# Stupid liberal idea of the day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 20, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086 "2011-04-20T15:35:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 296
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5901 "2017-06-01T03:31:46Z")
You’d be happier if _all_ them brown people would go back where they came from, right? No water off your back. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5902 "2017-06-01T03:35:53Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > You’d be happier if _all_ them brown people would go back where they came from, right? No water off your back. Eh, you know Clothy just crawled out from under his rock, right? That he was suspended for admitted trolling? Don’t bother reading or responding to his posts. There’s zero value to them. I pray for the day when his minority students find out what he really thinks of them. Assuming he actually has any minority students and isn’t running an all-white martial arts school in Texas. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5903 "2017-06-01T13:59:32Z")
You gotta love it when local government entities think they have a right to civil disobedience. We truly have come full circle. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5904 "2017-06-01T14:24:00Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Umm…the way to make it legal is what the law says. Not what chump-a-loth Clothahump says or wants the law to say. > > The fact that you have no response to post 5898 is very telling. I could have posted the same thing. It boils down to one basic point which you libs are frothing at the mouth to sweep under the rug: he was in the country illegally. Period, end of statement. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5905 "2017-06-01T14:41:04Z")
No one can argue with that font size. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5906 "2017-06-01T15:29:46Z")
I see my overall point is still being ignored. “Those ICE agents clearly are not competent enough to carry out proper surveillance. These school boards are rightly concerned about the possibility of ICE dragging the wrong person out of school in front of several children and are taking steps to prevent that.” Again: shouldn’t ICE be going after MS-13 members rather than some random José who is relatively harmless? > [@Chimera](#): > > Don’t bother reading or responding to his posts. There’s zero value to them. There is certain amount of entertainment value. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5907 "2017-06-01T15:40:16Z")
> [@Not\_Carlson](#): > > No one can argue with that font size. I can. Also, how does one sweep something under the rug by frothing at the mouth? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5908 "2017-06-01T16:19:07Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > …Again: shouldn’t ICE be going after MS-13 members rather than some random José who is relatively harmless?.. Gang members can be armed and dangerous. Grannies seldom pack heat. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5909 "2017-06-01T16:26:24Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Gang members can be armed and dangerous. Grannies seldom pack heat. So ICE is incompetent and can only hit soft targets? Sounds about right, given that C’hump and his compatriots put Not-Hillary in charge. All that “bad hombre” bluster notwithstanding. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5910 "2017-06-01T16:41:03Z")
They pick easy targets to meet their quotas. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5911 "2017-06-01T16:43:38Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > They pick easy targets to meet their quotas. Which brings us back to the school districts blocking their entry until vetted. They can’t be trusted to not go after the wrong person. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5912 "2017-06-01T16:51:17Z")
'Course, that doesn’t matter to a certain segment of the population. It’s all good as long as the target’s skin is heavily tanned and they have a name from the wrong side of the border. Right, sensei? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5913 "2017-06-01T17:12:33Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > 'Course, that doesn’t matter to a certain segment of the population. It’s all good as long as the target’s skin is heavily tanned and they have a name from the wrong side of the border. Right, sensei? [Right!](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B8S86rCCEAIqP1e.png) ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5914 "2017-06-18T03:38:30Z")
New York to Nix Literacy Tests for Teachers because too many Minorities Are Failing > **[New York to Nix Literacy Tests for Teachers because too many Minorities Are...](https://intellectualtakeout.org/2017/03/new-york-to-nix-literacy-tests-for-teachers-because-too-many-minorities-are-failing/)** > > Should teachers be able to pass a basic literacy test before they set foot in a classroom? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5915 "2017-06-18T05:01:55Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > New York to Nix Literacy Tests for Teachers because too many Minorities Are Failing > > [New York to Nix Literacy Tests for Teachers because too many Minorities Are Failing - Intellectual Takeout](http://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/new-york-nix-literacy-tests-teachers-because-too-many-minorities-are-failing) He shoots! He misses! Again! Unsurprisingly, our village idiot has, for the umpteenth time, relied on a poorly-researched second-hand source that fails to provide a complete picture of the issue. He has linked to an opinion piece by someone whose research and analytical skills are, apparently, not much better than his. [Here is the original Associated Press article with a much more complete picture.](https://apnews.com/d58b761ef393408e9c6539ee6362cae9/test-meant-screen-teachers-instead-weeded-out-minorities) It is true that racial and ethnic minorities like blacks and Latinos do worse on the test, and it is also true that some education reformers support keeping the test. It’s also true that we need to do something, as a nation, about the quality of students emerging from our schools, as well as the quality of students entering our teacher-training programs. The AP story, however, suggests that this test wasn’t necessary, because it duplicated stuff done elsewhere. > [@](#): > > Several education professors told The Associated Press the test doesn’t measure anything that isn’t covered in other exams students must take, including subject matter certification tests, the SAT, the GRE and tests that are part of their coursework. Also, they said the test’s $131 price tag is too steep. There are some who also argue that the test itself, produced by a for-profit education company, is not actually very good. And, given the title of this thread, it’s worth pointing out that the critics of the test are not simply a bunch of liberal college professors: > [@](#): > > Charles Sahm, the **director of education policy at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank** , is a strong supporter of raising the bar for teachers but not a fan of this particular literacy test. > > Sahm took the $20 practice exam and thought it was a poorly designed test with multiple-choice questions that seemed to have more than one correct answer. > > “I do agree that it’s not a great test,” Sahm said. “I found the reading comprehension section to be kind of infuriating. I only got 21 out of 40 right.” Emphasis mine. It seems that it’s not just minorities who do poorly on the test. Apparently conservatives aren’t very good at it either. 🙂 Also, [this New York Post article](http://nypost.com/2017/03/13/state-nixes-literacy-exam-for-prospective-teachers/) suggests that the test was taken AFTER students had completed their college degrees, but before being placed in classrooms. > [@](#): > > They also argued that testing the literacy of candidates who already had college degrees was redundant and unnecessary. Some further research seems to confirm this. It seems to me that, if students are graduating with their degrees from Schools of Education without proper literacy skills, the real issue that needs addressing is the admission procedures for education majors at the college and university level. As someone who teaches in a university, and who is perennially disheartened by the level of reading ability among our incoming freshmen, i firmly believe that we need to put better teachers into classrooms, and we also need to set higher standards for our school kids. I also agree, based on my own experience and on my reading in the field, that a lot of Schools of Education seem to have pretty low standards, and often end up with some of the weakest students seeking careers as teachers. Of course, one of the reasons for this is the basic issue of supply and demand. Americans all say that they want good teachers in their schools, and they say that standards should be high. But many Americans, including many conservatives, keep paying teachers like crap and treating them like crap, and then wonder why none of the best students want to become teachers. If schools of education don’t get the best material to work with, maybe we need to consider increasing the incentives for strong scholars to enter the profession. But that might require raising taxes, and of course, we couldn’t have that, could we? ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5916 "2017-06-18T13:34:48Z")
thank you for that informative post\*. no, we can’t have higher taxes and we can’t even treat teachers as professional let alone pay them well. since an educated population is essential to democracy, this is one way we know we are doomed as a country. ☹ \*which Clothy won’t read because it has too many words but if he did he wouldn’t understand it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5917 "2017-06-19T12:17:36Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Eh, you know Clothy just crawled out from under his rock, right? That he was suspended for admitted trolling? > > Don’t bother reading or responding to his posts. There’s zero value to them. > > I pray for the day when his minority students find out what he really thinks of them. Assuming he actually has any minority students and isn’t running an all-white martial arts school in Texas. You know what they say when you assume things? In your case, it’s absolutely correct. FWIW, more than half my students are minorities. And on a daily basis, I teach them how to be successful in life. I teach them about perseverance, loyalty, honor, integrity, and most importantly: courtesy, respect and self-control. These are things you should have learned, and I’m sorry you didn’t. Parents of my junior students in some cases sacrifice in order to pay my monthly dues, and I lower those dues to help them out. They do so because they want their kids coming to a place that is oriented toward success where the only color that matters is the belt around their waist. Here’s a newsflash for ya, **Chimera** : wanting to see the laws of my country enforced does not make me a racist. Put that together with the fact that for years I have consistently said that skin color is meaningless. But then again, facts like these don’t matter to liberals like you once you throw down the racist card and think that makes you a winner. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5918 "2017-06-19T12:33:07Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > You know what they say when you assume things? In your case, it’s absolutely correct. > > FWIW, more than half my students are minorities. And on a daily basis, I teach them how to be successful in life. I teach them about perseverance, loyalty, honor, integrity, and most importantly: courtesy, respect and self-control. These are things you should have learned, and I’m sorry you didn’t. Parents of my junior students in some cases sacrifice in order to pay my monthly dues, and I lower those dues to help them out. They do so because they want their kids coming to a place that is oriented toward success where the only color that matters is the belt around their waist. > > Here’s a newsflash for ya, **Chimera** : wanting to see the laws of my country enforced does not make me a racist. Put that together with the fact that for years I have consistently said that skin color is meaningless. > > But then again, facts like these don’t matter to liberals like you once you throw down the racist card and think that makes you a winner. How about unapologetically using ethnic slurs? You may say that you think skin color is meaningless, but your unapologetic usage of ethnic slurs kind of seems to preclude that. **Clothy** probably won’t see this post, but I’d like to point out that he blocked me because I asked him about his usage of ethnic slurs. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5919 "2017-06-19T13:30:23Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > You know what they say when you assume things? In your case, it’s absolutely correct. > > FWIW, more than half my students are minorities. And on a daily basis, I teach them how to be successful in life. I teach them about perseverance, loyalty, honor, integrity, and most importantly: courtesy, respect and self-control. These are things you should have learned, and I’m sorry you didn’t. Parents of my junior students in some cases sacrifice in order to pay my monthly dues, and I lower those dues to help them out. They do so because they want their kids coming to a place that is oriented toward success where the only color that matters is the belt around their waist. > > Here’s a newsflash for ya, **Chimera** : wanting to see the laws of my country enforced does not make me a racist. Put that together with the fact that for years I have consistently said that skin color is meaningless. > > But then again, facts like these don’t matter to liberals like you once you throw down the racist card and think that makes you a winner. Wait, you subsidize the “education” of the less well-off, persumably knowing you’ll make enough from your richer students to cover it? Holy shit, you’re a socialist in disguise! Also, the only value you “teach” that you could claim to show is perseverance. Integrity? Courtesy? Self-control? What a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/5920 "2017-06-19T14:32:06Z")
> [@JackieLikesVariety](#): > > thank you for that informative post\*. > > no, we can’t have higher taxes and we can’t even treat teachers as professional let alone pay them well. > > since an educated population is essential to democracy, this is one way we know we are doomed as a country. ☹ > > \*which Clothy won’t read because it has too many words but if he did he wouldn’t understand it anyway. You know what they say when you assume things? In your case, it’s absolutely correct. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086.md?page=295) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086.md?page=297)