"Blustery" gets thrown around a lot in South Carolina as an adjective for mid-winter weather, but I think Chicago may have a better definition of the term.  Today's gusts reached 40mph .... which wasn't really too bad since the city blocks themselves can shelter you from some of the blast. But at one point I did feel like the proverbial Dorothy. Or that person in the V8 commercials who can walk "slanted" LOL

The hostel is noisy tonight. We've added a gaggle of French-speaking middle schoolers who are energetic and crawling all over the common areas. Till now it's been a quiet, cozy place. Coart & I had a lovely conversation with a Frenchman at breakfast this morning about his homeland, which he clearly loves and encouraged us to visit. He is from Toulouse.  I am always ashamed by the fact that foreigners often know more about America's geography than we ever know about theirs. It's a fact: America is a giant powerhouse, and we just don't care much about the rest of the world. But this guy could coherently discuss the Appalachians even. 

Yesterday morning an older gentleman was schooling an Australian lady on the interesting points in American history and America's involvement in WW2. Earlier this week we met Thomas, a German guy with amazing blond dreadlocks and a sunny personality. In fact, a whole pack of Germans were staying here. And a Danish couple. I like hostelling for that fact -- you never know which nationality you'll run into next!

Anyway, today was a bit less fast-paced -- it's good to throw in a semi-rest day in the middle of a longer trip so the students have enough energy to actually benefit from the museum trips. We spent a large part of the day inside the Adler Planetarium, the oldest in America. The planetary & moon exhibits were pretty cool, and I really liked the actual planetarium "show" about the life cycle of stars. Amazing what they can show using current animation and NASA images/data. But many of the installations were older and showed some wear.  I imagine funding for many educational organizations like planetariums has plummeted with the recession.  On the upside, a current astronomer/university professor who also works at Adler gave us an hour-long presentation on the gamma-ray astronomy going on. They're studying neutrino radiation and gamma rays/cosmic rays in general.  Even better, he was able to handle any question we threw at him, including the off-topic ones about the ozone layer.

Last night we sampled a bit of the outstanding theater shows available in such a big city. The IO theater is well-known for teaching improv, for example.  As students of the fine art of theater, we truly enjoyed their Monday night show which offered a full two hours of long-sketch improv comedy. I think the best pieces referenced long-standing sports rivalries among the New England Patriots, Chicago Bears, and NY Giants.

I have to share this story:  Lauren terrorized the poor employee at the Wrigley sports store (where they sell Chicago sports merch).  She wanted to buy her dad and her matching T-shirts. When starting her purchase, she asked the guy if he'd heard of C J Spiller. He was aware of his presence on the Bills roster, but didn't really know anything about him (or Clemson). That annoyed Lauren.... who also exploded at the city's 9.5% sales tax.  Since the guy "didn't know who C J was -- what the crap?!" she refused to buy both T-shirts. The guy, in typical Midwestern calm, smirked and suggested she drink decaf.   I thought the whole deal was hilarious. The guy helpfully pointed us to some incredible places to eat supper, so I assume there are no hard feelings between Chicago and South Carolina. lol

I guess I'm working backwards in chronology here.... Monday we spent the day in the Chicago Art Institute... which musters a stunning collection of 1/4 million objects and the finest Impressionism collection outside of Paris. I reveled in the 3rd floor European contemporary art, with fine examples of Matisse, Picasso, Dali, Mondrian, and others. We also whizzed through some nice 1600-1800s European art and several famous American pieces (the most famous being Grant Wood's American Gothic). Clearly it would take a week to see everything in that incredible collection.

We're down to less than 48 hours in Chicago, which has treated us very well during our stay.  I approve.   Wednesday should find us at the Museum of Science & Industry, Chinatown, and perhaps a veterans' art museum. And the Sears Tower Skydeck -- still need to fit that in.

And a Chicago hotdog.
And another Italian beef sandwich.
And some more heavenly popcorn from Garrett's.

I don't know if my stomach can make it . . .

A quickie, pecked in furious haste at the hostel's bank of computers where you pay by the minute. Welcome to hostel living, which isn't all that bad if you're in a hostel as nice as the one in Chicago.

First things: 

NCS trip to Chicago with 10th-12th graders, a dozen of them. Started off well with a no-hitch flight on a very small jet from ATL to Chicago O'Hare. A couple kids had never flown before, so we had to hold hands a bit through a bumpy takeoff and landing, but overall a good flight and a competent crew.

Everyone told us before we left, "You will LOVE Chicago."  I can heartily affirm that statement now. This is a wonderful city. People are friendly in a way that's a lot more helpful than most other places I've been. If a local sees you standing somewhat confused on the street corner, he'll probably come over and ask you where you're trying to get to ... and then argue with another local amicably to decide the best route you should take to get there.  The public transportation is efficient, clean, and well-organized. The drivers are ridiculously polite, at least in town. I've hardly heard a horn while we've been here or "seen a bird."  Everyone who has seen our group has welcomed us with a raised eyebrow: "South Carolina, huh?  Wow...." and then made us feel welcome.

Speaking gastronomically, Chicago has been a boon. The pizza is great; the Italian beef sandwiches are great; Garrett's popcorn is ridiculous.

Likewise the culture.  Today we were absorbed primarily in the Art Institute, which houses one of the world's premiere collections of 20thC art from around the world. I loved the 3rd floor European gallery with Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian, Dali.... as well as American greats like Grant Wood (American Gothic) and many, many others. We're kind of vomiting art right now. It's a lot to take in.

I'll have to write at a different time about Sunday morning's very interesting service at Trinity United Church of Christ. Several students wanted to experience an African-American church service, and Obama's church is rather famous these days (though Reverend Wright has been gone for several months). So we made our way down to the southside for a rich worship experience infused with enthusiasm, visual imagery, wonderful music, and a vast change in culture from what we're used to.  It's always good to see a different segment of the Body and remember that all who name Christ's name will one day worship together at the Throne.

Must run. Girls want to go shopping on "the magnificent mile." 

Looks like a great year 

Having Erin, a world history/civics/economics teacher in the public school system, in the house this weekend has spawned some thinking on education. So in the interest of "bouncing around some ideas" ...

I think the education system in the US would be far more effective if we . . .

1. Stop expecting the public education system to solve social problems like poverty, the effects of broken families and divorce, abuse or neglect, or cultural ignorance.

No teacher, no matter how gifted, can overcome the accumulated effects on a child of parental neglect, abuse, or ignorance. There is a qualitative difference between parents who pour their lives into enriching the mental development of their kids, and those who don't (whether from neglect or incapability). From year to year, kids who began the race "behind" will continue to fall behind without significant parental or mentor involvement in their education. The schools cannot 'fix' America's social problems. Helping humans become better people falls in the realm of community organizations, churches, charities, and other nonprofit works (and I'm fine with government funding those organizations to some degree for the good of society as a whole).

2. Stop treating education like the great equalizer of the masses.

While getting an education certainly helps bring underprivileged or disadvantaged kids into new opportunities, an education alone cannot undo years of neglect or lack of opportunities. Life isn't fair. Those kids who have extraordinary talent in a particular field will probably be noticed and given that opportunity. The rest of us muddle along with what we've got. The Declaration of Independence promises us all the opportunity to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. It never promised us a level playing field. 

..... I'm not saying we should give up on trying to make life better for those who aren't doing well. To a large extent, the community at large can and should rally to assist those in need. But we will never reach a point in our nation when everyone is equally successful. Placing that burden on the schools is unfair.  Humans are diverse, unique, specifically-gifted folks. One size will never fit all.

3. Return power over education to the local district level while maintaining a financial "buffer" via statewide distribution of education funding (and money drawn from federal taxes).

Our national and district bureaucracies eat up tons of money and time that should be invested in the classrooms themselves. Pare down district/management staff to the bare minimum and divert those resources to hiring more teachers or aids. Give local districts more power (see below). Return a much larger portion of the money to individual schools (based on student popluation and general school-age population in the county).

..... On the other hand, in order to prevent year-to-year upheavals within the system, a percentage of tax dollars should be guaranteed to educational institutions for the sake of financial stability. I need to think this one through more deeply, but I'm convinced that a mixture of funding sources are necessary for schools to thrive (unlike South Carolina's current mess of a funding system, which decimated education across the state by basing its budget larges on sales tax revenue, which plummeted in the economic crash).

4. Attach at least half of all state (and federal) spending on individual students to the student herself, so that the money follows the student to whatever school parents choose.

Most people hate voucher systems; I can understand the fears. But some form of economic competition IS necessary or the system will never be reformed. Politicians will never save us from anything, but given enough economic incentive, capitalism + self-interest can accomplish a lot.

The average SC public school receives something like $15,000 per pupil per year. If only half of that money were tagged to the child herself, many parents in SC could actually have true choice in finding a good education for their kids . . . and my salary as a teacher would begin to match my educational level, skill, and experience. New Covenant could begin saving money for that new building we hope to need in the next decade. And happy parents could invest in the schools of their choice.

5. Acknowledge the diversity of America by mirroring that diversity in the schools.

Stop pretending that education money should belong to the public system only. The lines between public and private are blurred as soon as an American citizen puts his child in a private school; as soon as Pennsylvania demanded that public schools provide busing for private school kids; as soon as some districts turned to businesses or charter schools to help them reform their schools.  Let's attach the funding to the child and let that money drift to the school where the child is being educated.  I don't think parents will be yanking their kids in and out of schools at a whim. Most of us like continuity. And letting parents have some measure of choice in education, whether choosing among various public schools or electing a private option, will drive change within the system.

6.. Hire qualified, professional educators and give individual schools far more leverage to implement state standards in their own way.

I've never yet met a public school teacher who thought No Child Left Behind or Race To the Top (the current administration's initiative) were good ideas. Trying to measure "educational success" via standardized test scores seems like a good idea only to people who never set foot in a classroom. Anyone familiar with teaching knows that kids are individuals, not widgets. If you want an assembly-line for education, hire computers and get out of the way.  Otherwise, acknowledge that humans will always be more adaptable and intelligent than machines, and get out of the way of the professionals who are trying to help kids suceed.

Along with that, I'd recommend clarifying the hiring/firing standards within a given district and giving schools the power to release bad teachers (based on a portfolio of standards, not just test scores or parent complaints). With additional funding (see #4), teacher salaries might rise high enough to begin demanding master's degrees of all teachers with at least 5 years' experience in the classroom . . . which would improve the quality of education overall. A more qualified teaching force would improve curriculum, implementation of standards, and classroom instruction across the board.

7. Offer greater mobility within a county's school system to offer more opportunities to students gifted in the arts, athletics, or academics.

Opening up funding (by attaching some funding to the child so parents can choose different schools) and giving districts a bigger say in how the state standards are implemented would encourage more schools to focus on particular educational methods -- like magnet schools do now. We need to offer more opportunities in the arts, maths & sciences, and vo/tech careers on a "need" basis. It's OK if some of those needs are supplied by charter schools or private schools.  In fact, bigger districts (urban areas) might be able to create special target schools to assist in remediating students from underprivileged backgrounds -- say, hiring a higher number of early-elementary teachers with special training in learning disabilities, and staffing the school with family counselors.

8. Offer more diploma options, with a tech school deferment.

This one will be controversial, but here goes:  Not all high school students want an education. Has anyone noticed that some 16-18 year olds combine stupidity and hard-headedness into a difficult package? When you're a teen, you think you'll live forever and that you have the world figured out. Fine. Stop forcing educators to hand-hold the kids who don't want to be there . . . life (and its consequences) are an amazing teacher.

Allow students to take a tech diploma at age 16 (or after 10th grade) with an optional tech school funding voucher held in their name until they turn 25.  Students can leave school and get a job, or elect to enroll in vocational coursework at a vo-tech college in the state (if they meet basic entrance requirements in reading, writing, and math). The voucher will offer the same funding to the tech college that would have gone to the public school if the student had taken all 4 years of high school. Hopefully, many of the kids who elect to leave high school at 16 will be back in the classroom training for a career by the time they are 25, and wiser. Education would become more of a commodity to be desired and appreciated instead of a handout.  And teachers/schools could stop spending higher-level resources on kids who don't really care.

9. Stop pretending that education will ever be "neutral."

No classroom is neutral. A tolerant classroom teaches that all viewpoints have equal footing -- which is itself a philosophical viewpoint. Christian schools teach a religious view. Jewish or Catholic families living in the South have no options in education that match their beliefs because they don't have enough population to merit a separate school, though they might want one.  Let's top pretending that education itself is an aspect of church-state separation. Let the money follow the student to the school.

10. Accredit all schools (and homeschool associations)

For any of this to work, educators must meet at least a minimum standard.  I realize that many of my home schooling friends will spontaneously combust on this point but I stand by it. It bothers me that South Carolina doesn't really know or care what New Covenant School is doing. Every former student I've ever polled from the local county high schools tells me that NCS's classes were far harder than honors courses they're taking, but who knows? Without at least a basic standard, every man educates as is "right in his own eyes," and some of those results aren't pretty.

The battleground over the "standard" of accreditation will be fierce, but I recommed that we choose to implement the two national resources already available to every state:  regional accrediting agencies (like SACS in the South) and nationwise subject standards. Home school associations could derive their accountability from a local public or (more likely) private educational institution -- a partnership that would benefit the HSA itselfy by assisting with paperwork or standardized testing and opening up sports teams or school clubs to home schooled students.

The regional accrediting agencies already offer a way for secondary schools to be recognized as "qualifying" after a vigorous investigation based on the school's own vision/mission statement. The agencies are not trying to force schools into a mold; they want to make sure the schools themselves are turning out graduates in line with their own established standards. 

The national subject standards in math, science, English, history, foreign languages, etc were written by professionals in the subject discipline, and are much simpler and clearer than the state public school standards. (If you want your kid in a school that follows the state standards, enroll your kid in the local public school.) In fact, our standardized-test-driven state standards usually work against the best practices recommended by professional writers, historians, scientists, etc.  Teaching toward the big test runs counter to teaching critical thinking.

Set ALL the schools free (public and private) within a framework of accountability to implement the best practices in a way that best fits their particular geography and demographic, in a market affected somewhat by economic factors.  It won't fix all the problems, but I think we'd have a fighting chance of providing a much better education to a greater number of families.

The quarter ended today, my grades are due on Monday morning, and I have only one small stack of reading journals to grade... AND I'M DONE!

What is this "on time" of which you speak?

1. The entire rest of the dress code series that I started last May

2. Life isn't just about "safety"

3. A really good short story ... but I'd have to write one first LOL

4. Exegetical and logical fallacies in sermons -- they really bug me

5. What God says about sin, righteousness and all the "gray areas" in between

   

I just answered this Featured Question; you can answer it too!

The Art of Drowning

Billy Collins

I wonder how it all got started, this business
about seeing your life flash before your eyes
while you drown, as if panic, or the act of submergence,
could startle time into such compression, crushing
decades in the vice of your desperate, final seconds.

After falling off a steamship or being swept away
in a rush of floodwaters, wouldn't you hope
for a more leisurely review, an invisible hand
turning the pages of an album of photographs-
you up on a pony or blowing out candles in a conic hat.

How about a short animated film, a slide presentation?
Your life expressed in an essay, or in one model photograph?
Wouldn't any form be better than this sudden flash?
Your whole existence going off in your face
in an eyebrow-singeing explosion of biography-
nothing like the three large volumes you envisioned.

Survivors would have us believe in a brilliance
here, some bolt of truth forking across the water,
an ultimate Light before all the lights go out,
dawning on you with all its megalithic tonnage.
But if something does flash before your eyes
as you go under, it will probably be a fish,

a quick blur of curved silver darting away,
having nothing to do with your life or your death.
The tide will take you, or the lake will accept it all
as you sink toward the weedy disarray of the bottom,
leaving behind what you have already forgotten,
the surface, now overrun with the high travel of clouds.

Workin on some posters to advertise the Rabbit Room lecture on vampires in pop culture -- thoughts?

I'm also banging away at a screen-printed T-shirt design for the youth group centered on the Friday night "Burn" and "Bright" activities. "Burn" = athletic games; "Bright" = games that don't make you sweat.  It's been a popular theme, so I'd like to bust out some shirts in a 3 color screen print (at most -- they get expensive as you add more colors).  LiteBrite immediately popped into my mind; I have great memories of shoving those plastic pegs into the paper templates as a kid (and painfully discovering those same pegs later with the soles of my feet). Good times.

I found a couple tutorials online about how to get the LiteBrite effect using Illustrator  and how to do 4-color separations for screen printing. I banged out much of the design on Saturday night; hope to put together a mock up for the kids to see and order from on Wednesday.  

I gotta keep the right side of my brain happy or I go insane. I'm not even kidding. ...

It's hard to make theory (or theology) and practice match.

Recent experiences have drawn my thoughts toward the questions of how NCS as a school can better serve minorities, underprivileged, marginalized, and learning disabled students. It's like the fences just keep getting higher. Everything about the private school model screams NO TRESPASSING.

The classical school movement -- and the Christian school movement in general -- hasn't always done the best job reaching out to those who are not "like us."  Let's face it: My church has a lot of white, upper-middle-class professionals in it. The religious diversity among the school community represents a few more evangelical traditions, but everybody is still very much "the same." Nobody has a tattoo or crazy haircut. Most of the minorities are here because they've been adopted (and that's great -- don't get me wrong). But everyone is basically, homogeneously white.

Our mascot should be a gallon of milk.

How do we explode the fences? So much of Christ's ministry targeted the poor, the sick, the needy, the helpless.

But He didn't have to pay a light bill, buy books, maintain a facility, or meet payroll. Our Christian educational ministries suffer from the economic realities of life in this world. A school is expensive (time, money, emotional investment, wear and tear). 

Let's say for argument's sake that an Andersonian millionaire dies and bequeaths NCS a million dollars for scholarships and student aid.  Great.  But we haven't removed the barriers just by offering scholarships.

Some of our scholarship kids live on the "wrong" side of town. What if mom doesn't have a car or the gas money to run a kid back and forth to school everyday? The main school population doesn't live on south or west Anderson. Who's going to get these kids to school and home again?  What busy family is going to leave home 20 minutes early to drive all the way across town to do a favor?

What about extra-curricular activities? I can relate to this one .... I grew up on top of a mountain in western Pennsylvania surrounded by frightening, stereotypical "mountain" people. My family had one working car, and my mom always had it at work 30 minutes in the wrong direction.  I never participated in any ex/cr things at school because I didn't have a ride home. At least NCS  has a pretty good tradition of faculty members pitching in to give rides ... I remember my 8th grade English teacher driving me home after we went to a Shakespeare play at a local Penn State campus (one of two professional, live performances I ever saw during my schooling in PA). After the field trip, Mrs Shawley put me in her blue Ford Escort and gingerly picked her way up the winding mountain roads to my house (buried in the middle of the woods -- she could probably hear banjo music.... lol).  The whole ordeal seemed SO awkward for her and for me and for my dad, who was embarrassed that he had no way to pick me up after school on his own.

My family was poor. I'll say it straight up. My dad had a good job at a steel mill an hour away until he woke up one morning half-blind with no explanation. I was in 2nd grade. He lost his job immediately (but retained a pension). His income was cut by 2/3. My mom became the sole breadwinner, and from that point on I'm not really sure how she paid all the bills or how we had money to eat. I *really* don't know how they paid for my Christian school tuition. (That's probably why we didn't have much to eat. My dad could cook supper for a week on $30 of groceries.)

Every day at school offers constant reminders to some of my students that they aren't privileged enough to own an iPod or have enough spare cash to spring for YoGo's after school on a whim. The big field trips in October are an insurmountable barrier.  I understand.  My family never went on a single vacation. We couldn't afford it. And that's ok. I had a good life, good parents, good friends. But if something cost more than $50, the answer was no. No letter jackets; no class ring; no extra trips.

Simply providing a gateway into the private school full of upper-middle-class kids isn't enough. We need to rally around whole families to fill in the gaps of a support network that most Christian families just take for granted
 

What about students set apart by learning disabilities? Again, Christian schools usually can't afford to hire the necessary special education staff to properly handle kids with significant learning problems. Dyslexia. Dysgraphia. Processing issues. Major reading deficiencies. Kids who don't 'get' math or grammar. 

Shouldn't we be able to craft Christian schools that offer a place to all of the household of faith?  Did God abandon some parents and some kids to wander in an unhelpful public education system because their kids don't score at the top of the charts?  Praise God, NCS does not follow the popular philosophy of some classical schools to worship "rigor" above humanity, to screen applicants with a standardized test so that only the "A students" remain.  I thank God every day for the C students in my classroom, for the ones who have to struggle and fight for every.little.bit.of.progress -- not because I want them to struggle (I hate it), but because those kids are the beautiful feet which will carry the Gospel of peace around the world. "Smart kids" struggle against laziness and pride and arrogance. Talk to the kid who knows he can't get math without an extra hour of work. Talk to the kid who knows her reading comprehension is so weak that she will spend hours just trying to grasp a single assignment. You'll usually find a very hard worker, a student who has learned that determination is worth a lot more than raw talent.  Given a chance to actually learn, those kids will be Kingdom workers worth their weight in gold.

Blessed are the weak, for they will see the strength of God in their weakness.  Shouldn't our school somehow be a haven for those kids too?

I don't have any answers here. I'm just rambling.  I'm thankful for the good progress NCS has made on all fronts. I'm glad my classes are as diverse as they are.

But the issue is real. 
We need to do more than open our doors and invite the poor, the needy, the struggling, the minorities, the Calvary Home kids to come to school.

We need to cross the road ... and pave it.