Fluke Of The Universe

This is more than a little embarrassing. It's a story about a cheating scandal in the Atlanta schools. I'm not going to defend anyone who cheats on the "big test" to inflate the scores, regardless of what's at stake. I would, however, like to see all the crazy testing get thrown out, teach a little more arithmetic and a little less algebra, and bring some common sense to bear on the problem of poor outcomes with the system.

The Northwest Indiana Times had a couple of front page articles last Wednesday spreading good cheer about the state of education. The headline article was about the school voucher law and a side column was about the deficit at the Gary schools. We're talking millions of dollars here. And yesterday this letter to the editor:

State legislators in Indiana are deciding what is appropriate funding for public education. In a state with a $1.6 billion surplus, how can up to $600 million in cuts to public education be justified?
Every citizen in this state is affected by this issue.
The former governor instituted a 2 percent increase in the state sales tax, earmarking those funds for public education. Instead that money has been funneled to charter schools as well as private schools through the voucher program. This is wrong!
At this rate, education in Indiana will be privatized and only available to the select few.
- Glenn Johnson, Lake Ridge School Board, Gary

Just keeps getting crazier all the time.

Sometimes I think this should be the theme song for education these days. Might have to change the line about Milwaukee, however. Frankie Flood seems to have it going on up there. Just remember that when you read stories like those above. There's lot of good things going on out there by a lot of good teachers. With the way things are going, might not be for much longer, however.