My Site: The Freelance Teacher

My students have been asking where I’ve been all these months. The answer is my new site: thefreelanceteacher.com

Do you want to be able to write clearly, with words that get attention and make others think? Don’t you want your college essay to register with the adminssions department at your desired school? Do you want to get your SAT or ACT scores higher, and learn a few things that you never get in school? You have come to the right site.

Here is what members get:


College Essay / Supplemental / and General Essay Writing Help
I will go through your college application writing materials and proofread and improve them. How badly do you want to get into the school of your choice? The college essay can be intimidating. I will see to it that your THREE (Your main essay and 2 supplementals) essays have a good tone, contain well-written English and show off your writing skills. I’ve proofread hundreds of these things and am well aware of what the universities are looking for. The supplemental compositions are shorter, more vague pieces of writing, and I can work you through those as well. I can also help you get started, with large amounts of help on the first paragraph. The universities look for indivuality and leadership qualities. I will go through your list of attributes and build a template for you to use – much of your introductory paragraph. Again, how badly do you want to get into the college of your choice?

Exam Prep
$140 a year for exam prep on the English sections of the examsis a steal. The verbal sections of the two exams (SAT and ACT) should be unintimidating and familiar to you after you’ve studied the screencasts, tutorials and connected with me for online individualized help. There are sound files available where I explain the exam basics and give you the layout of the test. All that stuff in the beginning of the prep book — I’ve read it and will explain it to you in an easily understood manner so you don’t have to. You also get access to me via the Internet and I can work with you on questions or points you may not understand well.

Daily Entries

Every day I write something — a tip, an insight, a fact — something that you could use for school in order to get better grades. This site represents my view of the public school system: hostile. School and schoolteachers rarely get it right, and the institution wasn’t created to make you smarter. My mission is to fill in the large blanks in your education, get your grades up and get you out. My 18 years in the system have allowed me to give you the tools needed to do well and graduate. You have a teacher with nearly two decades of experience at your disposal.

Forums

The hidden value is the information sharing in the forums. Students all over the world have knowledge, that when we share it, it becomes part of your knowledge arsenal. Asking questions gets you not just me, but the crowd looking at your need and fulfilling it. Here we work together. The free sites are useless in this regard. The membership cost keeps out the trolls. You get questions answered. This site is for shedding light on things, not trolling and creating an online food fight.

Go to www.thefreelanceteacher.com and subscribe today!

Another Case of a Conspiracy Theory that has Become Conspiracy Fact

People have written about the "Deep State" for years. Peter Dale Scott is the standard bearer for this line of analysis.

The Deep State really runs things. It is hidden, powerful and frightening. If you wrote about the Deep State as recently as within the past decade, you were labeled a Conspiracy Theorist by the Guardians of Acceptable Opinion, and dismissed as a kook. Apparently those days are over. Peter Dale Scott would routinely produce articles like this, and they would be ignored by everyone except the Conspiracy community, the Revisionist Historians and the Libertarians. The 'Doomsday Project' and other Deep Events were written about by Scott (and a few others), but they didn't make a dent.

Knowledge is power, and it seems that the interests that have a stake in keeping people ignorant haven't been able to stop the onslaught of information. I despair sometimes about the lack of intelligence among people but then I see inroads like this article on the Deep State in, of all places, the New York Times.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/15/us/examining-who-runs-the-united-states.html?_r=3 

The NYT holds a special place in the pantheon of the Gatekeepers of news and information Hall of Fame. They play both sides of the fence, are guardians of the status quo and the people in power, yet they profess to be the best at the job and on the side of the regular guy.

For an article on the Deep State to appear in the Times is almost unbelievable, and they mention Scott within the first 1/4 of the article. Practically everything in the article would have been considered a silly conspiracy, unworthy of consideration in polite circles as recently as 5 years ago.

I guess things are changing. Not as quickly as I'd like, but this qualifies a progress.

The Bureaucrat Palace

"For the children"? Are you sure? Is that where the money and attention and perks are going in your district? It certainly isn't in mine, where the big shots, the big money central office bureaucrats are not only now pulling in large dollars (good for them), but they are in an air conditioned palace while the students across the hall are in tippy desk, dirty substandard rooms. In a move of ultimate brass balls the 'top brass' have put it in everyone's face. This is how my school year began....

Reflections on the History of Schooling - by the Best Source Imaginable

I don't know of any teacher who would sit through this and watch it. It destroys too many worldviews.

Gatto, in the first 12 minutes, explains how the school district of Benson VT siphons off tradition, money and intellect. Where do these resources go? To the tenured school bureacrats who teach no students, can't be fired, and are wholly unaccountable. The cost is prohibitive. Not just the money, which is twice what a private school education would cost, but three old schoolhouses that were working just fine. In their place is a factory school, devoid of character and class. I looked up Benson VT school district to see what they have there. The building looks like an aluminum barn.

What Gatto does is connect what happened to Benson VT with what the creators of modern schooling wanted. This is the part that most educators avoid. Gatto explains what the school system was intended to do and matches it with what has happened in Benson and other places in the U.S. The industrialists behind forced mass schooling were very clear. They wanted to stifle the huge amount of creativity that the American people were showing in all parts of life, including business. Those people were a threat. The future Edisons and Carnegies had to be strangled in the crib, and schooling would destroy their inherent creativity.

This isn't a conspiracy theory - they wrote exactly what they wanted to do. They were up front about it. The evidence is there, easy to find. Don't work too hard trying to explain this to an adult. They have their worldview and they're sticking to it. You, however, have much to gain by learning what is being done to you and how to avoid it.

Allow your creativity to thrive. Learn, in this hour long video, more than your teachers do about schooling and its sinister history. Knowledge really is power.

The Truth About...The State Visiting Our School

In this podcast I go into two separate and distinct topics: the value in the freedomainradio series "The Truth About...." and the NY State Education Dept visiting my school. The "Truth" series is particularly useful, as its host, Stefan Molyneux, uses reason, logic, facts and evidence to explain the truth about various topics and people. The section of the podcast about the State (Overlords) visiting is pure dark comedy, as it is a lot of sound and noise and fury and dollars that will, in the end, create no change.

Access to Capital, Cell Phones, and China – 3 C’s Changing the World

In this podcast, I go over how access to capital via crowdfunding or micro lending will bypass the large banks. The bank official used to be the blockage to the fulfillment of an idea, but now those days are over. With the internet allowing the changing of the guard with regard to getting an idea up and running, the free market will flourish, and the gatekeepers will no longer be able to control the flow and growth of ideas.

A huge thanks / hat tip to Gary North.

School failed me, and I failed the school. It bored me. – Einstein

“School failed me, and I failed the school. It bored me. The teachers behaved like Feldwebel (sergeants). I wanted to learn what I wanted to know, but they wanted me to learn for the exam.” - – – – Einstein and the Poet (1983)

http://www.biographyonline.net/scientists/albert-einstein.html

Einstein was not only not a fan of school, he was late to speak, and the authorities of the day were sure he was what today would be called “special ed.”

Everyone learns at his own pace.  People have individual interests. Being good or bad in school does not correlate directly with success – wealth or otherwise.

My message has always been this. You can do better at school and use it as a tool to advance, but it isn’t something that locks you in or determines your future.

Why do people say there is only one way?

Who are these people?

Phonebloks – Someone with an idea for a product / service and little technical skill….

This video has gotten an unreal number of views: 21 million.

If you'll notice, the guy with the Phonebloks idea wasn't technically savvy. His site crashed. He asked for help via Twitter - and got it.

I think this is a great idea. I was talking about entrepreneurship with some students 8th period yesterday - coincidentally about cellphones. This guy had a good idea and because there is a www he was able to get his message out there. 15 years ago this would have been impossible. There are many permutations to ideas, social media, information movement and speed, knowledge of the web. This is counter to the idea that 'the good ideas are all taken, or 'I don't have any tech skills so I am doomed'.

No you're not. Here is the update. What's your idea or product or service you'd like to sell? Perhaps you can get involved with these people via social media and learn from them?

Revisionist History is not Conspiracy Theory - Antarctica proves this.

I introduce a lot of history in my English class. I think it's impossible not to cover the basic history, especially the time period in which the author lived. The days and events are important things that shaped the work.

This era is an era of historical disconnect. Especially with the advent of the world wide web, there is a gap that exists between students and teachers. The teachers have been trained by the textbooks and professors from a pre-internet era. The information hasn't changed a ton, but the accessibility has changed exponentially.

Here's an example and it has to do with Antarctica and the issue of discovery. According to wikipedia, Antarctica was discovered in 1820. Watch the first 5 minutes of this video, and you'll not only learn about an interesting story about the race to the South Pole, but that Antarctica was discovered in 1820. There is a problem however, and you're not supposed to ever find out about it. Much like much of Establishment History, the story is false, almost to the point of being fraudulent.

If it wasn't 'discovered' until 1820, how do you explain the Piri Reis map from 1513?

Graham Hancock, by the way, has been called a 'pseudohistorian' by the Establishment.

Not only that - how do you explain the Oronteus Finaeus map from 1531?

These questions, and this evidence, will cause much chortling, giggles and bad explanations about "conspiracy theories" from the adults who are supposed to be about the free exchange of ideas. I used to think that the professors and the teachers were people with honor, who would welcome debate and new thoughts. I was so wrong it isn't even funny.

I think it's time that the young people out there stop taking a back seat. There are times when it's time to step up. We saw this in the 1960's when people stepped up and demanded real change and and ending of idiotic wars. It wasn't a permanent but they got their point across. They scared the Establishment, which, in my opinion, stepped up the propaganda war and the sped up the dumbing down of the US.

The revisionist historians of today are yelling from the rooftops for help. Your instructors are not evil beasts intent on warping your brain. Their paradigm was built in a different era - one of limited information exchange and blind trust for one's college professors. If you want to rattle the chains, these topics will do it:

• FDR intentionally screws with Japan to provoke WWII.

• The absurdity of the official JFK assassination story.

• The Council on Foreign Relations and its influence.

• The attempt to crush the Wright brothers after they figured out manned flight - the gov't's guy didn't do it first.

• The Federal Reserve and its founding.

There are many more topics to discuss - most of them deal with fraudulent government action. As faith in government has replaced faith in God, the revisionist ideas get tossed down the memory hole.

Gary North shows you how it's done here:

College Dropout Has 26 Million Students - and No Teacher's License!

Each year, I have between 80 and 150 students. This is called 'having influence over young people'.

In NY State, you need at least 18 'education credits', a BA and then an MS/MA from a University.

Then you need to take a Content Specialty Exam (CSE), the LAST (a liberal arts exam), and an ATS-W (teacher theory / jargon) exam.

The State has implemented more exams to take for people who went through the system after I did. Each one of these exams has a fee attached to it. It must be a great moneymaker for NY state government and colleges - seeing all the people going to college to become teachers.

I've mentioned code.org and seattleclouds.com. Here is another site run by a guy with 26 million students. He dropped out of college. This means he doesn't have a teaching credential. Just like Salman Khan over at khanacademy.org. How many millions of young people use khanacademy? It is, according to Alexa, 694th most popular in the US and 1700th in the world. This is a huge amount of traffic, seeing that there are millions of websites around the world.

From the article: "Zach Sims, a college dropout founded Codecademy, a website which enables users to learn six popular programming languages, via a simple interface, for free. Codecademy is three years old now, and Sims has 26 million students."

Does this mean college is useless? Of course not. It also doesn't mean all of your certified teachers are morons. Now that we're past 7th grade it's clear there are no absolutes, that there are always exceptions. But here's what you're told, and what I was told, and what is still told to students nationwide: "go to college, get a diploma, and if you want to become a teacher get certified and then get a job". This is what we're told - repeatedly - in schools. I hear it every day, and see signs in the hallway saying it as well.

Place that quote next to what the article says, under the subheading 'Relevant Skills': ""We were spending our days learning about Greek mythology, and our nights studying thick financial modelling textbooks. We figured if students at Columbia - a top five school in the country, can't find jobs when they graduate, there was probably a problem." So Zach started to teach himself to code. "We built the first version of Codecademy for me," he explains, and with the help of a friend, Ryan Bubinski, he expanded the site. Mr Bubinski became co-founder and together they launched Codecademy, in August 2011. In the first weekend more than 200,000 people used the product - "it gave the ability to send emails to all those people who said the market size was limited," Zach quips, unable to suppress a smile."

There's never just one way. Perhaps in the hard sciences, engineering and high order mathematics the top tier university route is the way to go. I have a suspicion that your top intellect peers, coupled with a few amazing professors will really be the goldmine you'll find at that level - not the 'credential' you'll get.

People told these young men that the 'market size was limited'. Did they listen? No.

The market for your skills is out there. Think of what you do well, what relevant skills you have, and sell them to the market. If you fail, fail quickly and start over.

The internet is moving faster than the dinosaurs in your school. They are going extinct, and some of them will give you advice that will make your job prospects extinct.

http://www.codecademy.com

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30960562

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/01/education-moment-man-with-26-million.html#lVhy1Y6dJeyquYiT.99

With Isaiah “Elite Buckets” Rhodes

We discuss the Josh Smith release, along with the shocking state of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and some other aspects of the NBA. Intelligent commentary only – if you want screaming and empty analysis, you must go elsewhere.

The Decline and Fall of the ARC, and the Entrepreneurial Skill of Mike Dolce

The ARC is no more, not that it ever was anything to speak of – just the usual farce of school. Mike Dolce shows you how to do something entrepreneurial that ‘has been done before’. A lesson in entrepreneurship.

EXPERT: MOST US COLLEGE FRESHMEN READ AT 7TH GRADE LEVEL

It used to be one of the major arguments I would get into on Facebook. I would talk about how people don't think, don't read, don't pay attention, don't ask questions, don't recognize logical fallacies... - inevitably someone would come after me and tell me that literacy rates are the highest they have ever been. The only way that is possible is if what what passes for literacy is at a lower level now than in the old days.


How do I know this? Where is the evidence?

• Look at Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies". Do you see 'soporific' on the first page? That's a children's story. From a hundred years ago. What children's book did you read that had SAT vocabulary? I didn't think so. 
• Go to google and type in "Kenny Hignite" and look at his junior high school civics exam. Not only couldn't you do as well as he did, they don't teach civics anymore. It might hurt someone's feelings. 
• Look at McGuffey's sixth reader. That is a book intended for the 10th grader - of 1880. Graduate students at today's universities would curl up in the fetal position and soil themselves. Don't believe me? Look it up - it's easy to find in pdf form. I have a copy on my laptop in case I'm in the mood to have my literacy level placed on HGH and steroids. 

Those examples come from memory - it wouldn't take much to find others.


The article referenced in the title talks about something that is going on today, and seems to be true. What it talks about that's important is twofold. The first is that the expert quoted is the only academic on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) committee. She now tours the country speaking out against common core. She quit the committee, as did the mathematic professor, in disgust and refused to sign off on what was produced. This was the legislation that was eagerly signed by your state legislators via bribe and is touted by your 'school leaders' as the thing that will save the flagging academic performances at your school. I had no idea about this back story to common core, it wasn't shared with us in the teacher meetings. Our 'leaders' followed it because they were told to by the Big Shots in State Gov't.


The second main point is that this lack of literacy is easily overcome. You can get past it and be the best by NOT doing what the students in the article do. They read at a low level on their off time. Their down time is spent reading things at a junior high school level. If you constantly practice on an 8 foot rim, you'll never be skilled on the real thing. You need to read at a level that will stretch your mind a bit - push your capabilities. I have always recommended Hawthorne, Dickens, Poe, Doyle and Melville. There are other authors who will give you an intellectual workout as well. Find them and read them. I can help you with this.


Quotes from the article that are noteworthy: 

• "Dr. Sandra Stotsky is best known for serving on the Common Core Validation Committee in 2009-10 and refusing to approve standards she called ‘inferior', along with colleague James Milgram, Professor of Mathematics at Stanford University." 
• “We are spending billions of dollars trying to send students to college and maintain them there when, on average, they read at about the grade 6 or 7 level, according to Renaissance Learning's latest report on what American students in grades 9-12 read, whether assigned or chosen.” 
• Stotsky clarified, “The average reading level for five of the top seven books assigned as summer reading by 341 colleges using Renaissance Learning's readability formula was rated 7.56.” That means, a large number of college freshman are basically reading on a level of grade 7 at the sixth month mark. 

That means get YOUR reading level up, on your own, and read at a higher level than your peers, and do all the pre college exams and essays better than they do.


Full article here: http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/01/03/expert-most-us-college-freshmen-read-at-7th-grade-level/

Water Freezes at What Temperature?

Here I go into how my 3rd period class of HIGH SCHOOLERS did not know the temperature at which water freezes. This is not hyperbole or silliness. They didn't know. How does that happen? What is the school system teaching in 'science' class in the younger grades?