Educating for the Future

by Southbanksteve

I am a product of the education system here in the United States and I listen to program after program on NPR only to realize the system does not benefit the children anymore.


Billions of dollars go into the US school system and unless a student is from a wealthy family or apart of a wealthy school, chances are he/she will have a severe lack in basic education.


California spends, on average, about $8,887 per student, this is about $260,000 going into the class room, $68,000, on average, goes to the teacher where is the rest of the money going?


When teachers buy their own supplies, work 70+ work weeks, have to pay off a master's degree where is the money to help they be paid for their time and energy in the classroom?  


Even though California is one of the lowest in paying per student in the public schools, a quarter of a million is still a huge chunk of change and if the teachers aren't getting it who is?


Obviously it's the infrastructure filled with janitors, secretaries, administrators, who take up most of the funding.  I'm not saying schools do not need infrastructure, however, it is far from streamlined considering how teachers have to buy simple school supplies like paper.


This is a monstrous problem in the system and I truly believe no one wants to deal with it.  charter schools can be better, but not always, however the greatest difference between a charter school and a public one is if the charter fails it's shut down, but if the public school is failing it receives more money.


How does that make any sense?  It sounds like an absent father who throws money at problems rather than go to the root of the issue.  I'm not saying looking into the school system will be easy, but it looks like the whole body needs a therapist.

by Stroble, David

Root causes for the issues pop up everywhere; teachers, money, parents, students the government, but I think we need to dig deeper to an older issue.  Placing similar age groups together, learning the same subject at the same time, different classrooms or no, has not  proven to be an effective teaching practice, honestly it is an experiment.  


To go to a more recent time, the 1950s, schools trained college bound students and blue collar workers on different tracks, but with the manufacturing leaving the US to countries like China this system is no longer valid.


The roots of the educational system are flawed and unless we rip out the old dying roots the system will just try to grow again leaving the education of the future no better than before.

Making Incense is Painful

I have this really informative book, The Complete Book of Incense, Oils and Brews Scott Cunningham, and I really like it, it actually teaches you basic herb properties and how to make everything you need in your magickal life. In my first esbat, on July 7, 2009, I used one of Cunningham's' altar incense' and I think it worked wonderfully. However, last night it was a different story, I haven't been sleeping very well, so I decided to make myself a sleep assist, but it turned into a dream incense because I didn't have all the ingredients needed or the replacements the book says you can use.

So I decided to make:
2 part dried rose petals
2 parts lavender
and one part Cedar

This was still altered because I didn't have the lavender or rose oil I needed. So I set it up on my alter and tried to light the self-igniting charcoal, but it just wouldn't light. I kept burning my fingers hoping it would light the thing, but it would just spark for a few seconds and fizzle out. So I tried lighting a different one and still nothing, I tried putting sage oil on top, nothing, I tried setting it on fire, nothing.

The brand I used was Instant Swift-Light Charcoal and it failed. I probably bought a bad batch, but I'm going to buy the organic Charcoal next time for 25 cents more. It was so frustrating to make the incense that it made me even more tired, so I guess it succeeded it helping me sleep even with burnt fingers.

I probably will try again because I've never been able to remember my dreams really well and I would like to see if this helps me remember my dreams. I do remember one dream in particular with the a totem animal the horse in it.

I was on a journey through a zany version of my neighborhood stuck in my dad's BMW in first gear picking up adopted cousins and sisters, until I reach my home where all the cars from the neighborhood are there. One man tells me they are re-drawing the property lines and I head to my back yard where a horse is standing by an apple tree. "I'm looking for my mother's van, it's black, have you seen it?"
"It went that way." The horse said to me and I look to see car tracks leading into a deep wood. I thank the horse and went about my way, letting him eat the apples off the tree.

I toughly believe it was a dream to tell me, "Your going on a journey." I was, but I didn't know it yet. All the research I did about the Christian God lead me to this path of discovery and I hope I at least entertained you for a while.

Blessed Be