I’m in my LRW class today and our professor is freaking us out by having us fill out a weekly calendar by scheduling all of our classes, when we will work on our outlines of our classes, when we will prepare for our classes, when we will work on our papers, when we will go grocery shopping, etc. etc. etc. During the exercise, I comment that “I have a wife.” Unfortunately, I made the mistake of making this comment right after the professor finished saying, “write down when you will go grocery shopping.” Of course, the entire class seemed to take my comment as “my wife is a woman and therefore does the grocery shopping,” which is entirely not true. I think Taryn will admit that, because I recognize her very demanding schedule as a first-year teacher, I try to do most of the grocery shopping.

What I meant by “I have a wife” is that I also need to include some time for her in my schedule. Aside from the 15 hours of class, 45 hours of reading/writing/outlining, 7.5 hours of commuting, and 42 hours of sleeping per week, I would like to set aside some time to spend with my wife. Please don’t assume I’m trying to be chauvinistic. I’m not a pig - I just have bad timing.

Taryn and I went to the mall today because we had to get a gift for her God-Daughter. On the way home we began talking about some of the state’s educational goals. She’s a high school math teacher and just administered some statewide tests, so the conversation was a timely one for our family. Apparently, the government is trying to get our educational system to the point that 75% of our kids are getting scores of 80% or better. This eventually turned into a conversation about how each and every child is unique in that they are better suited to certain things than others.

Indiana’s leading political commentator seems to agree with me. On his blog, Indiana Barrister, Abdul Hakim-Shabazz discusses the effects of Gov. Mitch Daniels’ meeting with the Educational Roundtable where he handed out copies of “Real Education” by Charles Murray. I hope Abdul won’t mind that I’ve taken the liberty to copy it here because I think he raises some valid points. Please comment here or on Abdul’s blog and let us know what your thoughts are.

My good friend and occasional political counterpart Thomas Cook is opining about some recent recommended reading by Governor Mitch Daniels. At the last meeting of the Education Roundtable, Daniels handed out a copy of “Real Education” by Charles Murray.

According to a review at Amazon.com, the book stresses four major themes…

1.Children have different abilities.
2.Half of all children are below average.
3.Too many children go to college.
4.America’s future depends on the gifted.
Murray also states, according to Amazon,

“…there are only a limited number of academically gifted people and these are America’s future leaders, that only this elite can enjoy college productively and that the non-gifted shouldn’t be channeled by their high school counselors into training for that college chimera, which wouldn’t make them happy anyway”

My good friends on the left say this smacks of educational elitism. I say it’s just telling the honest truth. Let’s be frank, not everyone was made for a four year degree, but everyone needs post-secondary education. I have taught too long and seen too many students that a traditional four-year education was not in the cards and they would better served going another route.

And another unpleasant truth is that some people (kids included) really are just plain stupid and nothing is going to change that so give them a broom and point them in the direction they need to go. Now before the lot of you get your Calvin Klein boxer briefs in a bunch, really think about this.

The world has always been structured so that a handful of people really run the show. Think about any organization you belong to or have been a member of in the past. How many people really did all the work and how many people just showed up for fun?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but not everyone was put on this Earth to achieve, they were just put here. And the scary part is in your heart, you know I’m right.