Education – Page 2 – Michmutters

Tag: Education

Categories
US

Dixon wins Michigan GOP governor primary, to face Whitmer

Dixon wins Michigan GOP governor primary, to face Whitmer

Businesswoman and conservative commentator Tudor Dixon won the Republican primary for Michigan governor on Tuesday, setting up a tough race against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as anger and division within the state GOP threaten the party’s efforts in the battleground state this fall.

Dixon, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump last week, defeated four male candidates in a race between little-known political newcomers. She also had backing from the prominent Michigan Republican family of Betsy DeVos, who was education secretary in Trump’s Cabinet but was critical of him and resigned after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, as well as the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and several anti-abortion groups.

Taking the stage at a victory party, Dixon pledged to fight for families who struggled through COVID-19 lockdowns that Whitmer imposed and who can’t afford to put gas in their vehicles and pay bills. She called the first-term governor “the queen of lockdowns” and recounted how her own grandmother died in a nursing home, alone, during the pandemic.

“Frankly Michigan, we deserve better,” Dixon said. “Now we have the opportunity to truly hold Gretchen Whitmer accountable for the pain she has inflicted on each and every one of us during the past four years.”

Whitmer, who did not have a Democratic opponent, was seen as potentially vulnerable heading into 2022 because of anger over her pandemic restrictions, rising gas and food prices, and her ties to President Joe Biden, whose approval ratings are low. But some of those hopes were dashed after top Republican candidates didn’t make the ballot because they didn’t file enough valid nominating signatures and the remaining field struggled to compete in fundraising with Whitmer and her multimillion-dollar campaign fund. None of the GOP candidates had held public office, and many had baggage that could hurt in a general election.

Dixon is a former steel industry executive who also hosted a conservative program on a streaming channel and once acted in low-budget zombie movies in what her campaign described as an “admittedly lame” hobby.

rate
youtube video thumbnail

Democrats criticize her far-right positions on issues, which also could be a tough sell for independent voters who decide elections in Michigan. Dixon opposes abortion, except to save the mother’s life, and says Michigan should eliminate the requirement for permits to carry concealed weapons.

In a statement Tuesday, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes said Dixon “has a dangerous agenda that would devastate Michigan working families.”

The mother of four made education a top issue of her campaign, saying she wants to keep drag queens and talk of sex and gender out of elementary schools. She said she would end “critical race theory” from being taught in Michigan public schools and wants all districts to post teaching materials and curriculum online for parents to review. Dixon also says families should be able to use per-student state funds on private schools, home schooling or other education settings of their choice.

Dixon defeated real estate broker Ryan Kelley, who pleaded not guilty to misdemeanors in the Capitol riot; chiropractor Garrett Soldano; former auto dealership owner Kevin Rinke and pastor Ralph Rebandt.

They blasted Dixon during the campaign as the “establishment” pick, criticizing her connections to DeVos and saying she hadn’t done enough to stand up to Whitmer when she imposed COVID-19 restrictions.

Contentious primaries are not new, but the hostility seems heightened in some places this year as Republicans split over whether to relitigate the 2020 election or look ahead, including to the 2024 presidential race. The divide has been particularly public and pronounced in Michigan, where Trump has pushed the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him and has endorsed many candidates who back him — including for secretary of state and attorney general — with an eye on a possible 2024 bid.

Michigan is also among states where subpoenas have been issued to “fake electors” who submitted paperwork saying Trump, not Joe Biden, won the state’s election.

Trump lost Michigan by about 154,000 votes in 2020, and multiple audits and courts — as well as an investigation by the Republican-led state Senate — have upheld that.

Dixon has wavered on the issue. She raised her hand during a debate when candidates were asked who among them believes the election was stolen. But she has been less explicit in recent weeks, criticizing Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and saying on Fox News Sunday, “We have to make sure our elections are secure and what happened in 2020 does n’t happen again.”

Trump’s late-stage endorsement of Dixon gives him a win to tout, though he has also experienced some high-profile defeats.

Voter Mark Orsinger of Grand Rapids said he decided to cast his ballot for Dixon after Trump’s endorsement.

“I didn’t know Tudor until Trump mentioned her,” Orsinger said. “She seems like an OK person. I only know her from her from 20 seconds of a commercial. ”

___

Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Grand Rapids and Mike Householder in Delhi Township contributed to this report.

.

Categories
Australia

Mid-career workers retrain as teachers under para-professional program in NSW schools

Two women stand on the ground of a high school during break time

Jodie Hirst was a professional sports dietitian for 10 years before she felt drawn to the classroom.

Like many people during the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2021, Ms Hirst reassessed her career and realized that she loved helping and inspiring people to learn.

Ms Hirst, a mother of two, is currently six months into a Masters of Teaching at Macquarie University.

“The transition from going back to university has been challenging but I am really enjoying it,” she said.

“I would love to inspire people to respect science and continue to want to learn in that field. I am hoping I can bring that into schools.”

Ms Hirst is taking part in New South Wales’ first mid-career teachers program to support people from other areas of the community to transition to teaching.

Bulli High School is situated 100 meters from the beach which is featured in the background.
Bulli High School has more than 1,000 students and 70 teachers.(ABC Illawarra: Sarah Moss)

She is working as a para-professional — helping with paperwork, resource development and classroom activities — at Bulli High School, in the northern Illawarra region.

Principal Denise James said she was “a bit in awe” of mid-career teachers such as Ms Hirst.

“I think it’s phenomenal and I hope more people do it,” she said.

“It’s invigorating for students to know teachers’ stories and to know they have had this other life and are experts in other things. It brings a whole lot of possibilities.”

changing the world

Ms James hoped more people would come to look at teaching as a great career.

“I admire someone who is already performing very well in their own field who wants to become a teacher,” she said.

“We know that the better education they [students] get, the better the world is.

“Jodie [Hirst] is here as a para-professional learning from our science faculty, but Bulli High is also learning with Jodie.

A woman wearing green stands in her office
Principal Denise James says the majority of teachers at Bulli High have decades of teaching experience.(ABC Illawarra: Sarah Moss)

“That is the beauty of this program — we are learning from her how science operates outside of our school, in the real world … and we are also being able to use her skills in classrooms.”

But Ms James did warn that people’s expectations of teaching could sometimes differ from reality.

“You picture yourself in classrooms, you don’t realize that a lot of the work is happening alongside your colleagues in staff rooms in conversations and in meetings,” she said.

“So the paraprofessional role is a really great program.”

Along with 70 permanent teachers, the school relies on a pool of long-term temporary and casual teachers, who Ms James said it could not do without.

“We need the flexibility especially with a lot of illness in the world today,” she said.

Learning how to teach

Ms Hirst said she was looking forward to being able to increase the supply of science and technology teachers across the state.

“I’ll be teaching science, biology, chemistry and junior science … but I am relearning the content which is a part of the degree I am doing now, so learning the syllabus and how to teach that,” she said.

A woman stands in a science classroom at Bulli High School
Jodie Hirst is transitioning from a career as a sports dietitian to being a secondary science teacher.(ABC Illawarra: Sarah Moss)

“Yes, I have a HECS debt now but with this mid-career transition, they [the Education Department] do provide some funding for the first six months of study, and then being employed three days a week at Bulli High, that’s going to help.”

Delivering group presentations in her former role as a consultant dietician for the Illawarra Academy of Sport helped give her the confidence to be at the front of the classroom.

“People were so motivated and generally interested that it became the favorite part of my job,” Ms Hirst said.

Professionals on the move

More than 4,000 new teachers have entered the workforce this year after gaining accreditation, according to the state’s Education Department, with at least 28 of them transitioning from other careers.

A productivity commission report in NSW recently investigated how to get more people from other careers into teaching.

NSW Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell saluted the program and was “excited to welcome a further 3,000 teachers by the end of the year”.

Sue Bennett smiles in the afternoon sun
Professor Sue Bennett says there are different teaching strategies across different subject areas.(Supplied UOW: Paul Jones)

Professor Sue Bennett from the University of Wollongong said the extra teachers were much-needed.

“We’ve always had a group of people who have got significant experience in other roles… who want to make a change and they seek that pathway into the [teaching] profession,” Ms Bennett said.

“Around Australia there are universities and private providers that offer degrees in teaching with many variations available designed for people to find the right fit for them.”

The next round of applications for the mid-career program is open until September 11, with successful candidates due to commence studies in 2023.

.

Categories
US

Grieving father erupts at Parkland school shooter’s trial

Grieving father erupts at Parkland school shooter's trial

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A grieving father erupted in anger Tuesday as he told jurors about the daughter Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz murdered along with 16 others four years ago, his voice rising as he recounted her “infectious laugh that I can only get to watch now on TikTok videos.”

Dr. Ilan Alhadeff’s emotional testimony about his 14-year-old daughter Alyssa marked a second day of tears as families, one after another, took the witness stand to give heartrending statements about their loved ones who died at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018.

He and his wife, Lori, described Alyssa’s role as captain of her soccer team, the friend others always turned to for advice or a shoulder to cry on, and her plans to become a business lawyer. He cried as he recounted how he will not dance with his daughter de ella at her wedding de ella or see the children she would have had.

“My first-born daughter, daddy’s girl was taken from me!” yelled Alhadeff, an internal medicine physician. “I get to watch my friends, my neighbors, colleagues spend time enjoying their daughters, enjoying all the normal milestones, taking in the normal joys and I only get to watch videos or go to the cemetery to see my daughter.”

He said one of Alyssa’s two younger brothers was too young to comprehend her death when it happened, but now “asks to go see his sister at the cemetery from time to time.”

“This is not normal!” he said angrily.

Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty to 17 counts of first-degree murder in October; the trial is only to determine whether he is sentenced to death or life without parole. Over the two days of family statements, he has shown little emotion, even as several of his attorneys wiped away tears and Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer’s voice broke when she gave directions. He mostly stars straight ahead or looks down at the table where he sits.

As one family testifies, others sob in the gallery while awaiting their turn. When finished, they stay to lend support. They exchange packets of tissues, shoulder rubs and, when breaks come, hugs. Some jurors wipe away tears, but most sit stoically.

Some families had statements read for them. The mother of 14-year-old Martin Duque wrote that while he was born in Mexico, he wanted to become a US Navy Seal. The wife of assistant football coach Aaron Feis wrote that he was a doting father to their young daughter and a mentor to many young people.

The mother of 16-year-old Carmen Schentrup wrote that she was a straight-A student whose letter announcing she was a semifinalist for a National Merit Scholarship arrived the day after she died. She wanted to be a doctor who researched amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Shara Kaplan sobbed as she told the jurors of her two sons’ sadness that they weren’t there to protect their little sister, 18-year-old Meadow Pollack.

Luke Hoyer’s mom, Gina, said the 15-year-old was her “miracle baby,” her “Lukey Bear.” She said he yelled down that Valentine’s Day morning to thank her for the card and Skittles she’d placed in her bathroom. The gifts stayed there for a year. His father, Tom, said he never saw his son that morning, but he yelled up “Have a good day” as he hurried to work. “That is the kind of exchange you have when you think you have tomorrow,” he said.

Fred Guttenberg, who has become a national advocate for tighter gun laws, said he regrets that the last words he said to his 14-year-old daughter Jaime weren’t “I love you” but instead, “You gotta go, you are going to be late” as he pushed her and her older brother out the door that morning. He said his son is angry with him for telling him to run when he called in a panic to say there was a gunman at the school instead of having him find his sister, even though it would have made no difference.

His wife, Jennifer Guttenberg, said that while her daughter was known for her competitive dancing, she volunteered with the Humane Society and with special needs children. She planned to be a pediatric physical therapist.

Annika Dworet, her husband Mitch sitting somberly at her side, told the jurors about their son Nick, who was 17 when he died. A star swimmer, he had accepted a scholarship to the University of Indianapolis and was training in hopes of competing for his mother’s native Sweden in the 2020 Olympics. His younger brother of him, Alex, was wounded in the shooting.

“He was always inclusive of everyone. On his last evening with us, he spent time speaking to the younger kids on the swim team, giving them some pointers,” she said.

But now, she said, “our hearts will forever be broken.”

“We will always live with excruciating pain. We have an empty bedroom in our house. There is an empty chair at our dining table. Alex will never have a brother to talk or hang out with. They will never again go for a drive, blasting very loud music. We did not get to see Nick graduate from high school or college. We will never see him getting married.

“We will always hesitate before answering the question, ‘How many kids do you have?’”

.

Categories
Australia

NSW is reserving 20 per cent of selective school places for disadvantaged students, and some parents aren’t happy about it

three young male students work on a science project

Thousands of NSW students are nervously awaiting the results of their selective school tests following a significant overhaul of the admissions process.

Last month, NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell announced up to 20 per cent of places at selective schools would be set aside for disadvantaged students.

North Sydney resident Bruce Fan is one of many parents now worried their children may miss out on a spot at their dream school due to the new policy.

Mr Fan started an online petition calling on the government to scrap the new policy and redo the public consultation.

“It is unfair that the policy has been retrospectively implemented on the students who have already sat the tests this year,” he said.

A man sits next to the computer
Bruce Fan says the government should increase the number of places at selective schools rather than reserving existing places for disadvantaged students.(Supplied)

Mr Fan said the online petition was not about stopping the government from helping the disadvantaged groups but urging the government to invest more funding into the public education system.

“I firmly believe that we need to support the disadvantaged communities and students, but this quota is not the right solution,” he said.

“The government should set up more selective schools in lower socio-economic areas.”

Kellyville resident Yashwant Desai, one of more than 4,000 signatories to the petition, said he too believed the change was unfair.

“It’s not giving everyone a fair go,” said Mr Desai, whose children have already been accepted into a selective school.

“What the government is doing is just for political advantage and to gain the most sympathetic votes.

“Why are only selective schools being targeted?” he asked, echoing Mr Fan’s call for the government to invest more in public schools where disadvantaged students lived.

An Indian man with glasses sits next to his computer
Yashwant Desai said students work hard for the selective school test and deserve a fair process.(Supplied)

Changes intended to make selective schools fairer

Selective high schools are designed to cater for the needs of gifted students, or those with high potential, by providing specialized teaching methods and materials.

The 49 selective schools in NSW often outperform expensive private schools and dominate HSC leaderboards.

But the only way to get into one is to compete with thousands of other students on the state-run entry tests.

.

Categories
US

Sandy Hook dad says Alex Jones made his life a ‘living hell’

Sandy Hook dad says Alex Jones made his life a 'living hell'

AUSTIN, Texas– The father of a 6-year-old killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting testified Tuesday that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones made his life a “living hell” by pushing claims that the murders were a hoax.

In more than an hour of emotional testimony during which he often fought back tears, Neil Heslin said he has endured online abuse, anonymous phone calls and harassment on the street.

“What was said about me and Sandy Hook itself resonates around the world,” Heslin said. “As time went on, I truly realized how dangerous it was. … My life has been threatened. I fear for my life, I fear for my safety.”

Heslin said his home and car have been shot at, and his attorneys said Monday that the family had an “encounter” in Austin since the trial started and have been in isolation under security.

Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, have sued Jones and his media company Free Speech Systems over the harassment and threats they and other parents say they have endured for years because of Jones and his Infowars website. Jones claimed the 2012 attack that killed 20 first-graders and six staffers at the Connecticut school was a hoax or faked.

Heslin and Lewis are seeking at least $150 million in the case.

“Today is very important to me and it’s been a long time coming… to face Alex Jones for what he said and did to me. To restore the honor and legacy of my son,” Heslin said.

Heslin also said that while he doesn’t know if the Sandy Hook hoax theory originated with Jones, it was Jones who “lit the match and started the fire” with an online platform and broadcast that reached millions worldwide.

Heslin told the jury about holding his son with a bullet hole through his head, even describing the extent of the damage to his son’s body. A key segment of the case is a 2017 Infowars broadcast that said Heslin holding his son didn’t happen.

An apology from Jones wouldn’t be good enough at this point, he said.

“Alex started this fight,” Heslin said, “and I’ll finish this fight.”

Jones wasn’t in court during Heslin’s testimony, to move the father called “cowardly.” Jones has skipped much of the testimony during the two-week trial and had a cadre of bodyguards in the courtroom when he did attend. Tuesday was the last scheduled day for testimony and Jones was expected to take the stand as the only witness in his defense of him.

Scarlett Lewis was also called to the stand Tuesday.

Heslin and Lewis suffer from a form of post-traumatic stress disorder that comes from constant trauma, similar to that endured by soldiers in war zones or child abuse victims, a forensic psychologist who studied their cases and met with them testified Monday.

Jones has portrayed the lawsuit against him as an attack on his First Amendment rights.

At stake in the trial is how much Jones will pay. The parents have asked the jury to award $150 million in compensation for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The jury will then consider whether Jones and his company will pay punitive damages.

The trial is just one of several Jones faces.

Courts in Texas and Connecticut have already found Jones liable for defamation for his portrayal of the Sandy Hook massacre as a hoax involving actors aimed at increasing gun control. In both states, judges issued default judgments against Jones without trials because he failed to respond to court orders and turn over documents.

Jones has already tried to protect Free Speech Systems financially. The company filed for federal bankruptcy protection last week. Sandy Hook families have separately sued Jones over his financial claims from him, arguing that the company is trying to protect millions owned by Jones and his family from him through shell entities.

.

Categories
Australia

South Korean parents and teachers protest against plan to lower school age

Students wearing face masks as a precaution against the new coronavirus walk to their classrooms in Seoul.

Teachers and parents in South Korea are pushing back against plans to lower the age children start school to five years old.

The education ministry announced last week it would lower the age in stages from 2025, if the move was supported by the public.

A coalition of 36 teacher and parent groups staged a rally in front of the presidential office on Monday, calling for the plan to be dropped.

The education ministry said the plan would help address the shrinking labor force as students would complete their education earlier.

Teachers hold concerns the change would result in more private tutoring for students as parents competed to get their children ahead.

“Considering cognitive and emotional development, early entry to school is inappropriate,” the coalition said in a statement.

“It is likely to cause side effects, such as intensifying private education and competition for college entrance exams.”

“It would only increase the burden on parents at a time when many are giving up their jobs to support their children as they enter elementary school.”

Parents are also opposing the plan due to the struggle to find child care in the early afternoon.

Parents already face the problem, but not until children go to school at age six.

A mother of two who did not wish to be named said the government should help schools secure more teachers to take better care of children.

“This means schools would play a dual role of education and child care,” she said.

The education ministry said it expected to have enough public feedback on its plan by the end of the year.

It said measures would be designed to expand child care and other support before launching a pilot program.

Reuters

.

Categories
US

University instructor charged in shooting death of student

University instructor charged in shooting death of student

CARROLTON, Ga. — A university instructor in Georgia has been charged with killing an 18-year-old student who was fatally shot while sitting in a car.

The Carrollton Police Department said in a news release that Richard Sigman, 47, is charged with murder and aggravated assault for the shooting death of Anna Jones, 18. Police said they believe Jones was killed when Sigman shot into a parked car following an argument with a man at a pizza restaurant. The shooting happened shortly after midnight Saturday.

Police said a man told security that Sigman had threatened to shoot him during an argument, and security then asked Sigman to leave. Investigators believe when Sigman left, he walked to the parking deck and started shooting into a parked vehicle, hitting Jones. Friends drove Jones to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, police said.

It is not immediately clear if Sigman has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

The University of West Georgia told news outlets in a statement that Sigman’s employment has been terminated. A current course catalog listed Sigman as a lecturer in business administration.

The university said Jones was a student at the university.

“On behalf of the university, we wish to convey our deepest condolences to Anna’s family and many friends. We know this news is difficult to process and affects many members of our university community. We ask that you keep Anna’s family, friends, and all who have been touched by this tragedy in your thoughts during this tremendously difficult time,” University of West Georgia President Dr. Brendan Kelly said in the statement.

.