Perfesser Plum, at your service.
[That's a statue of Odysseus---not Perfesser Plum.]
Don't we sometimes wonder, "Hey! Just how did I get here?"
Odysseus wondered [also wandered], far from home, but never gave up on making it back.
Even when he'd turned old, Odysseus was ready for more.
Death closes all; but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done, ...
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;
The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends.
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
the sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be that we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are---
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
[From Tennyson's Ulysses, 1842]
Quite a guy! I hope I have one-tenth his guts.
Anyway...
The research, teaching, and writing I've done since 1968 was paid for by fellow citizens of this nation---through taxes and college tuition. This website is my effort to thank them and to repay them with something of value.
I've been blessed to learn from persons smarter and more virtuous than I. The material in this website will I hope increase your knowledge and skills, and assist you---the Esteemed Reader---to replace the arrogance, corruption, confusion, incompetence, and staggering nonsense in public education with technical proficiency, wisdom, honesty, and moral responsibility.
You want a few hints? Okay.
Everybody in Ed Land [state departments of public instruction, ed schools, district central offices, national education gurus] blabs about how "We need to close the achievement gap." Gee, yah think?! 60% of minority and poor kids can't read. [They'll make informed political and life decisions.] Why can't they read? After all, you learn the sounds that go with letters, and then you sound out words so often that it's automatic. Big deal. The reason is that their teachers don't know how to teach reading. In fact, teachers leave ed schools not knowing how to teach much of anything. Ask them to write a procedure for teaching the color blue. You'll get 50 procedures---most of them simply foolish. Why don't recent ed school graduates know how to teach? Because most of their ed perfessers don't know how to teach, either. Ask an ed perfesser what a concept is (the set of features signified by the words "democracy," "red," "straight"). They'll give you a synonym--"It's an idea." Oh, gooood.
Let me ask you something. If the ordinary teacher can't come up with the half dozen procedures needed to teach the half dozen skills involved in reading, or even the simple procedure for teaching blue, then what CAN she teach? How many years before she finally has a clue? How many kids ruined while she's (maybe) picking up some good methods?
And what makes you think ed schools are even about turning out proficient teachers? Almost NONE of them even has a set of objectives that all graduates must meet before they are certified. Even McDonald's has objectives that must be met by employees.
And if it weren't for parents and consumer groups becoming angry about how poorly our kids do in public school, and suing, districts wouldn't care, either.
For years, I thought I was working in cloud cuckoo-land. I couldn't believe the nonsense that came down from "the state," or the idiotic workshops and conferences and "initiatives" on social justice (put on by organizations whose only mission is their own power and privilege), or the "reforms" (even more insane ways of "teaching" math, or assessing achievement with student "portfolios"---as if a scrap book tells whether a student can solve equations).
So, I ended up with this simple guide, from one of the last good Roman Emperors, Marcus Aurelius. "The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
In the end, Dear Reader, you and I must be as brave as the Spartan hoplite (below) who stood with 300 of his comrades against overwhelming odds---refusing to kneel, to complain, or to lay down his weapons---in defense of his civilization. To the Persians, "You want our weapons? Molon Labe'. Come and take them!"
