Never underestimate the dedication and accomplishment of determined girls!

Just a quick post tonight. Linda is recovering nicely from her first round of dental extractions and gets the rest done this coming Wednesday.

Now for the reason for this post: the incredible Kings Firecrackers. Take a look at this link which goes to YouTube. My understanding is that these young ladies range from 4th to 8th grade age. Their performance is a shining testament to what motivated youth are capable of accomplishing.



Now for my soapbox:

I wonder about this and the implications for our so-called educational system. I believe that we are not adequately challenging our youth to excel in a variety of ways. Reading and math are fine - as far as they go. But I maintain that there is a lot more to a good life than just these two subjects. Thanks more than ever to the joke that is No Child Left Behind and its dependence on one size fits all approach to learning and testing, we are consumed with test scores to the exclusion of almost everything else. Teachers are not ignorant; if you mandate that their students must pass some meaningless test, especially if their pay and work environment are at stake, then they are forced to teach to the content of that test to the near exclusion of any other subject matter. And this is what masquerades as American education and/or teacher accountability?

What about parental accountability - for making sure that children arrive at school rested, adequately fed and clothed, coming from an environment that demonstrates the values of reading, the arts, and physical activity?

What about community accountability - to assure that there are safe, clean, well maintained school facilities, with adequate financial support to allow for small classroom sizes and (gasp!) multiple smaller schools instead of mammoth education factories.

What about governmental accountability to... No, wait, our government is the best that we can buy and government wants to keep it that way. I don't think there is real interest in making substantive and meaningful improvements. That would mean bucking the special interests who give you big bucks to get re-elected. So the Legislature for the most part just keeps talking and talking about the problems and hoping that eventually they will possibly go away. Especially true if it requires reallocation of resources or even raising the tax on beer. Gosh, we must NEVER raise the tax on beer. Or gas, for that matter, to try to assure that our community will still be here in 100 years and not just an Historical Marker along I-84.

Teachers and schools can't educate America without the active support of everyone. What have you done for you community this week? What will you do next week?

I applaud all who work with groups like Kings Firecrackers, or the Pendleton High School Dance Team where success is measured by other means than standardized tests.