Riding alongside a lightbeam

Sometime ago, I read Einstein: His Life and Universe having gained an interest in his Theory of Relativity after learning that Lawrence Durrell had leaned heavily on the theory for his Alexandrian Quartet (and I count this among the most amazing fiction I have ever read-- highly recommended reading!!! You will be ready to pack your bags and go to Alexandria after reading the Quartet!!!). While reading the biography I was impressed by the famous physicists way of thinking. He was quoted as saying, "Accumulation of material should not stifle the student's independence...a society's competitive advantage will not come from how well its schools teach the multiplication and periodic tables, but from how well they stimulate imagination and creativity." 

Einstein's ideas were developed first in his imagination. As a young man he would imagine trying to catch up to a light beam- but then in the same thought experiment the complication arose that another person who saw the ostensibly the same thing, did not see the same thing. How could this happen? His imagination eventually led him to develop his 'Theory of Relativity.'

In another section his biographer notes, "Therein lies the key...to Einstein's brilliance and the lessons of his life. As a young student he never did well with rote learning. And later, as a theorist, his success came not from the brute strength of his mental processing power but from his imagination and creativity. He could construct complex equations, but more important, he knew that math is the language nature uses to describe her wonders. So he could visualize how equations were reflected in realities-- how the electromagnetic field equations discovered by James Clerk Maxwell, for example, would manifest themselves to a boy riding alongside a light beam. "

I personally believe that learning the multiplication tables is a foundational piece of education which is lacking today but it has it's place... but I also firmly believe that the lack of imagination and creativity in learning today is also a large piece that is lacking in our schools. Too many of our students are merely learning tools for trades and careers and not learning how to think critically. Thinking critically is an act of creative teaching not an act of rote memorization or plugging in numbers. 

 Einstein once declared, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." 

As a writer, I may be a little biased, but to my way of thinking, all of life begins with imagination. 

Ruminations on Freedom Day & I had to open my Big FAT Mouth

Freedom Day

Five years ago yesterday was the anniversary of the signing of papers that ended my marriage of eighteen years. For some it might represent promises broken, a stage in life filled with happiness, fond memories, and love, ending. Without going into too many details let me simply say, that this was not the case for me. My marriage had begun as union of obligation and duty and had probably never really altered much beyond that in eighteen years. So I celebrate it-- not because it was the day of any actual freedom but as a symbol of something that actually began some years before...

It says it all...

 At work yesterday, I (as I often do) had to explain Colorado state law concerning privacy to a customer and most particularly the right of privacy where the child is concerned. I was informed by said customer that I would in fact tell her what was on her children's card because "My children don't have any rights in my home."


"Well, in fact they do according to state law and if you want information from your child's card then you will need to have their cards when you come to the library if your children are not with you," I told her firmly for the third or fourth time.


"Just one more way the government is trying to take over our lives," was her in-congruency.

My son and I

My son and I often stand together 

looking down at the world, 

he in awed amazement 

at the new little universe 

he's discovered 

under his feet 

and I in delight at his wonder 

and astonishment 

each new bonanza brings.    

All children left behind...

(The first part of this essay is in the link at the top of the page.)


Fingerpointing would make one dizzy in an attempt to make a single source the culprit on the situation that arose from this social firestorm-- schools allowing racism, parents accusing schools of racism (even when racism was not involved), suing, threats, segregation among students, prejudice among parents, etc. Schools for their part, in order to avoid lawsuits of any kind, attempted to avoid disciplining students at all and parents seemed amiable with this arrangement. And so did the kids.

The first schools to face this deterioration were schools in metropolitan areas (which makes sense as they were actively integrating students while small towns were largely the same population as before). I personally spent my elementary and middle school years in small towns in Oklahoma and Kansas during the seventies and discipline was an unquestioning part of our day. Students were known to get in trouble, but the consequences were still dire and parents rarely (if ever... I don't recall any that did) intervened. In 1979, I began attending a large high school here in Denver- and the differences were stark. Gang activity was rampant and students sat on the lawn of the football field smoking marijuana during school hours. While some students might have faced some disciplinary procedures, the atmosphere was as casual about poor (a.k.a illegal activity) behavior as sex was in this post-sexual revolution. If you got caught you there   might be a bit of heck to pay. 

The tacit agreement of "mum's the word" about children's behavior was bad enough, but as the schools shifted to a "business model" (more on this later), schools were required to report suspensions and serious disciplinary procedures so that parents could use these numbers to judge the schools as school choice became a way to force schools to compete for education dollars. So, if schools have a lot of suspensions, their ratings go down. Since parents were looking at these numbers in order to choose the best schools, it was no longer unspoken- it was a command- we will not suspend children unless we have no choice (and generally that meant that they would not act unless they believed that whatever bad behavior the child committed was a worse public relations problem than the poor rating they would receive. For example: In 2000, or sometime thereabouts, several middle school boys sexually assaulted a girl on school grounds. As reports hit the local papers, it was obvious that behavior at the school was out of control long before this incident. Once it hit the papers, however, officials at the district would be shocked and dismayed and heads would role! Mostly the principals.) 

In more recent news, 15-year-old Phoebe Prince committed suicide just this past January after having been hazed by the "Mean Girls" after they spent months harassing her via twitter, Craigslist and Facebook (Hollywood PLEASE stop moralizing- they never get it and if often winds up glorifying the very thing you think you are "educating" your audience about!). An article in a major paper asks a question... the question we should all be asking,  "WHERE ARE THE PARENTS?" 

(Picture of Phoebe Prince from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/03/29/2010-03-29_phoebe_prince_south_hadley_high_schools_new_girl_driven_to_suicide_by_teenage_cy.html)

Ultimately schools can do nothing where discipline is concerned as long as they fear the wrath of parents- whether it be threatening to file lawsuits, changing a student's school as soon as they are held accountable for behavior, or stepping in to thwart what little disciplinary procedures the school does attempt. (I cannot tell you the number of stories that are told among teachers of parents who, when they call to get a parents aid with a child's behavior, begin calling them names or asking what they, the teacher, had done to cause the child's behavior. Also, a word on the shift in the parental role might be appropriate here, but that is a LONG topic which would require it's own space were it to be given the proper attention.) But the demise of discipline within the hallowed halls of the public education system was just the beginning of the end and isn't nearly as significant as the assault on WHAT the teachers taught. 

In her book 'Kingdom Coming' Michelle  Goldberg (reviewed elsewhere on this blog) does  extensive research on the rise of Christian fundamentalism that had as it's goal the establishment of a theocracy. She traces the origins of political ambitions of the fundamentalists to where they began-- the Scopes Monkey Trial. Although the movement did not immediately march forward like the Christian soldiers that met the onslaught of the Muslim hoards-- they nevertheless began a lockstep that would propel them into the future as they faced an ever strengthening adversary - the well-educated American public. 

It was not until the 70s and the wild abandonment of the Hippee movement that the anti-intellectual campaign evolved into a potent force. As students all over the country rose up in protest against the Vietnam war and the use of military force to protect corporate interests, ever so subtly, the societal questions that were asked were shifted into moral ones as a way to marginalize and subdue the subversives. Susan Jacoby, in her book 'Age of American Unreason' (also reviewed elsewhere on this blog) connects the dots on the anti-intellectual movement that was established and it's connection to the hippy movement, explaining how fear was generated by the eruption of rebellion giving the religious right and establishment types a foothold into suppressing the radical ideas that emerged amidst the drugs, sex and communes. So the very real and valid critiques that students had were invalidated by their connection to their "moral failings" (at least as defined by the American conservative mainstream which was and is still heavily influenced by their puritan ancestors). 

Thus, the moral majority found a way forward. 

The war on education

I sometimes become less aggravated by the Obama administration when I read articles like this one by Paul Krugman  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/opinion/24krugman.html In his Sunday NY Times Op-Ed he reports that while many progressives are unhappy with how conservative (read: right-winged) and corporate the Obama administration is, the corporations are actively supporting any and all opposition to the Obama administration and are throwing money at Republicans who are willing to take them on. It's not surprising that the corporations are unhappy with this administration because the banks and oil industry are the spoiled children in this country. They believe they call the shots-- and they aren't far from the truth. That they have to lose anything (like conceding to any Healthcare bill or even 1 cent in higher taxes) is pissing them off and they are, frankly, tantrumming. And perhaps the worst thing about this is what it actually says about the United States today and it's leadership--  we are so far from any kind of governing that provides actual protections for the people that we don't even recognize conservative politics when they aren't radically far right (i.e. the Bushies). It should apparently, according to the right, be the norm for corporations to set their own standards of what they consider safe. 

But then I read an article like the series in the New York Times Magazine this weekend and I am ready to impeach the bastard. The front page reads: "Are Teachers' Unions the enemy to reform?" The magazine talks about Obama's new "Race to the Top" Program. The theme is clearly anti-teacher and aimed at holding teachers responsible for their students (poor) performance. One of the "reformers" is Jon Schnur, who " . . .runs a Manhattan-based school-reform group called New Leaders for New Schools, sits informally at the center of a network of self-styled reformers dedicated to overhauling public education in the United States. Schnur, who is 44, became interested in education when, as an editor of his high-school newspaper, he read a draft of an article from a student who had transferred from a Milwaukee public school to his school in the suburbs. “She was savvier than any of us on the editorial board, but the draft was just so terribly written,” he told me. Schnur added that “the more I got to know her, the more I became obsessed with why public education hadn’t reached people like her.” After graduating from Princeton, he worked in the Clinton campaign and then landed an education-policy job in the Clinton administration."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/magazine/23Race-t.html?scp=1&sq=teachers%20unions&st=cse

For more on the Race to the Top program:

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/05/18/32race-judges.h29.html?tkn=SUSFlYb7SleV%2BGWwu7vg3FWogJauXXaKIhMW&cmp=clp-edweek

I'll be writing more on this topic in my education pages linked at the top.

Meet The Triops

The triops were initially a birthday gift that wound up being a science experiment in what not to do. They lived for a few weeks but the water temperatures varied, then dried up and the food was probably too sporadic so they quickly died. For Christmas, a new tank was purchased with a water heater and a plant for sustenance when a meal was skipped. Which reminds me... time to feed the triops. Excuse me... *


When they were small, they were fed every other day or so and the food had to be smashed up. Now that they have grown to a distinguishable size, they eat two pellets each, twice a day. When the fishy spheres are dropped into the water, two of the prehistoric crustacean propel themselves into the food and promptly snatch up their share (or more?). They will "grab" it with their tentacles, flip over, pass the food up from one "leg" to the next then to the mouth and nibble at it upside down-- almost otterlike. Each time I feed them, I can't help but pause to watch, amused by the acrobatic antics of the Notostraca family.

In fact they move so quickly, that it is virtually impossible to get a decent picture of their feeding habits. So here they are almost posing for the camera...



An up close gander at the triops, and you might recognize them from a sci-fi film. They look more like an alien space ship than they do their shrimp cousins, but shrimp they are! (Never fear! We won't be sauteeing these little guys!)

My son has several comic strips that he reads regularly. As a result he decided to name the Triops after the characters in the strips.

Meet: Quincy (Jason's Iguana in Foxtrot)



Peter & Jason (Foxtrot)



Calvin & Hobbes is his favorite comic strip but he already has a small stuffed tiger named Hobbes so the tadpole shrimp gets to be...

Calvin.


This is what they look like upside down. Amazing!

*Pictures taken by Aubrey Cloud on his birthday. Thanks Aubrey!!!

Not a myth

Science is always on the hunt for new discoveries. Not in order to disprove the bible as many believers would like to believe but in order to answer questions about the earth and the origins of humans. ScienceDaily.com is reporting today that the largest dinosaur footprints ever found have been discovered near Lyon France. (See the full article at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091009132928.htm)

It should be exciting to all of us to hear this kind of news! After all, we are learning new things daily about creatures who lived, essentially, on a faraway planet in another time and another place. A place we call Earth but as different from the Earth we know as the Moon is from us (although not in the same way!)

Doesn't it make you curious???


Titanosaur (Credit: Image courtesy of Queensland Museum)

It's the economy stupid...

Paul Krugman has got the word on the economy and is pointing us all in the right direction! Check out his book The Return of Depression Economics. He breaks the economy down for any layperson in an enjoyable and entertaining way.