Posted by admin! / Under Merit Badge (Boy Scouts Of America)
The title character of Horatio Alger’s 1867 novel Ragged Dick is an illiterate New York bootblack who, bolstered by his optimism, honesty, industriousness, and desire to “grow up ’spectable,” raises himself into the middle class. Alger’s novels are frequently misunderstood as mere rags-to-riches tales. In fact, they recount their protagonists’ journeys from rags to respectability, celebrating American capitalism and suggesting that the American dream is within everyone’s reach. The novels were idealized, of course; even in America, virtue alone never guaranteed success, and American capitalism during Alger’s time was far from perfect. Nevertheless, the stories were close enough to the...
Published on Friday 10th of February 2012 04:59:41 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Merit Badge (Boy Scouts Of America)
JUSTICE SERVED? The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that the Chicago Fire Department must hire 111 black applicants who passed a firefighters entrance exam 16 years ago and pay millions of dollars to thousands more who took and passed the same test. Was justice served? An attorney for the group said that the 111 jobs would be filled from applicants who passed the 1995 test and that their pensions would be adjusted as if they’d been firefighters since 1995. Attorney Joshua Karsh also said that 6,000 other blacks who also passed the test will divide “tens of...
Published on Friday 10th of February 2012 04:59:41 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Merit Badge (Boy Scouts Of America)
At Oscoda Area Schools, parental attendance at parent-teacher conferences has skyrocketed. Teachers are also having fewer absences and missing fewer professional development days. The success is being credited to a merit pay system that the school implemented two years ago to try to get teachers to reach performance goals. Oscoda Area Schools, located in northeast Michigan about 100 miles north of Bay City, has about 1,500 students. The district awards performance points to each of its 82-plus teachers if they reach goals like reducing teacher absences and getting higher attendance at parent-teacher conferences. Those points are used to dole out...
Published on Friday 10th of February 2012 04:59:41 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Merit Badge (Boy Scouts Of America)
PHOENIX - Should the state of Arizona get rid of its affirmative action programs? That's what the backers of Proposition 107 want, and it's turning into an intense and emotional battle which voters will decide on Election Day. Proposition 107 calls for no more preferences for minorities and women in public employment, contracting, and education. "We think it should be passed because we do not think the government should be able to pick winners and losers based on race and sex we think that people should be judged on their character their merit and their experiences, not their skin color...
Published on Friday 10th of February 2012 04:59:41 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Merit Badge (Boy Scouts Of America)
Frau Frump gives us the finest showing of girl power Melanie McDonagh The only thing to be said against Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, coming top in the Forbes list of the 100 most powerful women in the world is the nature of the list itself. Just think about it. Power isn’t like tennis: why should women be hived off into a separate little power category all of their own? In any list of the most powerful people on earth, Merkel would be right up there with the men: her fellow German the Pope, and not far behind Barack Obama...
Published on Friday 10th of February 2012 04:59:41 AM
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