Blaska Policy Werkes

Learning self-discipline
is key to mastering life itself

Thank you very much to Michael Cummins, the lone conservative contributor to Madison’s weekly Isthmus newspaper, for connecting the dots on behalf of Madison’s public school teachers, concerned parents and their children. 

In the current issue, Cummins makes the same point Blaska Policy Werkes has been making but in a new way:

If you teach children to disrespect teachers they will do so.

Does that make sense, my liberal-progressive-socialist acquaintances? Are you getting this or do we need to dumb it down even more? Mr. Cummins, you have the floor (you, in back there: report to the principal’s office. NOW!)

Maybe kids are disrespecting their teachers because adults have taught them to. … If, as [school board member Ali] Muldrow asserted during her campaign, the “theme” in Madison education is “how do we blame black children, how do we hurt black children, how do we get rid of black children, how do we not listen to black children,” then it makes perfect sense for black children to behave disrespectfully. 

As we have been saying, tell kids and their parents they are victims and you absolve them of all responsibility for their actions.  Cummins again: 

You don’t sit and politely listen to someone who wants to hurt you because of your race. … the style that many Madison equity activists have adopted is causing more injustice than it’s preventing. If we allow our teachers to be disempowered, and their classrooms thrown into chaos, then we have broken our promise to offer every child a sound basic education.

No consequences, no lesson

An academic study by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy found the same thing in its study of the public schools of Providence, Rhode Island. 

Our review teams encountered many teachers and students who do not feel safe in school. There is widespread agreement that bullying, demeaning, and even physical violence are occurring within the school walls at very high levels.

Johns Hopkins traced a direct correlation to student achievement, “which actually drops the longer students spend in Providence schools,” the Wall Street Journal reports today.

One student reported that “my best teacher’s desk was urinated on, and nothing happened.” Another noted a teacher “was choked by a student in front of the whole class. Everybody was traumatized, but nothing happened.” One district leader observed, “the students run the buildings.”

One culprit are policies that discourage student discipline. Rhode Island Democrats in 2016 passed legislation backed by the American Civil Liberties Union that limits school suspensions, which progressives claim discriminate against minorities. Teachers are reluctant to punish students, and violence and misconduct make it harder to retain good teachers.

Blaska’s bottom Line: Do you really think anti-social behavior stops at the schoolhouse door?

Today’s juvenile police blotter

2:47 p.m.  Sunday, July 7 —  Officers responded to a residence on the east side for a report of a residential burglary. The residents/victims reported that they saw someone in their bedroom with a flashlight but initially believed it was their son. Upon waking, they discovered a wallet, two pellet guns, and an iPad were stolen from the residence. The garage door was open as well. Video surveillance from multiple locations showed the suspects (2 AAMs and 2 AAFs, all in their teens) using the victims’ credit card. Investigation continuing.

8:08 p.m. Sunday, July 7 — Officers were dispatched with an alert tone for a report of a person with a gun. Several officers arrived in the area of School Rd and made contact with a 14-year-old AAM and 13-year-old AAM. They reported other juveniles in area wanted to fight them but denied that a gun was displayed. There were many conflicting narratives provided to officers on scene. Video surveillance will be reviewed.

11:32 p.m. Sunday, July 7 — Officers were dispatched to a disturbance in the area of E Johnson St where the reporting party reported shouting, screaming, and slamming doors from an intoxicated and under aged crowd. Officers arrived on scene and were approached by a victim (18-year-old WF) who reported she was battered at a party in the area. Officers observed approximately 20 underage teens associated with the suspect’s (20-year-old AAM) apartment. Investigation continuing.

It is too much to ask?

Also known as Love of Country

From the Wall Street Journal:

Nike is entitled to cancel its products for any reason. But the rest of us are entitled to point out that no flag of the United States is a symbol of oppression and racism, and that Mr. Kaepernick’s suggestion that it is one — with Nike’s tacit agreement — is political theater based on false history. We’re also old enough to recall when feminists considered Betsy Ross a hero, not a symbol of repression. But that’s another sign of our current political insanity.

It’s also worth remembering that harebrained controversies like this give many Americans the not unreasonable sense that their country is being maligned by pampered social-justice warriors.

100 years ago

July 4, 2019, marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of my father, Jerome L. Blaska. He was proud to be born on the 4th of July, as were two of his sisters: Evelyn and Juanita (Dolly). He served his country in WW2, served eight years in the Wisconsin legislature, helped feed America on his farm, and contributed to the baby boom. He passed away on May 2, 2000.