I am alive. There is no question about that. One author defines pain as life's way of reminding you that you're not dead yet. Well, that is definitely true....and I guess I could say that I have been very alive these past couple months. Now, rereading what I have just written makes it sound like that life has been a pain...but it really hasn't. Don't confuse an adjective for a noun.
One thing that has been painful to me is to read, listen, and watch more & more recently about the state of our public school system. Being a brother, a nephew, and a friend to educators, a friend to numerous parents of students, and a teacher myself who tries to stay plugged into the adolescent subculture, I am disappointed, disgusted, and distraught the mess we have found ourselves in.
Now I know I will receive some ridicule for watching Oprah as well as linking to an anti-christ figure such as Bill Gates...but nevertheless...check out what they & others are reporting:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1181646,00.html
http://www.standup.org
http://www2.oprah.com/tows/slide/200604/20060411/slide_20060411_284_101.jhtml
More soon ... and more often ... i promise.
P.S. - For some other stuff...like pictures...check out http://www.myspace.com/drneilclayton
P.S. II - Thanks to Jarrett for kicking me back into writing. Be sure to check out his blog...his is more spiffy than mine - http://jarrettharris.com/
Reflections & Ramblings that I pick up along this journey through life. www.drneilclayton.com
1 comment:
Oh I would love to hear some specifics of the problems you see in education. As an educator I am frustrated. Not necessarily by the school system, but by the crap that spews forth about the school system. Since I should keep this short (it is a comment) I will mention two things.
#1 - In foreign countries, almost exclusively, they only allow their best and brightest students to go to schools that "test". This is a primary reason why we see stats about how the United States is so far behind other countries. If they tested everyone, oh what a joke it would be.
#2 - The thing that would infuriate my union--it's the man. It's the government and the teacher's unions TRYING to maintain the status quo. They don't want change. To change would require education and with education comes real knowledge that we have an extremely liberal education system making "suggestions" about all sorts of things to our students.
Everyone recognizes a problem the solution is always to add more money to education. This only further cements the current status quo. It's unreal.
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