Thoughts Before The Alarm Sounds

I started school in a two-room building: grades 1 to 4 in one room; grades 5 to 8 in the other. One teacher in each room taught all four grades. I don’t remember first grade very well – the teacher left at the end of the year. I am pretty sure it was not my fault. Now keep in mind that reading the Bible every morning was the standard for all grades at that time. But my teacher in grades two to four went a little above and beyond the normal practice. As a member of a “plain” sect, she considered it her duty to lead the little heathens to Christianity. She offered a free Bible to all students who managed to memorize 20 verses. I memorized my verses – “Jesus saves” was my favorite because it was the shortest – and got my Bible with my twenty underlined in red. That would be illegal today (not the underlining), and rightly so. Teachers may not teach religion, although contrary to what many folks seem to think, students may bring their Bibles to school, read them, and pray their...

      President Obama has announced a change in NASA’s mission; he has decided that the agency should bypass the moon, and concentrate instead on developing the necessary equipment for deep space exploration of the solar system.       He has also decided to rely on private contractors to handle near-earth orbit functions – for example, ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station. In this way, NASA can concentrate and what it does best, the application of science to space technology, and beaucoup jobs will hopefully be created in the private sector.       Not surprisingly, opposition to the plan surfaced immediately – Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, criticized the decision; on the other hand, “Buzz Aldrin, the second moonwalker, endorsed it. Congress has yet to weigh in on the plan.       The announcement brings into focus the different styles of planning. ...

      Tuesday afternoon a friend and I had the rare privilege of being invited back for a tour of my old high school. Actually, it’s my alma mater, but it’s definitely not my old high school.       In the first place, the name has been changed - we attended Manheim High School – now it’s called Manheim Central High School. Our old building has been practically abandoned, and the new one, now over 50 years old, is located on what was farm land way outside of town when we went there. Actually, only part of the building is over 50 years old – it has been augmented several times since its original construction.       There were about 300 students back in 1946; now there are well over 1,000.       Groups that shared a room in the old days: choral, orchestra (which we didn’t even have), drama, etc. now have separate rooms. The weight room for the football team is way bigger than the entire ...

      In my blog of March 29, There Is Life Outside Of Football , I wrote some disparaging things about the science curriculum at my old high school. Shortly thereafter I received a very polite email from Mr. Seth Kensinger, the AP Chemistry teacher at Manheim Central. Since then I have talked to him on the telephone, and received an education about how things are done outside the blog world.       I was concerned that no students from Manheim Central entered the Annual North Museum Science and Engineering Fair in Lancaster. He was very familiar with the fair – he had entered it as a student, later served as a judge of the entries, and even had a few students who entered projects. It is his contention that there are some political shenanigans that are not always conducive to the welfare of the entrants.       He told me, “Instead of the pushing the science fair at MC, we offer team-oriented opportunities such a...

      It’s time for my annual rant about the condition of science non-students at my alma mater. This happens whenever the winners of the North Museum and Science Fair are announced. At least it starts that way, although it expands a bit by the time I get to the end. Stay with me.       If this were about football, it would be a glowing review. Since 1992, Manheim Central’s record is been 215 and 29 – not too bad. A football scholarship to Penn State is considered a very successful high school career.       But it’s not about football.       I counted winners from 16 Lancaster County Schools at this year’s science fair. How many were there from Manheim Central? None, nada, nil, zilch, goose egg! Same as last year! I don’t think they even had anyone entered!       I have spoken to several of my classmates and other alumni about this lack, and what do I get? “We...

      The following information has been gleaned from various Texas sources with the exception of the section that begins with the words "Among the new Texas directives..." and ends with the words "...separation of church and state." That section was taken from an editorial in The Keene (N.H.) Sentinel of the same date. I don’t think it needs any comment.       For several years the Texas Board of Education members have been locked in an ideological battle between a bloc of conservatives who question Darwin’s theory of evolution and believe the Founding Fathers were guided by Christian principles, and a handful of Democrats and moderate Republicans who have fought to preserve the teaching of Darwinism and the separation of church and state. Last Friday the board approved a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Fo...

      Yesterday I wrote that although Barack Obama needs to be prudent about how he spends the federal dollar, attempting to reduce overall spending would be a bad mistake at this time. Today I will attempt to expand that thought.      It is true that every dollar spent on either goods or services creates a job somewhere along the line, whether it is spent for prostitutes or Air Force tankers. However, not all dollars spent produce the same number of jobs. To the extent possible, the President should spend the money on those items which will produce the most “jobs per buck.” The following is a chart of jobs created by industry per million dollars spent:       In an interview on CNN days before the election, Mr. Obama explicitly ranked his priorities, starting with an economic recovery package that would include middle-class tax relief. His second priority, he said, would be energy; third, health care; fourth, tax ...

Football season has started, and the media have hyped the fans to their annual fall frenzy. It would be wonderful if they could support performance in the classroom to the same extent as they do for performance on the athletic field. It seems odd that so much emphasis is placed on things that many animals can do much better than humans ― they can run faster, jump higher, copulate more often, perform greater feats of strength, etc. ― and so little on the process at which humans excel: think. We celebrate what we do from the neck down, and merely tolerate what we do from the neck up. I do not believe that education necessarily can be improved by throwing more money at it, but it would help if some of the same spirit could be thrown at it. However, on the subject of money, I realize that athletics is a money-making activity; it is probably the only education-related activity that is self-supporting, and it is my understanding that income from athletic endeavors goes strictly for the...