posted February 08, 2009 11:57 PM            

"Mom cooks me like a turkey in the oven," she told police.

posted February 09, 2009 01:06 AM            

We are reaping the whirlwind for devaluing human life and for our permissive culture which countenances atrocities like the murder, rape and torture under the Soviet Union, North Korea, Castro, Saddam and more recently, the Sudan and past atrocities such as Rwanda and UN inaction or direct action of UN personnel in raping and trading food for sex and the child porn rings which sprang up among high level UN personnel.

This is not intended to be a "political" statement but rather a recognition that the world we knew has gone mad...as in insane...even here.

I'm equally certain there will be those who will claim this woman is a victim.

posted February 09, 2009 04:50 AM            

So, the kids are in foster care... I've heard that's no picnic either, but at least they're out of that hell. What a screwed up way to start life. I hope they find good parents, and aren't too messed up by then.

And everything was 'seemingly' normal to the outside...and how was this hidden from the father? How come he's not getting custody, unless he's under some kind of investigation?

posted February 09, 2009 09:19 AM              

hey .. at least she called and confessed to the cops ..
could have been loads worse ..
( not that i want to belittle the horror those kids went through )
on average in the uk .. one child per week
is killed by parents or members of their own family ..
pretty nasty statistic is that .. :-(((

** It really ****** me off that there's no test to become a parent.**
i'm with you on That one ..
but wonder what that would lead to ..

.. copper to lady with pram :
" have you got a licence for that kid m'aam ? "

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
more insanity ..

re fires in australia
~ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/world/asia-pacific/7878106.stm~
" Police believe some of the fires were started deliberately .. "

~ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/world/south_asia/7878240.stm ~
" A female Tamil Tiger rebel has blown herself up, killing 28 people .. "

N halts Gaza aid over 'thefts'
~ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/world/middle_east/7875171.stm ~
" t was the second incident in three days. On Tuesday, 3,500 blankets and more than 400 food parcels were seized at gunpoint from a distribution centre in Gaza, the UN said. "

posted February 09, 2009 10:13 AM              

i just can't see how else a person could have no value for human life. i mean who would do such a horrific thing?

i have to wonder how many home schooled children are being abused also. there are no other adults checking on these children and keeping them home to abuse is so much easier than sending them to school where an adult might questions bruises and burns.

there needs to be a way to at least twice a year to test home schooled children publically, to make sure they are alive and well.

posted February 10, 2009 12:07 PM            

you are right, jw, our world is in a very bad place. we are headed for a "watershed" moment for sure....

posted February 11, 2009 07:23 PM            

My best friend was abused by her dad. Once, when he tore out part of her hair in a drunken rage, she took it to the school counselor to show she was being abused. The counselor, may he rot in hell, decided there needed to be "communication" and tried calling the father (this after he swore not to tell her dad that she'd told on him, at least not until she was safe). This was done without her knowledge or consent. Luckily, their phone was out for the bill being so outstanding so that her grandparents got the call instead. So very, very lucky.

Kids in school aren't at all safe or protected, not even from abuse at home.

posted February 13, 2009 02:10 PM            

And then...there's this...for those who think homeschooling is geared to covering up child abuse.

Feb 9, 2009 10:48 pm US/Central
'Painful Lessons': Abuse At Chicago Schools
Hundreds Of Kids Beaten, Whipped, Even Choked By Teachers, Coaches Reporting
Dave Savini CHICAGO (CBS) ¯
CPS Takes Action On Corporal Punishment (10/7/2008)
Painful Lessons: Students Face Corporal Punishment (9/24/2008)

Hundreds of students have allegedly been beaten by teachers, coaches and staff at Chicago Public Schools. 2 Investigator Dave Savini continues his ongoing investigation involving the illegal use corporal punishment.

Treveon Martin, 10, is afraid of a teacher at his school.

"I've seen him hit five of them in the classroom," Martin said.

Martin says he and others have been hit, grabbed and even struck with a belt.

"He's threatened almost all the kids in his classroom," Martin said.

He says it happened at Robert Emmet Academy in November but a Chicago Public School investigator didn't talk to him until last week - 70 days after the case was reported, and not until after we started asking questions.

"He holded my arms and he picked my body up, and then he just slammed me on the desk," Martin said.

An exclusive CBS 2 investigation discovered Treveon Martin is one of at least 818 Chicago Public School students, since 2003, to allege being battered by a teacher or an aide, coach, security guard, or even a principal. In most of those cases - 568 of them - Chicago Public School investigators determined the children were telling the truth.

"I'm thinking that I don't really feel safe," Martin said.

The 2 Investigators found reports of students beaten with broomsticks, whipped with belts, yard sticks, struck with staplers, choked, stomped on and pushed down stairs. One substitute teacher even fractured a student's neck.

But even more alarming, in the vast majority of cases, teachers found guilty were only given a slap on the wrist.

CBS 2 informed former Chicago Public School CEO Arne Duncan of our investigative findings shortly before he was promoted to U.S. Secretary of Education.

"If someone hits a student, they are going to be fired. It's very, very simple," Duncan said.

Before heading to Washington, he vowed to take action.

"Any founded allegation where an adult is hitting a child, hitting a student - they're going to be gone," Duncan said.

But that's not what happened under Duncan's watch. Of the 568 verified cases, only 24 led to termination. Records show one teacher who quote "battered students for several years" was simply given a "warning" by the Board of Education.

And another student was given "100 licks with a belt." The abuse was substantiated, but the records show the teacher was not terminated.

Alderman Pat O'Connor is on the City Council Education Committee. He wants all these cases re-examined including the way Treveon Martin's was handled.

"I'll tell you what it is - it's deplorable," O'Connor said. "I really believe that the Board has dropped the ball in this instance."

He says this information was never brought to the committee's attention until now.

"You rely on them to follow the law, and clearly here, it doesn't appear that they have," O'Connor said.

There is a state law that bans corporal punishment. But as our 2 Investigators first exposed in September - students are being hit by coaches too. Paddles were confiscated, and CBS 2 exposed gym security tape at Simeon Career Academy showing a coach paddling volleyball players reportedly for missing serves.

Martin says the teacher injured him after he got into a scuffle with a classmate over an eraser.

"My back really hurted, and then at the end of the day, I had to go the hospital," Martin said.

His mother, Courtney Smith, says he was taken by ambulance and treated for a contusion on his back. It is children around his age who appear to be most at risk. The 2 Investigators found the students with the most complaints are in kindergarten through 8th grade.

"He doesn't have very much faith in anyone at his school," Smith said.

"He hurt my feelings," Martin said.

So why did it take over two months to look into Martin's case? School officials say it's because they have many cases to investigate. But just a few hours ago, an investigator determined the allegations against the teacher were unfounded. We are also told only two students were interviewed.

Incoming Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman is troubled by all these cases, including the case of Treveon Martin and promises to further review them, and that includes the process by which they are examined and investigated.

Alderman O'Connor is drafting a resolution and will bring our findings to the attention of the entire City Council this week.
http://cbs2chicago.com/investigations/Painful.Lessons.Abuse.2.931134.html

posted February 13, 2009 05:19 PM            

RESULTS
Academic and demographic information from the largest national study of home schooled students

How do home schoolers measure up?

Home school students do exceptionally well when compared with the nationwide average. In every subject and at every grade level of the ITBS and TAP batteries, home school students scored significantly higher than their public and private school counterparts (Figure 1).

posted February 13, 2009 05:21 PM            

Because home education allows each student to progress at his or her own rate, almost one in four home school students (24.5%) are enrolled one or more grades above age level (Figure 2). It should be noted that home school scores were analyzed according to the student’s enrolled grade rather than according to the student’s age level. In other words, a 10-year-old home school student enrolled in 5th grade would have been compared to other students in the 5th grade, rather than to his age-level peers in the 4th grade. Thus, the demonstrated achievement of home schoolers is somewhat conservative.

On average, home school students in grades 1–4 perform one grade level higher than their public and private school counterparts. The achievement gap begins to widen in grade 5; by 8th grade the average home school student performs four grade levels above the national average (Figure 3).

posted February 13, 2009 05:25 PM            

Another significant finding is that students who have been home schooled their entire academic lives have the highest scholastic achievement. The difference becomes especially pronounced during the higher grades, suggesting that students who remain in home school throughout their high school years continue to flourish in that environment (Figure 4).

Differences were also found among home school students when they were classified by amount of money spent on education, family income, parent education, and television viewing. However, it should be noted that home school students in every category scored significantly higher than the national average.

http://www.hslda.org/docs/study/rudner1999/Rudner2.asp

posted February 14, 2009 03:22 AM            

Dangerous Schools : What We Can Do About the Physical and Emotional Abuse of Our Children by Irwin A. Hyman and Pamela A. Snook explores the emotional (and sometimes) physical damage done to students on an ordinary basis and fully within the laws & rules. (This even includes undercover police officers that get teen girls pregnant and get away with it.)

Kids schooled outside the system also tend to be better socialized. Even Julie Webb researched homeschooled students, and found that their socialization skills were often better than their peers. Since she did her research for 1989 Educational Review, I consider it unlikely that she came to her conclusions out of a desire to "create propaganda" for the promotion of homeschooling.

Kids who are homeschooled (I include all types, not just the standard way of doing it) are often involved in other social groups, from the Y and Scouts or Camp Fire USA, to groups for them specifically. For example, there's the Not Back to School Camp:
http://nbtsc.org/

It's also common for colleges to require freshmen to take "bonehead" courses because their education is substandard. This is less of a problem with homeschoolers of various kinds (they have different problems in getting in, but these problems have become much less over the last few years, just as it has become harder for those that graduate from a high school to get in).

In many academic contests, it's not unusual for homescoholed students to win over those in a public or private school.

Also, you don't need a college education to teach. In many states, all you need to be able to do academically is pass what's about as difficult as the GED to get credentialed (this is usually enough for substitutes, though taking classes is usually required to make a career out of it--unless you just become an instructor at a college). Even when teachers DO actually know something about their subject, they're generally not allowed to teach it. Only what's in the textbook, as it's dangerous to one's career to do otherwise. Parents that homeschool have access to the same types of "keys" or "answer books" for kids, and are meant only to cover the basics (in some cases to be pointless).

See also, Stupid in America:
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=1500338

You may have heard about Jaime Escalante. But after he left, the school he worked at destroyed all his progress. He eventually gave up trying to improve American schools and went back to his native country (other teachers, also disillusioned, are now encouraging homeschooling and even unschooling). Here's Escalante's story:
http://www.reason.com/news/show/28479.html