Finally our Secretary of State showed up for the Congressional hearings on Benghazi. I was not sure what to expect from the 5-hour session. Neither Clinton is friendly with the truth. Bill and Hillary aren't even honest with each other, so I didn't exactly expect her to be honest with the American people.
She did say that she takes responsibility (in terms of the-buck-stops-here), but then she dodged each question that would have called for her to actually take responsibility. As I listened to her answers, I thought I was hearing the slippery answers of a teenager. I do however think she was sincere when she recalled greeting the families and the caskets.
I am confused about something she said. When she said that the State Department received 1.4 million letters/cables/communications per year and they are all addressed to her, I could understand that. But what is the hierarchy? If a message comes from an ambassador to the Secretary of State, would that be a higher priority than a message from an underling? And doesn't she have staff that read, prioritize, and summarize communiques for her? Wouldn't she receive daily briefings about developing situations that would have alerted her to the problems in the region in the prior months? There are still too many answered questions.
The rant was surprising to me. She is not prone to outbursts. I guess she thinks that it's not that important how the attack happened, but that the attack happened. I disagree. If my teenager takes my car and then calls to tell me it's totaled, I want to know how. All the more important to know how the attack happened and how these Americans were killed so as to not have it happen again. There is something to be learned here. Policies or procedures were either not followed or need to be reviewed. Communication channels were either broken or something serious is wrong. I would like to think that Mrs. Clinton did not know about the problem ahead of time, but that means that she was not properly informed. If Mrs. Clinton knew of the problem and did nothing, that is a serious issue. Whether she knew or whether no one told her, both are failings. And both need fixed.
The other discouraging thing to me is that most people don't really care and aren't paying attention. They will only hear her testimony when it's a sound bite in a 2016 commercial in her run for president.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Father of the year? You're kidding, right?
Just this week the National Father's Day Committee announced that one of their choices for their 2013 Father of the Year Award is Bill Clinton. WHAT? I thought I must have misheard that. Great politician. Sure. Great humanitarian. Sure. More deserving of a Nobel Prize than Al Gore or Barack Obama, but I digress. This called for an investigation.
Promptly, I looked at the reasons for choosing Clinton as father of the year. It's odd. The journalists talked about his foundation, his humanitarian work, barely mentioning his doting on his daughter, but I am still waiting for how this qualifies. I lived through the 90s... the women procurement... Monica... the public news conferences and hearings on whether oral sex is sex. Of course, my sons were quick to point out that this award is not for "husband of the year".
I started looking at former winners, of which there are many. In 2009 George Stephanopoulos won. Maybe he is a great dad, but his oldest child at the time was about 7. The award should surely go to someone who has parented teens and survived! The 2005 list included Donald Trump, so maybe the list isn't about how many baby mommas, but how many of your children you can employ. (They all seem well-adjusted, so I probably shouldn't comment too much). The most glaring name was in 2007... John Edwards. Good heavens! I think this was just about the time that there were rumblings of a girlfriend followed by a love child while his wife was dying. No more talk about these men who are doing wrong. Let me mention one that is doing right... and has always done right.
My father is the hardworking family man that most of us are familiar with because we had our own similar dad at home. No sacrifice is too great for the purposes of supporting his family. My dad is amazing. He worked his first job for 40 years while working a second job for almost as long while riding his bike 10 miles every day (one way) so that my mom could have the car for us. He is 72 and still works. I think there is something to be admired about a man who quietly but strongly does the right things. He is faithful, honest, and will make you laugh in a minute. There are so many things I learned about from my dad, but probably most importantly, I learned that I am valuable and unique and important. Dads impart lessons in many ways, but one of the most crucial lessons that my dad imparted daily is that my mom is to be respected, admired, and loved. That, folks, is Father-of-the-Year material!
Promptly, I looked at the reasons for choosing Clinton as father of the year. It's odd. The journalists talked about his foundation, his humanitarian work, barely mentioning his doting on his daughter, but I am still waiting for how this qualifies. I lived through the 90s... the women procurement... Monica... the public news conferences and hearings on whether oral sex is sex. Of course, my sons were quick to point out that this award is not for "husband of the year".
I started looking at former winners, of which there are many. In 2009 George Stephanopoulos won. Maybe he is a great dad, but his oldest child at the time was about 7. The award should surely go to someone who has parented teens and survived! The 2005 list included Donald Trump, so maybe the list isn't about how many baby mommas, but how many of your children you can employ. (They all seem well-adjusted, so I probably shouldn't comment too much). The most glaring name was in 2007... John Edwards. Good heavens! I think this was just about the time that there were rumblings of a girlfriend followed by a love child while his wife was dying. No more talk about these men who are doing wrong. Let me mention one that is doing right... and has always done right.
My father is the hardworking family man that most of us are familiar with because we had our own similar dad at home. No sacrifice is too great for the purposes of supporting his family. My dad is amazing. He worked his first job for 40 years while working a second job for almost as long while riding his bike 10 miles every day (one way) so that my mom could have the car for us. He is 72 and still works. I think there is something to be admired about a man who quietly but strongly does the right things. He is faithful, honest, and will make you laugh in a minute. There are so many things I learned about from my dad, but probably most importantly, I learned that I am valuable and unique and important. Dads impart lessons in many ways, but one of the most crucial lessons that my dad imparted daily is that my mom is to be respected, admired, and loved. That, folks, is Father-of-the-Year material!
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
An open letter to Governor Kasich
Dear Governor Kasich,
First let me say that I am an avid supporter. I remember when you visited my high school government class at Westerville South in the early 1980s during a run for Congress. I have attended speeches, rallies, and book signings through the years. I say those things to show that I am a long time follower of politics, of you, and one who pays attention to the issues. But one of the things that I most admire about you is that, even if I disagreed with you on everything and never voted for you, I know that you would still listen to me as a fellow Ohioan and fellow American.
I am concerned with your stance on holding teachers accountable for students' test scores to the extent that teachers would lose their jobs. With the myriad of reasons for achievement and with children having differing abilities, making a high-stakes connection between students' outcomes and a teacher's career seems like firing the grocery clerk for selling me hot dogs and HoHos everyday--blaming the clerk for my obesity.
As a product of Westerville's excellent public schools, and with friends and family still working and living in the district, I would agree that schools need to show some accountability for student outcomes. But, as a former teacher and parent, I have experienced the social ills that impact education of a child far more than the textbook, the teacher, or the technology available. If children are torn from their neighborhood and bused across town so that society feels better about racial and socioeconomic balance, we need to study the impact of long bus rides and parents who cannot get to their child's building for a meeting or a conference. If parents cannot read or do not value a library, are we to hold teachers accountable that a child cannot read? Learning to read proficiently requires time, access to books, modeling by parents, and practice. How can we hold a teacher accountable for parental deficits in these areas? How many years do we need to teach 5th grade math? If we teach fractions in 5th grade, why do we continue to teach that same concept for years? Students graduate high school, go to college, and for thousands of dollars per class, we find that we have to teach them fractions again. But this time, a student attends Columbus State, and we pay an instructor, we subsidize the building, we give out financial aid (along with food stamps, WIC, daycare, housing allowances, and large tax refunds for nonwork) to just teach fractions again for the ninth or tenth year. At what point does the burden of learning shift to the student? We have safety-netted some people to the extent that it's a nightmare for all taxpayers.
We expect teachers today to solve societal problems, to act as social workers, to work long hours with meetings and answering emails, to intervene in fights and bullying, to monitor vegetables at lunch time, and then we want to say to these hard-working teachers, you are not good enough. I know several teachers who work with special populations-- students with deficits, disabilities, or impairments. What of these teachers in particular? They awake each morning and deal with the tough cases that would make most adults run for the exit sign. What becomes of their job when test scores are the singular measure of their success?
If the National Department of Education policymakers want to use a value-added model in education, they need to first study how it is implemented in an actual workplace. An analogy can be drawn with other professions. Should attorneys should not be allowed to practice law if they lose a case. Sometimes a case is lost because a client is guilty. Sometimes the loss can be attributed to the judge, the jury, a procedural error, or even a false witness. Should doctors be fired when a patient dies? When a patient arrives in the emergency room and is unconscious from years of untreated diabetes, do we hold that physician accountable for the death of the patient? Just as we would not consider disbarring an attorney for losing a case or firing a doctor for losing a patient, we should not fire teachers based on poor test scores as a result of factors that are out of their total control. Effective teachers are only one component of student success. Engaged students, stable and supportive families, innate intelligence, and even a hearty breakfast are all contributing factors to student success as well. Government leaders, policymakers, and the public should leave value-added assessment models in the business sector and look for another method of evaluating teacher effectiveness in our nation’s classrooms.
Let's fix the unconstitutional school funding formula. Let's build our public schools to be a self-sufficient from federal tax dollars with strings attached as possible. Federal mandates and the money that follows are contributors to the problem, not solutions. Let's teach a concept only a set umber of years beyond where it is introduced. If it is not learned, then intervention, tutoring, and other services will unburden a teacher from a classroom of 30 students, half of which may be three grades or more behind. Separate students by ability and/or deficit to meet their needs rather than mainstream to meet society's need to feel good about ourselves. Let's shore up the admissions for colleges. There should be a lower-cost option for a student to learn what they didn't learn aside from spending such high cost college dollars.
Kelli Bergheimer
References:
First let me say that I am an avid supporter. I remember when you visited my high school government class at Westerville South in the early 1980s during a run for Congress. I have attended speeches, rallies, and book signings through the years. I say those things to show that I am a long time follower of politics, of you, and one who pays attention to the issues. But one of the things that I most admire about you is that, even if I disagreed with you on everything and never voted for you, I know that you would still listen to me as a fellow Ohioan and fellow American.
I am concerned with your stance on holding teachers accountable for students' test scores to the extent that teachers would lose their jobs. With the myriad of reasons for achievement and with children having differing abilities, making a high-stakes connection between students' outcomes and a teacher's career seems like firing the grocery clerk for selling me hot dogs and HoHos everyday--blaming the clerk for my obesity.
As a product of Westerville's excellent public schools, and with friends and family still working and living in the district, I would agree that schools need to show some accountability for student outcomes. But, as a former teacher and parent, I have experienced the social ills that impact education of a child far more than the textbook, the teacher, or the technology available. If children are torn from their neighborhood and bused across town so that society feels better about racial and socioeconomic balance, we need to study the impact of long bus rides and parents who cannot get to their child's building for a meeting or a conference. If parents cannot read or do not value a library, are we to hold teachers accountable that a child cannot read? Learning to read proficiently requires time, access to books, modeling by parents, and practice. How can we hold a teacher accountable for parental deficits in these areas? How many years do we need to teach 5th grade math? If we teach fractions in 5th grade, why do we continue to teach that same concept for years? Students graduate high school, go to college, and for thousands of dollars per class, we find that we have to teach them fractions again. But this time, a student attends Columbus State, and we pay an instructor, we subsidize the building, we give out financial aid (along with food stamps, WIC, daycare, housing allowances, and large tax refunds for nonwork) to just teach fractions again for the ninth or tenth year. At what point does the burden of learning shift to the student? We have safety-netted some people to the extent that it's a nightmare for all taxpayers.
We expect teachers today to solve societal problems, to act as social workers, to work long hours with meetings and answering emails, to intervene in fights and bullying, to monitor vegetables at lunch time, and then we want to say to these hard-working teachers, you are not good enough. I know several teachers who work with special populations-- students with deficits, disabilities, or impairments. What of these teachers in particular? They awake each morning and deal with the tough cases that would make most adults run for the exit sign. What becomes of their job when test scores are the singular measure of their success?
If the National Department of Education policymakers want to use a value-added model in education, they need to first study how it is implemented in an actual workplace. An analogy can be drawn with other professions. Should attorneys should not be allowed to practice law if they lose a case. Sometimes a case is lost because a client is guilty. Sometimes the loss can be attributed to the judge, the jury, a procedural error, or even a false witness. Should doctors be fired when a patient dies? When a patient arrives in the emergency room and is unconscious from years of untreated diabetes, do we hold that physician accountable for the death of the patient? Just as we would not consider disbarring an attorney for losing a case or firing a doctor for losing a patient, we should not fire teachers based on poor test scores as a result of factors that are out of their total control. Effective teachers are only one component of student success. Engaged students, stable and supportive families, innate intelligence, and even a hearty breakfast are all contributing factors to student success as well. Government leaders, policymakers, and the public should leave value-added assessment models in the business sector and look for another method of evaluating teacher effectiveness in our nation’s classrooms.
Let's fix the unconstitutional school funding formula. Let's build our public schools to be a self-sufficient from federal tax dollars with strings attached as possible. Federal mandates and the money that follows are contributors to the problem, not solutions. Let's teach a concept only a set umber of years beyond where it is introduced. If it is not learned, then intervention, tutoring, and other services will unburden a teacher from a classroom of 30 students, half of which may be three grades or more behind. Separate students by ability and/or deficit to meet their needs rather than mainstream to meet society's need to feel good about ourselves. Let's shore up the admissions for colleges. There should be a lower-cost option for a student to learn what they didn't learn aside from spending such high cost college dollars.
Kelli Bergheimer
References:
Anderman,
E. M., Anderman, L. H., Yough, M. S., & Gimbert, B. G. (Apr-Jun 2010).
Value-added models of assessment: Implications for motivation and
accountability. Educational Psychologist,
45(2), 123-137.
Armenakis,
A. A., Bernerth, J. B., Pitts, J. P., & Walker, H. J. (December
2007). Organizational change recipients' beliefs scale development of an
assessment instrument. Journal of Applied
Behavioral Science, 43(4), 481-505. doi: 10.1177/0021886307303654
Darling-Hammond,
L., Amrein-Beardsley, A., Haertel, E. & Rothstein, J. (March 2012).
Evaluating teacher evaluation. Phi Delta
Kappan, 93(6), 8-15.
David,
J. L. (May 2010). Using value-added measures to evaluate teachers. Educational Leadership, 67(8), 81-82.
Eckert,
J. M. & Dabrowski, J. (May 2010). Should value-added measures be used for
performance pay? Phi Delta Kappan, 91(8),
88-92.
Hanushek,
E. A. & Rivkin, S. G. (May 2010). Generalizations about using value-added
measures of teacher quality. The American
Economic Review, 100(2), 267-271.
Hill,
H. C., Kapitula, L., & Umland, K. (November 11, 2010). A validity argument
approach to evaluating teacher value-added scores. American Educational Research Journal, 48(3), 794-831. doi:
10.3102/0002831210387916
Lefkowitz,
J. (2012). Rating teachers illegally? Society
for Industrial & Organizational Psychology. Retrieved from: http://www.siop.org/tip/april11/07lefkowitz.aspx
Papay,
J. P. (April 19, 2010). Different tests, different answers: The stability of
teacher value-added estimates across outcome measures. American Educational Research Journal, 48(1), 163-193. doi:
10.3102/0002831210362589
Race
to the Top. (2012). Race to the top fund. Retrieved from: http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html
Rothstein,
J. (February 2010). Teacher quality in educational production: Tracking, decay,
and student achievement. Quarterly
Journal of Economics, 125(1), 175-214.
Schwochau,
S. & Delaney, J. (Summer 1997). Employee participation and assessments of
support for organizational policy changes.
Journal of Labor Research, 18(3),
379-401.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Spank!
Who watched the first presidential debate of 2012? I am hoping that many people did. It was fantastic for Mitt Romney and surprisingly dull and defeating for President Obama. It seemed to me like Obama was a disillusioned college kid working his first job... just now realizing it's not as fun to be a grown-up as he thought it would be.
As someone interested in politics and someone who reads dozens of news sources daily, I love the debates. I love the conventions. I love the posturing and the body language and the "Newt-Gingrich-type zingers." I enjoy reading about what each side says about the performance of the other side. But reading what the Left says about Obama this morning is not what I expected. I expected the liberal media to prop him up and cover him. But they didn't. Why would the liberal media throw Obama under the bus?
My guess is that the media thinks that their guy lost the election last night. So, the only thing left to do is blame Obama for losing the election to draw attention away from the fact that Obama's policies are really what will cost him the election. If the loss can be Obama's fault, then the liberals can continue on as if their policies were not the issue. Then Romney comes in, saves the day, and liberals will say... the recovery is due to Obama after all and resurrect his reputation again.
Obama's first real "job evaluation" didn't go so well. He looked like he had never had a job evaluation in his entire life... because he hasn't. He looked like he had never had anyone stand up to him and tell him he's wrong... because he hasn't. He kept looking to the moderator to pull him out, change the topic, or rescue him because the American media has been doing that for years. Once again, Mr. President, you forgot the number one rule of your leftest friends... when they worship you, they worship you, and when they turn, they will eat you alive and move on. The only loyalty is to the agenda and the mission, not to you. You have learned the disappointing adult lesson of what it feels like to be used.
As someone interested in politics and someone who reads dozens of news sources daily, I love the debates. I love the conventions. I love the posturing and the body language and the "Newt-Gingrich-type zingers." I enjoy reading about what each side says about the performance of the other side. But reading what the Left says about Obama this morning is not what I expected. I expected the liberal media to prop him up and cover him. But they didn't. Why would the liberal media throw Obama under the bus?
My guess is that the media thinks that their guy lost the election last night. So, the only thing left to do is blame Obama for losing the election to draw attention away from the fact that Obama's policies are really what will cost him the election. If the loss can be Obama's fault, then the liberals can continue on as if their policies were not the issue. Then Romney comes in, saves the day, and liberals will say... the recovery is due to Obama after all and resurrect his reputation again.
Obama's first real "job evaluation" didn't go so well. He looked like he had never had a job evaluation in his entire life... because he hasn't. He looked like he had never had anyone stand up to him and tell him he's wrong... because he hasn't. He kept looking to the moderator to pull him out, change the topic, or rescue him because the American media has been doing that for years. Once again, Mr. President, you forgot the number one rule of your leftest friends... when they worship you, they worship you, and when they turn, they will eat you alive and move on. The only loyalty is to the agenda and the mission, not to you. You have learned the disappointing adult lesson of what it feels like to be used.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Mr. Newt
Every since the 1990s, I have had an infatuation with Mr. Newt. He is a writer, historian, and generally brilliant man. He was able to implement the Contract with America and balance the federal budget. He and my fave, John Kasich, worked to turn around some of the wrongs of Washington. When I heard Mr. Newt speak, he was decisive. I enjoy his sport of slamming reporters. He and Dick Cheney must have studied that tactic somewhere. Those two men are my two favorite "debate brains".
When Mr. Newt decided to run for the Republican nomination for president, I had mixed feelings. Is it possible to have higher "negatives" than even Hillary Clinton? How can someone so polarizing unite a party. I have to set aside my enjoyment of "the slam" that he serves and really evaluate what type of president he would be. My concern... the most massive ego of all time!
A successful president surrounds himself with wise counsel. I cannot imagine Mr. Newt surrounding himself with any one who is strong, perhaps even smarter than he is in some area. His ego doesn't seem to allow for that possibility. One man trying to run a country surrounded by weaker voices and subsurviant points of view is a recipe for more of the same that we have had with presidents who think they are the smartest in the room.
When Mr. Newt decided to run for the Republican nomination for president, I had mixed feelings. Is it possible to have higher "negatives" than even Hillary Clinton? How can someone so polarizing unite a party. I have to set aside my enjoyment of "the slam" that he serves and really evaluate what type of president he would be. My concern... the most massive ego of all time!
A successful president surrounds himself with wise counsel. I cannot imagine Mr. Newt surrounding himself with any one who is strong, perhaps even smarter than he is in some area. His ego doesn't seem to allow for that possibility. One man trying to run a country surrounded by weaker voices and subsurviant points of view is a recipe for more of the same that we have had with presidents who think they are the smartest in the room.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
need a photo id to vote?
How frustrating it is to hear people in the community say that it is somehow discriminatory to require a photo id to vote. How is it oppressive to ask someone to go to the BMV to prove their residence and birth in order to impact our government, impact our communities, and impact our taxes?
Why is this such an issue? Let me propose two reasons...
Reason 1: Some people want to commit voter fraud. If there are no photos required, then there is a possibility to vote as someone else or vote multiple times. In my experience, it took many many election cycles for the Board of Elections to remove my dead husband from the voter roles. Over and over I filled out the paperwork. I had identification. I had his death certificate. I had paperwork, and they still couldn't get it done.
Reason 2: Some of our leaders who claim to want to help people really just want to keep them in their "place". Think of it this way. If the democrat leaders really wanted people to have improved lives, they would suggest integration into society, not a furthering gap from what is necessary to survive in society. We need people to be literate, speak a common language, and all follow some basic citizenship standards. Think about it... if you have no photo id, you are not allowed to legally drive (although many do). You cannot get a library card. You cannot fly on a plane or leave the United States. You cannot write a check or open a bank account. You cannot cash a check, make a large purchase such as a house, or fill out a job application. If you cannot show a photo id, your job opportunities are relegated to "under the table" cash work that further deteriorates our society. What purpose does it serve to have people left in that state of disconnect? Look at who this group votes for. It is there that you find your answer.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
The Shooting in Arizona
Mental illness knows no gender, no politics, no rhetoric. It just knows what the irrational brain knows.
As people across the country, in an attempt to understand, start blaming certain public figures, blaming teachers who didn't ask for an evaluation, blaming parents who didn't do enough, let us at least stop to ponder that this shooter was ill. Do we really understand this kind of mental illness? Do we understand paranoia, delusions, and these strongly held irrational beliefs?
It is a tragedy when someone is able to kill the innocent and fulfill their delusions. And it is also a tragedy that one can be mentally ill in this country, over 18 years old, and still have the "right" to live crazy. Perhaps the laws should change-- not the laws of free speech, not the gun laws, not the free press-- but the laws that allow an adult who is psychotic to remain that way, tying the hands of all who might change his trajectory.
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