TWO EXAMPLES OF WHY IT'S A GOOD THING THAT SCHOOLS HAVE TO GIVE STANDARDIZED REPORTS TO PARENTS
HERE, from the Daily Pilot, is a letter from Wendy Leece and one from Jillian Beck. Both Leece and Beck tell us that Costa Mesa High School and Estancia High School are great schools.
Now, the CM PRESS is not knocking either school in this column. What we are knocking is the attempt by Leece and Beck to argue their point while giving no evidence and only anecdotes,cliches, and false reasoning.
Leece tells us that we should "not just take someone else's word about the schools' quality," but that we should "look at the curriculum."
Huh? Do you see what Leece just did? First she talked about "quality," and then she shifted the context to "curriculum." Ah, Wendy, that's not thinking in a straight line. In fact, that's what we call a non sequitur.
Quality refers to API scores. Curriculum is just the courses offered at the school.
But, let's pretend that Wendy didn't just give us a dose of fallacious reasoning and let's check the curriculum at, say, Estancia.
Why, gosh, Estancia teaches English, Geometry, etc. Did you really expect anything different? All the high schools have about the same curriculum.
But, that's Wendy for you.
Turn now to Beck who laughably and more directly gives us the "diversity is a strength," cliche to let us know the two schools in question are swell.
Tell us, Ms. Beck, how you define "diversity" and "strength" and then tell us how the former helps the latter. And, tell us how this makes a school better. It certainly doesn't seem to give them higher API scores.
To bear down on this a bit, we must conclude that if diversity is a strength, one would expect the API scores to be higher in those schools that are the most diverse. However, that's not the case, as indicated by the API scores in the Newport Mesa Unified School District. In fact, the least diverse schools score much, much higher than the most diverse ones.
Now, it may be that both Costa Mesa High School and Estancia High School are good schools. And it may be that you wish to send your kids there because they're close to where you live or for other reasons, and that's fine. But, please don't try to pretend that they're equal or better than the two less diverse schools in the Newport Beach part of the district. The tale is told by the objective test scores.
To repeat. The reason that the schools have to report API and other objective data in the same way as all other schools is to keep people such as Leece and Beck from pulling the wool over the eyes of parents and to let parents compare apples and apples and make intelligent and informed decisions about their kids' education.
But we have an idea. If Beck and Leece want diversity (Leece used other terms for diversity), they should go hang out at the bus station in Los Angeles. Hey, we'll even drive them there in the CM PRESSMOBILE, say, around midnight any night of their choosing. They can let us know how they were strengthened.
Beware the Jabberwocks, my friends. What they say sounds like it makes sense until you look at what they're really saying, which, of course, is Jabberwocky.
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MEN STABBED STUNG BY BEES IN SANTA ANA
HERE, from the Daily Pilot, is a letter from Wendy Leece and one from Jillian Beck. Both Leece and Beck tell us that Costa Mesa High School and Estancia High School are great schools.
Now, the CM PRESS is not knocking either school in this column. What we are knocking is the attempt by Leece and Beck to argue their point while giving no evidence and only anecdotes,cliches, and false reasoning.
Leece tells us that we should "not just take someone else's word about the schools' quality," but that we should "look at the curriculum."
Huh? Do you see what Leece just did? First she talked about "quality," and then she shifted the context to "curriculum." Ah, Wendy, that's not thinking in a straight line. In fact, that's what we call a non sequitur.
Quality refers to API scores. Curriculum is just the courses offered at the school.
But, let's pretend that Wendy didn't just give us a dose of fallacious reasoning and let's check the curriculum at, say, Estancia.
Why, gosh, Estancia teaches English, Geometry, etc. Did you really expect anything different? All the high schools have about the same curriculum.
But, that's Wendy for you.
Turn now to Beck who laughably and more directly gives us the "diversity is a strength," cliche to let us know the two schools in question are swell.
Tell us, Ms. Beck, how you define "diversity" and "strength" and then tell us how the former helps the latter. And, tell us how this makes a school better. It certainly doesn't seem to give them higher API scores.
To bear down on this a bit, we must conclude that if diversity is a strength, one would expect the API scores to be higher in those schools that are the most diverse. However, that's not the case, as indicated by the API scores in the Newport Mesa Unified School District. In fact, the least diverse schools score much, much higher than the most diverse ones.
Now, it may be that both Costa Mesa High School and Estancia High School are good schools. And it may be that you wish to send your kids there because they're close to where you live or for other reasons, and that's fine. But, please don't try to pretend that they're equal or better than the two less diverse schools in the Newport Beach part of the district. The tale is told by the objective test scores.
To repeat. The reason that the schools have to report API and other objective data in the same way as all other schools is to keep people such as Leece and Beck from pulling the wool over the eyes of parents and to let parents compare apples and apples and make intelligent and informed decisions about their kids' education.
But we have an idea. If Beck and Leece want diversity (Leece used other terms for diversity), they should go hang out at the bus station in Los Angeles. Hey, we'll even drive them there in the CM PRESSMOBILE, say, around midnight any night of their choosing. They can let us know how they were strengthened.
Beware the Jabberwocks, my friends. What they say sounds like it makes sense until you look at what they're really saying, which, of course, is Jabberwocky.
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LARGE GROUP OF BLACKS AND HISPANICS ATTACK FOUR WHITE GUYS OUTSIDE DENVER MALL
As usual when Whites are attacked by non-Whites, the cops try to cover up the racial motive.
In this incident the cops say they are "unsure of the motive." Hey, how about because they hate Whites and this was a racist attack? Reverse the races and you know there would be no doubt about a motive.
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FOOTBALL--COSTA MESA HIGH SCHOOL BEATS KATELLA 56-42
A score like that tells you that both teams need to work on defense.
Never fear CMHS football fans, some CMHS football players from last year's outstanding freshman team haven't yet suited up either for JV or varsity, but they'll soon be ready.
Will coach Grant move some of these new sophmores--who would normally go to JV--straight to varsity to build a defense? We'll have to wait and see.
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PUFF PIECE ON HILLARY
Just an article out of the blue with no ulterior motive or a trial balloon to see if there is any genuine support for Hillary to challenge Obama for the presidency?
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