I was quick (which is not the same as fast)--a gift, true, and in hockey, a huge one, and...
I learned that the only thing that mattered was watching the puck on the stick.
Motivations, feints, needs, dekes, desires, wants--all of that ultimately translated to watching the puck on the stick. Where was the stick, where was the puck.
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| Via Wikipedia, CC 3.0, Hockey1993 |
I do not care what Arne or Eli or Bill say--I am focused on the puck.
And right now, the puck is aimed right between the eyes of your young child entering school this September. The puck is flying towards the temple of a young woman headed for community college in January. The puck, if not batted down, will smash the nasal cartilage of your young adolescent, still dreaming of a life lived well.
I am not sure what the motivations of the ed reformers are, but I am aware of what happens to schools and children when the "reformers" get the reins, and if I am aware, yet accept this complacently, then I am complicit.
I did not raise two children to become part of the global economy. I raised them to be happy, thoughtful, loving people who care about their community, the concrete one. It's ridiculous, ridiculous, that we're even having this conversation, that Arne or Eli or Bill, three men who all exhibit signs of psychopathy, even matter.
Take care of the children you know, as well as you can. Do not do anything you feel will harm them. If we all do that, ferociously (as we should), fearlessly (or at least with all the courage we can muster), then these strange men lose their power.
It's really that simple.
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6 comments:
Reading this made me think of a family who let the school know that their child would not be doing any homework or taking any standardized tests. We can't control most of what happens at school but it heartens me to think that parents are taking control of what they can.
In the heart of a genuine teacher is the willingness to fight for what we know is best for our kids.
Keep up the fight. Those strange men (and women) deserve to be exposed for the frauds, fools, and charlatans they truly are.
Dear Jenny,
It will (ultimately) be up to the parents and our local BOEs. Still, if teachers refuse to do what they know hurts children, we'd go a long way towards a solution.
Dear gfrblxt,
Thanks--what else can we do?
My daughter asked to see her pre-ACT test score. I didn't leap up from what I was doing and she has since forgotten that she asked.
Those damn tests and those damn numbers that seek to quantify my gifted, artistic, thoughtful, musical, linguist - who reads far too much into multiple choice questions and struggles with quickly recalling math facts - this is what her school is judged on, what she is judged on.
I am wrestling today with "grading." I wish that we could just learn.
Dear Kate,
The world, as you know, is a wonderful place. She is young, and that is not her fault. She has been blessed with wonderful parents.
She will be fine, in the long run, but you know that already. A shame that her youth is troubled by the desires of a few powerful folks who will never know her, nor care to.
I came to the conclusion that I would not make it through high school now. It disgusts me. I try to encourage students having a go, trying, doing it wrong and then fixing it. I feel sad that most of them want to know how to "pass," and have no interest in learning anything different.
I wonder if the OWM in charge have forgotten how it is to be a child/have a child/help a child, or if they never knew.
Thanks for keeping us all honest, as best as we can.
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