Friday, August 09, 2013
Having been a part of 3 different church plants, I can testify to this. It's brutal and much more difficult than it looks.
From time to time I see a
church plant and have a sense I should go help.... then I recall...
pain and suffering. IF you think of
planting a church, and you should, you need to read this. It will help
you get a grip on what you are about to do. I used to organize classes
for Carnegie. Roll into a town, work for six weeks and have about 40
people who paid to be part of the group. That was easy compared to
church planting. Yet it is important... just don't believe all the
press releases from the instant success stories. They are never really
true.
Passings
I
learned today that a college friend of mine who I have kept in touch
with for many years died in JULY. He had visited me last fall and told
me he was having health issues. Blood disease. This is the way it is
as I get older. People I care about are beginning to leave this life. I
am not yet 70 but the number is beginning to grow. Nothing to be said
except, hug them while you can.. you never know. I did.
I don't care that his best topic in high school wasn't Geography
, I DO
care that the AP dutifully praises the emperors new clothes. SMH
In case you were wondering where the Gun Control politics comes from,
it comes from our masters in China. YESSS MASSA...
Was this a case of stand your ground??
No sorrow for one less miscreant
populating the earth... but when hammers and knives are outlawed, only
outlaws will have hammers and knives.
MOST, of Detroit residents lack even the basic skills to hold down a full time job
A
recent evaluation is MOST, yes MOST, of Detroit residents lack even the
basic skills to hold down a full time job. It's the soft skills they
lack. Showing up, courtesy, working a full day, not spending all your
time on the phone, respecting your boss.
These skills are culture based and not trainable by industry. The
idea that a company should instruct an unmotivated potential employee on
the importance of actually showing up sorta on time is never going to
happen. I think some basic soft skill training could be done in
churches. After all an employed person can pay a better tithe... HMM?
. A sure fire path to bankruptcy.
What
do most of these ailing cities all have in common? Well, consider that
the vast majority are located in states with forced unions,
non-right-to-work states with mostly democrats leading them
I’ve thought about this and thought about this. And I don’t care to have my name attached to these thoughts, as I’m currently a teacher, but I need to express them.
We, as a society, mandate that all children must be in school until 16, and we must provide educational opportunity to the willing until 18. If there’s an IEP in place, that age can go as far as 21.
A school in which I used to teach was failing. Is failing. Has always failed. Our staff was more than 50% non-traditional teachers. We had a strong core of Teach For America and Teaching Fellows – neither of which pull in your regular “he who can’t? Teaches” anecdotes. Most of us were “wanting to help where we can” folks.
We couldn’t make a dent in that school.
The only reason that the 60% of the kids who bothered to show up daily even came to school was for the 2 free meals and the climate control. We needed a force of 15 security people to keep the kids IN CLASS. They had no desire to learn. They did not CARE if they failed. I never, ever had kids who started at my school as 9th graders and had enough credits to be juniors by their third year. Most didn’t even have enough credits to be sophomores. And this was when summer school was free!
Most of my 33 student classes had a regular showing of about 20-25, and it was never the same kids.
Those that did come were usually passed up to their current grade based on age – after all, who wants a 16-year-old boy in classes with an 11-year-old girl? No one. And we can’t just stop them all in 9th grade! Why, it would be full! So, I had kids who read at 2nd grade level to 11th grade level, with math scores in the same range. All in the same classroom. About 60% of the time.
Now, there were the other issues. I didn’t see them in my room, but we did have some mongo fights in the school. We had fires (never had to have drills because we had fires). Anything we didn’t have nailed down got stolen. But that’s all secondary. Mostly, I liked my kids a lot. I got along with them very well. I even taught some pretty good science when I had seniors – kids who had cared enough to slog through 4 years of prison-without-bars, as they called it.
The primary issue is that these children (and their parents) have no vested interest in education. If they merely showed up to school, I was required to pass them. The D’s in my class were really F’s, but I gave them D’s because they showed up enough that I knew failing them would do them no good and would only get me in a world of trouble.
They look at school as something that is done to them. Something that they are subjected to. Sure, all kids kind of view school like that. But when the family is not saying that it’s their job, when they simply don’t see that school gets them anything? There will be no successful school with these children.
By the way, most of the children we had swapping in and out of our EMO-run (like HMO only E for Education!) public school went to a local charter. That charter has since failed.
What really scares and saddens me is that this is where the argument on education reform is centered: on these kids who WILL NOT SUCCEED. I’m sorry. They won’t. The public school system I teach in has plenty of escape routes for kids with parents who care: from charters to special admit public schools. And most of those special admits? They succeed. Because the kids who don’t care are forced to leave.
(Don’t look at me like that. Most of those special admit contracts aren’t even academics-based. They’re attendance and behavior (no fighting) based. I teach at a school like that now. And it works.)
So these fat politicos go around slamming the teachers at these under-performing schools. Fine. Whatever. I could always go back to computer programming. But what got me was the great gobs of money that were shoved into that failing school. My school now? I have to buy my own equipment. All of it. I’m currently saving my Amazon dollars to buy calculators for my room, because school calculators are only for math classrooms. There? We had 35 Hooke’s Law experiment setups, just as a case in point. Chemicals, balances, optics, electronics, you name it? We had it. If great gobs of money are making it into the classroom, you’d better bet that there’s skimming off the top. In fact, when the school was being taken from its EMO partner because it was STILL failing 7 years after the EMO took it over, the local politicians got slammed for back-room deals where they were trying to take over the school. Those who didn’t have their hands in that cookie jar were just lining up to get “those poor public school tortured kids” onto the rolls of their charter schools.
It was something I was very familiar with. The charter schools would sign in, say, 100 kids in September. The checks for those kids clear from the state sometime, I’d say, around December. Because by January? Those failing kids were sent back to my public school. We’d get 20 kids back from the charters, and we could not turn them away. The reasons were myriad: truancy, tardiness, uniform violations, sass. Nothing the public schools can expel for. But the charters can. Meanwhile? I wonder if they report to the state that they dropped Suzy Sunshine off their rolls, and she’s now back in the public school system? I wonder what happens to the rest of the money?
There HAS to be a reason that all of the politicians in this big city are lining up to have their own sponsored charter schools. And I’m betting altruism has little to do with it.
So, to recap: The big comprehensive schools are failing. And it is not surprising. But many of the other public schools are not. And letting politicians have yet another way to steal money from the people is bad.
A school in which I used to teach was failing. Is failing. Has always failed. Our staff was more than 50% non-traditional teachers. We had a strong core of Teach For America and Teaching Fellows – neither of which pull in your regular “he who can’t? Teaches” anecdotes. Most of us were “wanting to help where we can” folks.
We couldn’t make a dent in that school.
The only reason that the 60% of the kids who bothered to show up daily even came to school was for the 2 free meals and the climate control. We needed a force of 15 security people to keep the kids IN CLASS. They had no desire to learn. They did not CARE if they failed. I never, ever had kids who started at my school as 9th graders and had enough credits to be juniors by their third year. Most didn’t even have enough credits to be sophomores. And this was when summer school was free!
Most of my 33 student classes had a regular showing of about 20-25, and it was never the same kids.
Those that did come were usually passed up to their current grade based on age – after all, who wants a 16-year-old boy in classes with an 11-year-old girl? No one. And we can’t just stop them all in 9th grade! Why, it would be full! So, I had kids who read at 2nd grade level to 11th grade level, with math scores in the same range. All in the same classroom. About 60% of the time.
Now, there were the other issues. I didn’t see them in my room, but we did have some mongo fights in the school. We had fires (never had to have drills because we had fires). Anything we didn’t have nailed down got stolen. But that’s all secondary. Mostly, I liked my kids a lot. I got along with them very well. I even taught some pretty good science when I had seniors – kids who had cared enough to slog through 4 years of prison-without-bars, as they called it.
The primary issue is that these children (and their parents) have no vested interest in education. If they merely showed up to school, I was required to pass them. The D’s in my class were really F’s, but I gave them D’s because they showed up enough that I knew failing them would do them no good and would only get me in a world of trouble.
They look at school as something that is done to them. Something that they are subjected to. Sure, all kids kind of view school like that. But when the family is not saying that it’s their job, when they simply don’t see that school gets them anything? There will be no successful school with these children.
By the way, most of the children we had swapping in and out of our EMO-run (like HMO only E for Education!) public school went to a local charter. That charter has since failed.
What really scares and saddens me is that this is where the argument on education reform is centered: on these kids who WILL NOT SUCCEED. I’m sorry. They won’t. The public school system I teach in has plenty of escape routes for kids with parents who care: from charters to special admit public schools. And most of those special admits? They succeed. Because the kids who don’t care are forced to leave.
(Don’t look at me like that. Most of those special admit contracts aren’t even academics-based. They’re attendance and behavior (no fighting) based. I teach at a school like that now. And it works.)
So these fat politicos go around slamming the teachers at these under-performing schools. Fine. Whatever. I could always go back to computer programming. But what got me was the great gobs of money that were shoved into that failing school. My school now? I have to buy my own equipment. All of it. I’m currently saving my Amazon dollars to buy calculators for my room, because school calculators are only for math classrooms. There? We had 35 Hooke’s Law experiment setups, just as a case in point. Chemicals, balances, optics, electronics, you name it? We had it. If great gobs of money are making it into the classroom, you’d better bet that there’s skimming off the top. In fact, when the school was being taken from its EMO partner because it was STILL failing 7 years after the EMO took it over, the local politicians got slammed for back-room deals where they were trying to take over the school. Those who didn’t have their hands in that cookie jar were just lining up to get “those poor public school tortured kids” onto the rolls of their charter schools.
It was something I was very familiar with. The charter schools would sign in, say, 100 kids in September. The checks for those kids clear from the state sometime, I’d say, around December. Because by January? Those failing kids were sent back to my public school. We’d get 20 kids back from the charters, and we could not turn them away. The reasons were myriad: truancy, tardiness, uniform violations, sass. Nothing the public schools can expel for. But the charters can. Meanwhile? I wonder if they report to the state that they dropped Suzy Sunshine off their rolls, and she’s now back in the public school system? I wonder what happens to the rest of the money?
There HAS to be a reason that all of the politicians in this big city are lining up to have their own sponsored charter schools. And I’m betting altruism has little to do with it.
So, to recap: The big comprehensive schools are failing. And it is not surprising. But many of the other public schools are not. And letting politicians have yet another way to steal money from the people is bad.
Alcohol warning for older drinkers
Researchers said alcohol interventions were not working for older people
Many older people are damaging their health by drinking too much, north-east of England researchers have warned.
Newcastle and Sunderland University academics explored why people aged 65 to 90 drank above recommended levels.
They spoke to 53 North East men and women in the age group to learn more about their attitudes to alcohol.
The researchers have called for changes to the recommended safe drinking levels for people in the age group and for there to be specific alcohol advice.
The researchers, who carried out interviews and focus groups, said many people did not recognise themselves as heavy drinkers.
Dr Graeme Wilson, from Newcastle University's Institute of Health and Society, said: "Many older people are drinking to a level that is having a long-term impact on their health, even if the damage they are doing is not always immediately apparent."
BBC News - Alcohol warning for older drinkers from North East researchers
Wednesday, August 07, 2013
Tuesday, August 06, 2013
Monday, August 05, 2013
2 Year Old Daughter Seized By State, Dies in Foster Care
http://downtrend.com/peterbraun/2-year-old-daughter-seized-by-state-dies-in-foster-care/
Sunday, August 04, 2013
IF YOU DON'T DO SOMETHING, NOTHING WILL CHANGE... NOTHING
This is about change for your life, but it is ALSO about what it takes to change a broken culture. You can't legislate real change. You can't mandate change. We can make real lasting cultural change. Those who think it takes generations don't understand, it can be done in a few years IF we understand the process. I heard this today. The process of Change that actually works.
From least effective to most effective, here's how change happens:
#5 CHANGING BEHAVIOR Anyone can change behavior for a while. Pharisees do this all the time. That's what laws try to do. It's why the Gun laws are so foolish. Outlaw guns and you have behavior change until it become meaningless. Unless a person is changed they will kill you with a hammer, a club, a knife, an axe, or just beat you to death. Behavior change changes nothing. It has to come deeper.
#4 CHANGING ENVIRONMENT. LOCATION. This is what happens when you try to change people with forced busing as was tried during the 70s; Nothing changed. You will have a Beverly Hillbillies situation if you try to change people by placing them in nicer environs. IF the heart hasn't changed it will reflect their hearts soon enough. It's critical to understand that sprucing a place up or giving someone a really nice place to live won't do a thing if they are the same inside.
These external efforts always fail. It's what government has tried to do again and again. That's what the projects were supposed to be all about. That's what Section 8 was all about. Give people a chance to change locations and they will do better. Not if the inside hasn't changed.
For real change to take place we must be changed from the inside out.
#3 ABILITIES.. WHAT CAN YOU DO? Who you are is made up of your ability, skill. It's not enough to have impartation which is hearing about something, you must have understanding at the skill level. It's like knowing all about flying an airplane in theory, but never having flown. It's all imparting knowledge until you do it. Then it becomes understanding. Theory VS Practice. Too much information, not enough understanding the old song says. It's true. A person to change must have mastery of skills and abilities that help him or her define themselves as a person. Without that they are undefined and cannot change. This most of the time comes from within and people's desires drive them to excellence.
#2 CORE BELIEFS... CORE VALUES What do I believe as true. This is where the rubber begins to meet the road. You can have a skilled person, disciplined in behavior and living in a good location and yet have a person who is unable to make progress because they believe lies. This is where it become essential. The lies we take in will put us in chains. There are cultural lies, political lies, media lies and yes, theological lies. Some are told to us by our parents. It's hard to avoid. So we agree with them because its acceptable to do so. UNLESS a person's core beliefs and values change they will not change. They will remain stuck. The search for core values is essential for every human being, and whatever you decide is true will shape you. You will become what you believe. Show me your life and I can tell you much about what you believe is true.
#1 IDENTITY... WHO AM I? Once a person has moved thru the process of the other four steps to change the last one is the greatest hurdle. Who am I, why am I here is the quintessential question all of us must answer. The lower you set this bar, the less likely you will break out of your situation. Theologically the answer is eternal. Its the here and now that gets to be the problem. Who or what do you most identify yourself to or with. IF that is a negative model, you wont' make it. This last hurdle can stop you dead in your tracks.
IF you think about the gang-bangers who we are all so concerned about, the transformation needed to get them to change for the better is much more than behavior and environment... as important as that can be as a first step. It's critical to help them develop skill (not education), a new set of core values that reflects what they hope to become and re identification with something different from what brought them there.
The broken culture we have in the USA, White Red Black and Brown is directly as the result of a failure of people break away from what has trapped them. You want someone out of poverty, out of gangs, out of drugs, out of bad relationships, out of a cycle of dysfunction? Then start down the pathway to change. There is no other hope. It's not just about Jesus, that's a start. I have met many wonderful saints of God TRAPPED in a life they want to break free from, but one of these is holding them captive. Break FREE!!
We Will Not Be Disarmed: Switzerland Warning Against Obama Regime Stuns Russia | Obama
The “main tactic” being used by the Obama regime against its top military leaders, according to the NDB, has been the leaking of their private emails by the NSA/CSS as revealed by Snowden whose leaked documents prove that US intelligence operatives loyal to the Obama regime have been tapping everything done online by all Americans.
Of the greatest concern to the NDB, however, this GRU report says, was the Obama regimes targeting this past week of the renowned American statesman, retired four-star general in the United States Army, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the 65th United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell, whom the NSA/CSS has threatened with the release of his private emails alleging an affair with a Romanian diplomat, which is the same tactic used to destroy the reputation and career of General Petraeus.
Unlike General Petraeus, however, this report continues, the NDB in their report note that General Powell has secretly notified the Obama regime of his intention “not to go down without a fight” and which led to forces loyal to the Obama regime opening fire on and destroying two F-16 fighter jets nearing Washington D.C. airspace Thursday evening (23:00 hrs EDT 1 August) believed to be headed towards the White House.
We Will Not Be Disarmed: Switzerland Warning Against Obama Regime Stuns Russia | Obama
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