Come on, Georgia

Really? Has it come down to this, Georgia? Must we now fire many of our educators because of their last-ditch attempt to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)? Aren't we already hurting for enough teachers to fill classrooms and ensure that the student:teacher ratio is low enough? How flawed is a system in which the educators are so worried for the sake of their jobs, and the very children that we entrust to them, that they feel they must change students' answers (sacrificing their own integrity and apparently committing a felony in the process [falsifying a state document? Really? We're grouping someone who genuinely cares about our children into the same group as someone who perjured himself in an affidavit to a court]) on a standardized test (the CRCT, for those who know what I'm talking about) because our dear Department of Education will hold these students back (in 5th grade, mind you) because of the inability to meet performance goals on ONE STINKING TEST? Never mind what work they've done the entire school year; how well they did on in-class assignments, tests given by the teacher, and even simple classroom participation. One test, in the state of Georgia, can determine whether a student is promoted to the next grade level. This is not just a problem in the 5th grade, which is the level that has sparked much of the controversy recently, no, across the board, the pressure on students to perform adequately on one single test lest they remain in school another year is simply ridiculous. From the first grade until high school graduation, students must pass a variety of standardized tests to be able to continue in school. Not to mention the fact that these tests take away nearly a week of class time that could have been spent, I don't know, actually learning something, but the tests aren't even given at the end of the year, when a teacher might have had time to actually convey enough valuable information to a child that he is prepared for the next level of education. No, they're given about halfway through the spring semester of the public school term, with no less than 35 days remaining in school. That's 35 days worth of information that the student does not have in his tool set to aid him on a standardized test. 35 days. 35 days. 35 days. Or, take the GHSGT, Given in the middle of spring term of students' junior year of high school. A full year-plus of information that students don't possess. 200 days. 200 days. 200 DAYS, for crying out loud! How can we expect students to have all the information needed to graduate high school when we are testing them 200 DAYS in advance of their anticipated graduation date? It's ridiculous, at this point, the manner in which we test students to death. Anyone agree?

It's been

Far too long since I've posted on this blog. For that, I apologize. It was a very busy semester. Since we last spoke, I pledged and became a brother in the Epsilon Lambda chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, I was able to get my GPA back to a HOPE-eligible level, I got a job at UGA Campus Transit and got my Commercial Drivers' License, and got my job back for summer at Monroe Animal Care Hospital. That's the news for now.

I shall leave you with a poem. This one is an old favorite, and I think Emily Dickinson is probably one of my favorite poets.

Because I Could Not Stop For Death

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school, where children strove
At recess, in the ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

Or rather, he passed us;
The dews grew quivering and chill,
For only gossamer my gown,
My tippet only tulle.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.

~Emily Dickinson

Well, I seem to be woolgathering, so here goes...

So to define woolgathering before I get started - (from dictionary.com) Woolgathering is "indulgence in idle fancies and in daydreaming; absentmindedness"

My computer science class centers around mostly global and environmental problems, and I have to admit that prior to the class, I had somewhat mixed views on the environmental issues facing the world today... I was very skeptical of global warming as a valid hypothesis, and denounced most of what the proponents of the theory argued.

However, after taking a really good, hard look at the facts, I realized some things that I failed to notice previously. I won't go into details here, because that would get exceedingly boring exceedingly quickly... Suffice to say that I'm not nearly as skeptical as I was previously about anthropogenic causes of global warming.

Another thing that came up in the course was the professor's opinion, which he constantly apologized for sharing... I wish that he, like so many others in the country (and the world, for that matter) would stop apologizing for their own opinions, like they're some sort of horrible thing to share with a group. This particular fellow may not think so, but most of the people in the class are genuinely interested in what he has to say.

I also wish that people would be more forthcoming with information that others would do well to know. This applies as a general statement, so take it as such. It is not directed at any person in particular, but is intended as more of a blanket statement.

Hoping everyone is well. All four readers that I have.

USG Fee increase

Thought I'd share this little morsel with you... I had written to the USG/BoR about the recent fee approval for USG's member institutions... I'll put my letter and their response. Pay careful attention to the lovely imagery they use.

My letter:

I would just like to let the Board of Regents know how incensed I am about the recent approval of the "Special fee". This should have happened further in advance of due dates for student accounts, and not at the same time as finals. Some people (by which I mean the student population at every university) didn't budget an extra $100 for miscellaneous last-minute fees. To illustrate: $100 is two weeks worth of groceries for 4 people. I suggest that in the future, the Board considers the student a little more when it makes decisions such as these. If this sort of thing were to continue, it is my firm belief that there might be a sharp decrease in new and returning students at all of the USG's member institutions.

The response:

Zack,

Thank you for expressing your concern about the Board of Regents' decisions to meet additional reductions to the University System's budget. The Chancellor has asked that I respond on his behalf. We understand and share your concern. These decisions that affect all University System students and employees were taken with the greatest reluctance and only made as a last resort in order to avoid a decrease in academic quality at our colleges and universities.

Students are our priority and being able to provide the type of instructional quality that we have currently attained in the State of Georgia requires this "temporary fee" action to be taken now to meet our portion of an 8% shortfall in the state's budget. The other alternative that would not have been the preference of anyone would have been a tuition increase. This would be permanent and very costly to students for years to come. The student fee will go directly back into the individual institutions to support the college or university's instruction mission which includes offering the courses students need when they need them.

The Board of Regents' action was courageous, proactive and ideally, preventative in respect to any future budget constraints. But as it was stated at the recent meeting, no one has a crystal ball and we do not know what the future will be in respect to economic issues. We want to maintain affordable higher education for our citizens and these decisions are done with that goal in mind.


-- 
Student Affairs
The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia

“Creating a More Educated Georgia”

A Poem.

Edit: I realized I used a semicolon, which according to Vonnegut are "transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college." Oops.

________________________

So I was planning to write everyday... We see how well that worked out.

Anyway, I have a poem for you today; it came in my Writer's Almanac (available for free subscription from APM at http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/)

This is "Windows is Shutting Down" by Clive James

Windows is shutting down, and grammar are
On their last leg. So what am we to do?
A letter of complaint go just so far, 
Proving the only one in step are you.

Better, perhaps, to simply let it goes.
A sentence have to be screwed pretty bad
Before they gets to where you doesnt knows
The meaning what it must be meant to had.

The meteor have hit. Extinction spread,
But evolution do not stop for that.
A mutant languages rise from the dead
And all them rules is suddenly old hat.

Too bad for we, us what has had so long
The best seat from the only game in town.
But there it am, and whom can say its wrong?
Those are the break. Windows is shutting down.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch (thanks GK).

UGA Alert

At UGA, there's a system called UGAAlert, the purpose of which is to alert students (creative name, no?) when an event has occurred on campus that is abnormal and could be dangerous. So my question to UGA police (the party responsible for this system's use) is this: Why is UGAAlert not used when there's actually something that could cause trouble on campus?

Yesterday, UGA students and faculty got an email from UGAAlert sometime in the morning (I don't remember the exact time - I deleted the email) explaining that the NIGHT BEFORE, two men had attempted an armed robbery on a student on North Campus. The whole point of this system is to alert students and staff to a potentially dangerous situation. Bearing that in mind, isn't an armed robbery a dangerous situation? If the system is not used within certain time from the event, say, within an hour, then why use it at all?

Given the one example, you might think I'm overreacting. But a similar event occurred last year, where a man ran through the area between Brumby Hall and the West Deck, and then proceeded through the Creswell common area (indoors!) brandishing a gun. To the UGAPD's credit, on this occasion, they did at least send the alert the same day, albeit between four and five hours later.

Another instance that also occurred last year was a bomb threat in the SLC. Both of the other events I've written about occurred in the evening, a time when there are far fewer students out and about. This particular event, however, disrupted my 9:05 psychology class. The SLC was closed for quite a few hours after that. You'd think (or at least I would) that this event in particular would warrant use of the alert. Instead, UGAPD ended up, because of the non-use of their alert system, with thousands of uninformed students milling about outside the SLC (within a hypothetical blast zone had a bomb actually gone off), and not knowing the danger that they were in simply by standing outside with classmates.

UGAAlert is not used AT ALL in actual emergency situations, but they have no problem sending five or ten messages in the event of  the possibility of severe weather. I'm not saying that using the system when there's a tornado watch is wrong, but in the recent weather situation in ACC, the alert system sent two messages each for the beginning and the end of the tornado watch and subsequent warning (eight messages total), which I think dilutes the purpose of the system substantially.

My entire point here is that if the University police send that many messages about a potential weather system, it would make sense to alert students when they're in danger from another source. In the events I described, the UGAAlert system was either not used at all (in the bomb threat), or not used until the threat had been isolated (robbery) and the responsible party apprehended (gun-brandishing). 

Thoughts?

First post

I'm new to this site. I was introduced by my Sociology professor, and I thought that this would be a good outlet for my (in)sane observations about our culture and society. I chose the title "Man Without a Country" to pay homage to Kurt Vonnegut, the best American writer of the 20th (and a short time in the 21st) century.

Don't you think it's funny to watch people on a crowded bus? UGA's buses are generally fairly crowded, and I always like to observe people when they're crammed into an Orbit bus at three in the afternoon. 

The funniest people to observe are the socialites on their cell phones. These people have seemingly no idea that everyone on the entire bus can hear their conversations. The best ones are those describing last night's venture downtown, most of which they don't actually remember. The other day, I heard one person insisting that he hadn't done something (I wasn't able to determine what the something was; it was never said on our end) the previous night. Regardless of whether he had or hadn't done this deed, I found it hilarious that at least one party on the phone was having such difficulty knowing what had actually occurred. I can honestly say that I have never not known what I did after any sort of outing, be it a party, race, football game, or anything else.

Another funny thing to watch is the people who have to stand in the aisle and hold the grab bars. As soon as the bus starts moving, you can tell which people have been riding the buses for a while, and which ones have clearly just started. The best of the second category actually manage to stand the whole time with minimal "Oh crap" moments, while the even less-experienced tend to fall over, which is great for watching, but not so great for the faller.