| Adult-to-child ration matters more
Jessica Blanchard's Monday article "Does class size make a difference?" focuses exclusively on class size rather than adult-to-child ratio. I've got three examples as a parent where this ratio matters more than the class size. My kids, now 10 and 15, had the good fortune to go to great schools in Israel, Sweden and Seattle's John Stanford International School. My daughter's Israeli K-1 class was large, 36 students, but had a lead teacher and full-time adult assistant who worked with small groups on reading, art projects and prepared tea for the class. My son's 3-4 class in Sweden had close to 50 students but, again, a lead teacher directed a full-time assistant and language, art and math specialists who were in class daily. Back here at JSIS, parents chip in to hire a full-time assistant for the immersive language teachers, including one for the 32 students in my son's fourth-grade Japanese class.
Bruce Canfield: Bush will be judged differently in time
The major point of his recent editorial rant was that the invasion of Iraq was both unnecessary and foolish. Hilburn couldn't help but bring up the point that Iraq should never have been attacked because Saddam didn't attack us on Sept. 11. Using this same "logic," we should never have gone to war with Germany because Hitler didn't attack us at Pearl Harbor. Even after declaration of war, Franklin Roosevelt directed the bulk of America's war effort to fight the Germans and not our "real" enemies (to use the above flawed logic), the Japanese.
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Active Desktop Calendar 7.42
This fully customizable calendar with notes, tasks, alarms and contacts provides seamless integration and interactivity with the desktop background. You can organize data in layers and share them in a local network. The program integrates with Outlook to show its appointments/tasks on the desktop. Connection with Google calendars and web based ICS files is available as well as preset calendars with holidays for different countries. You can choose calendar icons, fonts, colors and type: one, two or three months on the desktop. Through interactive desktop the program accepts clicks on dates, appointments and tasks. Printing calendar data is easy, in monthly view or as a list of appointments in a chosen date range. Built-in address book allows you to keep details about all your contacts and import them from other programs.
Lionel's Blog
I don't know how Javon Walker will ever get the image of a dying Darrent Williams out of his head. After watching Javon's interview on HBO's "Real Sports" Tuesday night, I can understand why he will only talk about being in that limo this one time. The horrific images of his friend and teammate, bleeding from the neck, looking up at him. I don't know how Javon got through the interview. But I will respect his privacy and never ask him about it again. Rockies. Come on guys. Big West Coast road trip. Hype and anticipation about making noise in the playoff race. And they go out in the opening game and get shut out in San Diego? What a dud. We'll see how they respond in the next 5 games in S.D. and L.A. Make or Break. Don't make me start leading with the Broncos again every night.
These Loans Were Made for Walking: The End of the Subprime Crisis
Paul and Minneapolis alone will spend on this, they could rebuild that bridge that collapsed last summer…and then some. The saddest thing is that nobody has mentioned the only thing that will provide a long term cure…heavy regulation of the banking and real estate industries. Any other alleged solution will only make the problem worse. Banking deregulation caused the savings and loan debacle of the Bush 41 administration. The solution to that was ever increasing bank deregulation, thereby creating the current "crisis" that is far worse than the savings and loan debacle. The next crisis 10 years from now will be even worse than this one unless industry is re-regulated. .
CHP program educates new, future drivers
BABY, YOU CAN DRIVE MY CAR: The California Highway Patrol is promoting the Start Smart program for new and future licensed teenage drivers ages 15 to 19. In a classroom setting, CHP officers discuss traffic collision avoidance techniques, collision-causing factors, driver/parent responsibilities and seatbelt usage. The course includes a few scare tactics, too, with testimonials from cops who have investigated fatal collisions involving teens, and by family members who have lost love ones in traffic collisions. For more info: www.chp.ca.gov/ community/startsmart.html. The Department of Motor Vehicles also has a site just for teens: www.dmv.ca.gov/teenweb. WONDERFUL WIPES: Can we all agree that baby wipes aren't just for babies anymore? And the wipes I love best are the Kirkland Signature brand sold at Costco.
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