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The first week of school went without a hitch. I enjoyed starting to get to know the students and, thus far, they have been well behaved.

Monday and Tuesday the teachers had in-service. Among other things, we discussed personality colors and had a workshop with Education Consultants from the Missouri Department of Conservation. I have included a few pictures from the workshop as we found ourselves outside with great photo opportunities.

Despite two flying trips to Columbia – Knights of Columbus Business Meeting on Tuesday and a VIP meeting on Wednesday – I managed to survive.

If the rest of the year goes as this one, it should be a good year.

~cv

It becomes, upon even the briefest glances, that I have not updated my blog in some time and I have resolved to do that more frequently.

This summer, I was asked to teach 7th and 8th grade at St. Joseph Catholic School in Pilot Grove, MO. I have a combined, self-contained room. Yes, that means I teach entire 7th grade curriculum and the entire 8th grade curriculum in one classroom. It should, at the very least, prove interesting.

Much has happened in the way of the Church since my last post: Archbishop Burke is no longer the Archbishop of St. Louis, but rather the Prefect for the Apostolic Signatura; a move which, no doubt, is trying for the Archdiocese and the Church in the United States, but good for the Universal Church. I, for one, feel confidant saying that this story is still worth watching, as His Excellency will, in all probability, be elevated to Cardinal at the next consistory; the new office will likely continue to be news worthy as few are willing to defend the faith with the fervor of Archbishop Burke.

In the English speaking Church, progress has been made on a new translation for the Roman Missal, despite grumbling from more than a few bishops in the United States. It seems there is some concern with whether most Catholics will understand words like, “gibbet” and “ineffable”.
In any case, it is my hope to contribute to this blog more regularly and, perhaps, start a new online project, some time in the making. Only time, however, will tell of the latter.

~cv

This morning, I cam across an article on abcnews.com. It seems a 6 year old was suspended from school for wearing a mohawk, in violation of the schools grooming policy. Some information worth noting, the child was at a “charter” school. While these schools are still part of the local public school system, they were started as social experiments. Their findings have been quite interesting. A child’s socio-economic background does not have as big of an impact on their learning process as we previously thought, blasting the social drifting paradox out of the water. Students wear uniforms and have strict behavioral rules. Getting into the schools is difficult and students can be sent back to regular public schools for not following the rules. Parents have a vested interest in their child’s education at the charter schools due to the limited number of positions available and the risk of being dropped from the program.

What might be most interesting in all of this is that the charter school studies are reinforcing findings of social scientists regarding workplace productivity; people that come to work dress professionally not only do more work, but it is of a better quality. Requiring uniforms and dress codes in schools is very much a good thing. It reduces violence and increases test scores. Dressing for school or work has a psychological effect on people and they are more mentally prepared for the job at hand.

So what is the biggest complaint about charter schools? There aren’t enough of them. Many communities with charter schools hold lotteries to see who gets admitted. Perhaps most schools should use the charter school format and have “regular” schools only for delinquents? And their test scores shouldn’t matter; you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. And the teachers will all be former military personnel.

Perhaps what is most disturbing about the story above is that the child’s mother values her son’s hair cut more than his education. The fact is, charter schools work and the child is worse off for leaving. She justifies her decision by say, “It’s something that he really likes.”

~cv

So, this morning, I am in the same Jr. High as earlier this week. Today I have a math class. Many classes in CPS have “warm ups” at the beginning of class. These are short problems on the subject at hand that get the kids thinking and ready for class. It also occupied the early arrivals while waiting for the stragglers.

This morning, the warm up was: Find the product of 3 ²/₃ x 2 ¹/_4. Anyway, there is a student teacher in the SMART program, an accelerated Masters program for math and science majors who desire to teach. She worked through the program and got 6 ¹/₆ by multiplying the fraction part to ²/₁₂ and simplifying and then multiplying 3 x 2.

I called her attention to the mistake and still had to prove it to her two different ways before she got it.

And you wonder…

~cv

I am subbing in a local “Junior High School”. In Columbia, the schools are structured as:

Elementary: K – 5
Middle School: 6 & 7
Junior High School: 8 & 9
Senior High School: 10 – 12

Anyway, I was in the teachers’ lounge this morning and saw a sign reading, “Please change your social committee calendar to read ‘March 8^th – Spring Egg Hunt’.”

The world is really going to hell in a hand basket.

~cv

I broke the headphones for my iPhone this week. You may recall that some stink was made at the fact that the headphone port is recessed a bit. It seems I was pulling on the cord as well as the plug and didn’t realize it.

In any case, I am disappointed, seeing as the iPhone has only been out seven months.

~cv

I was at Mass at the Newman Center last night and was both surprised and pleased by something that happened.

Two students have been coming to Mass for some time. The both use wheelchairs to get around. I don’t know if their disabilities are acquired or if they have had them since birth; that is just not something you ask someone. Any way, they are nice guys. I don’t recall their names but I have talked to them after Mass on a number of occasions. I know they both play wheelchair basketball for the

Missouri team. Recently, another guy has joined them. I don’t know when exactly he has started coming to Mass as I have only just gone a few times recently.

They always sit in the front row of one of the side sections. In a spot where some chairs get moved for them.

Last night, one of them read the first reading. I was at first surprised; I know not why. I was pleased to see someone with such a disability take such a role in the liturgy.

~cv

I was talking to a group of teachers today about spanking. I don’t know how we got on the topic but I was telling them about my cousin who is a vice principal in the St. Louis area and her school district allows them to spank children.

In any case, one teacher said very matter of fact, “Spanking doesn’t work anyway.” I didn’t want to argue with her lest I should not be wanted back at that school, plus the fact that there where students within earshot and I did not want to argue in front of them.

While spanking may not be a positive reinforcement, it is a positive punishment. Now, don’t go get all in a huff just yet. If you look up positive and negative reinforcements and punishments in an psychological encyclopedia, it will tell you that a reinforcement is anything that encourages a behavior and a punishment is something that discourages a behavior. The difference between positive and negative, however, is more difficult to distinguish. A reinforcement or punishment is considered positive if it is applied to a subject and negative is it is removed.

In this way, giving a dog a treat for sitting when commanded is a positive reinforcement. Tuning down the radio when in the car when someone asks is a negative reinforcement (Relative to the person making the request.)
On the other hand, taking the car keys from a teenager unable to be home before curfew is a negative punishment while spanking a child for being rude to a parent is a positive punishment.

B.F. Skinner was one of the pioneering psychologists in operant conditioning. Skinner and others showed that all four forms of conditioning work, though to varying degrees, depending on the subject.

Pigeons have been all but taught to line dance, using food as a positive reinforcement. After learning the fist step, they are made to do the first step and a second step consecutively before being rewarded. This can continue ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

Rats have shown negative reinforcement by require them to activate a switch in order to turn of an electrified floor. Given the option of a mild shock to get to food and water, they will die of dehydration before leaving the switch.

An example of positive punishment has been found in dogs, forced to step onto a mildly electrified pad in order to get food and water. Even a mild voltage will lead the dogs to die of dehydration rather than bear discomfort.

An example of negative punishment has been shown in Rats who have had their brains wired with electrodes to cause intense physical pleasure (use your imagination. It’s not that hard to figure out.). Given the option of activating a switch to turn on the electrode on one side of a cage and food and water on the other, they will choose to activate the switch, even to the point of death by dehydration.
More abstract examples don’t work well with non-rational creatures. A dog, for example doesn’t understand loosing a squeaky toy because it is annoying to its owner. A teenager does, however, realize the reasoning for loosing the car keys for coming home after curfew.

In any case, applied affects, positive reinforcement and punishment have a greater effect than removed affects, negative reinforcement and punishment. We often preach positive reinforcement because it so clearly works effectively and that no one gets hurt. In a world where everyone is allowed to think and do as they please, so long as no one else gets hurt, that is a very important attribution. Positive punishment works nearly if not equally as well.

It is negative reinforcement and punishment that don’t work as well. It is not as easy to comprehend “If I do or don’t do this, this good thing or this bad thing goes away.” than it is to understand, “If I do this, this good thing or this bad thing will happen to me.”

In any case, the teacher today was dead wrong when she said, “Spanking doesn’t work anyway.”

~cv

I realized a new iPhone trick this afternoon. I couldn’t find it on any blogs so I thought I would post it here. I don’t know how many people will find it.

 There are a number of ways to key a period. The conventual way is to hit the punctuation key and then a period. A trick has been found of hitting the punctuation key and sliding your finger to the period or other punctuation before lifting your finger.

 For periods at the end of a sentence, however, double tap the space bar. It adds a period and a space.

~cv

Yesterday marked the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, legalizing abortion in the United States. A great deal of discussion has been had in the last few days on both sides of the argument.

I will not drone on about a topic that is so clearly obvious to me and yet still so polarized. Instead, I will offer a fact and an observation.

According to a CRS Report for Congress titled “American War and Militarty Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics” (RL32492) dated 29 June 2007, 1,008,112 American lives have been lost fighting 10 wars and 8 military operations since the formation of our country in 1776. That is one American life every two hours.

The best estimates for abortions, as acknowledged by the abortion industry itself, are that, since Roe v. Wade in 1973, 48,000,000 lives have been lost to abortion in the United States. That is a death rate of 313:1.

That is not to say that war is good; neither is abortion.

~cv

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