US Politics Mega-thread - Page 928

Wyoming took an unprecedented step this week when the governor approved a budget that would prevent the state from reviewing or funding a new set of science standards that treat climate change as fact.

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are a new set of education initiatives that have been adopted in 10 states and, like the Common Core State Standards, are designed to make sure students across the country are being held to the same benchmarks. They were developed with input from 26 states; Wyoming does not number among them.

Although the adoption of the NGSS has been controversial in other parts of the country, Wyoming is the first and only state to take legislative action to prevent the its Board of Education from reviewing the Science Standards, according to a press release from education advocacy group Climate Parents.

Rep. Matt Teeters (R-Lingle) first proposed a budget amendment that stops the state from considering the NGSS, according to Wyoming outlet the Casper Star-Tribune. Gov. Matt Mead (R) approved this amendment in his budget Wednesday.

In Kansas and Kentucky, both of which would eventually adopt the NGSS, the measure previously drew opposition from right-wing groups that opposed its teachings of climate change and evolution as fact.

“Outsiders are telling public school families that we must follow the rich man’s elitist religion of evolution, that we no longer have what the Kentucky Constitution says is the right to worship almighty God,” Baptist minister and NGSS opponent Matt Singleton said at a Kentucky hearing in July. “Instead, this fascist method teaches that our children are the property of the state.”

Last year, a committee of Wyoming educators recommended that the state adopt the Science Standards, according to the Casper Star-Tribune.

On March 09 2014 13:00 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
Wyoming took an unprecedented step this week when the governor approved a budget that would prevent the state from reviewing or funding a new set of science standards that treat climate change as fact.

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are a new set of education initiatives that have been adopted in 10 states and, like the Common Core State Standards, are designed to make sure students across the country are being held to the same benchmarks. They were developed with input from 26 states; Wyoming does not number among them.

Although the adoption of the NGSS has been controversial in other parts of the country, Wyoming is the first and only state to take legislative action to prevent the its Board of Education from reviewing the Science Standards, according to a press release from education advocacy group Climate Parents.

Rep. Matt Teeters (R-Lingle) first proposed a budget amendment that stops the state from considering the NGSS, according to Wyoming outlet the Casper Star-Tribune. Gov. Matt Mead (R) approved this amendment in his budget Wednesday.

In Kansas and Kentucky, both of which would eventually adopt the NGSS, the measure previously drew opposition from right-wing groups that opposed its teachings of climate change and evolution as fact.

“Outsiders are telling public school families that we must follow the rich man’s elitist religion of evolution, that we no longer have what the Kentucky Constitution says is the right to worship almighty God,” Baptist minister and NGSS opponent Matt Singleton said at a Kentucky hearing in July. “Instead, this fascist method teaches that our children are the property of the state.”

Last year, a committee of Wyoming educators recommended that the state adopt the Science Standards, according to the Casper Star-Tribune

On March 09 2014 13:49 SnipedSoul wrote:
I feel sorry for the kids attending school in Wyoming.

In what way is that going to help anyone?

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said he's "prepared" to run for U.S. president in 2016, but cautioned against interpreting his comment as an official announcement.

In an interview with the Nation, Sanders said he feels the United States faces serious problems and lacks "serious political discourse or ideas" to address these crises, and that "somebody has got to represent the working-class and the middle-class of this country in standing up to the big-money interests who have so much power over the economic and political life of this country."

"So I am prepared to run for president of the United States," Sanders, 72, said in the interview published Thursday. "I don't believe that I am the only person out there who can fight this fight, but I am certainly prepared to look seriously at that race."

ESS3.D: Global Climate Change
Though the magnitudes of human impacts are greater than they have ever been, so too are human abilities to model, predict, and manage current and future impacts. (HS-ESS3-5)

Recorded history, as well as chemical and geological evidence, indicates that human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have had major impacts on the land, rivers, ocean, and air. img

By the end of grade 5. Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have had major effects on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. But individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth’s resources and environments. For example, they are treating sewage, reducing the amounts of materials they use, and regulating sources of pollution such as emissions from factories and power plants or the runoff from agricultural activities.

By the end of grade 8. Human activities have significantly altered the biosphere, sometimes damaging or destroying natural habitats and causing the extinction of many other species. But changes to Earth’s environments can have different impacts (negative and positive) for different living things. Typically, as human populations and per-capita consumption of natural resources increase, so do the negative impacts on Earth unless the activities and technologies involved are engineered otherwise.

By the end of grade 12. The sustainability of human societies and the biodiversity that supports them requires responsible management of natural resources. Scientists and engineers can make major contributions—for example, by developing technologies that produce less pollution and waste and that preclude ecosystem degradation. When the source of an environmental problem is understood and international agreement can be reached, human activities can be regulated to mitigate global impacts (e.g., acid rain and the ozone hole near Antarctica).

ESS3.D: GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

How do people model and predict the effects of human activities on Earth’s climate?

Global climate change, shown to be driven by both natural phenomena and by human activities, could have large consequences for all of Earth’s surface systems, including the biosphere (see ESS3.C for a general discussion of climate). Humans are now so numerous and resource dependent that their activities affect every part of the environment, from outer space and the stratosphere to the deepest ocean.

On March 09 2014 13:49 SnipedSoul wrote:
I feel sorry for the kids attending school in Wyoming.

In what way is that going to help anyone?

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Two figures in a political payback plot that has overshadowed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's administration will attempt to convince a judge that they shouldn't be forced to turn over documents to a legislative panel.

Lawyers for former Christie campaign manager Bill Stepien and fired Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Kelly have asked the judge to throw out their subpoenas.

They say handing over personal emails, text messages and planning calendars would be like testifying against themselves.

They also cite the possibility of criminal prosecution as a legal basis for not complying with a request for correspondence involving a plot to create traffic jams near the George Washington Bridge.

More than a dozen individuals and organizations close to Christie have complied with similar subpoenas.

Oral arguments are scheduled for Tuesday.

On the last Friday in January, 15-year-old Dontadrian Bruce was finishing up his biology project at Olive Branch High School. He and his group had constructed a double helix out of Legos, and his teacher asked them to pose for a picture with their project. Bruce smiled and held up three fingers—his thumb, forefinger, and middle finger, palm facing outward. The teacher snapped a photo on her phone and went onto the next group.

On Monday morning, Bruce was summoned out of first-period English by assistant principal Todd Nichols, who showed him the photo. “You’re suspended because you’re holding up gang signs in this picture,” said Nichols, according to Bruce. "You're a gangbanger."

Bruce explained that he was simply representing the number on his football jersey, “3,” and that all the kids did it in football practice. He also said he had no idea the gesture was known to signal affiliation with the Vice Lords, a Chicago-based gang with a strong presence in Memphis, Tenn., 20 miles north of Olive Branch.

“I was trying to tell my side, and it was like they didn’t even care,” said Bruce. When his mother, Janet Hightower, received a call from the school, she was shocked at the news. Her son had never been in trouble like that before, she said, and he made As and Bs.

“He’s a good child,” Hightower said. “I know what he does 24 hours a day. If he leaves home and goes two houses down, he’s gonna text me and let me know.”

When Hightower arrived at the school, she was shown the picture, and that same day, February 3, Bruce was sent home. On February 6, Bruce appeared before a disciplinary hearing officer who decided his fate: “Indefinite suspension with a recommendation of expulsion.”

Bruce’s punishment is a particularly vivid example of what can result when fear of gang activity in schools collides with the contentious policy known as “zero tolerance”—a term describing school rules that favor suspensions and expulsions, even in the case of minor infractions.

Zero tolerance stems from the Gun Free Schools Act of 1994, which mandated that schools expel students found with firearms or face losing federal funding. The law was originally passed to respond to an increase in gun violence in schools. With the help of this policy, the number of high school students suspended or expelled during a school year has increased by around 40 percent in the past four decades. Ninety-five percent of suspensions are for nonviolent misbehavior, according to federal government figures.

Zero tolerance’s effectiveness has been hotly debated. Defenders say it’s the best way to ensure safety and maintain an environment free of distractions; critics deride it as “zero intelligence,” claiming that it’s counterproductive and breeds racial profiling. Some states, like Maryland, have been re-evaluating their disciplinary policies to address these criticisms. In January, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan urged educators to rethink zero tolerance policies, advocating “locally-tailored approaches” instead of knee-jerk punishment. Exclusionary discipline is “applied disproportionately to children of color,” Duncan said. “Educationally, and morally, that status quo is simply unacceptable.”

On March 10 2014 08:19 Danglars wrote:
So no reasonable people at that school could find it doubtful he was flashing a gang sign for his science project, and treat him like a normal human being? Must we really tiptoe like this in the name of zero tolerance or whatever?

On March 10 2014 08:27 itsjustatank wrote:
every public school I have walked into has felt, looked, and acted more like a prison than a place of learning.

On March 10 2014 08:27 itsjustatank wrote:
every public school I have walked into has felt, looked, and acted more like a prison than a place of learning.

On March 10 2014 12:03 aksfjh wrote:

What does a "place of learning" look like exactly?

On March 10 2014 12:32 IgnE wrote:
I wouldn't be surprised if the kid did know it was a gang sign, but there are a million gang signs they are looking out for, including what looks like the V for victory sign that the Latin Counts supposedly use: http://www.desotocountyschools.org/Download.asp?L=2&LMID=457763&PN=DocumentUploads&DivisionID=10918&DepartmentID=11066&SubDepartmentID=&SubP=&Act=Download&T=1&I=249766. Not that it should matter. But if you read that story and think, "federal government cramming policy down our throats" instead of "fearful white staid suburban people who are thrown into public schools without a clue" then I don't know what to tell you.