The testing regimes and the "excellent school" lists serve many purposes. For the middle-class parents of children in "good" schools, it gives satisfaction. For those who want to punish teachers and attack tenure and public schools in general, it gives ammunition. "Failing" schools have one and only one thing in common: poverty. Children who started out behind, stay behind, keep falling behind, and then we blame the teachers for not solving systemic societal problems because those six-year-olds without a computer at home or many books or who have parents who work too much to help with homework generally get shoved along to the next grade at minimal proficiency at best. Sure, some have well-pulled bootstraps and succeed, but statistics show most don't. And for this, we blame the teachers. Put the staff of UHS at Pueblo for a year and see if they forget how to teach. Put a bunch of teaching rookies in UHS and they'll probably be on a tenure track by their second year. Why? Because testing will show that different students start with different abilities.
If we're going to use scientific methods based on testing, and have it affect the careers of teachers, we need to improve the science. A teacher who says a kid is failing isn't a bad teacher if that kid is failing. A teacher who says a kid is doing great might be if that kid can't pass a test. But we also need to test these kids before they even see those teachers if we're to really know, aren't we? The way things are done, all we know is that poor schools perform poorly. I could have saved everyone millions if not billions of dollars and pointed that one out decades ago.
It would be nice if El Molinito salsa was able to be purchased nationwide, because the stuff most of the nation considers salsa is either tomato paste or some terrible attempt at making a fruit salad. (Yes, Rosa's and a dozen other places also have great salsa, but I'd guess if someone was going to go wholesale, it would be ElMo's.)
Here are some datasets from 2011. You can play around with different drugs, gender, race and more to see who is using legal and illegal drugs. Whites are almost twice as likely to have used cocaine, and when you see how many more white people there are, a little math might lead someone versed in mathematical arts to conclude that white people either get a lot of free blow or that they contribute more money to that segment of the black market.
White people finance the drug problems in Mexico. If you want to place blame for the cartels and the killings and the fact that working immigrants can't come here without being part of the drug trade or they get killed, blame the white people who snort, smoke, and inject the vast majority of the drugs that cross that border.
(I say legalize it and take away the black markets and the criminality, but until then I say: own your shit, white people.)
We should have a sign at the city limits saying "Endorsed by Peter Griffin". Why? Because we have a sense of humor, that's why! We're Hamlet 2's place where dreams go to die! We're whatever that forgettable vaguely sci-fi movie with the elevators says we are! And we don't have to care, because... we're Tucson, that's why! Whether we're trying to spruce ourselves up or Keep Tucson Shitty, we're too busy enjoying doing not much to care what a guy who has recycled his own sitcom idea three times thinks about us.
Meanwhile, there are dozens of cities across the country wishing they had that kind of attention. We should run with it: "Welcome to Tucson, Endorsed by Peter Griffin" with his smiling face (including his scrotum chin) could give anyone a smile.
The bill also affects jails and juvenile facilities, meaning that older jails can't be replaced easily and that facilities can't grow fast enough if the community grows as well. So would a county stop issuing building permits to a 2% increase annually as well? It would be a good idea.
Do the homebuilders know about this? Are they going to want to build homes where counties will have to release jail inmates early because of overcrowding? Does anyone want to live in such a place?
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If we're going to use scientific methods based on testing, and have it affect the careers of teachers, we need to improve the science. A teacher who says a kid is failing isn't a bad teacher if that kid is failing. A teacher who says a kid is doing great might be if that kid can't pass a test. But we also need to test these kids before they even see those teachers if we're to really know, aren't we? The way things are done, all we know is that poor schools perform poorly. I could have saved everyone millions if not billions of dollars and pointed that one out decades ago.
Here are some datasets from 2011. You can play around with different drugs, gender, race and more to see who is using legal and illegal drugs. Whites are almost twice as likely to have used cocaine, and when you see how many more white people there are, a little math might lead someone versed in mathematical arts to conclude that white people either get a lot of free blow or that they contribute more money to that segment of the black market.
(I say legalize it and take away the black markets and the criminality, but until then I say: own your shit, white people.)
Meanwhile, there are dozens of cities across the country wishing they had that kind of attention. We should run with it: "Welcome to Tucson, Endorsed by Peter Griffin" with his smiling face (including his scrotum chin) could give anyone a smile.
Do the homebuilders know about this? Are they going to want to build homes where counties will have to release jail inmates early because of overcrowding? Does anyone want to live in such a place?