Articles

Opinion: United front needed for age-appropriate learning

As a class assignment for a graduate American history course I am taking along with 48 other educators through the University of South Dakota this year, we are reading “Arc of Justice” by Kevin Boyle. In it, Boyle tells the story of the “Great Migration” of large numbers of blacks from the South to the North during the first decades of the 20th century. That trek was fraught with prejudice, discrimination and violence, proving that racism was not an institution peculiar to the South.

Opinion: Don’t let economy hinder education

Within the last few weeks, two major bodies of work emanated from Washington, D.C. (Three, if you count the health-care bill.) The first was the release of the new, national educational standards in English and mathematics. In fact, these were released some time ago but they finally reached the state level for local input.

Opinion: Past successes can guide us in tackling today’s problems

In my office, atop overflowing bookshelves, sit nine photographs of people in my family who went before me in education. Included among them are my great-grandmother, my grandmother, and my aunt, all of whom were teachers and one even a county superintendent.

Opinion: The storm isn’t ‘perfect,’ but it’s a storm nevertheless

It’s not a “perfect” storm per se, but you’d have a hard time convincing several dozen school superintendents of that this last week. Just as the state Legislature grows ever closer to giving schools as much as 1.2 percent and as little as a great big goose egg, the Board of Directors of the South Dakota High School Activities Association announces they will be sanctioning soccer as a new school sport.

Opinion: Almost March — a time for spring, budget decisions

While I realize that spring does not arrive until March 20, according to the calendar this year, and while I also realize that even March 20 does not guarantee more temperate weather — we have missed school due to blizzards as late as the last week of April — my internal season clock always tells me that March 1 is spring. No matter how much evidence I see to the contrary during any given year, the little robin in my head announces to me on March 1 that spring has arrived. (Apparently this year, spring will be heralded by gargantuan piles of snow.)

Opinion: Weather not cooperating with schooling this year

Stupid groundhog.
Yes, I am fully aware that it really doesn’t matter whether Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow or not, that it’s just a bunch of silly folk lore. And even if it did mean something out East, it wouldn’t work in South Dakota. If we only get six more weeks of winter after Feb. 2, we count ourselves fortunate.

Opinion: With testing, be sure the remedy is worth the price

Among both theologians and philosophers alike, there is an age-old conversation about the nature of humanity. It can be summed up as a debate over whether we are fallen angels or redeemed demons. In more practical terms, it is an argument about whether people naturally act honestly, being dishonest and vile only when a fallen world trains or tempts us in that direction, or naturally cheat, steal and swindle unless given the proper incentives not to do so.

Opinion: A positive undertaking: Scholarship program investing in our future

One of the things I truly enjoy about the first few weeks of school after Christmas break — and no, I am not referring to snow, which I detest more and more as my childhood memories disappear into that fog that comes to all people “of a certain age” — is the mail at school. Typically, I am not a big fan of the mail as it typically comes with little I would ever want to receive. The typical batch includes a blizzard of advertisements, news of some innovative and even more onerous federal regulation, and, of course, some state and federal report which must be filed within the next 30 days and which I truly loathe especially if I can’t foist it off on someone else in the district which, I have to admit, is usually how it works.

Opinion: Praising with meaning: In a world full of undeserved awards, how can we show true appreciation for achievement?

When I was a first grader in Miss Johnson’s classroom at Cleveland Elementary, I have to admit that I was what they now call a “teacher pleaser.” Unfortunately, that doesn’t really cover it, but since I’m loathe to use the various terms students today would have assigned me then, I’ll have to go with a few of my own: toady, sycophant, and, my personal favorite, lickspittle.

Opinion: Education must keep hold of its birthright

Much is being made in some circles these days of the apparent prediction of the end of the world in December of 2012 by ancient Mayan astronomers and chronologists. Some of the modern-day true believers hedge their bets a bit, arguing only for some sort of cataclysmic social upheaval but either way, they argue, don’t bother buying fragile Christmas presents for anybody that year.

Columns

GRAVES: City-school library talks continue tradition of cooperation

If one has built a strong relationship with another person or agency or whatever, issues are typically easy to resolve.

• Graves

GRAVES: NCLB highlights need for change

Chance should be taken to return education to states.

• Joe Graves

GRAVES: Nice weather need not mean bad weather

Groundhog Day has always held at least a small fascination with me, so I hung in there through the local dignitary bloviating to see just what Phil would or would not see. Alas, he saw his shadow and we are in for six more weeks of winter.

• Photo

GRAVES: Gov's education plan worth supporting

Tenure is and always has been a bad idea simply because for many people it is more difficult to stay motivated once you’ve been given a strong measure of job security.

• Joe Graves

GRAVES: Decisions ahead after second leg of laptop project

The other day while attempting to find some long-lost document in a file cabinet in my basement, I happened upon a paper I had written in the 1980s for my master’s degree. (This occurred because the cabinet’s filing system is entropy-based.)

• Photo

GRAVES: School budgets best viewed with low expectations

Mitchell is in relatively good shape for South Dakota schools. We have decent reserves and an opt-out that sits at half of its maximum level. And we kicked no deficit cans down the road. Other schools aren’t so lucky.

• Joe Graves

GRAVES: eBooks may bring big changes to beloved libraries

Some years ago, while a superintendent in school district in Iowa, I was greeted with a resignation letter from a long-serving, much-beloved elementary principal. He still loved his job but felt it was time to retire and pursue other interests.

Educationally Speaking: Difficult, gloomy work, but it comes with silver lining

On occasion in my career, I have been fortunate to teach a course in educational leadership. They say that you never learn anything quite so well as when you teach it, and the saying generally proved true for me as I prepared for and taught the course.

• Joe Graves

GRAVES: Superintendent Seuss: Only in kindergarten

When Daily Republic reporter Ross Dolan told me last spring that the next Progress edition for the paper would be on kindergarten, I wanted to ask him just how they thought they could possibly find enough to write on about one grade level in school. Having seen the finished product come out over four days last week, however, I have to admit that, indeed, their coverage was both interesting and comprehensive.

• Joe Graves

GRAVES: D.C. superintendent fired for truly serving students

With summer vacation’s conclusion (finally!), I have been trying to spend at least a brief time considering to just what advantage I have put the recent 13-week hiatus from classes.