Whatever Flips Your Waffle (192)
When I was in high school, a boy in my grade stole the answer key for a major test off the desk of our social studies teacher. This classmate went and made copies for all the guys on the baseball team. But he even took it a step further. Each of the boys picked different questions to get wrong, and they even picked enough to get wrong so it wouldn’t seem suspicious. For example, a buddy of mine was usually happy getting a D on these tests, so he got enough wrong to get a C. Had he gotten an A or B, the teacher might have raised an eyebrow. It was a perfect system of cheating.
I declined a copy of those answers, but there were other times I stepped over that line and cheated in school. I once left the word list for the Spanish forms of various foods sitting on top of my books next to my desk; the teacher never noticed. It’s one reason that, when I used to give tests that counted on recall, I always told my students to put their books UNDER their desks.
I’m sure some of my readers can recall instances of cheating in their schooling. It’s not something any of us should be proud of, but it seems to be a fact of life for many people that it will be attempted at least once. There’s that time we just completely forgot about an assignment or were too busy to study for that test.
In college, we even worked out a system for our psychology class. You could take the weekly test any time between 1-3 on Friday afternoon. One person in our group would go and take the test first and then return to inform us what we needed to look up before going over ourselves. This rotated among us so we all took turns at not doing as well, but that was only about once a month.
Students cheat. However, it seems they are not being as intelligent about cheating these days. I caught two young men one day when I was correcting questions from a novel we read. As I was looking at the answers of the second student, they seemed frighteningly familiar. I looked back and, sure enough, they were word for word from the other kid. What’s worse is that most of them were wrong!
This is one reason that many questions students have to answer for me require short answers or essays. Single-word answers are very easy to copy without anyone being the wiser. However, teachers are pretty good at remembering phrasing and feeling that sense of déjà vu as we read student papers. So really? You’re just not going to get away with that!
One of my college professors amazed us one time. A fellow student in our English class was called out for turning in a plagiarized paper. This student had bought the paper from someone who had taken that class three years ago. The professor remembered that paper and even who had written it! The student who had bought the paper was dismissed from the class and received a failing grade.
This is a point we try to get across to students who get caught cheating. I very often assign a zero grade to the assignment but make the student redo it anyway. However, I warn my junior high kids that the penalties will be more severe at the high school and college levels. And if you establish a pattern of cheating in school, what will you do in a job someday? You might always look for the easy way out, even there.
My 7th graders are working on a research essay right now. We’ve gone over plagiarism and giving credit to your sources. Many of them struggle with putting things in their own words. You have to do more than just change a word or two; you need to summarize the point in a completely different format. Part of this lends itself to reading skills as well and the ability to decipher what is being said. Still, I’m almost guaranteed to have to call somebody to my desk when we’re done to talk about copying.
It’s so much easier to cheat today. Students can buy essays off the Internet, and many just copy and paste sections of things they find online. But as easy as it is to cheat, it is just as easy to catch the cheaters. When I read something that looks suspiciously NOT like a student’s writing level, I simply Google a sentence and – TA-DA! – there is the entire paper. I once caught a kid who had simply changed all the pronouns that had been in first person to third person, but forgot to in the final paragraph. That was enough for me to find the work online.
We all make mistakes. We all make poor choices at times. However, we’re discovering more and more kids walking the path of cheating. Most mornings I walk by groups of kids working on homework that should have been completed the night before. I always wonder how much they’re sharing. Sadly, the answer is probably too much.
Word of the Week: This week’s word is yobbery, which means rowdy or destructive behavior by youth, as in, “Cheating was the least of the yobbery which occurred with some kids each day at school.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!
I had a different column all ready for this week.
Then I watched the Minnesota Vikings lose to the Seattle Seahawks after they missed a potential game-winning field goal. So now you get this column; the one I had written can wait until next week.
I’ve watched a lot of heartbreaking moments as a sports fan, mainly as a fan of the Vikings. There was the NFC Championship Game against Washington where the game-winning touchdown bounced off Darrin Nelson’s shoulder pads. Who can forget Gary Anderson missing what would have been the deciding field goal against the Atlanta Falcons? How about Brett Favre throwing an interception against New Orleans that sent the game to overtime and cost the Vikes a chance at the Super Bowl?
Again and again, as a sports fan, I have watched my favorite teams blow leads and do things that seem unreal in new and creative ways to lose. How many times did Joe Nathan blow a lead against the New York Yankees that cost the Minnesota Twins, especially in the playoffs? How about the Minnesota Timberwolves, in their one and only shot to go to the NBA Finals, finding a way to lose a game they had in hand against the Los Angeles Lakers?
I’ve written a number of columns about coaching these past few years. Coach long enough and you’ll have your share of difficult losses. I’ve often said I’d rather lose by 20 than by one; you’re less likely to second-guess yourself. And trust me, coaches go over close games like that in minute detail, trying to sort out ALL the things they could have done differently that would have made an impact.
After bumping into a former basketball player of mine, I spent a little time this past weekend going through all my coaching files. I have game results and stats from all my years here at NRHEG. I was able to envision basketball courts and baseball fields and relive many of those games from 20 years here. I remember blowing a 10-point lead against Blooming Prairie in the last two minutes and losing by a point after a last-second shot by us bounced off the rim. I recall an extra-inning baseball game in Kiester where the ump blatantly missed an out call at first base that led to the eventual winning run by USC. I can still picture Blue Earth getting off a shot with half a second left in a tournament championship game to beat us.
Those are nights I didn’t get much sleep. One of my philosophies of coaching is that if you allow one play or one call at the end of the game to decide things, it’s your own fault. Put the game out of reach earlier and a bad call or a lucky shot won’t beat you. When my teams lose games like that, I spend hours rehashing things, even years later.
And I just coach junior high! I can’t imagine the pressure on a high school, college, or pro coach. How much sleep will Mike Zimmer, coach of the Vikings, get in the next week? Coaches put so much of themselves into their teams, and we hurt as much as anyone when we lose, maybe more. If I asked players from those teams where we lost close games if they remember them, many likely wouldn’t (except the last one since that was only three years ago). Ultimately, junior high games don’t mean much in the grand scheme of life.
On the other hand, if you coach long enough, you also have your share of thrilling victories. I had a struggling basketball team early in my career where we hit two free throws to tie it and then stole the ball and scored a lay-up at the buzzer to beat Albert Lea. I watched a pinch-runner scramble home on a wild pitch for the winning run after the player he replaced hit a triple and was out of breath. Already this season, my basketball team has had two one-point wins.
Watching our high school football team beat WEM by a point for the conference championship a number of years ago was only recently outdone for thrills when the girls’ basketball team won their first state championship by a point over Braham. We’ve all seen buzzer-beaters and walk-off home runs and even two World Series championships from the Twins.
This past weekend, my son’s basketball team won a tournament game when one of his teammates hit a 12-foot jump shot with three seconds left in overtime to win. After trailing much of the game, the team had battled back to that position. I can only imagine the other team’s coach still scratching his head at the final shot, but he probably is also remembering the four-point lead late in the fourth quarter that evaporated.
It seems I take the close losses harder than I enjoy the close wins. I, along with many others I’m sure, screamed, “NO!” at the television when Blair Walsh missed that field goal. But I’ll get over it by next season, and when the Vikings do eventually win the Super Bowl, all the heartache will be worth it!
Right?
Word of the Week: This week’s word is expurgefacient, which means awakening or arousing, as in, “The expurgefacient outburst online after the team’s loss almost broke the Internet.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!
I recall being a youngster playing video games over at my neighbor’s house. He had an Atari, and that was the cream of the crop when it came to video game systems in the early ‘80s. However, we faced a problem at times. What would we do if the phone rang or someone knocked at the door? The Atari didn’t have a pause button, so it would either be ignore the phone/door or completely stop our game. (Usually the game took precedence!)
And lo, there came progress with video games – a pause button! It was amazing; no longer did we have to make a choice! Pause buttons also inundated boom boxes and VCRs, and we didn’t dread the ringing of the phone anymore! Plus, I could have my boom box set to record with the pause button depressed and then just hit it again when a good song came on the radio. I could tape out the commercials when I recorded a show on the TV. Life was good!
Pause buttons can still be found ubiquitously. However, kids today seem loath to use them. This is the problem in our house quite often. As soon as we remind our children of some chores awaiting them, we’re told they’re in the middle of an episode on Netflix or a video on YouTube. When reminded that it’s easy to pause and resume after the chores are complete, an eye roll often ensues. “Consider it a commercial break,” I might posit.
One of our largest problems in our technology-based educational system today is that students DON’T have any problem pushing the pause button on their homework. It’s quite easy, while working on an iPad or Chromebook, to skim over to YouTube and catch that latest Dan and Phil video or scan through the latest cute kitty memes. It’s not long before the homework is forgotten and the pause button quickly morphs into a stop.
We all need breaks at times. I freely admit to sidestepping work for five minutes to clear my mind. Over break, I had a virtual stack of stories to read, creative writing ranging from 2-11 pages in length. There’s no way I could barrel through even one section without a respite, especially when students continue to refuse to use the shift key while typing. Usually I can finish 5-7 stories like that before needing to come up for air. A couple games of Candy Crush or a jaunt through a comic book will get my mind cleared and back on track. In a way, it’s good for the kids whose papers I am correcting since I won’t let my frustration get too out of hand.
But that’s where it ends. I DO get back to my work in a timely fashion. I try to get work corrected and back to students within a day; the exception is essays and stories, where I might need a few days, depending on my schedule. In doing this, I try to model the behavior I expect of them – items completed on time. I know I can’t take huge breaks from plowing through some vocabulary sentences or they won’t get done. Once students recognize that a pause button is meant for brief breaks, the quality of work goes up.
One parent recently shared her frustration with her son’s iPad. “He always wants to play games and doesn’t get his work done,” she told me. I told her there are ways to limit some of the access and to only allow him use of the iPad when a special code is used. However, part of what we’re working on is teaching students responsibility with technology. As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, part of that teaching has to come at home. If students are hitting that pause button too much, parents need to hover a bit, just as a boss will do at work someday if the employee isn’t getting work done.
Wouldn’t we all like to pause more? I just had my hair cut, and the lady who did the work showed me the back in a mirror to make sure it looked okay. As much as I didn’t think it would bother me, noticing the beginnings of a bald spot unnerved me a bit. I wish I could pause the loss of my hair, but it seems inevitable at this point.
Don’t we all wish we could have hit a pause button at various times before saying something we later regretted? We’ve all heard the axiom about thinking before speaking, but we’ve also all broken that at times. Oh, to have those moments back and pause before uttering those fateful words.
As we embark on the new year, it’s good to pause and take inventory of ourselves. We all look back at 2015 and glance ahead to 2016. However, don’t pause too long; you still have those chores to do!
Word of the Week: This week’s word is viridity, which means the state of being green, as in, “After the virdity of his yard disappeared under the snow, he was reminded that the shoveling wouldn’t complete itself.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!
One of my (many) grammatical pet peeves is when I see something advertised as the “1st Annual” event. That’s impossible. It can’t be annual until it’s happened more than once. You might plan on continuing it, but until that actually happens, the first time should be the inaugural event.
Last year at this time, I had my inaugural “best of” list for 2014. So it’s with great anticipation that I present to you the “2nd Annual Best of List” for this waffle-flipper!
Best movie of 2015: I don’t go to the theater often. When I do, it’s likely super heroes or sci-fi, so you won’t see any Academy Award winning entries on this list. There were some outstanding flicks I witnessed on the big screen. Ant-Man was a fun frolic into the lighter side of super heroes. I thought I would get annoyed at 90 minutes of Minions, but their foray into movie stardom was quite excellent and not overwhelming.
Still, and you probably figured this was coming, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the best movie I saw this year. I won’t give away any spoilers if you haven’t seen it yet (What are you waiting for?), but it was everything I hoped it would be. There were many nostalgic nods to the original trilogy while at the same time updating some elements for a more modern audience. People in the theater seemed to genuinely appreciate a movie that was so anticipated that it had to be really, really good to avoid being hammered by fans. Mission accomplished!
Best book of 2015: I read a lot of books this year. A lot.
A year ago, I read a book called Red Rising, the first in a trilogy about civilization on Mars. I thought it was good enough to look forward to the sequel.
That came this past year, a book called Golden Son. Many times, the second book in a trilogy will simply be a set-up for the final entry, but this book had so many twists and turns and changed the expected courses of so many characters that it has left me champing at the bit for the final book, Morning Star, to come out in 2016.
However, it was another second book in a trilogy that took top honors for me this year. Invasion of the Tearling did the same as Pierce Brown’s book mentioned above; it did more than just set up the upcoming last book. The Tearling trilogy finds a dystopian future where most of civilization has collapsed less than 100 years from now. What has survived in a far-off land more resembles medieval times, though with a bit of sorcery thrown in. You really begin to care about the characters and remain on the edge of your seat while reading. Hopefully the finale pays off with more surprises and continued character development.
Best TV show of 2015: I watch too much TV. Last year I gave this award to the new show The Flash. That super hero show continues to be amazing this year, but it doesn’t quite get the top nod.
A little bit of an asterisk before I give the award: I have the current season of Fargo all recorded on the DVR, and according to Duey Ferber I’ll be blown away when I get to it. Hopefully that’s in the cards soon!
The award this year goes to a show that many of you might not even be aware exists, The Goldbergs. This ABC comedy follows a family during the 1980s and is so in my wheelhouse that there are times I feel like I am the main character. That was my era, so references to Transformers, New Kids on the Block, and Karate Kid turn back the clock to the greatest decade. Part of that is the inclusion of music from that era, and we all know ‘80s music rules!
Best sporting event of 2015: I’ve seen plenty of sporting events this past year, but there was nothing I witnessed live that I can say was so amazing that it would match with winning state championships or All-Star baseball festivities like last year.
In the running was certainly my final season of coaching my daughter’s basketball team. Five years with that group has left plenty of good memories, and last season was no exception. It’s been even more fun watching from the sideline this year as they’ve thrived under their new coach.
The World Series was so much fun to see, even if it kept me up way past my bedtime. The Kansas City Royals played great team baseball and deserved to win the title, mainly because they played the game the right way.
With that in mind, I have to say that visiting Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City to watch those Royals play was my highlight. Even though the home team lost, that experience was amazing. It was very cool when we were standing in line for the concession stand as the National Anthem began, and everyone just stopped to pay their respects, even the employees. That, along with the great atmosphere in the stadium and the free tour of the Royals Hall of Fame, made for a great night.
I hope you had many great moments and things to enjoy in 2015. May your new year be happy and bright and bring even better memories for 2016!
Word of the Week: This week’s word is quoz, which means an odd person or thing, as in, “The reader thought the columnist quite the quoz with his choices for favorite items of 2015.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!
Teachers sometimes receive gifts from students before Christmas arrives. We might get some candy or a gift card, something that shows appreciation and thanks. They’re certainly not expected, but we are grateful for these tokens from our stars.
Last week, I received a gift from a former student, and it was more priceless than the other items I may get before we leave for break. This former student moved to Owatonna a couple years ago, but was part of my class in 7th grade. She struggled to find the motivation to complete her work or to put much effort in when she did.
We have any number of students at different times who show this apathy. Hormones, lack of maturity, and other issues sometimes cloud the minds of these kids. The biggest heartbreak is when a teacher sees some hint of potential that is being ignored. That was the case with this student. She spoke well and had some good examples of writing among the few assignments I had received.
I called her mom one day and expressed my concern. We had a good discussion in trying to figure out a solution. I finally suggested a meeting with both her and her daughter present. Not only did the mother come, but the grandmother as well. I started to see an uptick in effort from this girl, though there were ups and downs.
She sent me a letter last week. In it she expressed her appreciation for that meeting. She said that although she still had her struggles, she continued to think back to the meeting and how the three adults there all showed such caring and concern that she was motivated to move forward and become a better student. She wrote that she now completes all her work on time and is doing well in high school.
One question she put in the letter was asking why I would care so much about my students. She couldn’t figure that out, but found it inspirational. I responded to her query in a letter of my own. People become teachers because they care about kids, I told her. Even when I’m losing my temper, it still shows a level of caring. As I tell my students, if you’re not doing your work and I’m not keeping after you, it means I’ve given up on you, and I don’t like to give up.
One of the reasons this former star has found success, I suspect, is that her mother and grandmother never gave up on her either and continue to impact her life. Following that meeting, the mom and I kept in contact, both when the student was showing continued success and when she might slip up. This continued caring from the parent had a much stronger impact than that initial meeting did, I’m sure. I’ve had many other meetings with parents over the years, but too often the parent makes that appearance, and I never hear from him or her again, despite efforts on my part.
And here’s the gift we can continue to give our children, the one that can’t be wrapped up and put under a tree, the gift of caring and being involved in their lives. We get so busy that we too often leave our kids to fend for themselves. We’re tired when we get home from work and don’t even want to think about looking at their schoolwork or checking their grades.
I’m no hero for calling up or e-mailing parents in an effort to make some progress with students. That’s my job. I can’t find true success, however, without the help of the parents to show that caring and concern. In reality, education is like a triangle with parents, students, and teachers working together equally to bring the child to a level of success, whatever that might be for each individual. If we’re missing one side of a triangle, it quite literally falls flat.
What do I want for Christmas? I want more e-mails replied to, more phone calls returned, and more follow through once we can get a foothold with that triangle idea. Letters like the one I received are worth so much more to a teacher than anything else; they provide the fulfillment that helps keep the engine going in a stressful occupation.
When I was sitting in the lounge reading that letter, I felt a tear come to my eye. Teachers do care, and that letter helped remind me that I need to continue to care for each of my students and strive for the relationships that help form that triangle of success.
I hope all my readers have a Merry Christmas and treasure the time you have with your families! Please remember the reason for the season, and look for those gifts that might not have a ribbon attached, those that are not tangible. Enjoy every moment!
Word of the Week: This week’s word is rechauffe, which means warm, leftover food, as in, “There was plenty of rechauffe for days after the family gathered for a Christmas feast.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!
Any of you who are friends with me on Facebook have seen a plethora of Star Wars-related posts lately, mostly from people who see items related to anything and everything Star Wars and share them with me. With the latest installment in this sci-fi series due to hit theaters this week, the momentum building has been tsunami-like in intensity.
I love the Star Wars movies and everything related to them. From the first time I saw The Empire Strikes Back in the theater when I was seven, I was hooked. I’ve seen all the movies many times, read most of the books and comics, and even have a number of the action figures that I’ve passed on to Anton. There are Star Wars posters, Pez dispensers, and a large Darth Vader lurking in my classroom, as well as a famous quote from Yoda on my wall: “Much to learn, you still have.”
Star Wars fans may be one of the most rabid groups of die-hards out there. You’re guaranteed to see most people on opening night in costume and perhaps even wielding lightsabers outside theaters. I will not be one of those crazy people, but I will likely see the movie more than once while it’s in theaters.
Why the love for these films? I mean, the original film, produced in 1977, was done on a shoestring budget and didn’t have much support from studios. The storyline is one that has been seen in other books and movies. George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, has talked often about how he used Joseph Campbell’s ideas on “The Hero’s Journey” as related to mythology when he lined out the path of Luke Skywalker, the main protagonist.
But I think that basic plot resonates well with people. The hero is propelled into action through a personal loss, finds a wise person to guide him, leaves his home, and faces a quest. All this happens to Luke Skywalker within the first half hour of the movie. According to Campbell, that hero meets new allies and recognizes who his enemies are before approaching a large trial, in which he again faces loss before finding the prize at the end of the quest and returning home a changed person. Again, you can see this path with Luke when he meets Han Solo and Chewbacca, runs into the evil Empire, and ultimately blows up the Death Star, but only after losing his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi.
As I mentioned, there are so many stories that follow this pattern (see: any Disney movie), but I think the true allure with Star Wars is the personalities the characters bring to the screen, which is in large part due to the actors and actresses Lucas used. Harrison Ford and Sir Alec Guiness were the most well-known actors, but others like Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Anthony Daniels were not as experienced. Yet they are now iconic links to Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and C-3PO. Nobody else could have played Han Solo with as much ruggedness as Ford, and the voice of James Earl Jones as Darth Vader (along with that creepy breathing) is known even if you’ve never watched a second of the movie.
True Star Warriors will tell you that the original trilogy far surpassed anything that was brought forth in the prequels that Lucas released between 1999-2005. So there is a certain amount of trepidation associated with more forays into this amazing universe. Can J.J. Abrams restore the magic that so many of us experienced back in the day? The trailers leave me all aquiver in anticipation, but I’m not ready to declare the new movie as great until I’ve seen it a couple of times.
Will it make a ton of money? Of course. The Disney machine is powering this movie, and they’ve likely made their money back on presale tickets alone. It will certainly be the top-grossing movie of the year, and I’ve already heard rumblings about the Academy Awards. But wait, there’s more! Disney is planning on a movie a year for at least the next six years. There will be two more that follow the story of The Force Awakens along with an X-Wing movie and separate entries about a young Han Solo and also Boba Fett, the notorious bounty hunter. And you’d better believe Disney will keep pumping them out as long as they’re making money.
Will it be too much of a good thing? That seems likely, but much like all the Marvel super hero movies on the way, I’ll enjoy the ride as long as I can. May the Force be with you!
Word of the Week: This week’s word is sitzmark, which means the mark made by someone falling backward in the snow, as in “The sitzmark left by Chewbacca after the recent snowfall was much more noticeable than that created by Yoda.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!
Did you ever toy with a Rubik’s Cube back in the ‘80s? They were those crazy-colored devices that tortured many people for hours on end as everyone tried to make every side the same color. I never was able to finish that, though I did accomplish two sides. If any of you ever finished the whole cube (without cheating and moving stickers around), you have my admiration!
The Rubik’s Cube was an extreme example of problem-solving prowess. Most of us probably gave up long before coming close to a finish, but there sure were a lot of people trying.
As I thought about this week’s column, I was reflecting on a couple of recent ones, especially last week’s about the growth mindset and a few weeks back about quitting. Putting these ideas together led to what you’re reading now, the idea of what’s happened to our problem-solving abilities.
Truly, the ability to solve problems without having to seek help very often is a great skill. People who can look at a dilemma and work through it to find the answer are becoming fewer and fewer. Part of this is an over-reliance on technology. Those of us who were in school prior to the advent of the Internet remember, with a shiver, looking up information in encyclopedias and searching through the card catalog in the library. Today, you simply have to know that “google” is a verb, not just a Web site. Even if you use a different search engine, you likely say that you googled something.
With that at our fingertips, is it any wonder our minds have started to move away from problem solving? What was the name of that band that sang that one song? I’ll look it up on the Internet. Who was the actor with the lead role in that great movie? Pull out the iPad. How do I change this light bulb? Maybe there’s a diagram online.
That last one might be a bit facetious, but not by much. I have more and more kids come up to me in school when they have an issue with a device. My first question is, “Did you shut out of the app or turn off the device?” Ninety percent of the time, that solves the problem. So why didn’t they think of that? Why is it that when the so-called spinning wheel of death appears on a web browser, they go into panic mode and think everything is broken?
That’s simple. With all these answers at their fingertips, they don’t need to think as much. Part of problem solving is using your imagination and going outside the box. But who needs an imagination when your video game provides the whole story for you? We don’t see many kids running around outside playing cops and robbers anymore, do we? The same goes for other games we used to create, including new scenes from our favorite movies and inventing new episodes of TV shows like The Dukes of Hazzard. We didn’t just watch the screens, we brought them into our play time.
And I’ll admit that my problem solving isn’t what it used to be. It’s very easy to get sucked into the world of technology and rely on that for an answer. More than once I’ve gone to Angie Aaseth, our tech coordinator, with a problem, and when she’s pointed out a solution, I’ve slapped my head. Duh!
I’m afraid this is a problem that might not be solved any time soon. Technology will only provide more and more for us, so we have less and less to do. I look at people who work on cars as a great example of how this has changed. Cars have gone from people having to locate the problem and figure out a solution to having so many computerized systems that someone in the auto shop will hook your vehicle up to a computer which will determine the problem and suggest the solution. There are still times they need to get creative, but, much like everything else, modernization is making life easier.
It’s the ultimate irony. Problem solving is getting worse, but we can’t seem to solve that problem. Maybe I’ll go back to my old Rubik’s Cube, and that will stimulate my brain to come up with an answer!
Word of the Week: This week’s word is related to last week’s word! It’s lethonomia, which is the inability to recall the right name, as in, “He was so reliant on the Internet to come up with name that his lethonomia extended to remembering his college roommate’s name.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!
We’ve all heard the old axiom that humans only use about 10% of our brains. I’m not sure how they come up with a number like that, but it seems a certainty that we all have much untapped potential. How do we reach that potential?
The brain is just like a muscle; the more we use it, the stronger it can become. This is why you will see many studies show that working on brain teasers and word puzzles will strengthen the brain in order to fight against Alzheimer’s and dementia later in life. If all we do with our brain is drown it in television shows and movies, it is not likely to stay strong as we grow older.
I’ve had a running bit in my classroom for years that I am a near-genius based on a high score on an IQ test. However, IQ tests are not considered a great benchmark for true intelligence as much as they used to be. Just like with so many other types of tests, it is a one-shot look at a person on a particular day.
In education, we have new catchphrases come and go about as often as a new emoji is created for texters. One that has been backed up by plenty of research in the past decade is the idea of a growth mindset postulated by Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Stanford University.
Basically, growth mindset is the idea that we can get better at areas in which we struggle mentally. That seems pretty obvious, but if I had a dollar for every student who ever said, “I’m just dumb in reading. I’ll never get that,” I’d be a lot closer to retirement. Many people have run across something they can’t figure out and just give up. The growth mindset idea says that we should continue to work at the problem and seek help to find a solution.
Some things don’t seem worth the effort. I’m sure that if I had wanted to, I could have figured out proofs in my advanced math classes. I simply didn’t see how that would be worth the time for someone going on to teach English. But when I think about how many kids struggle with reading and writing and use the “I’m just dumb” excuse, it makes me think we need to push the growth mindset; those are skills that everyone needs.
Growth mindset encourages a different type of language. In a world where we praise way too much and everyone gets a trophy, this theory says we should praise progress and effort, not necessarily the end result every time. Most of us probably didn’t make the very first basketball shot we ever took or hit the very first baseball pitched to us. However, good coaches will point out the good shooting form or the correct swing as steps to help players not give up. Why not do this more in our classrooms?
For years, I’ve found ways to reward students who showed improvement on standardized tests over the previous year. Honestly, some kids will never come close to passing those reading tests, but they gain confidence by knowing that simply putting forth the best effort will be acknowledged. Rather than go into those tests thinking they will fail anyway so why try, some kids are motivated to improve, even if it’s by a couple of points.
Those of you who have read my past educational columns know that I’ve been giving students chances to redo most of their work for the past few years. It’s a great feeling as a teacher to see that “Ah-ha!” moment, and this is when it usually occurs. Some students simply understand why they screwed up initially and can turn in a new version with minor effort. Others, though, have sought help from me to understand why they were not doing something correctly. When I see that light bulb turn on, it’s a grand moment.
Why give a test or grade a paper and then just move on? If a student hasn’t learned something, one can hope they would try to get better so they don’t keep making the same mistakes. Now I don’t encourage the idea of making the whole class wait until everyone gets something, but I know an area I need to work on is trying to get more students to look at redoing items to gain a better understanding. Again, not everyone will master every concept. But we need to keep kids from thinking that they’ll never get something and simply give up.
Even as adults, we can continue in this growth mindset. If you’ve never liked reading because you’ve claimed it’s too hard, step back and try out some young adult fiction. Work that brain, and you might discover something you can really enjoy, which will lead to a stronger muscle in your head. There’s no shame in taking a step back in order to leap ahead. This near-genius loves to do that, and it’s helped me grow. Am I at a genius level now? It doesn’t matter; all that truly matters is that I continue to grow.
Word of the Week: This week’s word is lethologica, which means the inability to recall the right word, as in, “Until she started exercising her brain more, she tended to encounter lethologica in her elder years.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!
My long-time readers know that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. It’s not just the food, family, and football, but also the opportunity to reflect on all the blessings in our lives. Please indulge me as I do that in a rather public way.
There’s so much to thank God for, isn’t there? He has given me so many gifts. When I’m writing every week, I think about how much I enjoy writing and how easily ideas come as I type most of the time. God gave me the basis of this talent and enjoyment and has allowed me outlets to use it, both here and with my novels. I maintain that everyone should write, even if it’s just a diary entry; it’s a great way to cleanse the soul.
God also gave me a talent for music and ways to express that too. I’m so thankful my parents encouraged me with the piano and the trumpet growing up and never let me stop playing. I get such pleasure from playing in the Litomyscellaneous polka band a couple times a year and even just messing around on the piano at home. I’m thankful for the swell of singing around me in church and the ability to contribute my voice to it.
I’m thankful for the opportunity I received here at NRHEG twenty years ago and the people who helped nurture and guide me to where I am today as a teacher. I’m glad I have the chance to turn around and pay that back to younger staff, both as teachers and coaches. Working here has opened so many doors for which I’m thankful including coaching, announcing, and friendships I cherish.
Of course, working here helped me meet my wife Michelle, a native of Ellendale. I’m so thankful that my cousin Marlys knew Michelle’s mom in college and helped set us up. My thankfulness knows no bounds for the tremendous life Michelle and I have carved out together, especially our children, Jayna and Anton. I’m very thankful that my children have been relatively healthy and stayed mostly safe over the years. I’m also glad they are motivated kids who work hard in school to strive for the best.
I’m even thankful for our cat, Chewbacca. I never would have dreamed that I would enjoy having a cat in the house, but when he comes to meet me at the door every day after work, it’s nice to see that friendly, furry face, even if he really just wants me to turn on a water faucet from which to drink!
I’m thankful that my family gets along. It’s easy when we get together with my parents, my grandma, and my sisters and their families to feel comfortable. I know some families end up dealing with plenty of drama, but we all like each other and truly enjoy the opportunities when we’re all together, which is too rare.
I’m very thankful for Michelle’s family as well. There are no stereotypical in-law jokes from this guy! Having her mom just up in Owatonna has been great, and every time the Spinlers get together is a blessing and not to be missed. These are times where I sometimes find myself just sitting and listening, which must seem strange to those who know me, but I’m always thoroughly entertained, and well fed!
There are so many great books I get the opportunity to read, and I love that I can’t get enough of them. I’ve been trying to think of the best book I’ve read this year for my second annual best-of column at the end of December, and it’ll be a tough decision. Again, I know not everyone enjoys reading, but I’m grateful that I have this love, which has given me so many hours of pleasure.
I also know not everyone enjoys sports, but I’m thankful that these competitions have been a huge part of my life. Some of my best memories are from sporting events such as the 1991 World Series and the back-to-back state championships for NRHEG Lady Panther basketball. Sure, I know I’m doomed to be disappointed while watching the Vikings, but it’s the thrill of the moment and the hope for a favorable outcome that keeps me coming back year after year.
Thank you for humoring me by reading this list of thanks. I hope you get the chance to reflect on all the great things in your lives this week and to find all the positives amidst a world of hard knocks. Thank you also for continuing to read this column every week and for your continued support. It’s something I’m thankful for on a weekly basis.
Word of the Week: This week’s word is sternutate, which means to sneeze, as in, “After sternutating, he was thankful when everyone chimed in, ‘God bless you!’” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!
Most of the comments I hear from people regarding my column are in conjunction with my “Word of the Week.” I’m always gratified to hear folks say they try to use the words the following week in an effort to increase their vocabulary.
Using big words can be fun; today my 7th graders learned that expectorate is a synonym for spit while reading Tom Sawyer. It’s neat to see eyes widen and heads nod as they think about how to use new words to impress their friends and confuse their enemies.
However, some words don’t need to be multi-syllabic to have an impact. The word quit packs quite a punch when used. Sure, you could use similar words like desert, resign, or abdicate, but that simple four-letter word is powerful.
No, this isn’t some odd segue about me giving up this space in the paper. (Sorry to disappoint those who were hoping for that!) But it seems that lately I’ve been telling a lot of students to avoid quitting when things get tough, and it got me thinking if I follow my own advice. Looking back, sometimes it feels like I’ve gone that route plenty in recent years.
I was a board member of the Quad Cities Baseball Association for many years. I was all set one year to resume my duties as vice-president when I reached a tough point with many things converging at once. My stress levels peaked and I had to find a way to fight that. I gave up my position with the QCBA, though quit seems pretty strong. Let’s go with resigned. I aided a bit through that following season with areas I had always taken care of to help the transition, but I found that I felt better overall.
And now it looks like I’ll rejoin the fray as Anton’s group of baseball players will enter that organization’s purview next summer. Much like what I wrote about in last week’s column about stepping back from coaching basketball for a few years, this feels right to have had some time away from something I love.
Last spring I ended my time as head of our building’s PBIS team. Once again, stress levels had built up and something had to go. Still, quit seemed pretty strong to use. Perhaps I abdicated my position. Much like with the QCBA, I’ve still made myself available to offer any thoughts on different PBIS activities. It seems like the group is doing fine, and they’ll hopefully reach new heights. Sometimes change is good for everyone involved, and it looks like that has been the case here.
Goodness knows I felt like quitting as a negotiator after our tentative contract failed last spring. After much hard work, to hear many disparaging comments was tough to take. However, I believe in finishing a job, and so we’re continuing to work in the best interests of our membership. Here’s a difference that comes with age. I see teenagers and even folks in their 20s hop from job to job when the going gets tough. I see students give up on activities like band after less than a year. Give things a chance. If you start something, see it through to the end. It was very tempting to just walk away from negotiations and say, “If you think you can do a better job, go ahead.” But that would meet the very definition of quitting.
We all know our jobs are difficult at times. We all have days and weeks we’d like nothing better than to go along with Johnny Paycheck and say, “Take this job and shove it!” And some people do. Walking out on a bad job might be satisfying at the moment, but what about long term? Do you have another gig lined up?
There have been weeks it’s tough to get going on my column. Life is busy, and to find the time to just sit down and write is difficult. It would be easy those weeks to just call the paper and say I don’t have anything for them that week. But that seems like quitting as well. Sure, it’s tough those weeks. Sure, I might be struggling to find a good topic. Sure, I might rather be watching something that’s been sitting on my DVR for a month. Throughout this writing, I’ve figured out that I don’t want to be a quitter.
Maybe an abdicator. Maybe a resigner. But not a quitter, right? Then there’s the matter of stopping as music minister at church. One could say I deserted that position. The differences I had with one of our priests had been building, and, as I’ve mentioned here before, finally broke. I had fought against the negativity for some time, but finally had to give in. Is there a time where it’s okay to quit? I won’t say I feel great about abandoning that post, but I’m at peace with it.
We should avoid quitting at the drop of a hat, but perhaps sometimes there comes a point where it’s okay to step away. In most situations, I’d like to use a less powerful synonym, but there might be the need to say, “I quit,” on a rare occasion.
Word of the Week: This week’s word is brabble, which means to argue over petty manners, as in, “The brabbling at the meeting made him want to walk out immediately.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!
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This year might be it for coaching basketball. The first team I coached was back in 1994 while at Winona State. This will be my 20th season of coaching basketball, and while I never say never, it seems like a fitting time to hang up my whistle. But I’ve said that before.
Going into the 2006-2007 season, I had been coaching junior high basketball since I started here. However, I knew that I wanted to help coach my daughter’s group when they entered 3rd grade and figured I could use a break from coaching, knowing that I’d have to approach elementary players differently than I did junior high players. Thus, in 2010 I brought the whistle out of retirement and took on that task. My longtime readers know that I’ve had a blast coaching that group of girls and am happy with their development.
I had hoped at one point that there would be coaches in place in junior high and I’d be able to sink back into the stands. That was not the case, and anyway, I’d developed the itch to again coach a full season of basketball and was pleased to finish my time with those girls last year.
That’s right, my time with them is done. Even though I’ll still be coaching junior high girls’ basketball, I’ll have the group behind my crew, this year’s 7th graders. Our varsity coach would like my girls to hear a different voice, and I wholeheartedly agree. We’ve all reached a point where we know each other so well that moving forward is more difficult. I still get to coach and will still work sometimes with the 8th graders, but they will have a different voice at the lead.
And I couldn’t be happier with that lead voice, Kate Quam. I coached Kate years ago and was always pleased with her 100% work ethic and competitiveness. She busted her tail for me that year and was part of one of the more memorable teams that I’ve had the privilege of coaching. The chance to mentor a young coach, especially one who already understands how I operate, is exciting.
I know she’ll demand the respect of the girls. I know she’ll have high expectations for them. I know she’ll kick their butts if need be. But I also know that she will care about them and will soon discover the connections you make as coach and player go so far beyond what you see in the classroom. There’s something about running and sweating for someone that adds a new layer to a relationship!
And those relationships are what coaches value so much. I’ll admit to feeling proud that one of my players is eager to coach and still remembers so much of what she did back in 8th grade for my team. Like I always tell my teams, once you play for me and put up with my eccentricities for a year, you can come and ask for help anytime; that bond will stay solid.
With that in mind, I especially want to recognize those girls who were part of my last group from the start, those that started basketball in 3rd grade and played all five years I was the coach: Mackenzie Butler, Katie Cliff, Jayna Domeier, Mia Farr, Madi Kormann, Sydney Koziolek, Skylar Lembke, Tiara Malakowsky, Paige Peterson, Annie Prigge, Makenzie Sundve, Micaela Vaale, and Diamond Woollard. They might not all be playing again this year and likely will not all be playing by the time they graduate, but I’m appreciative that so many stuck through it for five years; believe me, I’m not always easy to play for!
Helping with all this the past four seasons has been Todd Born. I’ve praised Todd before, but I’ll embarrass him one last time. Todd and I had an adversarial relationship prior to that; after all, he was a referee and I was a coach! I didn’t always like his calls and he didn’t always like my sideline demeanor. However, I now consider Todd a friend. His help has been invaluable these past four years, and we provide two different perspectives that often help get the girls to the best outcome for their basketball careers. I’m so pleased that he’ll be volunteering again this year to help Kate and me. His experience will help Kate grow as a coach and will continue to help both our original group and my new group to get better.
I love coaching, and I’ll put everything I have into this year, just as I have every other year. But in the back of my mind, I keep hoping the coaching staff at the high school will remain stable so I can enjoy the four years of high school from the stands and behind the microphone and watch the fruits of our labor bear results. Plus, I hope the boys program is covered so when my son comes through, I can do much of the same. Again, I never say never, but it might be time for the whistle to be hung up for good this February.
Word of the Week: This week’s word is dotterel, which means someone who is easily fooled, as in, “The coach worked on the dotterel to get all the calls his team needed.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!
This past week, two stories appeared the same day. They seemed unrelated, but led my mind on a strange path regarding some thoughts about parenting.
The first story came out of China, where the government will now permit couples to have two children instead of the limit of one previously mandated. This brought much rejoicing throughout the land as parents immediately started thinking about expanding their families.
The other story evolved from right here in Minnesota, the Jacob Wetterling kidnapping case. As I type this, the police have a “person of interest,” lending hope to the idea that the final fate of Wetterling will at last be revealed, bringing closure to a case that gripped us here for so long. You could sense an immediate shift in how parents watched over their children when that happened. “Stranger danger” was on everyone’s minds more than ever.
What do these two stories have to do with each other? Bear with me here, and I’ll see if I can untangle the devious plot threads I’ve laid out.
I’ve used this space in the past to rant a bit regarding some so-called parenting tactics I’ve witnessed, especially as a teacher. I’ve long semi-joked that folks should have to pass a test before being allowed to conceive. Unfortunately, to procreate doesn’t take any real background knowledge or prerequisite; most people figure out how to pass the test that leads to children.
None of us are really ready when we have children, are we? The most petrifying moment is arriving at home and realizing the nurses didn’t follow you back from the hospital. It doesn’t matter how much you read ahead of time or even if it’s not your first child, it’s still scary.
Raising children is hard work. The amount of effort we need to put in to help shape our children is immense. I couldn’t believe when Jayna entered kindergarten and her teacher told me that more kids than one might think arrive there unable to count to ten. Little kids are such sponges that simple repetition with nursery rhymes and Sesame Street books will get you there in no time. But that’s just it: it does take time.
Reading to young children is so essential to brain development and a child’s future ability that it’s a crime when that potential is hindered. My gosh, we have public libraries everywhere that will loan you books for free, if you just take the time to visit. And once you do, you and your kids will be hooked, if you start at a very young age!
China was certainly trying to reverse an overpopulation problem they had with their old rule. But maybe they also thought that if parents only had one child to focus on, they could spend enough time with the child to turn out a productive member of society. However, there are so many people that are certainly competent enough to do that with more than one that it should prove beneficial to allow more children.
Becky Lassahn, who has provided daycare for our kids from the time they were born, always tells me she wishes Michelle and I would have had more kids. I told her once that a part of being a good parent is knowing when you have enough children to be able to give the attention that is needed. Two seemed like a good number for us. For some families, more than two works, but I sometimes see people who I wonder how they can take care of one, much less the multitude they’ve produced. There are too many kids who come to school without having received much attention and largely have to fend for themselves.
I often think I give my kids more than I should. They have too much latitude and are, at times, spoiled rotten. I should make them work more around the house, I should limit their screen time more, and I should stop keeping so much ice cream in the house. I should say no more often. I don’t try to be friends with my kids, by any means. But there’s that part of every parent that wants their children to live an easier life than they had, and that’s where I (too) often fall.
Another part of that which led so quickly from the Wetterling abduction years ago is safety. We all want our kids to stay safe and often sit at home, fearing what’s happening when our kids are out and about, only breathing clearly again once they arrive home. We protect to a point where we might overprotect. Sometimes we shelter our kids too much instead of letting them experience failure occasionally.
It’s good to smother our kids sometimes and let them know how loved they are. But we also have to stop doing so much for them and start teaching them some basics other than how wonderful they are. I actually had to spend part of my budget this year on stanchions to place by my desk to help herd kids into line if they need some help. A basic skill like waiting your turn eludes over half my student population. Why is that? Why do I have to teach that to 13 and 14 year olds?
We’ll never limit how many kids you can have in America, and we shouldn’t. But we all need to do a better job of preparing the next generation, as we create them, to take on the giant task of, some day, becoming parents themselves.
Word of the Week: This week’s word is hogen-mogen, which means powerful or grand, as in, “The hogen-mogen adult soon realized the great responsibility of being a parent.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!
We’ve certainly seen the farming community hard at work in recent weeks, as my drive down Highway 30 often brings a different view from morning to afternoon, seeing fields harvested and plowed. The weather has been outstanding, probably the best it’s been in a number of years, which brings smiles to faces of many locals.
Farming is a tough job. There are so many things in life that we take for granted, thanks to farmers. I was fortunate growing up (though it didn’t always seem so at the time) to be on a nine-acre hobby farm and get a taste of what it was like to list farmer as an occupation. While this wasn’t something we did to make a living, there were still some amazing lessons I learned over those formative years at home with my parents.
Work is hard. It really is! Loading up the manure spreader is more than just dealing with the smell. That task exhausts you physically. Hauling five-gallon buckets of water from the spigot on the outside of the house down to the sheep inside the barn was not easy. Since I wanted to make as few trips as possible, I would often attempt taking 4-6 of them at a time.
Some people try to avoid some of that hard physical labor as much as possible today. I admit to that occasionally, and I don’t have anything nearly as tough as those things I did growing up. Still, the sooner we get to that disliked chore, the sooner it is done. The negative anticipation of a disliked job only makes it worse when the time comes.
You can overcome obstacles to get the job done. I had pretty bad hay fever growing up. So you can imagine my pure, unadulterated joy when it came time to bale hay! I was miserable, often resorting to farmer blows off the hayrack because tissues seemed like a waste of time. Yet there I was taking the hay off the baler and stacking it neatly on the rack. And later on I could be found up in the hayloft, stacking those bales a second time.
I hated it, but I realized that something like my sneezing and headache could be put aside to finish the task at hand. Too often in our current time, I see kids give up when the going gets tough. That is not an option with farm living. The job must get done, period. As I often tell students, excuses are like belly buttons – they won’t do you much good anymore.
New life is precious. During lambing season, things could get hectic. We’d hope that the ewes would spread out their lambing times so we didn’t have to try to cram so many into individual pens in the barn. For most of the sheep, human help was not needed. But every now and then there would be one who needed some extra care to get through the birthing process.
I came home from school one day and went to check on a prospective mother, only to find her struggling through delivery. I was there every step of the way as she delivered one…two…three…four lambs! They were tiny and having difficulty breathing. I wiped the noses as they came out and attempted to get them to suckle right away. The mother took to the first couple easily but ignored the other two. I worked with them, trying to switch them in when the other two had had a good start, to no avail. After bringing those two in the house to warm them up and try to bottle feed, only one stayed alive. That was devastating.
I may have thought these beasts were as dumb as a bag of hair, but watching the miracle of birth and also seeing the death of some was valuable. It provided an ability to sympathize and empathize. It gave a perspective on life that is hard to find while living in town. The hardest thing became selling the sheep I had worked with for the fair. Still, that’s part of the circle of life of many animals on the farm.
Farmers don’t have set office hours. If we knew a ewe was going into labor, we couldn’t just tell her to wait until morning. There were nights that Dad especially was down in the barn at all hours. With today’s tractors and other equipment, it’s not unusual to see farmers in the fields well after sundown. If we needed to finish off baling that field because of impending rain, we’d do it by squinting into the dusk if need be.
So many of us go to our jobs at the same time every morning and return home at the same time every evening. As my years in education have gone on, I’ve found more and more that my job isn’t done when I leave school. Like many teachers, I bring work home to correct. I check my email at night in case someone has a question. Many of us take phone calls at home from frantic parents or students. Those days of interrupting what I was doing to take care of a task in the field or the barn were valuable as I reached adulthood, as were the other lessons I learned by living in the country!
Word of the Week: This week’s word is uberous, which means abundant or fruitful, as in, “The farmers were pleased with their uberous fields as the harvest season came to an end.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!
Gun control is certainly a hot topic these days, isn’t it? Once again, the media has hopped on some recent shootings and given them more coverage than necessary, prompting politicians to jump on one bandwagon or another, depending on who they are trying to impress. So what does your local columnist think? I’m not really sure; let’s find out together.
I’ve never shot a gun. You could put one in my hands and I wouldn’t have much of a clue. It doesn’t mean I’m against hunting and other gun-related activities; I’ve just never had an interest. Apparently, when I was a wee tot, Dad came home with a deer he had shot and I cried because I thought he had killed Bambi. That traumatic experience kept my dad from hunting, so I wasn’t really exposed to it after that time.
Frankly, at times, the idea of a gun in the hands of some of my students frightens me. Some kids show such little maturity at school that I wonder how they can handle that responsibility. Then I see pictures online of some of these stars proudly displaying their hunting efforts. They’ve gone through gun training. They’re with an adult. It’s all good. Some kids have found an activity they enjoy and are good at, so more power to them. It also provides good family time for some of these folks.
As a teacher, the idea of a school shooting is scary. Most school shootings don’t occur with hunting guns though. Again, I think so many of those kids are taught respect for a gun, and that shouldn’t be a concern. It’s the people who have access to all kinds of other weaponry. Look at the incident in Waseca not long ago. There were a number of guns in addition to the bomb materials. How do we allow teenagers to get their hands on guns like that?
This is the flaw in the system. There are always people who will sell something to anyone, as was allegedly the case in Waseca. Someone needed money and sold a gun to a teenager with murder on his mind. I don’t know the answer to this; I don’t think anything the government does will halt criminals.
Some people just want to take all the guns away. In addition to being unconstitutional, it still wouldn’t stop guns from being illegally manufactured and sold, but now the law-abiding citizens wouldn’t have them. I won’t say that I’m exceptionally comfortable with all these people with permits carrying guns around, but I have to trust the system that vets them before allowing that, the same as I trust the people who issue licenses to drivers.
I do think we could limit the types of guns that are sold to Joe Citizen though. Do you really need assault weapons? Again, it’s not that some people can’t handle them responsibly, but the danger of them falling into the hands of a mentally-disturbed person or any youngster should preclude the ability of just anyone to get them. I know there are rules to follow and background checks done, but those are fallible too.
If you want a gun for hunting or to carry on yourself for your personal safety, I have no beef with that. I enjoy venison, and someone could be there to save me someday because he or she is armed. The bad guys will always get whatever they want, but if we can limit what is available to most people, there is much less chance of those weapons falling into the hands of people with murder on the mind.
For this same reason, I’m very uncomfortable with people who propose that teachers carry guns. Kids can be pretty devious, and it wouldn’t take much for an accident to happen or for a determined child to get ahold of one of those school-sanctioned weapons. No, thank you; I would foresee even more gun violence in schools if that happened.
The way I see it, there are really two solutions that can help halt these outbreaks. We need to do a better job of diagnosing mental illness for one. So many of these shooters are shown to have instability. We can ask why nobody has done anything, and the truth of the matter is that the system is so overloaded. We have mental health professionals in schools who can’t keep up with all the requests for help; what must it be like outside of schools?
The other solution is stop giving so much airtime to these delinquents. In our 24-hour news cycle, CNN and Fox News can be counted on to spend much of that time on the latest gun incident. That’s exactly what many of these shooters want. They go out in a blaze of glory and get their name and faces all over the TV. That’s part of their dream. I wouldn’t mind being on TV, but surely not in that manner. Once the TV gurus stop doing more than giving a brief snippet to the shooters, you will see the number of incidents decrease.
At the end of the day, I’m still not sure how I feel overall. Some areas of gun control could be tightened, but I don’t want to make it so only bad guys have guns. Unfortunately, our politicians can likely be counted on to fumble this issue, especially with an election a year away. In the meantime, please be safe with your weapons, especially with hunting season upon us!
Word of the Week: This week’s word is ambit, which means scope or range, as in, “The legislature decided to limit the ambit of weapons available for purchase.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!