RANDOM THOUGHTS -- SUMMER 2010

FILM

AMC recently presented the 1975 film, Three Days of the Condor, with Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway and Cliff Robertson . It has always been one of my favorite movies. Each time I watch this film I notice something I had not paid much attention to in previous viewings. What struck me this time was that having just watched CNN continue reporting on the BP oil disaster, along with coverage of the Washington Post series "Top Secret America" the film was very timely. The movie gives us a rogue operation within the CIA with scenes set in the lobby of the World Trade Center and a plot based on the demand for oil. Remember the movie was made 35 years ago.

WINE

I recently came across an old and yellowed newspaper clipping from the San Francisco Chronicle. It was written by Herb Caen, the Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the paper who died in 1997. The paragraph was from his daily column and this one was titled My Kind of Monday. He wrote: "I have a new hero: Kermit Lynch, wine merchant, of 935 San Pablo Ave., Albany. His latest elegantly produced
brochure includes this offering:'1962 Romanee St. Vivant (H. Auddifred, shipper). Cloudy, browning garnet. Nothing to the noise but oxidation. Flat and empty on the palate. No character or depth. Way past its prime. $21.50 per bottle. $232 per case.' ... Imagine what it would cost if it were any good ! (No sales to date.)"


CALIFORNIA

It amuses me that Republican candidate for Governor of California, Meg Whitman, will spend upwards to $200,000,000 of her personal fortune to win the election. At the same time she is preaching that we must cut expenses, not raise taxes and tighten our belts to turn the state around. She is a classic example of "Don't do as I do; but do as I preach!" Seems that having wealth does not necessarily mean one will have wisdom.

WEATHER

Reliable sources report that the month of June was the coldest month for the San Francisco Bay area in 40 years, with temperatures consistently below normal. I now understand why the politically correct term "global warming" was changed to "climate change". Now where did I put my extra sweatshirts?

TELEVISION

Not long ago we received our television signal via the roof top antenna. Today we have a choice of cable or dish reception. There is a problem however in that what we receive is crap and what we used to receive was, in my opinion, a wider selection of quality programs. It seems my cable channels are clogged with alleged reality, insipid attempts at comedy, desperate bitches, and countless reruns of the Shawshank Redemption. Amazingly what we once received for free we now pay through the nose to watch in HD. No wonder Netfix is so popular.


READING

Back in early December of 2009 while visiting Bainbridge Island my good friend, Mary Miller, gave me a Michael Connelly novel, The Black Ice, to read and I was hooked. Harry Bosch is the smart ass, laid back, to hell with authority character that reminded me of Clint Eastwood's character, Harry Callahan. Over the next six months I read all 21 novels by Connelly, most revolving around the character, Harry Bosch. On October 5th his next novel, The Reversal, will be released. In the mean time thanks to another close friend, Gerry Donnelly, I am reading the novels of John Lescroart and enjoying another enigmatic character, Dismas Hardy.

FIXING OUR SCHOOLS FOR DUMMIES-VIII

Dangerous, Disruptive and Disobedient Students

Whether it is still done or not I do not know; but there was a time when children had to pass a readiness test for admittance to kindergarten. Children were evaluated on the basis of social, motor and language skills. In the social skills section of the evaluation, among other questions, parents were asked: if their child could follow directions, do tasks when asked the first time and work independently. I would venture to say that a significant number of our students currently in the upper elementary grades and in junior and senior high school would not pass this kindergarten readiness test. These students cannot or will not follow directions, rarely do anything when first asked or even after multiple requests and are unable or unwilling to work either independently or in a group. It is these uncooperative students that create the toxic atmosphere in which teachers and the rest of the students currently have to function.

As these uncooperative students move through the system they continue to be not only uncooperative; but disruptive, increasing disobedient and at worse they become dangerous individuals. Unfortunately, the way the system now operates these malcontents must be dealt with in the school setting. Yes, the very worst may be reassigned to "opportunity classes", occasionally suspended and some even expelled; but the vast majority are accommodated within the regular school setting. Consequently, teachers spend far too much time trying to deal with the aberrant behavior of these uncooperative individuals. Sadly every minute spent controlling these disruptive students is time taken from the process of teaching.

The solution is rather simple. Allow schools to provide the service that they were mandated to provide; that is, a free education. It is not the school's role to be a detention or mental health facility nor an extension of the courts, probation departments or social services. The school's staff are trained in the area of education not social work, custodial supervision, parental support or crime fighting. Those educators not in the classroom, administrators at all levels, must begin to show more than lip service support for classroom teachers by seeing that the disruptive, chronically disobedient and dangerous students are removed from the regular classroom environment. Just as one rotten apple can spoil the barrel, one disruptive student can spoil the positive learning atmosphere for an entire class. It is time for educators in policy and decision making positions to put their money where their mouths are. If the educational leaders truly want to see gains in achievement via standardized test scores then level the playing field for all students and all teachers. Teachers and students now working in schools that are like combat zones need to have their environments adjusted to be similar to that of schools were deviant student behavior is not tolerated.

Just as the gifted and talented students perform and achieve more when taught with other gifted and talented students so too the vast majority of the regular student population would perform, achieve and learn more in peaceful, orderly, engaged and trouble free classrooms. Students have a right to be safe and experience a positive learning environment at all times and in all schools regardless of the school's location. Administrators have a responsibility to see that both students and staff are safe at all times during the school day. If they are unable or unwilling to provide this safe environment then they need to step aside. The buck does indeed stop with the school administrators when it comes to school safety and they must either lead, follow or get the hell out of the way. There is too much at stake to accept less.

Next Post: Over Emphasis on Testing

The Gulf Oil Mess

As the Gulf Oil Disaster continues and the combined response seems to be one big clusterfluck with daily reports offering misinformation and bureaucratic bungling it is obvious that there is no real master plan nor is there any one person really in charge. Just the other day the Coast Guard ordered the oil vacuuming recovery vessels off the water because they had not yet been inspected ... inspected for what no one can really say; but rules are rules. Below is a Wikipedia paragraph I found on the naval evacuation of Dunkirk. Read it and see how Churchill took charge of a disaster. It is this kind of leadership and resourcefulness that is seriously lacking in this current situation.


"In May 1940, during the Battle of France, the British Expeditionary Force in France aiding the French, was cut off from the rest of the French Army by the German advance. Encircled by the Germans they retreated to the area around the port of Dunkirk. The German land forces could have easily destroyed the British Expeditionary Force, especially when many of the British troops, in their haste to withdraw, had left behind their heavy equipment. For years, it was assumed that Adolf Hitler ordered the German Army to stop the attack, favouring bombardment by the Luftwaffe. However, according to the Official War Diary of Army Group A, Field Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt, the Chief of the General Staff, ordered the halt. Hitler merely validated several hours after the fact. This lull in the action gave the British a few days to evacuate by sea. Winston Churchill ordered any ship or boat available, large or small, to pick up the stranded soldiers, and 338,226 men (including 123,000 French soldiers) were evacuated - the miracle of Dunkirk, as Churchill called it. It took over 900 vessels to evacuate the Allied forces. More than 40,000 vehicles as well as massive amounts of other military equipment and supplies were left behind; their value being less than that of trained fighting men. The British evacuation of Dunkirk through the English Channel was codenamed Operation Dynamo. 40,000 Allied soldiers (some who carried on fighting after the official evacuation) were captured or forced to make their own way home through a variety of routes including via neutral Spain."

If the mentality and actions of our Federal Government, the Coast Guard and British Petroleum had been prevalent in May 1940 then 338,226 men would have more than likely been left to die on the beaches of Dunkirk. As it is the above three stooges have been the principal players in a comedy of errors and missteps that will be felt in the gulf for many, many years.