Covid: University of Surrey lowers entry standards to ‘relieve anxiety’
Requirements for most courses will be reduced to “relieve the pressure and anxiety” for students.
The University of Surrey will drop entry requirements by one grade for most students applying for undergraduate courses next year.
Grades will be lowered to “relieve the pressure and anxiety” for students, who have had their learning disrupted by the pandemic across two academic years.
It is the second institution to make the move within a week.
The government said it will publish plans “shortly” on how it will manage disruption to exam pupils in England.
Lizzie Burrows, director of recruitment and admissions at the University of Surrey, said: “We are taking this action now to relieve the pressure and anxiety facing this year’s applicants, as they experience ongoing disruption and uncertainty surrounding exams and assessment of their learning.
‘Reassurance’
“By taking this step, we can provide one additional element of certainty and reassurance that these students will be protected from unfair disadvantage as a result of the impact of the pandemic.”
Regulated courses such as veterinary medicine, foundation year courses, four-year integrated masters programmes and audition-based performance courses will be exempt from the grade reduction, the university said.
Earlier this month, the University of Birmingham became the first higher education institution to reduce entry requirements in recognition of the impact of the pandemic.


For each university course there is an expected threshold in terms of A-level grades, and now Surrey is saying it will accept one grade lower in one subject this year.
So a student applying to study chemistry will only have to reach two Bs and a C at A-level, whereas in previous years it would have been three Bs.
This move by a large university may be an early sign of how flexible universities will be with this year’s applicants.
The University of Birmingham has already said it will also be dropping requirements by one grade in one subject.
A-level exams in England are expected to go ahead, and ministers will be under pressure to find a way of recognising that some students have had learning more disrupted than others.
That could prove difficult but a more forgiving approach by universities could compensate.
Source: Covid: University of Surrey lowers entry grades to ‘relieve anxiety’ – BBC News
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An Interview with Sidney and Pamela Shuler: Day Trips
An Interview with Sidney and Pamela Shuler: Day Trips

Michael F. Shaughnessy
1) I understand that you (Sidney and Pamela Shuler ) and Dr. Miles Massicotte on piano are going to do a world premiere performance of Day Trips which is an 8 movement work by Dr. B.J. Brooks. When will this occur?
Day Trips will be premiered by Drs. Pamela and Sidney Shuler on a recital slated for 11/30/20. The recital will be streamed live on the ENMU Music Department YouTube channel and will be available to view on that channel afterwards. This recital was first conceived as a typical, evening time recital. However, with all of the virtual instruction, etc., we felt it would be appropriate to hold the recital in a far less formal format opting for a “lunch time” recital at the noon hour. Dr. Miles Massicotte will be joining Pam and myself on two solo works earlier in the recital.
The other works on the recital (in program order) are: Zarabandeo by Arturo Márquez for clarinet and piano; Sonatine by Bohuslav Martinů for trumpet and piano. Next, Pam and I will each play works for our solo instruments. A Week in Plasencia (solo clarinet) by Mike Curtis contains 8 movements depicting Plasencia, a provincial town in Spain. Pam has selected three movements from the work for this performance.
I will be performing Paths (solo trumpet) by Tōru Takemitsu. This work was dedicated to the memory of Polish composer, Witold Lutosławski. It contains fast mute changes that are facilitated by a mute rig that allows the performer to insert and remove the mute without needing to hold it.
Day Trips was written for clarinet and trumpet by Dr. B.J. Brooks without additional accompaniment. The piece contains 8 separate movements that depict 8 different scenic places and venues across the beautiful state of New Mexico. A variety of compositional techniques and unique treatment of each instrument were used in creating this work such as: canon (exact imitation between the voices); use of mute in the trumpet; free, and recitative-like playing in the clarinet.
2) Now, tell us about Dr. B.J. Brooks- a little history.
Dr. B.J. Brooks is a professor of music at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas. He grew up in Portales and attended Eastern New Mexico University, graduating in 1998 with a Bachelor of Music Education degree. Dr. Brooks frequently composes for many ensembles and chamber groups. He also is a member of the ENMU Alumni Band and often attends while playing bassoon.
3) Now, Dr. Sidney Shuler- what is your instrument and what will be your role in this Day Trips?
My instrument is trumpet. The pieces I am playing for this recital will all be performed on a C trumpet. My role in Day Trips changes depending on the movement. There are times I am a following voice (canon), a solo voice, an ostinato-style voice (repetitive rhythmic style), and a partner voice.
4) Now Dr. Pamela Shuler, what is your instrument and what will be your role in this performance?
I will be playing clarinet. It is interesting to talk about what the role of both of our instruments are in an unaccompanied work for clarinet and trumpet. In the wind instrument world, there pairings that would allow for similar tones and styles than clarinet and trumpet! Many view the clarinet as having a darker, warmer tone and the trumpet as having a much more direct and present sound. Sid and I have both had to work to try and match sounds and timbre. From the clarinet side, I am trying to brighten my sound more than what I usually feel comfortable doing!
5) I understand that there will be a piano accompaniment- who will be on the piano- and what is this person’s role in this work ?
Dr. Miles Massicotte will be playing the piano for the first two works on the recital. He provides collaborative work on each Zarabandeo (clarinet) and Sonatine (trumpet). He came to ENMU this semester and has been appreciated by many areas of the department already for his collaborative contributions. He will be giving his own, solo recital on December 7th.
6) What challenges have you had to face in rehearsing for this work?
For Day Trips, there have been several challenges. The first and largest challenge is the instrumentation itself. The trumpet and clarinet have very different acoustics that cause each of us to adapt our playing at times to that of the other performer. That said, since we live together, we are able to rehearse movements at our convenience. However, our children are at home for school, so we often have to schedule ourselves in our home and at school in opposition in order to accommodate ALL areas of what needs to be accomplished in a given day. In a typical semester, we would have been able to have rehearsals in the hall on a regular basis. There have been a number of unique challenges this moment in time has presented for musicians. Wanting to continue to make music at this time, it has been a somewhat unusual preparation process.
7) When exactly will this take place and will it be taped?
The recital will take place on November 30 in Buchanan Hall in the Music Building on the campus of ENMU. It will be live streamed and available for post viewing on the ENMU Music Department’s YouTube channel. We owe a great deal of credit to Mr. Neil Rutland and his student staff for making this process possible.
8) What have I neglected to ask ?
While this isn’t a question, we very much appreciate you taking the time to put a focus on the arts. For performing artists, this time has been a struggle. For those used to gallery openings, show openings, and music performances, it has been a difficult time in learning how to continue forward without being able to share our craft in a live format. We look forward to a time when we are able to gather together in a healthy format, but also appreciate everyone that has a role in still being able to share our craft.
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5,000 Alabama students haven’t shown up for any sort of class
5,000 Alabama students haven’t shown up for any sort of class
Losing the students could affect the budget for public schools come next year.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Preliminary reports indicate that more than 5,000 Alabama public school students haven’t shown up for any sort of classes – virtual or in-person – state Education Superintendent Eric Mackey said.
The students are likely to have a hard time catching up, and the enrollment drop could mean losing hundreds of teachers, Mackey said.
“It’s a very difficult year instructionally and that doesn’t even touch the surface on the issues we will have with these 5,000 students who are not in school and we don’t know where they are,” he said.
Because the state funding formula is based on enrollment, losing students could hit next year’s budget hard. Mackey told the Montgomery Advertiser he’s hoping the state Legislature will make a temporary change to avoid that, perhaps basing allocations on average enrollment for the past couple of years.
Mackey said some of the missing students may have enrolled in private schools.
Others have returned, but too late for the official enrollment count, which ends each year 20 days after Labor Day.
“I have every expectation that once the pandemic ends, all of those students will come back,” Mackey said.
“The instructional problem will exist,” he said, but he hopes the potential money problem will be averted.
Getting students caught up after school closings and virtual classes “will be an instructional problem next year and the year after,” he said, echoing concerns voiced nationwide during the pandemic.
Mackey said he plans to ask the Legislature for extra money for tutoring and summer school. The department received summer school funding for 2021, but many districts will need to offer summer school for the next two to three years.
“I think we’ll have to offer the most rigorous academic supports that we ever have,” the superintendent said.
Final enrollment figures for each system are expected next month.
Public schools lost about 4,700 students in 2018, but Mackey said this drop is more significant.
“It’s widespread across the state,” he said. “Only a couple dozen districts grew at all.”
Source: 5,000 Alabama students haven’t shown up for any sort of class | Fox News
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MIT accepted over $51 million from Russian foundation later deemed security risk by U.S. government
MIT accepted over $51 million from Russian foundation later deemed security risk by U.S. government
Since 2014, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has accepted over $51 million in monetary gifts from the Skolkovo Foundation, a relationship the Department of Education recently deemed a national security risk.
In a recent report, the Education Department criticized the partnership between MIT and the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, saying it amounted to “conducting sensitive research in conjunction with an adversarial government.”
“While the Department does not police subject matter, the public should be aware of such partnerships that concern national security,” the report reads.
According to databases of foreign contributions to American institutions of higher education maintained by the Education Department, the Skolkovo Foundation made five monetary gifts to MIT totaling $51.5 million between March 2014 and February 2016. In addition, MIT also accepted a $30 million “contract” from an unnamed Russian source in December 2019.
A spokesperson for MIT declined numerous requests by The College Fix to comment for this story.
On October 26, 2011, MIT and the Skolkovo Foundation created the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (nicknamed “Skoltech”), a joint venture with the goal of “empowering Russia’s technology
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The elites want COVID-19 lockdowns to usher in a ‘Great Reset’ and that should terrify you
The elites want COVID-19 lockdowns to usher in a ‘Great Reset’ and that should terrify you
America is locking down again. In some places, that’s already happening. If you have kids, you’ve seen it. Joe Biden has promised more of it — more masks, more quarantines, more limits on travel, more restrictions on who you can eat with and who you can touch.
The most intimate details of our lives are being completely controlled by our leadership class. The people who used to scream at politicians, “Keep your hands off my body!” aren’t saying a thing about this. In fact, they’re encouraging it.
So the question is, what exctly is this about? It’s not about science. If masks and lockdowns prevented spikes in coronavirus infections, we wouldn’t be seeing spikes in coronavirus infections after nine months. But we are seeing them, so clearly, the geniuses got it wrong once again. This time, they’re not even bothering to point to legitimate scientific studies to support continuing their policies because there aren’t any studies that support that. So what is going on?
Trap Was Set In 2018, The Evidence Will Blow The Minds Of Every Person In This Country
Catholic Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has some idea. Viganò is one of the truth-tellers in his church. He made himself deeply unpopular with many in the hierarchy several years ago by exposing their complicity in decades of sex abuse. Viganò is 79 years old and in the way that older people stop caring what others think, he really doesn’t care. So instead, he says what he thinks is true.
A few weeks ago, he wrote a letter to President Donald Trump assessing the lockdowns from a perspective you almost never hear in this country.
“No one, up until last February,” Viganò wrote, “would ever have thought that, in all of our cities, citizens would be arrested simply for wanting to walk down the street, to breathe, to want to keep their businesses open, to want to go to church on Sunday. Yet now it is happening all over the world … The fundamental rights of citizens and believers are being denied in the name of a health emergency that is revealing itself more and more fully as instrumental to the establishment of an inhuman, faceless tyranny.”
There’s a reason you may not have heard those words before. The usual foot soldiers for conformity in our news media did their best to suppress and discredit Viganò’s letter to the president. Yahoo News tried to tie the elderly clergyman somehow to QAnon, which to them made sense. He alleged that a global health emergency was being used by the people in power for ends that had nothing to do with the virus itself, and of course, that’s crazy talk. That’s the media position on that.
The only problem is that what Viganò wrote is actually true. It’s not a conspiracy theory, it is factually accurate. Here’s Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaking to the United Nations in September.
TRUDEAU: This pandemic has provided an opportunity for a reset. This is our chance to accelerate our pre-pandemic efforts to reimagine economic systems that actually address global challenges like extreme poverty, inequality and climate change.
“This is our chance,” says Justin Trudeau. Not our chance to save you from a virus with a 99% survival rate. This is our chance to impose unprecedented social controls on the population in order to bypass democracy and change everything to conform with their weird academic theories that have never been tested in the real world and, by the way, don’t actually make sense.
“This pandemic has provided an opportunity for a reset.” Keep in mind, that’s not from QAnon, that is a head of state talking and he’s not alone. Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, has written a book called “COVID-19: The Great Reset.” The book isn’t really about science or medicine. Instead, it describes, “what changes will be needed to create a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable world going forward.”
What changes is Schwab talking about? We don’t know. What we’re certain of is that you’re going to pay for them and the people in charge will benefit from them.
What’s telling is how different this is from the way our leaders were talking back when the pandemic began. Statewide coronavirus lockdowns in this country started about eight months ago, in mid-March. At the time, California Gov. Gavin Newsom predicted that 56 % of his state’s population — more than 25 million people — would become infected with the virus within eight weeks. Businesses would need to shut down, Newsom acknowledged. But he also promised he would all be over soon. “This is not a permanent state,” Newsom assured us. “It is a moment in time.”
That should have made us nervous. Because in the end, that moment continued indefinitely. Pretty soon Gavin Newsom was telling us who we were allowed to be around and who we were allowed to talk to.
NEWSOM, IN JULY: As always, I want to remind you, limit your mixing with people outside of your household. It’s just common sense. But the data suggests not everybody is practicing common sense.
What have we learned from the data since then? Well, as of Nov. 15, about 2.6% of the total population of California has been infected. That’s roughly 20 million fewer people than Gavin Newsom predicted to be infected by May. So in some ways, that looks like a victory. Can we declare victory? No, just the opposite.
Monday, Newsom announced that more lockdowns are underway. Right now, 41 counties in our biggest state are under the most restrictive form of lockdown. Churches, gyms, and restaurants cannot conduct any kind of indoor operations.
Newsom is implementing these lockdowns on scientifc grounds, of course, but he doesn’t believe in it for himself because apparently he is exempt from the laws of epidemiology. We know this because nine days ago, the governor was caught violating his own guidelines by eating at one of the state’s most expensive restaurants with a dozen other people. By the way, he’s fine. He didn’t die from it. When you’re God, you don’t fear viruses. Lockdowns are for mortals.
You’d think getting caught would hurt Newsom. Getting caught ignoring your own rules used to be a major problem for politicians, but it’s not anymore. They are no longer humiliated by their own hypocrisy. The point of the exercise is to humiliate the rest of us by forcing us to obey transparently absurd orders.
“Everyone has to wear a Viking hat with horns every Wednesday. It’s the law! Dr. Fauci’s orders!”
By the way, people would do that. They would follow the orders and would scream at others if they didn’t. In an environment like this, dominated by completely unreasonable demands from the people on top, mediocrities like Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot thrive. This is a moment created for her and people like her. Lightfoot explained on MSNBC Friday that she has no personal obligation to follow the lockdown restrictions that you could be arrested for ignoring.
STEPHANIE RUHLE: What do you say to those who are criticizing you, where less than a week ago, you went out and stood before a massive crowd who was celebrating Joe Biden’s victory, and now you’re saying your city has to shut down? How do you have one and not the other?
LIGHTFOOT: There are times when we actually do need to have the relief and come together. And I felt like that was one of those times. That crowd was gathered, whether I was there or not.
Notice the complete lack of embarrassment and shame. “There are times when the rules just don’t apply to me.”
So when specifically are those times when the rules don’t apply to the people making the rules? Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser decided that her rules did not apply to Joe Biden’s victory party in Delaware, so she went. Going to the party, she explained, was, “essential.” Muriel Bowser didn’t have to quarantine or restrict her travel in any way because it was on behalf of the Democratic Party.
What does the Great Reset look like? This is what it looks like: The people in charge doing whatever they want because they’re in charge. There will be no live music in the Great Reset. Choirs will be illegal unless they are singing the praises of Kamala Harris. Christmas will be banned. “Sorry, put on your mask and spend the holidays alone. Good luck.”
So how long can this all continue, this weird and yet weirdly recognizable combination of hypocrisy and authoritarianism? Well, it’s hard to imagine it could go on forever. In his letter last month to the president, Archbishop Viganò wrote this and it’s worth hearing:
“This Great Reset is designed to fail because those who planned it do not understand that there are still people ready to take to the streets to defend their rights, to protect their loved ones, to give a future to their children and their grandchildren.”
Let’s hope that’s true.
This article is adapted from Tucker Carlson’s opening monologue on the Nov. 16, 2020 edition of “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
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What is the ISEE test?
What is the ISEE test?
A lot of parents complain or aren’t happy with our current public school system. You can’t blame them either. Test scores are lower now than they have ever been. There really isn’t much you can do though. You can’t be serious if you think the school system will ever get better. Instead of improving it just keeps getting worse and worse. There really is not much you can do though. Unless you have the money to send your kids to a private school. That’s a great option but private schools tend to be very pricey. Not very many parents are able to send their kids to private school even if they wanted to. Especially if you have multiple school aged kids. It’s hard enough to send one kid through private school. Imagine having to pay for multiple kids. It just is not possible for many parents to do this. So your kids are forced to go through the public school system. If you are fortunate enough to send your kid or kids to private school they have to take an entrance exam called the ISEE test. It’s necessary to take this in order to attend private school.
The ISEE test is the Independent School Entrance Examination, and it’s used for admission to private middle schools and high schools. If you’re looking to attend an elite private middle or high school, this is a test you’ll need to do well on. Son if you are able to send your kids through private school your kid or kids will need to take this test in order to attend. So if you’re thinking of sending your kids to private school, they will need to prepare for this exam.
The ISEE helps test students for admission to private middle and high schools. Different levels of the test are offered depending on where you are in your education. Depending on what grade you’re going into. The test is given several times a year so if you’re planning on sending your kids to private school it would be a good idea to start looking at test dates and sign up for it. The ISEE test Vocabulary, Math and Reading Comprehension. So if you’re thinking of sending your kids to school it would be a good idea to have them start preparing for it as soon as possible.
Some private schools will take either the ISEE or the SSAT for admission. So the best thing you can do is contact the school you’re thinking of sending your kids and find out what their requirements are for admission for a new student. Its just a phone call away so you have no excuse not to get the necessary information you will need to enrol your kids in the private school of your choice.
For those that don’t have the option between public and private school due to financial issues, it’s ok to just make the best out of a public school education. If you don’t mind the public school system where it is possible to get a good education it’s not a problem at all. A lot of people come out of public schools just fine. So whether it’s public or private school it is possible to get a good education. Honestly it all depends on the student. Some have it and some don’t. Education is a very important part of our lives. It helps you grow into the adults you will be in the future. Don’t take school too lightly. You should always try to give your kids the best education possible. God bless!
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U.S. Grads to Gain as Foreign College Workers Stay Away
U.S. Grads to Gain as Foreign College Workers Stay Away
The number of foreigners registering at U.S. universities to get work permits is falling quickly, likely opening up many Fortune 500 jobs for American graduates.
The good news means that “30,000 additional slots have just opened up for Americans, maybe as many as 60,000,” said Kevin Lynn, the director of U.S. Tech Workers, a group that champions the workplace interests of American professionals.
The news for U.S. graduates was revealed by a survey of 700 colleges which reported mid-November that “New international student enrollment in the United States and online outside the United States has decreased by 43 percent in Fall 2020 … [and] new enrollment of international students physically in the United States declined by 72 percent.” The report was posted by the International Education Exchange, a government-backed group that tracks the inflow of foreign students into U.S. universities.
The decline in new foreign students suggests that many fewer foreign graduates will get work permits via two work permit programs, dubbed the Optional Practical Training (OPT) and Curricular Practical Training (CPT) program. A 2021 drop-off will cause a modest drop-off in foreign graduate workers starting in mid-2021 but quickly accelerating major reductions in 2022 and 2023.
“It’s a huge benefit for those who are entering the workforce directly straight out of college,” said Lynn.
“They won’t be competing with 30,000 foreign graduates for jobs [in 2021, for whom] employers get a tax benefit for hiring, and who literally do not have to be paid anything,” he said.
The Department of Homeland Security releases little about the cheap labor, fraud-prone programs, which allow foreign managers in elite U.S. companies to hire fellow nationals without any concerns about federal anti-discrimination law. In 2019, for example, 535,000 foreigners had one-year or two-year work permits from the OPT and CPT programs — despite the huge number of American graduates who cannot get jobs that match their college degrees. The foreign graduates will take the no-pay or low-pay CPT and OPT jobs, Lynn said, because “it’s not just a job — it’s a pathway to U.S. citizenship.”
The 535,0000 foreign workers are a huge population compared to the roughly 800,000 Americans who graduate each year with high-tech degrees in business, healthcare, engineering, science, software, architecture, or math.
Yet the foreign drop-off is bad news for America, claimed Forbes author Stuart Anderson, who favors a greater flow of foreign graduates into the white-collar jobs around the United States. Joe Biden should reverse the drop-off by reversing President Donald Trump’s reform of the H-1B programs and making it easier for foreigners to get skilled jobs in the United States, Anderson wrote November 17.
For example, he wrote, the government should expand the inflow of foreign workers and:
…develop a national strategy for recruiting international students that includes coordinating with the State Department on visa policies, making F visas dual intent [eligible for a green card] and ensuring access to Optional Practical Training (OPT) for international students. “For students considering a degree abroad, 62% mentioned that being able to work in the country following the degree is very important,” according to a survey of international students by Studyportals.
The drop-off in foreign students is “Exceeding bad for the United States,” claimed a tweet from Todd Schulte, president of the FWD.us advocacy group. Wealthy West Coast investors created the group in 2013 to preserve the immigrant inflow of cheap labor and extra customers. “We *must* take efforts to reverse this starting right away in a new administration,” he said.
“Even before covid, new international enrollment had been falling (thanks to visa issues, xenophobia, high tuition, etc.),” said a November 17 tweet from Catherine Rampell, a pro-migration op-ed writer at Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post. “New restrictions on student/high-skilled worker visas Trump admin is rolling out could make things worse. Biden admin will have work ahead of it,” she added.
Bezos’s firms hire many foreign H-1B workers and also hire more OPT graduates than any other company. The Post rarely mentions these programs, although it has repeatedly spotlighted Donald Trump’s use of a small number of H-2B visa workers at his golf courses.
But the gain for American graduates may be short-lived “if all this opens up in January because everyone’s been vaccinated,” said Rosemary Jenks, the director of government relations for NumbersUSA.
The inflow of visa workers is bitterly defended by Fortune 500 companies and their gig-worker subcontractors and by Silicon Valley firms and their investors.
Sixty-five percent of the 2019 OPT workers held degrees in engineering, software, sciences, or math, according to a November 16 report by the government-backed group, Open Doors. The enrollment skew towards science is evidence of “strong interest in taking advantage of the STEP-OPT [work permit] extension, which allows students to stay in the United States for up to three years,” said Mirka Martel, research chief at the International Education Exchange.
Many foreign graduates are hired for starter jobs as gig workers for Fortune 500 subcontractors, excluding Americans from valuable career tracks.
The OPT and CPT workers are willing to work long hours at meager wages because they compete for one of the 85,000 new H-1B visas allocated each year to employers. They want to get into the H-1B program because it allows them to be nominated for green cards by their employers and get unlimited extensions of their temporary visas. Once the OPT workers get into the H-1B program, they must work for several additional years before their employers finally pay them with the green cards that allow them — and their children — to become American citizens.
The OPT-to-green-card pipeline now includes more than one million foreign graduates working in various visa programs, including the H-1B, OPT, J-1, L-1, E-3, and TN worker pipelines.
For foreign workers, “the H-1B program is not about the job,” said Lynn. “It’s about a pathway to citizenship … the universities love it because foreign students will pay a premium to get on that pathway, and American companies love it because they pick up compliant workers for less.”
This little-noticed green card workforce helps to push down salaries for millions of American graduates. From 2016 to 2019, the median or midpoint income of college graduates fell by two percent, according to a survey released in September by the Federal Reserve banking system.
Migration moves money from employees to employers, from families to investors, from young to old, from children to their parents, from homebuyers to real estate investors, and from the central states to the coastal states.
Migration also allows investors and CEOs to skimp on labor-saving technology, sideline U.S. minorities, ignore disabled people, exploit stoop labor in the fields, short-change labor in the cities, impose tight control and pay cuts on American professionals, corral technological innovation by minimizing the employment of American grads, undermine labor rights, and even get many progressive journalists to cheerlead for Wall Street’s productivity-cutting short-term priorities.
Source: U.S. Grads to Gain as Foreign College Workers Stay Away
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School LGBT bullying projects axed by government
School LGBT bullying projects axed by government
Government-backed schemes to tackle bullying of LGBT pupils in English schools have funding pulled.

Government-backed projects tackling bullying of LGBT students in England’s schools have had their funding pulled, the BBC has learned.
The decision came despite an earlier pledge to continue investing in school programmes targeting homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.
Ministers admit that those identifying as LGBT face a higher risk of bullying which can cause long-term harm.
But they say the funding was always due to come to an end.
‘Loud and proud’
The Government Equalities Office had funded several well-received programmes costing at least £4m, which specifically targeted LGBT bullying, since 2014. Many had been extended and given further government support.
Initially called The Homophobic, Biphobic and Transphobic Challenge Fund, the government programme was not compulsory for schools, but it allowed teachers, staff and students to receive free training and workshops.
Providers of workshops, as well as parents, students and teachers, had been expecting the funding to continue.
The government acknowledges the serious impact anti-LGBT bullying can have on educational attainment, absence levels, emotional wellbeing and mental health.
‘Threatening voicemails’
But the BBC has learned that the government quietly ended its funding of LGBT anti-bullying initiatives last March.
Concerned father Richard said his son Tom came out as gay a few years ago.
“At first, he was loud and proud about who he was,” said Richard.
Now in Year 10, he has since been continually bullied by other students, which led to him self-harming and lashing out in class.
The pair have asked for their names to be changed as they fear further attacks.
“He started getting negative comments at school, had trouble in corridors, and he got threatening voicemails. He’s ended up cutting himself,” said Richard.
“His school’s been hopeless at sorting things out for him. If it was racism, they would’ve prioritised it, but because it’s homophobia, they’ve had no idea how to deal with it.”
It was a “disaster” that the government had ended this specific funding, said Richard, who believes Tom’s school “massively” needs help with LGBT inclusion work.
“They just don’t have the money or skills to do it themselves.”
The Government Equalities Office said: “The anti-bullying grant fund, which provided 2,250 schools across the country with materials and training, was always due to end in March 2020.”
However, this is the first time that the funding has not been extended since it was originally announced in October 2014 by the then Minister for Women and Equalities, Nicky Morgan.
‘Ignored and shut out’
One provider of LGBT inclusion workshops, who wanted to remain anonymous as they feared that speaking out would jeopardise any future possible funding, said schools and programme providers had been expecting a further extension.
Her organisation was waiting for another funding announcement at the beginning of November, inviting new applications for grants.
She said she felt “sick” that schools would not be able to continue their work, and claimed her organisation had been “ignored” and “shut out” by the government, even though its programmes were well-received.
“What message does this send to young people? This government is rolling back on their initial commitment to LGBT rights,” she said.
Diversity Role Models, a charity which also received funding through the government’s LGBT anti-bullying programme, recently carried out what it called a “pulse check” on levels of LGBT education and bullying in 90 schools across England.
It found that homophobic, biphobic and transphobic language was used in the majority of schools, and some schools were described as unsafe places for LGBT people to be themselves.
‘Stretched’
Metro, an LGBT charity, first received funding in 2016. Dr Greg Ussher, CEO of Metro, told the BBC that “most schools” had been unable to continue their LGBT inclusivity work without government backing.
“We were able to work directly with over 200 schools, train over 4,000 staff, as well as engage students in school-wide equalities activities.
“Government funding meant that schools could have this support for free, but they now need to find funds from their already stretched budgets,” he said.
Nancy Kelley, chief executive of Stonewall, said cutting funding would lead to students being left to “suffer in silence”.
“We know LGBT people are disproportionately affected by poor mental health, and some of this is because of the way they were treated at school.
“It’s crucial this government invests money in funding anti-LGBT bullying programmes across England.”
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said it was important for every young person to learn about the negative stereotypes and ideas which still lead to many LGBT+ people feeling marginalised.
“If the government is dropping this funding, they need to explain what alternative plans they have to give schools support with challenging LGBT+ bullying.”
Source: School LGBT bullying projects axed by government – BBC News
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Stubborn Teachers Unions
Stubborn Teachers Unions
Call me stubborn. It’s a badge of honor that I’m proud to have earned and am fit to wear as a public school and teachers union defender. It was pinned on us by the Fordham Institute’s ( no relation to the university) Chester Finn Jr, whom the New York Post this week called an “education guru” and expert.The word Finn actually used was “obdurate”, by since I am a remnant of the generation of New York City’s public school alumni who were required to study vocabulary, I know it’s a slightly pretentious synonym for “stubborn.”
Mr. Finn, a cobweb-brained intellectual poser attributes what he calls “the insane and irresponsible” closing of schools not to the virus but rather to the teachers unions being “obdurate”. From his perspective in ivory tower solitary confinement, the pandemic is illusory, hyped or an outright hoax.
Mr. Finn is an ultra-staunch apostle of private schools, largely because they tend to be union-free and thereby pure. If it weren’t for those pesky teacher unions, he avers, the doors to public schools would be wide open and kids would be flocking in to learn.
Perhaps Finn doesn’t know that all 47 buildings of Success Academy, the most touted charter school syndicate in New York City, will be padlocked until at least late March. In-person attendance will be zero. By contrast, there is face-to-face learning using the hybrid model underway in our public schools.
Will Mr. Finn recant or put a pinch of finesse on his sweeping fallacy?
Classroom instructors are wise to the aspiring dictators of educational policy who spring from no-nothing think tanks with preconceived antagonisms. They are a familiar phenomenon. Mr. Finn takes it a step further by claiming not only superior mastery of educational verities, but also a surpassing grasp of public health best practices.
Teacher unions have saved lives by their blessedly “obdurate” insistence on safety as the first and foremost driver of school re-opening practices. They have advocated positions unapologetically rooted in research. To Mr. Finn and his untutored cohorts: it’s the science, stupid!”
Ron Isaac
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Obama: Government Needs to Censor Speech
Obama: Government Needs to Censor Speech

There was some part of me that hoped after 8 long years, I wouldn’t have to deal with this same moral gaslighting used as wrapping paper for the dismantling America.
Unfortunately, Obama has a third memoir and all his people are lining up at the gate to swarm into the White House. So there’s another “interview” with mouthpiece Jeffrey Goldberg in which both men, who are as shallow as puddles, pretend to be deep thinkers grappling with the problems of the country.
And offering the expected solutions.
Obama: If we do not have the capacity to distinguish what’s true from what’s false, then by definition the marketplace of ideas doesn’t work. And by definition our democracy doesn’t work. We are entering into an epistemological crisis.
You’ve seen this quote. It’s as stupid as it is totalitarian. It assumes that there was always an easily distinguishable truth and that somehow, because of the internet, that’s no longer true.
The marketplace of ideas is a ‘marketplace’ because it has different ideas. If it didn’t have different ideas and a debate about what’s true, then the marketplace would become socialist.
That’s obviously where Obama is heading.
And the only answer is censorship.
Obama: I don’t hold the tech companies entirely responsible, because this predates social media. It was already there. But social media has turbocharged it. I know most of these folks. I’ve talked to them about it. The degree to which these companies are insisting that they are more like a phone company than they are like The Atlantic, I do not think is tenable. They are making editorial choices, whether they’ve buried them in algorithms or not. The First Amendment doesn’t require private companies to provide a platform for any view that is out there. At the end of the day, we’re going to have to find a combination of government regulations and corporate practices that address this, because it’s going to get worse. If you can perpetrate crazy lies and conspiracy theories just with texts, imagine what you can do when you can make it look like you or me saying anything on video. We’re pretty close to that now..
That technology exists. Obama is just, as usual, behind the times despite pretending to be hip.
But let’s set aside the tedious familiar arguments and zero in on the key policy sentence here.
“At the end of the day, we’re going to have to find a combination of government regulations and corporate practices that address this, because it’s going to get worse.”
Government regulations.
I hear there’s some sort of First Amendment thing out there, but I’m sure that Obama will explain to us that free speech is not “who we are”. But what do you expect from the thug who spied on reporters, and threw a guy in prison for making a movie about Mohammed.
Source: Obama: Government Needs to Censor Speech | Frontpagemag