I Fear Corners May Have Been Cut

At Ballou High School, Washington, DC, it would appear that miracles happen:

Teachers... say they often had students on their rosters they barely knew because the students almost never attended class.

And yet, this year, every student of suitable age, including those who were absent more often than in class, has somehow graduated and been accepted by a college or university. At a school were only 3% of students were deemed proficient in reading, where the average SAT score is 782 out of 1600, and where, according to one teacher, those who do attend, in the loosest possible sense, “roam the halls with impunity.”

Of course I use the word graduated in the same entirely bogus way favoured by the school’s administrators.

Via Rafi. 

Comments

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So *that's* where Angry Studies get their students.

[R. Sherman]

It's a Cargo Cult. The magic high school diploma confers all manner of benefit regardless of actual skills, because, as we all know merely bestowing the accouterments of middle class success upon those who've not worked to achieve them always works.

[John D]

So how did all these kids miss so many days of school, apply to college and still graduate? When pressed on this question, Chancellor Wilson and Deputy Spence abruptly ended the interview.

Western civilisation was good while it lasted.

[WTP]

So *that's* where Angry Studies get their students.

I've been trying to make this point for years now. The Clown Quarter of academia has a similar no-show student problem as this high school. I have engaged with CQ academics who are actually stupid enough to openly complain that their students don't come to class. Yet these same "professors" will pass these students along because they don't want to damage their "reputations" as a fun/easy class. It would depress demand for their classes. The "students' aren't spending their own money anyway, it's all loans which they don't ever expect to pay. The whole system functions as a way to funnel taxpayer money (because who else would pay for this?) to left-wing and otherwise real-world incapable professors. It plays similar to a money laundering scheme. And not one single prominent politician that I know of is willing to talk about it.

[Triumphant Ape]

Don't worry, no matter how ignorant they are they can always go into politics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cesSRfXqS1Q

[Tim Newman]

Recently I wrote a post about how the US armed forces don't serve the purpose you think they do.

One would be forgiven for thinking, as traditionally was the case, that the purpose of the US military was to defend America’s interests against foreign enemies. ... I suppose the US military still performs that role in some capacity, but a large portion of it now appears to have been turned over to something different. In part, the purpose of the military is to serve as a vehicle (one of many) for progressives to enact their deranged fantasies as part of an overall aim of undermining society and the institutions on which it depends as far as possible.

I suspect the same is true for much of the US school system. We're looking at it as if it is actually a school system and exists to educate children, but in reality it is not a school system and its purpose is quite different.

[Jen]

.

[PiperPaul]

Hey, maybe mention of National Security or the Witness Relocation Program can be invoked to shut up these pesky questions. I know, I know - I shouldn't be giving them any ideas...

[David]

We’re looking at it as if it is actually a school system and exists to educate children,

Well, a school that has no discernible standards, academic or behavioural, and which makes no distinction between those who study and those who don’t even turn up, is in no meaningful sense a school. And as an office-hours containment facility for delinquent morons, it even fails at that.

[Monty James]

And what is the hard-won reward for all this study and effort, by all of these eager, diligent scholars?

Graduation from dear old Alma Mater.

[Philip Daniel]

So...
Whiteness is a social construct, but white DNA is an abomination and white people are a cultural void with the demonic power of turning everyone else into cultural voids as well. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/campus-newspaper-editorial-your-white-dna-is-an-abomination/article/2641940

[R. Sherman]

@Philip Daniel

Well, that link demonstrates refreshing honesty, at least. Query then, how does his last sentence dovetail with a purely materialist, Darwinian, "survival of the fittest" view of the world? Where is a place for human morality in all this competition for supremacy? In a world of oppressors and oppressed and world where Natural Selection reigns supreme, there is no middle ground.

The conclusion that some people haven't thought through the consequences of their rhetoric seems inescapable.

[Governor Squid]

For months after June’s commencement, the school received national media attention, including from NPR, celebrating its achievement....

...D.C. Council member David Grosso, who chairs the city council’s education committee, said he was unaware that this many chronically absent students graduated from Ballou.

So lemme get this straight -- we have the highest-profile school in the District receiving months of national media attention, and the chairman of the Education Committee was completely unaware that the whole thing was a sham? One thinks this might be relevant to the problems at hand.

If any administrator gets fired over this, it won't be because they failed to manage their school, or because they defrauded the taxpayers, or because they cheated their students out of an education -- it'll be because the blowback embarrassed Councilman David Grosso. Still, I'm not holding my breath that any sweeping reforms are in the offing.

[David]

Graduation from dear old Alma Mater.

Blimey. It’s a lively gathering. Did I hear someone shouting “Mace they ass”…?

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

“It is expected that our students will be here every day,” Spence said. “But we also know that students learn material in lots of different ways. So we’ve started to recognize that students can have mastered material even if they’re not sitting in a physical space.”

Absolutely, one can learn the fundamentals of physics and geometry shooting pool, and English while hanging out and listening to rap.

“I felt at a point around getting toward winter, I ain’t have be there no more,” she said. “I felt like I graduated at that point.”

Or maybe not.

Recently I wrote a post about how the US armed forces don't serve the purpose you think they do.

No, they still have the same purpose, what you are seeing is tinkering at the edges by outsiders that went into overdrive in the last four years of Obamunism, and you have to remember that the US military is controlled by civilians (only one of the service secretaries under Obama had ever been in uniform) who force policies like the transgendered nonsense.

Regarding entrance under mental health waivers (or any other waiver, for that matter), the enlistees still have to perform, and it is easy to separate a recruit for something like failure to adapt. Regarding the transgendered, please note that Trump reversed this policy, but it is blocked at present by leftist judge. Regarding your third point, the VA is not part of the US Military, and the IAVA are slightly to the right of Lenin.

In a real warfighting unit, however, the mandatory SJW training is a distraction from real training, but most I am intimately familiar with use it an an excuse to have a formation so as to check the block, and after have a cookout and give everyone the afternoon off.

[Mags]

Graduation from dear old Alma Mater.

⊙_ʘ

[David]

⊙_ʘ

A while ago, I passed a crowd of new graduates dressed in mortars and gowns, accompanied by proud and cooing parents, all gathered outside the local branch of John Lewis. So far as I can recall, no-one got their clothes ripped off during a mass brawl, while police officers tried to intervene and onlookers shouted “Mace they ass!”

All rather dull, really.

[Pogonip]

Maybe we can invite them to the mass brawl held in the feminist bar every day before Unhappy Hour?

[Monty James]

My theory is that "Mace they ass!" was a helpful suggestion directed at the policeman seen wading in to separate the salutatorian and one of the cum laudes.

I thought the last frame was a nice touch, all the hair weaves littering the pavement like broken lances and smashed caissons after something Napoleonic. Poignant reminders, and all that.

[David]

all the hair weaves littering the pavement

T’was a moving sight.

[Sporkatus]

I am currently a half hour into Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica. I daresay the education that has imparted is superior to any obtained at Ballou High... and Captain Beefheart doesn't even make any sense.

[WTP]

and Captain Beefheart doesn't even make any sense.

I had a college roommate who, at random moments, sometimes inappropriate random moments, especially when he felt he wasn't getting enough attention, would in a screechy, annoying voice spew out, "Ice cream for crow!". Hated that guy.

[Adam]

Never let it be said that a bad example is not worth emulating.

Down in my area of the South, a local school board was found to be encouraging "minimum grades". This meant that no student would receive a grade below 65, where 59 is failing. This was said to be motivational, empowering "marginal" students to step up and earn a higher grade.

At first the story was treated as the scandal it is, but soon the sages and soothsayers in the media blessed the "experiment" as an inspiring innovation in education.

Remember: Those who can,do. Those who cannot, teach. Those who cannot teach, teach teachers. Those who cannot teach teachers, get elected to School Boards.

[Sporkatus]

Hated that guy.

I guess if he didn't get enough attention, he wasn't vast and bulbous.

[Col. Milquetoast]

“I felt at a point around getting toward winter, I ain’t have be there no more"

I bet the reporter had to play a recording of that quote for the editor to run it as is. Then there was the one graduate who missed 150 days of school out of probably 180.

"Last year, 9 percent of students at Ballou passed the English part of the D.C. standardized test known as PARCC. No one passed the math section"

I know a couple black guys who grew up in segregationist Mississippi in the 1960s and got a better education.

[Col. Milquetoast]

In the 90s when Chicago had its "social promotion" policy graduating kids who couldn't read (Chicago at least required kids to show up), the demand that kids actually get an education before graduating was met by the far left with cries of disparate impact, "racist!" and "you WANT black kids to fail!"

[Burnsie]

Then there was the one graduate who missed 150 days of school out of probably 180.

...AND was accepted into college. That's the real punchline.

“I felt at a point around getting toward winter, I ain’t have be there no more."

To be fair, this young woman says she was on her own and working at a fast-food joint to pay her rent. If this is true, give her credit for her work ethic if not her grammar.

[H]

*MACE THEY ASS!*

[David]

*MACE THEY ASS!*

Reminds me of the now-legendary “Who bitch is this?”

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Meanwhile, back in the Clown Quarter, we meet another crab in the bucket, one fetching Miss Chaudhury, who informs us that the Lindsay Shepherd affair was never aboot free speech, eh.

The debacle that Shepherd started, the source states, has been grossly mischaracterized by the media...It was also revealed that the problem was not about the fact that the Peterson video was shown, but how Shepherd essentially created a forum whereby her students could debate whether or not it should be acceptable to use alternative pronouns when addressing trans and nonbinary people.

Oh noes, a debate in a classroom.

Once she received a gentle slap on the wrist, simply being asked to have her lesson plans reviewed beforehand, Shepherd literally cried wolf and claimed her academic freedom was being suppressed...

Yes, slap on the wrist, I am guessing Miss Chaudhury would have preferred instant dismissal or the stocks.

What remains to be seen is how Shepherd, who maintains this is a free speech issue and not one related to transphobia or racism, will handle her relationships going forward with her own academic peers and colleagues, as she further situates herself alongside noted white supremacists and the garden variety, post-gamergate Jordan Peterson disciple. As the white supremacy-sympathizing selective nature of Shepherd’s free speech advocacy becomes more apparent...

The whole thing is a rambling mess, read at your own risk. Who is the bequiling Miss Chaudhury, you might ask ?

I used to be an entry-level corporate pawn then I realized I don't deal well with structure and hierarchy so now I'm a graduate student, hopefully for life...Currently, I am a PhD student in science and technology studies at York University...I am especially interested in perspectives on STS from Southeast Asia and Latin America and the role of science and technology in the establishment of empires, socioeconomic development, technoscientific imaginaries and political self-determination.

Right, imaginaries. In short, however, she couldn't hack it in the real world, so now wants to be a professional BS artist, and, it appears, off to a great start.

[David]

now I’m a graduate student, hopefully for life...

I’m not sure that Ms Chaudhury fully grasps the significance of her own words.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

I’m not sure that Ms Chaudhury fully grasps the significance of her own words.

I wouldn't bet the riverboat on that, she actually has a degree in chemical engineering but rather than pursue an advanced degree in that field, chose instead "science and technology studies" which don't involve messy things like math, but instead, "...perspectives on STS from Southeast Asia and Latin America and the role of science and technology in the establishment of empires...", and similar malarkey one only finds among perpetual denizens of The Clown Quarter.

[PiperPaul]

How did Chaudhury attain a degree in chemical engineering without substantial messy things like math?

.

[Governor Squid]

Farnsworth, your first excerpt left out this fine little gem in the paragraph leading into it:

...the backlash that Shepherd has generated, including the so-called free speech rally that was organized with support from the white nationalists this Friday, caused professors to cancel several classes in fear of personal safety.

Always never forget to remember: threats of bodily harm from the Left are a form of personal expression to be embraced and applauded, while any word spoken by the Right is the worst form of personal threat. Terrorism, really.

If the Friday demonstrators promised to wear pussy hats, Ms Chaudhury would be out there marching beside them, screaming "WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED!" at the top of her lungs.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

How did Chaudhury attain a degree in chemical engineering without substantial messy things like math?

She obviously has the ability, but couldn't deal with "structure and hierarchy" so took the easy way and opted for a feels based program. The question is whether she is just another entitled millennial, or just plain lazy, not that the two are mutually exclusive.

Farnsworth, your first excerpt left out this fine little gem...

Yeah, but there is so much there I would have ended up quoting damn near the whole shambolic salamagundi.

[Governor Squid]

Good gracious, it gets worse as one goes along:

In an astronomy class, would she begin a “debate” about the geocentric model of the universe using testimony from church officials for Galileo’s trials?

If you wanted a single marker showing just how much of a bad-faith argument Ms Chaudhury is making, this would be it. Ms Shepherd wasn't teaching the equivalent of an Astronomy class, she was teaching the equivalent of a History of Astronomy class where a significant part of the syllabus was discussing historical debates in science. I mean, the alternative is to discuss the heresy trial of Galileo by saying "He disagreed with the Pope" and leaving it at that.

Of course, if Ms Chaudhury made the honest analogy, she'd then have to admit that her argument is completely groundless.

It goes on for 2,400 words, each paragraph more tendentious than the last. Surely, this Chaudhury lass is destined for marvelous things.

[R. Sherman]

Well, I'm still hung up on this phrase from Ms. Chaudhury: "Shepherd literally cried wolf..."

Screw me jumpin' sideways. Her lifetime graduate school appointment needs to be revoked for the travesty of misusing "literally" alone.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Heh. Fake feminist website shuts down because they can't out satire the real feminist websites.

[bgates]

I don't deal well with structure and hierarchy so now I'm a graduate student

[WTP]

misusing "literally" alone.

Sigh. I must point out yet again how far down the rabbit hole we are...The word "literally" does not literally mean "literally". We've been through this before. Please keep up...

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/literally

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally

And lest you object, it has always been such. Because the exception proves the rule. Or some such nonsense....

… make the whole scene literally glow with the fires of his imagination. —Alfred Kazin, Harper's, December 1968 Even Muff did not miss our periods of companionship, because about that time she grew up and started having literally millions of kittens. —Jean Stafford, Bad Characters, 1954

Lily, the caretaker's daughter, was literally run off her feet. Hardly had she brought one gentleman into the little pantry … than the wheezy hall-door bell clanged again and she had to scamper along the bare hallway to let in another guest. —James Joyce, Dubliners, 1914

… yet the wretch, absorbed in his victuals, and naturally of an unutterable dullness, did not make a single remark during dinner, whereas I literally blazed with wit. —William Makepeace Thackeray, Punch, 30 Oct. 1847

[Governor Squid]

She obviously has the ability, but couldn't deal with "structure and hierarchy" so took the easy way and opted for a feels based program.

I've seen this before. A talented youth is told that if she studies hard and applies herself, she can get a valuable degree that will put her solidly on the path to success. Fast-forward a few years, and the recently-degreed young person finds herself on the first steps of her chosen career path, only to discover that the hard work doesn't end after graduation -- it's expected by the new employer. This wasn't part of the bargain!

It's as though they believed that having gotten a piece of paper saying they knew how to do maths, they wouldn't have to do them any more. You can imagine the disillusionment that follows.

[PiperPaul]

The word "literally" does not literally mean "literally"

That's ironic.

[R. Sherman]

My point was that the addition of "literally" adds nothing to the sentence. "Cry 'wolf'" is already a metaphor with an established meaning. Why the addition of "literally?" To "cry 'wolf'" "literally" makes no sense in the context of what the writer was trying to say.

[PiperPaul]

Thanks to that damn song and millions of millennials, "ironic" doesn't mean colloquially what it used to, either!

[WTP]

My point was that the addition of "literally" adds nothing to the sentence.

Oh, I literally agree. But I didn't literally make the world.

That's ironic.

Which leads me to the annoying use of that word where many people (maybe just Americans) use it to mean coincidental or unexpectedly opportune/imopportune.

First Person: “I was running late for work today when I had a really important meeting, and got stopped by a damn train!”
Second Person: “Ah, the irony.” (satisfied internal smile at using cool word)

But alas, isn't it ironic? Like the black fly in the Chardonnay.

And don't get me started on "cleave", "sanction", "oversight", "trim"...well, you get the idea.

[Pogonip]

Well, I still am not sure whether Everyday Feminism is satire or not.

[champ]

In US public schools, teachers are not in it for the students, the teachers are in it for the teachers...

[Hal]

I don't deal well with structure and hierarchy so now I'm a graduate student

There seems to be a bit of confusion regarding this statement.

It is actually a very simple concept: I'm sick and tired of having everyone always telling me what to do all the time, therefore I'm going to run off and join the Marines.