Author Archives: Bob Dean
Urgent! Tell your Legislators to vote No on HB1443
Call the legislative Hot Line 1-800-562-6000 Tell your legislators to vote against HB1443 Vote Against Common Core State Standards Block the Permanent Adoption of the Common Core State Standards in Washington State What Are They? The Common Core State Standards are known by the acronym CCSS. These are national learning standards organized by the NGA […]
Bill Gates: Don't Monetize my Students!
There is nothing more dangerous than a billionaire with too much time on his hands. Bill Gates admits he knows nothing about teaching but that hasn’t stopped him from causing havoc in our nation’s schools. It started out with his small school initiative. He was convinced that kids in smaller schools could learn better than […]
Can You Hear Me Now?
The people of Washington have spoken loud and clear: No new taxes! Government at every level is going to have to tighten their belts. This is no time for government expansion or starting down new paths that will lead to unnecessary spending. One such path that is sneaking under the radar is the provisional adoption […]
Are we fixing the State's Math Problem? – Fat Chance!
Everyone knows we have a nation wide obesity problem. Imagine if we attempted to do something about that problem in this state using the same methods that we have used to attack our math education problem. A press conference on our solutions might go as follows: Pressroom: Welcome to the joint press conference on fitness […]
Common Core Standards aren't really very Common
From the 5th grade Common Core Standards: Interpret the product (a/b) × q as a parts of a partition of q into b equal parts; equivalently, as the result of a sequence of operations a × q ÷ b. For example, use a visual fraction model to show (2/3) × 4 = 8/3, and create […]
Harris treated Unfairly
It is not a good idea to make the mistake of continuing to drive in Washington with an Oregon plate even if you had a legitimate reason for doing it at one point. However, making that mistake doesn’t make you any more of a cheater than buying goods in Oregon and then failing to report […]
The Perfect Storm: National Education Standards
In case you weren’t watching the “Educational Weather” we are about to be engulfed by the perfect storm: National education standards in mathematics and language arts. We have never had national standards in the history of our nation because the 10th amendment of the US constitution gives the states and the people power to control […]
Who Really is to Blame?
It seems like we have developed a talent in this country for passing the blame. In fact, there are a lot of people, mainly lawyers, who make a very good living by teaching us who really is the blame. I’m beginning to understand who to blame but don’t blame me if I get it wrong. […]
Killing the Golden Goose
Businesses, and specifically small businesses, are what makes this country run and prosper. Businesses create wealth and provide the jobs and revenue that fuel our economy. In a sense it is private business that is the “Goose that lays the Golden eggs.” When businesses suffer, we all suffer. In order to prosper we need to […]
Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!
Politicians love to run around saying that they are going to create jobs. It sounds good but do politicians really create jobs? I don’t think so! Jobs are created when wealth is increased. Government doesn’t create wealth, it exploits it. There are many politicians who never saw a tax they didn’t like; there may be […]