Paradise Found...

             It’s been about a month now that we have been living here on the Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands.  School has started, the dry season has begun and Neyla is beginning to crawl and stand up.  It seems as though we have been here for years.  The community and our colleagues have been so welcoming and kind and it has been a rather easy and enjoyable transition to our new home and this new culture.  The weather is brilliant.  Each day it gets into the low to mid 80’s and at night is in the low 70’s.  The wind is quite refreshing and waking up each and every morning and watching the sun rise from bed or our porch never gets old.  Each morning, I strategically set my alarm for 6:15 am, so that I can watch the sun rise over the crashing waves promptly at 6:30. 

            Janae and I have had to pinch ourselves on an almost daily basis.  We just couldn’t love our life here more.  Not to say that everything’s perfect, it’s not and will never be, but we are in our own little paradise.  We love being able to walk just about everywhere.   We love being able to spend so much time together and being able to eat all 3 meals as a family.  We love the freedom of having no bills.  No cell phone, no cable, no insurance, no mortgage and on and on.  We have no phone and no TV and it really is quite liberating.  I can focus on my work, students and relationships so much more and it really is a much healthier life style.  That doesn’t mean we live in a thatched hut without any conveniences of modern life, it just means that we have sacrificed certain things that turned out not to be sacrifices at all.  Instead these “sacrifices” have turned out to make us better people.  We have more time to exercise, to talk and to simply just be with other people. 

            My students are great.  I greatly enjoy each and every one of them and I think they enjoy their new ri-belle (term for white people here) teacher as well.  My commute takes all of about 25 seconds to get to my classroom from home and I have an ocean view the whole way.  I teach in shorts and sandals and can see the crashing waves from the open windows of my open-air classroom.  There are some challenges however, as I’ve stepped into a different culture where many of the students know some English, but don’t speak it at home.  A majority of my students only speak Marshallese with their family and friends, but are educated in English as it is seemingly the new Lingua Franca of our world.  Also, we have learned what “Marshallese Time” is.  Janae was supposed to have a basketball game at 6 the other night.  Her ride and team coach picked her up at 6:05 and we thought this was a bit silly, but as Janae asked her coach about this, she said, “6:00 in Marshallese time is 7:00.”  And she was right.  When they arrived at the lighted outdoor court they had plenty of time to warm up and prepare before the game actually began. 

            We have made new friends, but miss our old.  We love living right on the ocean, but miss the urban vitality of Chicago and the pristine mountains of Colorado.  We love playing basketball and volleyball, but miss playing golf (okay, that one is just me).  We love having no TV, but miss watching the Illini play hoops (actually that one is both of us, Janae has become a bit of an Illini hoops fan).  As I mentioned, nothing here is perfect and nothing ever will be perfect, but thus far we are living our dream here in Majuro.  For as long as Janae and I have been together we have dreamed of living aboard and spending years doing so and now we have started that dream and fallen into an amazing life on this tiny sinking island in the middle of the Pacific.  

An Amazing Day of Firsts

      Yesterday we, along with several other teachers and locals, hopped a boat to a small island across the lagoon from Majuro called Enimanet.  This small island was beautiful.  It was natural and wild, the way the Atoll was made.  There were chickens, pigs and dogs running around all over chasing and playing with each other.  We even saw a troop of 5 tiny baby pigs parading around the island and were able to get pretty close to them.  There were roughly 50 people on the island including the US Ambassador and legendary NBA coach Tom Newell.  It was great being able to chat with Coach Newell and hear his thoughts on basketball today.  He mostly travels around the world now giving basketball clinics in poor countries. 

            We left from a pier right next to the US Embassy owned by the Kramer family, one of the most influential on the island.  It was an older wooden boat, but easily handled the 25ish people that were on board.  As we left the pier we had about a 10-minute boat hop across the lagoon, but to the east we saw the dark clouds coming.  Only a few minutes into the boat ride the squall hit us and it quickly became a soaked and rocky boat ride.  I loved it and so did Neyla, but Janae, who is prone to motion sickness, wasn’t a huge fan.  This was actually Neyla’s first boat ride ever and what a boat ride it was!  She loved the bouncing and the sheets of rain and waves that crashed on us.  This was just the first of many great firsts we would have yesterday. 

            As we arrived at the island we were taken aback by the beauty.  White sandy beaches, plush palm tree forests, bright blue waters and some great wooden huts for the non-sea goers.  It was still raining pretty hard as we arrived, but as we settled in the sun peeked out and we were excited for another first for Neyla, swimming in the ocean!  She had her swimsuit on and headed in the lagoon.  At first, I wanted to immerse her slowly to get used to it, but we soon realized that it should be done like a band-aid.  I put Neyla standing up right on the edge of the ocean and as soon as a tiny wave came and receded her feet began to bury in the sand.  She did not like this and let us know so with a nice baby shriek.  I picked her up and tried to calm her down, but every time I put her back in the same baby shriek was roared. 

            So Janae and I decided to skip the slow entry and take her deeper while we hold her, and boy did she love this!  We’ve never seen Neyla so happy and having a grand ole’ time.  She was splashing and laughing and loving every second of playing with mommy and daddy in the ocean.  Our neighbor, Marilee, was kind enough to give us a little baby floating device so we didn’t have to hold her and Neyla like this even better.  This way we could swim around her and surprise her and she was elated.  So far, Neyla had two big firsts, now it was our turn. 

            One of the many island gatherers brought a paddleboard and was very willing to let anyone try it, so Janae and I did.  I went first as Janae hung with baby Neyla and co.  I paddled out and only 20 feet later I saw so many amazing schools of fish below me I was shocked.  There were thousands of roughly 6-inch long fish that were a sort of light blue in color and they actually lit up as well.  It was like I was watching National Geographic, but instead of on TV it was through my own eyes.  I kept paddling beyond the diving platform that included a slide and a high dive and found a sunken plane.  Just off shore there is a sunken plane, helicopter and jeep for snorkelers to explore.  Aside from this amazing beauty, the paddleboard was super fun.  Especially in the lagoon side where the water is quite calm, you felt like you could paddle forever.  However, I quickly came back and allowed Janae to go exploring. 

            As I came back to the beach and took Neyla and Janae headed out, the clouds quickly became ominous yet again.  I decided to take Neyla back into the huts for a lunch break and as we did the downpour came.  We watched mommy out on the paddleboard getting soaked in what was a monsoon type downpour.  As she made it out to the platform she ditched the paddleboard for a second and went down the slide.  This is what I love about Janae so much, as most people hurriedly left the water she loved the stormy downpour and embraced it.  She kept paddle boarding all through the storm like nothing was happening and she loved it.  Just as she returned to shore, the clouds broke and rain stopped. 

            We had some lunch in the hut and afterwards I decided I was going to try my new snorkel gear.  I threw my mask and snorkel on and headed out with our new neighbor, colleague and friend, David.  This was yet another first for me.  I had never snorkeled before.  I had no idea what I was in for, but in just a few moments I would see a rainbow of fish all surrounding me that I could reach out and touch them.  David and I swam all the way out to the sunken airplane, where it was about 20 feet deep and we were about 300 yards off the shore.  I was so intently looking at the beautiful array of fish that I hadn’t realized just how far we had swam.  At this point, I looked at David and asked, “Is there anything dangerous out here that I should be worried about?”  To which David started laughing and said, “I’m not sure I should answer that right now.” 

            As we returned to shore David told me that there were several types of sharks out there, but that most of them weren’t dangerous.  I was sort of glad he didn’t tell me that while we were out because I didn’t want to think about those sharks on the swim back, it was calming just to look down at the amazing fish below.  A bit later David and I swam back out to the platform and decided to give the high dive a try.  It wasn’t like a high dive in America.  This one was rusty and rickety and had no side handle to hold as you walked out.  This being my first time I was a bit scared, but David courageously walked up and dove in like it was no big deal.  As I climbed the ladder, by the way it is literally a ladder, to the top I realized this is a bit higher than I was used to, but as I got to the railless top of the board I saw the fish below that I was about to jump into.  You can’t quite tell when you jump in, but if you go underwater and watch someone jump in it really is quite amazing to see the fish scurry off in every direction when a human comes crashing into their abode. 

            We had arrived at the island a bit before 1:00 and now it was approaching 6:00 and our boat was leaving very soon.  I got out of the water to dry off and was mesmerized by what I had seen and experienced.  The pigs and dogs fighting, swimming with Neyla, paddle-boarding, snorkeling, diving into the fish and seeing the sunken plane were all phenomenal experiences all packed into 5 hours that I and we will never forget. 

  

Janae's First Impression of Majuro

Bryan asked me to guest blog about my first impressions of Majuro (pronounced Madge-ew-row). Let me first say Yokwe, or hello (and goodbye) in Marshallese. My first impression is that I love it. And it’s hot. That probably ranks up in the biggest surprises. I thought the climate was more temperate. When I saw 80 degrees before we came, I thought of the summer days in Chicago where the warm breeze feels good on your skin. I’m no meteorologist but I guess when you mix in 100% humidity, it turns into 80 feels like 100. But let me also tell you, we are 15 feet from the ocean, and the breeze you get off that puppy feels great. So we open the windows, turn off the AC, and let the ocean mist cool us off. Did I mention we live in paradise? May I also mention running AC is 4x the energy cost as that of the States?  

The town is dilapidated. The buildings are in rough shape not just because the country is poor, but because the ocean is brutal on buildings. Our apartment is only a year and a half old and already there’s some rust on the outlets, mold in the ceiling. It’s just the problem with living on an island. We’re in the city part of the island (I’ve heard people refer to it as downtown which always makes me smile). There’s no ocean boardwalk or pristine walking paths. There’s The Road. There’s one road that goes through the whole island (the island is shaped like a U and very skinny). When I asked the name of the road, I got an “I don’t know, The Road?” So that’s what we call it.

The people always make an experience so let me tell you the people seem great. It’s a small town here, 20k people in the capital city. Everyone knows everyone, in a good way. We meet new people every time we go out, and they always go “oh… you’re the new Coop teacher!” (well they say that to Bryan, I’m now the teacher’s wife, which could be a whole other blog post). We’ve been invited to and gone to the US Ambassador’s house, and the Australian ambassador’s party is tomorrow. We’ve met a few of the teachers… one’s from Canada, one couple from South Africa, one from Fiji, one from Japan. One of our hopes as we raise Neyla is to make her globally aware. This is a start.

When we first moved into our apartment, it was mostly furnished. One of the things the previous tenants left were straws and I thought, how strange, they must love to stay young (they were the ones with all the fun loops). Then I figured it out: coconuts. Coconuts, coconuts, coconuts. Did I mention I love coconuts? I am currently sipping coconut juice straight from the source with… you guessed it, my old tenant’s straw. Anyone know any good recipes using fresh coconut? Email me.

Here are some other fun facts and surprises in no particular order:

1)    You can find pretty much all your basics here, albeit for a premium over what the cost would be in the states. My most surprising find was the exact Melissa and Doug toy set that I had gotten my niece for her birthday. Small world.

2)    There are sandy beaches here but mostly they are rocky. I have snorkel gear coming with some swim shoes, hopefully soon. Until then I have to stick to the sandy beaches. Note: don’t send packages parcel post to here.

3)    Bryan and I tried to go to Ace Hardware (yes, THE Ace Hardware, the only US chain that I know of here so far). On the door it said closed for a week. I put that one in my “pace of island living” mental folder.

4)    The food here has been really good so far. I had “traditional” Marshallese food which consisted of pumpkin rice and fried chicken. Today I had all you can eat sushi…. For $12. If you try to get American food at the grocery store it can get very expensive, but for all the local stuff it’s very cheap. Also I’m pretty sure that all you can eat sushi is the most expensive meal in town.

5)    The Marshallese have two favorite sports: basketball and tennis. That happens to be my two favorite sports as well. That will work out splendidly.

6)    Bugs. My worst fear was cockroaches in my home but I have been very lucky so far and don’t have any. They are on the island, but I’ve avoided that so far. We did buy pasta and when we boiled it, we saw some ants floating in our water. We made a mental note to buy the plastic wrapped pasta going forward instead of the boxed kind.

7)    Bryan and I really like that there is such a de-emphasis on stuff. People have stuff, but only enough to get by. There’s not a shopping culture here and it’s quite refreshing.

In the words of my neighbor: “I love it here! But I pretty much love life wherever I live.” Amen, my friend.

Greetings from Majuro... First Impressions

           My first impression of Majuro was from the sky.  As we approached I saw a very small Atoll out of the plane window that looked both desolate and beautiful.  Shortly thereafter I saw another Atoll and knew it was Majuro.  It was the right shape and I could see ships and the “downtown” area, but it was much smaller than I had imagined.  This excited both Janae and I as we were looking forward to living in a small community.  We banked left and headed in for a landing at the tiniest landing strip that I had ever seen.  At the end of the runway we took a slight left turn and arrived at the “terminal.”  This was by far the smallest airport that I had ever seen, but it was open air and very quaint.  The Republic of Marshall Islands’ customs office was built and supported by both the American and Australian governments.  It was a quick process to get in and if you simply turn around, baggage claim is right there.  It too is all open air and is a few guys empting luggage into large wooden crates and forklifting them the 150 yards to a small ramp where people hustle over to claim their luggage. 

(Baggage Claim in Majuro)

            We had checked 3 bags total and 2 came rather quickly, but Neyla’s pack n’ play hadn’t yet arrived.  It was looking as if it wasn’t coming, since we were one of the few people still waiting for a bag, but the attendant kept telling me there were more bags coming.  I quickly gave up on this promise as I saw the United 737-800 pulling away from the quaint terminal and back onto the runway to head to another Marshallese island called Kwajalein.  I filled out some paperwork and the kind Marshallese United manager, JC, promised they would deliver it as soon as it arrived or they found it or whatever.  Bear in mind that this whole process took well over an    hour in a tiny space.  We weren’t upset and it was really no big deal, but it was a quick introduction to Marshallese culture.  It’s just slower paced here and we are elated about that.  I’m sure the pack n’ play will show up and when it does, Neyla can have her own bed.  Until it does show, she can sleep in between us like babies have always done for most of human history. 

            On the road that runs the length of Majuro Atoll we got a sense of the people and community.  It is very poor.  And despite this fact there are many people out enjoying the hot and humid weather.  There really is only one road on Majuro and when we asked what the name of it was nobody seemed to know.  I suppose if there is only one road it doesn’t need to be named.  We went over the only bridge on Majuro, which was also the highest point on the island and we passed by the Marshall Islands Resort.  This resort was built by the Marshall Islands government years ago to host some Pacific conference or another with the thought that having it would then spur tourism to the country.  This never happened.  The hotel remains mostly vacant at all times and time has surely taken its toll on the resort.  The views are incredible and the beaches are phenomenal for sure, but it’s becoming a bit dilapidated without any visitors.  There is a state of the art gym built by the Japanese government, a bowling alley and a movie theater, but they have all been closed down in the last 5 years.  There is no money to keep them alive and this has a direct negative affect on the youth.  Because of this there is little for the Marshallese youth to do in their free time.

            As we arrived at Majuro Cooperative School, where I will shortly be teaching 8^th grade, there were wild cats, dogs and chickens all playing in the vicinity.  The school facilities were nice, but in no way compared to the suburban schools of Chicago that I was used to.  There were shanties surrounding the school and as we pulled in all of the people waved happily at us.  We arrived at our new house on campus and were blown away by the views.  Our bedroom windows look out over the Pacific and we can smell the salt in the air and hear the waves crashing less than 15 yards from our house.  It is small and cozy and perfect.  I went out with my Principal and her partner to get some clean drinkable water and bed linens.  The stores were like smaller versions of a Costco and actually had some good deals and more of a selection of goods that I’d have imagined.  We stopped by the electric company and purchased some electricity and headed back to our new home to settle in and unpack. 

            As I write this it is 1:29 in the afternoon in Majuro and I have the two windows in our bedroom wide open.  The ocean breeze is rushing through our home and the crash of the waves is music to my ears.  Neyla is sleeping on our bed next to me and too is enjoying the beautiful orchestra of the Pacific.  It’s only been a few hours, but this is our dream come true.  

Colorado Reflections

       

            Back in mid-September my wife and I and our little daughter Neyla made the journey to Colorado.  We have lived in Copper Mountain, CO now for about 3 months and tonight is our last night here.  Our time in the mountains has been peaceful, relaxing and refreshing and it has been a time that we will never forget. 

            In September we found our love of the mountains.  We came right at the time when the Aspen trees were a bright gold and juxtaposed to the pine trees and the rocky mountains made for a truly majestic landscape.  Each day when Janae was finished working, usually around 3 pm or so, we went for a family hike.  I would put Neyla in the Bjorn and we would hike around Copper or we would go to our favorite hiking spot, Breckenridge.  There were some stunningly breath-taking hikes in Breckenridge and we would make the 15-minute drive as often as we could.  Neyla loves the outdoors, especially hiking.  Either she’ll catch up on some much needed sleep or she stares at nature awingly singing.  I kid you not, it’s really quite adorable.  The winds were calm and the skies were clear for seemingly the entire month of September and we sure took advantage.  During our first few weeks here I was also trying to sharpen my golf game since I had qualified for the Colorado Mid-Amateur.  I would hit balls and putt at the Breckenridge driving range, while Janae and Neyla would play on the ground or walk around the beautiful golf course.  Our first month living in Colorado was splendid and culminated with me finishing tied for 3^rd in my first golf tournament ever in Colorado. 

            October came so quickly and those beautiful Aspen trees quickly lost their golden leaves.  I hung up the golf clubs for the year and we were preparing to ski come November.  But October at Copper Mountain is a strange time.  Nobody lives here and no shops or restaurants are open.  We felt like we were the only people here, and we may very well have been.  The beauty of this was that we had the whole place to ourselves; it felt more like Rusin Mountain than Copper Mountain.  We hiked anytime we could and since the weather was so fantastic that meant we hiked virtually everyday.  We discovered new hikes and blazed the Colorado Trail as often as we could since it runs right through Copper.  It was a beautiful month where the three of us spent almost every minute of everyday together and it was perfect.  October ended with Neyla’s first Halloween and her being carried around her cousins’ Broomfield neighborhood in her kitty cat costume. 

            November came and as it did my parents showed up in Colorado for a visit.  Janae and I were under no illusions; they were clearly here to see Neyla.  ;-)  Their visit coincided with opening weekend of ski season at Copper and although it was warm and sunny they had found someway to make enough snow to open several runs.  My parents loved hanging out with Neyla, so Janae and I got to spend some quality time on the slopes and at the pub together.  Their visit ended with a day in Boulder and a brilliant weather day it was.  We got to walk around and shop on Pearl St. and had a nice lunch with Janae’s family joining us as well.  The day after my parents left was Election Day and I am happy to say I finally had the privilege to vote in a swing state!  Shortly after Election Day, I found a job opening on Craigslist for an 8^th grade-teaching job in the Marshall Islands.  It was November 9 and Janae and I got our hopes up for relocating once again but this time to the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  To make a long story short, I got the job and we are moving right after Christmas.  (For more info, see my “If you want to make God laugh” post).  Thanksgiving was down in Broomfield at Janae’s parents house and by that time I had gotten the offer for my new job in Majuro and planning had begun to move half way around the world.  November was a life-changing month to say the least. 

            By the time December snuck up on us we were deep into the planning stages for moving to Majuro, Marshall Islands.  We had sent several packages, booked our flights and bought plenty of sunscreen.  I had been spending any free time I could preparing to teach in January (or blogging) and was getting more excited by the moment. The second weekend of December will always be a memorable one.  It was when two of our great friends came to visit, Susie and Landon.  It was a special weekend, but it was extraordinarily cold!  For all the great weather we’d seen in our brief stint in Colorado, this weekend made up for it.  The one silver lining was the beauty of the snow, but when you ventured outside it was freezing and windy adding up to below zero wind chills almost the entire weekend.  Despite the blast of frigid cold, it was a fantastic weekend.  Susie and Landon are great people and anyone would be blessed to have them as friends.  This weekend was also the 40^th anniversary of Copper Mountain, so on Saturday afternoon there was a Neil Diamond cover band and 72 cent beers.  Many good conversations were had in the hot tub, but none quite as good as the final afternoon where Landon and I debated the meaning of Freedom.  I think he’s still frustrated with me over that conversation, and despite some semantic disagreements between us, we both became smarter people and better friends. 

            That brings us to today, December 15, 2012, our last night living at Copper Mountain.  It is again just the 3 of us and we have been reflecting on our time here.  We will miss Copper, Colorado and all of our friends and family in Chicago, but we are so excited to begin our new life in Majuro.  In just two short weeks from now we will be settling in to a new country, culture and life and we couldn’t be more excited.  We have loved our time in Colorado and who knows, maybe we’ll live here again after Majuro, but for now, so long Colorado.  

A New Education (Part 2)

           It is widely assumed today that the American Education system is broken and falling behind the rest of the world.  This is a false assumption, because there is no American Education system.  We are one of the few developed countries in the world that doesn’t have a National Education System.  In actuality the United States is a conglomeration of local education systems all independently following state and national laws, so that they can claim some funds from those respective institutions.  It’s a strange system that is unique to America and perplexing to other countries.  On one hand, it makes sense that a country so vast and diverse would have local school boards govern education, but on the other hand you have local school boards in Kansas mandating teaching of creationism in science classes and Texas school boards ignoring history professors and skewing history books to meet a political agenda that expert historians say doesn’t accurately reflect history.  The major problems within education today are a lack of qualified teachers, inequitable fund distribution throughout the country and a lack of respect for authentic education.  Norway has a unique model for education and can be a model moving forward for our local districts to look at for success in educating our youth. 

            Over the past decade countless organizations have researched what is the silver bullet in education, especially the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  Time and time again the research is clear, the better the teacher is the better the education is. 

Good teacher = good education. 

In America today we have too many teachers teaching subjects that they are not qualified to teach.  In the better schools this rarely if ever happens, but in so many poorer districts this occurs most frequently in Math classrooms.  According to a massive and comprehensive study by Michigan State University, researchers found that the best results for students on international math exams was by those students whose teachers were the best trained in their subject.  States have tried to require all teachers to be “highly qualified,” but so much more needs to be done aside from legislation.  All this does is make the majority of qualified teachers to waste time and money jumping through burecratic hoops that don’t actually increase the education students receive. 

            Instead, what needs to be done to bring in more qualified teachers is to increase teacher pay and status in society.  In Norway, the best and brightest graduates from college become teachers and there is no higher respected profession in Norway than a teacher.  Both changes are difficult to make.  Concessions need to be made from teachers unions, tenure needs to be revised, teacher evaluation needs to be rethought and an all out effort to convince the brightest and best to join the teaching profession should be a priority. 

            What does a quality teacher look like?  In my just under a decade of teaching I see 4 qualities in the best teachers that I have seen. 

1.     Experts in the subject they teach.

2.     Experience using varied pedagogical teaching methods.

3.     Non-complacent.  Working hard each year to create new lessons and better old lessons.

4.     A deep care and concern for their students and their futures. 

The first and the second can be taught and ascertained through education.  The final two are part of who a person is.  The final two are what make the best teachers.  As a teacher you have to create a solid rapport and relationship with your students.  They have to trust you and you have to respect them.  Each day with your students you must learn who they are, what their passions are and what ways they will learn most effectively.  Too often today teaching is seen as a data driven science, when it is much more of an art than many think.  That is not to say that data and scores should be ignored, but the teacher should use that as just one of many tools to know and find out how much and what students are learning.  Great teachers with these 4 characteristics must be found and spread throughout our country if we are to get our system up to world standards. 

 

However, this proves difficult with roughly 15,000 districts across the United States it is difficult for them to agree on anything, especially teacher pay.  The bankrupt states can’t possibly handle this legislation and financing of schools, but we need to decide if education is a national priority or not.  Sacrificing one Bomber for $40 billion could go a long way in finding excellent teachers.  Some problems are clearly local, but if we want to talk about our education system in America we might need to actually have an education system.  I don’t mean a large national do-nothing bureaucracy, but an institution that sets minimal national standards, trains qualified teachers and distributes funds to schools.  If we are not willing to do this, then we need to stop complaining about “American education,” because it doesn’t exist.  If we keep our broken local system by which rich and middle class children receive quality educations and poor children suffer because they live in a poor community. 

            Too often people think that education serves only a practical purpose, so that an individual can find a job someday.  That is a minority part of education.  Education teaches people how do think, while indoctrination teaches people what to think.  If we want to give young people a quality education it has to go way beyond what the Standardized tests require.  We need to help students find their passions, talents and voice if we are to arm them for the 21^st Century.  Sir Ken Robinson, an education professor from England, has a famous TED talk that everyone should watch.  We have to foster children’s creativity and teach the whole person, not just this narrow view that is popular today that we should focus on math and science.  Again, don’t misunderstand me, math and science are critical and should be taught to every student, but so should art, dance and music.  By limiting our education to a narrow set of core classes, we are cutting out students whose strength may be in other arenas.  In some ways, we may need to start over on a blank sheet of paper with the education system and we could start by consolidating all school districts under a National System with new national priorities.  In part 3, we will look at what we can learn from Norway and how the difficult process of implementation would work.   

            

Teaching Again... (Part 1)

         In just a few short weeks from now my wife, daughter and I will be moving to the middle of the Pacific Ocean and I will be teaching again.  When I decided to take a year off and stay at home with my new daughter I was excited and didn’t think a year away would be a big deal.  In fact, I have missed it dearly.  I can’t wait to get to Majuro and meet my colleagues and prepare the second semester for my new students.  I’m very excited to meet my new students and begin our journey for the rest of the year.

           

            I feel so fortunate to teach.  Being able to have had the colleagues that I have had and the former students that I have had is a genuine blessing.  Being able to participate in the education of a generation is humbling.  It is clear that a good education makes a positive impact in the future of countries, communities and an individual’s life.  A good education lowers crime and poverty, increases tolerance and citizenship and ultimately creates better people.  Education isn’t just about finding a job someday down the road.  That is part of it to be sure, but if we give into the idea that education is only for practical purposes then we have lost what the purpose of education truly is.

“Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to; convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty.”  -  Thomas Jefferson

            One of our greatest Founding Fathers is pointing to the fact here that our freedoms and in fact the sustainability of our country depends on creating an educated citizenry.  We may think that is over exaggerated and a bit silly, but history shows us that when a citizenry becomes manipulated and dictated to and loses the qualities of a good education anything resembling democracy ceases to function. 

“Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.”  -  Martin Luther King Jr.

            Education is about more than reading, writing and arithmetic.  It has to be about creating better people and better citizens.  It has to be about encouraging our students to be the best versions of themselves that they can be and to find truly where their gifts and passions lie.  If education is merely about facts and data then we have given into the silly notion that everything can be quantified.  Math and science are extremely important disciplines to learn, but we can’t treat our students like they are merely a data point on a chart.  We have to care for our students and, as one of my mentors taught me, “…every moment in the classroom can be a life changing moment for one of your students.”