The District of Columbia’s government-run schools are failing!
A study by the National Assessment of Educational Progress just confirmed what any sentient being already knows: D.C. students consistently receive a sub-standard education.
It’ll take more than photo ops to clean up this mess, Mayor Williams. From the Washington Times:
In a study of the math and reading skills of fourth- and eighth-grade students in 10 urban public-school districts, D.C. students finished dead last in three of the four categories (fourth-grade reading and math and eighth-grade math).
Eighty four percent of the students in the D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) are black. Democrats on the D.C. Council and on Capitol Hill oppose President Bush’s experimental voucher plan for D.C. The man on the left wearing the bow tie favors school choice but so far hasn’t gone to battle for our most vulnerable citzens. An entire political party — the party of the “poor and oppressed” — is willing to squander the future of each of these students for political gain. They just don’t care! Michael Casserly, director of the Council of the Great City Schools (dig the irony!) wrote a hopeful-sounding article about the DCPS. I keep asking, “What can I do?” Maybe I can help the students one column at a time or become more active in the battle for school choice.
by La Shawn on 12.29.03
in Faith
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!
The Kwanzaa article generated lots of e-mail. It appeared this Sunday in the Washington Times and in a condensed version (the last letter to the editor on the page) in the Denver Post. I’m a member of Project 21, a conservative leadership organization, and they submitted the piece to several publications, including the Baltimore Times.
The positive responses have been overwhelmingly so, mainly from Christians thanking me for exposing the false doctrine. Other responses have ranged from thoughtful disagreement and discussion to nasty comments. The nasty ones are predictable. I’m called a coon, Sambo, Bush Administration bootlicker, etc. Here’s a link to my first published op-ed back in August 2002, in the Philadelphia Inquirer, where I address the name-calling. Not one of the nasty commenters challenged my arguments.
Because e-mail is impersonal and anonymous, people tend to forget their manners. But I’ve found that when you respond calmly and intelligently, those who really want a reasoned discussion write back with a softer tone. They’re almost apologetic but not quite. That’s OK.
by La Shawn on 12.24.03
in Faith
A number of people responded to my Kwanzaa column, asserting that Christmas itself is pagan in origin.
While some arguments have been reasoned, others have been flat out attacks (some personal). God entering the world through the person of Christ is the most significant event in history, but some feel it necessary to attack the very foundation of the celebration of that birth.
Christmas does not have pagan origins; however, there are other winter celebrations that are pagan. The cynical have seized every opportunity to claim that Christmas began as one of these pagan rituals and to deny the deity of Christ. Their aim is to cast doubt (or attempt to) on the miracle of the ages, which began 2000 years ago when Christ walked the earth.
Many talented Christian writers can say it much better than I, so I’ve provided a few links about the origins of Christmas from a Christian point of view, naturally.
[click to continue…]
