Changing Our Meeting Date to Nov 18 (vs. changing our venue)

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THE PROVERBIAL TEAT ON THE WHALE

Our author, Dana Goldstein, made an amazing admission buried on p. 208 of The Teacher Wars that teacher quality accounts for only approximately 7% of the achievement and employment gaps in America, with the remaining 93% driven by out-of-school factors according to “the most celebrated value-added study ever conducted.”

Published in the American Economic Review in 2014, the study by Professors Chetty, Friedman and Rockoff examined 20 years of data for more than one million children and their teachers from third grade to adulthood.

This did NOT surprise the participants at our Nov 18 meeting.

Tucker Gurney (retired U/Utah Biology Prof) recounted the year she spent working for the Red Cross on Chicago’s notorious South Side after graduating from the U/Chicago in 1962 before starting her PhD.

The conditions she described were similar to those that John Karls often reminds us were typical of the 178 “I Have A Dream”® Progams in 51 American inner-cities in the 1990’s that provided individual tutors and mentors for an entire inner-city school class (or housing-project class cohort) as it progressed from third grade through high school graduation with a guarantee of college tuition:

(1) 99% of “Dreamers” living in single-adult households;
(2) 95% of total Dreamers living in single-adult households headed by a druggie; and
(3) 75%-80% of total Dreamers living in a single-adult household headed by a druggie who hands all receipts over to the pusher so the children have to steal just in order to eat.

It was not surprising that inner-city children knew by the age of 5 that they were NOT eligible for their dreams. And that their only realistic career objectives were pusher or pimp, or girl friend of a pusher or pimp graduating to whore.

What was surprising is that the IHAD Programs were able to achieve 90% of their Dreamers graduating from high school and going to college -- DESPITE THE FACT that the classes just ahead and just behind the Dreamer class typically had SINGLE-DIGIT high-school graduation rates.

Although The Teacher Wars provided a wealth of information about the Teat On The Whale (teacher effectiveness), it reminded us of how the IHAD Program had showed America The Promised Land by treating inner-city education as a SOCIOLOGY problem rather than an EDUCATION problem.

And how Bill and Melinda Gates and their foundation had caused America to turn away from The Promised Land and, for a decade, to worship the False Idol of breaking up inner-city schools into smaller units.

And after admitting the failure of that approach, causing America to Wander In The Wilderness for another decade worshipping the False Idol of School Choice which was evaluated in a national study in 2009 conducted by Stanford University and FINANCED BY THE PRO-CHARTER WALTON FAMILY FOUNDATION AND THE MICHAEL AND SUSAN DELL FOUNDATION of 2,403 charter schools (about half of all charter schools and 70% of all charter-school students) -- which found that 37% of the charter schools had learning gains that were SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW those of local public schools, 46% had gains that were no different, and ONLY 17 PER CENT had growth that was significantly better (this despite “cherry picking” the best applicants and expelling poor-performing students!!!).

It is also a shame that during 2008-2011, the top 21 National and California politicians and 43 news-media superstars refused to permit $84 billion of private funding to be used to provide IHAD or IHAD-style programs for 10 million inner-city children (details are available in the third & fourth sections of this Bulletin Board).

But after our unsuccessful attempt to enlist the help of Pope Francis (please see our 6/17/2015 e-mail campaign described in the first section of this Bulletin Board), we did NOT have any other ideas at our Nov 18 meeting for what could be done.
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johnkarls
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Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:43 pm

Changing Our Meeting Date to Nov 18 (vs. changing our venue)

Post by johnkarls »

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Editorial Note:

Final, final – we changed our meeting date from Wed Nov 11 to Wed Nov 18, rather than change our venue.

So that the 150 recipients of our weekly e-mail can understand how this all happened (if they are interested), the following e-mails regarding the final-final decision are posted herewith in addition to the posting elsewhere in this section of the weekly e-mail of Sat 11/7/2015 which, in addition to containing the Suggested Discussion Outline, announced that we would try to change our venue in order to keep faith with anyone who had read our focus book with the intention of attending the discussion on Nov 11 but would be unavailable on Nov 18.


---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Please Mark Your Calendars For Nov 18
From: readingliberally-saltlake@johnkarls.com
Date: Mon, November 9, 2015 4:12 am - MST
To: ReadingLiberallyEmailList@johnkarls.com
Bcc: The 7 RSVP’s and 3 Cc’s Listed Below
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: RSVP’s for Nov 18

Denise Chancellor
Thomas Chancellor
Ted Gurney
Tucker Gurney
George Kunath
Janice Shawl
Yours Truly

Cc:

Jay Hansen
Bill Lee
June Taylor

Dear Friends,

Our Nov meeting will take place on Nov 18 instead of Nov 11.

My sincerest apologies to June Taylor who will not be able to join us. However, anticipating that June might have a conflict since she had not replied by Sunday morning re her availability for Nov 18, I did contact both venues that had hosted our meetings during the first year of our 10-year existence and neither was able to offer suitable accommodations for Nov 11. And I was unable to think of any other possibilities.

Being unable to honor the Nov 11 date does bother me considerably because we changed the timing of ascertaining whether we had a quorum in the wake of the cancellation of our 6/12/2013 meeting (our first quorum failure after 7.5 years of existence) from requesting RSVP’s in the last weekly e-mail in the monthly cycle to the first in the cycle. Because we decided it was unfair to cancel at the end of a monthly cycle after as many as 5 participants might have invested their time to read the focus book.

So although I am horribly embarrassed vis-à-vis you, June, I am marginally comforted by the facts: (1) you didn’t RSVP until this past Wed, so hopefully you didn’t invest in reading the book much of the 2.5 days before you learned Sat morning of my faux pas, (2) you wouldn’t have been able to attend Nov 18 in the absence of my faux pas, (3) the déjà-vu-all-over-again-and-again-and-again comment in your e-mail of last evening implies that you didn’t much like the book, and (4) your implied dislike may have been the reason why you didn’t offer to host us on Nov 11 though obviously hosting two different book groups on successive Wednesdays would be a mammoth undertaking.

For lovers of minutiae: (1) George Kunath would have had to join us a bit late on Nov 11 but can join us on time Nov 18, but (2) Janice Shawl cautioned that she will be flying home from a trade show landing at 4:42 EST, which is only 4.25 hours before our starting time and therefore may pose a problem if there is a flight delay.

Silver linings???

Jay Hansen e-mailed this past Sat morning that he had not had time to read the book. So the extra week may make a difference.

And Bill Lee, who has been in Seattle for an extended period of time because his regular foraging trip for antique art items to re-sell in Utah began early to attend the wedding of a niece, may be able to return to Utah by Nov 18 (he does NOT like Skype!!!).

So there we have it.

Except please note our long-standing SLC Library reservation on Nov 18 is for Conference Room 3 (which may be on the third floor) rather than our regular Conference Room C.

Looking forward to a stimulating discussion among 7-9 insightful friends on Nov 18,

Your friend,

John K.


---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Re: You Are The Last Person To Sign Off On Nov 18
From: June Taylor
Date: Sun, November 8, 2015 8:13 pm - MST
To: readingliberally-saltlake@johnkarls.com
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john –

Sorry, I am not available on Nov. 18...I am hosting my Other Bookclub at my home on that date!

I will miss being there...I am finding the history of the "teacher wars" fascinating. As Yogi Berra said, it's deja vu all over again...and again...and again.

June


---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: You Are The Last Person To Sign Off On Nov 18
From: readingliberally-saltlake@johnkarls.com
Date: Sun, November 8, 2015 4:43 am - MST
To: June Taylor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear June,

Just a Heads Up that everyone else is OK with Nov 18 (and that nobody new has RSVP-d for the first time in the meantime).

I hope you are available Nov 18.

Your friend,

John K.


---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Reconnaissance Re Nov 18 - Don't Change Your Calendar Yet
From: readingliberally-saltlake@johnkarls.com
Date: Sat, November 7, 2015 10:32 am - MST
To: ReadingLiberallyEmailList
Bcc: The 8 RSVP’s for Nov 11 (please see below)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: RSVP’s for Nov. 11

Denise Chancellor
Thomas Chancellor
Ted Gurney
Tucker Gurney
George Kunath
June Taylor
Janice Shawl
Yours Truly

Dear Friends,

We are the 8 RSVP’s for Wed Evening Nov 11.

The following exchange of e-mails with Thomas Chancellor explains the sad story of what an idiot I am!!! Mea culpa!!!

I have just finished calling the Salt Lake City Library and they are indeed closed on Veterans Day, Nov 11.

However, I had sent out our regular e-mail earlier this morning saying that we would stick with Nov 11 and change the venue – for the unstated reason that it would be unfair to anyone who has read the book with the intent of attending Nov 11 if s/he is unable to attend Nov 18 which is the date of our library reservation.

So the reason for this e-mail is simply to ask whether any of you would have an objection to meeting on Wed Nov 18 rather than Nov 11.

If anyone does (or I do not hear from everyone by 11:59 pm tomorrow (Sunday)), I will proceed to finalize a new venue for Wed Nov 11.

I am very sorry for all the confusion and inconvenience!!!

Your friend,

John K.


---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Re: Nov 11 meeting
From: readingliberally-saltlake@johnkarls.com
Date: Sat, November 7, 2015 2:11 am - MST
To: Thomas Chancellor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Thomas,

OMG, our library reservation is for Wed Nov 18 because the 11th is Veterans Day!!!

And I had just finished checking our reservation because we are in Conference Room 3, rather than our normal Conference Room C -- and I didn't even notice the date for the reservation!!!

It's 2:00 am and I'm starting to work on the Fourth & Final Notice. So I'll have to muddle through somehow.

Obviously, we're better off sticking with Nov 11th because we have 8 RSVP's for that date.

So I guess I'll make the plea for RSVP's extra strong so that we can reach everyone about the location.

If worse comes to worse, we can always meet at a coffee shop a few blocks away that specializes in accommodating groups like ours and at which we did meet for the first year or so of our existence.

Thank you very much for the Heads Up!!!

Your friend,

John K.


---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Nov 11 meeting
From: Thomas Chancellor
Date: Fri, November 6, 2015 7:46 pm - MST
To: readingliberally-saltlake@johnkarls.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


John,

Nov 11 is Veterans Day. Are you confident that the main library will be open?

Thomas

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