew the truth and explained how it is possible that 1 + 1 can make 3 in 9 1/2 months.

Red Friday

This is one of those unverified e-mail stories, but it is very touching and sends a very important message.

------------------------------------------------------------

Last week I was in Atlanta , Georgia attending a conference. While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me beginning to clap and cheer. I immediately turned around and witnessed one of the greatest acts of patriotism I have ever seen.

Moving thru the terminal was a group of soldiers in their camo's, as they began heading to their gate everyone (well almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering. When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and cheered for it hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the only red blooded American who still loves this country and supports our troops and their families.

Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these young unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for us so we can go to school, work and home without fear or reprisal. Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our service men and women a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old, ran up to one of the male soldiers. He kneeled down and said "hi," the little girl then she asked him if he would give something to her daddy for her. The young soldier, he didn't look any older than maybe 22, said he would try and what did she want to give to her daddy. Then suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek.

The mother of the little girl, who said her daughters name was Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Marine and had been in Iraq for 11 months now. As the mom was explaining how much her daughter, Courtney, missed her father, the young soldier began to tear up.

When this temporarily single mom was done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second. Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a military looking walkie-talkie. They started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it.

After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, "I spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to you." He then hugged this little girl that he had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying "your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and he is coming home very soon."

The mom at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young soldier stood to his feet he saluted Courtney and her mom. I was standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire event unfolded. As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people resumed their applause.

As I stood there applauding and looked around, there were very few dry eyes, including my own. That young soldier in one last act of selflessness, turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a tear rolling down his cheek.

We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and thank God for them and their sacrifices. At the end of the day, it's good to be an American.

RED FRIDAYS ----- Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing red every Friday. The reason? Americans who support our troops used to be called the "silent majority". We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers. We are not organized, boisterous or over-bearing. We get no liberal media coverage on TV, to reflect our message or our opinions.

Many Americans, like you, me and all our friends, simply want to recognize that the vast majority of America supports our troops. Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday -and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that.. Every red-blooded American who supports our men and women afar will wear something red.

By word of mouth, press, TV -- let's make the United States on every Friday a sea of red much like a homecoming football game in the bleachers.

If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, co-workers, friends, and family. It will not be long before the USA is covered in RED and it will let our troops know the once "silent" majority is on their side more than ever, certainly more than the media lets on.

The first thing a soldier says when asked "What can we do to make things better for you?" is...We need your support and your prayers.

Let's get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example; and wear something red every Friday.

WE LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE , ONLY BECAUSE SOLDIERS WERE WILLING TO DIE FOR YOUR FREEDOM.

------------------------------------------------------------

I know that I am going to consider more carefully what I will wear each Friday. How about you?

"Can I Smell Your Head?"

Everyone has their morning routine and most of us don't like to have that disrupted. My 4-year old is no exception to that. But his morning routine happens to be watching me perform my morning routine.

As soon as he hears the water running in the shower, he sneaks into the bathroom and climbs up on the counter next to the sink where he waits for me to be done. He then carries on a conversation with my while I dry off. When I used to use aerosol deodorant (I stopped using it once I figured out that one of the perks of being married is that I can get a date anytime I want and so deodorant was no longer necessary), he would take it and pretend to use it on himself before putting it away for me. He will get the shaving cream out for me while I blow-dry my hair and put it away for me again when I've used it. After I've applied my aftershave, he asks me to wipe what's left on my hands on his cheeks so he can smell good, too. He watches me brush my teeth, comb my hair and bulletproof it with hairspray.

Being spring break, the boys got to stay up a bit later on Sunday night. Because of that, Joe did not hear the shower and missed my whole routine. So as I am finishing up my preparations to leave for work, he wakes up and realizes that I have already done all I need to do in the bathroom. But quality preparation is a high concern in our household and so he asks me, "Dad, did you use your hairspray this morning?"

"Yes, I did," I replied.

"I can't smell it. ...Can I smell your head?"

Do You Have Gas?

There was an article in the newspaper yesterday that covered an inquiry as to how the presidents of the four largest fuel companies can justify their record profits (something like $123 billion among the four of them) while the prices at the pump continue to rise. I wish I could say I was shocked at how they defended their position completely and refused to take responsibility for the impact their record profits are having on the American economy. I am all for making profits, but not when there is such a heavy impact on everyone I do business with. Then, on top of it all, the rationalized continuing to get something like $18 billion in tax breaks for continued research and development. Come on! You can't part with a little bit of your profit to pay to improve your business? It's ridiculous!!!

There is an upside to all of this, though. People are carpooling more to save on gas which cuts down on the pollution from automobiles. Others are biking or walking places that they would normally drive to. So, these high gas prices aren't all bad. I just hate to see so many people and businesses struggling to make ends meet while these companies are making money hand over fist.

On that note, let me share with you an e-mail that my boss forwarded on to me yesterday:


TIPS ON PUMPING GAS

I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline.... but here in California we are also paying higher, up to $3.50 per gallon. But my line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money's worth for every gallon.

Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose, CA we deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline. One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role.

A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some other liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.

Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up--most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom. Hope this will help you get the most value for your money.

DO SHARE THESE TIPS WITH OTHERS!

WHERE TO BUY USA GAS, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW. READ ON!

Gas rationing in the 70's worked even though we grumbled about it. It might even be good for us! The Saudis are boycotting American goods. We should return the favor.

An interesting thought is to boycott their GAS.

Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from the Saudis.

Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my family, and my friends.

I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil companies are the best to buy gas from and which major companies import Middle Eastern oil.

These companies import Middle Eastern oil:

Shell................................ 205,742,000 barrels

Chevron/Texaco........... 144,332,000 barrels

Exxon /Mobil................ 130,082,000 barrels

Marathon/Speedway.... 117,740,000 barrels

Amoco............................... 62,231,000 barrels

Citgo gas is from South America, from a Dictator who hates Americans. If you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18 BILLION! (oil is now $90 - $100 a barrel)

Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:

Sunoco..................0 barrels

Conoco..................0 barrels

Sinclair..................0 barrels

B P/Phillips..........0 barrels

Hess......................0 barrels

ARC0....................0 barrels

If you go to Sunoco.com, you will get a list of the station locations near you.

All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importing.

But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas buyers. It's really simple to do.

Now, don't wimp out at this point.... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!

I'm sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)...and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) .. and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers!!!!!!! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted!

If it goes one level further, you guessed it ..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!

Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. How long would all that take?

Twitter-pated

Has anyone heard about Twitter.com before? I just found out about it and created an account at https://twitter.com/theniceguy but I don't know who else has an account set up. If you or someone you know is Tweeting, let me know.