idealistic people

"Idealistic people tend to not be very pragmatic."

Garry Mayes in a conversation 8/25/2005

what our schools used to be

Given the many demands made of schools today, the wonder is not that they do so poorly, but that they accomplish so much. Our society has stuffed additional burdens into the time envelope of 180 six-hour days without regard to the consequences for learning. We agree with the Maine mathematics teacher who said, "The problem with our schools is not that they are not what they used to be, but that they are what they used to be." In terms of time, our schools are unchanged despite a transformation in the world around them.

from 1994 Department of Education report Prisoners of Time

retrieved May 28, 2007 from http://www.ed.gov/pubs/PrisonersOfTime/Dimensions.html

Things turn out best . . .

"Things turn out best for people who make the best out of the way things turn out."

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as seen on a picture frame in Albertson's Grocery Store in Denton, TX

Education is not a preparation for life but life itself

"I believe that education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living."

My Pedagogic Creed by John Dewey
School Journal vol. 54 (January 1897), pp. 77-80
ARTICLE TWO. WHAT THE SCHOOL IS

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That's the closest I can come to an actual quote by Dewey, though many many places you'll see, "Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself."

If you know the source of the second quote, please comment and share.

Einstein on problem solving (but not necessarily mathematical problems)

"The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them."
---Albert Einstein

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This is the email signature of:
Dr Paul J Gies
Chair, or rather, "Chair,"
Dept. of Math & Computer Science

He's such a liberal arts thinker which is so fabulous but sometimes rare in math and science folks.

I read this and think of examples: NCLB is a problem that exists in the world today and truly there's no one in the Bush administration that can "solve" it . . . not only because they don't even understand that it's a problem but for the reasons that Einstein states, that level of thinking can't even comprehend how to undo the damage that's been done.

Dancing With God

Dancing With God

When I meditated on the word Guidance, I kept seeing "dance" at the end of the word. While reading, I began thinking that God's will is a lot like dancing. When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn't flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky. When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music. One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing lightly in one direction or another. It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully. The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other.

My eyes drew back to the word Guidance. When I saw "G: I thought of God followed by "u" and "i". "God, "u" and "i" "dance." God, you, and I dance. As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust that I would get guidance about my life. Once again, I became willing to let God lead.

My prayer for you today is that God's blessings and mercies be upon you on this day and everyday. May you abide in God as God abides in you.

Dance together with God, trusting God to lead and to guide you through each season of your life.

This prayer is powerful and there is nothing attached. If God has done anything for you in your life, please share this message with someone else. Truly, prayer is one of the best gifts we can receive. There is no cost but a lot of rewards; so let's continue to pray for one another.

And I Hope You Dance

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This was an email I received on 3/22/2007. Often I get these and it's the millionth time I've seen 'em, but this one was new to me. And often, when I get them, they're judgmental or make you feel guilty. But this one, I loved. It really spoke to me. I wonder if it would have the same impact on someone who doesn't do a lot of dancing or who isn't passionate about dancing with a partner. For me, I love ballroom dancing; and country-western is a close second. I'm not all that great at dancing and I don't get to do it often, but it's a thrill for me whenever I get to dance. When I read this, a flood of dancing memories came rushing into my head, mostly good ones or great ones. But I have a few bad dancing memories and those non-examples really made this ring even truer for me. Okay, you probably can't be true, truer, or truest, but you get my drift.

I would love to see this in calligraphy. I wanted to leave out the next to the last paragraph because that's getting into that "pass this on or else" syndrome that so many email messages have on them. But I so like the ending of the paragraph "continue to pray for one another" which is the perfect lead-in to "And I hope you dance" that I kept the rest of the paragraph in.

The Holy Spirit intercedes for us

The Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that same Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.
--Romans 8: 12-27

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I've loved this promise from the Bible for as long as I can remember. How awesome that even if we don't know what to pray for, the Holy Spirit can pray for us on our behalf. Gotta love the Holy Spirit.

I'm not familiar with this translation, but I haven't been able to find the quote for so long that I'm just thrilled to have a reference. Now I can read different translations until I find the one I really want. But in the end, the translation doesn't matter. It's all about the promise. :-)