John Keyes

Everything is an assessment. Once a kid realizes that a hallway conversation can affect their grade (up or down), or that doing something awesome in another class can show you proficiency in some skill that they bombed in your class the previous month (e.g.: presenting well), the kid will get the only important message: Learning is what matters; points are made up currency that have no value outside the school’s walls. Points are a scurge, a charlatan, a menace, and are little more than a necessary evil.

—“Standards-Based Grading” != “Retesting”

Sotheby’s London are holding a English Literature, History, Children’s Books and Illustrations event soon. I had a quick look at some of the books, and there are some beauty’s in there.

At the top of the heap is Sherlock Holmes first appearance; “A Study in Scarlet” (Lot 151). This inscribed by the author first edition, has an estimate of £250-400K.

Another lot which caught my eye was a “Fahrenheit 451” first edition (Lot 150), with an estimate of £2-3K.

The last lot to interest me was a paperback first edition of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (Lot 201), with an estimate of £1.5-2K. Amazing return on a book that is only thirteen years old.

BBC News - Puppy thrown at German biker gang

A German student “mooned” a group of Hell’s Angels and hurled a puppy at them before escaping on a stolen bulldozer

You couldn’t make this stuff up.

Tom O’Neill (my neighbour) has authored a nice collection of tales here. While aimed at early teens, there was enough in this book to keep me interested.

I was going to review but I’ve decided to leave that to the target audience. Here’s hoping I get to post a guest authored review in the near future.

Disclosure: Tom gifted me an unconditional copy of the book as a friend. This post and the previous one would have been written even if I had purchased the book myself (which I intended to do).

Saving Childhood Ryan are:

eight organisations working on behalf of children and survivors of abuse. We have come together to mark the first anniversary of the Ryan Report.

I applaud the campaign, but I am horrified by the name. I believe it belittles the crimes which have been identified in the Ryan Report.

Whenever these (or similar) crimes come up in conversation, I refuse to refer to them as child abuse. We can abuse alcohol, power, drugs, the system, and such. What Catholic religious orders have done to children in this country is an abhorrence, and their systematic coverup equally so.

As a small token I have registered http://stopchildrape.com, which I believe is a more accurate name for this campaign for justice. I am redirecting all traffic to Saving Childhood Ryan.