Category: Education

What’s happening to Education under the Union/Democratic regime

Whirlwind Trip to Colorado, Hillsdale National Leadership Seminar

Last week, RB49 and Hubby flew to Denver for a Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar.  I usually have an aisle seat on an airplane, but this time I had the window seat, and I saw some beautiful scenery below.

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We picked up the rental SUV, and drove south to the city of Colorado Springs, where we found the Broadmoor Resort, a very old, and very beautiful, hotel at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.  We barely had time to get settled in our beautiful room, before it was time to attend the President’s Club reception.  Here’s the view from our room.

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At the reception, we met up with some people we already knew from Ricochet, one couple who live in Colorado Springs, and a woman from Texas (yes, Hillsdale has supporters all over this country).  We went in to dinner, and had a very nice meal.  Tuesday’s dinner was Frank Luntz, a well-known pollster, who told us that he became a conservative gradually, while learning about what motivates the people he polled over the years.  His theme was “how to speak about conservatism”, and he emphasized some of the points I have been saying over the years (you can’t convert liberals by arguing with them-you need to appeal to their emotions).  Here’s one of the many slides he showed about better terms to use in your conversations.

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After that dinner, Hubby and I went on a little walking tour of the building.  The Broadmoor has dozens of original paintings and sculptures by Western artists, accumulated over the more than 100-year history of the property.

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In a dimly-lighted lounge, I spotted this cleverly-designed footstool.  Very cute!

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Can you tell that he’s a turtle?

We fell into bed, exhausted from our busy day.  The room was sumptuous by our standards, and very comfortable and quiet, even though it was just across the hall from the elevator.

The next day, after continental breakfast, there were more speakers, including Sharyl Atkisson, a rather famous journalist (whose computer was compromised by Obama stooges), and Mollie Hemingway.  Both ladies had very interesting stories to tell.  Mollie used to be an editor at Ricochet, before she went to The Federalist.

After a nice lunch and one more speaker, the conference adjourned.  We had a bit of time before we had to head back to Denver for our 8:00PM flight, so we went to the hotel bar for a quick drink.  The main building is across a small lake, and I got to capture some of the beauty of the resort on the way over.

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Once we arrived at the hotel bar and ordered our drinks, I had the opportunity to pay more attention to the inside of the bar.  Very beautiful! This picture must have been of some patrons from the Robber Baron days of the late 19th Century.  I didn’t find out who they all were.

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After our nice drink, it was time for us to head home.  As is my normal, I pay attention to architectural detail wherever I am!  Here are some creatures who saw us off from the main entrance.

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We made it back to the airport in time, dropped off the rental car, and boarded our plane.  It was a very rushed trip, but certainly productive. The venue was gorgeous, speakers were fascinating, and our friends warm.  What more could a person ask for?

 

International Women’s Day, NOT celebrated here

International Women’s Day, NOT celebrated here

And here’s why, from Wikipedia:

International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8 every year.[3] It commemorates the movement for women’s rights.[citation needed]

March 8 was suggested by the 1910 International Socialist Woman’s Conference to become an “International Woman’s Day.” After women gained suffrage in Soviet Russia in 1917, March 8 became a national holiday there. The day was then predominantly celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted in 1975 by the United Nations.

Sorry, but Calling-all-RushBabes does not celebrate Soviet, Socialist holidays.

One more thing..take a look at the woman in my Featured Image in the head-to-toe burqa.  Do you think her husband celebrates her?  NO-she does not leave the house unless covered!  Oppression, it looks like.

Increasing scandals, rarely talked about

Women Perps

Do you know what all the women above have in common?  They are all teachers, at K-12 level, who have been arrested for having sexual relationships with their students.  All of those students were under 18 years of age.  A teacher has power over her students, so can order them to do things that they might not want to do.   We have all seen that the culture these days seems to be saturated with sex; in advertisements, in news stories, in video games, on television, and on outdoor billboards.  This article, from 2014, lists many cases of teachers engaging in sex with their students.

The case of a US Representative from New York, Anthony Weiner, who sent sexually-explicit pictures to young girls, focused society’s attention on adults who have relationships with underaged children.  But the wave of stories, new ones seemingly popping up every day, of teachers having sex with their students, is very troubling to me, and I wonder why, just in the last few years, this seems to have just exploded.   Here are some recent headlines:

Married Teacher and JV Cheerleading Coach, 23 Arrested

Conn. Special Ed Teacher Accused of Having Sex with Student

Catholic School Teacher Accused of having Sex With Student

Special-Ed Teacher Accused of Having Sex With Student (Texas)

***And this one, just today!  Married teacher, 32, pleads not-guilty

 

{Just an aside, perhaps the first notorious case of a teacher having sex with a student happened in 1996 in Seattle, when Mary Kay Letourneau had a continuing sexual relationship with her 12-year-old student Vili Fualaau.  She served prison time for this, but they had two children, and actually married!  This is still an ongoing story.}

And what is perhaps the most disturbing thing, all these accused teachers are women.  Well, I suppose that in K-12 education today, where Sex-Ed classes are pretty explicit about how sexual relations occur, and pupils are taught how to put a condom on a banana, it isn’t much of a stretch for teachers to demonstrate this to their students, in real life.  In today’s public schools, it is assumed that the kids are already sexually-active, so they just have to be taught how to have safe sex, and what to do when that condom breaks and the girl gets pregnant. (Planned Parenthood contributes generously to public school sex-ed programs, so you can probably guess what the instructions might be to a pregnant high-schooler).

This is from a very good article over at Fox News, about the prevalence of female sex offenders.

According to the Center for Sex Offender Management, a project operated by the U.S. Department of Justice, females account for around 10 percent of all sex crimes reported to authorities. However, a much higher percentage – over 30 percent – of all teacher-student sexual offenses are estimated to have been perpetrated by females. In the latest available statistics, in 2014, just under 800 school employees were prosecuted for student sex crimes – around one-third female.

The article mentions a researcher into women teachers having sex with their boy students, who opines that it is a reflection of the power teachers have over their students.  See, I was right!  The article also cites the proliferation of “Hot Teacher” contests in various cities around the country, publicizing young women teachers and grading them on their degree of “hotness”.  The article also mentions that research into this growing problem is just getting started, so it will be some time before we have any more data on why this seems to be happening much more frequently lately.

Suggestion for parents among my followers: Keep your eyes open for possible irregularities with young, female teachers in their activities with your young boy students.  Urge them to be very honest with you about what is going on in their schools, and extra-curricular activities.  Talk with other parents at your kids’ schools, so you can all be aware and alert for problems.  [Gee, am I really saying this?  Just having to issue warnings is an indication of how far our public schools, and even private and religious schools, have been affected by the wider cultural decline].

Final Photo Challenge of 2017-Favorites-Travels with/to Friends

2017 was highlighted by travels, to various destinations to meet with friends, and to get re-acqainted with old (in both senses of the word) friends.  Here are my favorite highlights.

In February, Hubby and I traveled to Phoenix for a Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar.  This was our third trip to Arizona with the Hillsdale folks, and was just a reinforcement of why we continue to support Hillsdale, one of the last, best, hopes for the future of higher education in America.  No “snowflakes” here.

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The view from our balcony was so peaceful in the early morning.

After the Hillsdale Seminar ended, we took a trip up to Prescott, in the mountains north of Phoenix.  An entirely different Arizona.  The reason was a meet up with our Ricochet friends.  We took sustenance from our Ricochet family, as we all watched the Left and the Deep State do their best to destroy a duly-elected President.

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No palm trees here!

In June, we took our annual trip to Washington’s “Bavarian Village” of Leavenworth, for Hubby to play accordion with his band.  They were just awesome this year, and everyone was impressed with their performance.

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And we always love the Accordion Parade, ending up in the Gazebo downtown.  Our hearts are warmed by watching and listening to all the players, from ages 7 to over 70.

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In September, we drove all the way to Montana and back, for the Ricochet meet up that had been planned since September of 2016!  Due to wildfires in Washington and Montana, we drove through thick smoke all the way-the skies didn’t clear for an entire week!  But the people we met were typical Ricochet, salt-of-the earth types.  We couldn’t imagine being with a better group of friends, our Ricochet Family.

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Yes, that is Lake Coeur D’Alene on the way over.

Sailing on Flathead Lake

On the second to last day, sailing on Flathead Lake.

And to top off the year, I had my Fiftieth High School Class Reunion.  My favorite part of that was tagging along with the golfers on the outing to the local golf course, and meeting a classmate who I had never met in high school!

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What beauty, hiding in plain sight.

We have been so fortunate this year, and had so many delightful experiences, surrounded by our friends, and our Ricochet Family.  Onward to 2018!

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/2017-favorites/

 

Ascend, Cast your Mind Higher-Photo Challenge

In 2012, I went to Washington, DC for the first time.  One of our first stops on our walking tour of the city was the Library of Congress.  I was absolutely blown away by the beauty of the inside of the main Library building, and it felt like I took an hour just taking pictures of all the beautiful architecture and decoration.  You can see that the builders had in mind that visitors would be “transported” to a higher plane than just the mundane, so they did their best to help us to see how important the Library, and learning, are to our shared American Culture.  They took quotations from ancient and modern philosophers, and illustrated them.  I was awed, and I think I was meant to be.

Wall decoration, Library of Congress

Knowledge, Library of Congress

Ignorance, Library of Congress

Ascend, indeed.  All these plaques carry basically the same message, that people are meant to learn, and use their knowledge for good, and pass that knowledge to their progeny.  Just think of all the work that went into those plaques!  You’ve heard the phrase “Onward and Upward with the Arts”.  Embodied here.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/ascend-cmhr/

 

Thoughts on My Fiftieth (yes, that’s 50th)

Thoughts on My Fiftieth (yes, that’s 50th)

That would be my 50th High School Class Reunion, held this weekend.  A variety of activities were planned, including a golf outing on Friday, a tour of the school and drinks at a local watering hole Friday afternoon, and a big dinner Saturday night.  I have to say that I was one of a class of 700 in a city high school, so there were hundreds of “classmates” who I never even met in all our three years.  I was also pretty much of an outcast, with few friends and few activities.  Most of the “cool kids” wouldn’t give me the time of day, way back then.  I discovered to my delight that the years dim memories, and when I met people at reunions, starting with the tenth, they had mostly forgotten that I was unpopular then, and were nicer to me than I had expected.

At the fortieth reunion in 2007, I actually became re-acquainted with a friend from school who I knew as very conservative, and a fan of Richard Nixon.  Well, it turned out that I had turned conservative over the years, and we now had lots in common.  It was just wonderful to get back in touch with someone who I now could relate to much better.  Over the last ten years, she and her husband have joined me and my husband in a variety of activities, including Hillsdale College functions.

Since the Friday golf outing was being held at a country club pretty close to where I live, I offered to tag along and be the “unofficial official photographer”.  The event organizer said he’d be happy if I went, so I took Friday off work and met the group at the ungodly hour of 8:00AM at the golf course.  Aside from myself, there were four women and six men in the group, which made three groups.  I went with one of the male groups, and took a golf cart with a gentleman whom I had never met in high school at all!  It was absolutely delightful talking with him, and I was sorry I didn’t know him in high school.  The golf course is very pretty, and very hilly!  I not only took pictures of the players, I trained my camera on the course itself.

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See that sign to the left of the golf cart path?  It says Caution 35 degree slope!  And those speed bumps were actually welcome-that path is really steep!

The 18 holes took over four hours, and they just sped by.  We all had a great time, and met back at the club for lunch in their beautiful dining room.  It turned out that the host and his wife (who met in high school and have been married 47 years), live right by the golf course, which is only about 5 miles from where I live.  No excuse for not getting together again soon.  Here’s the golf group at lunch.

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I went home after the golf outing feeling just wonderful.  I’d gotten re-acquainted with people I hadn’t seen in ten years, and liked every one of them.  I was pretty sure that everyone had appreciated my photography, and enjoyed my company as much as I’d enjoyed theirs.  Everyone had done something different with their lives, and moved around the country, but now we were all back for a while, and the years just seemed to fall away into insignificance.

Saturday night was the big reunion dinner at another country club in town.  There were over 200 people there, which is pretty remarkable after fifty years!  If you just closed your eyes and listened, you could hear multiple “Nice to see you” and “Great to see you” from small groups and individuals all over the room.  I must have re-met dozens of people I had known, and even some that I hadn’t!  Some people never change-I recognized more of the women than the men (who had lost more hair!).  Since I don’t, I did notice that the majority of the women color their hair, so there was less gray than there might have been if everyone had remained all-natural like me.

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Fifty years is a very long time.  Most of us are different people than we were in high school, but everyone mostly was successful in life.  Classmates showed pictures of their kids and grandkids, and discussed careers and travels.  From snatches of conversation I heard, many of us had traveled the world, both for work and leisure.  Dozens of us had been or still are teachers, and many different professions were represented.  I was pleased to see that I’m not the only one still employed and loving it.

As I look back over my life, I have been through some trying times, and always landed on my feet.  Fifty years is a long time, but I can’t say I feel that old.  And I think many of my classmates feel the same.  A few people used canes, and there were a couple of walkers in evidence; but that didn’t keep them away.  Everyone who came looked like they were having a pleasant evening, and I think everyone went away happy, with new memories to add to the old ones that are fading.

It was an excellent reunion weekend, and I’m so glad I went.  And the Memory Book that we bought has addresses and pictures for most classmates, so we can stay in touch.  As we get older, friends and family become more important, and classmates aren’t far behind.  “What I am to Be, I am Now Becoming” was our class motto.  Would I have laughed then, if I were told that what I would become was what I am today (planner/buyer, Business Survey Chairman)?  Probably.  In any case, I’m very proud of what I have become, and my high school education helped get me started.