Post #1,970

Wednesday, and the middle of the week has arrived. This Wednesday, about 6:30 AM, will find me out in my orchard wearing rubber boots. It’s irrigation day and a good day to see if I can drown a gopher or two.

And out in the orchard, my fig tree is resurrecting itself. A 12” sprout has come from the trunk and it’s looking pretty healthy. I wonder if I can let it grow into a fig bush? I wouldn’t want it to be much taller than 6’. In any case, that’s the general plan for the orchard. All new trees are pruned to keep them between 6’ and 8’ tall. The older trees will be pruned down (or replaced) over the years.

I was watching Oprah the other day…no, I don’t generally watch this show; I was stopping for a drink of water when I was working on the addition at Bill and Jill’s house. Anyway, back to the point of my story. Oprah’s guests were Bill and Melinda gates and the subject was the poor quality of U.S. schools. As I watched and listened, I was struck by the fact that I have heard it all before. Many times. The only thing that changes is the statistics; they keep getting lower and lower. Math skills? America is now 24th in the world. Yet, what else can we expect when we don’t value education? Are all students given equal access to education? No. Do parents work with the schools to ensure that their children are becoming educated? No. Are parents willing to pay for their children’s education? No.

And this “No Child Left Behind” debacle will only ensure that Mr. Gates will have to continue importing talent from other countries and/or move his operations to those countries that can provide the educated workforce he needs.

No Child Left Behind is the dream of bureaucrats. All the eager little minds molded and squeezed into a government approved shape. Knowing only what the government thinks they need to know. And a corps of mindless teachers, teaching only to the tests that will determine how much money the school district will receive. No worries about any subjects that aren’t on the government approved list!

It’s all about money, that’s for sure. We don’t pay teachers enough to demand the best. We don’t fund programs that enrich their minds; we only pay for winning high school football teams.

For instance. A school computer lab is a thing of beauty...when it’s brand new. What most people fail to understand is that the lab must be replaced every 3 to 4 years. The machines taken out, dumped and new ones with all new programs put back in their place. This is the real world. Due to the fact that Moore’s Law rules…

And teachers…they have to be masters of new skills. How many teachers can teach computer science at an elementary school level? That is where it needs to be taught! Yet we are still expecting the teacher to buy the paper and pencils from their own salaries. Why would they want to learn new skills? Are we going to pay them for it?

For myself; if I’m still around in 20 years, I expect to be able to watch Oprah and hear some new expert decry the state of American education, where we are now at 102nd in the world in math. But, first in football!