VOL. 5, No. 13;
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Dear Arthur,
Today's newsletter includes:
1. Key
Information on this Saturday's High School Discussion
Group.
2. Update on Middle School M.U.N. news (first session:
Wed., April 5).
3. New Survey on Inaccuracies in
Grading SAT
tests.
4.
Updated survey
asking your assessment of President George Bush's recent
performance (after last
week's "snafus" with the survey).
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Civitas Home
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High School Discussion
Group This Saturday!
 With so much going on in the world, we
will have another morning of lively discussion this Saturday,
April 1 (no foolin') from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM at Crossroads School
(map).
In our last discussion group on Saturday, March 18,
most of our discussion was on the topic of standardized
tests.
The preponderance of students
felt that the tests are either (1) culturally biased and unfair
to some students, and/or (2) they create silly situations because
they bend over backwards to be "politically correct."
Virually all students said that the standardized tests are
incredibly boring and that there are far too many of them.
The students are concerned that so many teachers have their
methods dictated by the tests rather than a desire to help their
students learn.
We
have followed up on that topic with a new survey in a new format
this week. Just check the story below with the image of the
SAT Study Guide.
Other topics that we can
explore this week include: (1) Senator Russell Feingold's (D-WI)
motion to censure [condemn but not punish] President Bush for
unlawful spying on Americans and other questionable acts, (2) a
controversial bill on immigration now before Congress, and (3)
are there any ethical issues involved in betting on sports?
As always, the topics are fluid and the ultimate choice
is with the students present. Adults with the curiosity,
critical thinking skills, irreverence, and humor of students
are welcome as well.
One other item: those students
who participated in February's "Reinventing the United Nations"
conference will have an opportunity to meet with and address our
local chapter of the United Nations Association. The
meeting (which includes dinner at our expense) will be on Sunday,
April 9, from 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM at the Wei Hong Restaurant in
University City. If you are interested, please contact us
at [email protected].
Map
and Directions to Crossroads School
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Middle School
Teachers: 8 More Days Until First Session
The first of six Spring Model U.N. sessions for
middle school students is Wednesday, April 5, 2006, a mere eight
days from today's publication date. The participating
schools in the first session will be Maplewood-Richmond Heights
Middle School, Queen of All Saints (South St. Louis County), and
St. Gabriel School (South St. Louis City). We expect
approximately eighty students. The session will be at the
Creve Coeur Government Center (map
and directions) from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM. After a
brief hiatus we will come together on Wednesday, April 26 with
Cathedral School (St. Louis City), St. Francis Cabrini (St. Louis
City), City Academy (St. Louis City), St. Dominic Savio (South
St. Louis County), and St. Mary Magdalen (mid St. Louis County).
The rest of the schools will have their General Assemblies on May
3, May 4, May 10, and May 11.
It is "crunch time"
in the Middle School Model UN program, that feverish time of year
when students are hard at work crafting their resolutions for the
upcoming spring General Assemblies. You still have
an opportunity to have a Civitas staff member read your
rough drafts and provide you with some (we hope) helpful
feedback. Email your rough drafts (soon please!) to Lisa at [email protected]
and she will get back to you quickly with comments about the
resolutions and ideas for how to improve them for your General
Assembly.
Of course, if you
already have the final drafts of your resolutions completed
please send those in so we can get them posted on the web. As we
said, the first General Assembly is just eight days away.
As always, if you have any
questions or need any additional resources for your students,
please contact Lisa Granich-Kovarik at [email protected]
or (314) 865-4704.
Middle School
Country Selections for 2005-2006
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| | Photos! | | Streaming
Video! |
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Survey on Inaccuracies in Scoring S.A.T.
Tests
 There has been a considerable amount
of discussion lately about recent inaccuracies with the college
admissions SAT. In last Saturday's Civitas Discussion
Group, most of the two hours were consumed with this
issue. Incidentally, SAT is not an abbreviation or acronym
for anything. After having been called the "Scholastic
Aptitude Test" for years, the Educational Testing Service could
not agree on a more contemporary name and now says that SAT
stands for nothing.
Below is an article from the
Friday, March 24 Washington
Post revealing even more "snafus" with the test.
Our survey today centers on this issue. We have the
beginning of the article posted below and then a link to the full
article on the Washington
Post's web site. This article can provide you with
valuable information in responding to the survey.
College Board Acknowledges More
SAT Scoring Errors
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March
24, 2006; Page A11
School administrators were stunned yesterday by the revelation
from the College Board that an additional 27,000 SAT tests from
the October exam had not been rescanned for errors.
The
announcement was the third admission in two weeks by the testing
organization of potential errors and underreported scores in the
college entrance exam used by thousands of schools. A spokesman
for the New York-based company said that the largest error was a
discrepancy of 450 points out of a potential 2,400. The total
number of students who will have higher scores resubmitted is
4,411. (Click
here to access the complete article.)Click here for the survey:�
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Previous Survey
Results!
Survey on How President
Bush Is Doing
 We
had problems with last week's survey question. Therefore,
we are giving you another chance to respond to it by clicking on
the link to the survey below. We were fortunate enough to
get several comments on the survey, and they appear below.
Again, here is the question:
| 1. President Bush's popularity has been declining
precipitously in recent months. Why do you think this is
so. (Check all that apply). -- You cannot answer on
this page. You must click the link below where it says
"Accurate Link to
the Survey." |
Note: Percentages add up to more than 100% because multiple responses
to the question were permitted.
Accurate
Link to the
Survey:
COMMENTS ON THE
ISSUE
Tianay Pulphus; Jennings, 2009
First of all I would like to
take the time out and point out that I feel that none of these
options really grasp why our President's popularity has been
declining so precipitously. For all you Bush lovers out there,
this might come as a bit of a blow, but in my opinion our
President is a bit-take that back-a BIG jerk. I mean there are
many reasons that people are starting to wake up and smell the
political coffee. He is a "gentleman" meaning he says one thing
and does another (I gathered that from the movie "Zoro"). But
that is how it is in politics. All I am saying is that people are
starting to see his true colors (like father...like
son).
Tony Keel; S.L.U.H., 2006
Well, let's see... there is one major
reason why Bush's popularity is so low, and it can be summed up
in one word, IRAQ! The media constantly tells us how all these
people died today and what not, but people also hate Bush because
a lot of that is how the war is actually going. Sure people don't
like the Vice President either, but that isn't the cause of Mr.
President's problems. A good portion of his own party is against
him as well, and the Democrats do present a popular front for
anti-Bush resistance. Last time I checked, though, the economy
wasn't doing very bad. Here's to keeping my record of responses
going no matter what!
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Additional
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| Resolutions
(High School U.N.) for 2004-2005
| Checklist
for Writing a Model U.N. Resolution
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Reinventing U.N.Conference Home
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