An offensive trend among OC elected officials (louts)

     Derek Reeve, a San Juan Capistrano City Councilmen and an adjunct Poli Sci instructor at Saddleback College, received harsh criticism from some of his colleagues last night for his jocular remark, two weeks ago, that he had named his dog “Muhammad,” something highly offensive to Muslims, who regard dogs as “unclean.”
     Read all about it in the OC Reg.
     According to the Reg, at last night’s City Council meeting, Mayor Sam Allevato, alluding to Muslim citizens and city workers, declared that

"When you're up here on this dais, ...[Y]ou're an elected leader of the 37,000 people who we represent. We're here to represent everyone."

     Councilman Larry Kramer said

"As leaders we should be setting a higher standard of behavior ... We should be asking ourselves what is best for the people of San Juan Capistrano."

     According to the Reg, Reeve took offense to those remarks and “became emotional”:

     Reeve said he named his dog Muhammad to make a political statement against oppression in other societies regarding issues like this one. Reeve also objected to comments from Kramer regarding how he raises his children. "Mr. Kramer is criticizing me on how I raise my children," Reeve said. "To hell you say – I will teach them and educate them on these principles until the day I die."

     Oh my.
     Some citizens came in support of Reeve. They seemed to think that his First Amendment rights were being violated. Of course, they were not.
     Meanwhile,

     Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Greater Los Angeles Area office of [Council on American-Islamic Relations], wrote a statement expressing disappointment of what he called an offensive trend in Orange County: "It is unfortunate that we are witnessing a trend of local elected officials engaging in actions offensive to Muslims or promoting outright anti-Muslim bigotry. We want to remind these elected officials that our great nation was built on the values of respect, inclusivity and religious pluralism."

In education news:
What does the research [re online courses] show?

     Several recent research studies of online courses at community colleges have direct relevance for the high school experience. Underwritten by the Lumina Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a study released last summer that tracked community colleges in Washington State over a five-year period concluded that “students were more likely to fail or withdraw from online courses than from face-to-face courses.” A similar study in Virginia came to the same conclusion. As the Chronicle of Higher Education reported, “online students often have little training in how to navigate the online interfaces of their courses and struggle to manage their coursework without the grounding of weekly class meetings.” A study at a Texas community college found that students in online developmental classes (classes students must take before they are allowed to take college-level courses) had among the highest failure rates—around 60 percent.
                                                                       --(From EdSource)