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Words of Inspiration
Introducing an occasional addition
to this newsletter of selected words of inspiration which you might
find helpful for reflection.
Please consider sending in your own favorite selections as a contribution to
an online resource of words which help one
get through difficult times.
Anyway
http://www.karinya.com/anyway.htm
Mother Teresa hung a copy of this poem on a wall of
the orphanage she founded in Calcutta.
[*"The verses below reportedly were engraved on the wall of Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta, and are widely attributed to her. However, according to The New York Times" and the Osgood File, "the verses actually were written by 19-year-old Kent Keith in a motivation booklet for high school counselors published while he was a student at Harvard in 1966. In 2002 Keith was communications director at the Honolulu YMCA." http://halife.com/halife/anyway.html]
People are often unreasonable,
illogical and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind,
People may accuse you
of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be Kind anyway.
If you are successful,
you will win some false friends and
some true enemies;
Succeed anyway. people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway
If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis.
it is between you and God;
It is never between you and them anyway.
[often read by Dr. David G. Carter, Sr., President, Eastern Connecticut State University at Commencement and Graduation ceremonies] posted on 1/4/02, revised May 19, 2002*
*****
Intelligence plus character--that
is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power
of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate. The broad
education will, therefore, transmit to one not only the accumulated knowledge
of the race but also the accumulated experience of social living.
from Dr. Martin L. King Jr on THE
PURPOSE OF EDUCATION [http://www.toptags.com/aama/voices/speeches/pofed.htm]
1948, Morehouse College
posted on 1/11/02
*****
A selection from George Bernard Shaw
-
"This is the true joy in
life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the
being a force of nature instead of a feverish,
selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining
that the world will not devote itself
to making you happy.
I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.
I want to be thoroughly used up
when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for
its own sake. Life is no 'brief
candle' for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for
the moment, and I want to make it
burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future
generations."
[quotes attributed to George
Bernard Shaw by Dr. Gerald Lawrence, Windham Community Memorial
Hospital orthopedist, in response to many
accolades on the occasion of his retirement party on December 14, 2001] posted on 12/28/01
****
Dr. Martin L. King Jr -
Washington, D.C., July 19, 1962
http://www.educationplanet.com/redirect?url=http://www.triadntr.net/~rdavis/mlkqts.htm
"We are simply seeking to bring into full realization the American dream-a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where men no longer argue that the color of a man's skin determines the content of his character; the dream of a land where every man will respect the dignity and worth of human personality-this is the dream. When it is realized, the jangling discords of our nation will be transformed into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood, and men everywhere will know that America is truly the land of the free and home of the brave."
Best wishes for a restful and spirit-uplifting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Weekend 2002. 1/18/02
***
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -
"I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood...I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character."
Speech at Civil Rights March in Washington, 28 August (1963), in New York Times 29 August (1963), p. 21 posted on 1/30/02
***
"Education happens everywhere and it happens from the moment a child is born -- and some people say before -- until a person dies. It is a far more complicated, overarching process than can ever be handled inside the walls of a school."
Sara Lawrence Lightfoot, Harvard educator as quoted by the Challenger Center http://www.challenger.org/cc/cc_body_we12.htm 2/6/02
***
from Teaching in Mexico.... Valentine's in Mexico By Michele Rooney http://www.inside-mexico.com/teaching6.htm
"Before coming to Mexico, I might have assumed that this holiday would be celebrated in a different manner, but I have realized that, like so many other things, we share more commonalities than differences. So here in school, I watch as my students’ eyes shine when they speak of their Valentine’s Day plans and the activities that Student Council is contriving for that special day. Boys struggle to come up with the perfect gift for the very choosy girlfriends, and girls delight in thinking of a hundred different ways of surprising their boyfriends.
The one difference that I have noticed in Valentine’s Day here is that it is a celebration of love and friendship, opening the door to many different kinds of festivities. Those who don’t have that one special person in their lives can hook up with a friend who finds himself in the same situation and rejoice in the special relationship that they share. Maybe that seems like a crazy idea, or at least not as attractive an idea as going out on a romantic date with the one you love, but perhaps it would be a good lesson in friendship.
I guess the important thing is to celebrate love, whether it be of the romantic nature or just a good friend who’s always there when you need him.
"We are all born for love. It
is the principle of existence, and its only end."
-Benjamin Disraeli" 2/8/02
***
Education
is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
- Nelson Mandela
posted on 2/18/02
***
Here are some inspirational quotes on education and teaching courtesy of NSDC, National Staff Development Council at http://www.nsdc.org/educatorindex.htm]
Education is not the filling of a
bucket but the lighting of a fire.
W.B. Yeats
If you do not have the time to
read, you do not have the time to lead.
Phillip Schlechty
Students are volunteers, whether
we want them to be or not. Their attendance can be commanded, but their
attention must be earned. Their compliance can be insisted on, but their
commitment is under their own control.
Phillip Schlechty
If you think of vision and mission
as an organization's head and heart, the values its holds are its soul.
From Making Common Sense Common
Practice, by Buzzotta/Lefton/Cheney/Beatty (New Leaders Press)
Where there is an open mind, there
will always be a frontier.
Charles Kettering
There are really only three types
of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and
those who say, What happened?
Ann Landers
Progress is impossible without
change; and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
George Bernard Shaw
Change is not made without
inconvenience, even from worse to better.
Richard Hooker
There is a certain relief in
change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have found in travelling in a
stage-coach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised
in a new place.
Washington Irving
Don't ever take a fence down until
you know the reason why it was put up.
G.K. Chesterton
There is no way to make people
like change. You can only make them feel less threatened by it.
Frederick Hayes
The world hates change, yet it is
the only thing that has brought progress.
George Kettering
There is nothing permanent except
change.
Greek Proverb
Times change and we change with
them.
Latin proverb
Everyone thinks of changing the
world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
Leo Tolstoy
If we don't change the direction
we're going, we're likely to end up where we are headed.
Chinese proverb
The best teacher is the one who
suggests, rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to
teach himself.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, English
Novelist
Self-initiated learning, once
begun, develops its own momentum.
Ray Hartjen
Fear is a natural reaction to
moving closer to the truth.
Pema Chodron, from her book, When
Things Fall Apart
Arriving at one goal is the
starting point to another.
John Dewey
A mind stretched to a new idea,
never goes back to its original dimensions.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
What we need is more people who specialize
in the impossible
Theodore Roosevelt
Even when I was young I suspected
that much might be done in a better way.
Henry Ford, Sr.
We are now at a point where we
must educate our children in what no one knew yesterday, and prepare our
schools for what no one knows yet.
Margaret Mead
No matter how far you have gone on
a wrong road, turn back.
Turkish proverb
"Efficiency is donig the
thing right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing."
Peter F. Drucker
Reform must come from within, not
from without.
James Gibbons
Every reform was once a private
opinion.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
We only think when we are
confronted with a problem.
John Dewey
The farther backward you can look,
the farther forward you are likely to see.
Winston Churchill
Vision is the art of seeing things
invisible.
Jonathan Swift
Where there is no vision, the
people perish.
Proverbs 29:18
"We must always change,
renew, rejuvenate overselves; otherwise, we harden."
Goethe
"Not doing more than the average
is what keeps the average down."
William M. Winans
"Don't be afraid to take a big step. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps."
"A person who follows in another's track leaves no footprints."
"Thus, the task is not so
much to see what no one yet has seen, but to think what nobody yet has thought
about that which everybody sees."
Arthur Schopenhauer
"The time is always right to
do what is right."
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"Actually, the good news is
that great minds don't always think alike."
Goldman Sachs advertisement in the
Wall St. Journal, January 2000
"There are risks and costs to
a program of action, but they are far less
than the long-range risks and costs
of comfortable inaction."
John F. Kennedy
"In order to succeed, you must
know what you are doing, like what you are doing, and believe in what you are
doing."
Will Rogers
"Many things can wait; the
child cannot. Now is the time his bones are being formed, his mind is being
developed. To him, we cannot say tomorrow; his name is today"
Gabriela Mistral
"We can talk or dream about
the glorious schools of the future or we can create them."
Marilyn Ferguson
"Who wants change? Things are
bad enough as they are."
Lord Salisbury
"Every new beginning comes
from some other beginning's end."
Semisonic, "Closing Time''
"Every person takes the
limits for their own field of vision for the limits of the world."
Arthur Schopenhauer
"Even if you're on the right
track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."
Will Rogers
"Be like a postage stamp.
Stick to one thing until you get there."
Josh Billings
"Attempt the impossible in
order to improve your work."
Bette Davis
"Courage is the first of
human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others."
Winston Churchill
"Anyone who has never made a
mistake has never tried anything new."
Albert Einstein
"Anyone who isn't confused
really doesn't understand the situation."
Edward R. Murrow
"A prudent question is one
half of wisdom."
Francis Bacon
"A ship in harbor is safe,
but that is not what ships are built for."
John A. Shedd
"My interest is in the
future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."
Charles F. Kettering
"Yesterday is not ours to
recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose"
Lyndon B. Johnson
"It is easier to do a job
right than to explain why you didn't."
Martin Van Buren
"I couldn't wait for success,
so I went ahead without it."
Jonathan Winters
"The measure of success is
not whether you have a tough problem, but whether it's the same problem you had
last year."
John Foster Dulles
"One worthwhile task carried
to a successful conclusion is better than half-a-hundred half-finished
tasks."
B. C. Forbes
"Success seems to be
connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but
they don't quit."
Conrad Hilton
"Discoveries are often made
by not following instructions, by going off the main road, by trying the
untried."
Frank Tyger
"When one teaches, two
learn."
Robert Half
"The man who does things
makes mistakes, but he doesn't make the biggest mistake of all - doing
nothing."
Benjamin Franklin
"If you're treading water,
you're losing ground."
Stephen W. Comiskey
"Recovering
from failure is often easier than building from success."
Michael D. Eisner
posted in February 2002
HOW TO TELL IF YOU'RE A REAL TEACHER
also found at http://www.adprima.com/teacherwit.htm
- Teacher and Teaching Wit and Wisdom
Real teachers grade papers in the car, during commercials, in faculty meetings, in the bathroom, and (at the end of the six weeks) have been seen grading in church.
Real teachers cheer when they hear April 1 does not fall on a school day.
Real teachers drive older cars owned by credit unions.
Real teachers clutch a pencil while thinking and make notes in the margins of books.
Real teachers can't walk past a crowd of kids without straightening up the line.
Real teachers never sit down without first checking the seat of the chair.
Real teachers have disjointed necks from writing on boards without turning their backs on the class.
Real teachers are written up in medical journals for size and elasticity of kidneys and bladders.
Real teachers have been timed gulping down a full lunch in 2 minutes, 18 seconds. Master teachers can eat faster than that.
Real teachers can predict exactly which parents will show up at Open House.
Real teachers volunteer for hall duty on days faculty meetings are scheduled.
Real teachers never teach the conjugations of lie and lay to eighth graders.
Real teachers know it is better to seek forgiveness than to ask permission.
Real teachers know the best end of semester lesson plans can come from Blockbuster.
Real teachers never take grades after Wednesday of the last week of the six weeks.
Real teachers never assign research papers on the last six weeks or essays on final exams.
Real teachers know the shortest distance and the length of travel time from their classroom to the office.
Real teachers can "sense" gum.
Real teachers know the difference among what must be graded, what ought to be graded, and what probably should never again see the light of day.
Real teachers are solely responsible for the destruction of the rain forest.
Real teachers have their best conferences in the parking lot.
Real teachers have never heard an original excuse.
Real teachers buy Excedrin and Advil at Sam's.
Real teachers will eat anything that is put in the workroom/teacher's lounge.
Real teachers never plan discussions for first period or co-operative groups for 7th during an evaluation.
Real teachers have the assistant principals' and counselors' home phone numbers.
Real teachers know secretaries and custodians run the school.
Real teachers know the rules don't really apply to them.
Real teachers hear the heartbeats of crisis; always have time to listen; know they teach students, not subjects; and they are absolutely non-expendable.
posted on 2/28/02
***
from John Dewey
(1916). Democracy and Education. Chapter Fourteen: The
Nature of Subject Matter
http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/publications/Projects/digitexts/dewey/d_e/chapter14.html
Democratic society is peculiarly dependent for its maintenance upon the use in forming a course of study of criteria which are broadly human. Democracy cannot flourish where the chief influences in selecting subject matter of instruction are utilitarian ends narrowly conceived for the masses, and, for the higher education of the few, the traditions of a specialized cultivated class. The notion that the "essentials" of elementary education are the three R's mechanically treated, is based upon ignorance of the essentials needed for realization of democratic ideals. Unconsciously it assumes that these ideals are unrealizable; it assumes that in the future, as in the past, getting a livelihood, "making a living," must signify for most men and women doing things which are not significant, freely chosen, and ennobling to those who do them; doing things which serve ends unrecognized by those engaged in them, carried on under the direction of others for the sake of pecuniary reward. For preparation of large numbers for a life of this sort, and only for this purpose, are mechanical efficiency in reading, writing, spelling and figuring, together with attainment of a certain amount of muscular dexterity, "essentials." Such conditions also infect the education called liberal, with illiberality. They imply a somewhat parasitic cultivation bought at the expense of not having the enlightenment and discipline which come from concern with the deepest problems of common humanity. A curriculum which acknowledges the social responsibilities of education must present situations where problems are relevant to the problems of living together, and where observation and information are calculated to develop social insight and interest.
posted on 2/22/02
***
from Mortimer Adler,"WHAT IS LIBERAL EDUCATION?, http://www.realuofc.org/libed/adler/wle.html
Let us first
be clear about the meaning of the liberal arts and liberal educations. The
liberal arts are traditionally intended to develop the faculties of the human
mind, those
powers of intelligence and imagination without which no intellectual work can
be
accomplished. Liberal education is not tied to certain academic subjects, such
as philosophy,
history, literature, music, art, and other so-called "humanities." In
the liberal-arts tradition,
scientific disciplines, such as mathematics and physics, are considered equally
liberal, that is,
equally able to develop the powers of the mind."
***
Alfie Cohen, Rescuing Our Schools
from "Tougher Standards"
http://www.alfiekohn.org/standards/standards.htm
"A plague
has been sweeping through American schools, wiping out the most innovative
instruction
and
beating down some of the best teachers and administrators. Ironically, that
plague has been
unleashed in the name of improving schools. Invoking such terms as
"tougher standards,"
"accountability," and "raising the bar," people with little
understanding of how children learn have
imposed
a heavy-handed, top-down, test-driven version of school reform that is lowering
the
quality
of education in this country.
It
has taken some educators and parents a while to realize that the rhetoric of
"standards" is turning
schools
into giant test-prep centers, effectively closing off intellectual inquiry and
undermining
enthusiasm for learning (and teaching). It has taken even longer to realize
that this is not a fact of
life,
like the weather -- that is, a reality to be coped with -- but rather a
political movement that
must be
opposed. "
Alfie Cohen delivered the Kappa Delta Pi Lecture at the 2002 AACTE meeting, February 25, 2002.
posted on 3/01/02
***
International Women's Day - March 8
"UNESCO considers education to be the single most effective means to achieve gender equality and women's self-empowerment. Article 10, relating to education states that it is by providing men and women with the same conditions of access to education and by eliminating all stereotyped ideas about the roles of men and women in society that we can move towards greater equality. Education is a basic human right, and each human being deserves to become master of his/her destiny. "
from "UNECSO celebrates International Women's Day", http://www.unesco.org/women8/cel_passport.html
posted on 3/08/02
***
Spring Break 2002 - some thoughts from Virginia
"To give to every citizen the information he needs for the transaction of his own business; to enable him to calculate for himself, and to express and preserve his ideas, his contracts and accounts in writing; to improve, by reading, his morals and faculties; to understand his duties to his neighbors and country, and to discharge with competence the functions confided to him by either; to know his rights; to exercise with order and justice those he retains, to choose with discretion the fiduciary of those he delegates; and to notice their conduct with diligence, with candor and judgment; and in general, to observe with intelligence and faithfulness all the social relations under which he shall be placed." --
Thomas Jefferson in a 1818 report for the University of Virginia, as cited at http://www.govtech.net/magazine/21stCentury/education.phtml
posted on 3/26/02
*****
Dr. William Howe, President of NAME, will be visiting ECSU on Wednesday, April 17, 2002. Here is a recent resolution from NAME -
Resolution Re-affirming Social
Justice and Equity Work Following the September 11, 2001, Tragedies
National Association for Multicultural Education
WHEREAS the September 11th tragedies stunned us all and affected our lives forever; and
WHEREAS
neighbors, friends, and strangers from around the world have come together to
mourn the loss of lives from many
countries; and
WHEREAS many from around the world have coalesced to provide support for the families, partners, and friends of the victims and the rescue workers who were so committed to finding life amid the rubble; and
WHEREAS one of
the goals of the National Association for Multicultural Education is to achieve
peace, security, respect, and
safety for all
people, not just citizens of the United States; and
WHEREAS today is a critical time for multicultural educators to provide leadership in schools and communities; and
WHEREAS racism and other oppressions against those who have been unjustly defined as the enemy must be repudiated; and
WHEREAS poverty continues to exist in the United States and the rest of the world. and
WHEREAS violence continues to be perpetrated against oppressed adults and children around the world, and
WHEREAS hatred continues to lead to devastating clashes between people around the world;
BE IT THEREFORE
RESOLVED that members of the National Association for Multicultural Education
dedicate themselves to
re-structuring
education to reflect the authentic histories, cultures, and conditions of the
global community;
BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that members of the National Association for Multicultural Education
re-commit to foster in
themselves and
others a critical analysis of the underlying causes of terrorist actions and
the reasons for anti-U.S. hostility in some parts of the world.
Adopted at the
NAME Business Meeting on November 11, 2001
Reaffirmed by NAME
Board of Directors on January 18, 2001
posted
on April 16, 2002
***
"And how is 'education' supposed to make me feel smarter. Everytime I learn something new it pushes some old stuff out of my brain!"
posted on April 23, 2002
****
"The mission of the Teacher Preparation Programs of Eastern Connecticut State University is to recruit and prepare, in accordance with state and national standards, undergraduate and graduate students of diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds to be reflective teachers and leaders in our nation's schools. Teacher Education faculty initiate basic, applied, and collaborative research which relate to problems and issues in education and provide professional services and consultation to public school centers, community and state agencies, and professional organizations."
posted on May 3, 2002
*****
A quote on success
"To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false
friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or
a
redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
posted on May 8, 2002
"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them"--Walt Disney
posted on May 10, 2002
"Education is not a product: mark, diploma, job, money--in that order; it is a process, a never-ending one." -- Bel Kaufman
posted on May 19, 2002
Summer solstice! The Sun reaches its most northern house, to begin its journey south once more. Earth cruises past the point in its orbit that results in the greatest tilt of the Northern Hemisphere toward the Sun, and all life responds. Long days, short nights. No one seems to want to sleep, for it is time to celebrate the light!
- the Summer Solstice, which arrived at 9:24 am in Willimantic this year, from http://www.hansenplanetarium.net/SolsticeSummer.html - Hansen Planetarium, downtown Salt Lake City
posted on June 21, 2002
Things are always at their best in
the beginning.
Pascal_Blaise
posted on June 7, 2002
The Pledge of Allegiance
A Short History
by Dr. John W. Baer
Copyright 1992 by
Dr. John W. Baer
Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931), a Baptist minister, wrote the original Pledge in August 1892. He was a Christian Socialist. In his Pledge, he is expressing the ideas of his first cousin, Edward Bellamy, author of the American socialist utopian novels, Looking Backward (1888) and Equality (1897).
Francis Bellamy in his sermons and lectures and Edward Bellamy in his novels and articles described in detail how the middle class could create a planned economy with political, social and economic equality for all. The government would run a peace time economy similar to our present military industrial complex.
The Pledge was published in the September 8th issue of The Youth's Companion, the leading family magazine and the Reader's Digest of its day. Its owner and editor, Daniel Ford, had hired Francis in 1891 as his assistant when Francis was pressured into leaving his baptist church in Boston because of his socialist sermons. As a member of his congregation, Ford had enjoyed Francis's sermons. Ford later founded the liberal and often controversial Ford Hall Forum, located in downtown Boston.
In 1892 Francis Bellamy was also a chairman of a committee of state superintendents of education in the National Education Association. As its chairman, he prepared the program for the public schools' quadricentennial celebration for Columbus Day in 1892. He structured this public school program around a flag raising ceremony and a flag salute - his 'Pledge of Allegiance.'
His original Pledge read as follows: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag and (to*) the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.' He considered placing the word, 'equality,' in his Pledge, but knew that the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans. [ * 'to' added in October, 1892. ]
Dr. Mortimer Adler, American philosopher and last living founder of the Great Books program at Saint John's College, has analyzed these ideas in his book, The Six Great Ideas. He argues that the three great ideas of the American political tradition are 'equality, liberty and justice for all.' 'Justice' mediates between the often conflicting goals of 'liberty' and 'equality.'
In 1923 and 1924 the National Flag Conference, under the 'leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, changed the Pledge's words, 'my Flag,' to 'the Flag of the United States of America.' Bellamy disliked this change, but his protest was ignored.
In 1954, Congress after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, added the words, 'under God,' to the Pledge. The Pledge was now both a patriotic oath and a public prayer.
Bellamy's granddaughter said he also would have resented this second change. He had been pressured into leaving his church in 1891 because of his socialist sermons. In his retirement in Florida, he stopped attending church because he disliked the racial bigotry he found there.
What follows is Bellamy's own account of some of the thoughts that went through his mind in August, 1892, as he picked the words of his Pledge:
It began as an intensive communing with salient points of our national history, from the Declaration of Independence onwards; with the makings of the Constitution...with the meaning of the Civil War; with the aspiration of the people...
The true reason for allegiance to the Flag is the 'republic for which it stands.' ...And what does that vast thing, the Republic mean? It is the concise political word for the Nation - the One Nation which the Civil War was fought to prove. To make that One Nation idea clear, we must specify that it is indivisible, as Webster and Lincoln used to repeat in their great speeches. And its future?
Just here arose the temptation of the historic slogan of the French Revolution which meant so much to Jefferson and his friends, 'Liberty, equality, fraternity.' No, that would be too fanciful, too many thousands of years off in realization. But we as a nation do stand square on the doctrine of liberty and justice for all...
If the Pledge's historical pattern repeats, its words will be modified during this decade. Below are two possible changes.
Some prolife advocates recite the following slightly revised Pledge: 'I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, born and unborn.'
A few liberals recite a slightly revised version of Bellamy's original Pledge: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with equality, liberty and justice for all.'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bibliography:
Baer, John. The
Pledge of Allegiance, A Centennial History, 1892 - 1992, Annapolis, Md. Free State
Press, Inc., 1992.
Miller, Margarette
S. Twenty-Three Words, Portsmouth, Va. Printcraft Press, 1976.
http://www.vineyard.net/vineyard/history/pledge.htm
posted on June 27,
2002
****
"DOG DAYS" is the name for the most sultry period of summer, from about July 3 to Aug. 11. Named in early times by observers in countries bordering the Mediterranean, the period was reckoned as extending from 20 days before to 20 days after the conjunction of Sirius (the dog star) and the sun.
from http://www.factmonster.com/spot/dogdays.html posted on July 11, 2002
****
Goal of Exploring the Future of
Learning: A ThinkQuest Live Event, July 20-21, 2002
By the year 2010, children will
have access to a working and cost effective learning environment
adapted to their individual learning
aptitudes and goals, which is as compelling as other parts of their
environment, and which helps them achieve their full potential in the
world which is capable of being adapted and used worldwide.
for more information, please see http://www.thinkquestlive.org/event.html posted on July 25, 2002
*****
What SIFT (Summer Institute for
Future Teachers) means?
Students brought together from
diverse backgrounds
Intertwined in a special inseparable
bond
Friendships that will change lives
forever
Together till the end
by Ashley Skrabely, SIFT 2002 Participant
The four-week SIFT 2002 program
closed on Friday, August 2, 2002. Twenty-nine students from 19
high schools throughout Connecticut
participated in this four-week residential program, directed by
Michele Ridolfi, with the support of
faculty members Hannah Sellers, Terrell Green, and Paul Clemens,
and guest speakers, including Leslie
Ricklin and Delar Singh. Special thanks to Bethany Champagne who
provided special assistance and, as
always, Paulette Mares.
for more information about SIFT, please see http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/sift.html
posted on August 2, 2002
*****
When parents are involved in their children’s education at home, they do
better in school. And when parents are involved in school, children go
farther in school—and the schools they go to are better.
—A New Generation of Evidence: The
Family is Critical to Student Achievement.
A.T. Henderson and N. Berla.
Washington, D.C.: National Committee for Citizens in Education.
from an NEA Document http://www.nea.org/parents/ cited at
http://www.oregoned.org/education_in_oregon/parent_involvement.doc
posted on August 16, 2002
*****
An Analogy
"Absolutely the Best Dentist"
by John Taylor, Superintendent of Schools Lancaster County School District, South Carolina
My dentist is great! He sends me reminders so I don't forget checkups. He uses the latest techniques based on research. He never hurts me, and I've got all my teeth, so when I ran into him the other day, I was eager to see if he'd heard about the new state program. I knew he'd think I was great.
"Did you hear about the new state program to measure the effectiveness of dentists with their young patients?" I said. "No," he said. He didn't seem to thrilled. "How will they do that?"
"It's quite simple," I said. "They will just count the number of cavities each patient has at age 10, 14, and 18 and average that to determine a dentist's rating. Dentists will be rated as Excellent, Good, Average, and Below Average and Unsatisfactory. That way parents will know which are the best dentists. It will also encourage the less effective dentists to get better," I said. "Poor dentists who don't improve could lose their licenses to practice in South Carolina."
"That's terrible," he
said.
"What? That's not a good
attitude," I said. "Don't you think we should try to improve
children's dental health in this state?" "Sure I do," he said,
"but that's not a fair way to determine who is practicing good dentistry."
"Why not?" I said. "It makes perfect sense to me."
"Well, it's so obvious," he said. "Don't you see that dentists
don't all work with the same clientele; so much depends on things we can't
control?"
"For example," he said, "I work in a rural area with a high percentage of patients from deprived homes, while some of my colleagues work in upper middle class neighborhoods. Many of the parents I work with don't bring their children to see me until there is some kind of problem, and I don't get to much preventive work."
"Also," he said, "many of the parents I serve let their kids eat way too much candy from an early age, unlike more educated parents who understand the relationship between sugar and decay."
"To top it off," he added,
"so many of my clients have well water which is untreated and has no
floride in it. Do you have any idea how much difference early use of floride
can make?"
"It sounds like you are making
excuses," I said.
I couldn't believe that my dentist
would be so defensive. He does a great job.
"I am not!" he said.
"My best patients are as good as anyone's, my work is as good as anyone's,
but my average cavity count is going to be higher than a lot of other dentists
because I chose to work where I am needed most."
"Don't get touchy," I
said.
"Touchy?" he said. His face
had turned red and from the way he was clenching and unclenching his jaws, I
was afraid he was going to damage his teeth. "Try furious. In a system
like this, I will end up being rated average, below average, or worse. My more
educated patients who see these ratings may believe that this so-called rating
actually is a measure of my ability and proficiency as a dentist. They may
leave me, and I will be left with only the most needy patients. And my cavity
average score will get even worse."
On top of that, how will I attract
good dental hygienists and other excellent dentists to my practice if it is
labeled below average?"
"I think you are
overreacting," I said. "'Complaining, excuse making and stonewalling
won't improve dental health'...I am quoting from a leading member of the
DOC," I noted.
"What's the DOC?" he
asked. "It's the Dental Oversight Committee," I said, a group made up
mostly of laypersons to make sure dentistry in this state gets improved."
"Spare me," he said.
"I can't believe this. Reasonable people won't buy it," he said,
hopefully.
The program sounded reasonable to
me, so I asked, "How else would you measure good dentistry?"
"Come watch me work," he
said. "Observe my processes."
"That's too complicated and time
consuming," I said. "Cavities are the bottom line, and you can't
argue with the bottom line. It is an absolute measure."
"That's what I am afraid my
parents and prospective patients will think. This can't be happening," he
said despairingly.
"Now, now," I said,
"don't despair. The state will help you some."
"How?" he said. "If
you're rated poorly, they'll send a dentist who is rated excellent to help
straighten you out," I said brightly.
"You mean," he said,
"they'll send a dentist with a wealthy clientele to show me how to work on
severe juvenile dental problems with which I have probably had much more
experience? Big help."
"There you go again," I
said. "You aren't acting professionally at all."
"You don't get it," he said. "Doing this would be like grading schools and teachers on an average score on a test of children's progress without regard to influences outside the school, the home, the community served and stuff like that. Why would they do something so unfair to dentists? No one would ever think of doing that to schools."
I just shook my head sadly, but he had brightened. "I'm going to write my representatives and senator," he said. "I'll use the school analogy - surely they will see the point."
He walked off with that look of hope mixed with fear and suppressed anger that I see in the mirror so often lately!
Welcome to the educators' world, other professionals!"
an analogy shared by Michele Ridolfi, also found at http://www.joandjoproductions.com/sys-tmpl/ananalogy/
posted on August 26, 2002