Last Post!!!!

I completely agree with the plastic bag ban policy as does the author of Our Lonestar Texas. I believe this is a smarter and effective way to curb litter and garbage in our city. There are a few individuals who don't care to remember their bags, they soon end up learning. Just as I did. However I do gave to point out this was only a county wide policy. Not a statewide policy just yet.

Hero to Zero? Veterans and Reduced Education Benifits

On Wednesday the Texas Senate approved an amendment to the Hazlewood act for veterans benefits. The amendment now requires minimum service of 6 years interest of the original 180 days and also states that children of veterans have only 15 years to use these benefits should they be passed down. Apparently the fat cats in the senate don't believe that serving your country is worthy of free school tuition for your children. The reform to the original legislation was aimed at curving the non-veteran recipients of these benefits. I believe there is a more structured way to make these costs more affordable, they could start by taking away their own yearly raises, spending less on our prison system. The fact of the matter is Texas' wealth and resources are being poured into the wrong buckets, so to speak. Pressing matters such as education, infrastructure and jobs. Not the pockets of fat cat politicians, university football coaches (I'm talking to you Mr. $5million Charlie Strong) and the other useless programs and districts throughout our state. I am enraged that our veterans and their children have to suffer the consequences of out of control public funding for the wrong things. We have a multitude of other options and an abundance of other departmental funding to adjust so that those brave enough to serve our country can afford to send their children to school on the back of their hard work and dedication. We are a notoriously supportive state to our military, why the heck are we now giving them the finger?

Should Texas go green to make green?

Reading through a fellow classmate's blog I came across a post in regards to texas marijuana policy. An interesting point was made about the taxation and sale of marijuana legally. I firmly agree with the viewpoint that legalization with careful legislation and taxation would go greatly towards improving a few key issues facing our state. Border security and the struggle against drug and human trafficking through our southern border would be lifted of the burden that marijuana control and containment place on the shoulders of our border security officers allowing them to place a more strategic focus on other dangers faced by our Big River border. Let's begin to talk about the other kind of green, cash money. An online article by The Week featured data from harvard economist Jeffery Miron who goes on to say that an estimated $45 billion in taxable sales are slipping through our fingers. Have you ever heard of anyone dying from marijuana use? of course not. so all you smart politicians who run this great state of ours, if you want to get rich, while also boosting the amount of funding our state has, plus make everyone super mellow, then I suggest you start paying attention to a few other states nearby.

K-12 reform starts from the bottom up

Wednesday, April 8th the Texas HOR passed House-bill 4 proposed by state-rep Dan Huberty R-Houston. HB-4 which is modeled after New Gov. Greg Abbott's pre-kindergarden plan, passed with a vote of 129-18. The proposed bill would help bolster school's pre-k program with a supposed sum of $130 million, which averages out to about $1,500 per student. I was enlightened to hear the news of the sudden importance of childhood education on one hand because finally our state is attempting to fix our broken state education system. Starting from the roots up we can ensure that our students are educated in a justifiable manner. The early childhood education years are some of the most important in regards to the academic development of students. If we invest in the foundation of our future, we can ensure the students will have the resources necessary to become successful members of society. At the same time, however, it is important that we do not disregard the students who are current victims of the education system and who will not be receiving the benefit of this legislation. I believe the next important step in education reform would be to seek resources available to current students that engage them in critical thinking and problem solving rather than robotic training for a state test. Although it is unfair to ignore the current cycle of students, providing a string foundation from which to build upon for a new and improved education system could yet begin with the step taken at the capitol today. Hopefully this is the first in many new legislation to come to boost funding, and restructure Texas's education system from K-12.

The scoop and proposed HB 3403

As I was browsing through “The Scoop” section on the Texas Insider I came across a post by Bill Ames on a new voice of legislation being proposed. HB 3403 proposed by representative Jeff Leach looks to balance out an unbalanced curriculum. The current curriculum portrays an unfavorable almost anti-american view of our country in our early stages as a nation. As a high school graduate of the Texas public education system, I share this claim. Bill Ames argues that it is unacceptable for voters, and more importantly parents, to allow our futures to be indoctrinated by a liberally pessimistic view of our state and country in an overwhelmingly conservative state. As a colleague to the Texas State board of educator’s AD HOC committee project, Bill offers quite a bit of insight to our state education. Bill has also spent time working towards a better social studies curriculum and improved project-based learning implementation. Furthermore Bill occupied a key role in modifying the AP History exam to comply with TEKS standards. Reading further into Bill’s post I learned about the six key elements proposed by HB 3403.

I believe the proposed bill promotes a more positive and equally balanced view of our state and our country’s history. This is important so that future generations can decide for themselves if both views are equally correct. Parents, voters, and fellow students: our countries foundation of freedom and equality should extend right down to our education system. Jeff Leach and Bill Ames are on to something important, improving our futures.

Are Texas public schools an A or an F?

A post on the Austin American Statesmen supports the current Texas public school system and even goes on to say it is necessary. As a current college student and high school graduate in Texas, I personally have swam through the alphabet soup of the grading system in our public schools. I believe the author of this article cannot offer the same insight. There are several complicated issues with our current public school grading system. The first incorrect assumption we make is that every student learns the same. However, we KNOW that's not true. So then why do we test our children as such? I also believe that if you continue to lower the standards we only give up on our the futures of the students. Standards continue to be lowered for profit because the higher percentage of students labeled as proficient, the more profit a school receives. Thats's the key word, proficient. It's cheaper than restructuring statewide testing. A trickle down effect then flows down to our teachers, who in some cases spend about 1/3 or 60 days of the school year on testing strategies and test preparation  To the board of education, I purpose a few solutions. To begin, our educators deserve to be paid for what they really are, leaders. Hiring more educators would allow the flexibility and fluidity to develop more diverse testing methods to accommodate the equally diverse student body. Finally, the No Child Left Behind Act sounds cute, but by moving kids forward before their ready we only set them up for failure. An F. To the board of education, our education system should be as adaptive and creative as we are as individual human beings. To parents, you are the most important piece of the puzzle; the more involved you are in your child's education, the more involved your child will be in their education. Parents are the first educators. It's time to stop investing in the present and start investing in our future.

Grasssroots Policy

As I was browsing through “The Scoop” section on the Texas Insider I came across a post by Bill Ames on a new voice of legislation being proposed. HB 3403 proposed by representative Jeff Leach looks to balance out an unbalanced curriculum. The current curriculum portrays an unfavorable almost anti-american view of our country in our early stages as a nation. As a high school graduate of the Texas public education system, I share this claim. Bill Ames argues that it is unacceptable for voters, and more importantly parents, to allow our futures to be indoctrinated by a liberally pessimistic view of our state and country in an overwhelmingly conservative state. As a colleague to the Texas State board of educator’s AD HOC committee project, Bill offers quite a bit of insight to our state education. Bill has also spent time working towards a better social studies curriculum and improved project-based learning implementation. Furthermore Bill occupied a key role in modifying the AP History exam to comply with TEKS standards. Reading further into Bill’s post I learned about the six key elements proposed by HB 3403.

I believe the proposed bill promotes a more positive and equally balanced view of our state and our country’s history. This is important so that future generations can decide for themselves if both views are equally correct. Parents, voters, and fellow students: our countries foundation of freedom and equality should extend right down to our education system. Jeff Leach and Bill Ames are on to something important, improving our futures.