What? You don't know how to cook bacon?

Walt is "batching" it, so has started to pay attention to cooking instructions...

...but does know how to cook bacon, having learned by watching this excellent cooking show on SCTV.

VIDEO: Matt Taibbi talks about "education" in Loudon County VA

I kind of lost track of Matt Taibbi, whose political analysis I always enjoyed, even when he was calling President Trump the "clown president". He can be found now on Rumble.

In this video he discusses the ongoing battle between the "educators" of Loudon County VA and the parents who don't want their kids to be brainwashed with Critical Race Theory (CRT) and other hard left propaganda. Mr Taibbi makes the case that if Democrats don't change their tune on parental influence in school curriculum, they're doomed in 2022.

   

Nice to be able to see and hear Mr Taibbi. I'm one of those who always wonders what the writers look like. That's why I put my picture on WWW, not because I'm vain. [??? Ed.] But I digest.... 

I want to recommend, highly, Matt Taibbi's 2019 book Hate, Inc, reviewed on WWW in "From the inside: Matt Taibbi explains why the media want to keep Americans perpetually at war...", 28/6/20. Mr Taibbi is mentioned in several other posts, which you can find by using the "Search this blog" window at the bottom right corner of this page.

VIDEO: Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson & Friends talk about the New World Order, political Islam and the indoctrination of our children

Walt is so pleased to find that Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson is still out there! You may remember her (and been impressed, as I was) as one of the first candidates of Max Bernier's People's Party of Canada, speaking the truth in videos posted here back in the winter. See "LLTT tells why she ran for the People's Party of Canada", WWW 26/2/19. Ms Tyler Thompson didn't get elected, but will likely have another go at it in October. Meanwhile, she's got a great YouTube channel, Laura-Lynn & Friends, which I recommend wholeheartedly.

I'm pleased to repost a brand new video in which LLTT interviews award-winning international journalist, educator, author and consultant, Alex Newman, who discusses the New World Order and the agenda of chaos. Also appearing is Tanya Gaw, co-founder of Action 4 Canada, who talks about the crisis in the education of our children, who are being indoctrinated in gender ideology in furtherance of that same One World agenda.



Further viewing (for our Canuck readers): "The Conservative Party of Canada no longer represents the grassroots of our nation" - More straight talk from LLTT, posted to YouTube 6/5/19.

Some prescient thoughts about "safe spaces" and the American media

Walt here. As Ed. told you, I'm a bit under the weather [clear and cold. Ed.] but the news that the Mueller report is likely to prove a colossal dud cheers me up enough strengthens me to attach the keyboard for awhile. What follows are excerpts from penultimate chapter of a book which I'll identify at the end. [No peeking. Ed.] Your task is to guess the date on which it was written. The picture of the author may help. Or not.

"The world is full of dangerous ideas, and we are both naive and stupid if we believe that the way to prepare intelligent young [people] to face the world is to try to protect them from such ideas while they are in college. Four years in an insulated nursery will produce gullible innocents, not tough-minded realists who know what they believe because they have faced the enemies of their beliefs." [Quoting Dean Wilbur J. Bender of Harvard University]

As a people...we could all stand a little more education. ...I did not get the impression in my travels up and down the country...that we were very well informed either about the world or our own land; nor did we always grasp the very issues on which our existence depended. The public opinion polls piled up evidence of our ignorance. Even Dr. Gallup...confessed that "today for the first time I am concerned lest lack of information lead the American people to decisions which they will regret."

...the amazing thing was not that the good people could read a newspaper and listen to the newscasts daily and still be so ignorant, but that their daily journals and news broadcasts were of such an amazingly low quality that the millions who read and listened were bound to be left in almost total ignorance of what was going on in the world.

...Have our newspapers lost a sense of their historical function to keep the public informed about the issues of the day? asked Dr Gallup. "Have they begun to worry too much about having the most popular comic strips and the most complete sports pages, and too little about keeping their readers interested in, and informed about, the important problems of the day?"

The author is William Lawrence Shirer (February 23, 1904 – December 28, 1993) an American journalist and war correspondent. The book is Mid-century Journey, published in 1952. Next time you hear some libtard preach about "safe spaces", read them the quote from the Dean Bender. It seems there are no more Dean Benders at Harvard or any of America's other institutions of higher learning, but that just shows you how the left has taken control not just of our media, but also our educational system [Is dis a system? Ed.] and virtually every aspect of our daily lives.

HS principal reported to HR police over "Black List"

Peggy Aitchison, the principal of the Etobicoke (Ontario) School of the Arts, has found out the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished, especially when the do-gooder is an educated white woman (read: Ms Aitchison) and the beneficiaries are less-educated black yoof.

The ESA is a surprisingly elitist high school run by the loony left Toronto District School Board, where students (of all races, faiths, yada yada, of course) can study drama [Perhaps to become future prime ministers? Ed.], meeja, film-making, music and dance -- all the artsy-fartsy stuff that will make them underproductive citizens when (if?) they grow up.

Pictures of the ESA student body reveal that the majority of the kids are white, which may or may not be odd since white folks are a minority in the Greater [sic] Toronto Area. But some of the students are black, or, as the Toronto Red Star styles it, "Black". And some of those kids -- the Black kids -- are, errr, underachieving. Concerned about how to bring these yoofs up to the level of their peers, Peggy Aitchison compiled a list of all "students of colour" at the school, which she passed out to teachers so they could give the underachievers extra help. You can see what's coming, can't you?

George Brown [sic], the parent of an 18-year-old student at ESA, found out about what he calls the "Black list", and filed what he says is a "human rights claim" against both Principal Aitchison and the TDSB. "It took the photos of the black students in the yearbook and places it beside their names," he told CTV News. "It is not being done on the basis of collected data. It is profiled!"

Mr Brown went on to explain that the list also placed students in categories based on mixed race. "You were in a different kind of category, as if you had some kind of white in your background, maybe you aren't, I guess, stupid. But you were put in another list is you were black from Africa or Jamaica." Hmmm.

At a meeting of parents earlier this month, Ms Aitchison admitted to creating the list, and apologized profusely, in the grand old Canadian tradition, saying that she only meant to help measure achievement at the school. "Upon reflection and discussion with others," she said, "I recognized that this was a limited, flawed, and ultimately inappropriate approach to identifying gaps in supports and so, that very same day, I retracted that compilation that was based solely on perception."

Mr Brown told CTV he doesn't accept the apology because her explanation "wasn't enough" for him. He and his son (who Walt assumes was on the Black list) say they want the TDSB to provide human rights training to all staff and to provide assurances that no more lists like the one found at ESA will ever be created. And they want Ms Aitchison should apologize to every student on the list individually.

Ms Aitchison responded by asking to be transferred to another school, and the TDSB said "So let it be written; so let it be done."

VIDEO: A millennial job interview

Ed. is always complaining that it's impossible to find good help nowadays, so I set up a webcam to record an actual interview with a millennial job-seeker.

A Millennial job interview from @TheDanielBrea on Vimeo.

OK, so it's not real. But the problem is real! And kids wonder why they don't get hired. Thanks and MERRY CHRISTMAS to Agent 9 for sending this along.

VIDEO: Gavin McInnes explains what's wrong with modern education

It's been a while since we've reposted a Gavin McInnes video. In this one, released earlier this week, one of Walt's favourite rebels lists the many ways children are being harmed -- "brainwashed" is a better word -- by "education," starting as early as kindergarten. A bit long, at 38 minutes, but well worth watching, especially if you have school-age kids. Time to consider home schooling? You bet!



Note about Catholic schools: If you live in a jurisdiction, like Ontario, where Catholic schools are publicly funded -- paid for out of your taxes -- wipe the smile off your face. If they take the government's dollar (your dollar) they are obliged to march to the government's politically correct, liberal secular humanist tune. That includes things like Kathleen Wynne's pro-queer sex education curriculum, which has been the subject of many posts here on WWW. To see the list, enter "sex education" in the search window.

Footnote: Andrew Scheer, the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, a practising Catholics, sends his children (five "so far", he says) to an independent (Christian, non-government funded) school. He has promised to give tax credits to parents who do the same.

Educational achievement: race makes a difference

To place the data shown in this chart in context, we need to go back 21 years, to the publication of Race, Evolution and Behavior, by John Philippe Rushton (3/12/43 to 2-10/12), a British-born professor of psychology at the University of Western Ontario. Professor Rushton became known to the public during the 1980s and 1990s for his research on race and intelligence, race and crime, and other apparent racial variations. He was a proponent of the idea that racial differences in IQ are partially related to genetic inheritance.

Professor Rushton studied the size of brains and genitalia, the effects of inbreeding depression on IQ, and the effects of race-mixing. He concluded that genetic factors make blacks less intelligent, less sexually restrained and less law-abiding than Asians and whites.
Putting it even more plainly, he contended that the yellow people -- my word, not his -- are the most intelligent and evolved -- and blacks the least, with whites somewhere in the middle. Conversely, blacks are the strongest and most athletic, east Asians the least, with whites again in the middle.

For his pains, Dr Rushton was vilified by the usual suspects, and held onto his position at the university only because he was tenured. Yet what he was saying is what most people believe, even today. It's just that we keep it to ourselves for reasons of political correctness, for fear of the thought police.

Fast forward to 2015, to the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study -- tests conducted in 57 countries to measure the educational attainment of 580,000 students. In "Bottom of the class", in this week's Economist, the table at the left is presented as part of an analysis of the defects of the educational system of South Africa, which ranked 75th out of 76 countries evaluated in the TIMSS.

The reasons advanced for the South Africans' poor test scores are many and various: poverty, poor teachers, corruption, and of course the horrible apartheid system under which South Africa was, until the mid-1990s, the most prosperous of all the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. There is one reason the writer fails to mention -- race.

Look at the chart. Nine countries are compared. In the top three countries -- Singapore, South Korea and Japan -- the students are predominantly "yellow" -- east Asian. In the bottom three countries -- Botswana, Morocco and South Africa -- the students are predominantly brown or black, African or Middle Eastern. Let's not rehash the old argument about whether Arabs are a separate race or a subset of Caucasians who got darker in the sun. They're non-white and non-yellow. And their test scores are right down there with the sub-Saharan blacks. The countires that are (or used to be) white -- Australia, Sweden and Italy -- are in the middle. In other words, the TIMSS results conform right down the line to the observations of Professor Rushton.

Click here to see "Latest Research on Race", a video of Professor Rushton speaking to an American Renaissance conference in 2000. Running time 57 minutes. Warning: The speech contains politically incorrect phrases like "retarded"! Prof. Rushton starts off by speaking about what he observed on a visit to South Africa. The first slide is an IQ chart. The lowest IQ ever found in the world, he says, is that of African blacks -- even lower than that of American blacks. Snowflakes and SJWs don't believe in IQ testing. Nothing to do with what the tests reveal, of course. If you can't stand the truth, don't watch this!

Majority of US college freshmen not ready for higher education

The test results are in, with proof -- if proof is needed -- that when it comes to formal, post-secondary education, the Excited States of America does poorly compared with other developed countries. A disturbingly high percentage of US college graduates can't read, write or do basic math properly. The freshmen are even worse. Many 1000s of American yoofs graduate from high school unable to read their diplomas. GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out.

Just over a year ago, the College Board reported that SAT scores dropped significantly for that year's class of college-bound seniors. All three sections saw declines, with the numbers were down for male and female students alike. At the same time, SAT scores showed continued patterns in which white and Asian students, on average, receive higher scores than do black and Latino students. So don't be calling Walt a white supremacist. I'm just repeating the facts.

Many academics, including Dr. Walter E. Williams*, argue that a very large percentage of all incoming freshmen have no business being admitted to college. According to the College Board's report, the average combined SAT score for white students was 1576 out of a possible 2400. Black student SAT scores, at 1277, were the lowest of the seven reported racial groups. The College Board considers a SAT score of 1550 as the benchmark that indicates a readiness for college-level work.

Only 32% of white students scored at or above "proficient" in math. Only 7% of black students achieved that level. 46% of white test takers, but just 17% of blacks, were considered proficient in reading. Yet because of the reverse racism which is euphemistically called "affirmative action", black students are actually given preference in admission to many US colleges and universities.

Another test used for admission to college is the American College Testing Program (ACT). The ACT test was taken by 2,090,342 students in the high school graduating class of 2016. Just over 13% of the test takers were black. The average composite score for black test takers on the ACT was 17.0 (on a scale of 1 to 36). That was lower than the average score for any other racial or ethnic group including American Indians, Hispanics, and Pacific Islanders. The average composite score for whites was 22.2. The racial gap in ACT test scores has remained relatively stable for decades.

Leaving aside the racial disparity, some truly shocking numbers are revealed in "A Major Crisis in College Readiness for Black Students", a report in The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. The majority of students -- white as well as black -- simply are not well-enough educated to be going to college! Only 34% of whites who took the ACT were deemed college-ready in all four areas: English, mathematics, reading and science. For blacks, the figure was just 6%.

Dr Williams* argues that "the most pervasive form of racial discrimination at most colleges is affirmative action. In the name of helping people from groups that have suffered past discrimination, colleges admit black students whose academic preparation differs significantly with that of their white peers. Those differences are not subtle. It should not come as a surprise that the intended beneficiaries of that 'benign' discrimination feel themselves ridiculed, isolated and treated differently. As a result, students who might be successes in a less competitive environment are turned into failures."

Dr Williams goes on to say that the problem of black education begins long before college. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as "The Nation's Report Card", shows that in 2015, only 7% percent of black 12th-graders were considered proficient in math, and only 17% in reading. "This suggests that the average black 12th-grader has the academic proficiency of a white 8th- or 9th-grader. Consider the following question: If one admits 1000 randomly selected 8th- and 9th-graders to college and admits 1000 randomly selected 12th-graders, who do you think is going to come out on top? Who would be surprised if the 8th- and 9th-graders felt inferiority, oppression, and insensitivity?

"The academic elite feel righteous seeing blacks on campus, even if they are severely mismatched. Black people must ask: Are we going to sacrifice our youngsters so that white liberals can feel good about themselves?"

* Based on "Cruelty to Black Students", by Walter E. Williams, on the Lew Rockwell blog. Dr Williams is an American economist, commentator, and academic. He is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University. And he is black.

Further reading: The chapters on the crisis in American education in War on the Middle Class, by Lou Dobbs (Viking Penguin 2007); Why Johnny Can't Read, by Dr. Rudolf Flesch (latest edition: Buccaneer Books 1998)

Don't leave your kids' education to "experts", warns Pope

Just saw, on the Radio Vaticana website, a report of the catechesis given by Pope Francis at the General Audience this morning. Click here for the English version.

In remarks which might well have been directed especially to the people of Ontario, the Holy Father focused on the role of parents in the education of their children, which he called "an essential characteristic" of the family.

Intellectual critics, he said, "have silenced parents in many ways, to protect the young generation from the damage -- real or imagined -- of family education.... The family has stood accused, among other things, of authoritarianism, cronyism, of conformism, of affective repression that generates conflicts."

Pope Francis went on to say that so-called experts took over the "role of parents even in the most intimate aspects of education.... On the emotional life, personality and development, rights and duties, the 'experts' know everything: objectives, motivations, techniques."

Worse, he continued, "Parents tend to entrust ever more to the 'experts', even for the most delicate and personal aspects in their lives.... And this is very serious!"

Indeed. The problem of trusting the liberal, secular humanist "experts" is at the core of the controversy over the Ontario Ministry of Education's new, pro-LGBT sex education curriculum. Much of the protest against it comes from immigrants from "backward" places like the Middle East, Asia and Africa, who have not yet learned that the "experts" -- like the disgraced child pornographer Benjamin Levin -- know better than they do.

Parents of Ontario (and the rest of Canada, the United States and all the ships at sea), listen up! Pope Francis says some strange things, every now on then, but in the matter of who's responsible for your children's education, he's speaking natural common sense. Don't leave your kids' education in the hands of the likes of Dr. Levin, Lez Sandals and Kathleen Wynne. Stand up on your hind feet and fight back!

Zimbabwe bans canning of children

Ed. here. This has been a pretty intense week, with all the furor and debate about freedom of speech and Islamic extremism. Walt is taking the weekend off to smell the roses, but, rather than end the week on a sour note, I'd like to offer you this little item, which appeared today on the landing page of Zimbabwe NewsDay.

Those not familiar with Zimbabwe's education system should understand that it's based on the British public school model, inherited from the bad old colonial days (now looking pretty good in retrospect), which included caning, shown in the cartoon. "Canning" suggests technological innovation in cannibalism, which presumably is still illegal in Zimbabwe. Geddit now?

The error, which tells you all you need to know about the quality of education in Zimbabwe, is repeated in the story. Click here to read the whole thing.

America on wrong track: Heritage Foundation survey

A new study by the Heritage Foundation finds hopeful trends in some American cultural indicators, but discouraging news on other fronts.

The 2014 Index of Culture and Opportunity, released yesterday by the Washington-based think-tank, points to favourable trends in the US abortion rate, divorce rate, charter-school availability, and job openings. However the analysts also see bad news in the rates of marriage and fertility, the rise in the number of single-parent households, dips in volunteerism and religious attendance, declining reading levels, and increases in student-loan debt, unemployment, taxation, and government regulation.

Click here to read the overview. The survey is divided into three sections: Culture Indicators, Poverty and Dependence Indicators, and General Opportunity Indicators. And the findings... May we have the envelopes please?

Culture Indicators
RIGHT TRACK: Divorce Rate, Abortion Rate, Violent Crime Rate, all going DOWN. Total: 3
WRONG TRACK: Marriage Rate, Total Fertility Rate, Single-parent Households, Teen Drug Use, Abstinence Among High-schoolers, Religious Attendance, Volunteerism. Total: 7

Poverty and Dependence Indicators
RIGHT TRACK: TANF Participation. Total: 1. Yes, Walt needed to look this one up. TANF = Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Yep, there's a federal program for that -- a couple of them, in fact.
WRONG TRACK: Labour Force Participation (fewer people are working), Unwed Birth Rate (70% in the black community), Self-Sufficiency, Total Welfare Spending, Subsidized Housing Participation, Food Stamp Participation, TANF Work Participation (means needy families will take the handouts but don't want to work for them). Total: 7

General Opportunity Indicators
RIGHT TRACK: Charter School Enrolment, Private School Choice Participation, High School Graduation Rate, Job Openings Rate. Total: 4
WRONG TRACK: Reading Proficiency (first noted by Rudolf Flesch in 1951, still going down. duhh), Student Loan Debt, Employment-Population Ration (fewer people are working -- again), Unemployment Rate (ditto), Job Hires Rate (ditto ditto), Money Taxed Away by Federal Government (surprised?), Start-up Job Share, Major Federal Regulations (up again), Economic Freedom (the opposite). Total: 9

Walt's trusty calculator makes the grand totals: Right Track - 8; Wrong Track - 23. By a ratio of nearly 3:1, America is headed in the wrong direction. That is how the hope and change thing is working out.

The Heritage Foundation summarizes the policy implications of its findings thusly:

Policy should be formulated on the basis of sound principles and data. The indicators included in this Index help to identify obstacles to opportunity in order to help citizens and policymakers focus on cultural efforts and policy solutions that will best address these challenges.
•Pursue policy that promotes life, marriage, and religious liberty.
•Promote limited government and respect the role of civil society, particularly its norms that are conducive to strong individual and community outcomes.
•Advance welfare reform that encourages self-sufficiency through work rather than dependence on government.
•Promote student-centered education reforms that allow for choice.
•Pursue higher education reform that tackles issues of cost and quality by allowing greater innovation.
•Reduce Americans’ tax burden.
•Pursue tax and regulatory reform to restore an environment that is conducive to entrepreneurial job creation.

Further reading: Click here to download the entire report, as a .pdf file,

Are Muslims taking over your kids' school? Beware the "Trojan Horse"!

Today's online edition of The Telegraph reports the announcement by British Education Secretary Michael Gove that, beginning in September, all of England’s 20,000 primary and secondary schools will be required to teach "British values of tolerance and fairness". Imagine that!

Why do you suppose Her Britannic Majesty's Government feels it necessary to institute this campaign? Errr... well... it may have something to do with a report by a number of head teachers [= school principals, for Walt's North American readers] revealing an organized campaign to impose a "narrow, faith-based ideology" at some schools in Birmingham.

Which "faith-based ideology" would that be? Why, Islamic fundamentalism, of course. No prizes for guessing!

A report by Ofsted, the toothless watchdog of English education, recommended placing five Birmingham schools in "special measures" after "deeply worrying" findings that the schools had been taken over by Islamists.

One of the schools was funding a Madrassa -- a school for the study of Islam -- from its own budget, while at another Muslim children had been taken on trips to Saudi Arabia. A third school regularly broadcast a call to Muslim prayer over the school’s loudspeaker in the playground while another school taught in biology that "evolution is not what we believe".

Mr. Gove said that this would change. He told Parliament, "We already require independent schools, academies and free schools to respect British values. Now we will consult on strengthening this standard further, so that all schools actively promote British values." Mr. Gove did not include the word "Christian" in his speech, nor did he explain exactly what values should be considered "British".

However, current guidance asks schools to "enable pupils to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law" and "provide pupils with a broad general knowledge of public institutions and services in England". Pupils are also encouraged "to respect the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs".

How that last part squares with letting Muslims drive their "Trojan Horse" into Britain's schools is similarly unclear.

And, dear reader, lest you think the Islamic fundamentalists are only taking over British schools, be aware that the camel's nose is already inside the tent flap in every Western country, particularly places which are determined to "celebrate diversity" at the expense of European Christian culture and values, such as Ontario (see below).

Have you checked your kids' school lately to see what's going on there? Do they, for example, have a prayer room for the Muslim kids, but not for the Christians? (Could be...even in a so-called Catholic school. See below.) Take a look. Take a good look!

Further reading (lots of it!) on WWW:
"US schools turning kids into Muslim fanatics, says ACT! founder"
"Islamization of Ontario schools still part of government agenda" - Ontario residents! Please keep this in mind as you vote on Thursday!
"Muslim camel's nose inside door of 'Catholic' school"
"Geert Wilders warns USA: Muslims taking over Europe -- you're next!"

Stupid iliterate inumerate kids!

Two related items caught Walt's eye yesterday. The first was a speech given by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, to the Centre for Policy Studies. In his address, entitled "What would Maggie [Thatcher] do today?", Bojo averred that achieving economic equality is impossible because some people are simply too stupid to get ahead in the modern world.

Mr. Johnson's remarks were immediately decried by the usual suspects as elitist and possibly racist, but no-one had the temerity to challenge his basic premise. That's because it's true! Remember what George Carlin used to say about the stupidity of the average person. If you think the average person is as stupid as he/she appears, consider that half the population is even more stupid than that!

Apart from genetic differences, today's younger people are the victims of bad education. Boris Johnson may have been thinking about a major study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which showed that that young adults in England scored among the lowest results in the industrialised world in international literacy and numeracy tests.

Out of 24 countries, England ranked 22nd for literacy and 21st for numeracy. The study also showed that, unlike in other developed countries, young people in England are no better at these tests than people in the 55 to 65 age range.

When this is weighted with other factors, such as the socio-economic background of people taking the test, it shows that England is the only country in the survey where results are going backwards. The older cohort scores higher than the younger.

British Skills Minister Matthew Hancock was shocked -- SHOCKED -- by the report. "This shocking report shows England has some of the least literate and numerate young adults in the developed world," he said. Then he came to the nub of the problem. "These are Labour's children," he added, "educated under a Labour government and force-fed a diet of dumbing down and low expectations." [My emphasis. Walt.]

Walt wonders if Mr. Hancock has visited North America. If the average British yoof is thick as a plank, the average American (and his/her Canadian cousin) is thick as two planks! If you don't believe me, ask one of them. A couple of days ago Walt saw a news reporter asking students at Harvard to name the capital of Canada. The only one who could was a visiting student from, errr, China.

And that's Harvard, the institution which educates America's brightest and best! Those kids aren't the ones who would have been left behind but for the Bush league educational reforms. If you want to see what those kids are like, try conversing with one of the gum-chewing, glassy-eyed "associates" at the Gap.

These are the kids who graduated from high schools and colleges unable to read their diplomas or make change without using a calculator. See also "Downward mobility haunts US education", from BBC News, December 2012.

The problem is with "child-centred education", the 60s fad that persists half a century later, under which no-one is "left behind" and no-one "fails" because that would be damaging to their self-esteem [and probably racist too! Ed.] Instead, our educational institutions turn out [churn out? Ed.] graduates utterly unprepared to cope with a troubled economy and shrinking job market. It is there -- in the real world -- that these kids fail.

The problem is hardly new. Dr. Rudolf Flesch wrote about it way back in 1951, in the original Why Johnny Can't Read. Why Johnny Still Can't Read: A New Look at the Scandal of Our Schools appeared in 1981. And yes, Dr. Flesch does propose a solution -- part of the home schooling answer to the crisis in education.

What you should do is teach your kids phonics! Walt recommends Why Johnny Can't Read and What You Can Do About It, from Harper Collins. The book is endorsed -- but apparently not followed -- by the US Department of Education. You can find it at your local library. Your community does still have a library, doesn't it?

Affirmative action: an idea whose time has come... and gone

Yesterday, in an update to "Hey whitey! You'll never work for the CBC again!", Walt mentioned that the cover story in this week's Economist is a briefing entitled "Time to scrap affirmative action". The "briefing" consists of three articles, examining the reasoning (?) behind and consequences of affirmative action policies in the USA, South Africa and Malaysia. Here are the titles and a few select quotes.

Unequal protection (on access to universities in the USA)

Lino Graglia, holder of an endowed chair at the University of Texas at Austin law school, thinks "lower[ing] standards to admit members of preferred groups" is "a bad idea".
Black law students fail the bar exam at four times the rate of whites.

A study...found that black students with average grades and test scores were almost three times more likely than Asians with similarly average qualifications to get into medical school.
More black than white high-school seniors aspire to science and engineering careers, but once in college twice as many black students as white abandon those challenging fields.

Universities can ensure diversity without race-based affirmative action. If [the Supreme Court's] ruling...helps bring America's experiment with well-intentioned discrimination in universities to a close...it will not be because the country has entered...a "post-racial" period. It has not. Blacks and Hispanics will still lag behind white in income and education levels, and still exceed whites in incarceration rates. But one set of injustices does not excuse another.

Fool's gold (on South Africa's black empowerment policy)

Black empowerment has not worked well. Nor will it end soon.

The white elite at the top of South African business has been joined by a sliver of super-rich blacks. ...Cyril Rampaphosa, a union-boss-turned-tycoon who is now the ANC's number two (and therefore perhaps the next president of South Africa), is worth $675 million.
The lot of poorer blacks, however, has not improved much.

The binding constraint on greater black participation in the economy is education.... It is no good setting quotas if there are not the skilled workers to fill them....

A Never Ending Policy (on policies favouring ethnic Malays in Malaysia)

The policies which favour ethnic Malays and other indigenes at the expense of Malaysia's ethnic Chinese and Indian citizens are an oddity. [These citizens] chafe at being second-class citizens. Quotas in university admissions are particularly resented. Chinese and Indian students flock to private and foreign [universities]. Those who leave often stay away.

Critics of [the policy] worry that it dulls [Malays'] incentives to excel. There is evidence of a skills gap.
A survey...found that 71% of Malaysians agreed that "race-based affirmative action" was "obsolete" and should be replaced with a "merit-based policy".

Further reading in this week's Economist, and by far the leader in online comments is this week's editorial, "Time to scrap affirmative action"

Note from Ed.: The Economist has a paywall, so the links may or may not work for you. If they don't, and the fallacy of affirmative action concerns you, consider buying a copy of the print edition, if you can find a newsstand or other store that still sells magazines.

Or you might think about subscribing. The Economist is the one and only magazine Walt actually pays to get. And no, we're not getting paid to say so.  

And one more note... This is Walt's 1500th post. Congratulatory messages may be written on the back of a cheque (or "check", if you're American) and sent to the usual address.

The evolution of mathematics teaching

Agent 3 was born too early to be victimized by modern edukashun. He learned math in the 1950s. Today he sends us a dismaying example of what happened after that.

The evolution of mathematics teaching

1950
A logger sells a truckload of timber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 the sale price. What is his profit?

1960
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 the sale price or $80. What is his profit?

1970
A logger exchanges a set "L" of timber for a set "M" of money. The cardinality of set "M" is 100. Each element is worth $1. Make 100 dots representing the elements of the set "M". The set "C", the cost of production, contains 20 fewer elements than set "M". Represent the set "C" as a subset of set "M" and answer the following question: what is the cardinality of the set "P" of profits?

1980
A logger sells a truckload of timber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: underline the number 20.

1990
By cutting down beautiful forest trees, the logger makes $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class discussion: How did the forest birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down the trees?

2000
A logger sells a truckload of timber for $100. His cost of production is $120. How does KPMG determine that the profit margin is $60?

An education sponsorship campaign everyone can support

Congratulations to the Red Lion Area (PA) School District for working hard to promote support for the public school system. Obviously our schools need all the help they can get. If you're planning to give, Walt would suggest earmarking your donation for a remedial course in spelling for sign painters.

Islamization of Ontario schools still part of government agenda

What moved Agent 17 to send me the article on the perils of remaining silent in the face of Islamic fundamentalism? As a former resident of the Greater Toronto Area [Just one of many who have fled the capital of multiculturalism! Ed.], Agent 17 was concerned by reports that Islamic prayers have been introduced in Ottawa, Toronto and other public schools in Ontario, while the Lord's Prayer has been removed.

Well might he be concerned. No...alarmed! In Canada and the USA, the Islamic way may be peaceful for the time being, but the fanatics are starting to march. In Britain they are already marching...literally. We received [but Ed. has misfiled!] a video showing British Muslims marching through the streets of Luton calling for the police and other non-believers to die and go to hell!

Now the poison of Islamic fundamentalism is spreading through the ghetto of the GTA and other North American cities. Yet we remain silent.

However, this is not exactly new news. Agent 17 asks Walt if the reports he's reading are true. They are, and Walt wrote about the issue last summer. See
"Update on Islamization of Toronto schools"
"Muslim prayers in Toronto schools: a Muslim viewpoint"
"Islam, imams and the Canadian Charter of Rights"
"'Go back to the hellhole you came from', sez Canadian Muslim prof"

Now the 2011-12 school year is closer to the end than the beginning. In spite of a few tepid protests -- denounced by the usual suspects as "racist" and "Islamophobic" -- the imams are still coming into the so-called public schools to preach Allah-knows-what. The Ontario government is still pushing "Gay-straight alliances" and perverted sex education. And respect for diversity and "minority rights", of course. Yet we remain silent.

US schools turning kids into Muslim fanatics, says ACT! founder

Brigitte Gabriel is the pseudonym of Nour Saman, a Lebanese-American journalist, author, and activist. She frequently speaks at meetings of American conservative groups such as the Heritage Foundation.

Ms Gabriel says flatly (and loudly) that Islam keeps countries backward and teaches terrorism. And radical Islamists are subverting the US education system by brainwashing students about the true nature and intentions of Islam. That's the message of this video.



Brigitte Gabriel is the founder of American Congress For Truth and ACT! for America. This link will take you to the ACT! for America Education website. If you've got kids in the US educational system [Is dis a system?! Ed.] you need to check this out.

Related story: Colorado student quits high school choir over Islamic song praising Allah

Pro-queer schools agenda returns as "anti-bullying" legislation

On August 6th Walt warned you that the Ontario government is still hell-bent [excellent choice of words! Ed.] on pushing former education minister Kathleen "Sensible Shoes" Wynne's LGBTQ-friendly agenda into Ontario's publicly-funded schools. Yes, even those that are laughingly called "Catholic" schools. (The real Catholic schools, realizing that he who pays the piper calls the tune, remained private when the Catholic boards drank the Kool-aid.)

Six days ago, in "'Don't confuse me! I'm a girl!' sparks homo hissy fit", I wrote about the advertising campaign being mounted by the Institute for Canadian Values. The point is to get the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty to stop forcing "equity and inclusive education" down the throats (or other orifices) of Ontario students.

But I didn't talk about the Libs' latest tactic. Knowing that gay-friendly programmes -- particularly the "Gay-Straight Alliances" which are being mandated under the latest version of the legislation -- are facing strong opposition, the Queen's Park spinmeisters are now positioning the pro-queer campaign as an exercise in stamping out bullying [queer choice of words! Ed.] in Ontario schools.

How so? Well, today's party line is that the main reason why kids pick on other kids is not because the others are fat or stupid. It's because they're gay, silly! Some of them are openly gay, and others are really gay but just don't realize it yet. They need to be taught that they're gay so they'll know why they're being bullied, and then the Correct-Thinking People can put a stop to it. A stop to bullying, that is, not a stop to being gay.

ICV isn't the only group speaking out against this. A larger and older group, Campaign Life Coalition, comprised of (mostly) Catholics and (some) evangelical Protestants, is calling on concerned parents to lobby their school board trustees and other politicians to block this diabolical deception. Here's a summary of Campaign Life's position on the question.

The primary purpose of Catholic education is to assist Catholic parents in the task of forming their children in the image of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, it is to inculcate in children the knowledge of, love of, and fidelity to, Jesus and the official teachings of the Catholic faith.

Today there are many voices who claim that a primary objective of Catholic education (beyond simple academic knowledge) is to promote "diversity" and "equity". Unfortunately, those terms have been politically twisted. They no longer resemble their original meaning, and now conceal a subversive agenda to undermine Catholic moral and sexual teaching.

Unfortunately, many Canadian Catholic school boards have accepted curriculum, speakers and resources which contradict Catholic teaching, principally in the area of human sexuality.

And it's not just the Christians who are taking up the poliltically incorrect cause. Here, from the Toronto Star, is a picture of Mendel Kaplan, of the Council of Orthodox Rabbis, along with lay leaders from the Catholic and evangelical Protestant communities.


At a press conference on December 12th, they denounced Premier Dalton McGuinty’s anti-bullying legislation, calling it a front for his radical sex education agenda. The man in the middle, Rondo Thomas, said "The anti-bullying legislation that Mr. McGuinty is proposing constitutes a violation of our religious freedoms that are guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and further to that, it violates the common law of separation of church and state."

Mr. Thomas went so far as to quote the premier’s mother. "The premier’s mother said to him, 'Dalton, I didn’t raise you this way'", he said. Jack Fonseca, representing the Campaign Life Coalition, also attacked McGuinty’s faith, calling him a "convenient Catholic" who proclaims his faith only at election time when he needs Catholic votes.

"Dalton McGuinty is unfortunately not a great Catholic on the moral issues," Mr. Fonseca said. "He supports abortion on demand, taxpayer funding of abortion and he supports gay marriage."

Fonseca accused the premier of misleading Ontarians as to the real meaning of the anti-bullying legislation, which he called "an attack on faith-based schools". Rabbi Kaplan agreed, saying he believes "the legislation encroaches on our religious freedoms."

Final comment (for today) from Walt: Ontario is not the only place where the powerful LGBT lobby is pushing its let's-all-be-queer agenda. Nor is Ontario the only place where nominally Catholic politicians totally disregard the teachings of their religion when crunch-time comes. Believers, stand up for what you know is right!