Optimism. That is a solid commodity. We still need it. We need it in the tough times we are in. Seems like folks are having too much fun putting each other down. We’re better than that, aren’t we? I would like to think so. Strange old times we are living in for sure.
One step up and two steps back. My business feels like that. I am an educator. On a National Level that is embarrassing. One a state level it is tough. I was elated, for a change, when Indiana leaders said to other leaders that making a high school senior pass the citizenship test given to immigrants in order to graduate was not a good idea. Miracles are still with us. So are tests. That is what got us here in the first place…this education hurdle.
Give them a Civics test! That is the answer! No, it is not the answer.
Our kids are tested to pieces. Our math and English teachers are chasing a test. Get those standards in or else!
Civility. Isn’t that what they are getting at when they speak of a civics test? No, no, no…I am not just talking about people getting along. I am talking about the civility we have left behind in the age of testmania.
What do I mean? Employers are clamoring for workers with a strong work ethic, good communication skills, good attendance, and please be drug free! Amen. And God Bless you!
Schools have not been able to help this process for a long time.
You’re old Uncle Dan can remember a time when we did not have the GRADUATION EXAM hanging over our heads. When we were in English class and there was a time for everyone’s voice to be heard about an issue of the day, be it related to subject matter or not, we went around the room and let folks speak their mind and we respected one another and we LEARNED from each other. We cleared the air. We made progress as people. We did not fear that we were missing a standard we would be held accountable for a few minutes of testing. We were more interested in being accountable for our lives and the lives of those around us. That is where education as we know has failed its students.
Is it a money issue? Testing is a BIGGGGG business. There is a pile of money to follow somewhere. We don’t do that though. There just isn’t time.
Politicians never got it. They won’t. They don’t care enough about kids. That is obvious. After all, the ones they impose their will on can’t vote yet. Their parents are too busy trying to put the bacon on the table and who could blame them? I don’t.
But I do know there is a solution. Let kids be kids again…not testing robots. I know I know…the new graduation pathways set forth by the Indiana State Board of Education seem to be getting the point. But their answer is so verbose and full of hereofs and therefores that it still looks pretty overthought and pieish. They don’t get it. Folks like me are just left to deal with their crap at the bottom of the hill. Now that is speaking the rights!
Did I plan this rant. No. But it needed to be addressed. The last post I made was March 18th, my 51st birthday. I think this is my longest hiatus on speaktherights.com. I don’t regret it.
What I sat down here to talk about was the new bridge at Surf City, North Carolina. The bridge at the header of my page is gone. It makes me sad. But the new bridge is something to behold.
Between the the poles in the channel is where this once sat.
The Bridge is behind us in this pic.
My dear wife, Carrie and I spent last week at our beloved Topsail Island, NC. It is our second home. We found it together. It is our place. Can’t ya tell?
Hurricane Florence was not kind to this area. Folks at church and at the fish market we frequent told us that 40 percent of the houses on the island are still looking to get ready for summer. They are a resilient bunch. The house to the south of us had to be completely rebuilt. The one to our north needed work too. So did ours, but it was minor comparatively.
The morning we left, I took this picture.
We’ll be back. Hopefully I can say that about the sensibility of Indiana’s decision makers one day.
Speaking the rights…
Danny Johnson