President Biden visits IVC - along with OC's Iranian community!

Rebel Girl's favorite sign of the day - carried by another rebel girl.

By Wednesday, the little college in the orange groves was buzzing with the news: President  Joe Biden would be visiting the campus, along with Congresswoman Katie Porter, "to deliver remarks on lowering costs for American families." Access will be strictly limited," advised the notification email. And indeed it was as this was not a rally but part of Biden's swing through the west to stump for candidates.

Rebel Girl didn't make the cut and so had no plans to be on campus except that while on her way to a doctor's appointment, she decided to swing by to pick up a student paper she had left behind. She expected fans of the former president would turn out as they did, in numbers smaller than she expected:

Their flags were big but numbers few.

 Then she saw this:

The angry Iranian community clearly outnumbered the Trumpers. Hundred at first, then over a thousand stood on the corners waiting for the presidential mortorcade.  It was so moving to see the turn-out that Rebel Girl decided to return after the exam and x-rays and diagnosis—and she was so glad she did.

Nothing quite like people turning out to demand justice.  Here are some highlights from both where she rambled and from her lucky pals inside. Was Rebel Girl sad she didn't make the cut? Initially just a bit, but then she realized she was where she usually was, at the barricades. It felt like home.

"Take a photo of my sign, but not me," this woman said.

"Me too," said her friend.

So many women in attendance! When she stopped by the Writing Center, the student aide behind the counter bragged that his mother was out there somewhere in the crowd.

This Secret Service agent calmly explained to an irate Iranian woman that
the Trump supporters had the First Amendment right to be stupid and annoying.  

Were the protesters heard?  Friends inside confirm what others and CNN reports that "Biden made brief comments on the ongoing protests in Iran following ahead of his formal speech, saying that the US stands with the women of Iran."

“Iran has to end the violence against its own citizens simply exercising their fundamental rights,” Biden said. “I’ve been doing foreign policy a long, long time. It stunned me what [the death of Mahsa Amini] awakened in Iran. I want to thank you all for speaking out.”

The Register reports that: "Demonstrators stood sentry around Irvine Valley College, where the president spoke from a small courtyard under a cloudy sky, imploring him to be more forceful in his condemnation of the current Iranian regime. An organizer for the demonstrators estimated there were at least 1,000 in attendance; 'It’s in the thousands,' Irvine Police Department spokesperson Kyle Oldoerp said."

At the special event, local elected officials Supervisor Katrina Foely and State Senator David Min were in attendance among others. Here they are with Desiree Ortiz and Rebecca Beck. Supervisor Don Wagner was spotted as well, scowling in the one photo Rebel Girl saw.

SOCCCD board president Marcia Milchiker (at right).

Toward the end, the red cap crew descended on IVC's vending machines to buy Cheetos.

Dr. Oz visits OC and gives speech in front of Hitler's car!

As usual we can't make this stuff up though we sure wish we could.

Rebel Girl recalls attending a couple IVC Foundation events at the Lyon Air Museum but doesn't remember seeing Hitler's car. She thinks she would remember that. So she called and spoke with a cheerful employee who assured her that Hitler's car had been there a long, time time but also added that "the general has another one at his home for private viewing." 

What's next? Mussolini's Vespa? Franco's yacht?

Anyway, here's Jezebel on the fundraiser that was with a cameo by Jordan Peterson:

Dr. Oz Stood in Front of One of Hitler's Cars at a Fundraiser and Had Jordan Peterson Call In

Excerpt: 

In what continues to be an incredibly puzzling campaign, Dr. Mehmet Oz attended a $5,000-a-plate fundraiser hosted by sex pest Matt Gaetz’s in-laws on Thursday night at the Lyon Air Museum and stood in front of one of Adolf Hitler’s cars, which made it into the background of attendees’ photos.

The museum is full of WWII memorabilia, and yes, it is just a museum. But a campaign allowing their candidate to be photographed at a fundraiser with a car that literally has a swastika on it is quite a choice.

Photos from the event, of course, surfaced on social media, and Twitter user Larry Tenney shared a screenshot from Instagram stories showing Oz standing on a small podium next to a TV monitor showing the logo for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and a hashtag #TheOzShow. Jezebel confirmed the image as coming from the account of Shane Mitchell, who attended the event. Behind Oz is a dark colored wagon that matches photos on the museum’s website of a 1939 Mercedes-Benz Model G4 Offener Touring Wagon. The museum’s own website says:

“This particular G4, 440875, was originally delivered to Adolph Hitler in late 1939 and was used by the Fuhrer in Ober Salzberg, Berlin and Poland until seized by the French Army at Berchtesgaden.”

Let's not go there again.

The new status quo: "Students were not studying and [they] seemingly did not know how to." (yep)

[I couldn't access the original NYT story; so I went with 2nd best:]

Daily Mail, Oct. 3, 2022 

NYU organic chemistry professor is fired after 82 students sign petition to get rid of him for making the subject 'too hard' - as the leading academic defends his teaching methods and blames quality of intake 

• Maitland Jones Jr., 84, was fired from New York University after 82 of his 350 students signed a petition against him 

• Students claimed course materials for his organic chemistry class were too hard and blamed Jones for their poor test scores 

• Jones previously taught at Princeton before moving to a yearly contract teaching at NYU, and later wrote a 1,300-page textbook on the subject he taught 

• Jones said he noticed students struggling to reintegrate to in-person classes post-COVID-19 - a decade after he noticed a loss of focus among his students 

• Former students and NYU faculty defended Jones, citing poor conduct from students 

A New York University professor has been fired after a group of students signed a petition against him suggesting his course was too difficult. 

Maitland Jones Jr., 84, had 82 of his 350 organic chemistry students sign the petition citing Jones' teaching methods and course outline as reasons for their poor grades. 

'We are very concerned about our scores, and find that they are not an accurate reflection of the time and effort put into this class,' the petition said, according to a New York Times report. 

. . . 

[Jones] said the problem with students emerged a decade ago, just a couple years after he moved from Princeton to NYU in 2007, as he noticed a loss of focus in his students. 

As students returned from virtual learning as a result of the pandemic, that problem only got worse. Students were not studying and, Jones said, students seemingly did not know how to. 

'We now see single digit scores and even zeros,' he said. 

. . . 

Jones was not alone in the pushback from students in the return from pandemic learning. 

Kent Kirshenbaum, another organic chemistry professor, discovered students cheating during online tests. Citing poor conduct in his decision to reduce grades, students protested by saying 'they were not given grades that would allow them to get into medical school.' 

Entering 2022, Jones said students were increasingly disengaged. 

'They weren't coming to class, that's for sure, because I can count the house,' Jones said. 'They weren't watching the videos, and they weren't able to answer the questions.' 

Following the course's second midterm - a test which resulted in an average score of 30 - several students began to panic about the course as it was a prerequisite for applying to medical schools. 

Zacharia Benslimane, a Ph.D student at Harvard and former teaching assistant for Jones, emailed NYU in his defense. 

'I think this petition was written more out of unhappiness with exam scores than an actual feeling of being treated unfairly,' he wrote. 'I have noticed that many of the students who consistently complained about the class did not use the resources we afforded to them.' 

Jones said he fears for other professors at the university who may face the same response from faculty. 

'I don't want my job back,' he said. 'I just want to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else.'

They care

 

"Control" in Florida; Solidarity in Connecticut

Florida Asserts Control of Public Universities’ Curricula 

Scott Jaschik - September 26, 2022 – Inside Higher Ed 

The state of Florida, in responding to a lawsuit, asserted that it has near total control of the curriculum at public universities. 

Six professors, one retired professor and a student have sued to challenge the Individual Freedom Act, which bars them from endorsing eight concepts of race or racial superiority. The professors say the law unfairly restricts their freedom to speak out. 

The state’s response: “Plaintiffs’ First Amendment challenge fails because the Florida Government has simply chosen to regulate its own speech—the curriculum used in state universities and the in-class instruction offered by state employees—and the First Amendment simply has no application in this context.” And: “All it says is that state-employed teachers may not espouse in the classroom the concepts prohibited by the act, while they are on the state clock, in exchange for a state paycheck.” 

A Show of Solidarity 

Faculty members back a K-12 teacher who distributed a list of terms about race and gender to high school students. Some say more of this kind of allyship is needed as public education faces divisive concepts and book bans amid teacher shortages. 

Colleen Flaherty - September 26, 2022 - Inside Higher Ed 

Professors at Southern Connecticut State University are rallying behind a local teacher investigated for sharing a list of terms about race and gender with 10th-grade students. 

“We urge the Southington Board of Education, and all Connecticut Boards of Education, to resist attempts to divide us, and to stand firmly on the side of academic freedom and free speech in the classroom,” says a letter to the Southington Public Schools board signed by more than 60 Southern Connecticut State professors. 

‘Voicing Support for Teachers’ 

“We reiterate our support for all teachers, regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, ability, or creed,” the letter continues. “And we call on Connecticut legislators, the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities System, and the Connecticut public to join us in voicing support for teachers who wish to discuss racism in the classroom.” 

The glossary in question contains such terms as explicit and implicit bias, bigotry versus prejudice, cisgender, cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation, structural racism, and white privilege. White privilege, for instance, is defined as “societal privilege that benefits white people over non-white people in some societies, particularly if they are otherwise [of] the same social, political or economic circumstances.” 

The glossary reportedly was adapted from an inclusive vocabulary guide for students at the University of Arizona. A 10th-grade English teacher at Southington High School shared it with students to prepare them for conversations about race and other complex themes in the literature they’ll read this academic year. 

The teacher, who remains publicly unnamed, was criticized indirectly by parents and at least one board member at a board meeting earlier this month. 

Mr. Baczewski

“I read the worksheet. Do I agree with it? Absolutely not,” Joseph Baczewski, board vice chair, reportedly said at that meeting. “For all of the crap going on in the world right now, this is it? The first week of school to start off negatively. It’s troublesome.” 

Regarding such comments, the Southern Connecticut State professors wrote in their letter that “we are having a hard time construing this as anything other than a politically motivated attack on free speech. As parents, professors and teachers of teachers, we write to let you know that we are dismayed by the fact that the board seems to be engaging in partisan politics, restricting the free speech and academic freedom of teachers who are struggling to teach in remarkably complex and difficult times.” 

The letter continues, “What, exactly, is wrong with a worksheet that provides simple straightforward characterizations of concepts such as ‘marginalization’ and ‘white privilege’ as a way to help students contextualize literature? Sure, these concepts are difficult. So are discussions about genocide, the Holocaust, sexual assault, cyber bullying, suicide and many, many other social ills. This does not mean that we avoid them. To ban the concepts is equivalent to antiquated practices such as banning books like To Kill A Mockingbird in the 1960s. We trust that you are not interested in engaging in censorship.” 

The Connecticut teacher in question reportedly was put on paid administrative leave while the district investigated the glossary…. (continue reading)

How did the pandemic disrupt learning for America's K-12 students?

6 things we've learned about how the pandemic disrupted learning  

NPR, updated June 22, 2022 

     How did the pandemic disrupt learning for America's more than 50 million K-12 students? 

     For two years, that question has felt immeasurable, like a phantom, though few educators doubted the shadow it cast over children who spent months struggling to learn online. 

     Now, as a third pandemic school year draws to a close, new research offers the clearest accounting yet of the crisis's academic toll — as well as reason to hope that schools can help. 

1. Surprise! Students learned less when they were remote 

     But really, this should surprise no one. 

     Most schools had little to no experience with remote instruction when the pandemic began; they lacked teacher training, appropriate software, laptops, universal internet access and, in many cases, students lacked stability and a supportive adult at home to help. 

     Even students who spent the least amount of time learning remotely during the 2020-21 school year — just a month or less — missed the equivalent of seven to 10 weeks of math learning, says Thomas Kane of the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University. (Continue reading)

Waiting for the queen

 

Roy and Anni, waiting for the Royal Motorcade, British Columbia, 1959.

1959, June 18 to Aug. 1: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visited several cities on their journey through B.C. on the royal train.

     Natch, I have no memory of the Big Day when the Queen came to town (it sometimes occurs to me that I have no childhood memories at all). Anni, of course, invariably has loads of memories, although I have not yet asked her for them for this particular occasion. She's the sort who, in all situations in which it is conceivable that one might remember something, will claim to remember everything and more.

     If I ask her, I will gird my loins.

     Mom and pop moved to Canada—first to the east coast—in 1951 when they were 17 and 18 respectively. They met on the boat from Germany. They each had, like, a hundred bucks (courtesy of the nation of Canada, which, it seems, is officially a "federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy," with the Chuckster as King!).

     Anni came along in '54 and I came along a year later. By then, we lived in BC, on the west coast. That's where the jobs were for electricians like pop. We lived mostly in the backcountry, at construction sites way up in the mountains. Hydroelectric plants, I think.

     I recall—years later—my mom speaking fondly of the Queen. "She's a nice lady," mom liked to say. My dad offered similar utterances: "I don't think she's too bright, but she's a nice lady." 

     I think pop shook Philip's hand at some construction site. I've got pics somewhere.

     My folks are gone now, like the Queen. All nice. Only photos remain.

Philip visits pop's workplace

The little family: Pop, Roy, Anni, Mom

Living in a trailer way up in the Canadian Rockies

Pop (4th from left) and his pals, c. 1957

"A nice lady"

God save the Queen 

The fascist regime 

They made you a moron 

Potential H-bomb 

God save the Queen 

She ain't no human being 

There is no future 

In England's dreaming

Sex Pistols live, Phoenix