I don't think Milgram is saying that those things mentioned must be included in Core Standards. I think he is pointing out that they are part of the standards in high achieving countries. Common core purports itself as being based on high standards, when in math it is not. I certainly think that American children are capable of attaining high standards if we make that the goal and work toward it. But I also realize that there are parts of our country that are behind in education already and would not be able to make such a leap at the same rate as areas already advanced academically, which is one of the many reasons I don't support a nationalized curriculum ;)

Actually, you might be wrong. Flores and Kilpatrick are professors of mathematics education. That is not the same thing as being a mathematician. Ever heard of the NCTM (the National Council of the Teachers of Mathematics)? The NCTM has done more, perhaps, than any other organization to destroy mathematics education in the United States. Its membership is comprised of teachers of mathematics rather than mathematicians. And all it says about Feng-Jui Hsieh is that he is an associate professor in the math department at a school in Taiwan. I've researched him on the Internet and found nothing, so it is hard to say what are his exact qualifications. James Milgram, in contrast, has a strong history with regards to math education as a mathematician in one of the most prestigious universities known for being a top math institution.

As someone from Mississippi, let me assure you that we do not want or need you idea of "caring". Mississippi is at the bottom of education, how so? If you mean the state's score on standardized tests are at the bottom, that may be, but whose standards are they testing? Want to know what category Mississippi is consistently in the top? Charitable giving--despite being one of the poorer states. I would think that Mississippi has its standards in the right place. But maybe that is because I have actually visited every state in the union and have seen the way that other states live to know first hand that much of what is said about Mississippi and the South in general is largely untrue.

I couldn't get the video to play and I stopped reading the comments because I have no stomach for rudeness, but I did want chime in why I am against CC. Years ago, our school district adopted the Connected Math/Investigations curriculum. When my math loving children began to complain, I did my research and found how the program was causing controversy everywhere it was being implemented. The district had spent over a million on the curriculum and was in no hurry to replace it until I contacted the math departments of Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton and got letters from all of them stating that the program was awful. The letter from Dr. James Milgrim from Stanford stating that the program was ok if the students just wanted to work at Burger King, but would never suffice if they wanted to enter the STEM fields finally persuaded our school district to dump the Connected Math program. Fast forward to the CC, Dr. Milgrim was the only person on the standards committee for math to actually be an expert in the field of math. He is vehemently opposed to the final CC math standards. From what I have read, they sound like they are similar to Connected Math. You can read his testimony about it here: http://parentsacrossamerica.org/james-milgram-on-the-new-core-curriculum-standards-in-math/ From my understanding of the Language arts standards, they are just the opposite in being unrealistic to obtain, My niece's kindergarten class is using CC standards this year and she often has three hours of homework. She has spelling tests in which she has already had to learn to spell all of the months. She is expected to be able to write a paragraph with a topic sentence and supporting details by the end of the year--not exactly something that can be expected of all kindergarteners, Kids are all unique. And classrooms and localities are unique too. A one size fits all is never, imo, a good approach.

My Brother Sam is Dead (Revolutionary War) Amos Fortune, Free Man (slavery) Fever, 1793

Our local library hosts a middle school book club. Throughout the school year, it mostly consists of homeschoolers. But in the summer, it swells with school students because parents are just trying find something for their kids to do. This year the librarian actually told me, "We are going to have to read EASY books for the summer because we expect a lot of kids from the public schools to join us!" In my opinion, the books they read during the year are easy, but in the summer it just gets ridiculous.

This: http://www.amazon.com/Girder-Panel-Hydrodynamic-Deluxe-Set/dp/B000PVVQMU

A Pity Party, yay! Finally a place where I fit in. Well, my oldest two just moved away to college. That was supposed to be about the worst thing ever for me. But my ten year old topped that by going into ICU and being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. His blood sugar was 715. He is out of the hospital and doing better now, but doing better means giving him 4 shots a day and pricking his finger upwards of 6 times a day. Of course, after that, I told my DH that the oldest two could tell me they were moving to Africa, and I would just wave out the door to them. And of couse, I still haven't unpacked from having to evacuate from Hurricane Issac. But diabetes made a hurricane and the possibility of losing my home --again--seem like no big deal.

We found the whole city very walkable. We stayed in the Hotel Estherea which is close to the train station and the Anne Frank House. My only caution is that although it is very walkable, it is probably the most dangerous city to walk in from a traffic standpoint that our family has ever been in (and we have traveled extensively). The bicycles are everywhere and the cars go to fast. On top of that, there are street cars, with no clear distinction of where the sidewalk ends and the street begins. We saw several near accidents on our first day, and when we asked a local about how many tourists get hit each year, his guess was "many", but said the government didn't give such statistics. Our second day there, our fears were concerned as we saw the streets blocked off and a pregnant woman laying in the middle of the street crying, covered in blood. After that, we chose to take taxis.

Getting into this thread really late, but here's the short answer: I was an extremely devoted, Sunday Morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, daily bible reading Christian. My first doubts came when I realized everyone on Sunday Morning seemed so concerned for that one hour about eveyone else going to hell; but in that last two minute prayer, it seemed that everyone's thoughts turned to the roast at home in the crock pot. My second doubts came when one of the leaders in the church was talking about some teenagers in the church who'd been misbehaving and he blamed it on parents too afraid to give them the good "butt-whipping they deserved". :blink: The final straw was when our Sunday school topic was on how America was founded as a Christian nation. That got me researching and I read Thomas Paine's Age of Reason--big mistake. I now just consider myself "spirtually messed-up". I still "talk to God" daily, because if it's not God, then it is just me talking to myself and I am not sure which one of those two options in crazier. I also don't hold any animosity towards Christians, which IRL, seems to be the norm from those I know who've left the faith.

We also enjoyed Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple after watching a documentary about FLW on PBS.

Well, we have a Kawaii and it is nothing like a Young Chang IMO. Kawaii was actually started by someone from Yamaha if I recall correctly. Our first Kawaii was purchased used but you would have never known it was used. Our piano dealer had purchased it used direct from Japan. We lost our first Kawaii in Katrina, but our insurance would allow us to replace it with any brand. We didn't think twice about buying Kawaii again. The dealer felt sorry for us and really sweetened the deal for us by throwing in a player for us. We love, love, love our player. My friend also lost their piano and went with the Steinway, and she says she likes my piano much better.

All of southern Slidell is now being asked to evacuate. A levee has breached. I'm also hearing that there are areas in Slidell that are flooding that didn't flood before. Not sure where those areas are or if that is just rumors.

Most of my neighbors who stayed were able to evacuate during the day today. The last report that we got was that the houses on our street had still not flooded. We are getting conflicting reports of whether or not the water will continue to rise through the night. Some of our friends across town had to evacuate by boat this afternoon. In Slidell, however, all areas that are flooding have flooded before. In other parts of our parish, and in other surrounding parishes, there is flooding where there has not been flooding before. I suspect the reason for this is due to the increased levees. Our neighborhood is outside the new levee that was put in Slidell after Katrina. Normally, the floodwaters would disperse throughout the parish, but now the wall is protecting some, at the expense of others. Now for those who have relatives in St. Tammany, much of the parish is under a boil water notice as the water system has become contaminated. Unfortunately, with most of the power being out, I can't see how people are expected to be able to boil water. This storm is definitely changing the definition of a Cat 1 storm. Still, nothing like Katrina, but psychologically devastating because it is happening on the anniversary.

We live in Slidell in a waterfront neighborhood that did flood in Katrina. The best source of news is to listen to wwl online.