Math Story

 There's a great commentary over at 'Hot Air' with the title of "Working paper on school tracking finds it helps high-achievers without harming anyone."  Written by John Sexton, and I'd highly recommend a read.

So the focus?  Well....there's idea in California....that in math classes, you ought to unbundle kids who are on some track for the high-end classes and 'force' them to rebundle into groups of lesser interested kids on math education.

Yeah.....taking the kids who already grasp a subject and hope that mixing them....delaying by a year or two....will somehow help the lesser kids advance.  Proof that this works?  Basically, it's marginal or limited.

The general problem here....if you took a hundred kids, I think around ten of them would have some great fascination with math and calculating solutions.  After that group....probably twenty-five kids would grasp the stuff but have a lesser interest.  At the bottom of this group.....there's probably forty kids who have zero interest in some square root drama, or wondering why only 75 apples will fit into the box at your local grocery.  

Lets also be honest and admit if you'd just let kids 'test-out'....probably ten-percent of kids would be finished with high school by the end of the tenth grade, and would be capable of handling community college or university work.

Parents agreeing to the California logic?  No, that's another part of the story.  They don't want 'Junior' lingering in a group with marginal interest in the class.

In simple terms, the state system is resolving the future by making it appear that home-schooling or private schools....are the better way to go.  

A Unity Summit?

 It came out yesterday that at some point in September....President Biden is to hold a unity summit at the White House.

A unity summit?  Yes.

Date?  15 September (at least it's on the official calendar).

The general topic?  They want to discuss 'corrosive effects' of violence with the American public safety and democracy.

Who is invited?  Well....what they say is that folks from various civil rights groups, religious folks, some business executives, some law enforcement folks, anti-gun folks, ex-members of violent hate groups (meaning they changed), some victims (it's left to you to figure out how they are victims), and then some cultural figures (probably Hollywood stars, pop-singers (certainly not Brittney Spears), and Instagram influencers).

Yeah, it does sound like some circus group, and it can't possibly be more than 100 to 150 folks total.  

How this will work?  I'm assuming that President Biden gives some 8-minute talk at the beginning.....the groups break up into four or five focus topics, and Joe visits each one for ten minutes.....then disappears.

All of this woven into the evening news for NPR, CNN, MSNBC.....with tons of prepared material?  Well....yeah, that's probably been a project underway for several months.

So you ask yourself....how does public confidence stand now with safety and the  political process?  

I'll make these three comments:

1.  In recent memory (the nation since 1970), I've never seen such a low confidence level in terms of public safety.  Trying to convince me to attend the Mardi Gras, or hang out in central Atlanta, or ride the NY City subway system?  No.....I just won't do it.  I think more than 70-percent of the nation would agree....they think about their safety more than once a week now.

2.  At the current pace of thing.....democracy probably is in a spiral, and has been for more than two decades.  If you asked most people, I think the majority believe they have the ability to influence their county and state political apparatus....more....than the federal or national apparatus.  

3.  Finally, is there any real value of President Biden having a summit?  This is a funny question.  Maybe he thinks he has the charm or charisma of Barak Obama, but that would require something that we've never seen out of Joe Biden.  So I think of the White House crew working this as a PR thing....more than something of value.

Will Elon Musk be there? I doubt it.  Will Joe Rogan be there?  I doubt it.  Will Peter Thiel be there?  I doubt it.

Shouldn't we be talking about out-of-control spending, the border problem, and reckless college loan crap?  Well....yeah, but the whole mid-term election now....is really based on this unity conference deal, and some presentation that only through a 'vote-for-democrats' angle....can we restore democracy, and protect your butt on the way to work each day.  

Frankly, I don't see much value in this conference....but at least everyone gets free coffee and donuts for the episode, and this probably ends after three hours of hopeless chatter.  

Binge Viewing

 I binge-watched Game of Thrones, and finished the last episode a day or two ago.

I know...I'm probably seven years behind most of you.

So to my points and criticisms:

1.  On writing and script, it's one of the five best series ever written.  There's probably 200 great exchanges between characters that are noteworthy to remember. 

2.  On acting, you can suggest twenty-odd people as giving the performance of their lives.

3.  The final two episodes are crap, and I'm just shaking my head over the final outcome.  Between the dragon flying off, Jon Snow sent into exile, Arya sailing off, and the Hound dying in the end....it just failed to resolve the story  

4.  Rory McCann delivering his performance as the 'Hound'?  Oscar-material, I thought.

5.  I think the whole series would be great for use in college classes to discuss ethics, leadership roles, and evolution of governments.