2014年03月28日
The math problem
Dad with engineering degree calls math problems "ridiculous" in viral rant, just as Indiana drops the Common Core. Ouch.
Common Core, this is not your week. First you get publicly dumped by the entire state of Indiana, then a dad with an engineering degree calls your math strategy “ridiculous” in a viral Facebook post. The frustrated father pointed out that if anyone at his job approached a problem in the way he’s saying is recommended by the Common Core, they’d be fired. This is embarrassing, considering the program was designed as a set of national curriculum standards that would teach kids the skills they need for real-world careers. The post has almost 6,000 likes, nuskin hk and has been shared over 61,000 times on TheBlaze.com.
On Monday, Indiana became the first state to officially give up on the Common Core. Governor Mike Pence’s decision was seen as a victory for conservatives who believe the national standards dilute state’s power to determine local school curriculum. “I believe our students are best served when decisions about education are made at the state and local level,” Pence said in a statement. “By signing this legislation, Indiana has taken an important step forward in developing academic standards that are written by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers, and are uncommonly high, and I commend members of the General Assembly for their support.”
The new law doesn’t radically change Indiana’s curriculum, it just strikes any mention of the “Common Core” and asks the state’s board of education to adopt new standards that correspond to national and international college-readiness expectations. Oklahoma is also taking steps to create a state curriculum that resembles the Common Core (for testing purposes) but doesn’t use the name.
Backlash against the Common Core has been especially fervent in conservative states. There’s been fierce opposition in states like South Carolina, where Governor Nikki Haley said, “They’re still trying to put us all in one basket, Secondary School and we’re not to be put in one basket.”
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan antagonized parents and gave fuel to the opposition late last year when he said that the anti-Common Core movement was mostly “white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were, and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were nu skin,” for which he later apologized.
But the real problem may be parents like Jeff Severt, the engineering degree dad whose detailed criticism of what he says was a Common Core designed math question, was about the recommended strategy, not his child’s score. Severt, who said on Glenn Beck’s show that he had a “meltdown” trying to help his son with the math assessment that asked students to use a complicated number line strategy to solve a simple subtraction problem. The assignment was to find the error and then write a letter to him telling the errant student how to use the number line method solve the problem. Severt’s response is below:
“Dear Jack,
Don’t feel bad. I have a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronics Engineering which included extensive study in differential equations and other higher math applications. Even I cannot explain the Common Core Mathematics approach, Combination House nor get the answer correct. In the real world, simplification is valued over complication. Therefore:
427 – 316 = 111
The answer is solved in under 5 seconds: 111. The process used is ridiculous and would result in termination if used.
Sincerely, Frustrated Parent
Yikes.
Common Core, this is not your week. First you get publicly dumped by the entire state of Indiana, then a dad with an engineering degree calls your math strategy “ridiculous” in a viral Facebook post. The frustrated father pointed out that if anyone at his job approached a problem in the way he’s saying is recommended by the Common Core, they’d be fired. This is embarrassing, considering the program was designed as a set of national curriculum standards that would teach kids the skills they need for real-world careers. The post has almost 6,000 likes, nuskin hk and has been shared over 61,000 times on TheBlaze.com.
On Monday, Indiana became the first state to officially give up on the Common Core. Governor Mike Pence’s decision was seen as a victory for conservatives who believe the national standards dilute state’s power to determine local school curriculum. “I believe our students are best served when decisions about education are made at the state and local level,” Pence said in a statement. “By signing this legislation, Indiana has taken an important step forward in developing academic standards that are written by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers, and are uncommonly high, and I commend members of the General Assembly for their support.”
The new law doesn’t radically change Indiana’s curriculum, it just strikes any mention of the “Common Core” and asks the state’s board of education to adopt new standards that correspond to national and international college-readiness expectations. Oklahoma is also taking steps to create a state curriculum that resembles the Common Core (for testing purposes) but doesn’t use the name.
Backlash against the Common Core has been especially fervent in conservative states. There’s been fierce opposition in states like South Carolina, where Governor Nikki Haley said, “They’re still trying to put us all in one basket, Secondary School and we’re not to be put in one basket.”
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan antagonized parents and gave fuel to the opposition late last year when he said that the anti-Common Core movement was mostly “white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were, and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were nu skin,” for which he later apologized.
But the real problem may be parents like Jeff Severt, the engineering degree dad whose detailed criticism of what he says was a Common Core designed math question, was about the recommended strategy, not his child’s score. Severt, who said on Glenn Beck’s show that he had a “meltdown” trying to help his son with the math assessment that asked students to use a complicated number line strategy to solve a simple subtraction problem. The assignment was to find the error and then write a letter to him telling the errant student how to use the number line method solve the problem. Severt’s response is below:
“Dear Jack,
Don’t feel bad. I have a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronics Engineering which included extensive study in differential equations and other higher math applications. Even I cannot explain the Common Core Mathematics approach, Combination House nor get the answer correct. In the real world, simplification is valued over complication. Therefore:
427 – 316 = 111
The answer is solved in under 5 seconds: 111. The process used is ridiculous and would result in termination if used.
Sincerely, Frustrated Parent
Yikes.
2014年03月06日
Sue the school
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The U.S. government sued Philadelphia's school district for religious discrimination on Wednesday for demanding that a veteran Muslim police officer trim his beard.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court by the Department of Justice, said the nation's eighth-largest school district passed a grooming policy in 2010 that mandated beards on police and security officers be no longer than one-quarter of an inch (6.35 mm).
The officer in question, Siddiq Abu-Bakr, nu skin keeps an untrimmed beard longer than one-quarter of an inch in adherence to his Islamic faith, the suit said.
Grooming policies that conflict with religious practice have been an issue in institutions in other parts of the country. The Pentagon decided in January to ease rules on beards and turbans in the U.S. Army.
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether prison officials in Arkansas may prohibit inmates from growing beards in accordance with their religious beliefs.
In the Philadelphia case, Abu-Bakr has maintained an untrimmed beard for his 27 years with the district "without evidence that the maintenance of an uncut beard has interfered with his job performance nuskin hong kong," a Justice Department statement said.
The statement said that when Abu-Bakr told his supervisor that he could not cut his beard because of his beliefs, he was issued a written reprimand.
Abu-Bakr, who is still with the district, filed a charge of religious discrimination with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The government's lawsuit is seeking an injunction that would force the district to develop new cardinal manchester, non-discriminatory grooming policies. It also seeks unspecified damages.
A representative for the school district was not immediately available for comment. The district employs 16,827 people.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court by the Department of Justice, said the nation's eighth-largest school district passed a grooming policy in 2010 that mandated beards on police and security officers be no longer than one-quarter of an inch (6.35 mm).
The officer in question, Siddiq Abu-Bakr, nu skin keeps an untrimmed beard longer than one-quarter of an inch in adherence to his Islamic faith, the suit said.
Grooming policies that conflict with religious practice have been an issue in institutions in other parts of the country. The Pentagon decided in January to ease rules on beards and turbans in the U.S. Army.
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether prison officials in Arkansas may prohibit inmates from growing beards in accordance with their religious beliefs.
In the Philadelphia case, Abu-Bakr has maintained an untrimmed beard for his 27 years with the district "without evidence that the maintenance of an uncut beard has interfered with his job performance nuskin hong kong," a Justice Department statement said.
The statement said that when Abu-Bakr told his supervisor that he could not cut his beard because of his beliefs, he was issued a written reprimand.
Abu-Bakr, who is still with the district, filed a charge of religious discrimination with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The government's lawsuit is seeking an injunction that would force the district to develop new cardinal manchester, non-discriminatory grooming policies. It also seeks unspecified damages.
A representative for the school district was not immediately available for comment. The district employs 16,827 people.
画像一覧