Told You So

What can we do to make school better?

I found myself in the company of three very articulate teenagers at dinner last night. All are former students of mine: one is returning to college today, one recently graduated from high school, the other is entering his junior year, and none of them are very upbeat about their public school experience, so I asked the question.

"Get rid of it?" they replied in unison and we all laughed.

"But seriously," I said. "Can we agree that some level of education is important?" There were nods all around. "If so, then how do we make it a more positive experience?" I shrugged. "I'm just asking, because, really? I don't want to spend my days forcing people to do things they don't want to." They have drill sergeants for that.

"Honestly?" answered the recent graduate. "The teachers don't need to change anything. It's the kids. My friends and I were so negative we never gave anything a chance."

Remorse is not really his style, but maybe the trouble he's had finding a job in the current market, or the prospect of living with his parents for a while longer, or even seeing many of his friends pack their stuff and leave for college, something he has long said is not really for him, is unsettling; certainly no one wants to be left behind.

Even so, when he said that, my jaw dropped, and I know I literally gasped. What teacher wouldn't feel at least a little bit vindicated by such a come to Jesus moment for one of our more challenging students? I'm sure many of us have fantasized about just such an act of contrition by a few of the smuggest of them, and yet I was not satisfied at all. Here was one of the most ardent anti-establishment kids I have known in my career, and it took exactly two months for him to be co-opted by the blame-the-students brigade. How did that happen? No wonder kids think that nobody understands them.

Unintended Consequences

We put netting over our tomatoes to save them from the birds, and while it hasn't been 100% effective, fewer tomatoes have been lost to those thirsty critters. The other morning, though, when I was at the garden to pick and water, I was startled by a squawk and a flurry on the other side of the row. When I stepped through to investigate, I saw a young cardinal trapped in the plastic mesh. He did not like me approaching, but he was stuck and could do little except make some nasty noises and scrabble a few inches away. I was worried that one of his wings or legs was injured, but when I carefully lifted the net, I saw that he had jammed his head through one of the squares and his feathers had spread behind him, making it impossible for him to reverse the thrust. I held a small pair of clippers in my hand, and so I bent to carefully snip the mesh that imprisoned the faded red fledgling. He caught the blade firmly in his beak and only released it to scold me for such a threatening gesture. Twice he intercepted the clippers before they could cut him free, but finally I was able to distract him long enough to make two quick snips. He dropped gently to the ground, hopped once, and flew away.

Followers

Like so many, I appreciate the convenience of a GPS device while driving. Well, to be exact, I like it fine for the directions, but I really like the ETA and miles to go features the best. Today on our drive home from Buffalo, though, I was not at the wheel, and so in addition to enjoying some really spectacular scenery-- rolling NY farmland and gorgeous PA mountains in particular-- I spent some time looking at real maps.

I much prefer seeing the big picture and knowing where I am and where I'm going and how I plan to get there, something that turn by turn directions not only cannot provide, but actually discourage. Who needs that big old travel atlas when you have that handy electronic device advising you from the dashboard? Turns out, we do. In fact I heard a piece on the radio not so long ago about people who followed their GPS directions down dead-end dirt roads in Death Valley. Some were rescued after a few harrowing days and some died.

While we were on vacation I whipped up a batch of vegan shortcakes to go with some wonderful local peaches. "Where did you find this recipe?" someone asked and when I told her that I had made up, she was impressed. "I could never cook without a recipe," she said.

But she could. Anyone can. Recipes are like GPSs. If you follow them without paying attention to where you are going, then you probably have no idea as to where you are, but if you use them as a resource, then your destination remains in your control, so if you need to go back sometime, or you want to go another way, it's not a problem to turn a cherry almond cake into one with peaches, lime, and even a dash of hot chili.

And to climb one more rung on the analogy ladder tonight: this is one of the most important skills that we want our children to develop. Rote memory and following directions may be enough to pass most standardized tests, but it's critical thinking and the ability to apply the knowledge we have that will keep us from getting lost in Death Valley.

This is What 900 Looks Like

A personal milestone passed unrecognized yesterday-- even though I did not realize it until today, it was my 900th consecutive post on this blog. In honor of that fact, I did a bit o' research using the "edit post" feature. Here's a little almanac of WtD so far:

Number of posts that include the word...

walk 98
dog 65

write 160
teach 336
read 356
student 397

family 109
mom 118
sister 60
brother 60 (I know, right?)
nephew 56
niece 11 (That's a fair ratio: we have 5 nephews and 1 niece.)
dad 41

cook 65
garden 52
bike 19
hike 12

lobster 6
potato 14
tomato 23

hate 64
love 143
friend 152
we 862

Yep. That seems like a pretty fair representation of the last couple of years to me.

1000 here I come!

Line in the Sand

We are visiting family in Buffalo and today they proposed a visit to Niagara on the Lake, a lovely town not far from here. Unfortunately, NoL is in Canada, and US Citizens may not exit and re-enter our country without either a passport or secure driver's license. Our home state, Virginia, is rolling out the SDL as each of ours expires after its five-year term, although residents can request one sooner. Even so, neither of us have one, nor do we commonly travel with a passport, so no border crossing for us.

In the grand scheme of things, such security measures are neither surprising nor completely unreasonable, and it is really not a big deal; we simply made other plans. But still, how strange to stand by the side of a river in the land of the free with the knowledge that the opposite bank is off-limits. after traveling the world in my younger years, it is just not the sort of experience I associate with being American.

Sliced Tomaydas

When we were kids there was a plate of sliced tomatoes on our dinner table almost every night in summer. Some we grew in our garden and others came from the tomato man who lived down the street. He had a card table set up in his front yard and when we were out and about on summer afternoons my mom would often make a stop there and choose a few tomatoes for dinner, and it was vine to plate before the sun set.

I remembered how shocked I was the first time I met someone who didn't like tomatoes; such a thing had literally been inconceivable to me until that day. Over the years I've met several non-tomato eating folks, and I've found that there is consistency to their objections. For example, they are usually a bit defensive when questioned about the fact that they like pizza, spaghetti, and/or lasagna-- evidently cooked, pureed tomatoes are not the problem. Neither is ketchup, although in my opinion, the only thing ketchup and tomatoes have in common is the color red. For those who can not stand fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes, it has something to do with texture, mouth feel, and a certain "watery" flavor(!). I'm afraid I can't explain any more specifically than that, because those people happen to abhor one of my favorite foods on the planet.

This summer, we have a ton of tomatoes from our garden. It's not a problem at all though, because for us, there really is no such thing as too many tomatoes. We have already canned 25 quarts (Heidi's goal is 104-- 2 per week until tomatoes come in next season), and of course we have a plate of sliced tomatoes every night at dinner. All is as it should be.

Summer Break

There has been an imperceptible change in the weather the last few mornings and evenings. The unrelenting heat of the hottest July EVER is still around, but there are fleeting moments when the trees stir just a bit and you can tell that it's not really going to be hot forever.