Kofi Annan resigns from UN to head up national voucher effort

The Super's Blog has received an inside tip that Kofi Annan will soon announce his resignation from the United Nations to head up the United States National School Voucher initiative. Our sources indicate that the new initiative will be called the, "Snake Oil-For-Vouchers" program.

President Annan announced that the "Snake Oil-For-Vouchers" program will closely model the highly successful oil-for-food program that resulted in so much support and help for the Iraqi people.

"Our experience and training with the oil-for-food program will transfer very nicely over to our "Snake Oil-for-Vouchers" program," stated Annan. "I am positive that America's current infatuation with using public tax dollars to fund private education and home school education will undoubtedly help poor Americans as much as the oil-for-food program helped poor people in the Middle East."

A leading voucher advocate who spoke on condition on anonymity stated, "It's a win-win situation. Kofi's son will be joining us as a consultant as well."

Big Government Republicans (It used to be an oxymoron)

I seldom agree with Richard Reeves. But I must admit, I think this is one column that seems pretty close to reality.

Republicans today believe in big government just as much as big government Democrats. The only difference is what they want to do when they have the bully pulpit. It's all about getting the power and then staying in power.

Under NCLB, Big Government Right and Big Government Left came together on the topic of education. BG Left wanted more money for education and BG Right wanted to see the demise of public education. BG Right was willing to "invest" in it to do so, and wait it out. BG Left decided to take the money and run. I assume they thought they could bring logical accountability standards to the table during future reauthorizations of the NCLB Act. Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, as time goes on..........it's less local control at every level, on every single issue.

My prediction? A backlash from the left and right is coming as we grow to resent big government's influence over our lives.

Charters: Much ado about nothing

Another review on charter schools around the nation.

Probably nothing wrong with a charter school, except they are more expensive in many cases, perform no better than public schools in most cases, and lead to more segregation of students.

Other than that, nothin' wrong with 'em.

Carnival of Education: Week 8

Stop by the Carnival. It's the Who's Who of the Educational Blogosphere.

An educational smorgasbord. Beats school food!

Indiana Introduces New Smoking and Gambling Curriculum

The Indianapolis Star reports that Indiana is exploring new cigarette taxes and gambling taxes as a source of revenue.

Shortly after this announcement, The Super Bloggers intercepted a draft copy of a Press Release that shows the governor's Education Policy Advisor is right on top of things when it comes to education.

PRESS RELEASE: Embargoed until April 1, 2005

Indiana Introduces New Smoking and Gambling Curriculum

David Shame, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniel's Education Policy Advisor, has announced the creation of a new smoking program called S.N.A.R.E. (Smoking Nonstop and Rarely Exhaling). This new smoking program will replace the outdated D.A.R.E. program in fifth grade.

Shame added, "We think we will need as many smokers as we can get to fund not only the Colts new football stadium, but some of our other needs as well. Part of our agenda will be to incorporate the Smoking Nonstop and Rarely Exhaling (SNARE) program into each fifth grade classroom so as to insure a steady flow of revenue for our programs. Phillip Morris has donated the materials and we intend to prefund it with the tobacco settlement money. We even have the mascot picked out. The DARE Bear named Darren, will be replaced by the SNARE Cowboy. It is a replica of the Marlboro man with an oxygen tank on his back. Kids will love it. Totally rad!"

Shame also announced the new 12-step gambling curriculum for high schoolers, called Gambling Unanimous. The program will be headed up by none other, than Art Schlichter. The purpose of the program will be to supply a steady stream of gamblers to the casinos to ensure a funding stream for needed programs.

Shame added, "We're betting that this will put us in the elite category of states who have developed bad funding sources for good programs. Our motto is, "We throw BAD money after GOOD."

After hearing about the new curriculum, puritan High School English teacher, Ms. Ima Strictwon, stated, "I guess encouraging gambling and smoking will just bring a new dimension to my unit on Syn tax."

Vouchers: The great bait and switch

Joe Thomas at Shut Up and Teach, blogs about one of my biggest pet peeves.

The claim from the vouchers crowd, that their big interest in vouchers is just to provide poor parents with more access to private schooling. Read, "Fool me once, Darcey."

It's a bait and switch. "The primary recipients of private school tuition tax credit money are families whose children are already enrolled in private schools." (Wilson, 2002)

Follow Joe's link above and then click on BLOGS.