The Fourth Option (A Centrist Perspective) Blog

When it comes to achievement, Americans basically falls into one of two groups. The first group believes the truth: Achievement requires hard work in most cases. The second group believes the opposite notion: Achievement requires luck, and better genetic traits (good looks, intelligence, etc.).   Certainly, most of us will agree that good looks and intelligence might increase the probability of achieving one’s goal. However, in virtually all cases hard work is an additional requirement. I suspect that Thomas Edison’s comment was aimed at the second group when he said, " Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration."   His point being, of course, achievement requires hard work and the greater the achievement the greater the work required. I think of this quite often these days as I read and hear the political and public outcry for increasing students’ achievements. Missing in their outcries is the understanding that greater achievements require greater efforts...

  We have evolved, and we are evolving                                ―   to think , which requires no proof of faith! (Although all our physical actions:  our ethical or unethical behaviors as sane observers are always the authentic revelations of our deepest, truest-held, or most embraced moral and immoral values                                                      ―   the forensic evidence) So to critically think to the sincere best of one's scrupulous soul is to know God. to question everything to the deepest depth of our moral fiber is to be inspired by Him as gifted as He intended us to be                                           ...

Governor Scott Walker (R-WI), in his education policy entitled Education for the 21 st Century High Standards and Accountability, wrote the following: Today, 33% of Wisconsin fourth graders cannot read at even a basic level ― proof that Wisconsin’s education system is failing our children. To turn things around, we have to put an end to social promotion for students who cannot read at the end of third grade. In fourth grade, reading becomes the primary tool for gaining knowledge in every other subject. To borrow a phrase used by others, fourth graders are no longer “learning to read,” they are “reading to learn.” I selected this particular section of Governor Walker’s policy because it represents the prevalent political belief by democrats and republicans, concerning students’ reading achievement: Most of the political leaders in both parties believe that students are failing to read because our public schools are doing a poor job of educating them. This belief suggests the incorrect...

A Military Story about Standards In the mid seventies the United States decided to end the draft, which meant that from that date forward no one will be forced to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States of America. Previous to this date, all American males were required to register with their local draft board on their 18 th birthday. The best-and-brightest, wealthiest Americans and their families rejoiced, for they would no longer be required to fight and die in defense of the United States. Instead, they could turn their full attention to earning degrees at the best and most prestigious schools in the country, and accumulating additional wealth in the high-paying jobs that followed. Many defense experts believed that our country had made a mistake: They suggested that our nation was about to form a military consisting of 100 percent volunteers. But more importantly, they argued, these volunteers would not include the “cream of the crop” or the “the best-and-the-brightest” Ame...

Standards are villains in the world of education. They are easy targets for many teachers, administrators, politicians, and many others, who use them as scapegoats for students’ failures. Hardly a day goes by without some loud-mouth politician announcing to the world his whole-hearted belief that teachers are being forced to teach to woefully-outdated standards, and this is one of the reasons why our children are failing. No Child Left Behind, which has become the poster child for “bad standards,” is often referenced, during these political tirades, as the shining example of standards gone astray. I love standards. Most of us do. The problem is most of us do not take the time to think about how prevalent and important standards are in our lives. For if we think about it, we will immediately begin to realize that standards govern virtually all aspect of our existence. Standards determine the building materials that can be used to construct our homes, the fixtures that all motor vehicle...

The person who said, “The more things change, the more they remain the same,” was probably an individual with a very good (B+) understanding of education reform . Those of us with excellent (A+) understanding of education reform policies are likely to express this sentiment more negatively and more honestly: “The more things change ― especially when they are changed for political reasons, the more likely they will become worse. Education reform is a prime example.” And Governor Scott Walker’s education reform policy is its glaring illustration. His education policy isn’t “just bad;” it’s beyond bad. It is so bad that it’s analogous to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: One didn’t need to look below its surface to realize the damages and destruction it was causing. The hints of these horrors were very apparent in the oil’s voracious appetite, as it rapidly devoured everything on the surface. Plants, animals, shorelines, and the blueness of the water were quickly gobbled-up; and d...

In three weeks I will be back in my classroom. I will be starting my 44 th year of teaching. Actually, this isn’t quite true because teaching isn’t the type of occupation a teacher starts at the beginning of the school year and stops at the end of the school year. Instead, it’s a very demanding and very consuming continuum.   It requires constant planning (analyzing and designing), preparation, assessment, evaluation, and reflection in a myriad of scenarios. It demands a dedication to self improvement. One must constantly strive to improve teaching methods, constantly strive to incorporate the latest technology in classroom instructions, relentlessly try to understand the needs of each child and the concerns of their parents, and persistently strive to become thoroughly verse in districts, states, and federal standards and policies. Tailoring, augmenting, modifying, creating, and re-teaching lessons to meet the needs of children with behavior intervention plans, individual educati...

I believe it was Albert Einstein who said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”   If Einstein’s definition of insanity is correct, it should be apparent that the citizens of the United States are becoming increasingly crazy. Over and over and over again, we continue to elect republicans. Over and over and over again, the elected republicans cut the taxes for the riches Americans, give lucrative tax brakes to corporations, deregulate safety and environmental standards (under the disguise of making government more user friendly to corporations), reduce government oversight departments and their number of inspectors, privatize important state and federal departments (blatantly and intentionally making them less transparent and less accountable to the citizens), and reduce the citizens rights to seek justice against corporations for health, safety, and environmental harms they caused.   Of course, the republicans justify these acti...

Wisconsin will be holding a few recall elections next week, and it is easy to tell that the state is doing so. First, the harsh and grossly unfair rhetoric against teachers by the republicans has been toned down. They are no longer calling teachers “greedy,” “incompetent,” and “overpaid.” And none of their candidates has the courage to run on the republican agenda, which they voted into law just a few months ago: end the essentials in collective bargaining for teachers (and other public employees), reduce the salaries for teachers (and other public employees), and increase the cost of benefits for teachers (and other public employees). None of their candidates have the courage to discuss the increased work hours they are demanding of teachers and the reduced teachers’ roles in the decision making processes. Second, the republicans are not mentioning, these days, the tremendous tax cuts they gave to businesses, and the deep cuts they made to entitlements, health care, and education. Ins...

She flaunts her baroque beauty in plush happy laughter natural and pleasant in plus size greetings of gaudy greenness a woman in lush Gothic embellishments of exuberant, self- confident interacting with all of God’s other creations, imposing her innocent, infectious cachinnations soulfully leading the conversations that fills the entire ambiance in this universe room of the delights in Nature . Everyone, including the birds and the bees, wants to be around her. To sing in her presence, smile in her company, and gossip about her, And the Wind and Sun ― her two suitors. Some days she dances in the arms of the Wind, whose breezy sweet talking whispering words invites her to sing to their comfortably choreograph motions. As the dance and dance through circles of seasons Gently, affectionately, in harmony, With their chorus of friends. On other days she hums in unison with the Sun, In whose warm arms she radiates, in the harmonious company With the same chorus of friends. He always beams ...

Low unemployment, by itself, is overrated. Believe it or not, at one time the unemployment rate for African-Americans was zero: We were slaves! Most of us would have welcomed a pink slip, or just the boss shouting “You’re fired!” Today many governors, like Scott Walker (R-WI), boast that states unemployment numbers are going down. However, they never mention that the salaries and benefits of the workers are steadily decreasing, and steadily approaching the salaries and benefits of the African-American slaves’ ― ZERO!    Until such time that these governors can announce “ Unemployment is decreasing and we are paying American workers wages and providing them benefits that are comparable to the middle class wages and benefits they enjoyed before they were fired,” I am not impress. Corporate profits are higher than they have ever been. American workers, who were instrumental in creating these profits, should be rewarded ―not punished!             ...

Think outside the box is a concept that is easy to understand and easy to perform . Simply stated, we’re invited to creatively brainstorm. We’re encouraged to imagine as many scenarios as we can that might be associated with the problem we’re trying to solve. We’re asked to move our thinking outside the confining perimeters of the prevalent and accepted way of looking at things. “Stand the problem on its head. Examine its denotations and connotations thoroughly. Rearrange the words, if necessary,” Think outside the box suggests. I expected ordinary folks, who are living routine lives and working in routine jobs, to need someone to remind them to think outside the box . However, I did not expect our national leaders to need someone to remind them to do so. Thinking outside the box is a leadership skill that is essential for running our nation. Leaders need to be able to see problems from all possible angles in order to solve them. Yet, it seems like everywhere I look, I see national ...

I am always amazed by the fact that although we call ourselves “a Christian Nation,” and we boast about the fact that we have more churches in the United States than any other country in the world, the teachings of God, the Father, and His Son, Christ Jesus, do not play any role in our policy decisions. Our actions suggest that we do not ask ourselves questions like “What grade would Jesus, who knows what’s honestly in my heart, give me for the policy decision I’ve just made?” “Are my policy decisions in accordance with His teachings?” “Is my conduct in compliance with the example He modeled on Earth? And , "Am I writing and passing legislations that are in the true spirit of His principles (cited in His Bible), which we have incorporated into the two most important documents in our nation ― The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States?” In fact it appears to be quite the opposite: Our decision-makings are so contradictory to His teachings that the...