Basically, NCLB school evaluation in Califnornia is based on the percent of 10th graders who pass the HS Exit Exam.  It doesn’t matter if the student passes [...]]]> It’s hard to describe how awesome it is to see that my former high school district is manipulating No Child Left Behind in such innovative ways.  I’m almost proud.

Basically, NCLB school evaluation in Califnornia is based on the percent of 10th graders who pass the HS Exit Exam.  It doesn’t matter if the student passes the test in a later grade; the 10th grade rate is the key statistic.  The Kern High School District has therefore taken an ‘assume a can-opener’ approach to this challenge and eliminated sophomores.  Or at least the low-performing ones.

Here’s how it works:

The Man: We have decided that you have ‘failed’ your freshman year by not earning enough units to be advanced.

You: Fuck me.

The Man: Hey! Language, please.

You: Sorry. That sucks.

The Man: Yes, well, so do your grades. Now you will redo your freshman year and make up the classes you failed so you can rejoin your class.

You: Hmph. What if I fail again? Do I stay a freshman?

The Man: No.

You: Oh. Do I become a sophomore?

The Man: No.

You: Ok…well what?

The Man: You’ll be a junior.

You: Even if I fail? Again?

The Man: Of course. We don’t want to hold you back, we just want to give you more time to succeed.

You: Wait, wait, wait. So you’re saying you’re going to keep me locked in hear for 5 years now?!

The Man: Don’t be ridiculous. If you can’t graduate in 4 years, then there’s nothing we can do to help you.

You: So how is that ‘more time to succeed?’

The Man: Well, it’s more time to prepare for the exit exam, which you won’t take until you’re a sophomore, or in your case, a junior.

You: I’m never going to take that fucking test.

The Man: We know sport.  And it’s ok.

You: What?

The Man: Well, I shouldn’t tell you this, but let’s be honest. You’re not going to pass the exit exam.  I mean, you might, eventually, but certainly not next year. Not as a sophomore. And we can’t have that. If our sophomore pass rate dives, it’s means lost funds, lost promotions, worse education for all you kids. And that wouldn’t be fair, would it? It’d be better for all of us if you just skipped next years test. I trust you’re agreeable?

You: Maybe. IF I take your test, what if I fail junior year?

The Man: Nothing! It would be unfortunate for you, but rest assured it won’t affect me, and I won’t be on your case. No one will look at that statistic!

You: You guys are gangster. I feel suddenly full of school pride.

The Man: Um, thank you. See you at freshman orientation.

Similar to coders really.

Update: It’s embarrassing when you misspell the punchline.

The new header features a shot [...]]]> If you are self-employed, and therefore actually visit the website of blogs you read — as opposed to the rest of us who use RSS readers to mask with javascript our non-work-related internet usage — than you have no doubt noticed that this blog has changed it’s look a bit.

The new header features a shot of Le Corbusier’s Plan Voison, which is a big more relevant than the Chefchaouen picture that was up before.  Their is now an After Corbu flickr page, with photos from buildings I visit or images from models I create.  I’m not as interested in pictures of complete buildings, as they hide so much, and will try to post my favorite pictures of the contruction process.

There’s also a few new areas to this site, which you can browse at your leisure:

• About – a general statement of purpose.
• Archives – I found a sweet little module that lays out old posts graphically very nicely.
• Links – the ol’ blogroll can now be found here.

It’s still a WordPress blog, despite my rumblings about switching to Drupal. I had contemplated the switch because — and if you care nothing for web design, feel free to tune out at this point — I’m planning on having different content types on this site, namely Posts, Pictures, Links, & Graphs, and WordPress is not a natural CMS like Drupal.  However, I ultimately decided to put the pictures on an After Corbu flickr page and will soon start adding little micro-posts of graphs & links, which will be differentiated from blog posts by simply overloading the post category feature of WordPress.  It’s not as slick as using a real CMS, but it’s also easier than migrating posts and comments.

Anyway, enjoy!

In case it hasn’t been obvious for some time, I’ve all but shuttered this blog.  I just don’t have the time to post enough to make this project real to me, if that makes sense.  I would be interested in some kind of group-blogging situation in the future, so feel free to email me about [...]]]>

In case it hasn’t been obvious for some time, I’ve all but shuttered this blog.  I just don’t have the time to post enough to make this project real to me, if that makes sense.  I would be interested in some kind of group-blogging situation in the future, so feel free to email me about that.

I am also working on this sort of leftist housing networking site — radical crib – but the site goals & functionality are still both a little broken.  If and when that project comes together a bit more I’m sure I’ll return to talk about it at length.  Anyway.

If you came here expecting something exciting to read, this may strike you as quite a bummer, so let me suggest you head on over to the ‘ol blogroll for some choice content.

So Long.  Thanks for all the fish.

Today, as I left the metro a woman was asking for money for food. [...]]]> Sadly, today my hopes that public transit would be a panacea for anti-social behavior were, once again, dashed. PT: not a sufficient condition for people to develop enough affinity for their fellow man to avoid being mean to beggers.

Today, as I left the metro a woman was asking for money for food. Not uncommon. Less common: she was accompanied by her 5 year old (? — I find it impossible to tell the age of children. My observations can’t get past: small, disproportionate), who had very large eyes. Then:

She asked, “Spare some money for food?” and the person behind me said, “No. But I will call Social Services to come pick up your child.”

“Fuck You.”

“I’m going to call Social Services since you can’t feed your child.”

The woman paused, then walked to the elevator where we all enjoy an awkward ride up out of the station.

Now, I’m willing to admit that there’s some moral complexity with regards to the children of extremely poor folk. At what point should one give up their child for a “better” life? At what point should the government step in and “take” children away? Certainly food, shelter, and safety form a bright line that there’s probably consensus about. And it’s possible that my subway woman had crossed those lines, and she probably should have access to a social worker for assistance if nothing else.

However: I don’t think begging in and of itself should be grounds to take a child away. Entirely possible that said child had been fed and a bed for the night at a local church was lined up, but woman had not eaten. Or needed money for job interview clothes (my strong case). Or for beer (my weak case, but not actually an illegitimate purchase!). Moreover, hanging out in the subway asking for money: not particularly dangerous. So cursory look at the situation suggests hard-luck case to sympathize with, not vile child abuser to scorn.

But no: must call child protective services. Of course, given that SS does not have a rapid response guerrilla division, and I would only be able to direct SS to “go check out the Hollywood Metro,” and on top of it all the chances of me actually calling are about one in a million, this is all just posturing.

You see, I’m so annoyed that you, a poor person, would have the gall to ask me, ‘innocent’ bystander in your poverty, for money and thus make me feel guilt at my own tightfistedness that I will threaten to break up your family. That’s just how I roll. Asshole.

I feel like I should end my story by saying how I gave the women money/food to make this recitation serve as some sort of behavioral model. Or I could say that I didn’t do anything to help, admitting my own complicity, and by extension that of everyone who reads, given that we all participate in this classist society. But neither feels right. I’m not comfortable with my character as either holy or fallen.

Instead: a plea. I don’t have a solid opinion on the quantity and frequency of direct small-sum charity you should engage in. But sure as hell, harshing on beggars is fucked up. So don’t do it or I may have to punch you in the face.

La Live by Gensler

It’s not often you see a building get larger as it goes up. [...]]]> Light posting of late, as I’m working on a different online project that I’m quite excited about. When it’s of at least beta quality you’ll hear me chattering about it endlessly, but until then…your moment of zen phallacy:

La Live by Gensler

It’s not often you see a building get larger as it goes up. Something to do with physics…