The Daily Top Five: February 22, 2007

1. I just love this story. It seems that naturalized citizen Eric Odessit decided to counter protest an "art" project that was really an anti-war protest staged in part by Code Pink. The Indepundit has a great post on the matter.

2. Democratic candidates debating in Nevada resulted in big promises, but no plans. Roger Simon, writing at Politico.com,

When it comes to the issues, there are few real differences between the Democrats seeking their party’s nomination for president.

They all want health care for every man, woman and child in America. They all want to improve education in this country. They all want to end the war in Iraq.

So when they march on stage one after another, as they did in front of a labor union forum here, the differences quickly get down to personality, credibility and, of course, what they promise.

It is not enough for candidates to promise us the moon anymore. Now, they must throw in the earth, the sun and the stars, too.

Barack Obama, who skipped the event may have come out the best in the matter. He hasn't promised the sun, the moon or the stars. At least not yet, but according to Thomas Sowell, Obama needs a serious lesson in economics. The problem with the Democratic primary field, and the GOP field for that matter, is that at this stage, the battle is not really relevant because all we have are platitudes designed to garner attetion, no proposals worthy of serious consideration.

3. Joanne Jacobs discusses high school dropouts. Without a doubt, states and school systems under report the drop out problem. The number of drop outs reported simply doesn't match the reality. If a 30% drop out rate in California is even half way accurate, this country has a real problem. Jacobs sites options discussed in the Sacremento Bee article that contains descriptions of a number of proposals for helping cure the problem. But given that students who drop out in high school started on that path in middle school, it would seem taht the most cost effective intervention is in middle schools, not with dozens of fancy projects, but simply helping kids through an emotionally, socially, physically trying time would be the most successful.

4. Ken DeRose gets all Latin on us. But his post about the hatred of Direct Instruction in schools gets right to the heart of the matter. DeRosa, who has been talking about Direct Instruction and Project Follow Through for several weeks now, sums up the hatred of the DI program:

Also included in the experiment was a program designed by a non-educator with no formal education training other than teaching preschoolers. This program was Direct Instruction (DI).

DI was not created by a teacher and therefore has been viewed a verboten amount the Edu-Crowd. But the problem is that DI works, and works better than any other pedogogical system extant.

Clearly, these results were a profound embarrassment to our educators. Not only did a program developed by a non-educator completely and utterly trounce the educators' programs, but often their programs were beaten, and beaten badly, by the control group which received a more traditional education.

The bitterness still exists to this day. The DI program is so hated by educators they have erased it from their collective memory banks. It is a painful reminder of their professional incompetence. It dispels all their unscientific "theories" and unfounded opinions. It shows that they are a sham.

I have seen DI in action a slightly different scenario. In the military, where most of the specialty instruction is presented in a fashion similar to DI, because it works. There is not a great deal of opportunity for a civilian teenager to learn how to maintain the avionics on an Apache helicopter. So the soldier is taught, step by step, each idea and lesson building on the previous work. This method of instruction's success is demonstated by the powerful military we now have.

5. A good one for Grins and Giggles. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, whose presidential campaign has been overshadowed in recent weeks by charismatic rival Sen. Barack Obama, D-IL, today walked into a K-Street beauty salon in Washington, D.C., commandeered the clippers and shaved her head down to the bare skin.

"If Britney Spears can milk a week’s worth of top headlines from this trivial act, so can I," said a visibly-agitated Mrs. Clinton, who, as it turns out, has "magnificent head shape," according to the stylist on duty.

The candidate said she has not ruled out visits to tattoo and piercing parlors, and will do "whatever it takes."

"I’m in, and I’m in to win," she said. "The American voters can now see that I have much a larger cranium than Sen. Obama, and I think they’ll draw their own conclusions."

Hat Tip: Mary Katherine Ham.