The world we live in

So much has gone on in the world in the last 7 days, and since my mind is racing with thoughts I figured it was an opportune time to revive the blog. So here goes...

What a world we live in. In the last 7 days alone, check out the craziness of the news. Here are just 6 events that have happened.

1) Let's start in Albany, NY, where the state government these days looks more like a three-ring circus than a legislative body.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/liz-krueger/the-albany-saga-too-much_b_221114.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/liz-krueger/the-albany-saga-too-much_b_221114.html
The newspaper columnists are having a field day naming their columns. Did these lawmakers forget what's truly at stake... the schools, the future, etc?

2) On to South Carolina, where the governor admitted having an affair. I won't stay on this topic too long, as I personally feel that the family(s) involved should work this out privately... I will say, though, that I have not enjoyed hearing accusations against any particular group, political party, religious organization, etc. when hearing stories like this. This happens all across the board, not just to one particular group.

3) A football coach in Iowa was shot while in the school weight room, most likely working with kids.
http://sports.espn.go.com/highschool/rise/football/news/story?id=4283443

4) Ed McMahon has passed away after battling several diseases in recent weeks.

5) So has Farrah Fawcett, after being diagnosed with cancer.

6) Then on Thursday, Michael Jackson died. It was shocking news, of course... but I really enjoyed when a local radio station played "Heal the World" last night.


So where do we go from here? It is easy to get caught up in all of the negative things going on in the world, but thankfully I then saw a Bible quote mentioned by my college pastor. He quoted James 4:14 - "We are all just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away."

I then thought about 2 Corinthians 4:18: "as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."

The world is not perfect. In addition, I am far from perfect. How awesome it is, though, that as a Christian I believe in a God who has overcome the world! I try my best to help the world... or " heal the world, make it a better place," as Michael Jackson put it, but in the end I am reminded to keep my primary focus on the eternal God. That is an encouraging thought during these times.

Education's Ultimate Goal

The election season is in full swing, and one of many issues at play is education. Unfortunately, it's not a big enough one, but in the last decade or so it's become a slightly larger part of the social consciousness. (Barack Obama even mentioned TFA explicitly during his speech at a rally held in St. Louis last night!) But since better education for all can be the root of the solution, we have a lot of work to do in raising its place in public discourse. But I digress. This post relates to the ultimate goal of education: later-life success.

One of the main reasons why I teach is to help give my students better opportunities in life. This effort has been successful in many ways. I had an opportunity last year to advise seniors through the College Summit program. The motto of the program is, "So that all students that can make it IN college make it TO college." CS produced a 95% college acceptance rate for the 80 seniors in the program last year (thanks to some wonderful colleagues of mine), the vast majority of whom will be their family's first-generation of college students. But despite this success, much work needs to be done. I have already seen far too many students who, after graduation, have not made it as far as I had hoped.

At a new TFA alumni event last year, we were asked about what had motivated us in the classroom. I talked about some of the top students in my school, some of whom I have taught and others who I have not taught but who are outstanding positive influences in the school. A particular student comes to mind... a brilliant, outstanding student, had a great love for learning, and soaked up everything taught like a sponge. But when the ACT score came back, it was a 24. Not a bad score, but in my opinion this student was capable of a 30 or higher. And many of the brilliant top students whom I have taught and interacted with over the last few years have similar stories... another great student last year regularly aced difficult geometry tests yet only managed a 16. I could go on and on. Many of these students consistently do well in their classes and are brilliant thinkers.

Granted, tests are not always sound indicators of academics. But when a student masters everything that he/she is taught in the classroom and still scores significantly below capability on the ACT, it seems to me that the school/educational system, not the student, is at fault. The reality is that too many students who are so capable of success on the postsecondary level are not academically ready when they enter college. (Though that does not mean they don't succeed... I must say that one of my favorite parts of my job is seeing students come back to visit after they graduate with their outstanding college report cards.!) Too many students go through high school without being challenged enough academically. We as educators MUST look at this issue and carefully reexamine the way we educate.

Grace

Thanksgiving and Christmas are on the way, and for Christians it's a time to give thanks to God for what He's done for us and in our lives. For me, this year's time is one where I have started to internalize more deeply the grace that God has given me.

It's so easy to feel shame when I make a mistake. And while it can be good to pray against whatever sin is going on, it has implicitly caused me to focus more on my sin than on God's goodness. Rather, I should turn my focus away from my mistakes and toward God. I heard a quote at church last week that said, "For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Jesus." Wow. What a concept. While I'm still making mistakes (and who isn't?), I have started to pray less against my sin and more for God to simply transform my heart to enjoy Him more.

An example of this took place in my life over the first two years of college. While I had great friends, I spent much of this time trying to "gain acceptance in the party scene." While I did not party or drink as much as most people, I still focused too much on trying to break in to this scene. And over the course of my sophomore year, that's exactly what happened. I had access to many of the parties around campus. But during a party in someone's backyard one Saturday night in the spring, God hit me in the head with a realization: THIS IS GETTING BORING. These parties that I had wanted for so long seemed all the same. I had been praying against too much drinking for a while, but God didn't treat this symptom. Instead, He got to the root of the problem. He transformed my heart and changed my desires so that I simply didn't want the party scene anymore. That summer, God placed me in St. Louis with YouthWorks, and my life was never the same.

God has given His people grace. Let us focus less on reducing our own mistakes and instead turn the focus on God, for Him to transform our hearts and our desires.

East Side!

After watching the first half of my high school's varsity football game, I went with a couple other teachers in my school to East St. Louis High School to watch East Side High play unbeaten suburban school Belleville East. My teacher buddies, both of whom had been teaching for a long time and had connections to the local sports scene through their coaching experience, told me the whole way how big of a treat it was going to be.

The game was definitely everything they had talked it up to be. The stadium was beautiful, and we had to wait for 20 minutes just to get in. The crowd was huge, with 4,000 or 5,000 people there. The East St. Louis community supports their team impressively, and Belleville East came out with strong fan support as well.

While both teams seemed ready, it was clear from the start who was the better team. East St Louis won 53-14 over the unbeaten Lancers, and it would have been even worse if Belleville East had not gotten several favorable, possibly shady spots from the officiating crew. (That issue is a completely different topic though.) I was one of the few white people on the East St Louis side of the stadium, and I wholly enjoyed the experience. The level of play was amazing, the energy level was about as high as any I had experienced at a football game at any level, and the fan support from both teams was great too. Thank you, East St Louis/Belleville, for showing me what high school football is really all about.

East Coast Bias?

The topic of the Eastern media has been a hot one as of late. It most recently got on my nerves when I was listening to Stephen A. Smith on the radio. He was talking about NLCS Game 1, played in Arizona, when the home fans started throwing objects on the field in response to an interference call made on the home team. Smith started complaining about how the media was so soft in its treatment of the Arizona fans and went on to say that if the same thing happened in New York, Boston, Philly, or "even Baltimore," that the fans would be criticized all over CNN and would be front-page news.

Normally, I like Stephen A. And he brings up a valid point in the case of regional media bias. But he is ridiculously biased in his media criticism. So he is complaining about the bias toward regions of the country in the media. Well, Stephen, that's a wonderful cause, but where was your criticism of the bias when the Pac-10 conference is consistently underrated year in and year out? Where is your criticism of the overwhelmingly lopsided media coverage of the Yankees/Boston teams at the expense of teams west of Pennsylvania? Where was your criticism of the media lavishing MVP praise of East Coasters Ryan Howard in 2006 and Jimmy Rollins this year over athletes with better numbers on teams that advanced farther than the Phillies (see Pujols in 2006 and Matt Holliday this year)? Where was your criticism when the media blamed the Yankees' ALDS loss to Cleveland not on the players but on the annoying insects just attacked Yankee pitcher Joba Chamberlain in the 8th inning, when at the same time the media conveniently forgot the fact that Cleveland pitcher Fausto Carmona dealt with the very same bugs the next inning and actually managed to pitch well in spite of them? Or when you made a prediction just a few seconds after your complaints of bias in the media that Boston would beat Cleveland in the ALCS in "five, maybe six" games? (By the way, how's that prediction coming?) I could go on and on with examples. Stephen A, when you make an argument, PLEASE be balanced in your criticism of the media.

Speaking of East Coast media, how about this whole Tony La Russa to New York possible story? True, Tony works well with veteran players and has a history of winning, both qualities that the Yankees need. But how in the heck would Tony be able to handle the New York media when he can't even take the pressure from the "big, bad" media in St Louis? Imagine how surly La Russa would get in New York, especially when he starts playing favorites (such as when he pulled Brendan Ryan for swinging at a 3-0 pitch but giving Rick Ankiel a free pass when he did the same thing). You know what, Tony? Go to New York. I'll just have to keep my TV viewing area stocked with plenty of popcorn.

Batting the pitcher 8th

Tony La Russa has done some good things with the Cardinals this year. While he is still iffy with the media, he has loosened up his philosophy against playing young players. But for all the good work Tony La Russa has done with the St Louis Cardinals clubhouse this year, I still cannot justify a few things, the first being his practice of batting the pitcher 8th. It was a funny idea when Mark McGwire played here, but now it just seems ridiculous.

Case in point: yesterday versus the Reds. We have a runner on 2nd base and the seventh batter in the lineup at the plate. The Reds decide to... intentionally walk the batter, thus bringing up the 8th batter, who just happens to be Braden Looper, the pitcher. What does the pitcher do? Swings ZERO times and strikes out, thus ending the inning. We had scored two runs in the inning, but it could have been more.

Someone who watched the game might say that it was good that Brendan Ryan, the 9th batter, batted after the pitcher, because he got a hit to lead off the next inning and scored a run. But that hit would probably have knocked in a run anyway if Ryan had batted ahead of the pitcher in the previous inning!

I maintain my stance that La Russa should not bat the pitcher 8th unless the name of the pitcher is Kip Wells (.340 batting average this season). I am open to anyone who could explain this practice so I could understand.

College football is back...

Minnesota football. We have 6 national championships but now seem to be stuck in mediocrity...

* We suffered the biggest blown comeback in bowl history
* We schedule too many "cream puff" teams. (That should change, though, with the coming of a new stadium.)
* We barely beat Division 1-AA North Dakota State last year, 10-9.
* Sports Illustrated picked us to finish last in the Big Ten.

BUT... at least we haven't LOST to a 1-AA team...