Having previously looked at what I believe to be the minimum requirements for a comprehensive Kindergarten curriculum, in this post I will break down what I believe are the appropriate learning goals for first and second-grade classrooms. First Grade: Much like Fourth, Seventh, and Ninth grade; First Grade is both a transitional and foundational year. Students are ecstatic to be with “the big kids” and begin “real” school. It’s important to keep students at this level engaged and focused on moving forward through the material. Math: By the end of this grade students should have mastered counting to one hundred,…
Category: Discourse of the Day
It’s The Economy Stupid- Quantitative Easing
Do you ever wish you could just create money out of thin air? Snap your fingers and buy that new car cash? Well, then you should be a central bank because thanks to a relatively new (this century) financial technique known as Quantitative Easing the can do just that. Money out of thin air you say? How does that work? Well, loyal reader, I’m going to tell you. But like any good writer, I’m going to build up your anticipation first by stalling with an exposition dump. You see the purpose of Quantitative Easing is to stimulate economic growth. And…
The Silver Bullet-Kindergarten Curriculum
As the song says “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.” When we’re talking about a comprehensive curriculum that will give America’s youth the tools they need to compete in a global economy that beginning is Kindergarten. Don’t get me wrong. Pre-K educational programs are extremely important. And if you are looking to give your child the best start possible, you should absolutely enroll them in one or more such programs. But those programs are hard to codify and have few structural similarities with the more formalized grades. For me to try and sit here…
It’s the Economy Stupid- Glass-Steagall
If you’ve been paying attention to the presidential campaign trail at all (and I wouldn’t blame you if you weren’t) then you’ve likely heard the phrase Glass-Steagall pop up on more than one occasion. In fact it was mentioned no less than a dozen times during the first democratic presidential debate. Those of you without a background in finance or possessed of an encyclopedic knowledge of 1930’s congressional legislation you be asking what exactly it is that everyone is talking about and why the old guy with crazy hair so worked up over it. In modern politics Glass-Steagall is a…
Meanwhile in Countries Not Named America- Civil War in Yemen
The world is a big place. With over 7 billion people divided among nearly 200 nations it’s easy to see how even the most well informed of individuals may not be aware of everything that is currently happening in our world. One of the goals of Meanwhile in Countries Not Named America is to select issues of importance and brief my readers in such a way that they are at least generally aware of the players and principles involved. With global attention tied up in the future of the EU, tensions in the Ukraine, President Obama’s Trans-Pacific Trade agreement, and…
It’s The Economy Stupid- The Unemployment Rate
One of the major indicators that people look to when evaluate an economies overall health is the unemployment rate. And common sense would tell us that those people have the right idea. After all whether or not people are working seems like a pretty good gauge of whether or not people have money. Unfortunately this is not always the case and Unemployment as an economic indicator has several flaws that need to be acknowledged in order for it to have any real usefulness as a tool in discussing the impact of economic policies. In this month’s It’s the Economy Stupid…
The Silver Bullet- Curriculum Goals
*Note: If you have not already done so please read my philosophy on education which can be found here. The American education system has a problem in that it spends far more energy focusing on what it can accomplish rather than what it should accomplish. That is not to short change the wonderful men and women who are doing the best they can with what they’ve got. Some of their efforts are truly herculean. But they shouldn’t have to be. Instead of trying to make do with what they’ve got they should have an over-abundance of resources to accomplish their…
In Theory- Civil Asset Forfeiture
Hello and welcome to the first installment of In Theory here at The Eclectic Eccentric, a series that will focus on things in our society that were designed to work a certain way but for whatever reason don’t. Fair warning due to the unavoidable reality that the “whatever reason” I just referenced almost always ends up being corruption, ignorance, or stupidity the things that I cover will inevitably be things that really piss me off. I will endeavor to remain objective in my explanations and reasoning but I may not be as tactful in my conclusions. And as promised we…
Meanwhile in Countries Not Named America…….Election Season
Despite what Fox News might have you believe the United States does not actually hold the patent on freedom and democracy. A concept that is reflected by the fact that occasionally there are elections in this world that do not involve Iowa or New Hampshire. We’re going to take a look at these rare unicorns of democracy in this month’s edition of Meanwhile in Countries Not Called America…..Election Season. For our first stop on our global goodwill tour of democracy we go across the pond to America’s closest ally the estimable United Kingdom. General elections are scheduled to be…
It’s The Economy Stupid- Raising the Minimum Wage
With announcements coming from Hilary Clinton and multiple Republicans this last week that they will be seeking their respective party’s nomination for the Presidency of the United States the election cycle has officially begun. One of the issues that will be (or at least should be) at the forefront of the campaign trail is the recent push to raise the minimum wage. Unfortunately for all of us this debate will be flooded with propaganda and misinformation from both sides. So here at The Eclectic Eccentric I thought it would be the perfect time to address it in my inaugural edition…