- Our friend big bad wolf pointed out this article in the New York Times to me about his alma mater, Brockton High School in Massachusetts, and some significant academic improvement that has been made there. Brockton, where bbw grew up, is a decaying industrial town just south of Boston, most famous for having produced champion boxers Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler. It has one of the largest high schools on the East Coast, with over 4,100 students. (I believe when I was in high school that enrollment might have exceeded 5,000.) I was gratified to see that the principal of the school felt no need to get rid of its union or union contract:
Teachers unions have resisted turnaround efforts at many schools. But at Brockton, the union never became a serious adversary, in part because most committee members were unionized teachers, and the committee scrupulously honored the union contract.
[Incidentally, the principal also managed to fire a teacher who would not get on board with her changes -- after a due process hearing. Amazing. Why didn't anyone else think of that?]
- I laughed to see that a survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life showed that atheists demonstrated the highest level of religious knowledge among Americans. I disagree a bit with Jamelle's theory of why this is so -- he views it as the outcome of an embattled minority trying to understand the dominant culture. I would suggest that, at least among atheists, that the knowledge stems from two distinct strands -- 1) a lot of atheists are people who once had religious impulses; and 2) a lot of atheists really enjoy being able to jam the Bible down the throats of religious fundamentalists. (I resemble both categories here.) Amusingly enough, when I picked up my son tonight he asked me if I could suggest a Bible story for use in his western religion class. I went with 1 Samuel 15, the story of Saul being condemned by God for being insufficiently ruthless in carrying out genocide on the Amalekites:
Samuel also said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.
Saul fell short by not killing the king of the Amalekites and sparing some of the animals. Thank God Judaism and Christianity are religions of peace.
- I enjoyed this interview linked to by Sully with brilliant and curmudgeonly French writer Michel Houellebecq. He is indeed quite the provocateur.
- I find the notion of large tub of goo Rush Limbaugh holding himself up as an exemplar of masculinity to be comic in the extreme. What an utter fucking pig.